HONG KONG, 30 April 2026 – Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy (HKAWL) today announced the official launch of the Hong Kong regional competition for Inspiring Asia, a pan-Asia micro film festival. With “Community Empowerment” as the theme this year, the initiative encourages youth creators and local organisations to document community stories through micro films, fostering cross-sector dialogue and greater social participation.

The Hong Kong regional competition is led by the Hong Kong Academy for Wealth Legacy serving as the Regional Lead Partner, in collaboration with social enterprise Under Production (UP) as the Implementation Partner. Together, they will drive local outreach, recruitment, and programme execution.

Bridging Family Philanthropy and Local Organisations

The festival serves as a flagship annual event for Impact Link (iLink), HKAWL’s philanthropic Initiative designed to mobilize asset owners towards strategic philanthropy through learning and connecting with impactful charity projects. iLink has observed two challenges that are commonly faced by family foundations: helping their funded NGOs to attract other philanthropic capital, and building difficult but transformative funding collaboratives with other philanthropists. For both, effective communication is a shared need across funders and NGOs.

By utilising the profound, multi-faceted medium of storytelling, HKAWL aims to bridge this gap. The festival acts as a catalyst to engage the "Next Generation" of family wealth owners, connecting them with meaningful charity projects at scale. Furthermore, the micro films produced will create a sustainable, reusable library of multimedia assets that transcends any single isolated connecting events to support continuous public engagement and educational campaigns on social issues and NGOs.

Three Award Categories with Total Prize Pool of USD 30,000

As a pan-Asia coordinated competition, "Inspiring Asia Micro Film Festival” in Hong Kong region will feature three main award categories:

• Best Micro Film Award
• Best Project Award
• Best AI Film Award

Supported by the Asia Community Foundation, a total prize pool of USD 30,000 will be presented to the winners of the Hong Kong region. From each category, one winner and 5 finalists will be selected, and from these 18, further selected representatives will advance to showcase Hong Kong’s vibrant community stories on the pan-Asia regional stage, competing against finalists from other participating regions.

Open Call Now Live, Deadline on 6 July 2026

The Hong Kong open call for submission is officially live on 1 May 2026.

Through this initiative, HKAWL and UP invite:

• Creators in Hong Kong to submit original micro film works.
• NGOs and social enterprises to present their projects and community impact through micro film.

Submitted works must be micro films of 3–6 minutes in duration and meet the specified technical requirements. All entries must be submitted via the official Inspiring Asia online platform.

Key Timeline:

• Call for Submissions: From May 2026
• Submission Deadline (Hong Kong Region): 6 July 2026
• Selection Period: July to August 2026
• Hong Kong Screening & Award Ceremony: September 2026

Driving Cross-Sector Collaboration for Sustainable Impact

The Inspiring Asia Micro Film Festival in Hong Kong initiative will culminate in a high-level Award Ceremony and screening event in September. Beyond an awards presentation, the event will serve as a dynamic networking platform, convening family office decision-makers, philanthropists, youth creatives, government, and NGOs to transform creative storytelling into actionable, measurable social capital.

For submission guidelines and technical requirements, please visit the official Inspiring Asia website at https://inspiringasia.org/2026-hongkong/.