Odyssey film festival 2025 award winners announced, including the Best UK-China Collaboration award.
Odyssey is a UK based independent film festival engaging with Greater China via a unique theme each year. This year’s festival took place between 15-30 September. During the festival period, It showcased over 60 films, hosts discussion panels and exclusive Q&As online and offline across the country in different cities.
2025 has been a turbulent year, yet what remains worth celebrating is our ability to keep searching — for hope, for inspiration, for new imagination — through the magic of cinema. Staying true to tradition, Odyssey once again chooses a theme that is both broad and precise, a lens through which to share our eclectic vision: a world where conversations can flourish, fuelled by curiosity and the power of film.
The Paris 2024 Olympics left a lasting impression. People from every background and belief competed with all their strength, pushing past personal limits and, most importantly, forging friendships through challenge.
With #Sports as the theme for Odyssey 2025, we hoped to carry forward that Olympic spirit — the sense of self, discovery, and values revealed through journeys of growth.
This year, the festival once again embraced a hybrid model: cinema screenings, online programmes on our own platform, and curated recommendations on other streaming services, ensuring stories can reach audiences wherever they are.
JURY PANEL
Our 2025 Jury President is Eloise Singer, Founder and CEO of Singer Studios. Eloise Singer is an Emmy-nominated, multi-award-winning producer, writer and director, and the founder of Singer Studios, known for telling bold and innovative stories across film, TV, podcast, and immersive media. She created and directed The Pirate Queen (2024), starring Lucy Liu, which premiered to critical acclaim, winning the Storyscapes Award at Tribeca and earning Emmy® and PGA nominations. She then created Trailblazer (2025), featuring Daisy Ridley, which premiered at Cannes, Venice, SXSW, and Sheffield, garnering widespread praise and multiple award nominations. Singer also executive produced Rare Beasts, directed by and starring Billie Piper, and The Last Rifleman, starring Pierce Brosnan.
The jury panel also includes:
Elaine Wong
Dan Edwards
Imogen Cooper
Aladin Farré
Chris Lau
Greg Bawol
LIST OF WINNERS
FOUNDER’S AWARD 𐃯
Four Trails (2023)
dir. Robin Lee
Also Opening Film of Odyssey 2025
A box office phenomenon and word-of-mouth triumph, Four Trails (香港四徑大步走) reveals a side of Hong Kong rarely seen — where steel and glass give way to earth, wind, and endurance. Over 72 hours, 298 kilometres, and more than 14,500 metres of elevation, a handful of ultra runners attempt the city’s most punishing feat: conquering all four of its legendary hiking trails in a single push. The rules are brutal — no trekking poles, no music, and no sleep — only the raw test of body and will. With a success rate of barely 6%, every finisher becomes part of local legend. Directed by Hong Kong born British filmmaker Robin Lee in his remarkable feature debut, Four Trails is both a documentary and an act of devotion. It’s no surprise that the film earned Lee the Best New Director award at the Hong Kong Film Awards — a fitting recognition for a filmmaker who, like his subjects, refuses to stop when the road ends.
THE BEST FEATURE 𐃯
Like a Rolling Stone (2024)
Dir. Lichuan Yin
Li Hong has dedicated her life to her family, dutifully fulfilling her roles as a good daughter, wife, and mother. Soon, she is set to become a grandmother. Just as Li Hong is about to resign herself to a stagnant life, an unexpected invitation to a high school reunion rekindles her youthful dreams.
THE BEST SHORT 𐃯
Kill Ada (2025)
Dir Kunyu Cai
A housewife NPC can no longer tolerate the player’s wanton destruction in her house, so she decides to rebel.
THE BEST DIRECTOR 𐃯
I have No Legs, and I Must Run (2022)
Dir. Yue Li
An athlete who is past his prime is struggling with his injuries. The arrival of a talented new member of his team. plants the seeds of jealousy in the Protagonist’s mind.
THE BEST MADE IN UK PRODUCTION 𐃯
Bow and Rise (2025)
Dir. Jasmine Mok
Bow and rise is a short student documentary that follows the Lion Dance troupe at Bristol University in the build up to Chinese New Year. Foreign students experience culture shock, while finding a new home within each other as well as developing their own self-identities. This film introduces themes of community, self-expression and liberation.
Follow @bowandricedoc for sales and booking.
THE BEST INTERNAITONAL COLLABORATION 𐃯
Good Morning, Myself (2024)
Dir. Haibin Gao
An intimate portrait of Li Mengwen, a player on China’s women’s national football team, as she builds a life in Paris while playing for PSG. Far from home, she faces solitude, cultural shifts, and an uncertain future — yet her quiet strength shines through. More than a sports documentary, the film captures a young woman’s tender search for belonging and hope in a city where everything feels both possible and unknown.
THE BEST UK-CHINA COLLABORATION 𐃯
Bow and Rise (2025)
Dir. Jasmine Mok
Bow and rise is a short student documentary that follows the Lion Dance troupe at Bristol University in the build up to Chinese New Year. Foreign students experience culture shock, while finding a new home within each other as well as developing their own self-identities. This film introduces themes of community, self-expression and liberation.
THE BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY 𐃯
To Kill a Mongolian Horse (2024)
Dir. Xiaoxuan Jiang
Cinematographer: Tao Kio Qiu
Saina tries to make ends meet as a herdsman in the wintry steppes of Inner Mongolia. By day, he takes care of his family’s horses while juggling a grumpy father and a dysfunctional relationship with his ex-wife. At night, he performs in breathtaking horseback shows. Unlike the majestic cavalryman he portrays in the show, Saina must come to terms with how dramatically the world he grew up in has changed.
World Sales: Pluto Flim
THE BEST EIDTING 𐃯
Like a Rolling Stone (2024)
THE BEST SGSs CAMPAIGN COMMITTEMENT TO UN’S 17 SDGS 𐃯
Tuva Youngster (2019)
Dir. Xiquan Zhang
Twelve-year-old Tuvan boy Yong Deng lives in remote Altay, Xinjiang, where fur skiing and horse riding have long been part of daily life. Dreaming of a snowboard and a wider world, he makes a pact with his father: win the local children’s race and earn a new board.
World Sales: Kendal Mountain China
THE AUDIENCE AWARD 𐃯
First Prize – Bow and Rise
Joint Second Prize – Monsoon Blues, Tuva Youngster, I Have No Legs, and I Must Run
