The film, directed Dante Lam, popular for helming crime thrillers, stars Eddie Choi, Shawn Dou and Wang Luo Dan, reported Variety.
"To The Fore" was chosen by the selection committee of the Hong Kong Film Producers' Association, which said it had also shortlisted Ringo Lam's "Wild City", Mabel Cheung's "Three Cities" and Lau Ho-leung's "Two Thumbs Up".
No Hong Kong film, however, has ever won in the foreign-language category.
Won Kar-wai's 2013 Hong Kong-Chinese martial arts drama "The Grandmaster" made it to the January shortlist, but was not subsequently nominated.