The Hong Kong Film Festival UK returned for its third edition on September 12th.
Running from September 12-28th, the HKFFUK returns once more to London – with an additional stint in Manchester and Edinburgh in October.
A key focus of this year’s festival is highlighting the creative lens of women filmmakers, with more than 50% of the program’s films being directed by women. This includes a retrospective on renowned New Wave filmmaker Clara Law and works by video artist Ellen Pau. With this theme in mind, it’s no wonder that the film opens with Montages of Modern Motherhood, a stark and real look at motherhood in Hong Kong.
The film ends with one of its retrospective titles, Drifting Petals which sees a a filmmaker and a piano student, who first meet in Australia, try to make sense of a past imbued with mystery in Macau and an uncertain future in Hong Kong.
On top of the opening and closing films, other notable screenings include the 10th anniversary of Ten Years and the world premiere of Tammy Cheung’s documentary, Lviv Diary. The program also features interactive events, such as a floating screening of Johnnie To’s The Heroic Trio.
The festival will showcase a total of 52 titles, including 18 feature films and 34 short films, but that’s all together too many to talk about in detail so here are ten I think are worth checking out,
The festival will open with the UK premiere of Montages of a Modern Motherhood and close with Clara Law’s Drifting Petals.
Here are the films to check out (that aren’t the opening and closing movies):
Next Stop, Somewhere (20/09)– Plus Q&A with James Lee and Jeremiah Foo. A movie that speaks strongly of events that have shaped Hong Kong in the past few years. After the Umbrella Movement, Huang (Anthony Wong) moves to Taipei, only to find himself faced with the confinements of a Covid quarantine. At the same time, a woman migrates from Vietnam to Malaysia to marry, only to learn that her new husband is as wealthy as she believed. Two seemingly unconnected tales of diaspora intersect, connected by their yearn for freedom and its costs.
Valley of the Shadow of Death (27/09) – Our second new Anthony Wong film sees him as a pastor who struggles between faith and vengeance, as the man who caused his daughter’s death is released from prison and taken into custody by his church.
Queerpanorama. A strikingly fresh drama, in equally striking black and white, Queerpanoramasees an unnamed gay man takes up the persona every time he hooks up with someone new. Featuring a debut performance by Jayden Cheung that has critics talking, this is one worth keeping an eye on.
Four Trails (13/09) – Robin Lee’s documentary explores Hong Kong’s most daunting athletic challenge: 72 hours, 298km, more than 14,500m of vertical elevation change, where ultra runners strive to cover the city’s four iconic hiking trails in one go. It’s brutal, and the sort of movie to make you glad you’re sitting comfortably just watching people do this.
Ten Years (14/09) – Tenth Anniversary screening, with post-film panel. In 2015, five up-and-coming filmmakers gathered to make an anthology film that explored their deepest fears about what 2025 might look like for Hong Kong. Independently produced, it became an international sensation, spinning out a pan-Asian franchise, and subsequently banned by Chinese authorities. Marking its ten year anniversary, Ten Years remains relevant today, exploring questions of protest, community, preservation and language. A time capsule certainly worth opening.
Spacked Out (17/09) – 25th Anniversary Screening. In this classic coming-of-age classic, four teenage girls wander around Tuen Mun, in a the melange of unruly economic times, political uncertainty and emotional neglect of late-90s Hong Kong. One of them, aged 13, suspects she is pregnant. Lawrence Lau’s social realist tale is one of girlhood, adolescent angst and camaraderie, and a refreshing and proactive portrait without judgment, only empathy.
They Say the Moon is Fuller Here (20/09) – A Hong Kong fine art student studying abroad in London meets an engineering student on a state scholarship from mainland China. Set against the backdrop of the impending handover of Hong Kong and the aftermath of the Cultural Revolution, the film portrays the inner turmoil of those caught between worlds in times of political upheaval.
Farewell China (21/09) – Tony Leung Ka-fai and Maggie Cheung star in this drama as a couple from a rural Guangdong village seeking a better life in the United States. Made on the heels of the 1989 Tiananmen Crackdown, Clara Law reflects on the condition of voluntary exile in the diasporic Chinese community.
No Time for Goodbye (19/09) – Plus Q&A with Dong Ng. Fleeing from political turmoil in Hong Kong, Bosco hopes to build a new life in Britain while seeking refugee status. He meets Yasmin, also an asylum-seeker from Hong Kong, and the two share a longing for home and freedom. A heartbreaking tale looking at the choices behind forceful exile, the realities of British migrant policies, and the pains of protecting liberties.
See the whole schedule and pick up your tickets here.
The Asian Cinema Critic 