This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will feature a masterclass and career retrospective of UK-Irish writer and director Martin McDonagh.
All of McDonagh’s films will be screened at the festival, including his two Venice film festival best screenplay winners: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees Of Inisherin.
Starting his career as a playwright, McDonagh later moved into cinema with short film Six Shooter, which won an Oscar and set the tone for his subsequent works, which are known for dark humour, witty dialogues and escalating absurdity. His debut feature, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Irish hitmen, premiered at Sundance Film Festival.
After moving to Hollywood, McDonagh made crime drama Seven Psychopaths, in which a writer’s block is transformed into grim comedy; and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won Frances McDormand a Best Actress Oscar. His most recent film The Banshees Of Inisherin, won Colin Farrell the best actor award at Venice.
Hong Kong International Film Festival is taking place for 12 days from March 28 to April 8. It recently named Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan as this year’s Filmmaker-in-Focus and will also present the Asian premiere of GIFT, a silent film made as a collaboration between Oscar-winner Hamaguchi Ryusuke and composer Ishibashi Eiko. The festival will announce its full line-up next week.
