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James Marsh

Opening on April 10, the 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival is a 12-day cinematic showcase of award winners and crowd pleasers from across the globe.
While there is a notable lack of new Hong Kong films debuting at this year’s edition, the exciting and eclectic line-up boasts nearly 200 films.
These include more than 50 Asian premieres, a celebration of actor Louis Koo Tin-lok’s impact on the Hong Kong film industry as a producer, and a smorgasbord of restored international classics.
Cinematic luminaries such as French auteur Leos Carax, Spanish filmmaker Albert Serra and Japanese actress Sakura Ando will be in attendance.
Below are 12 highlights not to be missed from this year’s festival.
1. The Brightest Sun (opening film)

Celebrated for his dazzling virtuoso style in such films as Memories of Matsuko and Confessions, Japanese maximalist auteur Tetsuya Nakashima returns with his first feature in seven years.
Featuring a star-studded cast headlined by Hidetoshi Nishijima and Hikari Mitsushima, this surprisingly stripped down and compassionate drama unfolds in the aftermath of a private detective’s murder. A former colleague and his trainee partner are sent to investigate, only to unearth secrets from their own troubled pasts.
2. Pavane for an Infant (opening film)

Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun (Snow in Midsummer) returns with another drama examining the conflicting ideologies in the cultural melting pot of his home nation.
In a country where conservative politics and rigid religious doctrines wrestle for control of women and their bodies, Fish Liew Chi-yu stars as a social worker at a local baby hatch – where unwanted infants can be put up for adoption anonymously – who offers a lifeline to an underage pregnant girl (Natalie Hsu En-yi, Last Song for You).
3. I’m Still Here

Winner of the Oscar for best international feature – and Brazil’s first ever Academy Award – Walter Salles’ harrowing family drama finally arrives on Hong Kong screens.
Fernanda Torres is sensational as the desperate wife, and mother of five young children, who launches a decades-long campaign against a tyrannical authoritarian regime after her husband is abducted by the authorities.
Based on real events and compelling in its execution, the film is a thrilling tale of courage and the quest for truth.
4. Valley of the Shadow of Death

Anthony Wong Chau-sang gives another knockout performance of simmering intensity in the emotionally charged feature-film debut of directors Lam Sen and Antonio Tam Sin-yeung.
Wong plays a dedicated pastor who is thrown into conflict when his church offers sanctuary to the young man (George Au Chun-ho) responsible for his daughter’s death.
Gifted an opportunity for retribution, and spurred on by his unforgiving wife (Louisa So Yuk-wa), this man of God must choose between forgiveness, compassion and his own thirst for justice.
5. The Girl with the Needle

Another of this year’s Oscar nominees for best international feature, Magnus von Horn’s expressionist portrayal of Denmark in the wake of World War I is equal parts nightmarish fairy tale and pressing social commentary.
A young factory worker is seduced by her boss, only to be tossed onto the street when she falls pregnant. The return of her horribly disfigured husband from the battlefield only compounds her misfortune, until she meets a seemingly benevolent woman offering a way out.
6. Cadet

Kazakh filmmaker Adilkhan Yerzhanov shores up his position as one of Asia’s most consistently exciting and inventive filmmakers with another genre-bending show-stopper.
A wealthy single mother (Anna Starchenko, Steppenwolf) uses her connections to secure a spot for her son at an exclusive military academy, only to see the boy bullied relentlessly because of his feminine appearance.
This brawny takedown of institutionalised toxic masculinity, however, veers sharply into supernatural horror territory when dead bodies start to litter the barracks.
7. Chain Reactions

The year 2024 marked the 50th anniversary of Tobe Hooper’s The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, a film that has only risen in stature with each passing year – from grungy exploitation shocker to legitimate masterpiece of 1970s American cinema.
Winner of the best documentary prize at Venice in 2024, Alexandre O. Philippe’s latest deconstruction of the art of filmmaking brings together Stephen King, Takashi Miike and Patton Oswalt, among others, to share their unique and wildly enlightening memories and interpretations of this long-misunderstood horror classic.
8. Megalopolis

One of the most divisive cinematic offerings of the last 12 months, Francis Ford Coppola’s long-gestating passion project is finally coming to Hong Kong, where it is set to bewitch and befuddle in equal measure even the most avid fans of the filmmaker.
Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel and Aubrey Plaza lead a vast ensemble cast in a sprawling epic that reimagines ancient Rome in New York, as visionary architect Cesar attempts to save the metropolis by transforming it into a glittering urban utopia. The Brutalist this most certainly is not.
9. Kneecap

The origin of real Irish-language rap trio Kneecap is brought to the screen in electrifying fashion in Rich Peppiatt’s outrageous, frequently hilarious and politically incendiary comedy.
Starring the band as themselves – belligerent, hedonistic youngsters who rap in Gaelic about the hardships of growing up under British rule – the film charts their rise to notoriety across Northern Ireland.
Propelled by the band’s effortlessly infectious hip-hop stylings, Kneecap raises a defiant middle finger to oppression and those who dare to quash free speech.
10. Seven Samurai

Any opportunity to experience Akira Kurosawa’s legacy-defining masterpiece on the big screen is one to be cherished, but this new 4K restoration gives the groundbreaking action epic a new lease of life.
A rousing, rollicking roller-coaster spectacle that has provided the template for countless underdog stories in the decades since its 1954 debut, Kurosawa’s stirring tale of honour, purpose, teamwork and sacrifice remains indisputably one of the greatest films ever made.
11. Chinese-language restored classics

This year’s Pan-Chinese Cinema programme includes a mouth-watering quartet of newly restored classics.
Johnnie To Kei-fung’s award-winning PTU and Patrick Tam Ka-ming’s My Heart Is That Eternal Rose are both screening in brand-new 4K restorations, as is Tseng Chuang-hsiang’s Taiwanese revenge drama The Woman of Wrath, with eight previously cut sequences now back in place 40 years on.
Most exciting of all, perhaps, is the inclusion of Peter Yung Wai-chuen’s little-seen 1979 crime drama The System, which infuses a frenetic tale of cops and gangsters with almost documentary-like realism.
12. Sakura Ando

One of the most celebrated and popular Japanese actresses of her generation, Ando has starred in a raft of critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, and worked with many of the country’s finest directors.
Ando will participate in a special masterclass at this year’s festival, which will also screen four of her most notable films: Hirokazu Koreeda’s Shoplifters, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes in 2018; the sensational boxing drama 100 Yen Love, which spawned the Chinese blockbuster remake Yolo; 0.5mm, directed by the actress’ sister, Momoko Ando; and the 2024 phone-scamming thriller Bad Lands.
The Hong Kong International Film Festival runs from April 10 to 21 at various venues. For full programme details, visit hkiff.org.hk.
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Anthony Wong Chau-sang in a still from Valley of the Shadow of Death.

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The 2025 HKIFF boasts a line-up of nearly 200 films to be shown over 12 days. Here is our pick of unmissable movies and programmes


The 2025 HKIFF boasts a line-up of nearly 200 films to be shown over 12 days. Here is our pick of unmissable movies and programmes.


Hong Kong International Film Festival 2025 highlights: 12 must-see movies and programmes

The 2025 HKIFF boasts a line-up of nearly 200 films to be shown over 12 days. Here is our pick of unmissable movies and programmes

1. The Brightest Sun (opening film)

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