New filmmaker voices are rising in Hong Kong, but challenges remain

Hong Kong cinema is enjoying newfound success on the international stage through a rising generation of filmmakers, which saw Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well take the Teddy award and an audience prize at last month’s Berlinale. But the challenges of sustaining growth, revitalising the box office and the city’s uncertain future still loom large.

“A bunch of new talent in recent years has definitely shown their potential, [which looks] promising for Hong Kong cinema,” says producer Amy Chin, who also points out all is not plain sailing. “New directors are like wine that takes time to mature, but now they have far less opportunities to hone their skills.”

Chin began her career during the boom years for the Hong Kong film industry in the 1980s and 1990s, when film output was counted in the hundreds, compared to fewer than 50 local releases annually in recent years.

Her latest producing projects include upcoming feature Papa from Philip Yung (Where The Wind Blows), a tragic family drama starring Lau Ching Wan; and Somebody Up There Writes Me, the directorial debut of The Midnight After novelist Kong Ho Yan, which will be presented during the Operation Greenlight pitching initiative at Filmart.

With the support of Create Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Film Development Council offers platforms such as Operation Greenlight and funding programmes including the First Feature Film Initiative (FFFI).

Since 2013, FFFI has supported 26 new directors with funding for the production of their debut features, with credits including Time Still Turns The Pages and Fly Me To The Moon, which won best new director for Nick Cheuk and best newcomer for Yoyo Tse respectively at Taiwan’s Golden Horse Awards last November. (Cheuk also won the best new director prize at last night’s Asian Film Awards.)

But while this new wave of filmmakers are viewed as the most exciting development of the last decade, few FFFI directors have been able to follow up with a second film.

The exceptions so far are Still Human director Oliver Chan, whose second film Montages Of A Modern Motherhood is selected for this year’s HAF work-in-progress; My Prince Edward director Norris Wong, whose follow up My Lyricist Wannabe opened in Hong Kong on March 7; and G Affairs director Lee Cheuk Pan, whose second feature was 2019’s The Fallen.

Second sight

“The FFFI productions are fully funded by the government, without many commercial factors imposed on the directors, who can focus on telling a good story,” Chin says. “The real test will be their second films, which require a different mindset, taking the market into consideration.”

She also produced 2023’s Over My Dead Body, the second film by The Sparring Partner director Ho Cheuk Tin, one of the most commercially successful new Hong Kong directors; together, his films have grossed more than $7.7m (HK$60m).

Time Still Turns The Pages is the biggest local box-office success for a FFFI film so far, taking more than $3.5m (HK$27m) in Hong Kong. It is distributed by mm2 Hong Kong – which also handles international sales – along with Medialink and has been picked up for Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore, North America and the UK. China will release Cheuk’s debut film in April.

“We have been reviewing the local box office for the past few years,” says Mani Man, deputy general manager of mm2 Hong Kong. “While local productions have gained traction, we are not confident [of repeating] the success with another drama of the scale like Time Still Turns The Pages.”

The film opened modestly, but saw its box office boosted by the Golden Horse wins (where, as well as Cheuk’s new director prize, it also won the audience choice award).

Man has been studying the titles selected for top international film festivals hoping to identify the type of projects that gain wider recognition, and so plug the gap for Hong Kong.

“There is no lack of creativity and character development [in Hong Kong]. Somehow their films don’t travel far and tend to lack a good vision, which could be related to their literary foundation,” Man says. “Literature, film and other art forms should be interrelated, but the link is not strong in Hong Kong.”

Going back to basics, mm2 Hong Kong is launching a screenwriter contest on which renowned authors will act as jurors. The initiative follows a new director contest that saw Jun Li and Lam Sum among the winners, who went on to make Drifting and The Narrow Road respectively. Both acclaimed titles are produced by mm2, with Man as producer.

Gaining experience

Veteran director and producer Derek Yee, who has served as Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA) chairman since 2015, broke new ground when he hired rising directors to produce the awards ceremony.

“The Hong Kong film industry needs new blood to pick up the baton,” he says. “The preparations for every HKFA ceremony are about seven to eight months. Led by experienced filmmakers, the young directors and screenwriters can gain valuable experience. They can use the ceremony as a platform to showcase their skills and talents that are different from the older generations.”

Yee is pleased HKFA has successfully lowered the age of the production team. New filmmakers such as Kearen Pang (director of Mama’s Affair), Sunny Chan (Table For Six and its sequel) and Jonathan Li (Dust To Dust) have worked in the creative team. Cheuk, whose Time Still Turns The Pages is competing in 12 categories at the upcoming HKFAs, worked in the creative team led by The Goldfinger director Felix Chong in 2016 and 2017 before stepping up as creative director in 2018 and 2019.

This year, the baton has been passed to Lawrence Kan, who serves as creative director after working on the creative team for several editions. His second film, In Broad Daylight, is also a contender at HKFA, leading with 16 nominations.

However, challenges continue to loom large. Just last week, the Hong Kong government published a new national security law bill that includes hefty jail terms for defying its statutes, raising further questions around freedom of expression in the city in the long term.

Earlier this year, Prime Video gave a global release to Lulu Wang’s mini-series Expats, starring Nicole Kidman. While the Hong Kong setting is integral to the story, the series has not been allowed to play in the territory, reportedly due its depiction of the 2014 pro-democracy movement.

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