Kate Reilly

Kate Reilly is a filmmaker and actor. She wrote, directed, and performed in the Hong Kong film Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down ("Memories"), made with partner Leung Ming-kai. Memories premiered internationally at Rotterdam 2020 and received the Best Screenplay Award and a Film of Merit Award from the Hong Kong Film Critics Society in 2021, as well as nominations for Best Film and Best Director(s). Memories was the only Hong Kong film in the top 10 for 2020 at Hong Kong art-house cinema Broadway Cinematheque, despite being out for just 13 days that year due to the pandemic. Hong Kong audiences voted Memories one of their top-five favorite movies, and Reilly and Leung one of their top-three favorite directors/directing teams, in the 2021 Hong Kong Movie6 Awards. The film resumed its Hong Kong theatrical run when theaters reopened, and it is still playing in cinemas in May 2021. As a film actor, Kate has worked with directors including Anocha Suwichakornpong, John Magary, Lee Chatametikool, and Leung Ming-kai, in films that were selected by Rotterdam's Tiger Awards, Busan, Tribeca, Tokyo, and Edinburgh Film Festivals, as well as HBO's US Comedy Arts Festival. Kate has also acted in a variety of live productions. She performed at the Whitney Museum and with New York experimental theater group Polybe + Seats, which the Village Voice called "a smart and ambitious company." Critics described her lead performance in their play A History of Launching Ships as "marvelous" and "a pleasure to watch." Kate was on a house sketch team that wrote and performed live comedy at the Peoples Improv Theater in New York. Along with the other members of improv team Youth Group, she wrote for, produced, and acted in Lock-in!, a variety show. Kate played Dorothy in improvised Golden Girls episodes.