The Cannes Film Festival’s “Goes to Cannes” program will once again spotlight five promising Asian projects from the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) at this year’s Marche du Film, marking another strong year for the continent’s emerging filmmakers.
The 2025 selection showcases a diverse range of storytelling from across Asia, with each project expected to complete production this year. Drama emerges as the dominant genre, with deep explorations of personal relationships, societal pressures, and intimate character studies.
China leads the way with two entries, including Gong Yiwen’s “Her First Taste,” a coming-of-age narrative about a teenage girl who forms a subtle connection with a boy, exploring unspoken questions of young love. Produced by Qian Yini for Yiwen Films and Sparks Production, the film is in the Putonghua and Shengzhou dialects.
The second Chinese entry, co-produced with Hong Kong, is Liu Xing’s “Say My Name,...
The 2025 selection showcases a diverse range of storytelling from across Asia, with each project expected to complete production this year. Drama emerges as the dominant genre, with deep explorations of personal relationships, societal pressures, and intimate character studies.
China leads the way with two entries, including Gong Yiwen’s “Her First Taste,” a coming-of-age narrative about a teenage girl who forms a subtle connection with a boy, exploring unspoken questions of young love. Produced by Qian Yini for Yiwen Films and Sparks Production, the film is in the Putonghua and Shengzhou dialects.
The second Chinese entry, co-produced with Hong Kong, is Liu Xing’s “Say My Name,...
- 4/7/2025
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
New projects from Golden Horse Award winner Huang Ji, Indonesian actor-turned-director Reza Rahadian and US-Philippines actor and director Isabel Sandoval are among the 15 Works-in-Progress selected for this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf).
A Woman Builds is the latest feature from Huang Ji and her regular collaborator, Otsuka Ryuji, after winning best film at the Golden Horse Awards for Stonewalling. The new film follows a Chinese woman who builds a house in her hometown while living a pseudo-single life during the pandemic.
Rahadian’s directorial debut Pangku, starring Christine Hakim, explores a tradition in a rural part of Indonesia in which coffee shops provide women to sit in men’s laps whilst drinking their coffee.
Sandoval both stars in and directs Moonglow, a neo-noir about an ex-cop assigned with her ex-lover to investigate a break-in at the mansion of a corrupt police chief. Arjo Atayde also stars.
A Woman Builds is the latest feature from Huang Ji and her regular collaborator, Otsuka Ryuji, after winning best film at the Golden Horse Awards for Stonewalling. The new film follows a Chinese woman who builds a house in her hometown while living a pseudo-single life during the pandemic.
Rahadian’s directorial debut Pangku, starring Christine Hakim, explores a tradition in a rural part of Indonesia in which coffee shops provide women to sit in men’s laps whilst drinking their coffee.
Sandoval both stars in and directs Moonglow, a neo-noir about an ex-cop assigned with her ex-lover to investigate a break-in at the mansion of a corrupt police chief. Arjo Atayde also stars.
- 2/10/2025
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
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