Cinema nouveau

Boost for emerging talents

At the Hong Kong Filmart held in March - often regarded as an unofficial industry warmup for the HKIFF - the big news was that the local film and television industry would soon receive a HK$5 billion ($639 million) boost via a five-year Hong Kong Cultural and Art Industry Revitalization Program driven by the e-commerce and entertainment giant Alibaba.

There was also encouragement for emerging filmmakers in the form of awards at the annual Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) program (see sidebar) and a new HKIFF Industry-CAA China Genre Initiative to promote the more commercially leaning works of Chinese cinema.

"It all seems to be happening," Lee says. "The industry has been very busy. We are working closely with the talent agency CAA China toward promoting genre films and that is a first for Hong Kong. We hope to encourage more Chinese-language filmmakers to become involved."

Instant music

The Asian premiere of Gift - a unique live collaboration between Japanese Oscar-winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car, 2021) and his go-to composer Eiko Ishibashi, on March 30 - was a festival highlight. Ishibashi composes an extempore soundtrack during the show, as she responds to images cut from Hamaguchi's Evil Does Not Exist (2023) - their most recent film together.

"I don't see these images before the concert, only react to them in the moment, and the audience can react to both things," Ishibashi explains.

She hopes that the experience can help broaden the horizons of the audience in terms of what constitutes a cinematic experience.

"I like to explore new things, and new ways of presenting my work, and I think that is an important part of being featured at a film festival where you should always try something new," Ishibashi says.

The festival draws to a close on Monday, with Japanese director Sh Miyake's achingly romantic All the Long Nights (2024) making its Asian premiere.