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^{[Note 1]} 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^[update] 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[Title 1][1]	藍天白雲	Cheung King-wai	18 January 2018	771,424 [2]
	HEIG	Mad World[3]	一念無明	Wong Chun	30 March 2017	16,923,985 [4]
		Weeds on Fire[5]	點五步	Steve Chan Chi-fat	25 August 2016	4,678,142 [6]
2nd (2016)	PG	Love@The Square[Title 2][7]	戀@廣埸[Title 3]	Chan Chit-man	11 January 2021[Release 1]
	HEIG	In Your Dream[Title 4][8]	以青春的名義愛你 [Title 5]	Tam Wai-ching	11 January 2018	475,274 [6]
3rd (2017)	PG	G Affairs[9]	G殺	Lee Cheuk-pan	14 March 2019
	HEIG	Still Human[10]	淪落人	Oliver Siu-kuen Chan	11 April 2019	19,811,169 [11]
4th (2018)	PG	Elisa's Day[12]	滄海遺愛[Title 6]	Alan Fung	10 June 2021
	HEIG	Hand-rolled Cigarette[13]	手捲煙	Chan Kin-long	17 June 2021
		My Prince Edward[14]	金都	Norris Wong	11 June 2020
5th (2019)	PG	A Light Never Goes Out[15]	燈火闌珊	Anastasia Tsang Hin-Ling	In production
	HEIG	Time Still Turns the Pages[16]	年少日記	Nick Cheuk	In production
		The Dinner[17]	過時·過節[Title 7]	Eric Tsang Hing-wen	24 November 2022
6th (2020)	PG	Love Lies[18]	我談的那場戀愛	Ho Miu-kei
		Foster Love[19]	流水落花	Ka Sing-fung	1 March 2023
	HEIG	Fly Me to the Moon[20]	但願人長久	Sasha Chuk
		Blossoms Under Somewhere[21]	寄了一整個春天	Riley Yip
		Gamer Girls[22]	電競女孩聯盟	Veronica Bassetto
				Sophie Yang

1. Released as Somewhere Beyond the Mist
2. Released as Apart
3. Released as 散後
4. Released as In Your Dreams
5. Released as 以青春的名義
6. Released as 遺愛
7. Released as 陽

1. Hong Kong Independent Film Festival

Notes

1. Each of the following institutions can recommend two teams: The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the City University of Hong Kong, the Open University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Institute of Vocational Education (Lee Wai Lee), Hong Kong Design Institute, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Chu Hai College of Higher Education. The Savannah College of Art and Design (Hong Kong) was eligible for recommending teams until the 6th award.