The director started his work at Hong Kong's biggest free-to-air television station, TVB, in the 1970s. The movie “Women” which starred Chow Yun-fat is a 1985 drama film directed by Stanley Kwan in his directorial debut. The film received nine nominations at the 5th Hong Kong Film Awards.

Stanley Kwan became one of the most outstanding directors with popular movies, including “Love Unto Waste” starring iconic Hong Kong film stars, Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Chow Yun-fat in 1986; “Rouge” with the participation of Anita Mui Yim-fong, the queen of Hong Kong's pop-music industry, and singer and superstar Leslie Cheung Kwok-wing in 1988; “Red Rose White Rose” in 1994 entered into the 45th Berlin International Film Festival; a gay-themed independent film, “Lan Yu” in 2001 starring Liu Ye and Hu Jun, which received five honors at the 38th Golden Horse Awards, including Best Director; and “Everlasting Regret” in 2005 starring Tony Leung Ka-fai , a four-time winner of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actor, and Sammi Cheng, one of the most prominent female singers in Hong Kong.

In 2011, he was ranked eleventh in a list of 20 best directors in the history of Chinese cinema along with internationally renowned film directors including Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Wong Kar-wai, Ang Lee, Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Jia Zhangke, John Woo Yu-Sen, Tsui Hark and Stephen Chow.

The 2nd Da Nang Asian Film Festival (DANAFF II) 2024 themed “Bridging Asia” is scheduled to be held from July 2-6.

As planned, DANAFF II will include Asian and Vietnamese film competition categories with valuable prizes; Today’s Vietnamese Cinema program with selected and newly-produced Vietnam films; the French cinema program featuring outstanding works of French cinema and French films on Vietnam.