Fred Tsui, the veteran Hong Kong sales executive and founder of Moebius Entertainment, has been appointed executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, the organization announced Friday.
Tsui will formally take up the post Sept. 23, succeeding Albert Lee, the former Emperor Motion Pictures CEO who has led the society since late 2018. Reporting to chairman Wilfred Wong and the board, Tsui will oversee the society’s various year-round activities: the flagship Hong Kong International Film Festival, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the HAF Film Lab, the Summer International Film Festival and the repertory Cine Fan program.
The appointment comes amid a busy few weeks for Tsui at his day job. Moebius, the Hong Kong-based sales agency and festival consultancy he runs as founder and CEO, boarded worldwide sales this week on Michelle Zhou’s debut feature Big Little Things, just selected for the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section, and recently picked up Taiwanese director Fiona Roan Feng-i’s Happily Ever After ahead of its world premiere in Toronto’s Special Presentations lineup.
A respected Hong Kong industry veteran, Tsui spent more than two decades at Media Asia Film — the legacy local studio perhaps best known for the Infernal Affairs franchise — rising to general manager and head of international sales and co-production, where he helped carry late-stage Hong Kong golden age cinema to the global marketplace. Earlier in his career, he held senior management roles at telecom and media group PCCW and broadcaster Asia Television. A member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Hong Kong’s Film Development Council, Tsui has served on festival juries from Sitges to Tallinn to Edinburgh, and has sat on the boards of the Independent Film & Television Alliance in the U.S. and Rome’s MIA market.
“We are delighted to welcome Fred to HKIFFS,” said Wong. “Fred combines strategic leadership with an exceptional understanding of the international film landscape. Throughout his career, he has built bridges between Hong Kong cinema and the global marketplace while earning the trust and respect of filmmakers, festival directors and industry leaders worldwide. Just as importantly, he approaches cinema from the perspectives of an executive, a critic, a festival juror and a lifelong cinephile.”
“It is a tremendous honour to join HKIFFS, an institution that has played such a pivotal role in the cultural life of Hong Kong and in promoting Asian cinema internationally,” Tsui said, pledging to work on “broadening its international reach, nurturing new talent, deepening audience engagement and ensuring Hong Kong remains at the forefront of global film culture.”
Founded in 1977 and among Asia’s longest-running film events, the Hong Kong festival marked its 50th edition earlier this year. Tsui’s first edition at the helm — the event’s 51st — will come next March.