Taipei Golden Horse Award-winning director Lee Chun-shing, fresh off his Best Director win for the self-funded feature Stairway to Heaven, revealed the profound personal and financial risks taken to bring his latest project to the screen during a recent radio interview on Commercial Radio’s Backstage Stars. At just 34, Lee detailed the unexpected difficulty securing investment for his intensely personal film, despite his previous critical successes like the widely acclaimed Drifting, ultimately leading him to personally finance the majority of the production.
Lee, who has quickly established himself alongside veteran filmmakers, first gained notice in 2018 when he directed the transgender-themed drama Tracey, produced by Louis Koo’s One Cool Group. His sophomore feature, 2021’s Drifting, which he also wrote, garnered 11 nominations at the Hong Kong Film Awards and secured the Best Adapted Screenplay award at the Golden Horse Awards. However, the expectations of easier subsequent financing were swiftly dashed for Stairway to Heaven.
Personal Investment Fuels Creative Freedom
The director confessed that his third feature, an autobiographical narrative based on his ten-year relationship with partner Zenni Corbin, faced significant resistance from investors. Lee candidly discussed how the film’s sensitive subject matter—a gay relationship—and numerous intimate scenes deterred potential backers, leading him to invest nearly seven figures of his own savings to cover the HK$1.5 million budget.
“After Drifting, I genuinely thought finding investors would be easier. I knocked on many doors and approached several venture capitalists,” Lee shared. “But likely because of the gay theme and the level of nudity, people felt the market was too narrow.”
Lee partnered with a friend, committing his entire life savings accumulated from years working behind the scenes in the industry as a producer and editor. “I saved this money for a long time, knowing there might come a project I simply had to make, even if I lost everything,” he said. The film not only chronicles his decade-long journey but also features his partner, Zenni Corbin, serving as both producer and actor—a passion project the director felt compelled to share.
Tracey Provided Formative, Tough Experience
While Stairway to Heaven‘s budget was only one-tenth that of Drifting, Lee recalled that his debut feature, Tracey, presented the most formidable challenge of his career. A graduate of Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Journalism program, with a master’s degree in Gender Studies from Cambridge University, Lee was offered the job after his 2017 short film, a story about sex workers, won Best Director at the Fresh Wave Short Film Festival.
“I was lucky to get that opportunity in my twenties,” Lee reflected. “The director originally attached to Tracey had to step away. But I was new, I didn’t know much, and the physical and mental exhaustion was immense. Everything was money. We shot in 19 days, and delaying anything felt like bankruptcy.” The difficulty led him to constantly question his suitability as a director.
Conversely, handling the much larger budget and cast of the second feature, Drifting, felt easier. He surprisingly noted the supportive nature of veteran actor Francis Ng. “Even the assistant director was shocked at how fond Francis Ng was of me,” Lee recalled, adding that Ng advised him to keep his beard shaved to appear younger, a tactic Ng joked would make him less likely to scold the young director on set.
Advocating for Legal Partnership
Lee also used the platform to openly discuss his identity and relationship. Having come out in high school, he expressed gratitude that his parents and educational environment never pressured him. “When I brought my boyfriend home in university, my parents simply asked if he was my boyfriend and didn’t press for details,” he recounted.
After 10 years together, Lee views Corbin as family and stressed the urgency of legal protections for same-sex partners in Hong Kong. “We seek Legal Partnership, though I hesitate to call it marriage under current circumstances, as true equality is still absent here,” he affirmed. Lee emphasized that the fight for equitable legal recognition remains ongoing. Stairway to Heaven serves as a powerful testament to the value of personal narrative and the sacrifices required to ensure marginalized voices reach the screen.
