Liu Jian and Toe Yuen are among the filmmakers who will showcase their latest works in the new animation section of the upcoming Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). A special Indonesian showcase in collaboration with Jakarta Film Week (JFW) has also been unveiled, expanding the scope of the HKIFF Industry Project Market.
A total of six animated feature projects were selected for the inaugural animation showcase, of which three are works-in-progress, including Yuen’s A Mighty Adventure, a Taiwan-Hong Kong-Malaysia co-production about a grasshopper, spider and butterfly who dare to break boundaries and choose their future. Yuen’s My Life As Mcdull won best film at Annecy in 2003.
Min is produced by Liu, the director of previous Berlinale Competition titles Have A Nice Day and Art College 1994, and directed by Li Jiajia. It chronicles the struggles of a 40-year-old woman trapped in a mundane marriage who must make an important decision about her future before she is past her childbearing age.
Inspired by his childhood summers spent with his brother, Wildheart by Tokyo-born France-based Marceau Nakayama is a coming-of-age drama about two young orphans who rely on each another while searching for their families in 1960s Tokyo. Justin Ambrosino serves as producer for this France-Belgium-Japan collaboration.
These three WIP animated projects will take part in an open pitch session, along with 15 previously announced HAF WIP projects, during the HKIFF Industry Project Market, which will run from March 17-19 in conjunction with Hong Kong Filmart.
A further three animated projects are in development, including Cloud Of The Unknown by Gao Yuan, which follows two dreamers as they share secrets about their strange worlds, with Isabelle Glachant as producer.
Light Pillar, produced by actor-director Da Peng for director Xu Zao, is a romantic comedy-drama about a film studio’s janitor who navigates an online romance with a woman, unaware that she is a 10-year-old boy in the real world.
The Tale Of The Holy Beast by Triparna Maiti recounts a journey of the captivity and lost childhood of a four-year-old elephant trained to be a circus performer before becoming a star temple elephant bound by heavy chains.
This year, the HKIFF Industry Project Market is also launching a new section, Jakarta Film Week Projects, to showcase two in-development projects by emerging Indonesian filmmakers. It coincides with the ongoing rise of Indonesian cinema, which has been garnering awards and acclaim on the international festival circuit.
“Through this collaboration with HKIFF Industry, we hope to enhance the visibility of Indonesian projects on the international stage and help them find production and investment partners and global distribution opportunities,” said JFW festival director Rina Damayanti.
The two Indonesian projects are First Breath After Coma by Jason Iskandar (Akhirat: A Love Story), which follows three Chinese-Indonesian siblings torn between their dilemmas and family obligations as their father lies in a coma in the late 1990s amid Indonesia’s political transition; and Fly! by Pelixiano, an animated family adventure about a young boy who takes a mystical journey to the afterlife, where he befriends a spirit creature in his quest to find his late father.
Including 25 previously announced HAF in-development projects, HKIFF Industry Project Market will present a total of 48 projects, the highest in recent years.
HAF Animation projects 2025
* First feature projects
^ HAF Film Lab projects
Cloud Of The Unknown (HK-Fr) *^
Dir. Gao Yuan
Pros. Isabelle Glachant, Camille Li
Prodcos. Chinese Shadows, Shasha & Co Production
Light Pillar (China) *
Dir. Xu Zao
Pros. Da Peng, Lu Xiaowei
Prodco. Fengduan Film (Shanghai) Co., Ltd.
A Mighty Adventure (Tai-HK-Malay)
Dir. Toe Yuen
Pros. Chen Yi-Ching, Wee Meng Hee
Prodcos. Zero One Film, Flystudio
Min (China) *
Dir. Li Jiajia
Pro. Liu Jian
Prodco. School of Animation and Games, China Academy of Art
The Tale Of The Holy Beast (India) *
Dir. Triparna Maiti
Pro. Bejon K Vinod
Prodco. FAEM
Wildheart (Fr-Bel-Jap) *
Dir. Marceau Nakayama
Pros. Matteo Paolini, Justin Ambrosino
Prodcos. Keytales, Forerunner Films
Jakarta Film Week (JFW) Projects
First Breath After Coma
Dir. Jason Iskandar
Pros. Florence Giovani Chandra, Shanty Harmayn
Prodcos. Studio Antelope, BASE Entertainment
Fly! *
Dir. Pelixiano
Pro. Ellen Xie
Prodco. ArtCodeStory
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