European Premiere | In Competition | White Mulberry Award Candidate
Hong Kong, Taiwan, 2025, 112’, Mandarin
Directed by: Kung Siu-ping
Screenplay: Kung Siu-ping, Sylvia Chang, Bernyce Li
Cinematography (color): Derek Siu
Editing: Emily Leung
Production Design: Man Lim-chung
Music: Wan Pin Chu
Producer: Sylvia Chang
Cast: Greg Hsu (adult Tato), Angela Yuen (Ann-Jean), Jack Tan (Mato), Yoyo Han (Zoe), Stephen Tung (Pops), Chan Fai-hung (Dr. Chow), Thor Lok (Julian), Natalie Hsu (Waffles’ Mother), Yoyo Tse (Waffles)
Date of First Release in Territory: October 3rd, 2025
Ever been in a relationship where you feel like you’re moving at a different speed than the other person? Director Kung Siu-ping takes the idea literally to dazzling effect with
Measure in Love, his feature directorial debut. With the help of the iconic Sylvia Chang as co-producer and co-writer (under the Hong Kong Film Development Council’s Directors’ Succession Scheme, which assigns a veteran mentor to a young filmmaker), Kung has mostly succeeded in an ambitious attempt at science fiction in an industry that hasn’t been very successful at it.
The high-concept film is set in a fictional world in which a gravity wall created by a massive earthquake has split the planet into two zones with different time and gravity. One day in the affluent Aurora Zone equates to a year in the Evergreen Zone. Because of this, the latter, controlled by an unknown authority, uses its poor and exploited population as labour for the elites in Aurora.
The film doesn’t go much deeper into class division and socio-economic tensions after its initial setup, but the economic disparity provides a reason for Ann-Jean (a radiant Angela Yuen), a young doctor in the Aurora Zone, to join a group of volunteer doctors (think Médecins Sans Gravity Wall) who secretly travel to Evergreen every few days to provide medical services for the poor. While helping his ailing brother to get into the clinic, the young and resourceful Tato meets Ann-Jean and falls for her at first sight.
Ann-Jean first dismisses Tato’s feelings as teenage infatuation, but when she returns a few days later (in Aurora Time), Tato has already aged into an adult who is still head over heels for her. For Tato, his affection for Ann-Jean is one that has taken up a decade of his life. But for Ann-Jean, Tato is just a kid she met a few days ago who now happens to be an adult (his adult version is played by heartthrob Greg Hsu, no less). Nevertheless, the two manage to fall in love through garbled text messages and the precious little time they see each other.
Wearing his romanticism on his sleeves, Kung is smart enough to avoid being mired in scientific explanations that plague too many science-fiction films. Inspired by his own four-year long-distance relationship,
Measure in Love is a heart-over-mind film in which people are guided by love above all else. Like all great melodramatic star-crossed romances, its setting merely sets up a story of two beautiful people falling in love in defiance of impossible circumstances. The scene of Ann-Jean and Tato going on a fanciful light-gravity flight through the Evergreen Zone is a perfect example of Kung’s romanticism, and the chemistry between Angela Yuen and Greg Hsu – two of the hottest young actors of their generation – makes it work.
More importantly,
Measure in Love shows the Hong Kong film industry’s ingenuity at work. Thanks to his extensive experience as an assistant director, Kung displays impressive talent in making the most out of limited resources. Despite having only 30 shooting days and a budget that is rumoured to be only a fraction of what a commercial blockbuster is made for (the Directors’ Succession Scheme put up roughly US$1.15 million, a significant part of the budget), Kung’s crew managed to create not one, but two convincing fictional worlds entirely in Hong Kong. Aside from the computer-generated gravity wall, many of the sets are practical (savvy travellers will recognise the hip M+ museum standing in for Aurora), making this fantasy feel and look more grounded than most Hong Kong science-fiction films.
Kung Siu-ping
A graduate of Hong Kong Baptist University, Kung began his career as an assistant director on large productions such as Once a Gangster, Overheard 2 and 3, Office, Love Education and Project Gutenberg. He has also directed numerous short films and commercials. Measure in Love is his feature directorial debut.
FILMOGRAPHY
2025 – Measure in Love