As the director of fifteen feature films spanning a period of two decades, Ann Hui has established herself as one of Hong Kong's foremost directors. In the late 1970s, she was a founding member of the Hong Kong New Wave cinema. More impressive is the fact that as a woman, hers is one of the largest bodies of work, not solely in Asia, but worldwide.

Although she does not identify herself as a “woman director,” she no longer disparages the term, either. Unlike so many other female directors, Hui has not concentrated on the “woman's picture.” Rather, she has undertaken a wide range of subject matter and worked in various cinematic modes, including narrative fiction and documentary. More recently, she has also taken up the role of producer.

Hui On-wah, Ann (a.k.a. Xu Anhua) was born in Northeastern China (Manchuria) in 1947. She moved to Hong Kong with her family in 1952. There she received a Catholic education and earned her baccalaureate from the prestigious Hong Kong University, majoring in English and comparative literature. She continued on for a master's degree with a focus on Robbe- Grillet.

This was followed by two years at the London Film School. When she returned to Hong Kong in 1975, she did a brief stint as an assistant to the Hong Kong director King Hu and then began work for TVB.