Hong Kong film producer Nansun Shi has died on July 13 at the Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital. She was 75.
Hong Kong film production company Film Workshop, which she founded with her former husband, Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark, made the announcement via a press statement late on July 13.
“Ms Shi had been in declining health since 2022 due to complications affecting her immune system,” the statement said in Chinese and English. “In recent months, recurrent infections resulted in multiple organ dysfunction. She was surrounded by her family and loved ones in her final moments.”
The statement added: “Details regarding memorial and funeral arrangements will be announced in due course.”
Probably the most accomplished producer in Chinese films, Shi’s name is attached to a canon of screen gems such as the A Better Tomorrow (1986 to 1989) crime action series featuring Chow Yun Fat, A Chinese Ghost Story (1987 to 1991) with the late Leslie Cheung and Joey Wong, the Once Upon A Time In China (1991 to 1997) martial arts series starring Jet Li, and crime thriller Infernal Affairs (2002 to 2003) with a star-studded cast that included Andy Lau and Tony Leung Chiu Wai.
Shi told The Straits Times in an interview in 2014 that she got into the trade by accident.
She said then that she was pondering her next career move in the early 1980s after successful stints as a communications executive and TV programmer when she started hanging out with Hong Kong filmmakers such as Dean Shek, Raymond Wong and Eric Tsang.
She resisted their attempts to get her on board their film company Cinema City, so they put money into her bank account.
“I called Raymond up and asked, ‘What is this for?’,” she told ST. “And he said, ‘Oh, we are paying you. When you are ready, come to work.’ So the next day, I turned up for work.”
That decision changed her life and she said the career has kept her on her toes for the next three decades.
Shi met Tsui, 75, at the now-defunct Commercial Television in the 1970s and grew closer due to their mutual admiration for each other’s talents.
They co-founded Film Workshop in 1984, with Shi handling the production, budgeting and casting, while Tsui focused on writing and directing.
They registered their marriage in the United States in 1996 and were once described as the power couple of the Hong Kong film industry.
Shi admitted to the media in 2014 that she and Tsui Hark had divorced, bringing an end to their long-standing marriage. They have no children.
The former couple continued to work together despite the end of their marriage, and their last collaboration was Chinese martial arts film Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants (2025).
They were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Hong Kong Film Awards in April 2025.
Shi’s last public appearance was in May 2026 when she attended the funeral of her good friend, Hong Kong film producer Linda Kuk, during which she was seen walking with the help of a walking stick.
Shi was reported to be in critical condition last week when Hong Kong media outlet HK01 reported that Taiwanese actress Sylvia Chang visited her in hospital on July 6.
Hong Kong radio personality Winnie Yu and retired Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia were spotted visiting Shi in hospital over the next two days, according to the Hong Kong media. – The Straits Times/Asia News Network
