The 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) has unveiled its lineup for 2025, showcasing a variety of films supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation. Among the highlights are Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Yunan, Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown, Xiaoxuan Jiang’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse, and Areeb Zuaiter’s documentary Yalla Parkour.
Scheduled from April 10 to 21, the festival will present nearly 200 films from 69 countries, including six world premieres, two international premieres, and 52 Asian premieres. Over 300 screenings are planned.
Among the standout titles, Yunan—the second film in Fakher Eldin’s HOME trilogy—tells the story of a disillusioned Arab writer who, while contemplating suicide, retreats to a remote island in the North Sea. There, an encounter with an older woman reignites his will to live. Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown explores the hardships two immigrants face searching for a better life in Athens. Additionally, Meryam Joobeur’s Who Do I Belong To addresses themes of identity and conflict as a Tunisian mother deals with the unexpected return of her son from Syria.
In her feature-length debut, Zuaiter offers Yalla Parkour, a documentary that weaves her quest for belonging with the journey of Ahmed, a parkour athlete in Gaza. This film, an international collaboration among Sweden, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Palestine, premiered earlier this year in the Berlinale’s Panorama section.
Jiang’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse, a drama set in Inner Mongolia, is also among the festival’s notable entries. This film is a joint effort involving Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, and the United States, produced by Da Huang Pictures. HKIFF 2025 will kick off with the world premieres of The Brightest Sun by Japan’s Tetsuya Nakashima and Pavane for an Infant by Malaysia’s Chong Keat Aun. The festival will end with Norway’s Dreams (Sex Love) by Dag Johan Haugerud, which recently claimed the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
