Founded in 1976, the festival features different movies and filmmakers from different countries, and takes place in Hong Kong.

[1] HKIFF screens around 230 films from more than 60 countries in different major cultural venues across the territory every year.

[2] New films are featured as gala premieres, with the directors and cast presenting on the red carpet and meet-and-greet sessions in theatres.

Previously operated by Urban Council and Leisure and Cultural Services Department, from 1977 to 2001, and Hong Kong Arts Development Council, from 2002 to 2004, HKIFF was officially incorporated as an independent, charitable organisation – Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited after completing its 28th edition.

[4][5] The Hong Kong SAR Government has continued to subsidise the festival through venue provision and partial funding.

[6] Since 2012, HKIFF produced and premiered anthologies of short films made by well-known award winning filmmakers from Asia, such as Ann Hui, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Jia Zhangke, Brillante Mendoza, Hideo Nakata, Tsai Ming-liang, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul.

Bille August) Theo Angelopoulos Fumio Kamei Vasily Shukshin Idrissa Ouédraogo High Heels (dir.

Zhang Yuan) Kiyoshi Kurosawa Walter Salles The Million Dollar Hotel (dir.

Spike Jonze) Dardenne brothers Marco Bellocchio Jade Goddess of Mercy (dir.

Apichatpong Weerasethakul; Brillante Mendoza; Stanley Kwan; Ho Yuhang) The Midnight After (dir.

Frank Hui, Jevons Au, Vicky Wong) Agnieszka Holland Ildikó Enyedi Xiao Mei (dir.

Maren Hwang) Tsai Ming-liang Kazuo Hara Asghar Farhadi Jiang Wen Little Big Women (dir.

Philip Yung), later cancelled Kazuo Hara [note 2] Warriors of Future (dir.

Besides Firebird Awards, HKIFF also established FIPRESCI Prize in HKIFF23 to recognize enterprising filmmakers and promotes young talent in Asian cinema.