Selected Projects
The HIFF project market inherits the tradition of the Autumn Meeting with the guidance of Director Tran Thi Bich Ngoc. The program has attracted attention from numerous projects submitted by various countries worldwide, aiming to select 10 projects out of a total of 56 (including 5 Art Film projects and 5 Entertainment Film projects) to participate in training sessions and presentations before investment funds and studios. Notably, the competition includes a project submitted by the director of the film that caused a “box office sensation” in 2023 – “6/45” (from South Korea). This year’s HIFF project market is supported by the French National Cinema Centre (CNC).
Entertainment Projects
Entertainment Project – FIRST PRIZE
GREEN VALLEY AND THE AMBER MARBLES
Director: VU NGUYEN NAM KHUE
Producer: Vu Nguyen Nam Khue
Co-producer: Pham Minh Hang, Thanh Tran, Su Ching Teh, Ser En Low
Country: Vietnam
After many years of neglecting his absent-minded mother, Kien visits her house to realize that she is living with a stranger, who is occupying the house.
Entertainment Project
FAKE TRUTH
Director: NGUYEN VIET ANH
Producer: Ngo Mai Phuong
Country: Vietnam
In an abandoned factory on the outskirts, a bold group embarks on fake content based on a real trending missing persons case, then confronted with a harsh reality when they encounter genuine threats lurking in the shadows.
Entertainment Project
IQ.ROCK
Director: KHAIRI ANWAR
Producer: Noor Anwar Hadi Bin Noor Azman (Anwar Hadi), Lina Tan
Country: Malaysia
In one of the poorest performing schools in rural Malaysia, a bright teenager finds a way out from his bleak future when a new teacher encourages him to read.
Entertainment Project
OH MY OPPA
Director: GYU-TAE PARK
Producer: Kim Hyo-Jeong
Country: South Korea
Help! K-POP is taking the whole world by storm! Crazy female fans vs. annoyed Asian males.
Entertainment Project
PARASOMNIA
Director: RAFKI HIDAYAT
Producer: Kevin Rahardjo
Country: Indonesia
Ami, a viral-seeking YouTuber who doesn’t believe in ghosts, makes videos to explain that her sleep-paralysis demon is just a hallucination. Little does she know the demon is there to torture her.
Entertainment Project
THE GREAT LIVES OF MY FATHER
Director: HUU DANH VUONG
Producer: Vo Thi Phuong Linh, Thao Nguyen, Nguyen Phan Nguyet Minh
Country: Vietnam
A man who had disappeared for thirty years returned home and constantly talked about the divergent bizarre, vague lives he had lived. The eldest son did not believe any of his father’s words until the day the father passed away.
Entertainment Project
THE HEIRLOOM
Director: LE HOANG
Producer: Thanh Tran
Country: Vietnam
A man at the bottom of society fails to realize he’s inherited the power to turn any evil thought into reality. To protect the girl he secretly loves, he must seek out his last piece of remaining decency before it’s too late.
Entertainment Project
THE HEIRLOOMS
Director: DEVINA SOFIYANTI
Producer: BetaGiovanni Rahmadeva
Country: Indonesia
Rana, who is followed by a wrapped ghost, has to go to a remote village to get rid of the ghost. Until she realizes that the village trapped her and the only way out is to embrace her ability which may cause wrapped ghosts to hurt the villagers.
Art-house Projects
Art-house Project – FIRST PRIZE
OTHER PEOPLE’S DREAMS
Director: DANIEL HUI
Producer: Sim Yee Peng Sophia (Sophia Sim), Tai Si En
Country: Singapore
Two runaway souls escaping a dark past meet in the chaos of Singapore. They find a way to survive by stealing, unseen from the public, melding themselves with the rhythms of the dreaming city.
Art-house Project
AGARMOON
Director: LE CAN TRUONG
Producer: Tran Thuy Dac Khue
Country: Vietnam
Nhat Bach – Nhi Thanh – Tam Huynh – Tu Hac are the names of four rare types of agarwood with wonderful scents that captivate humans’ souls in the world of agarwood. And only the chosen one will be survived by the birth of a demigod.
Art-house Project
BUBBLE ERA
Director: VU MINH NGHIA
Producer: Nguyen Trung Nghia
Country: Vietnam
A young filmmaker is returning to his hometown for a high-school reunion. On his way, he experiences many strange encounters with not-so-young, state filmmakers and the ghost of old movies.
Art-house Project
HOMEWORK
Director: JACKY YEAP
Producer: Edward Lim
Country: Malaysia
A film about an actor who is trapped in a fictional character.
Art-house Project
I’LL SMILE IN SEPTEMBER
Director: AAKASH CHHABRA
Producer: Snigdha Sharma, Sanjay Gulati
Country: India, Singapore
After a heart-wrenching separation from the love of his life and a brutal altercation in the aftermath in which he loses his front teeth, a young brass band player in Old Delhi attempts to move on in his life by getting his smile back.
Art-house Project
IMAH (The Last Time I Saw Your Face)
Director: EDDIE CAHYONO
Producer: Eddie Cahyono
Co-producer: Isabelle Glachant, Rio Pasaribu, Hizkia Nararya, Li Xiaorong
Country: Indonesia, France
Wegig looked for his wife’s killer and wanted to kill him, but in his search, Wegig discovered his wife’s dark side while working as a migrant worker in Hong Kong.
Art-house Project
RIA
Director: ARVIN BELARMINO
Producer: Kristine De Leon, Alemberg Ang
Country: Philippines, Singapore, Japan, France
A week prior to the demolition, a folk-punk woman aids her chronically ill foster mother while defending their punk commune — the sole surviving home amidst the ruins of a land-grabbed neighborhood.