Advertisement
Hong Kong
OpinionComment
Franklin Koo
Franklin Koo

Opinion | Happy day for Hong Kong cinemas could have been a showcase of local films

  • The offer of HK$30 movie tickets will boost the cinema business, but the campaign should have done more for the local film industry
  • Not only are classic Hong Kong films far from forgotten, recent releases depicting local issues show that the industry is worthy of support

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
4
Francis Ng Chun-yu (right) and Loletta Lee Lai-chun in a still from Drifting, a 2021 film about the homeless in Hong Kong. Photo: Riddiculous Studio
Franklin Koo
Today Hongkongers and tourists alike will be able to enjoy films in cinemas at a discounted price of HK$30 per ticket, if one is lucky enough to secure one of the 200,000-plus available tickets. As long as you can get a ticket, there are no restrictions on which movie you can watch, but was this a missed opportunity?
Advertisement

This campaign, which in addition to discounted cinema tickets includes food fairs and a music carnival, comes at a cost of HK$20 million to the government’s coffers, and while it is expected that it will give the cinema business a boost, it leaves a lot to be desired for the local film industry.

Hong Kong’s film industry has shed its reputation of churning out low-budget movies solely to make a quick buck. The decline in popularity of local films is due to a change in market factors.

Some of the criticism has been aimed at the larger budget films which, due to the economic reality, simply cannot cater to Hong Kong’s limited local market of around 7 million and seek to attract a much broader Asian market. These films may employ non-local supporting actors and actresses, with the dialogue being dubbed into Cantonese, and sometimes use Hong Kong simply as a backdrop for an otherwise vanilla plot.

However, we have also seen films depicting local issues, from McRefugees in I’m Livin’ It (2019) starring Aaron Kwok Fu-shing to the lives of the homeless in Drifting (2021) starring Francis Ng Chun-yu. These films showcase the serious yet often neglected reality of our society.
Advertisement
Other genres, such as true crime in The Sparring Partner (2022), which have been lauded by international critics, show that there is still much enthusiasm for local films with narratives that grapple with social dynamics that are uniquely “Hong Kong”.

03:01

How recreating famous Hong Kong film sets in miniature style helped a designer through the pandemic

How recreating famous Hong Kong film sets in miniature style helped a designer through the pandemic
Advertisement