Hong Kong Film Festival Marks 50th Anniversary With Retrospective, Set For April 1 – 12

Ahead of its 2026 edition set for April 1 to 12, the Hong Kong Film Festival is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a Chinese Cinema Retrospective.

Titled ‘Revisiting Chinese Cinema: The Beginning of a New Journey’, the retrospective will feature seminars and masterclasses facilitated by some of the region’s most influential filmmakers, including Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Huang Jianxin, Tsai Ming-liang, and Ann Hui. It would also screen 12 Chinese-language classic films across the New Wave movements of the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

Selected films for screening are organised by movement. Representing the fifth generation of Chinese Mainland filmmakers are Kaige’s ‘Yellow Earth’, Zhang Yimou’s ‘Red Sorghum’, Zhuangzhuang’s ‘The Horse Thief’, and Jianxin’s ‘The Black Cannon Incident’. These works brought Chinese cinema to the global stage through symbolic and visually striking storytelling.

The Hong Kong New Wave movement is represented by Tsui Hark’s ‘The Butterfly Murders’, Ann Hui’s ‘The Secret’, Patrick Tam’s ‘The Sword’, and Allen Fong’s ‘Ah Ying’. Taiwan’s New Wave is represented by ‘In Our Time’ directed by Tao Te-Chen, Edward Yang, Ko I-Chen, and Chang Yi; Wan Jen’s ‘Ah Fei’, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s ‘Dust in the Wind’, and Tsai Ming-Liang’s ‘Rebels of the Neon God’.