Hong Kong film director Ringo Lam Ling-tung, who is best known to his film "City on Fire" in 1987, dies at the age of 63.
On Saturday afternoon, Lam's wife called an ambulance after failing to wake him up at their Ma On Shan home at around 4:20 pm, the South China Morning Post reported. According to the source, the Hong Kong director has no major illnesses, but he's reportedly suffering from flu over the past few days and he's taking medication without doctors' advice.
Lam was a Hong Kong film director, producer, and screenwriter, born in 1955. He initially went to an acting school and graduated from the St Peter's Secondary School in the early 1970s. After discovering he preferred directing films than acting, he went to Canada to study filmmaking at York University in Toronto. In 1983, Lam returned to Hong Kong and joined production company Cinema City.
Lam was considered to be one of the best action movie directors of Hong Kong's "golden age" of cinema in the 1980s and early 1990s. He started his career as a director with the supernatural romance "Esprit d'amour" in 1983. But his signature film was the crime thriller "City on Fire" - starring Danny Lee Sau-yin and Chow Yun-fat. The picture has earned him the title of the best director during the 1988's Hong Kong Film Awards.
Lam also released another celebrated work in 1987, "Prison on Fire," also starring Chow Yun-fat and as Tony Leung Ka-Fai. He released another film the following year, "School on Fire (1988)", which was also said to be a cinematic success. He directed more than 20 movies in his entire career, and the latest one was the "Sky on Fire" in 2016 - starring and Joseph Chang Hsiao-chuan, Zhang Jingchu, Zhang Ruoyun, and Daniel Wu Yin-Cho.
Joe Cheung Tung-Cho, a veteran local filmmaker and honorary permanent president of the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild, said he was really saddened and shocked when he found out Lam was found dead. He said the news was really unexpected, adding Lam was a really good director. The two met for dim sum a few months ago, and Cheung said Lam appeared to be healthy and well at that time.
Cheung also revealed Lam was known in the film industry for the demanding standards he placed on his movie crew, wherein he shone through action scenes, such as car chases, in his movies. He said the Hong Kong-born director isn't using technology, and instead, he's using real shooting techniques to overcome difficulties. Cheung also added guild will discuss how to commemorate Lam.
