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Source: HAF

Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum

The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF, March 25-27) has announced the 33 projects shortlisted for this year’s edition of the co-production and financing market, including 24 fictional features and nine documentaries.

The selection includes leading Asian filmmakers such as Thailand’s Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Taiwan’s Giddens Ko, Japan’s Naoko Ogigami and Singapore’s Yeo Siew Hua, as well as 11 first-time feature directors.

Seven Hong Kong projects have been selected, including Pang Ho-cheung’s The End, the story of a psychic medium who seeks help from a dead director for the ending of his unfinished script; Derek Chiu’s contemporary social drama When Youth Departs; and Ng Kai-chung’s animated feature Another World.

Projects from mainland China include Tao Huaqiao’s Eternal Night, to be produced by Korean auteur Kim Ki-duk; Qiu Sheng’s Gu And The Ghost, the director’s second feature following award-winning drama Suburban Birds; and Lina Yang’s Song Of Spring, about an 85-year-old mother and her 65-year-old daughter who has Alzheimer’s disease.

Documentaries in the line-up include Eden Bernal’s The Siren Song, about three generations of Mexican fisherwomen, which is produced by Hong Kong’s Polly Yeung and is the first project from Mexico to take part in HAF (see full list of projects below).

HAF is also introducing two new prizes from Create Hong Kong this year – the HAF Documentary Award, to be shared between one Hong Kong project and one non-Hong Kong project, and the WIP Fiction Award. Projects selected for the Work-in-Progress (WIP) section will be announced in February. In total, this edition of HAF will hand out 13 awards worth $154,000 (HK$1.2m) in cash and value-in-kind.

 

HAF 2020 LINE-UP:

 

Among Us (Taiwan)

Director: LIN Cheng-Sheng

Producer: LIN Chi-Chieng

Production Company: Among We Film Production Co

 

Hypnos (Taiwan)

Director: HO Chao-Ti

Producer: LIAO Ching-Sung, Stefano CENTINI

Production Company: Conjunction Films

 

Inspirare (China, Canada)

Director: KANG Yuqi

Producer: CAO Xi, Dana KALMEY

Production Company: Inner Mongolia lanshanyang Cultural Communication

 

June Snow (Hong Kong)

Director: Dean NAPOLITANO

Producer: Ruby YANG

Production Company: MBN Pacific Media

 

Kabul Melody (Afghanistan)

Director: Sahra MANI

Producer: Annie OHAYON-DEKEL

Production Company: 24images

 

My Genie (South Korea)

Director: PARK Hyuck-jee

Producer: EOM Jeong-hwa

Production Company: Hiharbor Pictures

 

Shimshon, Hasidic In Asia (Hong Kong)

Director: Sadie GRANBERG

Producer: Shmuel JUNGER

Production Company: Pop-up Film Limited

 

The Siren Song (Mexico)

Director: Eden BERNAL

Producer: Polly YEUNG

Production Company: Sinapsis, The Lady Improper

 

Waiting For Winter (Bangladesh)

Director: Farid AHMAD

Producer: Salma SONIA

Production Company: Noyakar Productions

 

9 Temples to Heaven (Thailand)

Director: Sompot CHIDGASORNPONGSE

Producer: Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL, Kissada KAMYOUNG

Production Company: Kick The Machine Films, At A Time Pictures

 

Another World (Hong Kong)

Director: NG Kai-chung

Producer: Polly YEUNG

Production Company: Point Five Creations

 

Bad Education (Taiwan)

Director: Giddens KO

Producer: Molly FANG

Production Company: Crystal Clear Co

 

Blind Forest (Japan)

Director: OGIGAMI Naoko

Producer: NAGAI Takuro, NOZOE Ryoko

Production Company: RIKI PROJECT

 

Borrowed Time (China)

Director: CAI Jie

Producer: MO Jinjin

Production Company: Bocut Film Production

 

The End (Hong Kong)

Director: PANG Ho-cheung

Producer: Daniel YU Wai-kwok

Production Company: Epik Pictures

 

Eternal Night (China)

Director: TAO Huaqiao

Producer: KIM Ki-duk

Production Company: Onez Picture, Xiang Shi Xiong Di Film, Sensory World Art Studio

 

Fire Room (Hong Kong)

Director: WONG Ka-ki

Producer: Heiward MAK

Production Company: Goodnight Production

 

Good Deal (China)

Director: SHEN Di

Producer: Rachel CAI, ZHAO Jin

Production Company: Super Player Film & Media Co, Midnight Blur Films

 

Gu And The Ghost (China)

Director: QIU Sheng

Producer: HAN Tian

Production Company: CForce Pictures

 

Happy Journey And Last Will (China)

Director: DAI Xiaolu

Producer: HE Bin

Production Company: Ngorongoro Pictures (Shanghai) Co

 

I O U (China)

Director: ZHANG Zhonghua

Producer: Julia CHU, SZE Kit-ling

Production Company: Golden Gate Productions

 

In The Belly Of A Tiger (India)

Director: Siddartha JATLA

Producer: Vivek KAJARIA, Amanda MOONEY

Production Company: Holy Basil Films, Momo Films

 

Lonely Pine (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan)

Director: Dalmira TILEPBERGEN

Producer: Marina DESSIATKINA

Production Company: Arno Film

 

The Nurse (South Korea)

Director: KIM Soo-young

Producer: KIM Dong-hwan

Production Company: Owl Pictures

 

The River Knows Our Names (Vietnam)

Director: Mai Huyen CHI

Producer: Bui Tran Thanh PHONG

Production Company: K’Noy Films

 

Some Nights I Feel Like Walking (The Philippines)

Director: Petersen VARGAS

Producer: Alemberg ANG, Jade Francis CASTRO

Production Company: vy/ac Productions, Origin8 Media

 

Song Of Spring (China)

Director: YANG Lina

Producer: LIAO Ching-Sung

Production Company: Moon Bear Culture Creative Studio

 

Stranger Eyes (Singapore)

Director: YEO Siew Hua

Producer: Fran BORGIA, Dan KOH

Production Company: Akanga Film Asia

 

The Sunny Side Of The Street (Hong Kong)

Director: LAU Kok-rui

Producer: Peter YAM Yin-cheung

Production Company: Mee Studio

 

Unreachable Places (China)

Director: CHANG Biao

Producer: GONG Jinjin

Production Company: Mofei Pictures (Beijing) International Culture & Media Co

 

Ways To Run (Netherlands, Afghanistan)

Director: Aboozar AMINI

Producer: Jia ZHAO, Joost DE VRIES

Production Company: Silk Road Film Salon, An Original Picture

 

When Youth Departs (Hong Kong)

Director: Derek CHIU Sung-kee

Producer: Derek CHIU Sung-kee

Production Company: Boundary Film Production

 

Zsazsa Zaturnnah Vs. The Amazonistas Of Planet X (The Philippines)

Director: Avid LIONGOREN

Producer: Avid LIONGOREN, Franck PRIOT

Production Company: Rocketsheep Studio