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"A Tale of Three Cities", a Hong Kong film directed by Mabel Cheung and produced by Alex Law, has been selected by the Center for Asian American Media (CAAM) as a Centerpiece Presentation at CAAMFest 2016, an 11-day film festival in the San Francisco Bay Area.
In addition, Mabel Cheung has been chosen as one of the Festival's Spotlight Filmmakers. Another influential film by Cheung, "The Soong Sisters", will also be featured at the Festival, which opened on March 10.
"We are particularly delighted that the CAAMFest has chosen a Hong Kong film as a Centerpiece Presentation of your 34th festival. We are proud of our film talents, such as Mabel and Alex, who are with us this afternoon," said the Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, Ms Subrina Chow, at a reception in honour of Cheung and Law yesterday (San Francisco time, March 13).
"Filmmaking is a very important and widely supported industry in Hong Kong. To ensure the long-term health of the industry, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government set up the Hong Kong Film Development Fund back in 1999. Since 2007, the Fund has been providing up to 40 per cent of the funding for small to medium budget films, and has so far supported the production of 33 Hong Kong movies. Seventeen directors and 20 producers involved in these productions were directing or producing commercial feature films for the very first time," Ms Chow added.
Many of the productions supported by the Film Development Fund are works of high quality and have earned international accolades, notably including Cheung and Law's "Echoes of the Rainbow", which won the Crystal Bear Award at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival.
Last November, the Hong Kong Film Development Fund announced the new pilot Film Production Grant Scheme targeting films with a production budget of no more than HK$ 10 million (US$1.28 million). The grant will cover 20 per cent of the approved production budget or actual production costs, and can be used for remuneration of the local production crew and the cost of shooting and production conducted in Hong Kong. "The intention is to reduce film producers' investment risk and encourage more commercial investment in small-budget productions. Our goal is to help to nurture more future talents for Hong Kong," Ms Chow said.
Following the reception hosted by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, the screening of "A Tale of Three Cities" was held at the newly renovated Alamo Drafthouse cinema.
Ends/Monday, March 14, 2016
Issued at HKT 10:55
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