Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum: Project Market
Programme · 2026Prestige 76/100
A three-day financing forum with a six-figure award slate and travel paid. You need a director, producer and company attached.
Deadlines & fees
Closed for this cycle
The most recent round accepted applications from 9 September to 31 October 2025, with an early-bird discount for applications on or before 5 October, notification by mid-December and the forum held 17 to 19 March 2026. No times or timezone are published. Fees ran 650 Hong Kong dollars early and 800 at the official deadline, with a New Director concession at 500 and 650 respectively, and a 300 dollar bank charge added for telegraphic transfer. No call for the next edition has been published. The annual pattern is stable across three evidenced cycles: the call opens in early September, closes on 31 October, and the forum runs in mid-March.
Dates and fees checked against the official site 9 Aug 2026.
Key facts
- Formats
- Feature
- Eligibility
- Open worldwide
- Required materials
- A treatment of up to 1,000 words in English or 2,000 in Chinese · A synopsis of up to 100 words in English or 150 in Chinese · A one-sentence synopsis of up to 30 words in English or 60 in Chinese · Director biography and filmography · Producer biography and filmography · Production company profile · Proposed budget
THE REAL GATE IS ATTACHMENT, NOT NATIONALITY. Projects must be a full-length live-action or animated film of 60 minutes or longer with an attached director, producer AND production company, at script development or pre-production stage, with a proposed budget and not fully financed. The applicant must be the copyright owner or authorised to act for them, and the required materials independently enforce this by demanding a producer biography and filmography and a production company profile. An unattached writer cannot apply. Animation must have at least 75 per cent of its runtime created through animation. On nationality, the forum's own pages give two different pictures and we have verified both: the FAQ states that HAF is open to projects with Asian elements OR Asian in key creative roles such as directors and producers, which as a disjunction would admit a non-Asian writer with an Asian-set story, while the formal eligibility and selection criteria page carries no nationality or content requirement at all, its only Asia reference being a market-potential test. Asian framing otherwise appears on individual award terms rather than on eligibility. A New Director concession applies to directors with no commercially released feature, animation or documentary of 60 minutes or longer in any country.
Prizes
A substantial award slate, most of it in Hong Kong dollars. The main HAF in-development awards are 100,000 Hong Kong dollars each to two projects, one Hong Kong including co-production and one outside, funded by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, the Hong Kong Film Development Fund and HKIFF Industry. Alongside them sit a Sky Animation Award of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars, a HAF X CNC Award of 10,000 euro, a Taipei Film Commission Award of 50,000 Hong Kong dollars, a La Fonte Award of 100,000 Hong Kong dollars split as 30,000 cash and 70,000 in kind, and a White Light post-production award of 15,000 US dollars, plus in-kind awards from Aputure, Phenom Films and Pica Pica Media. No repayment, recoupment or profit participation is published for any award. RIGHTS: none taken. No option, first refusal, exclusivity, profit participation or copyright share appears anywhere; the only rights-adjacent terms are protective confidentiality clauses. TRAVEL IS COVERED: the forum arranges and pays travel from and to the country or city of residence, plus accommodation, for representatives of selected non-Hong Kong projects.
Judging
Selection is by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, whose decisions are final; no judges or selectors are named and no feedback is offered or sold. Submitted materials are treated as confidential and used only by the Society, its affiliates and designated personnel, and are not returned. Attendance is mandatory: at least one representative of each selected project must attend all meetings and events organised by the forum.
The PreList verdict
One of the two most serious film financing markets in Asia, and unusually generous to the people it selects. Around 25 to 30 projects get three days of scheduled meetings with investors and companies alongside FILMART, and travel and accommodation are arranged and paid for anyone coming from outside Hong Kong. The award slate runs to several hundred thousand Hong Kong dollars across a dozen prizes, and no repayment, recoupment or profit share attaches to any of them. Entry is 650 to 800 Hong Kong dollars, which is modest for what is on offer, and cheaper again if your director has no commercially released feature.
The gate is attachment, and it is absolute. You need a director, a producer and a production company already attached, and the required materials enforce it by asking for a producer filmography and a company profile. A writer working alone cannot apply here, however good the treatment.
On nationality there is a genuine ambiguity worth knowing rather than resolving. The forum's FAQ says it is open to projects with Asian elements or Asian in key creative roles, which read as a disjunction would admit a non-Asian writer with an Asian-set story. The formal eligibility criteria page carries no nationality or content requirement at all. We have verified both pages ourselves and they do not agree, so if your project has neither Asian elements nor Asian key creatives, ask before paying. The rights position, at least, is clean: nothing is taken, and materials are held confidentially and not returned.
Dylian Salvatore, Founder of The PreList · Updated 9 Aug 2026
Frequently asked questions
Can I apply as a writer on my own?
No. Projects need an attached director, producer and production company, and the application materials enforce this by requiring a producer biography and filmography and a production company profile. This is a financing market for packaged projects rather than a screenwriting competition.
Does my project have to be Asian?
Their own pages disagree, and we checked both. The FAQ says the forum is open to projects with Asian elements or Asian in key creative roles such as directors and producers. The formal eligibility criteria page states no nationality or content requirement at all. If your project has neither, ask before paying.
Is travel covered?
Yes, which is unusual. For selected projects based outside Hong Kong, the forum arranges and pays travel from and to your country or city of residence plus accommodation for the attending representative. Attendance at all meetings and events is mandatory.
Are the awards repayable?
No repayment, recoupment or profit participation is published for any award, and no option, first refusal or copyright share is taken. The only rights-adjacent terms are confidentiality clauses protecting your submission.
Is your script right for Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum: Project Market?
Upload your screenplay and The PreList scores how well it fits this programme: genre, format, eligibility and readiness, before you spend anything.
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