Ann Hui, one of Hong Kong cinema’s defining figures, will receive the 2026 Camellia Award at the opening ceremony of the 31st Busan International Film Festival on Oct. 6 at Busan Cinema Center. The award, established by BIFF in partnership with Chanel to honor filmmakers who have advanced the status of women in the industry, goes to a director whose career spans 27 feature films and two feature-length documentaries since her 1979 debut “The Secret.”
A key figure in the Hong Kong New Wave, Hui has won the best director prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards six times and at the Golden Horse Awards three times. She achieved a clean sweep of best film, director, actor and actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards with both “Summer Snow” in 1995 and “A Simple Life” in 2011. Her international recognition includes the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2012 Asian Film Awards, the Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award at BIFF 2014, and the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2020 Venice International Film Festival.
Hui said: “In my previous years I felt unwilling to receive such taking-stock prizes because I wished to continue making movies. Now that I’m nearly 80 and find it difficult to make a film, I think the prize comes just in time for me to appreciate it more.” She added: “I am so happy to return to Busan and meet an audience that is among the most savvy and cinematically literate in the world.” The 31st BIFF runs Oct. 6–15.
Licchavi Cinema Festival will hold its inaugural edition in Kathmandu from Sept. 11–15,, presenting a curated program of 10 feature films drawn from Nepal, Bhutan, India, Pakistan, Thailand, France, Germany, Japan and Russia. Organized by Licchavi House, the arts and cultural center founded by filmmaker Khyentse Norbu, and directed by Abishek Budhathoki, the festival places contemporary Asian cinema alongside major works from across film history, including titles by Andrei Tarkovsky, Payal Kapadia and Apichatpong Weerasethakul. The selection includes “Elephants in the Fog,” Abinash Bikram Shah’s Nepali drama that won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at Cannes 2026 – the first time a Nepali feature has taken an award at the festival. The festival operates with no competition or jury, prioritizing access to works that have had little or no prior theatrical release in Nepal.
Budhathoki said: “Nepal has produced films that have screened at Cannes, at Berlin, at festivals across the world. Yet here at home, access to serious cinema on a proper screen remains limited.” The event is supported by Kathmandu Metropolitan City and the European Union.