Red Sea Film Foundation-backed films 'Yunan', 'To a Land Unknown', 'To Kill a Mongolian Horse' and 'Yalla Parkour' are set to be showcased.
The 49th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) has announced its 2025 lineup, featuring several films backed by the Red Sea Film Foundation, including Ameer Fakher Eldin’s Yunan, Mahdi Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown, Xiaoxuan Jiang’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse and Areeb Zuaiter’s documentary Yalla Parkour.
Scheduled to take place from April 10 to 21, the festival will highlight nearly 200 films from 69 countries, including six world premieres, two international premieres and 52 Asian premieres, with over 300 screenings planned.
Among the notable selections, Yunan—the second installment in Fakher Eldin’s HOME trilogy—follows a disillusioned Arab writer who, contemplating suicide, retreats to a remote North Sea island, where an encounter with an elderly woman rekindles his desire to live. Fleifel’s To a Land Unknown portrays the struggles of two immigrants seeking a way out of Athens, while Meryam Joobeur’s Who Do I Belong To delves into themes of identity and conflict as a Tunisian mother grapples with the unexpected return of her son from Syria.
Making her feature-length debut, Zuaiter directs Yalla Parkour, a documentary that intertwines her search for belonging with the story of Ahmed, a parkour athlete in Gaza. The film, an international co-production involving Sweden, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Palestine, premiered at the Berlinale’s Panorama section earlier this year.
Jiang’s To Kill a Mongolian Horse, a drama set in Inner Mongolia, is also among the featured selections. Produced by Da Huang Pictures, the film represents a collaboration between Malaysia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and the United States.
HKIFF 2025 will open with the world premieres of The Brightest Sun by Japan’s Tetsuya Nakashima and Pavane for an Infant by Malaysia’s Chong Keat Aun. The festival will conclude with Norway’s Dreams (Sex Love) by Dag Johan Haugerud, which recently won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale.
