[2010.08.19] FILMKO DENIES KARENA LAM RETIREMENT RUMORS

Karena Lam Ka Yun's contract with Filmko came to term last year. Reportedly she has decided to retire from show business, has already returned to Canada to be with her parent and would never take another role. Thus she was absent from even the DON QUIXOTE promotion. The film might be her final one. Yet Filmko issued a statement to deny her retirement.

The Filmko management director issued a statement, "Starting at the end of last year, Ka Yun and Filmko switched to an exclusive agent format. The company as in the past will continue to provide a degree of freedom to Ka Yun and respect her. Friends who know Ka Yun should know that she is an artist who loves film passionately but not exposure. Our understanding is if she runs into a film script and work she will continue to accept it. As for her absence from the recent DON QUIXOTE film promotion, Ka Yun has already notified the company early on that she would be traveling and studying."

However, according to those around Lam Ka Yun. She has been studying photography and architecture in Canada and France. She also has become interested in pottery and wanted to switch from show business to development in the art world. Dressed simply and not demanding of a materialistic life, she has never fit in with show business. With her career stalling, she thought about retirement. Last year she even fired the assistant who has been with her for years.

Currently 31, Lam Ka Yun grew up in Canada. At age 15 Taiwan music professional Chang Hung Liang discovered her. She ignored her family's objection, signed a five year contract and went to work in Taiwan alone. In 2001 she switched to work in Hong Kong and signed with Filmko to join the film industry. Her first film was JULY RHAPSODY (NAM YUN SEI SUP) with Jacky Cheung Hok Yau. The film won her Hong Kong Film Award and Golden Horse Award Best Supporting Actor and Best New Actor awards. Since then she has made over 20 films. With INNER SENSES (YI DOH HUNG GAN), FLOATING LANDSCAPE (LUEN JI FUNG GAING), KOMA (GAU MING), HOME SWEET HOME (GWAI MUK) and CLAUSTROPHOBIA (CHUN MUK), she competed for the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress five years in a row, but she has never won. Only with CLAUSTROPHOBIA last year she won the third annual Chungmuro International Film Festival Best Actor in Korea.