The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) has finalised the line-up for this year’s Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) with a selection of seven animation and six genre projects.
Three of the projects are already in production or post-production: animated features The Excreman – On the Road, from Hong Kong’s Brian Tse, and Zsazsa Zaturnnah, from the Philippines’ Avid Liongoren; as well as suspense thriller What My Bones Know, from China’s Qin Yuqi. They will be presented at HAF’s WIP Open Pitch alongside the previously announced Works-in-Progress (WIP) projects.
Animation projects also include new works from the Philippines’ Carl Joseph E. Papa, whose latest work, 58th, about a 2009 massacre in the Philippines, premiered at Rotterdam film festival, and Chinese director Lei Lei, who is reuniting with producer Isabelle Glachant following their collaboration on Rotterdam 2022 title Silver Bird And Rainbow Fish (see details of line-up below).
Genre projects include suspense drama In The Name Of Right, produced by Leste Chen and directed by Zhou Jinghao, whose Girl On Edge premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight last year; crime thriller The Power Plant, from Turkey’s Tayfun Pirselimoglu, revolving around a series of murders in a snow-covered mining town; and Korean filmmaker Park Kiyong’s action drama Searchers: Blood In The Grass, which delves into the world of fentanyl trafficking.
The 13 animation and genre projects join the 17 In Development projects and 12 Works-in-Progress already announced. The full line-up of 42 projects will be showcased at HAF, part of the HKIFF Industry Project Market, from March 17-19, alongside Filmart.
HAF ANIMATION 2026:
*First narrative feature projects
Fish Ball (South Korea)
Director: Jhun Yong-Duk
Producers: Rhee Han-Dae, Chen Xiayan
Production Company: CocoaVision & AIOI Studios
Rainy Dreams (France, Iran)
Director: Alireza Ghasemi
Producers: Mojean Aria, Reza Baastani, Constance Le Scouarnec
Production Company: Mystic Makers
Roxanne (China)*
Director: Chen Xudong
Producers: Lu Xiaowei, Chen Xiaoran
Production Company: Fengduan Pictures (Shanghai) Co
Sentinel (Philippines)
Director: Carl Joseph E. Papa
Producer: Geo Lomuntad
Production Company: Super!
Tooth And Tales (China, Hong Kong)
Director: Lei Lei
Producers: Isabelle Glachant, Pi San
Production Company: Chinese Shadows
The Excreman – On the Road (Hong Kong)
Director: Brian Tse
Producers: Brian Tse, Samuel Choy
Production Company: On The Road Studio
Zsazsa Zaturnnah (Philippines, France)
Director: Avid Liongoren
Producers: Avid Liongoren, Franck Priot
Production Companies: Rocketsheep, Ghosts City Films
HAF GENRE 2026:
*First narrative feature projects
In The Name Of Right (China)
Director: Zhou Jinghao
Producers: Leste Chen, Emma Duan, Wang Yang
Production Company: Guliguo Pictures
The Power Plant (Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria)
Director: Tayfun Pirselimoglu
Producers: Vildan Ersen, Radu Stancu, Vanya Rainova
Production Company: Gataki Films
Searchers: Blood In The Grass (Mongolia, South Korea)
Director: Park Kiyong
Producers: Park Kiyong, Nomuunzul Turmunkh
Production Company: Hulegu Pictures LLC
Strange Root (Keinginan) (Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, Netherlands)
Director: Lam Li Shuen
Producers: Tan Bee Thiam, Looi Wan Ping, Mark Chua
Production Company: 13 Little Pictures
The Veil (Brazil)*
Director: Gabriel Motta
Producer: Aletéia Selonk
Production Company: Okna Produções
What My Bones Know (China)*
Director: Qin Yuqi
Producer: Cui Zidong
Production Companies: Eternal Growth Stream Film
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