The 50th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF50) and M+ are collaborating to present a series of special programmes to celebrate the festival’s Golden Jubilee. Highlights include Mary Stephen’s short film programme, a seminar on film editing, the world premiere of the M+ Restored latest title Cageman by Jacob Cheung Chi-leung, along with selections from the M+ Asian Avant-Garde Film Collection.
The Mary Stephen: Shades of Silk & Shorts programme will showcase four of the acclaimed filmmaker’s early directorial works: Shades of Silk, Labyrinthe/Labyrinthe (Alternative Version), The Great Canadian Puberty Rite, and A Very Easy Death. Influenced by American avant-garde pioneers such as Maya Deren and Kenneth Anger, Stephen’s early films are highly experimental and reflect her exploration of the cultural interplay between the East and West, as well as her journey of self-identity. Stephen will join French editor Matthieu Laclau in the seminar titled Film Editing as a Cross-Cultural Practice, participating in a discussion moderated by Li Cheuk-to, M+ Curator-at-large of Hong Kong Film and Media.
The collaboration between HKIFF50 and M+ will also feature a newly restored version of Cageman, Jacob Cheung Chi-leung’s award-winning classic from M+ Restored initiative. This contemporary testament blends social realism with allegory and has become an iconic piece of Hong Kong cinema. Starring Roy Chiao, Liu Kai-chi, Wong Ka-kui, and Teddy Robin, the film authentically portrays grassroots characters while satirically reflecting the stark realities of life in the 1990s. Its social critique resonates with Hong Kong’s current housing and livelihood crises, making its message as impactful as ever.
Titled Private Revolutions, Public Spaces, the M+ Asian Avant-Garde Film Collection will present three experimental films from South Korea, Taiwan, and the Philippines: Untitled 77-A by Han Ok-hi, Dysfunction No.3 by Chen Chieh-Jen, and Revolutions Happen Like Refrains in a Song by Nick Deocampo. These filmmakers serve as agents of creative resistance amidst a changing Asia that emerges as a battleground of competing ideologies after the Second World War.
HKIFF50 will run for 12 days, from 1 to 12 April 2026. The full programme will be announced on 10 March.
