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Catch cinematic gold at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2025

From Akira Kurasawa’s iconic Seven Samurai to Louis Koo Tin-lok’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, cinephiles are in for a treat

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Toshiro Mifune in a still from Akira Kurasawa’s epic Seven Samurai. Photo: courtesy Janus Films via AP

Published: 1:00pm, 4 Apr 2025

Sit back and break out the popcorn as the 49th edition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) prepares to fire up the projectors from April 10 to 21. The 2025 edition of one of Asia’s oldest cinematic events will screen nearly 200 films from 69 countries and regions, including six world premieres, two international premieres and 52 Asian premieres.

A still from Louis Koo Tin-lok’s Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. Photo: courtesy Entertaining Power Co Limited

HKIFF’s main draw this year is Louis Koo Tin-lok, who has become a household name over a 32-year career producing movies as well as starring in some of Hong Kong’s biggest box-office successes of recent years, including Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In (2024). As the festival’s Filmmaker in Focus, Koo will present 10 films he has starred in alongside a commemorative book.

Joining Koo in the role of official ambassador is Hong Kong Film Awards and Taipei Golden Horse Awards best-actress nominee Angela Yuen Lai-lam.

Hidetoshi Nishijima in a still from The Brightest Sun. Photo: courtesy Sony Pictures

Festival openers will be The Brightest Sun (2025), which marks Japanese director Tetsuya Nakashima’s first film in seven years, followed by Pavane for an Infant (2024), by Malaysian filmmaker Chong Keat Aun, which casts actress Fish Liew Chi Yu in a drama exploring the country’s abandoned baby crisis.

Other films to catch include Shoplifters (2018) and 100 Yen Love (2014) starring Sakura Ando, who will present her latest film, Bad Lands (2023); and Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra’s documentary Afternoons of Solitude (2024), an introspective portrayal of a matador that won the Golden Shell award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival. Finnish auteur Juho Kuosmanen will also be in town as part of HKIFF’s Meet the Filmmaker series, where he will introduce his Silent Trilogy (2024), consisting of three shorts.

Filipina actress Nora Aunor in a still from Bona. Photo: courtesy V Productions

Hot on the heels of Tilda Swinton’s recent visit to M+ to promote the art of film restoration, HKIFF will feature a slew of restored masterpieces throughout the programme, ranging from Akira Kurosawa’s epic Seven Samurai (1954), which has been revitalised in 4K to commemorate its 70th anniversary, as well as Filipino filmmaker Lino Brocka’s lost 1980 masterpiece Bona, which has been restored and is being shown for the first time in more than four decades.

To close out the festival, audiences can catch Norwegian director Dag Johan Haugerud’s Dreams (Sex Love) (2024), which recently won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival for its intimate portrayal of first love and longing, and the blurred lines between reality and fantasy.