Whether you are new to Hosoda’s work or a passionate devotee, the retrospective offers a wonderful opportunity to experience four of his finest works on the big screen: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Summer Wars, Wolf Children and The Boy and the Beast rank as some of the 21st-century’s most accomplished animated features.

Hosoda will also be in attendance to introduce his new film and discuss his past accomplishments.

First Reformed

Marking a monumental return to form for Paul Schrader, writer of Taxi Driver and The Last Temptation of Christ, First Reformed stars a never-better Ethan Hawke as a former military chaplain reeling from the death of his son in Iraq. His faith is further tested by the shifting agendas of the ecclesiastical establishment, and events come to a head when he crosses paths with a radical environmentalist.

As today’s bleak contradictions regarding religion, climate change and political turmoil threaten the very notion of living a simple, honest life, Schrader’s wake-up-call drama arrives like a gut punch to modern society, as he screams into the great silence and demands a response.

Inuyashiki

The first in a planned trilogy of adaptations of Hiroya Oku’s science fiction manga series, Inuyashiki is the story of an elderly man who is struck by an extraterrestrial beam of light, which replaces his insides with a powerful mechanical body. When he discovers that a teenager who suffered the same fate is using his new-found powers for evil, the man – Inuyashiki – must step up and become a hero.

Director Shinsuke Sato is no stranger to big-budget manga adaptations, having previously directed instalments of the Gantz and Death Note series. However, all eyes will be on whether he can recapture the mainstream success of his wonderful zombie action comedy adaptation, I Am a Hero .

Believer

One of the best of Hong Kong director Johnnie To’s films of recent years, Drug War gets a full-blown South Korean remake in Lee Hae-young’s operatic crime thriller Believer. Cho Jin-woong takes Sun Honglei’s role from the original as a cop trying to take down a dangerous drug kingpin (Cha Seung-won), who coerces a low-level gang member (Ryu Jun-yeol, in for Louis Koo) into turning on his employers.

Audrey Hepburn retrospective

A fashion icon and legend of the silver screen, Audrey Hepburn encapsulates a radiant beauty and timeless sense of style that has ensured her place in Hollywood lore forever. Six of the actress’ most beloved films will be screening at the event, including Roman Holiday, for which she won an Academy Award, and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, which remains her most famous role.

Most interesting, however, is the selection of 1967’s Wait Until Dark in the programme, directed by James Bond veteran Terence Young. Hepburn steps outside her comfort zone to portray a blind woman terrorised by a trio of thugs searching for a drugs stash in her apartment. A somewhat forgotten chiller featuring a performance of visceral vulnerability, the film is a rare opportunity to see another side of Hepburn’s acting prowess.

Special presentations

A number of restored classics will be screened at this year’s festival, including Yellow Earth from Chen Kaige and Tian Zhuangzhuang’s The Horse Thief from the “fifth generation” of Chinese cinema.

Chinese art-house filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang on why he really ‘can’t act’

Also showing are Milos Forman’s multi-Oscar-winner One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which remains a flawless masterpiece, and Stanley Kubrick’s Vietnam nightmare Full Metal Jacket, which ranks among the visionary director’s most underrated films.

Then there is Kagemusha (1980), which marked a reversal of fortune for Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, who had fallen from grace during the 1970s due to failing health and shifting audience tastes. Supported by avid fans George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola, Kurosawa returned to the samurai genre that made him an international name.

Kagemusha tells the story of a lowly thief (Tatsuya Nakadai), recruited as a feudal warlord’s double after his fatal wounding, only for his new-found power to go to his head. Visually ravishing and dreamlike in its execution, Kurosawa’s film explores the director’s own changing fortunes within the film industry, while staging jaw-dropping battle sequences that would help him win the Palme d’Or at Cannes that year.

The Thin Blue Line and A Brief History of Time

Errol Morris is often credited with creating the movie documentary as we recognise it today. Taking an investigative, rather than educational, approach, Morris would dive into his subjects with the voracious appetite of a journalist, often with revelatory results.

The Thin Blue Line investigates the murder of a Dallas police officer and the man awaiting execution on Death Row, Randall Dale Adams, for allegedly committing the crime. Not only did Morris’ film prompt a reopening of the case and review of Adams’ conviction, but it remains one of the most compelling murder procedural thrillers ever brought to the screen.

Wildly different but equally enthralling is A Brief History of Time, a celebration of the life, career and mind-bending achievements of astrophysicist Stephen Hawking.

Summer IFF runs from August 18 to 28 at various venues. For full programme details, visit www.cinefan.com.hk.

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