Developing new Chinese-language films and supporting fresh talent will be key at this year’s expanded HKIFF Industry Project Market
This year, the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) has curated a bumper line-up of 47 projects for its newly expanded HKIFF Industry Project Market, incorporating the longstanding Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and the inaugural HKIFF Industry-CAA China Genre Initiative (HCG).
HCG, which represents HKIFF Industry Office’s latest programme, is a collaboration with talent agency CAA China dedicated to the development of fresh Chinese-language titles and nurturing new talent.
“HCG is set to run for an initial three years as a separate programme from HAF,” says Jacob Wong, director of HKIFF Industry. “Both take place concurrently under the bigger umbrella of the newly created HKIFF Industry Project Market. HCG will give priority to genre projects, which can carry more mainstream potential, different from the arthouse projects that HAF is known for.”
The first HCG edition will showcase six projects spanning China, Singapore and Taiwan, led by filmmakers including producer Li Xiaoyuan (Love Is A Gun), actor-turned-producer James Wen, directors Yin Chen-Hao (Man In Love), Gao Linyang (To Love Again) and Yan Bing (160 Years Old), and first-time feature directors Wang Hao, Rowena Loh and Du Junlin. The projects are in development and are seeking financing and co-producers; all have full scripts available.
China’s Li Fei, director of The Gift and Two Tigers, and Zhou Yunhai, screenwriter of Godspeed and recent Chinese New Year hit Pegasus 2, were among the selection committee for the six HCG projects. Both are represented by CAA China and will take on the role as script mentors for the two projects that pick up the HCG Award.
The two winners will each receive a cash prize of $20,000 sponsored by HCG’s co-founder CAA China. The talent agency – set up by Hollywood agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 2017 in partnership with China’s CMC Capital Partners – may offer them script development agreements to take the projects to the next stage. CAA China’s CEO Mary Gu and head of motion pictures Patrick Zhu will be onsite during HCG.
Robust market
“China’s inherent advantage is the sheer size of its market,” says Wong, who lived in Beijing for several months during the pandemic. “Even when it might not be in very good shape, the market can still do well in various ways. The market there is still the most robust, even compared to Japan and South Korea.”
Hong Kong-based Wong is also a longtime delegate on Chinese-language films for the Berlinale. A number of titles from China premiered at the festival for two consecutive years post-Covid, reflecting a strong crop of talent in the country.
This year, two Berlin titles from China had used HAF as a launchpad: Qu Youjia’s She Sat There Like All Ordinary Ones, which received a special mention from the youth jury of Generation 14plus, and Lin Jianjie’s Brief History Of A Family, which premiered in Sundance’s world cinema dramatic competition before playing in the Berlinale’s Panorama.
Unlike HCG, HAF is not restricted to Chinese-language projects. Some of its most recent foreign-language successes include Sleep With Your Eyes Open by Germany-born, Argentina-based Nele Wohlatz, which premiered in the Berlinale’s Encounters last month where it won the Fipresci jury prize; Solids By The Seashore by Thai director Patiparn Boontarig, which won Busan’s New Currents award in October; and Who Were We? by Japanese director Tomina Tetsuya, which premiered in Tokyo’s main competition, also in October.
Who Were We? is also part of the HKIFF Collection, a label that operates as part of HKIFF Industry and supports independent titles in festival and international distribution.
The HKIFF Industry Market is taking place from March 11-13 alongside Filmart. Apart from the six HCG projects, the project market comprises 26 in-development and 15 work-in-progress HAF projects. They will be vying for 21 cash and in-kind prizes worth more than $223,000.
Accredited industry guests include investors, producers, festival programmers, distributors and other industry professionals who can book one-on-one onsite meetings with the project teams. There are also two open pitch sessions for WiP projects where filmmakers and actors will pitch and present footage of their works on stage.
