The landmark fiftieth version of the Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with Anthony Chen‘s “We Are All Strangers” and shut with Philip Yung’s “Cyclone,” with each movies receiving their Asian premieres on the occasion.
HKIFF50 runs April 1-12 below the theme “50 and Past: Framing the Future,” presenting 215 movies from 71 nations and areas, together with 11 world premieres, 4 worldwide premieres, and 49 Asian premieres.
Chen’s movie, which opens the competition April 1 on the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, is the concluding chapter of his Rising Up trilogy, probing the character of household and belonging past standard blood relationships. Starring Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler, it lately turned the primary Singaporean movie to compete on the Berlin Movie Pageant.
Yung’s “Cyclone,” starring Liu Yuqiao, Edwynn Li, and Jenny Suen, facilities on transgender id and the expertise of social exclusion. The movie had its world premiere on the Worldwide Movie Pageant Rotterdam earlier this yr, and its HKIFF50 screenings April 12 will mark its Asian debut.
A roster of internationally outstanding filmmakers is ready to attend, together with Filmmaker-in-Focus Jia Zhangke, Juliette Binoche, Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Huang Jianxin, Ann Hui, Tsai Ming-Liang, Ildikó Enyedi, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Edwin, and Ben Rivers.
For its Golden Jubilee, HKIFF50 has named Taiwanese actress Gingle Wang – winner of the Greatest Lead Actress prize on the twenty second Taipei Movie Pageant – and Thai actor Metawin Opasiamkajorn, recipient of the Asian Movie Awards Academy’s Asian Rising Star Award in 2024, as Asian visionary ambassadors. They be part of competition ambassadors Angela Yuen and Tony Wu.
The competition may also host three sold-out performances of the Asian premiere of “In the Mood for Love – In Live performance,” a collaboration with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra that includes stay accompaniment and a brand new interpretation of the rating from Wong Kar Wai’s traditional movie. A free exhibition, “50 and Past: The Hong Kong Worldwide Movie Pageant Golden Jubilee Exhibition,” will run at Hong Kong Metropolis Corridor.
