The 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF47) has unveiled three prominent Hong Kong films, including two world premieres, to bookend this year’s 12-day event.
The Asian premiere of Filmmaker-in-Focus Soi Cheang’s noir thriller, Mad Fate, starring Gordon Lam and Lokman Yeung, and the world premiere of Elegies, Ann Hui’s lyrical documentary portrayal of the topography of contemporary local poetry, will open HKIFF47 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on 30 March. The world premiere of Vital Sign, an affecting drama directed by Cheuk Wan-chi and starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau, and Angela Yuen, will close the festival on 10 April.
HKIFF47 announced its complete programme of more than 320 in-theatre and online screenings and audience engagement events at a star-studded media event held at Hyatt Regency Hong Kong today.
Returning to its traditional March and April dates after last year’s postponement, the hybrid HKIFF47 will showcase no fewer than nine world premieres, six international premieres, and an astounding 67 Asian premieres among some 200 films curated from 64 countries and regions worldwide.
Among those filmmakers and celebrities in attendance at the media event were Soi Cheang and his Mad Fate producer Elaine Chu and producer cum screenwriter Yau Nai-hoi; Ann Hui and her Elegies producer Ken Hui and composer Olivier Cong; Vital Sign director Cheuk Wan-chi; as well as the cast of the three films including Lokman Yeung, Ng Wing-sze, Berg Ng, Peter Chan Charm-man, Birdy Wong Ching-yan, Yau Hawk-sau, Angela Yuen, and Poon Chan-leung.
Also joining HKIFF’s young ambassador Jennifer Yu are local documentarians Tsang Tsui-shan, Dora Choi, and Haider Kikabhoy, whose latest films, Winter Chants and To Be Continued, will gala premiere at the festival.
HKIFF47’s highlights include award-winners from major international film festivals and the latest from master filmmakers such as Werner Herzog, Cristian Mungiu, Frederick Wiseman, and Hong Sang-soo.
Largely absent from Hong Kong since 2019, overseas filmmakers will return to meet the local audiences in person. They include maestro Tsai Ming-Liang, who will bring his latest feature Where, and hold a masterclass with Lee Kang-Sheng following the screenings of his short Where Do You Stand, Tsai Ming-Liang?. Filmmaker-in-Focus Soi Cheang will attend a Face to Face session to share his insights on life and cinema with the public at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre’s Grand Theatre on 8 April.
As part of an ongoing initiative to make cinema accessible and affordable to the public, HKIFF47 will offer a special discounted fare of $28 to students, the elderly, people with disabilities and CSSA recipients, and free community screenings.
The complete programme and screening schedule are now available through HKIFF’s official website (www.hkiff.org.hk). The public can purchase tickets through URBTIX from 10 am on Tuesday, 14 March.
