Behind the glitz and glamour of this year’s Cannes Film Festival (12 to 23 May), Hong Kong’s cinema insiders are hard at work driving the distribution deals that will bring the city’s productions to audiences around the globe.
The Hong Kong Cinema @ CANNES 2026 campaign firmly puts this year’s spotlight on the business end of cinema, featuring a series of events designed to connect producers with partners and position Hong Kong as an international hub for cultural exchange and IP trading.
The campaign kicked off on 12 May when the Hong Kong Pavilion opened at the Marché du Film on the first day of the festival.
Nine production and distribution companies are showcasing the latest film projects at the pavilion, aiming to secure international distribution partners.
Vice President of Sales and Distribution at Media Asia Vanessa Lo said the company had successfully found buyers from France, Germany, Singapore and Vietnam for its hit film Twilight of the Warriors: The Final Chapter. Many of these partners had collaborated on the series’ previous instalment Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.
Grace Chan, Head of Distribution at Entertaining Power, is presenting the family drama The Fruitless Tree at the festival. “This is a really good way for us to present a movie to everyone in the market, especially to film festival programmers," she noted.
Other titles up for sale include Cold War 1994, 2025’s top opening box office title Under Current and the crime action film The Trier of Fact. The projects have attracted producers, investors and distributors from a range of markets, underscoring the pavilion’s role as a vital platform for fostering international collaboration and expanding the global reach of Hong Kong cinema.
A highlight of the campaign was the Hong Kong Night reception held on 16 May. The event drew over 600 international film producers, distributors, investors and film promotion agencies, all keen to network and connect with Hong Kong’s film elite.
New this year is a programme of business meetings between Hong Kong production companies and film financing organisations from Italy, the Philippines, Spain, South Korea, Canada, Brazil and more. This is complemented by a series of seminars on funding trends and co-production opportunities, as well as a pitching session in which five Hong Kong producers presented their latest film projects.
Noting the campaign follows hot on the heels of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s (HKTDC) annual FILMART held each March, HKTDC Assistant Executive Director Anna Cheung said the initiatives “support international screen productions in entering the Asian market via Hong Kong, reinforcing the city’s role as a vital bridge connecting Asian and the global markets.”
Hong Kong Cinema @ CANNES 2026 is organised by the Cultural, Sports and Tourism Bureau of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the Hong Kong Film Development Council, the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency and the HKTDC.