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Winner of Best Picture at the 9th Hong Kong Film Awards and the 36th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, among others, “Ordinary Heroes” has Ann Hui focusing on another type of boat people, this time the Yau Ma Tei, people who ended up living on their boats for a variety of reasons. As their living circumstances deteriorated at the end of the 70s, a number of protests, both by them and by activists, took place, against the fact that the government had never carried out a tenancy registration for them, which made it very difficul for them to resettle on land. One of the key figures in their fight was Father Franco Mella, who referred cases to volunteers and social workers, bringing more and more NGOs, such as the Society of Community Organization and Kwun Tong Inquiry Service, into the issue, while also helping with their education. The film focuses...

Other contenders include biopic ‘Anita’, ‘Drifting’ and ‘Raging Fire’, the final thriller by the late Benny Chan.

Soi Cheang’s crime thriller Limbo leads the pack for the 40th Hong Kong Film Awards (Hkfa) with 14 nominations, as the event prepares to return as an in-person ceremony following last year’s cancellation as a result of the pandemic.

The black and white crime noir, which premiered in Berlinale Special in 2021, secured nods including best film, best director and for actors Lam Ka Tung[/link], Cya Liu and Fish Liew. The thriller centres on a veteran detective and rookie copy who team up to catch a serial killer.

The Academy (Afaa) revealed the nominees for the 15th Asian Film Awards today. Thirty-six films from eight Asian regions will compete for 16 awards. China’s One Second, South Korea’s The Book of Fish, India’s The Disciple, and two Japanese films, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy and Wife of a Spy, compete for this year’s “Best Film Award.”

Three Hong Kong films were nominated for this year’s Afa, including Drifting, directed by Jun Li, nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Actress. Limbo, directed by Cheang Pou-soi, was nominated for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Production Design and Best sound; Adam Wong’s The Way We Keep Dancing was nominated for Best Original Music.

The Afaa is honoured that legendary South Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong will be this year’s Jury President. Lee was the lifetime award recipient at the 13th Asian Film Awards.He won the “Best...

Hong Kong auteur Fruit Chan’s upcoming satirical horror anthology film “Coffin Homes” is set to be released in local theaters in August, distributor Edko Films announced on Wednesday.

“Coffin Homes” revolves around Hong Kong’s housing problems caused by the lack of space and sky high property prices. “Hong Kong’s property prices are so expensive that they are out of reach to most people. This is what the film is trying to say,” Chan said in a statement.

The film and its subject matter expand on Chan’s social realist depictions of Hong Kong’s grassroots life and anxieties over the city’s future, expressed through his iconic debut “Made in Hong Kong” to horror drama “Dumplings.” His oeuvre has also included horror sci-fi “The Midnight After” and the controversial drama “Three Husbands.”

Chan said he chose the black comedy treatment in order to portray Hong Kong people...

Director Jun Li hopes his new film, “Drifting”, which made its Asian premiere at the 45th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF45) tonight, can spotlight Hong Kong’s homeless people for more public attention.

Joining Li at a star-studded gala screening at Hong Kong Cultural Centre was the ensemble cast, including Loletta Lee, Cecilia Choi, Chu Pak-hong, Baby Bo, Will Or, and Cecilia Yip in a special appearance. Selected for the International Film Festival Rotterdam’s Big Screen Competition earlier this year, “Drifting” is the young filmmaker’s second feature following “Tracey”, his critically-acclaimed debut in 2018.

Based on a true story, “Drifting” recounts how an ex-convict, played by Francis Ng, and his fellow drifters take their fight to court after the authorities had raided their makeshift homes and disposed of their belongings.

“I used to walk past the squatters in the Sham Shui Po underbridge every day on my way to school,...

Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, who somehow manages to be an industry veteran and an enfant terrible at the same time, is currently in post-production on “Coffin Homes.” The film is a satirical horror anthology, that probes the city’s eternal housing problem, especially its micro dwellings known as cubicle apartments or coffin homes.

Chan, who has long played in a social realist riff through titles including “Dumplings,” “The Midnight After” and Hollywood-Hong Kong,” takes the term literally and focuses his film on folks who are ready to live under the same roof as the dead. It stars Tai Bo (“Suk Suk”), Cheung Tat Ming (the Dragon Loaded film series), Loletta Lee (“Ordinary Heroes”) and Susan Shaw (“Gallants”).

Edko Films, part of producer Bill Kong’s cinemas to distribution group, is handling rights, with all territories outside Greater China available at FilMart.

The firm is also proposing “Disconnect’d” a drama-thriller starring Aaron Kwok.

Jun Li studied journalism in Hong Kong and gender studies at Cambridge. He released two short films before directing his feature debut Tracey (2018), about a man in his 50s coming out as transgender. The film was nominated for three awards at Golden Horse Film Festival. Drifting (2021) is his second feature film, with its world premiere at IFFR.

We speak with him about the poor and homeless and the cleanings the Hong Kong government implemented, the challenges he had to face during the shooting, the casting, and many other topics.

What kind of research did you do for Drifting?

When the street cleanings in 2012 happened, to which I refer in particular, I was 20 year old. This impressed me much and since then, it was a topic I followed. I studied journalism at the university and wrote some articles on it in the student publication. To prepare for the film I went...