Experiencing Interruptions?

TAPE

Updating Richard Linklater’s award-winning 2001 film for a modern era, TAPE relocates the story from the U.S. to Hong Kong, following three former high school friends whose reunion 15 years later forces them to confront a harrowing secret from their past.

Starring Kenny Kwan, Selena Lee, and Adam Pak, alongside Hong Kong Film Award winner Mason Fung, Summer Chan, and Angus Yeung as their younger selves, TAPE is a powerful exploration of power, manipulation, and the cultural silence around sexual assault in a society that has yet to fully reckon with #MeToo.

With a haunting score by British musician Keaton Henson, the film examines how trauma lingers across time and challenges the subjective nature of truth. TAPE is a bold, socially relevant drama that pushes boundaries, making it one of the most thought-provoking Hong Kong productions in recent years.

  • Bizhan Tong
    Director
    The Escort, The Audition, Forensic Psychologist, The Queen of News
  • Stephen Belber
    Writer
    TAPE [Original Play & Film], The Madness [Netflix, 2024]), The Laramie Project [HBO, 2002], Management (2008), Match (2014), O.G. [HBO, 2018]
  • Bizhan Tong
    Writer
    Forensic Psychologist, The Escort
  • Selena Lee
    Writer
  • Bonnie Lo
    Writer
    HIM (換血, 忘記她是她), What’s for Breakfast Today? (今日食咩早餐好？), Abnormal Affair (不折不扣的關係)
  • Kenny Kwan
    Key Cast
    "Jon"
    The Twin Flower Legend, Your Highness, Customs Frontline
  • Selena Lee
    Key Cast
    "Amy"
    Blood and Water, Barrack O'Karma, The Queen of News
  • Adam Pak
    Key Cast
    "Wing"
    A Guilty Conscience, The Prosecutor, Breakout Brothers, Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy
  • Mason Fung
    Key Cast
    "Young Jon"
    Zero to Hero - HK Film Awards Winner, Best Supporting Actor 2022
  • Summer Chan
    Key Cast
    "Young Amy"
    Showbiz Spy, Valley of the Shadow of Death, It Remains
  • Angus Yeung
    Key Cast
    "Young Wing"
    Raging Fire, Bodies at Rest, Social Distancing, Inexternal
  • Bizhan Tong
    Producer
    The Escort, Forensic Psychologist, The Audition, Murder Ballads
  • Selena Lee
    Producer
    Blood and Water
  • Richard Linklater
    Executive Producers
    Boyhood, Before Sunrise, Dazed and Confused, Hit Man
  • John Sloss
    Executive Producers
    Boyhood, The Fog of War, Before Midnight
  • Stephen Belber
    Executive Producers
    The Madness [Netflix, 2024]), What We Do Next (2022), Tommy (2020), O.G. [HBO, 2018]
  • Keaton Henson
    Music Composer
    Passenger (2024), Anne Boleyn (2021), Supernova (2020)
  • Phillip Edwin Osborne
    Music Composer
  • Colleen Kwok
    Cinematographer
    After Forever, The Falconer
  • Project Title (Original Language):
    錄影歹
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Thriller, Independent, Social Issue, Adaptation
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 50 minutes 3 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    September 20, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    150,000 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    Hong Kong, United Kingdom
  • Country of Filming:
    Hong Kong
  • Language:
    Yue Chinese (Cantonese)
  • Shooting Format:
    ARRI
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Asian Film Festival Barcelona
    Barcelona
    Spain
    October 31, 2024
    Spain Premiere
    Special Section
  • Raindance Film Festival
    London, UK
    United Kingdom
    June 20, 2025
    UK Premiere
    Best International Feature
  • Vancouver International Film Festival
    Vancouver
    Canada
    October 7, 2025
    Canadian Premiere
    Panorama
Distribution Information
  • EST Studios
    Sales Agent
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
  • Beijing Sita Digital Technology Company
    Distributor
    Country: China
    Rights: All Rights
  • Studio Target
    Distributor
    Country: Korea, Republic of
    Rights: All Rights
  • Phoenix Waters Asia
    Distributor
    Country: Hong Kong
    Rights: All Rights
  • Showalker UK
    Distributor
    Country: United Kingdom
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Bizhan Tong

Bizhan Tong is an award-winning filmmaker, producer, writer, and director with over 15 years of experience in international cinema. Born to a Chinese father and Persian mother, he has spent his life bridging East and West through storytelling.

His recent work includes Forensic Psychologist (2023), a Hong Kong crime series starring Jeannie Chan, Justin Cheung, and Hong Kong Film Awards winner Crisel Consunji, where he served as showrunner and director. He also helmed the Hong Kong remake of Richard Linklater’s Tape, starring Selena Lee, Kenny Kwan, Adam Pak, Summer Chan, and Mason Fung Ho Yeung. The film was executive produced by Linklater, John Sloss, and original writer Stephen Belber who co-wrote the remake.

In addition, Bizhan produced British horror-comedy Murder Ballads (2023), starring Simon Callow, and the award-winning drama The Escort (2018), which earned him a Best Director award at New York’s Kew Gardens Festival. He also wrote and directed The Audition (2022), an international thriller inspired by his mentor, UK film distributor Trevor Green.

Bizhan is currently directing Tasting the Depths, a feature-length documentary following a master sommelier and explorer as he descends into the ocean depths to uncover how extreme environments transform human physiology and the way we experience flavour, while confronting the impact of climate change on winemaking and the future of extreme tourism.

He is also set to direct Shashou, an international homage to Hong Kong action cinema, which begins production later this year. Other upcoming projects include Hostage Crisis, a gripping bank robbery thriller; Chungking Mansions, Hong Kong’s largest zombie film to date; and Crypto Keepers, a tech drama series.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

The journey to making TAPE began in the summer of 2002, when I first watched Richard Linklater’s original film at 15 years old. That experience inspired, moved, and enlightened me - it changed my perception of filmmaking forever and forged my path as a storyteller. I never expected that, two decades later, I would come full circle, reaching out to the film’s original writer, Stephen Belber, with the hope of revisiting this story for a world that had changed fundamentally.

In today’s technology-driven, post-#MeToo era, I saw an opportunity to explore TAPE’s themes through a modern lens, with a particular focus on Asia, where the #MeToo movement has yet to take shape in the same way as the West. By transposing the setting to Hong Kong, my goal was to shed light on the societal structures that hinder sexual assault survivors from coming forward, offering a nuanced, culturally specific take on a universally relevant issue.

With Stephen Belber’s support and the blessing of Richard Linklater and producer John Sloss, I collaborated with Hong Kong actress Selena Lee and screenwriter Bonnie Lo, drawing from their lived experiences to ensure the story was authentic to the challenges women in Hong Kong face. My work with The Women’s Foundation and my understanding of Hong Kong’s shifting cultural and political landscape over the past 15 years all shaped this adaptation. My hope is that TAPE will resonate with audiences across Asia, prompting the kind of open discussions that have long been considered taboo.

Structurally, TAPE remains true to Linklater’s original vision - set primarily in one location, filmed almost entirely in real time, and captured under similar production constraints. I wanted to honour the spirit of the original while crafting something fresh and urgent.

Having been afforded the rare opportunity to reinterpret the film that first inspired my filmmaking journey, I hope TAPE will inspire others just as Linklater’s original inspired me. My greatest wish is that it sparks meaningful conversations and stays with audiences long after they leave the theatre - whether in Hong Kong, Asia, or beyond.