The Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) in Beijing (Beijing Office), the Liaoning Liaison Unit (LLU) and Broadway Cinematheque will launch the fifth edition of the Hong Kong Thematic Film Festival tomorrow evening (August 26) in Dalian as one of the key events of the "Savouring Hong Kong．Liaoning 2016" programme.
 
     The film festival is held annually in different Mainland cities with the objective of promoting contemporary Hong Kong film culture with a view to furthering cultural exchange and friendship between Hong Kong and Mainland people. During the film festival, there will be different exchange activities held to enable interaction between Hong Kong film industry workers and the Mainland audience to enhance mutual understanding.
 
     Entitled "Heroes in the World of Good and Evil", this year's film festival is themed around crime and action movies and jointly curated by two notable Hong Kong directors of such films, namely Ringo Lam and Johnnie To. They selected eight classic Hong Kong movies in the hope of showing the Mainland audience the powerful energy conveyed via these films as well as the positive values to be discerned from the concepts of right and wrong, and good and evil, as portrayed in the movies.
 
     The opening ceremony of the film festival will be held tomorrow evening at the Cinema Palace in Dalian. The officiating guests will be the Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Gregory So; the Director of the Beijing Office, Ms Gracie Foo; the Deputy Director of the Liaoning Provincial Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, Mr Zhu Wenbiao; the Director of the LLU, Mr Kilian Tung; the Director of the Dalian Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio and Television, Mr Wang Xinghang; the Executive Director of Edko Films Limited, Ms Tessa Lau; and the ambassador of the film festival, Kara Wai, who was the first awardee of the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress.
 
     The ceremony will be followed by a screening of the opening film "The Inspector Wears Skirts", starring Kara Wai. The movie tells the story of a group of female police officers who are put through a series of tough training sessions to become female commandos. The policewoman image it depicted contributed to one of the few subgenres in the world of male-dominated crime and action cinema.
 
     For the 10-day period from tomorrow to September 4, eight films will be screened in the Cinema Palace, Dalian: "The Inspector Wears Skirts", "The Killer", "Once a Thief", "Prison on Fire", "The System", "Police Story", "Loving You" and "As Tears Go By".
 
     After the Dalian leg, the film festival will tour the Mainland in seven cities, namely Jinan, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenyang, Chengdu and Wuhan.
 
     For more details on the film festival, please refer to the leaflet uploaded to the Beijing Office's website at www.bjo.gov.hk/filemanager/content/pdf/dalian_mov.pdf (Chinese version only).
 
     "Savouring Hong Kong．Liaoning 2016" is a large-scale activity promoting Hong Kong co-hosted by the Government of the HKSAR and the People's Government of Liaoning Province, and co-organised by the LLU and the Dalian Municipal People's Government, to further broaden and deepen exchange and co-operation in areas including commerce, trade, culture and community interaction between Hong Kong and Liaoning Province.

Ends/Thursday, August 25, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:00

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