Hong Kong’s Asia Film Financing Forum, the region’s leading movie project market, has unveiled the 25 titles selected for its upcoming 2025 edition. The program features films that are in development from some of Asia’s most accomplished directors and producers, including Kore-eda Hirokazu, Aditya Vikram Sengupta, Nai An, Stanley Kwan and Yeh Ju-Feng.
The three-day event, the anchor component of the expanded Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Industry Project Market, will take place March 17-19 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre alongside the 29th Hong Kong Filmart.
“Those shortlisted are remarkable for their cultural diversity. They showcase extraordinary storytelling in a broad range of genres, from action to sci-fi, fantasy, suspense, and horror,” noted HKIFF Industry director Jacob Wong, who added that the organization had received 276 in-development project submissions from 45 countries and regions, spanning Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkey, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea.
“There are nine projects from female directors this year, as well as several collaborations involving filmmakers from Asia, Europe, and North America, underscoring Hong Kong’s position at the crossroads of the global film industry.”
Wong added that 13 of the selected projects have already secured partial funding, with budgets ranging from $200,000 to $5 million.
In keeping with HAF’s mission to support new Asian talent, ten of this year’s projects are from debut directors.
Highlights include the France-China collaboration 49 Days from first-timer Hu Wei. Produced by Sylvie Pialat and Nai An, the film follows a divorced Chinese couple who reunite in Paris to arrange their son’s funeral and confront their past. From India, Aditya Vikram Sengupta produces new director Niladri Mukherjee on Republic of Mahalaxmi Apartment, which examines the country’s majority rule issues through a single-mother tenant who becomes her housing estate’s public enemy when she flags a malfunctioning elevator. Esteemed Japanese auteur Kore-eda Hirokazu, meanwhile, has thrown his support behind newcomer Yamaura Miyoh, the director of Yellow, which grapples with a character living a life of self-punishment after his involvement in a fatal car accident.
The bulk of this year’s projects feature original stories, although there are two adaptations in the mix. Adapted from Chinese sci-fi writer Gu Shi’s Hugo Award-shortlisted novelette, filmmaker Wang Kunlin’s 2181 Overture focuses on a scientist who, upon waking up from cryogenic hibernation, must adjust to a new world while finding her lost daughter through a book she left behind. Edmund Yeo (Aqérat), a past winner of the Tokyo International Film Festival’s best director prize, will direct The Age of Goodbyes, based on Malaysian writer Li Zi Shu’s bestselling novel.
Two projects featuring hometown Hong Kong directors are also in the mix. In Fan Ka Chun’s horror suspense thriller Something in the Way, a detective suffering from face blindness must stop himself from becoming a monster as repressed memories of his missing mother resurface. Open Fire by Sze Pak-lam and Lau Wing-tai (Guilt By Design), meanwhile, is a crime action-cum-disaster film that revolves around a firefighter who must rescue his wife from a slum fire ignited by Interpol during their raid on terrorism.
Wong added the HKIFF Industry Project Market will feature several animation projects at different stages of development or production in a new standalone section this year. Those shortlisted animation projects will be revealed in mid-February. The second edition of the biannual HKIFF Industry-CAA China Genre Initiative, a new program dedicated to Chinese-language genre films, won’t take place until 2026, but CAA China will offer a new script development award during this year’s market.
The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society’s full selection of in-development projects for 2025 is below.
2181 Overture**, Mainland China, Canada
Director: Wang Kunlin
Producer: Zhao Zheyuan
Production Company: Yeahcheer Pictures Co.
49 Days, France, Mainland China
Director: Hu Wei
Producer: Sylvie Pialat, Nai An
Production Company: Les films du Worso
Aanaikatti Blues, India
Director: Arun Karthick
Producer: Madhu Mohan
Production Company: Manvasanai Cinema
The Age of Goodbyes, Taiwan, Malaysia
Director: Edmund Yeo
Producer: David Tang, Edmund Yeo, Dennis Lai, Zhao Jin
Production Company: Renaissance Films Limited
Besik. Homecoming, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan
Director: Iskandar Usmonov
Producer: Diana Ashimova, Yerlan Ibragim, Iskandar Usmonov
Production Company: A Team
The Bird Chaser, Mainland China
Director: Zeng Zhi
Producer: Li Tianyu, Joey Zhu Yinying
Production Company: Beijing Pinwu Cultural Communication Co., Ltd.
The Circumciser, The Philippines
Director: Jun Robles Lana
Producer: Perci Intalan, Ferdy Lapuz
Production Company: The IdeaFirst Company
Dead Tide, Malaysia
Director: Kethsvin Chee
Producer: Lee Sinje, Jin Ong
Production Company: Fast Forward Films Sdn Bhd
Drive South Pray West, Thailand
Director: Panu Aree, Kong Rithdee
Producer: Panu Aree
Production Company: Drive South Pray West Pictures
Giant Salamander, Mainland China
Director: Yang Heng
Producer: Yang Heng
Production Company: Xiangxi Meixi Space Culture Media Co.
Gone with the Wind, Mainland China
Director: Zhao Yanming
Producer: Aubrey Zheng Liyan
Production Company: Beijing Daxiwang Culture Media Co., Ltd.
Indigo Boy, Taiwan
Director: Bill Chia
Producer: Yeh Ju-Feng, Ivy Y.H. Chiang
Production Company: Fragrant Creative Integration Co., Ltd.
Innocent Flesh, Mainland China
Director: Lin Yihan
Producer: Li Yuwen, Hattie Yu
Production Company: Vast Vista Films
Lanka, India
Director: Saurav Rai
Producer: Saurav Rai, Ankita Purkayastha
Production Company: Neonate Audio LLP
Mabui, Japan
Director: Fukunaga Takeshi
Producer: Yamaguchi Shin, Eric Nyari
Production Company: KNOCKONWOOD Inc.
Open Fire, Hong Kong
Director: Sze Pak-lam, Lau Wing-tai
Producer: Ivan Wong
Production Company: Scene One Picture Limited
Pivot, Turkey
Director: Melisa Önel
Producer: Alara Hamamcioğlu Bayraktar
Production Company: Vigo Film
Republic of Mahalaxmi Apartment, India
Director: Niladri Mukherjee
Producer: Aditya Vikram Sengupta, Priyankar Patra
Production Company: For Films
See You There, Mainland China, Hong Kong
Director: Wong Yi-kwan
Producer: Wang Hongwei, Song Dafa
Production Company: Beijing Density Blue Film and Television Company
Seoulers, South Korea, USA
Director: Hee Young Pyun, Jiajun Oscar Zhang
Producer: Heejung Oh, Huang Yue, Christine Shen
Production Company: Seesaw Pictures
Somatization, Mainland China
Director: Sun Xiao
Producer: Wang Hongwei, Song Dafa, Lyu Hang
Production Company: Beijing Granary Film Culture Co., Ltd.
Something in the Way, Hong Kong
Director: Fan Ka-chun
Producer: Lam Suk-yin
Production Company: LOUDPROVISION
A Stranger at My Door, Hong Kong, Mainland China
Director: Zheng Lu Xinyuan
Producer: Stanley Kwan Kam-pang
Production Company: N/A
Waves Under the Sea, Macau, Hong Kong, Mainland China
Director: Chan Sileong
Producer: Chan Hing-kai, Robin Yung
Production Company: N/A
YELLOW, Japan
Director: Yamaura Miyoh
Producer: Kore-eda Hirokazu, Ohinata Jun
Production Company: BUNBUKU