Since March, Hong Kong's film and television industry has begun to enter the spring season, and a variety of art exhibitions and business activities have been launched one after another, presenting a vibrant picture of a hundred flowers. As one of the birthplaces of the film and television industry with a long history of development and inclusive values, the scale and specifications of various film and television entertainment activities have been further enhanced this year, attracting film and television practitioners and surrounding industries from all over the world to enter the market, and mainland film and television have completed integration and overseas actions in various activities.
We see that this action not only includes large-scale structural events such as the Hong Kong International Film and TV Festival (FILMART) and the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), but also adds new elements to inherit the rich heritage of the past, such as industry forums that keep up with the current affairs of the film and television industry, and also discuss the opportunities brought by the latest Web3 technology; There is also the IFVA Independent Short Film and Video Media Festival (IFVA), which awards Asia's video power pioneers, unleashing artistic imagination in creative audiovisual short films; and the implementation of diversified activities such as the Hong Kong Asian Film Investment Association (HAF) and the Asian Film Awards. The high-profile Hong Kong Film Awards enter the 41st edition this year and will also hold an awards ceremony on April 16.
At present, this huge and enjoyable event has reached the second half, and most of the wonderful activities have been successfully concluded, not only mainland film and television institutions have participated in it with unprecedented enthusiasm, but also the world's film and television forces are also embracing the potential unleashed by convergent film and television platforms. The achievements of individual film and television dramas or institutions are not pressed first, we try to observe the more worthy parts of writing, and sort out the achievements and influence of the Hong Kong film and television industry this time from the framing of multiple timelines.
The Hong Kong International Film and TV Festival traded hotly, and explosive film and television resources were unveiled
Film and television festivals focusing on small screen + big screen have always been a vane to measure the development of the film and television industry, and the popularity and quality of the works can understand the development trajectory of the previous years, and the 27th Hong Kong International Film and TV Festival (FILMART) organized by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council performed well this time. The four-day event was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on 16 March, attracting more than 7,300 industry professionals from 41 countries and regions, including a number of local film and television teams from Hong Kong, as well as exhibitors from Chinese mainland and Taiwan, as well as from Japan, Korea, Thailand, Italy, the United States and the European Union, with more than 700 exhibitors at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre to showcase a large number of the latest films, TV series and animation works, as well as cultural exchanges and cooperation negotiations.
It is worth mentioning that this FILMART broke a record with more than 330 Chinese mainland exhibitors, including Guangdong, Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Fujian, Shaanxi, Beijing and other provinces and cities to participate in the exhibition, the three leading video platforms iQiyi, Tencent Video and Youku, well-known film and television institutions Noon Sunshine, Xinli Media, Ningmeng Film and Television, Huace Group, etc. all participated. The previous popular film and television dramas "Crazy" and "Happiness to Ten Thousand Homes" and other film and television masterpieces have successfully gone overseas, and this time mainland film and television companies have also brought more new works to be broadcast, covering costumes, spy warfare, suspense and other genres. In addition, due to the organizer's support for the new form of animation, domestic animation IP is also very popular this time.
According to on-site reports, the venue was crowded, and some exhibitors interviewed by the media said that the project was frequently consulted, the arrangement of small meetings was "very full, and there was almost no time to stop", and the strong recovery and circulation confidence of the film and television industry were also felt in the four-day cooperation and exchange.
At this film and television exhibition, Jiangsu Provincial Radio and Television Station successfully promoted the costume drama "Starfall into Sugar" overseas, and South Korea's AsiaN TV and Jiangsu Provincial Radio and Television Station signed a regional licensing agreement for the show, which is expected to be broadcast in South Korea in the middle of this year. According to reports, there are also buyers from more than a dozen countries and regions who are interested in the show and have reached an agreement. The person in charge said, "This drama will go overseas after it is broadcast in the mainland, and domestic costume dramas with a good lineup and good stories will still be welcomed by the international market." ”
In addition, Pegasus Ryoko Film and Television Co., Ltd. successfully signed a copyright distribution agreement with a British company to distribute the latest animated film "The Eagle Catches the Chicken" to the United Kingdom, France, Russia and many countries and regions in Eastern Europe.
