The Hong Kong Film Development Council (HKFDC) has revamped its film financing program with the launch of a new scheme to support the local industry through a bumpy post-pandemic market.
The new scheme, “Film Production Financing Scheme 2.0”, is already active and enhances the “Relaxation Plan” that HKFDC introduced during the height of the pandemic in mid-July 2020. Hong Kong film production ground to a halt during the pandemic, due to stringent border controls and anti-Covid measures, and while the industry has been busy for the past few years, the market has not recovered to pre-pandemic levels.
The Relaxation Plan aimed to increase local film production and create more jobs and development opportunities. It has funded 23 Hong Kong film projects, including A Guilty Conscience, which grossed $12.8M (HK$100M) in 2023 and is now the second highest-grossing film ever at the Hong Kong box office. Other projects funded by the scheme, including Philip Yung’s Papa, based on a real-life family tragedy, which premiered at last year’s Tokyo film festival; and Jill Leung’s romantic drama Last Song For You, have also had encouraging box office results.
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Financing Scheme 2.0 retains many elements of the scheme with a few enhancements. It will continue to provide subsidies and incentives to film projects with a production budget not more than $3.2M (HK$25M), but will increase the government’s maximum contribution from $1.16M (HK$9m) to $1.28M (HK$10m). All applications with passing scores will be provided with the maximum financing amount, i.e. 40% of the approved production budget, with a cap of $1.28M (HK$10m).
The scheme will not be time limited and will disburse funding at an earlier stage – the amount of government funding received will increase from 50% to 70% upon commencement of principal photography to improve cash flow for production. In addition, the scheme will increase the quota for applicants and main financiers from two to four; and give investors priority to recover half of their investment to encourage investment and reduce risk.
“Since its launch in 2020, the Relaxation Plan has funded 23 film production projects, many of which have been well received,” said HKFDC chairman Wilfred Wong. “The optimised Financing Scheme 2.0 will further enhance the attractiveness of the financing scheme, and provide a strong boost to the film industry. I believe that it will bring positive and active developments in volume and genre diversity in future film productions.”
Although it wasn’t funded by the scheme, Hong Kong also recently had a huge hit with The Last Dance, about a Taoist priest and a wedding planner who team up to run a funeral business, which is currently the highest-grossing Hong Kong film ever with $18.3M. However, Hong Kong’s box office in 2024 was down by 6% on the previous year and around 30% lower than the pre-pandemic year of 2019.
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