Mainland funding is a mixed blessing for Hong Kong filmmakers, according to director Wilson Yip Wai-shun, whose latest film is the action movie Flash Point.
Yip says working on mainland-Hong Kong co-productions can be limiting in terms of freedom to choose your subject matter.
'I would like to make movies showing the police as bad guys and the bad guys as good folk, but I can't, although it would be more fun,' Yip says.
Flash Point, which follows Yip's comic-book movie Dragon Tiger Gate of last year, is Yip's third collaboration with action star Donnie Yen Ji-dan.
Yip's early credits include the serious drama Juliet in Love and the cult classic Bio-Zombie.
The director switched to action drama with SPL, a mainstream thriller featuring action giants Yen and Sammo Hung Kam-bo. Dragon Tiger Gate was a purely action vehicle.
