Can Hong Kong Film’s Recovery Continue?
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It is difficult to be sure whether Hong Kong cinema is still suffering from long COVID or currently rebounding toward a brighter future. Both scenarios remain viable suppositions.
Much the same could be said of Chinese cinema, despite its more than 80% box office rebound in 2023 and its $7.5 billion revenue haul. While tentpoles fared extremely well, China’s indie films struggled to attract funding during the pandemic period. And festival and exhibition outlets narrowed.
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Only last month, the Hong Kong Theatres Assn. and the city’s Motion Picture Industry Assn. described 2023 box office outcome as “deeply unsatisfactory” in a joint statement. They described the city’s film production and exhibition sectors as being in “poor condition.”
Yet earlier this month, Hong Kong Film Awards chief and noted producer Derek Yee hailed the 50% increase in films released and eligible (from 33 in 2022 to 50 in 2023). “These 50 films cover a diverse range of genres and themes, many of which are produced by emerging directors, and starring young actors and new idols [and have] successfully attracted a wider audience to return to the cinemas,” said Yee.
Midway through the pandemic, Hong Kong filmmakers appeared to discover a hyper-local groove that brought surprise box office success in 2022, including “Warriors of Future” with $10.5 million, “Table for Six” with $9.88 million, “Mama’s Affair” with $5.26 million and “The Sparring Partner” with $5.05 million as well as “Chilli Laugh Story,” “Detectives vs. Sleuths” and “Hong Kong Family.”
In 2023, courtroom drama “A Guilty Conscience” earned $14.7 million, an all-time record.
What happened is still being debated. For some, the explanation lies in an enforced retreat after a decade in which many of the city’s best filmmakers (and finance) tried their hand in the vastly larger mainland Chinese market. Many returned home after mainland filmmakers and producers developed the knack of making commercial films that the Hong Kongers had been known for, and as mainland China’s film grammar, idiom and subjects evolved on their own track.
Other commentators point to the people of Hong Kong’s “Lion Rock” spirit of self-reliance and adaptability in the face of numerous crises — the latest being the political upheavals of 2019 and an especially severe lockdown against the coronavirus — that caused audiences to embrace local stories and their identity as Hong Kongers.
The Hong Kong vibe has even brought back a smattering of old-school films, i.e. stylish, crime tales (“The Goldfinger,” “Rob N Roll”), alongside local stories like “A Light Never Goes Out,” about the city’s neon street signage, which is rapidly disappearing.
Now, given the mounting political pressures on the media and entertainment sectors, whether Hong Kong film’s recovery can continue is the next debate.
The past three years have witnessed new film censorship laws that inject national security considerations, an arts award show being de-funded on security grounds and the omission of troublesome films and series from streaming platforms.
Beloved superstar Chow Yun-fat and quintessentially Hong Kong director Johnnie To have both used overseas festival platforms in the last year to warn about mounting censorship.
It is against this background, and the loss of regional leadership to South Korea, China and Japan in film (and Taiwan in TV production for international streaming) that Hong Kong is reviving its push to be a regional hub for film.
During Berlin, Hong Kong authorities will announce a further tranche of new funding for co-productions, an expansion targeted to bring in European partners this time.
China and Hong Kong are also well-represented in the Berlinale, with Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well” in Panorama; “Above the Dust” from Wang Xiaoshuai in Generation Kplus; Lin Jianje’s “Brief History of a Family” in Panorama; Qu Youjia’s “She Sat There Like All the Ordinary Ones” in Generation 14plus; and “Some Rain Must Fall” from Qiu Yang in Encounters.
Hong Kong’s FilMart rights market and the associated HAF project market both delivered robust comeback editions in 2023 after losing three in-person conventions to COVID. HAF has expanded its remit by adding in a section for works in progress and another for genre film concepts from mainland Chinese indies.
But in the mainland too, moves are afoot to re-galvanize the indie sector. The debut edition of the Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau last month pitched 17 mainland indie film works in progress to a hand-picked collection of receptive distributors and financiers.
And, within mainland China, pilot projects are now underway to restructure the distribution and exhibition sectors, bolster opportunities for indies and create some middle ground for titles that fall between blockbuster and niche.
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