Hong Kong films vie for titles in New York film festival

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June 19, 2009 - The 8th New York Asian Film Festival, formally kicked off tonight (19 June, New York time) with the premiere screening of Hong Kong Director Wai Ka-fai’s WRITTEN BY, features a predominance of Hong Kong films among the more than 50 entries from various countries in the Asian Region.

Addressing a full-house audience at downtown Manhattan’s IFC Center, Deputy Director, Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, New York (NYETO), Kelly So thanked the organizers for the year’s line up of Hong Kong films which, he said “represent an array of films that best capture the diversity of styles and genres of Hong Kong’s latest productions.”

NYETO is one of the major collaborators of this year’s film festival. Eleven Hong Kong films, among which five are productions by Hong Kong’s new generation of film directors, will compete with some 40 other Asian feature films for the two categories of mayor awards, the Jury Award and the Audience Award.

Mr. So said, “The Hong Kong Government has always been highly supportive of our creative industries. Earlier this month, we set up a dedicated agency, called Create Hong Kong, with a view to promoting Hong Kong as Asian’s creative hub.

“We are also leveraging on our close integration with Mainland China. In our own tariff-free arrangement, called Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement or CEPA for short, Hong Kong is able to tap onto the huge Mainland market that offers a 1.3 billion clientele. CEPA allows wholly-owned Hong Kong companies to enjoy direct access to the China market. This is, perhaps, an option for the international film community, if there is an interest in the China market,” said Mr. So.

Director Wai Ka-fai attended tonight’s screening and held a “Q and A” session with the audience.

New generation director Mak Hei-yan, whose film HIGH NOON was screened at a special press event last Thursday, was in New York to address the media and the audience.

Aside from WRITTEN BY, the other 10 Hong Kong films featured in this year’s festival include HIGH NOON, EXODUS, EYE IN THE SKY, PLASTIC CITY, TACTICAL UNIT: COMRADES IN ARMS, AN EMPRESS AND THE WARRIORS, IP MAN, MAGAZINE GAP ROAD, WARLORDS, and THE LONGEST NITE.

The New York Asian Film Festival runs from June 19 to July 5.