Mak made his directorial debut in 1997, with his first film being
Nude Fear, which was written and produced by
Joe Ma. After that, Mak directed further films such as
Rave Fever,
A War Named Desire,
Final Romance and
Stolen Love, which would be his first collaboration with writer
Felix Chong. In 2002, Mak and Chong wrote their first script together. The movie was
Infernal Affairs, which was produced by Mak's directing partner,
Andrew Lau, who also served as
cinematographer. Lau and Mak also served as directors for the film, and it would be the first of many collaborations involving the directing duo.
Infernal Affairs starred the four top actors of its year—
Andy Lau,
Tony Leung Chiu-Wai,
Eric Tsang and
Anthony Wong—along with the year's two top actresses—
Kelly Chen and
Sammi Cheng.
Infernal Affairs was the number one box-office hit in Hong Kong that year, breaking several box office records alone. Furthermore, the film won many
Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Picture, Best Directors (Lau and Mak), Best Screenplay (Mak and co-writer Chong), and Best Supporting Actor (Wong).
Infernal Affairs also went on win awards at the 40th
Golden Horse Awards and the
Golden Bauhinia Awards. In 2003, Lau and Mak completed the trilogy with the prequel
Infernal Affairs II and the sequel/prequel
Infernal Affairs III. That same year, Mak received the 2003 Leader of the Year award in the Sports/Culture/Entertainment category. In 2004, Lau and Mak worked on another blockbuster,
Initial D, which was shot in
Japan and released in Hong Kong during the summer. Once again, it was also another successful film for Lau and Mak, winning multiple awards at the Hong Kong Film Awards, winning for Best New Performer (
Jay Chou), Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Wong Chau Sang| Anthony Wong), and Best Visual Effects. In 2006, Lau, Mak and scriptwriter Felix Chong re-teamed to make the 2005 film,
Moonlight in Tokyo. They re-teamed again for the 2006 film
Confession of Pain, once again re-teaming with
Infernal Affairs star Tony Leung Chiu-Wai. He also created
The Silent War. Mak's next film was
Lady Cop & Papa Crook which he co-wrote and co-directed with
Felix Chong. The film was released in 2008 and marked the feature-film return of
Sammi Cheng after a three-year hiatus. He has worked solidly since then releasing films up until 2019's
Integrity. His next film
Justices Seeker is in post-production. == Filmography ==