News

Hong Kong film industry veteran Gary Mak has been appointed as the new Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, succeeding Wellington Fung, who is retiring after a 12-year tenure.

Reporting to the head of CreateHK, Mak will oversee the administration and management of all public funds established for the development of the film industry, including the Hk$1 billion ($130 million) that the government earmarked for the Hong Kong Film Development Fund. Set up in 2007, the fund finances local productions; subsidizes various events including the Entertainment Expo, the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Asian Film Awards; and ...

Hong Kong film industry veteran Gary Mak has been appointed as the new Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Film Development Council, succeeding Wellington Fung, who is retiring after a 12-year tenure.

Reporting to the head of CreateHK, Mak will oversee the administration and management of all public funds established for the development of the film industry, including the Hk$1 billion ($130 million) that the government earmarked for the Hong Kong Film Development Fund. Set up in 2007, the fund finances local productions; subsidizes various events including the Entertainment Expo, the Hong Kong Film Awards and the Asian Film Awards; and ...

Four young Hong Kong filmmakers will present their projects during an open pitch to industry professionals.

The Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has announced the four projects from young Hong Kong filmmakers that will be pitched during this year’s edition of Haf.

The projects, which have been selected from the Hong Kong Film Development Council (Hkfdc)’s First Feature Film Initiative (Fffi), will be presented to an audience of industry professionals, including sales agents, distributors, producers, financiers and festival programmers. The four projects are:

A Pele Da Flor

Dir: Choi Po-yu

Choi draws from her own experience...

Last month’s Hong Kong Film Awards was on a special mission. In addition to the usual star-studded glamour, the event was literally a stage for newcomers. Lesser-known young actors were given the opportunity to present awards as well as giving speeches to introduce the best film contenders to the audience.

The event, with 37 years of history behind it, has never felt so young and refreshing.

The special treatment given to the young actors was seen as a response to a crisis of the Hong Kong film industry. As established stars ranging from Chow Yun-fat and Andy Lau to international action heroes Jackie Chan and Donnie Yen age well into their 50s and 60s, there’s no new generation of local younger stars to follow in their footsteps.

“Hong Kong has a lot of great young talents but times have changed and they have less exposure and opportunities to practice their crafts in bigger,...

Hong Kong's 'golden age' gave John Woo to the world – then collapsed in a heap of overproduced tosh. Now the nation is squaring up to its rivals once more

In the mid-90s, the Hong Kong film industry ate itself alive. In 1993, it had produced a record 238 films and its doyen director, John Woo, was about to dive, twin guns aflame, through Hollywood's doors. Six years later, production had crashed to just 40 films a year and not even the local triad gangs could prevent their own films from being pirated: there were bootlegs VCDs on sale everywhere of Casino, a gangster pic about and financed by the notorious Macau hoodlum, "Broken Tooth" Koi.

What went wrong? It was partly the first wave of digital piracy and partly the Asian economic crash of 1997, but it was also what Wellington Fung – then producer about town, now the secretary-general of the Hong Kong...

In the years before the government-run Hong Kong Film Development Council (Fdc) began its operation in 2007, many filmmakers in Hong Kong faced the choice of leaving the industry or leaving the territory. But as the 2010 Chinese box office breaks the billion yuan mark, it's a no-brainer.

Even the business-matching platform Hong Kong and Asia Film Financing Forum is launching a Chinese language script development award for young filmmakers to get a leg up on entering the Chinese market.

"Hong Kong filmmakers have found a foothold in the Chinese market," says Wellington Fung, Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. "Funding is much easier to find compared with four to five years ago."

It's a sea change from the mid 2000s, when local productions, and, more importantly, local financing, dropped to an all-time-low that forced filmmakers to ask the government for help.

During its four-year operation, the Fdc has won the appreciation of filmmakers.

HONG KONG -- Fledgling local film company Big Media Group has begun to unveil details of its first slate of 20 films, confirming that it will make "Another Better Tomorrow" for HK$78 million ($10 million).

Although no director is attached to the lead the project in the dark-themed slate, Big's president Wellington Fung says the film will continue the tradition of the influential action series begun by director John Woo in 1986 with "A Better Tomorrow" starring Chow Yun Fat.

Fung is talking to a Korean producer and plans to cast stars from Hong Kong and Korea. "It is definitely not a remake", Fung said.

Big Media first drew industry attention in March when its film "The Pye-Dog" by Derek Kwok screened to acclaim at the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Kwok's "Moss" is part of the new slate and will be made for HK$6 million ($768,000).

Fung said he thinks Hong Kong lacks actors who drive ticket sales and that he hopes to make medium-budget films with big-budget production values, giving new directors and actors a chance to shine.