The International Film Camp (IFC) 2025 concluded yesterday at The Londoner Macao, with the Asian Film Awards Academy (AFAA) announcing eight winning short film projects, including a winner from Macau.
Now in its second year, the camp brought together 18 young filmmakers from eight Asian countries and regions – Macau, Hong Kong, mainland China, South Korea, Vietnam, Bangladesh, India, and Kyrgyzstan – who developed short films on the theme “My Best Friend” through a week of mentorship and masterclasses.
Each participant was supported by experienced mentors, attended seminars on directing, scriptwriting, funding, distribution, and post-production, and presented their projects to a panel of judges while competing for HKD 300,000 in production grants.
Macau’s contestant, Jane Zhang, secured a win with her film project “After Her.” Among the winning filmmakers were Pham Hoang Minh Thy from Vietnam with “Death in Tokyo,” Sreeram Pattathil from India with “Deliver,” and Tynystan Temirzhan from Kyrgyzstan with “Forgive Me Friend.”
Hong Kong’s Kong Ho Yan and Lam Lo won for “I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” and “The Elephant in the Room,” while mainland China’s Xu Hangcheng and Han Tianchu took prizes for “Land Breeze” and “The Night Journey.”
“The response to this edition has been exceptionally strong, with applications coming in from more regions across Asia than before. Over the past week, they have competed with passion and creativity for the eight production grants that will help bring their short film projects to life,” said Wilfred Wong, chairman of the Asian Film Awards Academy.
Last year’s alumni have already stepped onto the international stage, as “A South Facing Window” from Mongolia won two prizes at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland and was later selected in Toronto.
“Once Upon a Time There Was a Mountain” from Hong Kong was shown at the Drama International Short Film Festival in Greece, an Oscar-qualifying event. From mainland China, “Ride Your Horse” competed at the FIRST International Film Festival in Xining and is now being developed into a feature-length film.
IFC 2025 featured an international faculty of mentors, including Hong Kong filmmaker John Chong, Stanley Kwan, Anthony Chen, Mabel Cheung, Roger Garcia, Brillante Mendoza, Chan Hing Kai, and Meng Xie. Times Reporter
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