Hong Kong International Film Festival

As the 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival rolls into town, artistic director Li Cheuk-to and curator Jacob Wong pick their favourites.


18 Years Old and Rising (Dir Frédéric Louf)
A teen romance charmer with a French touch in its juxtaposition of love with class and politics. Set in 1981 when Mitterrand’s election divided the country, it follows a provincial lad trying to win the heart of a Parisian bourgeois belle by impressing not only her but also her rich right-wing friends.

Comrades, Almost a Love Story (Dir Peter Chan)
Named one of the Ten Best Films of 1997 by Time Magazine, it swept a record breaking nine Hong Kong Film Awards as the most acclaimed work of Peter Chan, the Filmmaker in Focus of HKIFF this year. This is the first chance to see it on a big screen after its first release in 1996.

Dark Horse (Dir Todd Solondz)
The director’s warmest film so far, it is also the most accessible as a streamlined character comedy centred on a 30-something underachiever who still lives at home with his parents and obsesses over action figures. Funny, witty and plenty of black humour, Solondz style.

The Day He Arrives (Dir Hong Sang-soo)
The neurosis of the creative-male-who-can’t-live-without-women type is taken to new heights in this quirky comedy. A has-been filmmaker meets a woman who runs a bar – and she is a dead-ringer for his ‘real love’. Or is she really?

Golden Slumbers (Dir Davy Chou)
There’s actually a Golden Age of Cambodian Cinema, until the Khmer Rouge destroyed it (among other things). This is a lyrical documentary about remembrance and reconstruction, both real and psychological.

The Machine that Kills Bad People (Dir Roberto Rosselini)
A rarely-screened work shown in a beautifully restored print, it is also a rare comedy by Rossellini, the neo-realist master, before he turned to the reflexive poetics of his later films. A camera that has the power to kill those who it photographs is the magic premise of this wonderful film.

The Mirror Never Lies (Dir Kamila Andini)
An ecologically themed drama shot on a pristine isle in Indonesia – with every shot a feast for the eyes – the film tells the story of 12-year-old Pakis’ longing for her father who has vanished at sea. Through traditional magic rites, she tries to see her father in the mirror that she holds on to for dear life.

Miss Bala (Dir Gerardo Naranjo)
A highly original thriller from Mexico that depicts a drug gang war through the eyes of a beauty pageant contender, the film is also a stylish mood piece underlined with absurdist humour and breathtaking action set pieces.

Modest Reception (Dir Mani Haghighi)
A filthy rich couple, most likely among Iran’s one-percent, travel to the war-torn countryside with plastic bags of money and throw them at folks they meet on the way. For a price of course – promise not to share it with anyone or don’t bury your daughter. How is this couple going to get their just desserts?

Postcards from the Zoo (Dir Edwin)
Here’s your chance to make good for missing Edwin’s unique first feature Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly. Again, lyrical, dreamlike and magical, Zoo tells the story of Lana, a girl who grows up in the Jakarta Zoo among giraffes and hippos, until a magician leads her out of that charmed world into the real one.

Roadside Fugitive (Dir Irie Yu)
Failed in Tokyo, country boy rapper Mighty returns to his hometown and falls into petty crime. Things come to a head at the local music festival where Mighty’s old rapper buddies are fighting for a breakthrough. Great music and a heart-breaking story.

Saudade (Dir Tomita Katsuya)
Saudade is the Portuguese word for longing, yearning or a dream that won’t fulfil. Here are hip-hop and migrant workers in a Japanese town in dire straits – and a testament to free-form independent filmmaking at its most energetic and most intense.

Snowtown (Dir Justin Kurzel)
A stunning directorial debut on Australia’s worst serial killer and his protégés, the film works its magic in turning a bleak psychological horror-thriller into a devastating, poetic work of storytelling with pitch-perfect performances by a predominantly non-professional cast.

Tomboy (Dir Céline Sciamma)
Probably overshadowed by the recent Berlin Teddy Bear Award winner Keep the Lights On, last year’s Berlin Teddy Jury winner Tomboy is charming, sensitive and full of terrific performances by young non-professional actors in its portrayal of a 10-year old girl passing herself as a boy.

Trishna (Dir Michael Winterbottom)
Marking his third time in adapting Thomas Hardy’s novels, Winterbottom surpasses himself by relocating Tess of the d’Urbervilles to modern India, where the Victorian attitudes in the original novel still echo. Slumdog Millionaire star Frieda Pinto shines bright.