Reel winners

The pursuit of coproductions has been a long-term project for the Hong Kong film industry, pushed along by initiatives such as the 23-year-old Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). Each March, HAF provides a three-day platform where filmmakers from the region - and beyond - can gather to discuss projects, while offering awards to works in progress that include cash prizes to help fledgling projects along. Among its notable recent successes has been the genre-defying Barbarian Invasion (2021). Directed by a Malaysian (Tan Chui Mui), but produced in Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines, the picture won the Jury Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Film Festival, China's largest cinema event.