Hong Kong Films Showcased At Film Festival

Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Media Release
20 July 2007

Hong Kong Films Showcased At Auckland International Film Festival

Auckland International Film Festival 2007 will bring before its audiences two highly-acclaimed Hong Kong films, promising to provide New Zealand viewers with a fascinating glimpse of the ingenuity and creativity of Hong Kong’s talent.

This is the first time that the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Sydney (HKETO) has participated in the Film Festival as a cultural partner.

Speaking this evening (July 20) before the screening of one of the films, the Director of the HKETO, Mrs Jenny Wallis, said the Auckland International Film Festival provided a marvellous showcase for the Hong Kong film industry. She said the Hong Kong Cinema programme also formed part of HKETO’s celebrations marking a milestone in the continuing Hong Kong story – the 10th anniversary of the reunification of Hong Kong with the People’s Republic of China on 1 July 1997.

In the run-up to 1997, there had been many doubts and questions raised about the future of Hong Kong, Mrs Wallis noted. Indeed, there were a number of overseas commentators who even pronounced the death knell for Hong Kong. But, ten years on, the city was in rude good health, she said.

“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 under the previous British administration have not diminished, nor will they.”

She said that HK films were gaining increasing recognition internationally, as reflected in the awards they had received at international film festivals, and also in the 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.”

The Hong Kong Government, she said, was also playing its part behind the scene 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 because the film industry has such a major influence on Hong Kong’s creative sector, this year’s Budget has set aside $300 million for the establishment of a new fund to help finance film production and overcome the shortage of talent.”

The two Hong Kong productions showcased at the Festival are “Exiled” directed by Johnnie To and starring Anthony Wong, Simon Yam Tat-wah, Francis Ng Chun-yu, Josie Ho, Lam Suet and Richie Ren Yan-qi; and “Eye in The Sky” directed by Yau Nai-hoi and starring Simon Yam, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Kate Tusi, and Maggie Shiu Mei-kei.

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