To mark its 50th anniversary, the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society is partnering with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra to present the Asian premiere of In the Mood for Love in Concert, a special film-with-live-music event that revisits one of Hong Kong cinema’s most enduring masterpieces.
The concert will be staged in three performances on April 2 and 3 at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre Concert Hall, where live orchestral music will accompany the full screening of the film.
Directed by Wong Kar-wai and starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Maggie Cheung Man-yuk, In the Mood for Love has long been regarded as a defining work of Hong Kong cinema.
Its international standing has only grown with time: in 2022, it was ranked fifth on Sight & Sound’s list of the greatest films of all time, and in 2025, The New York Times placed it fourth among the best films of the 21st century. Leung’s performance in the film also earned him the Best Actor award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2000.
Set against the meticulously crafted visuals of cinematographers Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bing, the film tells a restrained yet deeply emotional story of desire, repression, and missed connections.
Music plays a central role in shaping its atmosphere, functioning almost as an unseen character. Themes of longing and quiet heartbreak unfold through Shigeru Umebayashi’s looping waltzes, Michael Galasso’s plaintive strings, the Latin jazz of Nat King Cole, and the nostalgic Mandarin songs of Rebecca Pan, all woven seamlessly into the texture of 1960s Hong Kong.
For the concert, the HK Phil will perform the score live beneath a large screen installed in the concert hall, allowing audiences to experience the film through a renewed dialogue between sound and image.
The orchestra will be led by Joshua Tan, principal conductor of the Singapore National Youth Orchestra, whose interpretation aims to draw out the poetic resonance between music and cinema.
Merging live symphonic performance with a landmark film, In the Mood for Love in Concert offers audiences not just a revival, but a re-encounter—one that invites reflection on why this story of quiet intimacy continues to echo so powerfully, decades after it first appeared on screen.
Tickets available from February 11, 2026 through URBTIX. Click here for details.
https://www.hkiff.org.hk/itmfl_inconcert/
marco.lam@singtaonewscorp.com
