As surprising as it may be, the children who saw their first film on the big screen at the first edition of the Hong Kong Kids International Film Festival (KIFF) could now be high school students — or even finishing university.
Established by Golden Scene founder and CEO Winnie Tsang and creative non-profit 3space founder Edmon Chung, KIFF celebrates its 10th anniversary this July, a remarkable landmark in a theatrical market struggling with declining attendance and competition from streaming services. Despite those challenges, Tsang and Chung have forged ahead since 2017, with an eye to opening up the world of cinema to young audiences through a programme curated for families, first-timers and budding film aficionados.
Reflecting on a decade of KIFF, festival executive Aaron SP says the festival has thrived despite spanning a particularly challenging, but still beautiful, decade, and doubles down on the enduring appeal of the theatrical experience. “We navigated the dark days of the pandemic when cinemas abruptly closed. Yet, we never stopped. We moved online, offering free screenings while fighting to keep our post-screening dialogues alive. These ten years were far from easy,” she says.
KIFF has maintained its original mandate to serve as an entry point for young viewers into the world of cinema, to plant the seed for a lifetime of filmgoing and to cultivate an appreciation of film as an art form. Past screenings have run the gamut from Hollywood classics like the original Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and 1939’s The Wizard of Oz to eye-opening global fare such as Supa Modo from Kenya, Blanka from the Philippines and Balloons of Desire from India, alongside local shorts and features including Distinction, Sound of Silence and The Perks of Being Wild. KIFF’s workshops — for both parents and kids — are also back this year, with the Cinema Junior Staff Workshop and the Cinema Screening Room Guided Tour both designed to give children a taste of the nitty-gritty of film exhibition through immersive, introductory experiences.
The opening film
That said, the films remain the main attraction, and for its 10th edition KIFF has curated what may be its most ambitious programme yet. The festival opens with Ugo Bienvenu’s Arco (France/UK/USA), a science-fiction adventure about 10-year-old Arco, who time-travels to 2075 and finds a friend in a lonely little girl, Iris. She becomes his ally and protector as the two try to find a way for him to get home to 2932. The Oscar-nominated film and winner of Annecy Festival Cristal award is animated in vivid 2D, balancing wonder and beauty with terror and occasional despair; at times, it is a wilfully unsubtle climate-change cautionary tale, and at others an elegy to the blue planet and an earnestly optimistic celebration of friendship, curiosity and respect for nature. This one is for future cinephiles and, like every film in the programme, will be followed by a post-screening discussion to encourage critical thinking, analysis and sharing with friends and family. Arco’s discussion will be hosted by In Broad Daylight director Lawrence Kan.
First discoveries
First-time moviegoers can take the leap into cinema with Priscilla Kellen’s Papaya. Following in the footsteps of the luminous Robot Dreams, Flow and Hong Kong director Toe Yuen’s forthcoming A Mighty Adventure, the dialogue-free Papaya follows a tiny papaya seed — as in the fruit — that would rather fly than take root in the Amazonian rainforest. Told through vibrant geometric imagery that recalls flipping through a picture book, Papaya is a stressful, exciting and moving story about breaking away from tradition, autonomy, environmentalism and, finally, re-embracing tradition. Directors Benny Lau (Burning) and Mabel Cheung will lead the post-screening talks.
Family favourites
Toe Yuen and Matthew Chow’s The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes: The Greatest Jail-Breaker is now in the classic category — it kicked off KIFF in 2019 — and it returns as one of the family selections this year. Four years after Sherlock Holmes’ nemesis, the gentleman thief Mack, escapes from jail, the two come face to face again on another case, this time on the same side of the law. Based on the best-selling children’s book series by Lai Ho and layered with many thought-provoking social issues that never scream their presence, this Holmes is a dapper hound, Watson is a cat, and seven years on, The Great Detective holds up as a refreshing tonic to big-budget excess. Yuen and Chow will both be on hand for Q&As.
Also on the family programme are Vick Wang’s Luda from Taiwan, a lush fable rooted in local legends, and what could be called a Swedish spin on The Incredibles, Super Charlie (Jon Holmberg). In the former, young Laqi heads into the forest to find her missing parents and meets — and befriends — the demon Luda. In the latter, 10-year-old Wille aspires to crime-fighting superheroism with his cop dad, a dream that crumbles with the birth of his baby brother Charlie, who has actual superpowers. Both films explore complex family dynamics, childhood fears of abandonment and the process of learning to trust even when uncertainty simmers beneath the surface of a new relationship. Lau and Oliver Chan (Montages of a Modern Motherhood) host the talks.
Heritage and healing
Celia Catunda’s My Grandfather Is a Nihonjin – Photo courtesy Golden Scene
Also for emerging cinephiles is Celia Catunda’s My Grandfather Is a Nihonjin. In it, Noboru explores his heritage with his grandfather Hideo, who is less interested than Noboru in exposing family skeletons and revealing long-buried secrets. Taking visual cues from Brazilian-Japanese painter Oscar Oiwa and Oscar Nakasato’s novel — Nakasato is a descendant of Japanese immigrants to Brazil — the film explores the generational culture gap common among immigrant families everywhere. Chan leads the post-screening talk.
My Life in Versailles, a Luxembourg-France co-production by Clémence Madeleine-Perdrillat and Nathaniel H’limi, is a sensitive and boisterously animated examination of grief, trauma and healing. After eight-year-old Violet’s parents die, she winds up living with her estranged uncle Regis, who just so happens to work at the storied Palace of Versailles, which pops off the screen in rich, textured, hand-drawn 2D images. The Way We Talk director Adam Wong will be on hand for Q&As.
Live-action entry
Finally, Norway’s The Badgers (by Paul Magnus Lundø) is this year’s sole live-action entry. Chronicling the adventures of the orphaned Bernt as he embarks on a mission to become a Scout, like his father was, the film begins with Bernt rebelling against his new foster mother, a woman with a laser-focused goal of dragging her and Bernt’s idealised father’s tiny hometown of Berrefjord into the 21st century. Lau and Tam Wai-ching (Someone Like Me) will discuss the film’s search for identity and belonging, its ideas of integrity and its perpetual clash between tradition and modernity, in an adventure that’s one part The Goonies and one part Indiana Jones.
Beyond formula
The 2026 edition of KIFF presents a slate of films with a depth and breadth of subject matter that doesn’t talk down to its young audience. It will also appeal to teens and adults with a hunger for creative animation and an antidote to the sequels, prequels and spin-offs that currently dominate the family programming landscape, as well as the rigid narrative morality and construction of the likes of Disney. If nothing else, KIFF proves there are still alternatives out there.
“We [persevered] because we believe films expand a child’s horizons,” concludes Aaron. “Most importantly, we want the next generation to know that magic belongs in the theatre. Only the embrace of the big screen can truly elevate a story, and only here can children begin to see a wider, more inspiring world.”
The Hong Kong Kids International Film Festival runs weekends from 18 July to 9 August 2026. Click here for more information.