Published on August 17, 2025
The Hong Kong Film Festival UK 2025 invites movie lovers to embark connected a cinematic travel crossed London, Manchester, and Edinburgh this September and October. Running from September 12 to 28 successful London, nan show will coming a captivating programme of ESEA cinema, celebrating nan divers voices and stories from Hong Kong and its diaspora. Following nan London screenings, nan show will circuit to Manchester and Edinburgh starting successful October 2025. With a rich | action of 52 films, including world premieres and UK premieres, this year’s show offers an exceptional opportunity to research nan move world of East and Southeast Asian cinema. Highlights see retrospectives, interactive events, and powerful useful by emerging and established filmmakers. Travel to these vibrant cities and immerse yourself successful a show that challenges, engages, and connects audiences done nan magic of film.
With a full of 52 titles, including 18 communicative and documentary features and 34 short films, HKFFUK 2025 promises to beryllium an breathtaking and divers showcase of cinema from Hong Kong and nan broader East and Southeast Asian (ESEA) diaspora. The programme includes 2 world premieres and 7 UK premieres, pinch much than 50% of nan films directed by talented women filmmakers of ESEA backgrounds.
The London venues for nan show see renowned taste spaces specified arsenic ICA, Picturehouse Central, The Rio, Close-up Cinema, and Theatreship astatine Canary Wharf. These iconic locations will big screenings, discussions, and immersive experiences that will prosecute nan assemblage successful an exploration of ESEA stories and perspectives.
The opening nighttime will characteristic nan UK premiere of Montages of a Modern Motherhood (2024), a profoundly empathetic societal realist movie that sensitively portrays nan exhaustion and challenges of caller motherhood. It will group nan reside for a show that champions women’s voices and perspectives.
One of nan astir anticipated highlights is nan 10th Anniversary screening of Ten Years (2015), a groundbreaking anthology movie that imagines a dystopian Hong Kong successful 2025. Banned successful China, this film’s exploration of Hong Kong’s uncertain early resonates moreover much powerfully today, offering a compelling reflection connected nan city’s evolving identity.
Closing nan show is nan UK premiere of Clara Law’s Drifting Petals (2021), a Golden-Horse-winning activity that reflects connected nan filmmaker’s memories of Hong Kong and Macau. This poignant self-funded task captures nocturnal journeys connected nan streets and nan intersection of representation and time.
Additional highlights see Lviv Diary (2025), a world premiere by acclaimed Hong Kong documentary filmmaker Tammy Cheung, which provides an friendly look astatine nan warfare successful Ukraine from nan position of nan metropolis of Lviv. The Berlinale-selected Queerpanorama (2025) will besides person its UK premiere, offering a tender exploration of queer lives and desires successful Hong Kong.
The 2025 version of HKFFUK places a typical accent connected female filmmakers and diaspora voices, pinch complete half of nan programme directed by women. Among nan featured useful are those by renowned filmmakers specified arsenic Clara Law, Ellen Pau, and Jun Li. The show besides offers a retrospective connected Clara Law, 1 of Hong Kong’s astir celebrated filmmakers, showcasing iconic useful specified arsenic Farewell China and Goddess of 1967.
A cardinal attraction of nan show is connected transient and transitioning identities, exploring themes specified arsenic migration, belonging, and nan intersection of civilization and identity. The show besides underscores nan value of activism, pinch films that delve into nan lives and struggles of marginalized communities, while celebrating nan rich | tapestry of experiences that dress up nan ESEA diaspora.
HKFFUK 2025 goes beyond movie screenings, offering a scope of interactive and immersive events designed to prosecute audiences connected aggregate levels. One standout acquisition is nan floating screening of Johnnie To’s The Heroic Trio (1993) connected nan historical vessel Theatreship astatine Canary Wharf. Other events see workshops, lectures, nutrient experiences, and moreover a walking circuit of Brick Lane’s diasporic history.
The show besides features family-friendly short movie programs and outdoor screenings astatine section festivals for illustration nan Mid-Autumn Market successful Urban Garden Fair, making it a genuinely inclusive arena for group of each ages and backgrounds.
HKFFUK’s ngo is to build and span nan UK’s Hong Kong organization done nan lens of cinema. By partnering pinch section venues successful London, arsenic good arsenic expanding its scope to different cities for illustration Manchester, Birmingham, and Edinburgh, nan show fosters taste speech and encourages speech betwixt different communities. The arena is supported by cardinal partners specified arsenic Amnesty International UK, Queer East, and UCL Faculty of Arts and Humanities, and is generously funded by nan BFI Audience Projects Fund.
Tickets for nan show are now disposable to acquisition via hkff.uk aliases done nan ticketing websites of each venue. Whether you’re successful London aliases readying to be 1 of nan location screenings, HKFFUK 2025 offers a unsocial opportunity to acquisition nan vibrant world of Hong Kong and ESEA cinema.
This year’s show promises to beryllium a transformative taste journey, inviting world travelers to witnesser nan powerful stories of East and Southeast Asia. Don’t miss nan chance to beryllium portion of this ceremony of cinema, culture, and community.