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Two highly-acclaimed Hong Kong films will be screened in this year's Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), promising to provide Australian viewers, once again, with a fascinating glimpse of the ingenuity and creativity of Hong Kong's talent.
Addressing some 200 guests this evening (July 27) at a reception before the screening of one of the films, the Director of HKETO, Mrs Jenny Wallis, said the Melbourne International Film Festival - Australia's most critically acclaimed film festival and one of the world's oldest, now in its 56th year - provided a tremendous showcase for the Hong Kong film industry, and her office was delighted to be a cultural partner of the Festival for the sixth time.
Mrs Wallis said the "Hong Kong Cinema" programme at this year's MIFF also formed part of the celebrations marking a milestone in the continuing Hong Kong story - the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on July 1, 997.
"In the run-up to 1997, there had been many doubts and questions raised about the future of Hong Kong. I'm happy to report that, a decade on, we are in very good health.
"Our economy has been reaching new highs, much of it on the back of China's astonishing growth; our artistic talent is flourishing; and, most importantly, our way of life and all the freedoms we enjoyed prior to 1997 have not diminished, nor will they."
She said Hong Kong films were gaining increasing recognition internationally as reflected in the awards they had received at international film festivals, and in moves by Hollywood to acquire rights to remake Hong Kong movies.
Indeed, celebrated US director Martin Scorsese's 2006 film, The Departed - which won him an Oscar for best director at the 79th Academy Awards in February this year - was based on the popular 2002 Hong Kong crime thriller, Infernal Affairs.
Hong Kong has also developed into a regional centre for film planning, production, manpower training, marketing and overseas promotion. When Disney decided to enter a new market with its first Chinese language animated feature, The Magic Gourd, it chose a Hong Kong-based company, Centro Digital Pictures, to be one of the key production partners.
She said the Hong Kong Government was also playing its part to encourage the film industry.
"We're promoting 'Hong Kong on location' as a film centre with the facilities, expertise and support for every movie occasion. And this year's Budget has injected a further HK$300 million into the Film Development Fund to assist the financing of film production and to overcome the shortage of talent."
There are two vastly different films on offer in the "Hong Kong Cinema" programme - Still Life and Dog Bite Dog.
Still Life, a co-production of Hong Kong and China, has won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Shot in the 2000 year-old city of Fengjie, which has been submerged by the Three Gorges Dam project, the film is set against the real-world displacement of China's riverbank communities.
Dog bite Dog is an action film which distinguishes itself with its uncompromising toughness and terrifying, intense depiction of underworld violence.
Ends/Friday, July 27, 2007
Issued at HKT 19:41
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