As blockbusters like The Odyssey, Spider-Man: Brand New Day and Toy Story 5 continue to dominate cinema screens across Hong Kong, adventurous film-goers desperate to escape the incessant downpours can take comfort in the eclectic line-up unveiled for this year’s Cine Fan Summer International Film Festival.

This concise seasonal companion to the Hong Kong International Film Festival boasts a focused selection of 37 features. These range from regional premieres of festival highlights to new 4K restorations of Hong Kong classics, including Wong Kar-wai’s Days of Being Wild (1990), Tsui Hark’s wuxia masterpiece The Blade (1995) and Dennis Yu Wan-kwong’s ghoulish delight The Imp (1981).

Spotlighted filmmakers include Na Hong-jin, Hong Sang-soo and David Cronenberg, while acclaimed new titles, such as Beth de Araujo’s Sundance Grand Prize winner Josephine, Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love and Ben Wheatley’s small-town shoot-’em-up Normal, make their Hong Kong debuts.

Rounding out the programme is an intriguing clutch of animated films from Japan, France, Spain and Portugal.

Below are our selections for the best titles and programmes not to be missed at this year’s edition.

Read my full South China Morning Post feature here