Wealth and good fortune are the twin engines of the Lunar New Year film season, and Hong Kong filmmaker Philip Yung Tsz-kwong’s The Snowball on a Sunny Day is the latest festive offering to find humour in the hunt for millions.

Boasting an ensemble led by Chung Suet-ying, Edan Lui Cheuk-on and Elaine Jin Yan-ling, the comedy-drama follows a working-class family living in a public housing estate who believe they have won the Mark Six lottery jackpot, only to discover that the responsible family member failed to buy a ticket.

Yung’s sprawling festive folly follows a tried-and-tested formula that resonates across Asia, where the Mark Six and other lotteries serve as symbols of both salvation and greed, and provide the catalyst for all manner of capers and high jinks.

In the spirit of the season, here are 10 other films from around the region in which characters learn that while money can buy a ticket, the cost of a happy life is something even a lottery win cannot guarantee.

Read my full South China Morning Post feature here