Michelle Yeoh to headline cross-border comedy festival

[Photo; Xinhua]

Blending star power with local talent to position the city as a Greater Bay Area cultural hub, the third annual Macau International Comedy Festival will feature an appearance by Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh.

The cross-border comedy event, organized by Mahua FunAge and ticketing platform Damai, with co-organization by the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC), runs from April 9 to 12. This year’s theme spotlights comedy under the motto “Laughter as the Remedy.”

Talents at the comedy festival hail largely from Mahua FunAge’s agency. Ma Li, co-initiator of the festival and China’s highest-grossing actress, known for Successor (2024) and The Dumpling Queen (2025), anchors the Mahua FunAge lineup.

Meanwhile, Cheng Le’er, assistant president and CFO of Mahua FunAge, revealed the special guest at the press conference, stating, “Our mystery guest is Ms. Michelle Yeoh, the first Chinese actress to win an Oscar. It’s very exciting… I’m especially happy about that.”

Yeoh won the Oscar for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once in 2023.

Organizers detailed that Macau’s centerpiece lakeside venue – the ‘Park of Joy’ at Anim’Arte Nam Van – will host open-air comedy shows and feature Pop Mart’s iconic MOLLY character, celebrating its 20th anniversary.

Per the event’s schedule, April 9 events take place in Hengqin, featuring a “Signing Competition” judged by Shen Teng, Ma Li, Allen, and Chang Yuan, which kicks off the festival. April 10 features “New Voices in Comedy” in Hengqin, alongside open-air shows in Macau. Programming then shifts fully to Macau on April 11, with open-air performances at Nam Van, a high-profile Gala Night, and an industry forum on macro trends.

The festival closes on April 12.  That Sunday, the Hengqin venue will host a creative practices roundtable, while Macau hosts more open-air shows at Nam Van, and a MICF Stand-Up Comedy Showcase takes place at 7:30 p.m. in Galaxy Macau’s Broadway Theatre.

IC president Deland Leong spotlighted local talent from the bureau’s “Training Plan for Young Performing Arts Talents,” particularly its “Practical Course for Comedians of Macau.” “Outstanding graduates who previously participated […] will also perform demonstration shows at this festival,” Leong said.

Leong, whose bureau partnered with Mahua FunAge on the “Training-Performance-Contract” model, added, “We believe that through more high-quality cultural projects, we can strengthen talent development, boost the growth of cultural and creative industries, and further consolidate ‘Cultural Macau’ as a golden calling card.”

“Through emblematic performance activities, the goal is to promote integration between culture and different sectors, creating new scenarios for cultural tourism experiences,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mahua FunAge CEO Han Mei echoed a similar sentiment, stating, “With everyone’s strong support, the comedy festival will surely become a high-quality cultural tourism IP with broad international influence, allowing people from different backgrounds to collide, exchange ideas, and grow together, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of the cultural industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.”