Pang Ho-cheung and Fruit Chan put the local movie world to rights

WITH THEIR DARK humour, tenacious dedication to portraying Hong Kong life in an authentic way, and an infectious, overwhelming passion for the essence of the city's colloquial culture, Fruit Chan and Pang Ho-cheung may just be among this century's coolest filmmakers.

After ushering in an era of indie filmmaking with his now-iconic 1997 feature Made in Hong Kong, Chan is back with The Midnight After, a sci-fi mystery that follows a group of Hongkongers who board a minibus headed for Tai Po and are drawn into a time vortex. The movie was adapted from a serialised novel published on the internet.

Meanwhile, Pang, who firmly established himself as one of Hong Kong's most popular directors with the 2012 comedies Love in the Buff and Vulgaria - is about to unleash his first family drama with an ensemble cast, Aberdeen, which takes an unflinching look at the secrets plaguing a contemporary Hong Kong family.

The Midnight After and Aberdeen are the opening features at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. We got these two revered filmmakers together to talk about their work and that sex-with-a-mule scene.

: I've recently realised that in every media interview I'm identified for my movies' Hong Kong sentiments. Now I'm not speaking on your behalf, director Chan, but I'm a born-and-bred Hongkonger who feels for the city as a matter of course - whether I want to or not. My mother tongue is Cantonese. That's not to say that I'm against the idea of making films about other cultures in other languages - these opportunities simply haven't arrived yet. It's not my aim to make only Hong Kong-centric movies.