Due to the strong focus on animation and digital entertainment at this exhibition, technical discussion and aesthetic expression in the field of animation have also become new propositions of the festival, and the integration of the "new national style" between the mainland and Hong Kong has further promoted the soft power of Chinese animation to be seen by the world. At the same time, the exhibition also set up relevant forums, inviting industry practitioners to discuss the boom of love reality programs, Web3's investment in redefining the entertainment industry, the new era of Hong Kong films, the soft power of Chinese animation culture, etc., and conduct dialogues around the future development and market potential of Asian film and television entertainment content.
With the film festival as a platform, domestic film and television works can go out in an all-round way, and when foreign streaming media platforms such as Netflix unify international aesthetics, domestic can also create more timely and open opportunities, help domestic and foreign film and television exchanges, and open the window from the most intuitive front-line angle. As Wong Tin-wai, Chief Representative of the Hong Kong Trade Development Council for South China, said, "The festival also allows overseas buyers to better understand the new situation in the Chinese mainland film and television industry. ”
FILMART's four-day exhibition brought a number of activities, including a number of film and television companies' film list launches, seminars, exchange sessions, screenings, etc., which proved the advantages of Asia's largest cross-media and cross-industry film and television entertainment business platform.
Art mixes commercial, institutions actively embrace potential filmmakers
As we all know, independent images have been moving from niche to public in China in recent years. While cultivating a group of new filmmakers, it is also constantly affecting the audience's viewing habits, and the image style of some authors' films even affects the market judgment of commercial films. Recently, the domestic release of "Space Exploration Editorial Department" is another independent film that has entered the public's field of vision after independent films such as "Roadside Picnic", which won 40 million + box office in 9 days of release, and is more in line with commercial films in terms of publicity and operation.
Even if some films are controversial, it is undeniable that their unique image aesthetics, aesthetic expression and authorial language still impress and inspire the film market. The ifva Independent Short Film and Video Media Festival (IFVA), now in its 27th year, is a pioneer in tapping into the power of Asian cinema.
The 28th IFVA opened on 2 March with short films, animations and media artworks by local creators from different Asian regions, while the awards presentation ceremony was held at the Hong Kong Arts Centre on the evening of 11 March. From the content point of view, the works won this time mostly focus on the categories of realism, emotional emotions and sci-fi absurdity, and there is also the establishment of the VR Special Award, which is a new award jointly promoted by the organizer and Meta.
These works are prominent in style, the tone likes to use high contrast and heavy colors, the thematic artistic speculation is biased towards the understanding of the individual and life, and the flowing emotions show the unique style of the new filmmaker.
Caption: Gold Award in the 28th IFVA Short Film Category
Caption: Annual Media Art Exhibition "CINEMA 2.0 : Lightfield" (one of the programs during the event)
As a pioneering video agency, IFVA is influential in exploring new forces in the Asian field in the four dimensions of short film, animation, media art and virtual reality, while trying to promote the exchange and development of media creation in Asia, providing a platform for independent film creators in Hong Kong and Asia to unite, share and promote.
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Investment Association (HAF), which continues to work hard to help filmmakers, is similar to the venture capital sector of many film festivals, and is committed to connecting filmmakers with investors, producers and distributors to discuss cooperation and explore business opportunities, but as an independent existence, it has always provided project assistance to filmmakers around the world and has become the premier film financing platform in Asia.
HAF has invited Jia Zhangke, Jiang Wen, Lu Chuan and Ning Hao from Chinese mainland; Chan Kexin, Kwan Kam Peng, Hui Anhua, Chen Guo and Pang Ho-cheung of Hong Kong; Tsai Liangming, Wei Desheng, Zhong Menghonghong of Taiwan; Japanese are Hirokazu Kore-eda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Naomi Kawase and Shunji Mii; Park Chan-wook, Kim Ji-woon, Bong Joon-ho and Lim Jang-suk of South Korea; and Thailand's Apichatpong Velas Huagu, Lu Yimou and Pengli Yundan Nayuan and other well-known filmmakers participated, which is quite influential on a large scale. It is reported that this year's HAF21 has attracted 30% more international co-production and financing partners, distributors, film festival curators and film peers than last year, and invited 9% more outstanding film talents than last year to explore cooperation business opportunities.
