City flavour to film extravaganza
Festival's 300 movies lie between Daniel Wu's devil and the deep blue sea of Aberdeen
Two new Hong Kong films, Aberdeen and The Midnight After, will open this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. Another local film, That Demon Within, will close it.
Held between March 24 and April 7, the festival will feature 300 films from 56 countries and include 88 world, international or Asian premieres.
Acclaimed Hong Kong director Johnnie To Kei-fung will join the festival as vice-chairman and member of the board of directors.
Directed by Pang Ho-cheung, Aberdeen tells the story of a typical Hong Kong family in the district the film is named after. Starring Miriam Yeung Chin-wah, Louis Koo Tin-lok and Gigi Leung Wing-kei, it highlights the contradictions between modern life and tradition, and between family life and individuality.
The Midnight After, which had its world premiere at the Berlin film festival, is based on a popular internet science-fiction show. Directed by Fruit Chan Kuo, it stars Wong You-nam, model-turned-actress Janice Man Wing-shan and Simon Yam Tat-wah as passengers on a minibus who arrive in an empty, soulless Tai Po and suffer various misfortunes.
That Demon Within, directed by Dante Lam Chiu-yin and starring Daniel Wu Yin-cho and Nick Cheung Ka-fai, is a thriller portraying a policeman tortured by an inner demon.