Discoveries from Hong Kong SAR China World Cinema

In Northeastern China, a pair of filmmakers recording a shaman's succession become caught in a deadly ritual, as a terrifying nightmare unfolds.

This documentary focuses on the female Chinese writer Xiao Hong and her traveling during the Sino-Japanese war years between 1932 and 1942.

Welcome to the No Sleep Club where you are never alone in fighting insomnia. The three members of the Club, including the hot-headed and now unemployed chef who often goes on profanity-laced tirades, Tina, a runaway forbidden by her parents to pursue dancing, and William, the poet who feels underappreciated. They share a common objective: to be cured of insomnia and leave the Club. Chi, the latest chairman of the Club, is in charge after losing both his girlfriend and his sleep, bringing a breath of fresh air and a new goal to the Club.

Greg is addicted to Realm of Conquest, an online fantasy game where he plays an axe wielding barbarian. After battling on-line together for a year, Greg is finally ready to meet his online love in person. He invites her to meet him in real life on a snowy cabin retreat. The problem is, she's not the typical gamer and the results are anything but predictable.

A Chinese musical

On a stormy night, a rich man is murdered, doused in acid and dumped at sea. Luckily, the young wife of the rich man is helped by an old knight-errant who has been in hiding for many years to track down the murderer. It turns out that the murderer is a longtime friend of the rich man, and he has killed him because of his greed.

Angela Su’s fictional artist Rosie Leavers is the last remaining person to upload her consciousness to a video game. Contemplating during a pandemic year which also saw people’s resistance movements in many parts of the world, the work pinpoints the uncanny affinities between gaming and warfare strategies. They have mutually informed the infrastructure of both worlds since time immemorial when diplomatic conflicts played out on the battlefield of the 64 squares of a chess board to flight simulation technologies which were adapted to shape gaming experiences as we know it now. When the conflict is between the state and its people, she speculates that gaming strategies empower civilians in resistance movements to counter imperialism through its own operative logic. But once we upload our consciousness, are we able to return to the sensibilities and political motivation that inspired the revolution to begin with?

The director spent her childhood living apart from her family and knew very little about its history. This changed when she graduated from college and decided to face her parents with her camera in a search for answers to questions about her past.

After attending a church gathering in Korea, a Hong Kong couple experienced a suspected possession. They turned to Pastor Li, known for his years of exorcism experience. The crew documented one session and brought in experts to analyze the incident from various angles.

When Hei-ji finds out that Mimi hands a love letter to Sam, a charming and handsome guy, he couldn’t help but feel hear tbroken and shattered. Should he just let her go or should he fight for her? On the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Hei-ji finally overcomes all difficulties and fulfils Mimi’s wish. He even gathers up his courage and asks about the love letter.

What's on your menu? Ho and Fung explore the intracices of Chinese dessert as their friendship blossoms into romance. Their happiness, however, is short-lived. Feeling unaccepted by those around them, the couple embark on an increasingly perilous journey featuring hallucinations, jaywalking and unorthodox conversion therapy. Will their love triumph in the end?

Haunted by her past, an ailing young woman who recently lost her mother and the roof over her head is reluctant to accept the generosity of an older man who fell out with his own daughter whose affair with his boss's son cost him his job; her reasons are revealed only after her death and when the past is dredged up. Based on Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Humiliated and Insulted, the film was filmed and distributed in Taiwan however was not released in Hong Kong. It is Ho Fan’s first attempt to fulfil his vision for an art house production in mainstream cinema which breaks the mould by mixing the nuance of art films with popular culture in a confrontation between the old and the new. It was selected in the 1980s by Hsu Li-Kong, director of then Film Library of the Motion Picture Development Foundation (now Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute), as part of its permanent collection. (By Reel to Reel Institute)

In the harsh winter of Inner Mongolia, two young men, Aoqi and Chaligan, spend their days trapped in a dim, cramped room. The desolation of their existence drives them to hatch a plan to scrape together money and flee south. Thus begins their journey between frostbitten cities and the vast, unforgiving grasslands of their homeland.

Hong Kong horror comedy history movie from 1960.

When Hong Kong’s basic freedoms come under attack, media tycoon Jimmy Lai finds himself in the crosshairs of the state and must choose between defending Hong Kong’s long-standing liberties, or his own freedom.

Death is a moment whose reverberation endures for the living. Three students from the Audio-Visual team are shooting a documentary on a schoolmate who has recently committed suicide. It is intended to convey a ‘positive message’ to the entire school about the importance of life. During interviews, the students notice some discrepancies in the testimonies, particularly those by a prefect and a teacher, while friends of the deceased seem to be withholding some inconvenient truth. Should the team pursue the truth, or act as the school’s propagandist? Filmed in a mocumentary style, The Handbook of Suicide Prevention challenges and exposes the hypocrisy and suppression that haunt adolescence.

