Upcoming projects from award-winning directors Huang Ji, Qiu Jiongjiong, and Chong Keat Aun are among the 15 works-in-progress (WIP) titles selected for the 23rd Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF23).
The upcoming features will be showcased during the HKIFF Industry Project Market, set to take place from March 17-19 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre during the 29th Hong Kong Filmart.
After winning best film at the 60th Golden Horse Awards for Stonewalling, Huang Ji and her regular collaborator Ryuji Otsuka will present A Woman Builds, about a Chinese woman who commits herself to building a house in her hometown while living a pseudo-single life, separated from her Japanese husband and child, during the Covid pandemic.
Following his acclaimed A New Old Play, winner of Locarno’s special jury prize in 2021, Qiu Jiongjiong brews a dark comedic culinary guide to Sichuan cuisines in Fuxi: Joy In Four Chapters, which stars Lee Kang-Sheng, Lee Hong-Chi, and Annie Chen. The narrative spans four millennia and four festivities involving the living, the dying, the dead, and the long dead.
Chong Keat Aun, who won the Golden Horse best new director award in 2020 for The Story Of Southern Islet and premiered Snow In Midsummer in Venice’s Giornate degli Autori, is finishing Mother Bhumi, which stars Fan Bingbing as a widowed farmer who is caught in the mystery shrouding her husband’s death.
Several emerging filmmakers will also showcase their works. Acclaimed Indonesian actor Reza Rahadian tackles the social issue of men having a woman sitting on their laps as they drink coffee in his directorial feature debut, Pangku; India’s Tribeny Rai looks at patriarchy through an unconventional woman caught between conformity and independence in Shape of Momo, previously named India’s NFDC Film Bazaar WIP lab’s best project; and Macau-born director Tracy Choi reunites with Sisterhood stars Jennifer Yu and Fish Liew in Girlfriends, which chronicles three love stories in Macau, Taiwan and Hong Kong over 15 years.
A string of projects focuses on youth and romance. Emetjan Memet’s Xinjiang-set romantic comedy Good Drink Pub is about a lonely pub owner who avoids falling for a new waitress; Gong Yiwen’s Her First Taste is shot in documentary style and captures a teenage girl’s first bittersweet bond with a boy; and Li Jing’s coming-of-age drama Name And Hair revolves around a boy with a strange haircut and a teenage girl who wants to change her name at all costs.
The selection also comprises female-led projects by woman directors with central female characters. White Flowers And Fruits, from Oscar-winning Drive My Car producer Teruhisa Yamamoto for director Yukari Sakamoto and starring Mugi Kadowaki, centres on two girls as they unravel the mysterious suicide of a fellow boarding school student; Say My Name by Liu Xing is about a girl who impersonates an exchange student to start a fling with a rich boy, with Cannes award-winning DoP Lyu Yue (Shanghai Triad) producing and Yoyo Tse, Jack Tan and Cai Jie in the cast; and Ah Girl is based on director Ang Geck Geck’s personal experience about a seven-year-old girl who must choose between living with her divorced mother or father.
Further projects feature fantasy and thriller elements. The Ink-Stained Hand And The Missing Thumb by Yashasvi Juyal follows a toll booth worker who dies in a tragic accident and reappears later to pass a poignant letter to his lover, with Anupama Chopra as producer. Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts by Wang Tong tells the story of a zookeeper who falls in love with his father’s caregiver, unaware that she is a serial killer, with Wan Qian and Qu Chuxiao heading the cast. Moonglow, directed by and starring Isabel Sandoval is about an ex-cop assigned to investigate a break-in with her ex-lover in 1970s Manila. Filipina filmmaker Sandoval’s previous feature was Lingua Franca, which premiered in Giornate degli Autori at Venice in 2019.
Some 25 in-development HAF projects were previously announced by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS).
A trio of HAF alumni projects are heading to the Berlinale including Chinese director Huo Meng’s Living The Land in Competition, Hong Kong director Jun Li’s Queerpanorama in Panorama, and The Old Woman With The Knife by South Korea’s Min Kyu-dong in Berlinale Special. The Fruit by China’s Li Dongmei recently premiered in Rotterdam’s Tiger Competition.
HAF23 work-in-progress (WIP) projects
* First feature projects
^ HAF In-Development projects
# HAF Film Lab projects
Ah Girl (Sing) *
Dir. Priscilla Ang Geck Geck
Pros. Charlyn Ng, Wendy Lie
Prodcos. Aggregate Films, In-Focus Asia Pte. Ltd. (IFA Media)
Fuxi: Joy In Four Chapters (Tai-HK-Japan-Fr) ^
Dir. Qiu Jiongjiong
Pros. David Tang, Ding Ningyuan, Zhao Jin
Prodco. Rise Pictures Co., Ltd.
Girlfriends (Macau-Tai-Thai-HK)
Dir. Tracy Choi
Pros. Estela Valdivieso Chen, Jacqueline Liu
Prodco. Serendipity Films Ltd.
Good Drink Pub (China) *^#
Dir. Emetjan Memet
Pros. Wang Hongwei, Zhang Puzhongtian
Prodco. Hangzhou Yidapai Culture Media Co., Ltd.
Her First Taste (China) *
Dir. Gong Yiwen
Pro. Qian Yini
Prodco. Yiwen Films, Sparks Production
The Ink-Stained Hand And The Missing Thumb (India) *
Dir. Yashasvi Juyal
Pros. Anupama Chopra, Yashasvi Juyal, Viraj Sikand
Prodcos. Film Companion Studios, Silvercord Films
Moonglow (Phil-US-Tai-Japan)
Dir. Isabel Sandoval
Pros. Alemberg Ang, Isabel Sandoval
Prodco. Daluyong Studios
Mother Bhumi Malay-It-HK)
Dir. Chong Keat Aun
Pros. Wong Kew Soon, Stefano Centini
Prodcos. Janji Pictures Production Sdn Bhd, Volos Films Italia SRL
Name And Hair (China) *
Dir. Li Jing
Pros. Liu Chang, Zhang Qianqian
Prodco. Beijing Magic Time Film Company Limited
Pangku (On Your Lap) (Indo) *
Dir. Reza Rahadian
Pros. Arya Ibrahim, Gita Fara
Prodco. Gambar Gerak
Say My Name (China-HK) *
Dir. Liu Xing
Pros. Lyu Yue, Mo Jinjin, Duan Tingting
Prodco. Star Lab Production
Shape Of Momo (India)*
Dir. Tribeny Rai
Pros. Kislay, Geeta Rai
Prodcos. Kathkala Films LLP, Dalley Khorsani Productions
White Flowers And Fruits (Japan) *^
Dir. Yukari Sakamoto
Pro. Teruhisa Yamamoto
Prodco. Chiaroscuro Co., Ltd.
Wild Nights, Tamed Beasts (China) *
Dir. Wang Tong
Pro. Wang Xueyin
Prodcos. Emei Film Group Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Yi Yi Yi Yi Culture Media Co., Ltd.
A Woman Builds (Japan-Tai-Sing) ^
Dirs. Huang Ji, Ryuji Otsuka
Pros. Ryuji Otsuka, Kuo Ming-Jung, Fran Borgia
Prodcos. YGP-FILM, Island X Pictures, Akanga Film Asia
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