About 100 people attended the first screening of From the Queen to the Chief Executive at the Berlin International Film Festival last week.
Director Herman Yau Lai-to's $3 million film tells the stories of the 14 prisoners first detained at Her Majesty's pleasure and, after 1997, at the Chief Executive's discretion.
The movie, which has an unknown cast, will go out on general release in Hong Kong in May.
The script centres on Cheung Yau-hang, one of the five people convicted for the horrific Braemar Hill double murder, which still remains in the public mind 16 years later.
The 100-minute film - seen by the Post - focuses on their claims that the minimum terms handed down in 1997 pay no heed to their efforts at rehabilitation and strikes at their hopes of reintegrating into society.
The movie was selected as one of the 40 participant films in the festival, which runs until February 18, and is competing for a fringe prize. It will also feature at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in April.