• Stair in the Dark pays tribute to pop culture icon Keanu Reeves, featuring his iconic films The Matrix (1999), Point Break (1991), Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), and more
• M+ Cinema continues its collaboration with the ASEAN Film Festival for a third consecutive year, offering free screenings that spotlight prominent and rising contemporary filmmakers in the region, such as Garin Nugroho and Pom Bunsermvicha
• Avant-Garde Now: Time Travellers presents a dynamic one-day event where visitors can explore alternate realities and futures through screenings, virtual reality experiences, and engaging talks with contemporary artists

M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, announces the M+ Cinema Summer Edition, running from July to September 2025. Tickets for major programmes are now available. Redemption vouchers can be used for select screenings in this edition. Ticketing and programme information for Avant-Garde Now: Time Travellers and the ASEAN Film Festival will be available soon. Please visit the M+ website for updates.

Summer Edition Highlights

M+ Cinema presents groundbreaking works that reflect upon contemporary culture, engaging audiences through dynamic visual storytelling. The Stair in the Dark series celebrates cult classics—this time paying tribute to beloved actor and pop culture icon Keanu Reeves, with screenings of The Matrix (1999), Point Break (1991), Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989), and more. This summer, M+ Cinema welcomes its third consecutive collaboration with the ASEAN Film Festival, with complementary programmes that highlight recent cinematic talents from Southeast Asia. Avant-Garde Now: Time Travellers brings together four contemporary artists and filmmakers who blend science fiction, fantasy, and culture to envision speculative futures.

Details of the M+ Cinema Summer Edition:

• Stair in the Dark

Keanu Reeves is one of Hollywood’s most enduring stars, with an unorthodox career marked by dramatic highs and lows. He has played a wide range of roles: a rom-com heartthrob, a Shakespearean villain, a DC antihero, and even the Buddha. Despite some box office flops and harsh reviews, he has repeatedly re-emerged as a cultural phenomenon. Most notably, he has captivated audiences through his performances in The Matrix and the John Wick series. Today, Reeves transcends acting—he is a meme, a video game character, and a pop culture mainstay.

Stair in the Dark offers a playful tribute to Keanu Reeves, a charismatic icon who defies mainstream expectations. This series features three defining works from his career: The Matrix (1999), Point Break (1991), and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989).

• Special Screening: Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White (1995) and The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001)

Another signature work of Reeves, Johnny Mnemonic: In Black and White (1995), will be shown as a special free screening on 1 July 2025. Registration is required. To register, please visit the M+ website.

The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001), directed by Miike Takashi, is a delirious concoction of Claymation, song and dance, and karaoke. Masao, an unemployed middle-aged man, transforms an old house in a resort town into a bed-and-breakfast. However, he soon faces a surreal and nightmarish turn of events as his first guest arrives. The film will be presented in a rare 35 mm format.

• ASEAN Film Festival

M+ Cinema proudly co-presents the third edition of the ASEAN Film Festival with the Hong Kong-ASEAN Foundation. This year’s programme showcases Southeast Asia’s most acclaimed and emerging filmmakers.

Highlights of the Festival include a special cine-concert performance of Samsara (2024), the latest film by Indonesian auteur Garin Nugroho, accompanied by a live performance by experimental musician-composer duo Gabber Modus Operandi and I Wayan Sudirana. A capsule programme of works by young Thai filmmaker Pom Bunsermvicha reveals their personal and creative journey. Additionally, five recent short films portray powerful, female-driven narratives from the region, celebrating the diverse and compelling voices shaping contemporary Southeast Asian cinema.

• Avant-Garde Now: Time Travellers

Avant-Garde Now is a regular series of one-day events that explore current trends in moving image practice. In Time Travellers, four artists—Monira Al Qadiri, Cao Fei, Meiro Koizumi, and Subash Thebe Limbu—present a dynamic mix of screenings, interactive virtual reality experiences, and talks. Through speculative and futuristic narratives, they challenge and expand our perception of time, blending science fiction, mythology, and culture to reimagine the present and the future. Curatorial presentations and discussions with the artists offer deeper insights into their creative processes.

Through speculative and futuristic narratives, they challenge and expand our perception of time, blending science fiction, mythology, and culture to reimagine the present and the future. Curatorial presentations and discussions with the artists offer deeper insights into their creative processes.

M+ Membership

M+ annual membership and patron membership offer an exclusive experience of contemporary visual culture for visitors of all ages and backgrounds. Members across all tiers enjoy priority ticket purchases with a twenty per cent discount on selected cinema screenings, two free cinema redemption vouchers per membership year (four for M+ Patrons), and free exclusive screenings. From Tuesday, 15 July 2025 onwards, M+ Members can enjoy unlimited admission to all M+ exhibitions throughout the year. Meanwhile, M+ Patrons can enjoy unlimited free admission to all exhibitions with up to three guests per visit. Other membership benefits include invitations to selected exhibition previews, exclusive M+ Lounge access and M+ Private Viewings, priority ticket purchase, and much more. For more information, please visit the M+ website.

About M+

M+ is Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture. Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK), it is dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The landmark M+ building on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbourfront was designed by the world-renowned architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron in partnership with TFP Farrells and Arup. It spans a total floor area of 65,000 square metres, featuring thirty-three galleries alongside a Learning Hub, Moving Image Centre, Research Centre, and Roof Garden, among other event and programming spaces. The M+ Facade is one of the largest LED screens in the world, showcasing commissioned artworks on the Hong Kong skyline every evening. The museum stewards a multidisciplinary permanent collection that includes objects from regions across Asia and beyond. A highlight is the M+ Sigg Collection, one of the world’s most extensive collections of Chinese contemporary art. Today, M+ is a nexus for researching and presenting contemporary visual culture, inspiring thought and curiosity.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK)

WestK is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural hubs in the world and Hong Kong’s new cultural tourism landmark, spanning forty hectares alongside Victoria Harbour. WestK comprises a mix of landmark arts and cultural facilities, including world-class museums M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, intricately designed performing arts venues the Xiqu Centre and Freespace, the eleven-hectare Art Park with a waterfront promenade, and the upcoming WestK Performing Arts Centre.

Hosting over 1,000 exhibitions, performances, programmes, and events each year, WestK provides a vital platform for both emerging and established artists. WestK welcomes more than ten million visitors each year, evolving as the international cultural brand of Hong Kong and strengthening the city’s strategic role as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.