The three-day HAF selected 43 shortlisted film projects from 350 submissions from 38 countries and regions, including 15 film projects in production and 28 projects in development. At the March 15 ceremony, 20 cash and non-cash winning film projects were announced, with cash prizes and other prizes totaling more than US$170,000; Hong Kong young filmmaker Zhu Ziyan's "May People Be Long" won many awards and became a big winner at the award ceremony.
Caption: List of winners of the 21st Hong Kong Asian Film Investment Association
It is not difficult to see from the list that the selected film projects have a variety of themes and genres, including comedy, thriller, fantasy, romance, suspense, family and animation, and have invited a number of well-known filmmakers - Arsalan Amiri, Chen Zheyi, Chen Guo, Guan Jinpeng, Teddy Robin, Lin Yuxian, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Naian An, Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Nader Saeivar, and Marco Mueller, a senior senior of the film festival, as a producer to support the project.
Compared with comprehensive large-scale activities, in such more independent, specialized and vertical institutions, we can glimpse the control of artistic professionalism + systematic operation, whether in terms of expression or operation, we can give better and more detailed support to different types of filmmakers and media people.
The heritage and new fashion of the Hong Kong International Film Festival
As the oldest international film festival in Asia, this year's 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) continued to be held in a hybrid mode of live + network from March 30 to April 10, with Golden Horse Golden Statue multi-actor Kwok Fucheng as the ambassador of the festival. The opening was a major surprise, with the Asian premiere of the black thriller film "Homicide" directed by Cheng Baorui and starring Lam Ka Tung, and the world premiere of the documentary "Poem" directed by Hui Anhua, two Hong Kong major plays as the opening plays.
The focus of the festival is undoubtedly on the award-winning films of the major film festivals and the screening of new works by the masters, including new works by Warner Hoso, Kiristin Muki, Fred Wiseman and Hong Changxiu, as well as a special retrospective to commemorate the death of the last master of French New Wave cinema, Jean Lu Gunda, featuring eight films from Gundam and his ex-wife and muse Anna Kalena. This year, nearly 200 films from 64 countries and regions were screened, including 9 world premieres, 6 international premieres and 67 Asian premieres, and more than 320 screenings were screened in theaters and online platforms.
Another high-profile focus unit is the "Firebird Award" competition, which mainly promotes and rewards new talents in the film industry, and a total of 4 competitions have been set up: "Rookie Film Competition", "Rookie Film Competition (World)", "Documentary Competition" and "International Short Film Competition", of which the "Rookie Film Competition" added a Chinese-language unit in 2019, and the results of talent mining are gratifying. From the perspective of the judging lineup, it covers senior directors, screenwriters, editors, critics, etc., radiating the power of local filmmakers from major film festivals and the mainland + Hong Kong, and the lineup is rich. In the end, 12 prizes were selected from 42 works, which were announced at the "Award Presentation Night" held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre on April 9.
Caption: One of the winning films of the 47th Hong Kong International Festival "Firebird Project"
In addition to the above focus, the 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival once again invited overseas filmmakers to Hong Kong, mainland China for exchange activities, not only face-to-face communication sessions but also master class activities, Choi Liang and Li Kangsheng brought the feature film "Where" and the short film "Where You Are" to hold the master class.
In addition, Cheng Baorui attended a lecture by Hong Kong celebrities, and the expression of ""film is life", if it is not gone, life will be blank and silent", moved the scene, and the community screening, the "Fantasy Youth" session, Kwok Fucheng as the ambassador of the film festival and other initiatives, also let more audiences understand the concept of the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the attempt of rejuvenation development.
In the end, the high-profile 47th Hong Kong International Film Festival ended with the world premiere of "On the Way to the Hospital" starring Koo Tianle. As the largest cultural event in Hong Kong founded in 1976, the Hong Kong International Film Festival has always been recognized by filmmakers and audiences at home and abroad, and this year is undoubtedly the highlight of many film and television activities in Hong Kong throughout March and April.
So far, we have sorted out several representative Hong Kong film events or activities in the spring of 2023, seen the organic integration of artistic expression and commercial support, and experienced this enterprising spirit in films, TV series, documentaries, short films and newcomer discovery, excellent practitioner awards, business venture capital, artistic pure enjoyment and other aspects. Looking at different atmospheres, you can glimpse the vitality of creators who are active everywhere, they have extremely rich granularity, which also means that the evolution and integration of the film and television industry is always happening.