One of Hong Kong’s most anticipated film festivals makes its return this month! From August 13 to 25, the Summer International Film Festival (Summer IFF) organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) brings a diverse curation of more than 40 films to the city, from movies making their Asia premiere to beloved classics.
Summer IFF 2025 is currently taking over five cinemas in town, including Emperor Cinemas iSquare in Tsim Sha Tsui, Premiere Elements and M+ Cinema in West Kowloon, the Louis Koo Cinema at the Hong Kong Arts Centre in Wan Chai, and Emperor Cinemas Times Square in Causeway Bay, with ticket prices ranging from $100 to $75 available on Urbtix.
Ari Aster’s Eddington – starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal, and Emma Stone – is poised to be one of the highlights of Summer IFF 2025 as it makes its gala premiere. Featuring black comedy and absurdist violence packaged as a neo-Western satire, the story follows the escalating conflict between a fictional New Mexico town’s progressive mayor and its right-wing sheriff as their confrontation fuels a growing societal divide.
Kowloon Generic Romance, a Japanese film directed by Ikeda Chihiro scheduled as the closing film of the festival, turns the Kowloon Walled City trope on its head, eschewing criminal underbelly for a quirky take on an office romance that sparks between two coworkers, played by Yoshioka Riho and Mizukami Koshi.
In a tribute to director David Lynch, who tragically passed at the age of 78 earlier this year in January, Summer IFF 2025 will show the Asia premiere of Welcome to Lynchland by Stéphane Ghez, a documentary recording the auteur’s artistic legacy and impact, with commentary from frequent collaborators and actors Kyle MacLachlan and Laura Dern.
Summer IFF 2025 will also feature a selection of movies by the award-winning Iranian director Jafar Panahi, whose influential art depicting contemporary life in Iran is at odds with the strict state censorship imposed by the country’s regime. His debut feature film, The White Balloon, released in 1995, won the Cannes Camera d’Or, followed by The Mirror in 1997, honoured with the Golden Leopard for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival. Both films, and more, will be screened during this movie festival.
Cinema heritage will also take up a prominent place at Summer IFF 2025 with a collection of restored classics, from the Anno Hideaki-directed Love & Pop and Walter Salles’s The Motorcycle Diaries, to Milos Forman’s seminal One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest starring Jack Nicholson, Ernst Lubitsch’s black-and-white One Hour With You, and more. Short films are set for a time to shine in the Nowness Shorts Selection, with five curated selections from China, Australia, and Japan earmarked for screenings.
Unfortunately, the original event programming did not emerge completely unscathed. Family Matters – a Taiwanese film scheduled for screening at the festival on August 16 and 18 – has been pulled from Summer IFF 2025 at short notice for ‘not meeting the revision requirements set by the Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration (OFNAA)’, HKIFFS shared in a Facebook post. Disappointing news for film lovers who wanted to see the drama directed by Pan Ke-yin, which was recently honoured with the Uncaged Award for Best Feature Film at the 24th New York Asian Film Festival (NYAFF) in July!
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