The Sparring Partner

Five shorts reveal a fictional Hong Kong in 2025, depicting a dystopian city where residents and activists face crackdowns under iron-fisted rule.

Fai, once a world champion in boxing, escapes to Macau from the loan sharks and unexpectedly encounters Qi, a young chap who is determined to win a boxing match. Fai becomes Qi's mentor and rediscovers his passion to fight not only in the ring but for his life and the cares.

Yan is a basket ball fanatic who barely makes it to Form 6, not by studying hard but by his skill on the court.

Security guard Cheung is a loving father who takes good care of his children. As his kids grow older, they have their own lives and that leaves Chueng feeling lonely. He displaces his fatherly love onto his colleague Sheung's young children instead. This innocent act, however, makes his daughter suspect that Cheung and Sheung are having an affair and a small incident risks being blown out of scale.

A group of residents in an apartment block attempt to smuggle a body out of their building to prevent their properties dropping in value.

Her name’s Pong, Mrs. Pong. At first glance, she’s a meek, middle-aged woman, pleasantly plump and perfectly harmless. Yet as circumstances demand it, she’s not your ordinary mother, nor a long-suffering widow for that matter. Her missions? To pull her son out of peril while standing up to bullies and saving homes from being uprooted and demolished in the name of urban renewal. Mrs. Pong effortlessly transforms from an armchair survivalist to a fearless heroine hell-bent on her mission, trading punches and kicks for frying pans and woks, awakening a rebellious spirit that wars against exploitation and oppression in a system tilted towards the rich and powerful.

Jun is a reckless, rebellious young man. His coming out enraged his father, with his mother (Han) stuck in the middle. Even after his father's death they are still unable to reconcile and the two barely communicate. Knowing that being gay is not accepted by his mother, there is a wall between the two even though they live under the same roof.

At some point in life an age-old question will inevitably crop up: Do we swim against the tide or go with the flow? The band, Against the Tide, was doomed before it even started. A year later, the songwriter is selling his soul to catchy pop tunes and commercial music, hitching his wagon to else’s grand schemes while being hitched by a young music devotee; the bassist is venturing north across the border; the drummer is working as an insurance agent and all set for fatherhood. Before the factory building is demolished for a lucrative redevelopment scheme, the band members, bar one, return to their studio to clear out the place, contemplating making a final appearance for a farewell gig. The reunion takes place, albeit obliquely, each member putting their best foot forward to steer their own course.

A 16-year-old girl falls in love with a boy and gets pregnant. The boy wants nothing to do with the baby, and the girl's mother, believing she's doing the right thing, forces her daughter to get an abortion. This story may happen everywhere, and we may read about them everyday in the news. However, what sets The White Balloon apart from those stories is the emotional journey the girl and her mother take as they realize that they have no one in the world but each other.

After hastily married the anti-gambling Jing, pathological gambler Ching attends a recovery workshop, but still struggles to resist her urges. Soon discovered by Jing, Ching decides to move away and quit gambling. Jing recalls the true meaning of “together through thick and thin” and promises to stand by his wife. Rich gambler Ian has long held a grudge against Jing for embarrassing him years ago, and determined to take revenge. Jing’s sister Yan and Ching’s brother Ming are taken hostage in Ian’s illegal casino. To rescue them, Ching breaks her vow to quit gambling and, alongside Jing, confronts Ian in a final high-stakes gamble...

The year is 2021. And Hong Kong is one match away from qualifying for the World Cup. Flash back to 2009. Cheuk-long, aged 18, branded a geek by his girlfriend and an all-round loser by his mother. But he has a dream, ignited by a no-nonsense, Churchill-quoting teacher and driven by a spirited, big-hearted coach. The wannabe footballer grows up overnight, and through blood, toil, tears and sweat, makes the big leaps from the substitute's bench to captaining the Hong Kong side. Three World Cups later, Cheuk-long is one free kick away from making history and legend.

Amidst a rising wakesurfing craze, surf instructor Man (Renci Yeung) is falsely accused and publicly shamed online. Among the trolls is Chuan (Jeffrey Ngai), a surfing novice whose satirical video mocking her goes viral. Upon realizing the rumors were entirely fabricated and that he has ruined her reputation, a guilt-ridden Chuan signs up for Man's lessons under his real identity to make amends. As they connect beyond the digital noise, a genuine romance blossoms. To clear her name, Chuan devises a plan to expose the disgruntled student who started the smear campaign, while encouraging Man to reclaim her professional standing by challenging celebrity coach Joe (Kevin Chu).

Fai, a ten-year-old boy who is a new immigrant from mainland China, he lives in a narrow suite with his mother and his step-father.

Aging is not all doom and gloom but can be super-duper fun. In a village far, far away from the city live a zany group of elderlies. Old Chap is a Chinese medicine doctor without a single patient, lascivious Old Ben is wheelchair-bound and confined in the village, while Moses the spiritual “flower child” always tries to connect with Mother Nature. When Chiara, Old Chap's granddaughter, appears suddenly as she decides to take a gap year from studying and turns Old Chap’s life upside down by putting on a pole dance show in his clinic, how will Old Chap reconcile with the shock of the new?

