Hong Kong’s Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) unveiled a rich roster of 28 titles for its upcoming 21st edition on Thursday, with promising projects in development from Singaporean Camera d’Or winner Anthony Chen, maverick Hong Kong director Fruit Chan , emerging Thai talent Jakrawal Nilthamrong and veteran festival circus leader Marco Mueller, among many others. HAF will return in 2023 for its first in-person forum since 2019, following three consecutive online editions during the coronavirus pandemic.
As usual, the event will be held from March 13 to 15 at the same time as the 27th Hong Kong Film & TV Market (aka Filmart), which will take place from March 13 to 16.
Of the 28 titles chosen from 244 entries across 38 countries and territories, HAF says half are from budding filmmakers and eight are Chinese-language projects developed during recent editions of HAF Film Lab’s mentorship program. The selection spans a wide range of genres, including arthouse drama, horror, fantasy, romance, animation, and family films.
Chen, director of the Singaporean Oscar entry Ilo Ilo and the forthcoming English language feature Driftis attached to two of HAF’s 2023 Chinese-language contenders as producers: coming-of-age drama A better tomorrow (China), from Tang Peiyan; and the animated gay drama Skin Coat (Singapore) by Teoh Yi Peng.
Meanwhile, Chan is attached to producing fellow Hong Konger Frankie Lee’s Kapok, a drama about an overworked woman who returns to her hometown for rest and escape. Jakrawal, whose most recent feature film, Vanishing point (2021), premiered in Venice’s Horizons section, returns with rhizome, a poetic drama that follows a Laotian woman who returns to her homeland to become a “deminer” after her brother is killed by a bomb left over from the Vietnam War. Meanwhile, Mueller, former festival director of the Venice, Rome, Locarno, Macau and Pingyao film festivals, is attached as producer to Chinese director Li Dongmei’s miscarriage drama. In the Fruits.
Japan and India are represented at HAF 2023 with only one project each. Filmmaker Mio Taniguchi’s submission, Nagahama (working title), tells the story of a young boy who joins a men-only kabuki group for children and befriends a girl with gender dysphoria, giving him an insight into tradition and identity. Indian director Praveen Morchhale will arrive in Hong Kong to praise White snowa drama about an elderly woman who travels through the mountains to show her son’s forbidden film in remote villages.
“We look forward to welcoming filmmakers, industry guests and trade media friends after three virtual editions of the HAF,” said Jacob Wong, director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society’s industry office. “And HAF21 will once again present itself as an invaluable platform for emerging talent and upcoming projects from Asia.”
View the full HAF selection below:
Oh Ji (Hong-Kong)
Aim. Leo ZHU
Pro. HO Ting-wai
Prodco. Boooom
A better tomorrow (China)
Aim. TANG Peiyan
Advantages. Anthony CHEN, XIE Meng
Prodco. Canopy Photos Shanghai
Bhunte (Nepal)
Aim. Bikas NEUPANE
Pro. Govinda Prasad KHANAL
Prodco. Hamrobox Entertainment
A collapse of time (China)
Aim. FENGYi
Pro. LIU Jike
Prodco. Slumber Mountain photos
Dark eyes (China)
Aim. Phakpa
Advantages. TIAN Zhuangzhuang, HE Bin
Prodco. General dream studio
A separation (UK-Hong Kong-Canada)
Aim. Jevons AU
Advantages. Catherine WONG, Isis TSO
Products. Movie Guys Canada Inc., 109G Studio
Family of scammers (Thailand)
Aim. LAI Kuo An
Pro. Juno TENG
Prodco. Dancing Whale Production Co.
Fly me to Mars (China)
Aim. ZHAO Dadi
Pro. Jane XIE
Prodco. Dirty Monkey studio
The fruit (China)
Aim. LI Dongmei
Advantages. Marco Mueller, QI AI
Prodco. Leopard Film Culture and Art Co.
Hugo in the pig pen (Thailand-US)
Directed by: SHEN Sheng-Ting, SHIH Jing-Ting
Advantages. LAI Zhen-Lin, LIANG Mei-Jou, SHEN Sheng-Ting
Prodco. Dot Connect studio
Java (Iran)
Aim. Arsalan AMIRI
Advantages. Ruth Yoshie LINTON, Ida PANAHANDEH
Products. Evar Film Studio, Kingyo Films
Kapok (Hong-Kong)
Aim. Frankie LEE
Pro. Fruits chan
Prodco. Frankie Lap production
The last port (China)
Aim. ZHANG Jun
Advantages. ZHANG Lu, XU Jiahan
Prodco. Zhang Jun studio
The honeymoon (Hong-Kong)
Aim. Lauren CAN
Pro. Kor YIM
Prodco. Plan C studio
The Story of the Mermaid (Tai-HK)
Aim. Norris WONG
Advantages. Gene YAO, Albert YAO
Prodco. Mapless Lab Co.
Nagahama (working title) (Japan)
Aim. TANIGUCHI Mio
Pro. KATAHARA Tomoko
Prodco. Kolmio movie
Non-fiction stories (China)
Aim. ZHAO Jin
Advantages. NAI An, TONG Wenqun, Dia WANG Yunzhi
Production Companies: Midnight Blur Films, Sputnik Entertainment, TMZ Media
The only way out (Hong-Kong)
Aim. YEUNG Leung-chuen
Pro. June LI
Prodco. Goodnight production
The poison cat (China)
Aim. GUAN Tian
Advantages. YANG Chao, Vivian BAO, DING Ningyuan
Prodco. Peking Guanyu movie
Race storm (Thailand)
Aim. LIN Yu-Hsien
Pro. Roger HUANG, Lorraine HO
Products. Jumpboys Film Ltd., Whisper Entertainment
rhizome (Thailand-Laos-France)
Aim. Jakrawal NILTHAMRONG
Advantages. Chatchai CHAIYON, Yohann CORNU
Prodco. With sound films
Skin Coat (Singapore)
Aim. TAN Wei Keong
Advantages. Anthony CHEN, TEOH Yi Peng
Prodco. Giraffe pictures
Step away (Hong-Kong)
Aim. FAN Ka-chun
Pro. Teddy Robin
Prodco. Loudspeaker
Tender is the night (China)
Aim. Yuan Qing
Advantages. JI Wei, Dia WANG Yunzhi, ZHAO Jin
Prodco. Sputnik entertainment
Till forgetfulness do us part (China-Thailand-France)
Aim. ZHANG Yuxuan
Advantages. ZHANG Fan, QIU Sheng, Clement PELLETIER
Prodco. Beijing Bifun Culture Media
The walking bird (China)
Aim. ZHANG Hanyi
Pro. MA Xiaotian
Prodco. Rare images
White snow (India)
Aim. Praveen MORCHHALE
Advantages. Praveen MORCHHALE, Suneel SAJNANI
Prodco. Photos barefoot
The witness (Iran)
Aim. Approach SAEIVAR
Pro. Said Nur AKKUS
Prodco. ArtHood Movies