Hong Kong movie

Hundreds of feet in the air, a drone approaches a row of skyscrapers along Hong Kong’s affluent southern coast. The target: giant holes in the buildings’ facades kept clear for the passage of mythological dragons. Over three successive trips, an affectless voice offers thoughts on feng shui architecture, ideological resistance, and notions of queer identity.

A coming-of-age story about Yuen Loi, from age 6 to 40 something, who always tries to find his own freedom. Believing that the past, the present and the future all exist at one time, he continues his life cycle as an outsider. Inspired by the eternal return in The Unbearable Lightness of Being, life cycle is a complex process with "I" as the combination of one’s past, present and future. Unless one could free oneself from the past and detach one from the environment, one could only repeat one’s daily races eternally.

The essence of "The Pearl of Tailorbird" lies in the fortuitous poetry generated through the process of multiple translations – avian to human, phonetic to semantic, textual to visual – in which the latent porosity of language helps give birth to multi-layered resonances. For Hayama, this kind of whimsical linguistic deconstruction underscores the central role of language in the process of anthropocentric world-building – and offers a method for transforming hegemonic modes of knowing into ones perhaps more sensitively attuned to our own origins in the natural world. Coaxing a depth of associative meaning from the rhythmic interplay of sound, text, and imagery, The Pearl of Tailorbird perhaps most resembles lyric poetry – or a hermeneutic puzzle – given spatial form. (www.emptygallery.com)

A dedicated young female martial arts instructor, Ming Yu, who is in search of a true master, has no choice but to dismiss Rufus, a rogue student who doesn't play by the rules. He goes on a drunken rampage on the streets of Hong Kong. Polly, an aspiring artist and language teacher, runs into him and ends up a victim. The experience shatters her confidence, turning her into a hopeless wreck. Encouraged by Kyra, a teenage girl, she reluctantly begins to learn kung fu, training under Ming Yu, who herself hopes to be taught by legendary Wing Chun Grandmaster Wan Kam Leung. Polly's life improves, but learning a few self defense moves somehow isn't enough. Unaware of the connection between her attacker and Ming Yu, Polly sets out to claim back what was stolen from her.

The Price of Justice is a documentary film that follows four women as they try to pursue cases against their former employers. Taken into kafkaesque circumstances, these workers spend their days in waiting rooms, long queues and tribunals in a frustrating attempt to get access to justice. This documentary is my latest collaboration with Rights Exposure for Hong Kong Federation of Domestic Workers and has the support of the International Labour Organisation.

Letter to the Young Intellectuals of Hong Kong is a 35mm film that utilised and appropriates footage from a documentary Henry Moore exhibition in Hong Kong, through over-dubbing, painting directly onto the film and other gestures, Mok turns the material into an incendiary address to Hong Kong's youth. Intercut with newly filmed material creates, the film also functions as a personal diary of Mok's political activity throughout the 1970s.

The Old Chef has been prisoned and will soon be executed. Determined to uncover the truth, his apprentice, the Young Chef, realizes that the Last Supper could be his only chance to reach his fellow master before it is too late…

Singer-songwriter Vincy explores the meaning of those words closest to their being: music, love, queerness, and Asian identity.

Young people are protesting on the streets of Hong Kong in order to bring about change. Air soaked with tear gas, the dark uniforms and loud commands of the police officers in the colourful umbrella sea of the protesters. In the midst of the action, the film documents a brand new protest movement.

All participants must have a valid Hong Kong identity card or must be born in Hong Kong (with a valid birth certificate). While there has been other Miss Hong Kong pageants in prior years producing notable titleholders such as Judy Dann (1951), Virginia June Lee (1953), Michele Mok (1958), Laura da Costa (1967) and Mabel Hawkett (1970), the current annual TVB pageant began in 1973. Apart from the top prize winner, first runner-up and second runner-up prizes, the pageant also has other consolation prizes that vary slightly from year to year. Many Miss Hong Kong contestants have gone on to have movie careers as it is quite typical for the top contestants to garner television contracts from TVB.

Wong Chi Wa’s uncle, Lee Ho Sang, was 20 years old when he disappeared one night without a trace during the Hungry Ghost Festival. Rumours about the incident have spread swiftly around the neighbourhood. Fifteen years later, without explanation about his disapearance, Lee suddenly showed up. Like a ghost tale, the story would be retold every year…

A documentary that explores the lives of people within the Chinese LGBT community. Through a series of intimate interviews with various gay, lesbian and non-binary people from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, we question identities, love, marriage and other personal queer experiences, while highlighting the constraints or freedoms that each place might bring.

In late 2009, over twenty Hong Kong civic groups united as the "Anti-High-Speed Rail, Stop Funding" coalition, aiming to halt Legislative Council approval of the HKD 66.9 billion Express Rail Link amid deep social rifts. The "Post-80s Anti-High-Speed Rail Youth" group drew thousands of young people with their slogan “Defend Our Homeland, Protest with Joy,” leading to three funding suspensions that surprised the public. Media coverage was intense and innovative, featuring rare camera angles and lively online debate among journalists. This documentary explores how reporters shaped the movement, their emotional involvement, and the dynamic relationship between the media and activists during Hong Kong’s pivotal 2009–10 protests.