'...is unsuitable for any man's love.' (Xi Xi, A Woman Like Me) Sum-yin patches up wounds, masks scars and performs other beautician services that, when done well - as she always does - bring comfort to her and appreciation from grateful families. But inside she's hurting. Her job as a mortuary cosmetologist makes her self-conscious about the smell of death that seems to be seeping through and under her skin and looming over her stagnant relationship with Kwan, her oblivious boyfriend. No amount of cigarettes and perfume and cleaning will rid of it. At some point, a decision has to be made.

Ry, a college student with a chronic illness, escapes to Mallorca for the summer with her mother, where she unexpectedly falls for a local and begins to embrace living in the moment. But as her condition worsens and long-hidden family secrets come to light, everything she has found before summer's end is threatened.

Maia Marten, a brilliant London lawyer, has her life shattered by a single call on her morning run: her son has been taken. To get him back, she must keep running, obey every ruthless command, and trust no one-each second a test of how far a mother will go to save her child.

Will Radford is a top analyst for Homeland Security who tracks potential threats through a mass surveillance program, until one day an attack by an unknown entity leads him to question whether the government is hiding something from him... and from the rest of the world.

After being separated for 15 years, the Sword of Power leads Prince Adam back to Eternia, where he discovers his home shattered under the fiendish rule of Skeletor. To save his family and his world, Adam must join forces with his closest allies, Teela and Duncan/Man-At-Arms, and embrace his true destiny as He-Man — the most powerful man in the universe.

A fictionalized drama film based on one of the most shocking crimes in Argentina's history. In 1992, Ricardo Barreda was an unassuming dentist, brutally murdered his wife, mother-in-law, and two adult daughters in their family home. Branding himself as a victim, Ricardo Barreda ignited a media storm and fueled a national scandal.

George Hardy is a shepherd who reads detective novels to his beloved sheep every night, assuming they can't possibly understand. But when a mysterious incident disrupts life on the farm, the sheep realize they must become the detectives. As they follow the clues and investigate human suspects, they prove that even sheep can be brilliant crime-solvers.

A group of college friends' Thailand adventure turns deadly when they become trapped in submerged caves with a dangerous predator. As oxygen runs low, past conflicts emerge in their desperate fight for survival.

When an elusive thief whose high-stakes heists unfold along the iconic 101 freeway in Los Angeles eyes the score of a lifetime, with hopes of this being his final job, his path collides with a disillusioned insurance broker who is facing her own crossroads. Determined to crack the case, a relentless detective closes in on the operation, raising the stakes even higher.

Noah must leave her city, boyfriend, and friends to move into William Leister's mansion, the flashy and wealthy husband of her mother Rafaela. As a proud and independent 17 year old, Noah resists living in a mansion surrounded by luxury. However, it is there where she meets Nick, her new stepbrother, and the clash of their strong personalities becomes evident from the very beginning.

Estranged half-brothers Jonny and James reunite after their father's mysterious death. As they search for the truth, buried secrets reveal a conspiracy threatening to tear their family apart.

The brutal murder of the wife of “Toro,” a military hero in the special forces, turns him into a man with a single purpose: revenge. After a stroke of fate makes him a millionaire, Carlos transforms his fortune into an arsenal and, together with his closest soldiers, sets out to hunt down those responsible.

Jack Ryan is reluctantly pulled back into espionage when an international covert mission unravels a deadly conspiracy. Racing against time, he joins CIA allies Mike November & James Greer and sharp MI6 officer Emma Marlowe to battle a rogue black-ops unit in a high-stakes, deeply personal fight.

In the smog-choked dystopian Los Angeles of 2019, blade runner Rick Deckard is called out of retirement to terminate a quartet of replicants who have escaped to Earth seeking their creator for a way to extend their short life spans.

After Santa Claus (codename: Red One) is kidnapped, the North Pole's Head of Security must team up with the world's most infamous tracker in a globe-trotting, action-packed mission to save Christmas.

Ex-UFC fighter Dalton takes a job as a bouncer at a Florida Keys roadhouse, only to discover that this paradise is not all it seems.

Jenna and Lion's wedding brings about the long-awaited reunion between Noah and Nick after their breakup. Nick's inability to forgive Noah stands as an insurmountable barrier. He, heir to his grandfather's businesses, and she, starting her professional life, resist fueling a flame that's still alive. But now that their paths have crossed again, will love be stronger than resentment?

In future Rio de Janeiro, a young leader of the resistance must enter a deadly parkour-inspired competition in order to save his sister's life.

Twenty-two years after the events of Jurassic Park, Isla Nublar now features a fully functioning dinosaur theme park, Jurassic World, as originally envisioned by John Hammond.

A troupe of ballerinas find themselves fighting for survival as they attempt to escape from a remote inn after their bus breaks down on the way to a dance competition.

The love between Noah and Nick seems unwavering despite their parents' attempts to separate them. But his job and her entry into college open up their lives to new relationships that will shake the foundations of both their relationship and the Leister family itself.