Herman is a computer programmer and the father of a one-year-old daughter. When Lok appears, claiming to be his half-brother and pressing him about their father’s death, Herman’s everyday life begins to unravel. Then one day, Lok, who has been hovering around Herman and relentlessly triggering his trauma, suddenly disappears. Their father’s death is not something of the past for Herman but an event that continues to permeate his present. Herman’s desire to escape to another world while trapped in a present consumed by the past, therefore, can be read as a metaphor for Hong Kong today. With affection and compassion for Hong Kong, Isabella Lam Lok-hin completed this suspenseful mystery crime thriller grounded in well-crafted sound design. Produced by Cheang Pou-Soi, director of Twilight of the Warriors, the film stars Yeung Lokman of the popular Hong Kong boy group MIRROR as Herman and Dylan Somanto, who gave an impressive performance in Papa, as Lok. Together, they convincingly bring the taut tension between the two characters to the screen.
Isabella Lam Lok-hin graduated from the School of Creative Media at the City University of Hong Kong. Her short film On Sleepless Roads, the Sleepless Goes (2012) won the Creativity Award at the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival and received a Jury Recommendation at the Hong Kong Independent Short Film and Video Awards. She subsequently worked on various film productions in Hong Kong. Dead End is her feature debut.
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
