Producer Derek Yee Tung-sing may be the movie's bigger name, but it is the co-writer-director of Insanity, David Lee Kwong-yiu, who will be in the spotlight at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards. The psychological thriller has been nominated in four categories including best actor for Lau Ching-wan and best new director for Lee.
"The mental health of people is a subject matter that interests me a lot," says Lee, 40. "In Hong Kong and many developed countries around the world, you can find stories about mental patients in the news almost every day."
Mental illness is a familiar topic to Yee; his own directorial debut, The Lunatics (1986) - which earned him nominations for best picture, director and screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards (on top of best supporting actor for Paul Chun Pui and a best art direction win for Yank Wong Yan-kwai) - was a harrowing look at the lives of sufferers in an uncaring society.
When asked if he deems Insanity a realistic portrayal of the mental issues he studied, Lee doesn't directly answer. "Reality these days is more dramatic than fiction," he says. "Lo and Yee told me I should refrain from making a sensationalistic film. I don't think of myself as the saviour to eradicate discrimination from the world. That was not my point."
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Category(s):Mental Health in Asia
Source material from South China Morning Post
