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Two Hong Kong films with big box office in China are featured at the 58th San Francisco International Film Festival, which opened on April 23. Peter Chan's "Dearest" and Tsui Hark's "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" are among the line-up for this 15-day Festival.
At the Hong Kong Reception today (April 26, San Francisco time) in honour of Hong Kong film producer Ms Shi Nan-sun, the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, Ms Subrina Chow, thanked the San Francisco Film Society for selecting these two outstanding movies for presentation in the Festival.
"San Francisco audience would probably not have the chance to see these two movies on the big screen, if not for the Festival. "Dearest" is a heartrending movie by Director Peter Chan, based on a highly-publicised child-abduction case in China. "The Taking of Tiger Mountain" is Director Tsui Hark's bold remake of a Chinese revolutionary model opera, based on a 1957 novel about the conflict between a People's Liberation Army squad and the bandits in the Northeast during the Chinese Civil War," said Ms Chow.
Ms Chow and more than 100 guests welcomed Ms Shi at the reception. She is responsible for many of the most successful Hong Kong movies in the last three decades, including "Infernal Affairs" which was remade into "The Departed" in the United States.
"While the Hong Kong Government provides financing support to nurture new film makers in Hong Kong through our Film Development Fund, the effort would not be successful without veterans such as Ms Shi who gives plenty of opportunities and guidance to the next generation of directors and producers in Hong Kong," said Ms Chow.
Through the Hong Kong Film Development Fund, the Hong Kong Government offers partial funding to small to medium-budget Hong Kong productions. The Financial Secretary announced recently in his Budget Speech that he would inject another $200 million (US$25.6 million) into the Fund. To boost the volume of Hong Kong production, the different funding schemes would also be improved.
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco continues to promote Hong Kong films across the western states. Over the last two months, a total of nine recent productions from Hong Kong were featured in four other film festivals held in Oregon, California, Colorado and Texas.
Ends/Monday, April 27, 2015
Issued at HKT 09:25
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