Young Hong Kong filmmaker Sasha Chuk emerges as the biggest winner as the three-day 21st Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF21) successfully concluded today with the announcement of the recipients of 20 cash and in-kind awards worth more than US$170,000.
Chuk received [an unprecedented] four awards – the Heaven Pictures Young Director Award, the CCG Grand Award, the mm2 Award, and the WIP Award – for her Stanley Kwan-produced Fly Me to the Moon. The work-in-progress is also one of the five projects selected for this year's HAF Goes To Cannes initiative.
Taiwan's Lien Chien-Hung and Mainland China's Guan Tian also excelled at HAF21, each taking home three awards for Salli and The Poison Cat, respectively.
Returning to its regular March dates with the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART), HAF21 was the first physical, in-person event since 2019 after three consecutive online editions. The event attracted 30% more accredited participants than the last edition. It facilitated over thousand private meetings between the project teams and participating industry professionals, including international co-production and financing partners, distributors, and festival programmers, representing an increase of 9% from last year.
Speaking after today's HAF21 awards presentation ceremony, the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Chairman, Dr Wilfred Wong, said he was gratified and encouraged by the overwhelming support from the filmmaking community and sponsors.
“I want to congratulate all the winners and acknowledge Create Hong Kong, Film Development Fund, Trade Development Council, and all the participating filmmakers,” Dr Wong said. “They have all been brilliant.”
The three-day HAF21 featured 43 projects, including 15 works-in-progress, shortlisted from 350 submissions. There were also 10 Hong Kong projects and 22 involving a first-time director, the most in recent years.
The HAF21 award winners are: –
The HAF21 award winners are: –
▪ IDP Award for a Hong Kong project: The Marriage Drive (Hong Kong)by Lawrence Kan
▪ IDP Award for a non-Hong Kong project: Non-fiction Stories (Mainland China) by Zhao Jin
▪ WIP Award for a Hong Kong project: Fly Me to the Moon (Hong Kong)by Sasha Chuk
▪ WIP Award for a non-Hong Kong project: Salli (Taiwan, France) by Lien Chien-Hung
▪ CCG Grand Award: Fly Me to the Moon (Hong Kong) by Sasha Chuk
▪ Heaven Pictures Young Director Award: Fly Me to the Moon (Hong Kong) by Sasha Chuk
▪ mm2 Award: Fly Me to the Moon (Hong Kong) by Sasha Chuk
▪ TAICCA Award: Skin Coat (Singapore) by Tan Wei Keong
▪ Taipei Film Commission Award: Racing Storm (Taiwan) by Lin Yu-Hsien
Skin Coat (Singapore) by Tan Wei Keong
▪ White Light Post Post-Production Award for an IDP project:
The Poison Cat (Mainland China) by Guan Tian
▪ White Light Post Post-Production Award for a WIP project:
Salli (Taiwan, France) by Lien Chien-Hung
▪ ARRI Award: The Mermaid's Tale by Norris Wong
▪ Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) Award: The Poison Cat (Mainland China) by Guan Tian
▪ Udine Focus Asia Award: The Poison Cat (Mainland China) by Guan Tian
▪ HAF Goes to Cannes Program:
Brief History of a Family (Mainland China) by Lin Jianjie
Fly Me to the Moon (Hong Kong)by Sasha Chuk
Hani (Hong Kong) byHou Dasheng
Salli (Taiwan, France) by Lien Chien-Hung
Who Were We? (Japan)byTomina Tetsuya
