HKIFF marks 50 years with retrospective exhibition at City Hall

An exhibition marking the 50th anniversary of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) will be held at the Hong Kong City Hall from April 1 to 12, celebrating five decades of the festival’s role in promoting cinema and cultural exchange.

Titled 50 and Beyond: The Hong Kong International Film Festival Golden Jubilee Exhibition, the event will take place at the City Hall Exhibition Hall, the same venue that hosted the festival’s inaugural edition in 1977. Admission will be free.

Albert Lee, executive director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, said the choice of venue carried special significance.

“Since then, HKIFF has become one of Hong Kong’s cultural highlights of the year, earning a reputation as one of Asia’s longest-running and most prestigious film festivals,” Lee said. 

“We hope the exhibition acts both as a retrospective and a forward-looking vision, reaffirming our original mandate as we move into our second fifty years.”

The exhibition will present a selection of rarely seen photographs featuring master filmmakers, renowned directors, and film stars who have appeared at the festival over the past five decades.

These will be shown alongside archival documents, posters, publications, and replicas of artifacts that chart the festival’s evolution and revisit defining moments in its history.

Visitors will also be able to view recorded interviews in which filmmakers reflect on their experiences at HKIFF. A highlight of the exhibition will be a short tribute compilation created by acclaimed art director and editor William Chang, offering a cinematic journey through landmark films associated with the festival.

The Golden Jubilee exhibition coincides with HKIFF50, which will be held from April 1 to 12. The festival society said further details will be announced in the coming weeks, with the full festival program expected to be released in early March.

marco.lam@singtaonewscorp.com