Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum celebrates 10^th anniversary
with record numbers and an eclectic line-up

Hong Kong, 6 January 2012 ― The 10^th Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), to be held at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 19-21 March 2012, announced today that a record 32 projects have been selected for HAF 2012, a fitting achievement to celebrate the forum’s tenth anniversary.

Organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited (HKIFFS), the HAF is one of Asia’s most important film-financing platforms, bringing talented filmmakers and global investors together with the aim of encouraging and enabling the production of quality film work in the region.  Established and emerging filmmakers and their projects have been introduced and matched with investors from all over the world since the very first HAF in 2000, and as the forum marks its tenth outing, that success looks set to continue.  Of more than 200 projects submitted for consideration, HAF 2012 has selected a record 32 for inclusion in the final programme, including six documentary titles. Submissions were received from more than 45 countries and regions, and the final selection represents 20 different territories including Australia, Armenia, China, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, Indonesia, India, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Malaysia, The Philippines, Slovakia, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand, the most so far in the HAF’s history.

“I'm delighted that for the HAF’s tenth anniversary, we have one of the strongest years in terms of the selection that I have seen since I joined the committee,” said Raymond PHATHANAVIRANGOON, member of the HAF 2012 Project Reading Committee, “and the fact that they come from such diverse regions of the world makes it even more of a pleasure to review them.”

The HAF 2012 project line-up reveals some prominent names in the world of film, including China’s GU Changwei, who won the Grand Jury Prize at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival with his first feature Peacock.  He will be presenting his new project Ready for War at the 10^th HAF.  Also joining is Iceland’s veteran filmmaker Fridrik Thor FRIDRIKSSON, whose Children of Nature was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1992 Academy Awards.  He will bring his latest story Lost in Poetry to the forum.Meanwhile, TAN Chui Mui will come with Imperial Exam, a project produced by “Sixth Generation” director JIA Zhangke.

Other notable names include: Oscar winner Ruby YANG, who won Best Documentary (Short Subject) with The Blood of Yingzhou District at the 2007 Academy Awards; South Korea’s LEE Hae-jun, who wrote and directed festival favourite Castaway on the Moon (2009); Australia’s Tony AYRES, whose The Home Song Stories garnered the 2007 Australia Film Institute Awards for Best Direction and Best Screenplay; and Hong Kong’s enfant terrible PANG Ho-cheung, who was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 2006 Berlin Film Festival with Isabella.

HAF 2012 also features a number of up and coming directors such as Taiwan’s Chinese-American director Arvin CHEN, who won the NETPAC Award at the 2010 Berlin Film Festival for Au Revoir Taipei, and versatile Hong Kong actor Derek TSANG, who co-directed with Jimmy WAN their feature debut Lover’s Discourse, nominee for the New Currents Award at the 2010 Pusan International Film Festival.

This year’s HAF is the first to include documentary projects.  Among the six documentaries selected are (Un)making the Betrayal, Malaysian director Dain SAID’s exploration of the ways cinema can collude with a totalitarian regime, and Music and the Nation by Hong Kong’s CHEUNG King-wai,winner of Best New Director at the 2010 Hong Kong Film Awards for KJ (2008).

To enhance film-financing networks and facilitate the exchange of promising projects, the HAF has actively cooperated with a number of international partners.  The 10^th HAF will feature one project from New York’s Independent Filmmaker Project, You’re a Big Girl Now, and two projects from Copenhagen’s DOX:LAB, Love: 1984 and Hangman.  

Roger GARCIA, Executive Director of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited, said, “We are delighted by the eclectic selection and the considerable increase in submissions this year.  These are encouraging signs of the HAF’s growing popularity and its importance to filmmakers in the region.  We highly value our partnership with other project markets including Copenhagen’s DOX:LAB, New York’s Independent Filmmaker Project, and Paris Project from France, which has effectively expanded our international networks and in turn enriched the range of filmmakers we aim to support.”

Tim KWOK, member of the HAF 2012 Project Reading Committee, concluded, “With 2012 marking the HAF's tenth anniversary milestone, the forum continues to stand on a philosophy of selecting, nurturing and promoting Asia and the world's unique and challenging voices, by providing them with a place to be heard and supported."

HAF 2012 promises to build on the forum’s outstanding track record of bringing projects to fruition, with many HAF alumni projects achieving box office triumphs and critical acclaim.  Recent HAF successes include WEI Te-Sheng’s Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale, which scooped a total of five awards at the 2011 Golden Horse Awards, and the Filipino critical hit Kinatay, which landed Brillante MENDOZA the Best Director prize at Cannes in 2009.

For more details of HAF’s past accomplishments, please visit www.haf.org.hk.

Appendix

The 10^th HAF Project List

About Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF)

The Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) is widely recognised as the most important film-financing platform in Asia. The HAF brings Asian filmmakers with upcoming film projects to Hong Kong for co-production ventures with top film financiers, producers, bankers, distributors and buyers. Attracting more than 1,000 filmmakers and financiers from at least 35 countries and regions, around 30 projects are selected annually to participate in the three-day event.

Past participants include China's JIA Jiangke, JIANG Wen and NING Hao; Hong Kong's Peter CHAN, Stanley KWAN, Ann HUI, Fruit CHAN and PANG Ho-cheung; Taiwan's TSAI Ming-Liang, WEI Te-Sheng and Leon DAI; Japan's KORE-EDA Hirokazu, KUROSAWA Kiyoshi and IWAI Shunji; South Korea's PARK Chan-wook, KIM Jee-woon, BONG Joon-ho and IM Sang-soo; as well as Thailand's Ekachai UEKRONGTHAM, Nonzee NIMIBUTR and Pen-ek RATANARUANG.

About The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited (HKIFFS)

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited (HKIFFS) is a charitable, non-profit and non-governmental organisation dedicated to the discovery and promotion of creativity in the art and culture of film. Through its year-round programmes, the mission of the Society is to strengthen global appreciation of Chinese film culture and to promote inspiring films from around the world, enriching the cultural life of Hong Kong. Committed to the development of a vibrant film culture in Hong Kong and Asia, the Society organises three annual flagship events in March and April: the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), the Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and the Asian Film Awards (AFA).

Passionately believing in the power of films to unite cultures and generations, the HKIFFS is devoted to giving thousands of film lovers around the region direct access to the world’s most inspired films all year round.

Media Enquiries

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The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited
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E-mail: gary_ku@hkiff.org.hk

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