The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) has added 12 work-in-progress titles for the 24th Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), with projects featuring top actors and acclaimed filmmakers.
The line-up comprises top actors such as Nick Cheung Ka-fai, Chung Suet-ying, Dian Sastrowardoyo, Christine Hakim and Reza Rahadian, as well as esteemed producers Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, Gita Fara and Meiske Taurisia.
Scroll down for full list of projects
The WIP projects are mostly in post-production and carry a budget of up to $2.2m each. Seven are debut features from such directors as Arvin Belarmino, Shu Hui and Chahat Mansingka.
Together with 17 previously announced HAF in-development projects, these HAF WIP projects will be presented at the HKIFF Industry Project Market, running March 17-19 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, alongside the 30th Hong Kong Filmart.
Further animation and genre projects will be revealed next week to expand the line-up.
Highlights include Good Trip, a comedy drama starring Nick Cheung Ka-fai and Chung Suet-ying, with Berlinale-winning producer Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting (Echoes Of The Rainbow) producing for My Prince Edward director Norris Wong Yee-lam and Wong Hoi. The story follows a film production assistant who takes her ailing father on an ad hoc journey to fulfil his last wishes.
Set within a Chinese-Indonesian family, Jani Be Good follows a 13-year-old girl caught between her controlling mother and runaway sister. Producer Meiske Taurisia, whose Sleep No More will premiere in Berlinale Special this month, produces this feature debut for Ariani Darmawan.
Veteran actress Christine Hakim stars in My Mother, which explores the emotional depths of a desperate mother who longs to reunite with her daughter, who is on death row in Saudi Arabia for killing a would-be abuser. Director Eddie Cahyono’s previous work, Siti, won best film at Indonesia’s Citra Award in 2015.
Reza Rahadian and Dian Sastrowardoyo star in The Sea Speaks His Name (aka Laut Bercerita), a political drama about a student activist whose disappearance in the turbulent 1990s leaves behind a family torn between hope, memory and an unending search for truth. Gita Fara of 2025 Busan winner On Your Lap (Pangku) produces for Yosep Anggi Noen (24 Hours with Gaspar).
Several projects centre on the strength of woman. Set in Kolkata’s fading Chinatown, Chahat Mansingka’s Like A Feather In The Wind focuses on a lonely woman who begins to see her late husband after her adult children have left home, leading her to accept the empty nest quietly.
Ria by Arvin Belarmino portrays the struggles of a hotel housekeeper as she leads her punk community in standing against violence and displacement while caring for her ailing foster mother. Sound engineer-turned-director Sailesh Rathnakumar’s Selvi stars Anjali Patil in a drama about the endurance and strength of a migrant home care nurse, whose long hours of work blur the line between care and exhaustion.
Rising directors making their feature debut include Zhang Tao with Farewell My Blue Bird, which explores China’s younger rural generation through a woman who leaves her mountain village to make a living in the city when her construction worker husband returns after an accident.
Editor-turned-director Shu Hui has A Thousand Stars In The Galactic Night, a sci-fi suspense film about an odd-job labourer who uncovers the hidden secrets of her life following her boyfriend’s disappearance, with Huang Yao and Bate’er Liu in the cast.
Further feature debut projects include Lu Po-Shun’s Will You Still Be My Friend, which is narrated from the viewpoint of a 13-year-old village boy who shares a secret bond with his best friend from Singapore, but tensions between their families threaten to tear them apart; and Ken Yang’s A Vampire, Probably, a horror fantasy about a bloodthirsty teenager who, upon being released from prison for murder, starts anew by learning body reconstruction at a funeral home under a mysterious professor.
Rounding out the selection is A Ghost In The Market, which was first developed through the HAF Film Lab in 2023 before progressing to HAF’s in-development projects section the following year. This supernatural drama is about a housewife who is beaten to death by her abusive gambler husband but returns to resume her daily chores in her decaying body. Director Chin Chia-Hua’s feature debut Trouble Girl received seven nominations at the Golden Horse Awards, winning best actress.
24th HAF WIP Projects
* First narrative feature
Farewell My Blue Bird (China)
Dir. Zhang Tao
Pro. Tong Siyu
Prodco. Nanjing Sanmulin Film & Culture Media Co., Ltd.
A Ghost In The Market (Tai)
Dir. Chin Chia-Hua
Pro. Eva Wang
Prodco. Geppetto Film Studio
Good Trip (HK)
Dirs. Norris Wong Yee-lam, Wong Hoi
Pro. Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting
Prodco. Tango For Four Production Limited
Jani Be Good (Indo) *
Dir. Ariani Darmawan
Pro. Meiske Taurisia
Prodco. Palari Films
Like A Feather In The Wind (India) *
Dir. Chahat Mansingka
Pros. Sanjay Mansingka, Chahat Mansingka
Prodco. Rama Talkies
My Mother (Indo-Japan-HK)
Dir. Eddie Cahyono
Pros. Tika Bravani, Isabelle Glachant
Prodco. ANP Talenta Media, Knockonwood Inc., Chinese Shadows
Ria (Phil-Nor-Neth-Saudi) *
Dir. Arvin Belarmino
Pros. Kristine De Leon, Alemberg Ang
Prodco. WAF Studios, Daluyong Studios
The Sea Speaks His Name (Laut Bercerita) (Indo)
Dir. Yosep Anggi Noen
Pros. Gita Fara, Budi Setyarso, Leila S. Chudori
Prodco. Pal8 Pictures
Selvi (India) *
Dir. Sailesh Rathnakumar
Pro. Anjali Pati
Prodco. Anahat Films
A Thousand Stars In The Galactic Night (China) *
Dir. Shu Hui
Pros. Wang Hongwei, Lyu Hang
Prodco. Chengdu Qianxing Film and Culture Limited Co.
A Vampire, Probably (Tai) *
Dir. Ken Yang
Pro. Lin Ming-Chih
Prodco. Ying Hong Pictures Co., Ltd.
Will You Still Be My Friend (Tai-Sing) *
Dir. Lu Po-Shun
Pro. Su Yu-Hao
Prodco. InLight Film Studio, Verdant Peak Films
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