Anthony Chen’s ‘We Are All Strangers’ to Open Hong Kong Film Festival

The landmark fiftieth version of the Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with Anthony Chen‘s “We Are All Strangers” and close with Philip Yung’s “Cyclone,” with each movies receiving their Asian premieres at the event.

HKIFF50 runs April 1-12 under the theme “50 and Beyond: Framing the Future,” presenting 215 movies from 71 international locations and areas, including 11 world premieres, 4 worldwide premieres, and 49 Asian premieres.

Chen’s movie, which opens the pageant April 1 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, is the concluding chapter of his Growing Up trilogy, probing the nature of household and belonging past standard blood relationships. Starring Yeo Yann Yann and Koh Jia Ler, it lately turned the first Singaporean movie to compete at the Berlin Film Festival.

Yung’s “Cyclone,” starring Liu Yuqiao, Edwynn Li, and Jenny Suen, facilities on transgender identification and the experience of social exclusion. The movie had its world premiere at the International Film Festival Rotterdam earlier this 12 months, and its HKIFF50 screenings April 12 will mark its Asian debut.

A roster of internationally outstanding filmmakers is ready to attend, including Filmmaker-in-Focus Jia Zhangke, Juliette Binoche, Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Huang Jianxin, Ann Hui, Tsai Ming-Liang, Ildikó Enyedi, Pen-ek Ratanaruang, Edwin, and Ben Rivers.

For its Golden Jubilee, HKIFF50 has named Taiwanese actress Gingle Wang – winner of the Best Lead Actress prize at the twenty second Taipei Film Festival – and Thai actor Metawin Opasiamkajorn, recipient of the Asian Film Awards Academy’s Asian Rising Star Award in 2024, as Asian visionary ambassadors. They be a part of pageant ambassadors Angela Yuen and Tony Wu.

The pageant will also host three sold-out performances of the Asian premiere of “In the Mood for Love – In Concert,” a collaboration with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra that includes live accompaniment and a new interpretation of the score from Wong Kar Wai’s basic movie. A free exhibition, “50 and Beyond: The Hong Kong International Film Festival Golden Jubilee Exhibition,” will run at Hong Kong City Hall.