The 42nd Hong Kong International Film Festival announced the members of its international juries for the Firebird Awards in three competition sections: Young Cinema, Documentary and Short Film. The Awards Gala Night will take place on April 2nd, 2018 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.

Young Cinema Competition Jury

Suwa Nobuhiro (1) – Born in 1960 in Hiroshima, Japan. In 1997 his first film, 2/Duo, screened at Rotterdam and Vancouver. His second work, M/Other (99) carried off the FIPRESCI Prize at Cannes. With H Story (01), also premiered at Cannes, he revisited Alain Resnais’ Hiroshima mon amour (59). Un couple parfait (05), his first film outside Japan, received the Special Jury Prize at Locarno. In 2006 he directed a segments of Paris, je t’aime and in 2009 he returned to Cannes with Yuki & Nina.

Mani Haghighi (2) – Born in Tehran, Iran in 1969. He studied Philosophy at McGill University, Montreal, before returning to Iran to make films. His first feature, Abadan (03) premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. In 2017, Haghighi made 50 Kilos of Sour Cherries, a romantic comedy which is one of Iranian cinema’s top ten highest grossing films. Filmography: Abadan (03), Men at Work (06), Canaan (08), Modest Reception (12), A Dragon Arrives! (16), Pig (18).

Kent Jones (3) – Filmmaker, writer and film curator from New York. His film writing has appeared in magazines, journals and news outlets around the world. He has made numerous documentaries including the acclaimed Hitchcock/Truffaut (15), and he has just completed his first fiction film, Diane (18). Jones has served on numerous film festival juries, and he currently serves as the Director of the New York Film Festival.

Cecilia Yip (4)- Renowned Hong Kong actress. She began her acting career with Nomad (82), which earned her first Hong Kong Film Award nomination. Over the next three decades, Cecilia starred in over 50 films and won two Best Actress awards (Let’s Make Laugh [83], This Thing Called Love [91]). She is also known to audience for her television work in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China. In 1991 she made her acting debut in live theater and has since starred in six popular stage productions.

Documentary Competition Jury

Anand Patwardhan (1) – Born in 1950 in Mumbai, India. He has been making political documentaries for over four decades, pursuing diverse and controversial issues at the crux of social and political life in India. Many of his films were at one time or another banned by state television channels in India and became the subject of litigation by Anand. Selected Filmography: Bombay: Our City (85), In the Name of God (92), Father, Son and Holy War (94), War and Peace (02), Jai Bhim Comrade (11).

Peter Yung (2) – Born in Hong Kong in 1949. He is a celebrated photographer, director, producer and cinematographer. He made his feature debut in 1979 with The System, one of the first Hong Kong New Wave films. Documentary works include One Day in Locke (71), Opium: The White Powder Opera (76), The Rickshaw Boy (81), Warlords of the Golden Triangle (87). Filmography: The System (79), Life After Life (81), Souls of the Wind (82), Double Decker (84), Journey to the Cossacks (89).

Ken Smith (3) – Divides his time between New York and Hong Kong, where he is the Asian performing arts critic for the Financial Times. An ASCAP/ Deems Taylor award winner, he is the author of Fate! Luck! Chance! and two collections of critical writings translated and published by Beijing Normal University Press. He was a cultural advisor to David Henry Hwang’s bilingual comedy Chinglish, the 30th anniversary Broadway revival of M. Butterfly, and the musical Kung Fu, based on the life of Bruce Lee.

Short Film Competition Jury

Nuno Rodrigues (1) – Curator and festival programmer. Rodrigues is a co-founder and the artistic director of the Portuguese film festival Curtas Vila do Conde. In 1999, he founded Agência – Portuguese Short Film Agency and handles the promotion and distribution of Portuguese short films. Since 2005 he has been the director/coordinator of the Solar Cinematic Art Gallery in Vila do Conde, where he has curated numerous exhibits. In recent years, he has also been active as a film producer.

Tseng Wei-Chen (2) – Film critic, and scriptwriter. MA in Cinema Studies, NYU. She was the Deputy Secretary General and Program Director at the Taipei GoldenHorse Film Festival; Lecturer at Fu-JenUniversity.Her script Ya-Shang was awarded the Best Script by Taiwan’s GIO. She also translates film books, including: Film Art, On Directing Film, and many others. Film reviews: Reading Movies From Inside Out, Movie Goes On.

Adam Wong (3) – Started to make short films at University of Iowa when he was an exchange student there. His feature films include: When Beckham Met Owen (04), Magic Boy (07), The Way We Dance (13) and She Remembers, He Forgets (15). In 2017, he made the documentary The Way Out for UNICEF Hong Kong. He also teaches courses on creative media at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the Hong Kong Baptist University. He is planning the sequel to The Way We Dance.

FIPRESCI Prize Jury

Holger Römers (1) – Born in 1971 and has an M.A. in Film Studies from the University of Cologne. He is a film critic for, among others, the film magazine FILM-DIENST and the public-broadcasting TV channel WDR. His articles on film, photography and the media have appeared in various German and English language publications. His most recent book contribution is in The Cinema of Germany, edited by Joseph Garncarz and Annemone Ligensa.

Chan Cheng-Te (2) – Senior film critic from Taiwan. He has worked on the production of Edward Yang’s A Confucian Confusion (94), and his film criticism book, A Moviegoer, was awarded the 2016 Taipei International Book Exhibition Non-Fiction Award. His film reviews appear in various publications and websites, including Film Appreciation Journal, Fun Screen, The Affairs, Initium Media and The Reporter.

Cecilia Wong Lai-ming (3) – Film critic and currently the president of theHong Kong Film Critics Society. She has served as Programmer at the Hong Kong Film Archive, Assistant Chief Editor of HKFilm and Editor of City Entertainment. Experienced in curating, programme coordination and promotion for film programmes, she has curated several exhibitions on film arts and is the editor of Anita Mui’s Artistic Life (14), and Portraits of Contemporary Hong Kong Actresses (17).

About the HKIFF:
The HKIFF is one of the Asia’s oldest and most reputable platforms for filmmakers, film professionals and filmgoers from all over the world to launch new work and experience outstanding films. Committed to discovering new talent, the festival premieres the breadth of Chinese cinema and showcases Asian talent. As a life-style event, festival-goers watch world-class films, experience talks with leading filmmakers, visit film exhibitions and attend parties celebrating the Festival community, and much more.

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