The 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival Announces Jury Members for Young Cinema, Documentary and Short Film Competitions; Celebrated Taiwanese Filmmaker Sylvia CHANG to Head Young Cinema Jury

9 March 2016 (Hong Kong) – The 40th Hong Kong International Film Festival announced the international jury member lineup for its Firebird Awards in three competition sections: Young Cinema, Documentary and Short Film.

The Young Cinema Competition jury includes Taiwan’s Sylvia CHANG (Jury President), one of Asia’s foremost women filmmakers, whose works include Passion (1986), 20 30 40 (2004), and 39th HKIFF opening film, Murmur of the Hearts (2015).  CHANG, an award-winning director, producer and actress, was honored as the "Filmmaker in Focus" at the 39th HKIFF.  Other Young Cinema Competition jury members include: Canadian producer-director Denis CÔTÉ (Boris Without Beatrice, 2016); Ian Haydn SMITH, the London-based editor of Curzon and BFI Filmmakers magazines; and DAI Jinhua, director of the Institute of Film and Culture at Peking University.  Sylvia CHANG said, “I am honored to be invited as the jury president for Young Cinema Competition.  I am looking forward to watching the films from these young directors, and wish them a wonderful and prosperous future. ”

The Documentary Competition jury includes Judith PERNIN, an author, curator and film researcher focusing on the documentary form; documentary filmmaker YANG Li-Chou of Taiwan, whose films includes My Football Summer (2006) and The Moment (2014); and Oscar HO Hing-kay, director of the MA and BA Programmes in Cultural Management at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Short Film Competition jury members include John CANCIANI, the artistic director of the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur and programmer at the Cinema Cameo in Winterthur, Switzerland; Kiki FUNG, head programmer for the Brisbane Asia Pacific Film Festival and advisor to the Asia Pacific Screen Awards; and Amos WHY, a Hong Kong journalist who directed his first feature Dot 2 Dot in 2014.