Proudly announcing itself as the final set-piece event of the 2025 edition of FILMART, Hong Kong film directors and producers closed the show with a discussion on their uncertain outlook.

One of the directors, Anselm Chan, had recently delivered Hong Kong’s highest grossing film of all time, "The Last Dance". Another, Philip Yung, with his family sex abuse drama, "Papa", had revealed a rarely seen grit and been rewarded with multiple awards. On the other hand, Hong Kong box office dropped last year and cinemas are closing.

FILMART, similarly, had plenty of upbeat notes. But they were played over a background about economic slowdown, uncertain international politics and forms of film and TV industry disruption that threatens norms and jobs.

FILMART appeared larger and busier than in previous years. This was borne out by the final figures – 7,600 industry players from 42 countries and regions, with 760 exhibitors from 34 countries and regions. Exhibitors from ASEAN countries were up by more than 50% while buyer attendance from the region rose 15% year-on-year.

While some leading companies were missing – Hong Kong’s One Cool for example chose to do its meetings off campus and away from the Wanchai Convention Centre – several others were individuals and companies who had not been in Hong Kong since the COVID pandemic. (Several returnees noted that the cost of living in Hong Kong had risen substantially.) 

“FILMART still remains very useful,” said Kim Yunjeong, of Korean film sales agency Finecut, highlighting a neat fit between big festival driven events of Berlin and Cannes.

“I love that FILMART is so Asian and business-like, said another. “There’s no huddling in the cold around coffee. You can get straight to the point and onto the meeting’s agenda.” 

Several mainland Chinese companies appeared to have received that memo too. Chinese companies were not only present in large numbers, but also appeared more visible and proactive than in 2024. 

Online video company Bilibili, producer Linmon and YouHug made presentations of their latest content slates to international partners. But rumours continued to swirl about the financial health of China’s conventional, long-form premium video streamers.

One of them, Baidu-subsidiary iQiyi, may be about to perform a major U-turn and re-skew its content offering away from feature films and TV series and more into micro dramas or vertical videos. And it has already communicated to certain overseas sellers that it wants to buy long-form series with fewer episode counts.

In contrast, Hong Kong-based multi-territory streamer Viu, used FILMART as the curtain raiser for its first English-language original series The Season. 

Micro dramas were being newly produced and promoted by companies including China’s Linmon Pictures and Hong Kong’s Phoenix Waters. 

Specialists reported to the conference that the market is now worth RMB50 billion/US$7 billion, or as much as the local theatrical market, in mainland China and possibly as much again in the rest of the world. Few, however, were able to say whether vertical video has enduring prospects, or whether it is a near-term fad. 

There was even more discussion about artificial intelligence (AI), in everything from screenwriting to dubbing and from colouring to restoration. For those executives planning to use the market as an educational tool there were 21 seminar sessions on different aspects of AI, from character creation to its fusion with music, VR and virtual environments. 

It was a dominant theme in another talk session on Asian animation production, where Japanese companies said traditional hand-drawn techniques would continue to be the dominant production methodology, but that AI was increasingly being used at the design, character development and pre-production stages. 

If AI was an accidental connector between the multiple components of FILMART, it seemed too that there had been behind-the-scenes efforts to make the week a more joined-up cluster.

The ensemble involved: a film awards show (the Asian Film Awards); the line-up announcement by the Hong Kong International Film Festival; a cluster of seminars co-organised with the AVIA trade body; funding announcement by the Hong Kong government and the Jackie Chan Project A for Films; and companies doing sneak previews. These were in addition to the long-running core component events of rights market FILMART and three-day project funding pitch HAF.

FILMART organisers like to boast that their event retains its role as a two-way portal between the mainland Chinese, Asian and international film and TV industries. These days there is more than one gateway with China and many companies have the skills to trade directly. But FILMART holds on to its significance as a vector for market information, product insights and competitor analysis in the Asian region. – by Patrick Frater