The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Film Development Council:

     The local premiere of a new film subsidised by the Film Production Grant Scheme (FPGS) under the Film Development Fund (FDF), "Napping Kid", will be held this evening (November 8).

     The film, directed by Amos Why and starring David Siu, Ng Siu-hin and Cecilia So, is about a blackmail case in which the blackmailer sends a ransom email to an international investment bank and threatens to disclose its client's confidential files to the public if the bank refuses to pay the ransom. The bank secretly seeks assistance from a police officer to pursue an investigation and it is gradually revealed that the case is not as simple as it appeared to be.

     The Chairman of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, Mr Ma Fung-kwok, said, "This film was adapted from a mystery novel of the same name written by a Hong Kong novelist. It was a challenge for the production team to bring the rich content of the mystery novel to the screen, and the film crew devoted great effort to develop the plot in the film for audiences to feel its tense atmosphere."

     He added, "The Government will continue to boost the production volume of local films and encourage more quality film productions through the FDF, so that creative film production talents can produce more films to attract audiences."

     The FPGS aims at providing financial support for film productions in order to encourage more commercial investment in small-budget film productions. The scheme was launched in November 2015 on a pilot basis and ended in February 2018. During the pilot period, 13 film projects were approved with total funding of about $22.66 million. The production budget for "Napping Kid" was around $6.89 million, with the government subsidy amounting to about $1.37 million.

Ends/Thursday, November 8, 2018
Issued at HKT 11:00

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