The 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF46) will celebrate the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by bringing home the world-touring Making Waves – Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema programme in August this year.
Co-presented with Create Hong Kong, HKIFF46’s Making Waves programme will start with an exhibition of film and behind-the-scenes stills by four renowned unit photographers. It will also showcase the screening of ten seminal films exemplifying the diversity and creativity of post-1997 Hong Kong cinema.
HKIFF46’s Making Waves screening programme features two authentic slice-of-life dramas: Fruit CHAN’s Little Cheung (1999) and Toe YUEN’s animated My Life as McDull (2001), reflecting on our city’s changing landscape and daily life through children’s innocent eyes.
From comedy to poignant melodrama, Shaolin Soccer (2001) by Stephen CHOW and A Simple Life (2011) by Ann HUI resonate with viewers in different ways – one brings uproarious laughter with its combination of kung fu flick and anime-like sports, and the other is quietly affecting through an intimate portrait of an ageing maid.
Elevating Hong Kong’s renowned crime thrillers to new heights, Johnnie TO’s PTU (2003) enthrals fans with its noirish tone and subtle genre subversion. Derek YEE’s One Nite in Mongkok (2004) similarly provokes the audience with its no holds bar social commentary and complex characterisation.
Two riveting period dramas represent a bold leap forward for two celebrated auteurs. Peter Ho-sun CHAN’s reimagined heroic bloodshed exposes corrupt authority in The Warlords (2007), while WONG Kar Wai reflects on contemporary Chinese history through the lives of two legendary martial artists in The Grandmaster (2013).
Philip YUNG’s Port of Call (2015) and Derek Kwok-cheung TSANG’s Better Days (2019) round out the programme by delivering vivid portraits of the younger generation’s inner world through stylised narratives while offering insights into a new vista of Hong Kong cinema.
Ten films to feature:
1999 Little Cheung by Fruit CHAN
2001 Shaolin Soccer by Stephen CHOW
2001 My Life as McDull by Toe YUEN
2003 PTU by Johnnie TO
2004 One Nite in Mongkok by Derek YEE
2007 The Warlords by Peter Ho-sun CHAN
2011 A Simple Life by Ann HUI
2013 The Grandmaster by WONG Kar Wai
2015 Port of Call by Philip YUNG
2019 Better Days by Derek Kwok-cheung TSANG
The Making Waves touring programme, highlighted by a specially-commissioned key visual artwork by Sandy Eddie Tommy Associates, an award-winning Hong Kong-based design firm, was first launched in April in Udine, Italy, before travelling to Bali, London and Bangkok. After Hong Kong, it will visit other cities before the end of the year, including Beijing, Copenhagen, Sydney, Seoul, Singapore, Stockholm, Honolulu, Tokyo, Prague, and Dubai.
Taking place this year from 15 to 31 August for 17 days, HKIFF46 will go hybrid again, featuring in-theatre and online screenings and audience-engagement events. It will unveil its complete programme at a special media event on 27 July.
