The Brightest Sun by Nakashima Tetsuya and Pavane for an Infant by Chong Keat-aun will open the Hong Kong International Film Festival which will take place from April 10 – 21, 2025.

The Brightest Sun by Nakashima Tetsuya – Japan | 2025 – 129 minutes | World Premiere

When a private detective is murdered, a former colleague and a trainee detective are sent to investigate. Along the way, they uncover a tragic truth that triggers memories from their own haunted pasts. The latest film by Nakashima Tetsuya is a potent drama that shows the emotional ripple effect of severe disability and the difficult ethical conundrums that arise from it. Eschewing his signature maximalist style, Nakashima has made his most compassionate and sensitive film yet with this moving story about the transformative power of parenthood. (HKIFF 2025)

Screening Dates:
April 10, 2025 | Thursday | Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre | 6:45 pm (with Q&A | SOLD OUT)
April 11, 2025 | Friday | Premiere Elements | 9:15 pm (SOLD OUT)

About the director:
NAKASHIMA Tetsuya was born in 1959 in Fukuoka, Japan. He directed numerous commercials before making his feature debut Happy-Go-Lucky in 1997. He continued to make strikingly rhythmic and emotionally resonant works which showcased his unique narrative style and bold visual aesthetic. One of his most notable films, Confessions (2010), won him Best Film, Best Director, and Best Screenplay at the Japanese Film Academy Awards.

Pavane for an Infant by Chong Keat-aun – Malaysia, Hong Kong | 2024 – 117 minutes

Set around the end of Ramadan in Kuala Lumpur, the latest film from Chong Keat-aun follows Lai Sum, a social worker at a local baby hatch, as she endeavours to help Siew Man, an underage girl struggling with the decision to abort. Against this backdrop, Chong deploys a keen eye for his country’s social issues, refracted through a magical realist prism that grapples with Malaysia’s various faiths and cultures – their cohabitation made uneasy by conservative politics, as well as the patriarchal and theocratic pressures put on women and their bodies. (HKIFF 2025)

Screening Dates:
April 10, 2025 | Thursday | Hong Kong Cultural Centre Grand Theatre | 9:50 pm (with Q&A | SOLD OUT)
April 12, 2025 | Saturday | Premiere Elements | 5:00 pm (With Q&A | SOLD OUT)

Trailer:

About the director:
CHONG Keat-aun is a Malaysian director and performing artist. His short film Cemetery of Courtesy was selected for the Busan International Film Festival in 2017. He was named Best New Director at the Golden Horse Awards for his debut feature film, The Story of Southern Islet (2020). He won the Firebird Award for Best Film in the Young Cinema Competition (Chinese-Language) for Snow in Midsummer (2023) in HKIFF48.

For more information please visit: https://www.hkiff.org.hk/