The long-awaited surprise screening finally took place on 5th November! After a round of heated discussion online, the answer was finally revealed, it was Unidentified Murder! The screening was flooded with laughter and applause, many despite surprised about the final answer, but were very satisfied with the delightful surprise! Levreaging a play within a play structure and urban myth, the film transformed low-budget production to a creative stage of laughter, balancing mysterious elements and absurd humour.
That night, director and scriptwriter Ka Hei Kwok and Jack Lee, along with actors Man-Lung Ling, Renci Yeung, Charm Man Peter Chan, Tsz-Kit Lam, and an "alien" from foreign space made a surprise appearance!
Set in a fictional mountain, the actors shared that they spent more than 10 days shooting in the mountain. It was winter at the time, some actors even had to take off their bottoms, enduring coldness! Still, leveraging their creativity, they discovered more opportunities to freely interpret the script, and lived the moment to the max. Renci chucked that audience could even see the actors trying their best to hold their laughter. Seeing the performance on screen for the first time, the actor also wondered "Why would I do such thing?"
Lam, having worked with the team when he was with Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts (HKAPA), decided to infuse the play with some HKAPA elements, evoking laughter from the audience. He was very satisfied with the shooting, and was grateful for the directors' support, allowing the actors more freedom of creativity.
Speaking of casting, director first decided the actors, then built up the characters according to their own characteristics. The director has worked with Peter once, and remarked that he is an actor with a strong willingness to break through, "he dares do anything". Indeed, as the shooting progressed, he got more liberated. The director has also worked with Kenny Wong once in Ossan's Love (HK version). He believed having Kenny, who is experienced in theatres, would bring more diversity to the performance.
An audience member exclaimed that the mad “twist” in the film is quite a rare scene in Hong Kong movies in recent years. Another also shared that as someone who rarely laughs when watching films, he couldn’t stop laughing. The actors joked that it was because they were drunk! Thanks to our festival support Young Master, who sponsored free alcohol that night, the viewing experience was elevated to the next level!
