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The Hong Kong Film Panorama opened in Amsterdam today (January 13, Amsterdam time). The Panorama presents a selection of Hong Kong's latest films and tours Europe every year at the initiative of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, Brussels (HKETO, Brussels).
This is the sixth time the Hong Kong Film Panorama will be held in Amsterdam, the result of a good working relationship established by the HKETO, Brussels with the Amsterdam Film Museum. The Film Museum houses an internationally renowned collection of more than 30,000 film titles, and has, in its more than 60-year existence, built up a reputation for appealing and daring programming.
Speaking at the opening night of the Hong Kong Film Panorama in Amsterdam, Deputy Representative for Hong Kong Economic and Trade Affairs to the European Communities, Ms Wong Yuet-wah, said that the Hong Kong film industry remains vigorous. The mainland of China, where the number of cinemas is increasing at the rate of two screens a day, is a huge market for Hong Kong films and talent.
Hollywood is also interested in Hong Kong talent and in acquiring the right to remake Hong Kong movies. "For example, acclaimed Hollywood movies 'The Departed' and 'The Eye' are remakes of Hong Kong films 'Infernal Affairs' and 'See Ghosts', respectively," she said, adding that Hong Kong's films and directors have also gained increasing critical recognition.
"The Venice Film Festival has announced it will bestow a lifetime achievement award on film director John Woo next September, recognising him as 'an innovator of the contemporary language of cinema' who 'with his revolutionary conception of staging and editing has renewed action movies to the core'".
Ms Wong said that the Hong Kong Government, conscious that competition in the international film industry is extremely keen, is implementing a series of measures to help the continuous development of Hong Kong's film industry.
"We are investing in state-of-the-art infrastructure, facilitating technological development, maintaining a good local business environment and a robust intellectual property system, helping to expand markets as well as nurturing new talent by providing financial support for small to medium-budget films. The local film industry also enjoys the benefits of free speech and expression, guaranteed to Hong Kong under the Basic Law, our constitutional document."
Ms Wong added that the HKSAR Government had now embarked on an ambitious project to develop artistic and cultural life in the city with the development of the West Kowloon Cultural District. The first phase of this ambitious development would come on stream in 2015.
For this screening of the Hong Kong Film Panorama in Amsterdam from January 13 to 23 inclusive, 11 films selected for the 2009-2010 European tour with the help of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society will be shown. They are Johnnie To's "Sparrow", Heiward Mak's coming of age drama "High Noon", Herman Yan's non-fiction film "True Women for Sale", Derek Kwok's police drama "The Moss", Lawrence Lau's youth drama "City without Baseball", and Angie Chan's "This Darling Life", an original look at how people relate to their pets. In addition to these recent films, there will be a tribute to iconic director Tsui Hark with his films "Once Upon a Time in China" (parts I, II and II), "Shanghai Blues" and "Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain".
Amsterdam is one of the stops on the 2009-2010 Hong Kong Film Panorama's European tour, after Antwerp, Brussels and Lisbon. Athens, Barcelona, Madrid, Florence and Malta are to follow.
Ends/Thursday, January 14, 2010
Issued at HKT 00:15
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