First-time film director Judy Chu took more than ten years to develop the story of Sunshine of My Life, which is based on the true story of her blind parents and herself. Chu, who comes from a theatre background, started developing the concept while majoring in acting at The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. As she recalled in an interview with Tatler in September, she got rave reviews for her experimental short film, but was not able to get backing from commercial film production houses. It was Raymond Wong, the founder of Mandarin Motion Pictures—which is behind the Ip Man franchise—who stepped up and offered to mentor her into expanding the story to a full-length feature film.

The best surprise for Chu was when established Hong Kong actress Kara Wai Ying-hung (The Bold, the Corrupt, and the Beautiful, Wu Xia and Tracey) was cast to play the role of the blind mother in the story, and went to great lengths to study the movements of a visually challenged person.

Don't miss: How New Hong Kong Film ‘Sunshine of My Life’ Spotlights the True Story of a Blind Family

This category-three true-crime production is most remembered for its chilling story based on the 2013 family murder in Tai Kok Tsui, in which a 29-year-old man murdered and dismembered with own parents with the help of his 35-year-old friend. The film follows the two lawyers who represent the murderers and the jurors who get tangled up in moral dilemmas.

The film is led by new director Ho Cheuk-Tin, who had previously worked on RTHK’s Below the Lion Rock series. Ho and producer Philip Yung had a hard time looking for investors as the subject of the film was too gruesome. Luckily, a white knight known only as Mr K—rumoured to be Louis Koo or Aaron Kwok—came forward to sponsor the film with HK$10 million.

Six weeks after the film premiered, its local box office collection hit three HK$37 million and knocked Black Panther: Wakanda Forever off its spot as top-ranking film for most of the week of November 28 to December 10.

It took Louis Koo’s production company One Cool Film six years and HK$450 million to make this sci-fi action film that stars Koo, Sean Lau and Carina Lau. Set in Hong Kong in 2055, the story unfolds in a world ravaged by wars, pollution, global warming and the overuse of military robots. When all hope seems lost, a meteor, containing an alien plant species, crashes on earth. While it threatens human lives, scientists discover that it’s also a potential cure to the planet’s air pollution.

While the movie opened to lukewarm reception, responses began to pick up pace after Koo’s active—and tearful—promotion of the film. With local sci-fi films being rare, the movie created a milestone in the city’s cinema with its groundbreaking visual effects. Not only that, but the producers also collaborated with Hong Kong-based tech group Gusto Collective to create an NFT collection, which consists of 10,000 unique 3D soldier avatars with interchangeable armour. On its first two days of release on Netflix, it was top-streamed in Hong Kong and the fifth-highest in the world.

Read more: Wong Kar Wai And Sotheby’s Offer NFT Film And Leslie Cheung’s Jacket In October Auction

Featuring Anson Lo and Edan Lui from boyband Mirror, the story revolves around family relationships that make us question and explore our own bonds with our families. The riveting drama was chosen as one of the five selected productions under the First Feature Film Initiative, a scheme by the Hong Kong Film Development Council to support outstanding productions by new talent.

Hong Kong Family had its world premiere at the Busan Film Festival in October and was selected as the closing film of the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival a month later. There are also speculations that the Mirror members might get nominated for the Best New Actor category at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2023.

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