Hong Kong's cinemas have quietly become one of the best places in the city to see films you cannot find on any streaming service. The ASEAN Film Festival (AFF) 2026 is running free screenings of more than 30 films from across Southeast Asia at M+ Cinema in West Kowloon, until 27 September 2026. This guide covers the dates, venue, how to get tickets, and what to watch.
In This Guide
What is the ASEAN Film Festival?
The ASEAN Film Festival (AFF) was launched by the Hong Kong-ASEAN Foundation in 2023 to build cultural ties between Hong Kong and the ten other member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The 2026 edition — its fourth — is co-presented by the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency (CCIDA) under the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau, and opened on 20 August 2026 with an official ceremony attended by Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Miss Rosanna Law.
This year's programme is the festival's largest to date: more than 30 films drawn from all 11 ASEAN member states — Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and, for the first time, Timor-Leste — alongside works from Hong Kong, the Chinese Mainland, Australia, Bangladesh, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan and Russia. This year's selection is themed around the role of music and sound in Southeast Asian cinema.
ASEAN Film Festival 2026
What films are screening at AFF 2026?
See the full M+ venue listing for general opening hours and getting-there details. The programme spans new releases and beloved classics. Confirmed highlights include:
- Song of the Fireflies (Philippines) — the festival's opening film
- SuckSeed (Thailand) — a coming-of-age comedy about a teenage rock band
- 881 (Singapore) — a nostalgic musical drama built around the getai stage tradition
- Last Song For You and Band Four — two Hong Kong productions funded by the Film Development Fund, sponsored for screening by CCIDA
Selected screenings are followed by post-screening sharing sessions, where directors and filmmakers take questions from the audience — a rare chance in Hong Kong to hear directly from Southeast Asian filmmakers whose work otherwise rarely reaches local cinemas. For M+'s own programme notes and updated showtimes, see the M+ Cinema listing.
How do I get tickets?
All AFF 2026 screenings are free, but seats are limited and released in batches on the official festival website. Tickets for screenings between 21 August and 6 September went live first, with tickets for the 10–27 September screenings released on 24 August. If a screening you want has sold out, it is worth checking back for returns closer to the date, and arriving early — unclaimed seats are typically released to the standby queue a few minutes before showtime.
Why does this festival matter for Hong Kong?
Hong Kong markets itself as the "East-meets-West" hub for cultural exchange, and AFF is one of the more concrete expressions of that ambition. Beyond the films themselves, the festival's networking receptions and post-screening talks are designed to connect Hong Kong's film and creative industries with counterparts across the ASEAN bloc — a region of more than 680 million people whose cinema rarely gets theatrical distribution in Hong Kong outside of festival slots like this one.
For West Kowloon regulars, AFF is also a good excuse to pair a screening with a wander through the M+ Museum's current exhibitions, next door in the same cultural district.
Looking for more of Hong Kong's autumn arts calendar? See our guides to Hong Kong Performing Arts Expo 2026, the city's best art galleries, and what's on now at M+.
Frequently Asked Questions
Book your seat
Free entry, more than 30 films, and post-screening talks with real filmmakers — AFF 2026 is one of the best-value things to do in Hong Kong this September. Reserve your seats at aseanfilmfest.org.
Insider tip: the second ticket batch (for the 10–27 September screenings) tends to include the higher-profile closing titles, so if your first-choice screening is sold out, check back rather than giving up.