Hong Kong leading man Aaron Kwok will next star in IOU, a heartwarming drama directed by Steven Zhang Zhonghua. The film reunites Kwok with Hong Kong producer Julia Chu, with whom he teamed up for Port of Call (2015) and Where the Wind Blows (2022). Distribution Workshop is shopping the film to international buyers this week at Hong Kong’s Filmart content market.
Set against the background of recent, real-life fundraising scams in China, IOU is a comedy-drama “that satirizes the selfishness of an interest-driven society,” according to the producers.
Kwok plays a desperate man struggling between survival and kindness. Trying to repay his own debts by all means necessary, Kwok’s character, a man named Wu, blocks two siblings inside their rural Shaanxi home, hoping to force their father to pay back the money Wu loaned him. Despite causing him endless headaches, the siblings’ simple-mindedness and compassion transform Wu, leading him to make an unexpected choice on Chinese New Year’s Eve.
First discussed in 2020, the project was selected as a Top-30 finalist at the 33rd Golden Rooster Film Project Market and participated in the 20th Hong Kong International Film Festival’s industry program. Filming began earlier in March with a production budget around $3 million.
Zhang is best known for Hearty Tomato (2012), selected for the 28th Warsaw International Film Festival, The Home in the Tree (2019), nominated for best Children’s Film of 32nd Golden Rooster Award, and Home by the River (2025), which recently competed at Poland’s Kinolub Film Festival.
Other titles on Distribution Workshop’s sales slate at Filmart this year include Juno Mak’s long-gestating Sons of the Neon Night; Operation Hadal, from action hitmaker Dante Lam; Little Red Sweet, directed by Vincent Chow; and Penguin Girl, helmed by Taiwanese first-timer Yuyu Yang.
Filmart runs March 17-20 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.
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