HKIFF Industry has announced the 17 projects selected for the In Development section of this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), including new projects produced by Singapore’s Anthony Chen, Hong Kong’s Stanley Kwan and Japan’s Eiko Mizuno-Gray.
Chen is producing Malaysian project Somewhere In The South, directed by Tan Ce Ding, about an aimless young man who gets caught up in a political campaign in a small Malaysian town. Kwan is reteaming with emerging director Sasha Chuk on drama 131, about two masseuses and a construction worker moving between Shenzhen and Hong Kong.
Loaded Films’ Mizuno-Gray, who produced Cannes 2025 competition title Renoir, is working with Japan’s Toei Company on Life Is Yours from emerging director Emma Kawawada (My Small Land). The film narrates the revenge story of an elderly cleaner who plans to reclaim her stolen land at a ski resort in Niseko.
Other Hong Kong projects in the line-up include Vincci Cheuk’s intergenerational comedy 38.83, a co-production with Japan; Cheung Wai-yu’s comedy drama Mama Mia Let Me Go!; and Guo Yu-tian’s Forgetting She Is She, a story of conflicted identities and twisted love.
The line-up also includes Malayalam absurdist parable Fishers Of Men, from Sanju Surendran (If On A Winter’s Night), about a vegetarian banker who develops an obsession with fish; Funeral Flowers, the feature debut of Liza Diño and Ice Seguerra, about a politician’s daughter confronting estranged siblings and mistresses during her father’s wake; Paris-based Xiao Baer’s A Drop In The Sea, about an entrepreneurial Chinese woman travelling to Algeria for her brother’s funeral; and Emetjan Memet’s Xinjiang-set The Flower Seller, exploring the inner world of a depressed man whose whimsical encounters with a flower seller reignite his will to live.
HAF is taking place March 17-19 as part of HKIFF Industry, running alongside Hong Kong Filmart (March 17-20), at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. HKIFF Industry will also be announcing additional In Development projects, focusing on genre and animation, as well as Work-in-Progress projects, in coming weeks.
HAF IN DEVELOPMENT 2026:
*First Narrative Feature Projects
131 (Hong Kong)Director: Sasha ChukProducer: Stanley Kwan Kam-pangProduction Company: The Flow of Words 38.83 (Hong Kong, Japan)Director: Vincci CheukProducer: Koga ShunsukeProduction Company: 2882 Prod Co The Blue Breaks (Japan)Director: Uchiyama TakuyaProducer: Satoh NaomiProduction Company: Differentia A Drop In The Sea (China, Algeria, France)*Director: Xiao BaerProducers: Khir-Din Grid, Zhang FanProduction Company: Nouvelle Toile, Bifun Pictures Fishers Of Men (India)Director: Sanju SurendranProducers: Pramod Sankar, Rajeev Ravi, Kiran KesavProduction Company: Cloud Door Films The Flower Seller (China)Director: Emetjan MemetProducer: Wang Hongwei, Derek ZhangProduction Company: Wuhan Yidapai Culture Media Co Forgetting She Is She (Hong Kong)*Director: Guo Yu-tianProducer: Chan Hing-kaiProduction Company: People’s Productions Funeral Flowers (Philippines)*Directors: Liza Diño, Ice SeguerraProducer: Krisma FajardoProduction Company: Fire & Ice Media The Funeral March (Japan, China)Director: Fujita NaoyaProducers: Shiina Yasushi, Aiken Zou, Zou Lin, Fujita KanakoProduction Company: Y’s Ltd, Ahaverse Have A Good Trip (China)*Director: Xu JianmingProducer: Bi GuangmingProduction Company: Zhanyangfan Pictures (Hangzhou) Co Heading South (China)*Director: Yuan YuanProducer: Wang JingProduction Company: TBC Life Is Yours (Japan)Director: Emma KawawadaProducer: Takahashi Naoya, Eiko Mizuno-GrayProduction Company: Toei, Loaded Films Mama Mia Let Me Go! (Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan)*Director: Cheung Wai-yuProducer: Peter YamProduction Company: 70 Plus Production Company My Phantom (China)Director: Story Chen JianyingProducers: Li XiaoyuanProduction Company: Beijing Yingxi Culture Media Co Somewhere In The South (Malaysia)*Director: Tan Ce DingProducers: Anthony Chen, Edward Lim, Yap Khai SoonProduction Company: Giraffe Pictures Stuck Like Babies (Zholdogu Bala) (Kyrgyzstan)Director: Dastan Zhapar RyskeldiProducers: Veronica Rhyme, Fernanda Renno, Florence SternProduction Company: Kyrgyzfilm Vulnerable Observer (Hong Kong, China, Malaysia)Director: Jiang XiaoxuanProducers: Zhao ZiyangProduction Company: Huniche Pictures
