Love Is a Gun by Taiwanese director Lee Hong-Chi snatches the Lion of the Future – “Luigi De Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film, assigned by an international jury chaired by Alice Diop and composed of Faouzi Bensaïdi, Laura Citarella, Andrea de Sica and Chloe Domont.

Love Is a Gun, which was presented at the 38. Settimana Internazionale della Critica, is a Hong Kong-Taiwan co-production and first film by the famous actor Lee Hong-Chi. Moreover, it is also the very first feature hailing from Hong Kong or Taiwan to receive the Lion of the Future Award.

“We are so very happy and proud that the Lion of the Future – ‘Luigi De Laurentiis’ Venice Award for a Debut Film has been awarded to Lee Hong-Chi’s Love Is a Gun, selected in competition at the 38. Settimana Internazionale della Critica. It is a film that comes from afar, inhabited by a group of characters doomed by an inescapable destiny, a past that will forever follow them. It is a passionate and powerful debut that reveals the talent of a new young auteur destined to become one of the leading names in contemporary Asian cinema”, says Beatrice Fiorentino, General Delegate of the Settimana.

(Photo © La Biennale di Venezia – Foto ASAC – Andrea Avezzù)