"This year we had planned with limited international travel in mind, and aimed to produce a hybrid festival (of in-person and online productions) of a scale and scope appropriate to a 50th anniversary year for us, the Hong Kong SAR's 25th, and the Hong Kong City Hall's 60th — this venue that has been such an important part of the festival's journey over the past 50 years," says Tisa Ho Kar-kuan, HKAF's executive director since 2006.

It being the third year of the pandemic, the organizers were prepared. "The experience of the last few years means that we now have several levels of contingency planning embedded in the process," Ho says. "What is more challenging is deciding which contingency plan to activate when the situation is not clear.

"This is a mission-driven team. We want to do the work, see the performances presented, work with artists and communicate with audiences. We've had to stop all in-person activity for the moment. It's hard not knowing when we can resume. Of course we're not alone. ... Our story is very much part of the Hong Kong story at this time."