Emerging Hong Kong talents celebrated at Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival

Two emerging talents from Hong Kong participated at the 2025 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival with their latest works.

Following the success of the annual “Hong Kong Generations of Cinema” for three years in a row, the Hong Kong cinema showcase for the first time becomes part of the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, running May 1-7.

This year’s festival presented two of the best contemporary films from Hong Kong – “Little Red Sweet”, directed by Vincent Chow and “Blossoms Under Somewhere”, directed by Riley Yip.

“Little Red Sweet”, directed by Vincent Chow, is a family drama about a young woman who dreams of starting a life away from her family and their humble shop selling dessert soups. But her plans become derailed when her mother’s health takes a turn for the worse, and the family dessert shop begins to struggle in her absence. Set on protecting the family’s legacy, she must perfect the recipe to a sweet, satisfying life, finding balance between family, love and tradition.

“Blossoms Under Somewhere”, directed by Riley Yip, tells the story of a high school girl who wants to fall in love but feels isolated due to being born with a stutter. She runs a second-hand lingerie business with her only friend and unexpectedly gains the attention and love of buyers. As she submerges herself in this unethical business, she believes she has found true love. However, she is unaware that she has lost her only friendship.

Both director Chow and director Yip attended the screenings of their respective movies and interacted with the audience at Q&A sessions. They were also the guests of honor at the reception hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office on May 3 to celebrate the Hong Kong cinema.

Hong Kong is one of the world’s major film production centers and the government has put in place various programs to support the development of the film industry, including the “Film Festival Promotion Scheme” which aims to vitalize the branding of Hong Kong films and enhance international exposure for new filmmakers and their productions, with a view to expanding market and building audience outside of Hong Kong.

On nurturing the next generation of filmmakers, the “Film Development Fund” provides support under different initiatives to identify young talents and provide assistance through funding support and mentorship programs.

Featured in this year’s Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, “Blossoms Under Somewhere” is a winning project at the 6th First Feature Film Initiative and “Little Red Sweet” is a project supported by the “Film Production Financing Scheme (relaxation measures)”.