HAF WIP Awards Presented To ‘Good Trip’ & ‘The Sea Speaks His Name’

Hong Kong comedy drama Good Trip, directed by Norris Wong and Wong Hoi, and The Sea Speaks His Name, from Indonesia’s Yosep Anggi Noen, were presented with the Works-in Progress (WIP) Awards at the close of this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF, March 17-19). 
 
Produced by Mabel Cheung, Good Trip is the story of a young woman who smuggles her terminally ill father out of a hospital to take him on a trip he has always dreamed about. The Sea Speaks His Name, produced by Gita Fara, Budi Setyarso and Leila S. Chudori, is an adaptation of Chudori’s novel about a student activist and his sister’s attempts to solve the mystery behind his disappearance.
 
HAF In Development Project (IDP) Awards went to Vincci Cheuk’s Hong Kong-Japan co-production 38.83, and Vulnerable Observer, from Jiang Xiaoxuan, a co-production between Hong Kong, China and Malaysia.

Cheuk’s project follows a woman living in London who is forced to reconnect with family and an ex-boyfriend in Asia when her estranged mother dies, while Jiang’s film is about an anthropologist working in Mongolia confronting uncomfortable truths about her research. Each of the WIP and IDP award winners receive a cash prize of $12,800 (HK$100,000).

The Sky Animation Award, also worth $12,800 (HK$100,000), went to The Excreman – On The Road, a poop-related parable from Hong Kong’s Brian Tse, who is best known as the creator and director of the McDull franchise.

The HAF X CNC Award, worth Euros10,000, was presented to Sanju Surendran’s Fishers Of Men, a Malayalam-language fantasy drama about an Indian vegetarian banker who becomes obsessed with fish. Surendran’s credits include If On A Winter's Night, which won the Hylife Vision Award at last year’s Busan International Film Festival and is playing at New Directors/New Films in New York next month.

Among other HAF winners, the $10,000 Red Sea Fund Award went to A Ghost In The Market, from Taiwan’s Chin Chua-hua, while the $6,400 (HK$50,000) Taipei Film Commission Award was presented to Cheung Wai-yu’s Mama Mia Let Me Go!, a co-production between Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan.

Good Trip, The Sea Speaks His Name and The Excreman – On The Road were also selected for the HAF Goes to Cannes Programme, along with Zhang Tao’s Farewell My Blue Bird and Lu Po-Shun’s Will You Still Be My Friend. See full list of winners below..

HAF 2026 FULL LIST OF WINNERS: 

HAF WIP Award:
Norris Wong Yee-lam, Wong Hoi – Good Trip (Hong Kong)
Yosep Anggi Noen – The Sea Speaks His Name (Indonesia)

HAF IDP Award:
Vincci Cheuk – 38.83 (Hong Kong, Japan)
Jiang Xiaoxuan – Vulnerable Observer (Hong Kong, China, Malaysia)

Sky Animation Award: Brian Tse – The Excreman – On the Road (Hong Kong)

HAF X CNC Award: Sanju Surendran – Fishers Of Men (India)

Red Sea Fund Award: Chin Chia-Hua – A Ghost In The Market (Taiwan)

Taipei Film Commission Award: Cheung Wai-yu – Mama Mia Let Me Go! (Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan)

La Fonte Award: Emma Kawawada – Life Is Yours (Japan)

Kantana Awards:
Virtual Production Award: Vincci Cheuk – 38.83 (Hong Kong, Japan)
Digital Intermediate Award: Chin Chia-Hua – A Ghost In The Market (Taiwan)
Sound Post-production Award: Ken Yang – A Vampire, Probably (Taiwan)

White Light Post-Production Awards:
IDP: Fujita Naoya – The Funeral March (Japan, China)
WIP: Shu Hui – A Thousand Stars In The Galactic Night (China)

Aputure Award: Yuan Yuan – Heading South (China)

Phenom Films Award: Chen Xudong – Roxanne (China)

Pica Pica Media Post-Production Award: Tan Ce Ding – Somewhere In The South (Malaysia)

Network of Asian Fantastic Films (NAFF) Award: Lam Li Shuen – Strange Root (Singapore, Indonesia, Germany, Netherlands)

Udine Focus Asia Award: Tan Ce Ding – Somewhere In The South (Malaysia)

Fantastic 7 Award: Gabriel Motta – The Veil (Brazil)

HAF Goes to Cannes Programme:
Zhang Tao – Farewell My Blue Bird (China)
Norris Wong Yee-lam, Wong Hoi – Good Trip (Hong Kong)
Yosep Anggi Noen – The Sea Speaks His Name (Indonesia)
Lu Po-Shun – Will You Still Be My Friend (Taiwan, Singapore)
Brian Tse – The Excreman – On The Road (Hong Kong)