48th Hong Kong International Film Festival

The theme of the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival is "A Portal to Another World". The festival's poster features a Hong Kong street with neon signs as the backdrop, while a brightly colored film screen is placed in the center, reflecting the theme of reimagining Hong Kong through a time portal. Lam also served as one of the jurors for the Firebird Awards. Fruit Chan was announced as the Filmmaker in Focus for the festival on 2 February 2024. The film festival opened on 28 March 2024 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre with the Hong Kong LGBTQ-themed drama All Shall Be Well, directed by Ray Yeung. Events took place at various venues, including the Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong Kong Arts Centre, Hong Kong City Hall, M+, iSQUARE, Times Square, and Elements. Ticket prices ranged from HK$55 for weekday matinee screenings to HK$5,000 for a VIP pass to the festival. The film festival was part of the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong, which celebrated its 20th anniversary, featuring events such as the 17th Asian Film Awards and the 42nd Hong Kong Film Awards taking place concurrently. A new section, the CAA China Genre Initiative Projects, was added to the Asia Financing Forum, Hong Kong International Film Festival's project market. The Malaysian-Singaporean-Taiwanese historical drama Snow in Midsummer by Chong Keat Aun won the Firebird Award for the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese-language), while the Danish-Swedish psychological thriller Sons by Gustav Möller won the Firebird Award for the Young Cinema Competition (World). The festival closed with the Japanese drama All The Long Nights by Sho Miyake on 8 April. == Jury ==

The jury of the Firebird Awards comprises: Young Cinema Competition (Chinese-language) • Fruit Chan, Hong Kong filmmaker • Karena Lam, Hong Kong actress • Zhang Xianmin, Chinese film scholar and artistic director Young Cinema Competition (World) • Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Iranian actress • Lila Avilés, Mexican filmmaker • Derek Tsang, Hong Kong filmmaker • Carlo Chatrian, former director of the Locarno Film Festival and Berlin International Film Festival Documentary Competition • Lea Glob, Danish documentary filmmaker • Du Haibin, Chinese documentary filmmaker • Chen Wanling, former programme director of the Taiwan International Documentary Festival == Program sections ==

Opening and closing films The following films were selected as the opening and closing features of the film festival, marking the Asian premiere of both: Gala Presentation The following films have been selected for screening in the Gala Presentation section, marking the world premiere of Ho Miu Ki's Love Lies and the Asian premiere of Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Gift: Snow in Midsummer emerged as the winner, with Liang Ming named Best Director for Carefree Days, Lyu Xingchen named Best Actress for her performance in Carefree Days, and Jason King named Best Actor for his role in A Journey in Spring. Young Cinema Competition (World) The following films were selected to compete in the Young Cinema Competition (World) at the Firebird Awards. The Longest Summer was removed from the list on 8 March, with the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society stating that it was unable to locate suitable copies for screening, and Chan's 2019 film The Abortionist was presented in its place. Chan described the decision as "pitiful", but noted that those interested in watching would find a way to do so on their own. Masters and Auteurs The Masters The following films were selected for screening in the Masterclass section: Víctor Erice: The Returning Gaze Spanish director Víctor Erice was selected as the featured honoree for the festival's Masterclass tribute program, showcasing all four of his feature films throughout his filmmaking career: Les Auteurs The following films have been selected for screening in the Les Auteurs section: Focus Three feature films and a short film directed by French filmmaker Jean Eustache were selected for screening in the Focus section: == References ==