Cheuk Wan-chi is a writer, playwright, screenwriter and director. She won the Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award for Best Screenplay and was nominated for several other honors for Merry-Go-Round (2002). She then collaborated with Sylvia Chang on the script for Chang’s generational women’s picture, 20 30 40 (2004), which was nominated for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival. She also wrote the screenplay for Pang Ho-cheung’s controversial Exodus (2007), which was nominated for a Golden Bauhinia Best Screenplay Award. As a director, Cheuk’s debut was a segment in the omnibus film Heroes in Love (2001). She also directed Temporary Family (2014).

Jacqueline Liu is an accomplished Hong Kong-based film producer of independent and commercial films. She started her film career in 2004. Her many credits include Vital Signs (2023), the popular sci-fi opus Warriors of the Future (2022) , The Way We Keep Dancing (2020), the Ann Hui documentary Keep Rolling (2020), the transgender drama Tracey (2018), Men on the Dragon (2018), and the female bonding drama, Sisterhood (2016).

One of Hong Kong’s biggest stars, Louis Koo has more than 100 credits to his name, including sci-fi action thriller Warriors of Future, the highest-grossing Asian film of all time in the territory. But NYAFF is according him its highest honor, the Extraordinary Star Asia Award for Exceptional Contribution to Asian Cinema, to highlight his work as a producer and philanthropist, recognizing his many exceptional contributions to the Asian film industry, including his founding of the One Cool Group in 2013, now an industry powerhouse, and his support of award-winning work both in and outside Asia. One Cool has grown into a full-service production, distribution and VFX company and the biggest local studio in Hong Kong, with more than 300 staff and a string of hits, including Warriors of Future, made with an all-local crew. In April, One Cool launched a new operation in Malaysia to develop Southeast Asian films.