The 28th SIFF Announces Opening Film: Afterpiece

Guided by the China Film Administration and hosted by China Media Group (CMG) and the Shanghai Municipal People's Government, the 28th Shanghai International Film Festival (SIFF) will be held from June 12 to 21. Afterpiece, directed by Keane T.K. Wong and produced by Derek Yee, will have its world premiere as the opening film of this year's festival.

A Film About "Performance"

Afterpiece begins with a man at an impasse. Owen, once a celebrated stage director, has spent more than a decade lost in creative paralysis. His former lover, Su Manling, re-enters his life under the guise of old affection, while his wife, Tracy, teeters on the edge of betrayal. Determined to reclaim his dignity, Owen sets out to write, direct, and star in a new work of his own. Yet during the open casting process for the female lead, he becomes deeply drawn to Hannah, an untrained newcomer, and gradually slips into a dangerous space between theatre and reality.

This is not a film about the stage—it is a film about why people drive themselves onto it. As Owen is forced to perform the roles of "director", "husband", "former lover", and "creator" beneath the gaze of four women, and as rehearsal becomes a rehearsal for real life itself, the theater ceases to be a refuge; instead, it becomes a mirror that exposes what lies beneath. What Keane Wong's screenplay seeks to approach is the fissure illuminated by the spotlight: Is a person truly creating a role, or merely escaping from himself? The answer is destined to be revealed, in all its loss of control, on opening night.

A New Director and His Mentor

What makes this year's opening film even more compelling is the generational handover unfolding behind it.

The film was born out of the Directors’ Succession Scheme launched by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Supported by government funding, the scheme pairs seasoned filmmakers with emerging directors, bringing institutional momentum to the intergenerational renewal of Hong Kong cinema. As producer, Derek Yee entrusts decades of on-set experience and creative methodology to emerging director Keane T.K. Wong, who was deeply involved in the making of films including I Am Somebody, Sword Master, and In Search of Lost Time.

With Stephen Fung, Chrissie Chau, Myolie Wu, and rising actress Angela Yuen joining the cast, the film carries both the lingering resonance of Hong Kong cinema’s golden generation and the sharp edge of a new wave. Stephen Fung portrays a creator driven to the brink, consumed by desperation and obsession. Chrissie Chau and Myolie Wu respectively embody the dangerous tremors at the edge of marriage and the complex entanglements of a former love, while Angela Yuen, appearing as an untrained newcomer, becomes the final force that drives the male protagonist toward the abyss.

Afterpiece has been selected as the opening film of the 28th SIFF not only for the artistic courage of a debut feature by a new director, but also for the generational handover and creative renewal it represents. When a veteran who came of age during cinema’s golden era passes the torch to a young filmmaker standing at a new beginning, the passing itself becomes, in many ways, the most moving “premiere” of the opening ceremony.