Sons of the Neon Night picked for Hong Kong Oscar bid
SingTao · 1 SOURCESabout 4 hours ago5 MIN
Summary
Sons of the Neon Night (《風林火山》), directed by Juno Mak, has been chosen to represent Hong Kong in the Best International Feature Film category at the 99th Academy Awards. The selection was made by the Hong Kong judging committee for the Oscar category after multiple rounds of screening among eligible Hong Kong releases shown between October 2025 and September 2026. The film had already built momentum after winning eight awards at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards, including Best Supporting Actor for Alex To Tak-wai. Sing Tao said the committee favored the film for its stark black-and-white violent aesthetic, expansive world-building and the dramatic pull of several major actors sharing the screen
Key Points
- Juno Mak's film stars Takeshi Kaneshiro, Sean Lau Ching-wan, Louis Koo Tin-lok, Tony Leung Ka-fai and Gao Yuanyuan in a high-profile ensemble cast
- The Hong Kong Oscar judging committee considered all Hong Kong films released from October 2025 to September 2026 before making its recommendation
- At the latest Hong Kong Film Awards, the movie won eight prizes, with Alex To Tak-wai taking Best Supporting Actor among them
- Hong Kong has previously placed three films in the final five for the Oscar international feature race: Raise the Red Lantern in 1991, Farewell My Concubine in 1993 and Better Days in 2020
- Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster represented Hong Kong at the 86th Academy Awards, reached the final nine, and later received cinematography and costume design nominations
Why It Matters
For Hong Kong cinema, the selection gives one of the territory's most discussed recent productions another major international platform after its domestic awards success. It also revives attention on Hong Kong's limited but notable Oscar history, where only three films have previously reached the final five in the international feature category