A short film set in NY.

The Ghost Festival takes place during the seventh lunar month. The gates of hell are opened to free the hungry ghosts who wander the world seeking food. During this month, Chinese pay tribute to their ancestors and offer food to the deceased to appease them and ward off bad luck. In Hong Kong, besides staging ceremonies to honor the dead, many Taoist organizations also give away rice to the elderly and the poor. The rice distribution depicted in this film was one of the largest events, and attracted over eight thousand people. The event was scheduled to last from nine in the morning to six in the evening. In order to ensure a place in the line, most of the participants arrived before dawn.

A girl moves into a mansion with her father and falls in love with the painter she tries to evict.

For photographer Zou Qiao, Golfville and the behemoth-like golf course nearby are bizarre and unforgettable. He never expects that the hotel owner’s daughter is so pretty. Neither does he expect that he will be involved in a murder case. He is going everywhere with his camera, shooting birds, women, hands washing golf balls, and glitter of broken glass. Yet he grows more and more confused.

Three passionate Hong Kongers strive to disrupt the textile and recycling industries by innovating sustainable solutions to change mindsets and transition towards a circular economy before the landfills overflow.

Continuing adventures of Huang Fei-hong as he becomes as living legend.

Yingtai, disguised as a man, studied with Liang Shanbo. Forced to marry another, Liang died heartbroken. At Liang's grave, Yingtai leaped in, and both turned into butterflies.

Asia falls into the depth of a large scale civil war, and it is up to five assassins from five different countries to defuse the situation.

Talking to two fishermen made me realize I have never looked at Hong Kong from their perspective. Urban Diary tries to look at Hong Kong and see our shoreline from the sea. We filmed the two fishermen in action, getting on their fishing boat, experiencing fishing and looking at the ongoing reclamation of the harbour with them.

Tangled spirals, rapid encounters, a quiet war between the vertical and the horizontal: Simon Liu’s Refuse Room captures Hong Kong’s architectural densities and lurid fluorescence through shadows, graffiti, and detritus, surfacing the tense and dizzying atmospheres of a city in anxious slumber, caught between fragmentation and solidarity.

Hong Kong horror movie from 1939.

Two policemen, intent on their dangerous mission to uncover the truth at all costs. Putting into question the price of their friendship.

A man is forced to face the childhood traumas that still haunts him in this atmospheric gothic drama. Fung returns to his rural home to attend his mother's funeral. In line with local customs, Fung has to carry his mother's corpse back to the scene of her death, deep inside a forest where he spent his childhood. During his journey, memories of his broken relationship with his single mother and his childhood encounter with violent wolves that was rumored to be inhibiting the forest all resurface in Fung's mind.

A multi-layered story told spontaneously in a natural and simple manner. A story between a grandpa and his granddaughter, their home will be cleared out by the government for the sake of constructing a railway route right through their village.

Hong Kong horror movie from 1953.

Faces & Places - Till We Meet Again is a Hong Kong made-for-TV-movie starring Andy Lau

Trying to approach the city – but constant rejection

In 2019, Ching joined the Hong Kong protests and sought refuge in Taiwan after her brother Long was arrested. In the cold summer of 2024, she returned to Hong Kong to visit her mother and Long who was incarcerated, and proposed the idea of moving to Taiwan to live together.

Eleven-year-old Amra accompanies her mother, Shirin, to pick up her aunt, Hawra, from the airport. Hawra has just arrived from Pakistan for a visit, traveling alone without her young children for the first time. Pretending to be asleep on the car ride back, Amra eavesdrops on the women's conversation, secretly learning intimate details of her aunt's troubling marriage. Before reaching home, Amra convinces the women to stop at the coast for a picnic. Amra devours in delight the sweet limes brought by Hawra, and after, the women decide to go for a swim in the sea, even though they do not have bathing suits. Amra–too shy to join–watches them from the sand. Her mother's phone incessantly rings, distracting Amra away from the shoreline, leading her to discover tragic news. When the women return from their giddy bathing, Amra must choose whether to be the bearer of the tragedy.

Shot over an eight-year period (2007-2015), this documentary film aims to present women’s struggle in the private and public spheres, both in China and Hong Kong. It offers a view into the lives of female factory workers, artists, rights activists, and intellectuals – whom deal with political violence, sexual harassment, online bullying, long-term separation from family, arbitrary treatment by transnational factory management, and/or poverty in their home villages.

Following Asia's best young musicians as they learn to work together, this film explores the higher ideals that music inspires.

After the 2014 Umbrella Movement, Hong Kong Democrats divided into two groups with differing beliefs and protest methods. ‘Community March’ members, often labelled as leftards, focus on fearless community work and caring for minorities, despite not joining frontline protests. Senior journalists Lo King Wah and Kong King Chu highlight their dedication to community service and democratic ideals, showing how they persist in voicing concerns and promoting democracy despite political repression.