First Feature Film Initiative
# First Feature Film Initiative

The First Feature Film Initiative (Chinese: 首部劇情電影計劃; FFFI) is a scheme of the Hong Kong government, organised by Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau and supported by the Film Development Council, to nurture talents for the film industry. It is a competition on screenplay and production proposals, and the winning teams receive funding from the Film Development Fund to make their first feature films.

The competition is divided into Higher Education Institutions Group (HEIG) and Professional Group (PG), the former recommended by higher education institutions or member institutions of the Vocational Training Council and the latter without quota. Each group awards up to three winners; prior to 2020, HEIG awarded up to two winners and PG at most one. For a team to be eligible, the directors must not have shot any commercial film with a running time of 80 minutes or longer as a director, co-director or executive director; the producers must have participated in the production of at least two films publicly exhibited in Hong Kong in the past 20 years in the capacity of a presenter or producer.

Inaugurated in 2013, the initiative has awarded 18 films as of 2020 and ten have been released publicly.

## Funding

The winning teams receive full funding from the Film Development Fund in the production of their films. The amounts of the funding are as follows:

| Awards | HEIG | PG |
| - | - | - |
| 1st (2013) | 2 million | 5 million |
| 2nd - 5th (2016-2019) | 3.25 million | 5.5 million |
| 6th (2020- ) | 5 million | 8 million |

## Winners

| Awards | Group | English Title | Chinese Title | Director | Release Date | Box office (HK$) |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1st (2013) | PG | Opus 1 | 藍天白雲 | Cheung King-wai | 18 January 2018 | 771,424 |
| 1st (2013) | HEIG | Mad World | 一念無明 | Wong Chun | 30 March 2017 | 16,923,985 |
| 1st (2013) | HEIG | Weeds on Fire | 點五步 | Steve Chan Chi-fat | 25 August 2016 | 4,678,142 |
| 2nd (2016) | PG | Love@The Square | 戀@廣埸 | Chan Chit-man | 11 January 2021 | |
| 2nd (2016) | HEIG | In Your Dream | 以青春的名義愛你 | Tam Wai-ching | 11 January 2018 | 475,274 |
| 3rd (2017) | PG | The Assassination of G | G殺 | Lee Cheuk-pan | 14 March 2019 | |
| 3rd (2017) | HEIG | Still Human | 淪落人 | Oliver Siu-kuen Chan | 11 April 2019 | 19,811,169 |
| 4th (2018) | PG | Elisa's Day | 滄海遺愛 | Alan Fung | 10 June 2021 | |
| 4th (2018) | HEIG | Hand-rolled Cigarette | 手捲煙 | Kelvin Chan Kin-long | 17 June 2021 | |
| 4th (2018) | HEIG | My Prince Edward | 金都 | Norris Wong | 11 June 2020 | |
| 5th (2019) | PG | A Light Never Goes Out | 燈火闌珊 | Anastasia Tsang Hin-Ling | In production | |
| 5th (2019) | HEIG | Time Still Turns the Pages | 遺書 | Nick Cheuk Yik-him | In production | |
| 5th (2019) | HEIG | The Dinner | 過時·過節 | Eric Tsang Hing-wen | 24 November 2022 | |
| 6th (2020) | PG | Love Lies | 我談的那場戀愛 | Ho Miu-kei | | |
| 6th (2020) | PG | Foster Love | 流水落花 | Ka Sing-fung | 1 March 2023 | |
| 6th (2020) | HEIG | Fly Me to the Moon | 但願人長久 | Sasha Chuk | | |
| 6th (2020) | HEIG | The Wonder | 風景線 | Yip Yuk-ying | | |
| 6th (2020) | HEIG | Gamer Girls | 電競女孩聯盟 | Veronica Bassetto | | |
| 6th (2020) | HEIG | Gamer Girls | 電競女孩聯盟 | Sophie Yang | | |

* ↑ Released as Somewhere Beyond the Mist
* ↑ Released as Apart
* ↑ Released as 散後
* ↑ Released as In Your Dreams
* ↑ Released as 以青春的名義
* ↑ Released as 遺愛
* ↑ Released as 陽
* ↑ Hong Kong Independent Film Festival
