Hong Kong Filmart LOOKS TO MAINLAND

Participants of the Hong Kong Entertainment Expo will be eyeing opportunities in the booming mainland market during the annual extravaganza, from 23 March to 19 April. The event which covers a series of events, including the Filmart, the International Film Festival, the Hong Kong Film Awards Presentation and the Music Fair looks set to satisfy buyers and traders. The Filmart, organised by the council for film traders, attracted about 4,000 buyers from around the world last year, including 700 from the mainland.

Benjamin Chau Kai-leung, assistant executive director of the Trade Development Council, would not predict how many buyers would attend this year’s event amid the downturn. But he said about 500 film suppliers from 27 countries, including Poland, Ukraine and Iran, would have booths, compared with 483 last year.

‘The Filmart has become the biggest sale of its kind in Asia. We will be focusing on Asia and other new markets in future,’ he said.

Asian Film Awards organiser, the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, unveiled the nominees for 13 categories. Among them were Nick Cheung Ka-fai in Beast Stalker for best supporting actor, Xu Jiao in CJ7 for best newcomer, Cheng Siu-keung (Sparrow) for best cinematography and Chan Ki-hop (Beast Stalker) for best editor. The jury will this year be chaired by actress Michelle Yeoh.

Beast Stalker, CJ7 and Sparrow are among the few Hong Kong films to pick up nominations at this year’s as a decline in the number of local productions led to fewer nominations. Other Hongkongers nominated were those involved in co-productions, including Daniel Lee Yan-kong for best production designer and Henry Lai Wan-man for best composer for Three Kingdoms: Resurrection of the Dragon and John Woo for best director for Red Cliff.

Mainland actor Ge You has been nominated for best actor, for If You Are The One. In the best actress awards, Zhao Wei in Painted Skin will go head to head with her co-star Zhou Xun, who has been nominated for her work in The Equation of Love and Death.

Renowned Indian composer A.R. Rahman, who recently won a Golden Globe for his score in Slumdog Millionaire, was nominated for his work in Jodhaa Akbar.

Meanwhile, Monsters vs Aliens is among the gala premieres at this year’s festival. The film is a DreamWorks-animated science fiction comedy about a ragtag team of peculiar creatures sent to

defend Earth from extraterrestrials.

Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, chairman of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, said the showcases on Asian digital cinema and humanitarian documentaries have long been fertile ground for blooming talent. They will vie for attention with showcases spotlighting the latest waves of films from Italy (such as Gomorrah and Il Divo) and Finland (including the thriller Black Ice and a feature film based on children’s writer Tove Jansson’s Moomin stories).

Polish master Jerzy Skolimowski will be among those visiting Hong Kong during the festival. He will screen his new film Four Nights with Anna. Also attending will be Asghar Farhadi, who won the best director award at the Berlin International Film Festival last month for About Ally. Meanwhile, Hollywood will be represented by William Hurt and Michelle Williams, who will be guests at the festival’s Asian Film Awards. The two actors’ new films - The Yellow Handkerchief for Hurt, and the independent film Wendy and Lucy for Williams - are part of the festival’s programme.

Retrospectives will be held on the films of Tsui Hark, Michelangelo Antonioni, Ingmar Bergman, Jun Ichikawa, Dadaist supremo Hans Richter, veteran Chinese filmmaker Evan Yang and Korean director Yu Hyun-mok. Experimental fare, such as Dariusz Kowalski’s Optical Vacuum - a reflection on human existence in the age of surveillance cameras - will be featured in the avant-garde section. Archival Treasures will be a new section in which three classic silent films - Pharaoh’s Wife, The Student of Prague and Wings - will be screened with live musical accompaniment from German composer-pianist Eunice Martins.

The festival’s efforts to generate discussion on mainland film are brought to the fore this year with a two-day seminar about how the country’s independent filmmakers break down the barriers between the public and private spheres in a rigidly controlled society.

The Film Development Fund grant for the Asian Film Awards and Hong Kong Asia Financing Forum has been increased by HK$1 million to HK$10 million this year, while the Arts Development Council will subsidise around HK$10 million for this year’s international film festival.

The Asian Film Awards will be held on 23 March at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre as the opening event of the annual Entertainment Expo.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival will run from 22 March to 13 April while the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum will take place from 23-25 March.

ASIAIMAGE