The six inaugural HCG projects:
Call Of Lobster
Dir Yin Chen-Hao
Prods Jin Pai-Lunn, Cheng Wei-Hao
Prod co Calendar Studios
Budget $5.6m
Based on the real-life story of a Taiwanese gangster-turned-lobster farmer, this comedy drama follows the adventures of a man as he travels to North Korea to share his unique farming techniques, aiming to make a name for himself. The project marks the latest collaboration between director Yin and producers Jin and Cheng, following Yin’s first feature, romantic drama Man In Love. Jin’s Taiwan-based Calendar Studios also produced Cheng’s LGBTQ+ supernatural comedy Marry My Dead Body. Both were major hits in Taiwan, ranking as the sixth and seventh highest-grossing local films of all time respectively.
Contact Emma Lin, Calendar Studios
Countdown To The End
Dir/prod Wang Hao
Prod co Beijing YH Film
Budget $2.2m
Chinese director Wang’s feature debut project is an action-filled suspense drama set within the confined space of a shopping mall, where a security guard is forced to play a game of cat-and-mouse with a mysterious caller. He must race against time to save the lives of the people trapped in the facility while also seeking his own redemption. Wang studied at New York Film Academy where he created several short films including Jack Bowman and Brad Lee, the latter of which was named best student action short at Los Angeles Independent Film Festival in 2017. Wang was born in Guangzhou and is based in Beijing.
Contact Wang Hao
Dying Fire
Dir Gao Linyang
Prod Guan Hu
Prod co The Seventh Art Pictures (Shanghai)
Budget $3.6m
Chinese director Gao, whose first feature To Love Again won a special jury award in Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition last year, reunites with producer Guan Hu (director of The Eight Hundred) on comedy drama Dying Fire. The story follows a miner and an accountant who try to retrieve their stolen money — and dignity — when they realise the bank they intended to rob is fake. The Seventh Art Pictures was founded by Guan and actor/producer Liang Jing. Gao also wrote the screenplay for Striding Into The Wind, which premiered at Cannes in 2020.
Contact Gao Linyang
Hyperinflation
Dir Yan Bing
Prods Li Xiaoyuan, Shan Zuolong, Du Liwei
Prod co Monologue Films (Shanghai)
Budget $2.2m
This suspense drama centres on an archaeologist who finds herself in financial debt after her husband goes missing, while unravelling the mystery of an ancient female corpse whose fate bears an uncanny similarity to her own. Yan directed 2021 family drama 160 Years Old, winner of best cinematic script at China’s First International Film Festival. Producers Li and Shan were behind Love Is A Gun, winner of the Lion of the Future award for a debut film at Venice in 2023, and The Water Murmurs, winner of Cannes’ short film Palme d’Or in 2022.
Contact Li Xiaoyuan
Reunion Diaries
Dir Rowena Loh
Prods Jean Yeo, James Wen
Prod cos Ochre Pictures, Liu-Yu Entertainment
Budget $2.18m
Singapore-based director Loh’s debut is a romantic comedy drama that explores the different facets of love through four stories set across four cities — New York, Singapore, Taipei and Hong Kong — during the festive Lunar New Year. Yeo is a prolific showrunner and founder of Singapore-based Ochre Pictures. Her recent credits include TV series The Last Madame, which won best Asian drama at the Asia Contents Awards in 2020, with Loh among the show’s directors. Taiwan-based production company Liu-Yu Entertainment was set up by Taiwanese actor Wen in 2022, who is known for his award-winning role in HBO Asia’s The World Between Us.
Contact Kate Feng, Ochre Pictures
Scriptures And Poetry
Dir Du Junlin
Prod Li Xiaoyuan
Prod co Eye Cutting Room
Budget $1.5m
The feature debut of Chinese editor-turned-director Du is a comedy about a 64-year-old film director who, prompted by his wife, embarks on a journey with his longtime screenwriter from Hong Kong to Guangzhou seeking inspirations for a romantic film. Du studied directing at the Beijing Film Academy. He is the founder of film editing company Eye Cutting Room and has edited The Water Murmurs, winner of Cannes’ short film Palme d’Or in 2022, and 160 Years Old. Li Xiaoyuan is a producer of The Water Murmurs and Love Is A Gun, winner of Venice’s Lion of the Future award in 2023.
Contact Li Xiaoyuan
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