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The 2024 Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival (Summer IFF) will kick off on 14 August with two recent award-winners from the Cannes Film Festival – Guan Hu’s Black Dog, a darkly comedic thriller exploring an unlikely friendship between a loner and a canine, starring Eddie Peng; and Coralie Fargeat’s The Substance, an uncompromising feminist body-horror satire, showcasing a fearless performance from Demi Moore.
The 13-day extravaganza will conclude with the omnibus Tales of Taipei, a diverse romantic comedy directed by nine up-and-coming filmmakers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and beyond. The ten collective narratives illuminate the city’s vibrancy with dazzling performances from a star-studded cast featuring Karena Lam, Sinje Lee, Sammi Cheng, Stephy Tang, Chang Chen, Ethan Yuan, Ronald Cheng, and Liu Kuan-Ting.
Fresh from the international festival circuit, Summer IFF‘s exciting line-up includes Quentin Dupieux’s Cannes opening film The Second Act, Piero Messina’s sci-fi romance Another End, and the award-winning Desert of Namibia, whose young director Yamanaka Yoko will meet the Hong Kong audience after the screening. The list of documentaries is equally appealing, featuring the Berlinale Documentary Award winner No Other Land and intriguing biographical films, such as Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron and Made in England: The Films of Powell and Pressburger.
From riotous comedies to captivating romances, young audience will find their favourites in the Fantastic Beats section. Liao Ming-Yi’s eccentric love triangle in Suffocating Love, Yamashita Nobuhiro’s anime-based BL drama in Let’s Go Karaoke!, and Seta Natsuki’s story of female camaraderie in Worlds Apart are entertaining in their distinct ways. Additionally, SAND LAND, the big screen adaptation of the late great Toriyama Akira’s one-shot manga, promises to enchant anime fans, as the series is currently streaming on Disney+.
A unique feature this year is The Beauty and Brutality of Youth – The Films of Somai Shinji, showcasing eight of his seminal works, including Sailor Suit and Machine Gun, which launched Yakushimaru Hiroko to stardom; Typhoon Club, lauded as one of the finest Japanese films of the 1980s; Wait and See, winner of Berlinale FIPRESCI Prize; and Umbrella Flower, his final film. Encompassing Somai’s most acclaimed youth-focused titles and his latest works, this selection offers a comprehensive insight into his trademark long takes and profound meditation on coming of age, life, and death.
To commemorate the 40th anniversary of François Truffaut’s passing, Summer IFF pays tribute to the French New Wave pioneer by presenting The Wild Child and Small Change. These two masterpieces offer heartfelt reflections on Truffaut’s childhood and his compassionate concern for children, and provide invaluable insights into the master filmmaker’s life, as seen in the recent documentary François Truffaut: My Life, A Screenplay.
Timeless classics never lose their relevance. King Kong and Godzilla, the two pioneering giant monsters in the history of cinema, are brought back to life in newly restored versions. These two seminal films showcase innovative visual techniques and have profoundly influenced the genre’s development. The Back to the Screen section features another pair of household names: Francis Ford Coppola’s mega-budget musical One from the Heart: Reprise and Martin Scorsese’s low-budget comedy After Hours, both of which return in their restored versions, inviting a much-needed reappraisal.
In addition to screenings, CineClub offers its subscribers two exclusive Summer Workshops, in which two renowned unit photographers, Jupiter Wong and Quist Tsang, and two key art designers, Frank Chan and Jackey Cheung, will share their expertise and experiences, respectively.
