Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival 2021

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival returns to theaters in November for its 22nd year after going wholly online in 2020 in response to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

The festival will screen 32 feature films, documentaries and shorts, over 8 days and nights from Saturday November 13th through Sunday November 21st. For the first time the festival will take place in two venues: our traditional home at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center in Admiralty and our new venue at Golden Scene Cinema in Kennedy Town.

This year kicks off opening night on November 13 at Golden Scene Cinema in Kennedy Town with Neighbours. Directed by Mano Khalil out of Switzerland, this drama tells a story based on the experiences of Sero, a Kurdish boy dealing with a border war, and anti-Zionist rhetoric, in 1982 Syria. Neighbours was nominated for Best Film at the 2021 Shanghai International Film Festival. The film was inspired by the director’s bitter-sweet memories which connect to the current Syrian tragedy.

The festival features numerous Hong Kong premieres at the Asia Society including hit indie comedy Shiva Baby, ​​the Best Feature Film at the 2020 Adelaide Film Festival, and Here We Are, the winner of Best Director, Actor and Screenplay at the 2020 Israeli Film Academy Awards.

2021 marks the first time the festival has teamed up with the Hong Kong French Film Festival to offer a night of French films on Thursday November 18th at Golden Scene cinema featuring Director Aurélie Saada’s latest film Rose, and A Radiant Girl (Une fille qui va bien) set in 1942 Paris, directed by award winning actress Sandrine Kiberlain.

ABOUT THE ARTIST / ORGANISER

The Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival is Asia’s flagship Jewish Festival featuring the best Jewish-related films from around the world. Founded in 2000, the Festival was the first of its kind in Asia.

Over the years, the festival has introduced numerous innovations, including one-off events in the local community at schools and work sharing locations, and a completely online festival in 2020. We were at the forefront in introducing audiences to the TV series “Shtisel” and webseries “Soon by You”, and in highlighting a Jewish connection for celebrities like Wilt Chamberlain.

One of the Festival’s unique qualities is that it attracts many non-Jewish people, with more than one-third of the audience drawn from the broader Hong Kong community.