Born and raised in Hong Kong, Flora LAU witnessed the drastic transformations this city has experienced. After returning from years of education abroad, she became fascinated by how such a small but densely populated city retained its significance to the world, and that many of its stories were yet to be discovered. This led her to the journey of filmmaking.

Flora’s first feature film, Bends (2013), had its world premiere at Festival de Cannes, being part of the Un Certain Regard Official Selection. Bends was also nominated to compete for the Best Film awards at various international festivals, and has travelled to over 30 festivals, including Toronto, Busan, BFI London, Taipei Golden Horse, Melbourne, Stockholm and São Paulo. Bends also won several awards, including Best Actress at Osaka Asian Film Festival. Another noteworthy film project that was well received is Start From Zero (2012), a mid-length documentary commissioned by the Copenhagen Documentary Film Festival.

During the period from 2017 to 2019, Lau wrote, directed and produced a second feature, LUZ, featuring Isabelle Huppert, Guo Xiao Dong (Summer Palace (2006), Blind Massage (2014)) and Huang Lu (Blind Mountain (2007), Blind Massage (2014)), which was filmed in Paris, Chongqing and Hong Kong. The film has yet to be released. At the same time, she also participated in the Argentinian feature film Monos (2019).

Lau was a resident at Festival de Cannes’ Cinéfondation in Paris and Binger Film Lab’s Writer’s Lab in Amsterdam. She holds a Master’s Degree from the London Film School, and a Bachelor’s Degree from Columbia University in New York.

Filmography

12:30 (2008, short), Dry Rain (2009, short), Start from Zero (2012, short doc), Bends (2013)