Jun Li

In November 2025, he won the Golden Horse Award for Best Director for his third film Queerpanorama. He is also a member of the Hong Kong Film Critics Society.

• Name — Jun Li • Born — 3 August 1991 • Birthplace — London, United Kingdom • Education — * Chinese University of Hong Kong (BSocSc) • University of Cambridge (MPhil) • Occupation — * Filmmaker • Playwright • Film critic • Awards — Golden Horse Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (2021) Golden Horse Award for Best Director (2025) Hong Kong Drama Award for Best Script (2026)

Li was born in London and grew up in Hong Kong. He studied journalism and communications at Chinese University of Hong Kong and worked as a television reporter. He later obtained his Master of Philosophy in gender studies at the University of Cambridge. After completing his studies, he returned to Hong Kong and joined the University of Hong Kong as a research assistant.

Li began making short films as a research assistant at the University of Hong Kong. He and his short film Liu Yang He (2017) won the Fresh Wave Award and Best Director at the 11th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival. Li made his feature film debut with Tracey in 2018 about a married trans woman transitioning in her 50s. Li was brought on later in pre-production, after another director quit the project and actors Philip Keung and River Huang have been cast. He was nominated at the 38th Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Screenplay (alongside Shu Kei and Erica Li) and Best New Director. Li has not received a Hong Kong government subsidy (such as the First Feature Film Initiative) for all his directorial feature productions. He cited the lack of perceived commercial viability of LGBT films as a barrier to winning such initiatives. His second film Drifting (2021) is about homelessness and addiction in Sham Shui Po, Kowloon. It competed at the International Film Festival Rotterdam Big Screen Competition. The film was nominated for 12 awards at the 58th Golden Horse Awards, making it the most nominated film from that year. He was himself nominated Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Adapted Screenplay, winning the latter. Li's third film Queerpanorama (2025) features a gay protagonist and is shot in black and white. He won Best Director at the 62nd Golden Horse Awards. The film was also nominated for a Golden Horse Award for Best Narrative Feature. According to the judging panel, A Foggy Tale narrowly beat Queerpanorama in an 8–7 vote. He openly criticised Israel for its war crimes in Gaza during his film premiere at the 2025 Berlinale. The incident was widely cited as an example of German censorship against pro-palestinian speech in the next edition. His play In a Perfect World tells a multi-generational story of a family living in an apartment in Manhattan Chinatown throughout 3 different eras. It opened at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in November 2025, for which Li won Best Script and Best Play with On and On Theatre Workshop at the 34th Hong Kong Drama Awards.

Li is gay and his partner is an actor in two of his films.

• Year — Title — Director — Screenwriter — Editor — Producer — Notes • 2017 — Liu Yang He — Short film • 2018 — My World — Short film • Tracey • 2021 — Drifting • Plain Sailing — Short film • 2023 — Fly Me to the Moon • 2025 — Queerpanorama — Selected in Panorama section of the Berlinale.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 2018 — I Miss You When I See You — Kevin