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Hong Kong Cinema opens in San Francisco (with photos)
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     The fifth edition of Hong Kong Cinema opens today (November 14, San Francisco time) with a 3-D screening of "Office", a musical by award-winning director Johnnie To. The festival, which runs from November 14 to 18, features eight Hong Kong movies, all screening at Vogue Theater, San Francisco, the United States (US).

     Hong Kong Cinema, presented by the San Francisco Film Society in partnership with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, celebrates recent works from one of the world's most exciting filmmaking hubs. This year's edition continues to offer a wild mix of genres and iconic performances from Hong Kong and the region's biggest stars.

     In addition to "Office", director Dante Lam's "To the Fore" will also be screened. This movie is Hong Kong's latest Oscar entry for Best Foreign Language Film, and will be shown on November 17. Other exciting selections include "SPL 2: A Time for Consequences", "Helios", and "Two Thumbs Up".

     "Monster Hunt", China's highest grossing film of all time, is the first live action movie directed by Hong Kong-born animator Raman Hui, who is best known in the US for his work on the "Shrek" trilogy. The movie will have two screenings on the closing night on November 18.

     Also included is "Little Big Master", a heartwarming movie based on the true story of an educator in Hong Kong who is willing to take on the role of the headmistress of a village school for a monthly salary of less than US$600. She runs the school single-handedly and with an undeterred devotion to bettering the future of her five students.

     The Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, Ms Subrina Chow, applauded the San Francisco Film Society for this year's programme line-up. She also extended a warm welcome to filmmaker Emily Ting, who will join the festival. Director Ting shot her movie, "It's Already Tomorrow in Hong Kong", starring Bryan Greenberg and San Francisco native Jamie Chung, entirely in Hong Kong.

     "We thank Director Ting for showing us the romantic side of Hong Kong, and we hope many more directors and producers will pick our city as their shooting location. Hong Kong has fascinating sights as well as the industry know-how to support great film productions," said Ms Chow.

     At the reception, Ms Chow also highlighted the latest initiative by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to support the long-term development of the film industry.

     "This past Monday, the Hong Kong Film Development Fund launched a pilot Film Production Grant Scheme, which will provide 20 per cent of the approved production budget or actual production cost, whichever is lower, to subsidise productions with a budget not exceeding HK$10 million (US$ 1.28 million). The grant can be used to cover expenditure on remuneration of the local production crew and the cost of shooting and production, including post-production, conducted in Hong Kong," said Ms Chow.

     "We hope this new pilot scheme will help to nurture new film talents and boost the volume of local film productions in Hong Kong," she added.

Ends/Sunday, November 15, 2015
Issued at HKT 12:50

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