Illustrator Alice Mak Ka-bik with McDull, the piglet which has earned international recognition for Hong Kong’s film animation technology

My Life as McDull, produced by Hong Kong's Bliss Productions, was awarded the Cristal for best feature (Grand Prix Annecy 2003) at a ceremony attended by industry leaders from all over the world.

Illustrated by Alice Mak Ka-bik and written by Brian Tse Lap-man, My Life as McDull tells the story of a piglet named McDull who is a little slow on the uptake and comes from a disadvantaged background. However, he still manages to have happy adventures because of his optimistic and persevering nature.

The character was created as part of a cartoon strip in the early 90s but was later developed into a television series. It only made it to the big screen in 2001.

"This award is very encouraging for us because, technically, animation in Hong Kong is still evolving. But this shows that with new computer software, we can achieve a lot when there is a good story to tell," said Ms Mak of her film which mixes 2-D animation and 3-D backgrounds.

Worldwide hit

My Life as McDull has already been a hit at film festivals around the world, winning standing ovations and rave reviews. The film won the Fipresci Award - which honours new film-makers - at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2002.

It also won for best music and best actor at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards as well as the best animation award at the 39th Golden Horse Film Festival, recognised as the Asian version of Hollywood's Academy Awards.

"We had previously submitted the film for a lot of film festivals including Berlin and Udine where it was very well received. But we didn't make the deadline for Annecy last year. This year, it was our French distributors, Pretty Pictures, who helped us submit it for the festival," said Samuel Choy, head of Bliss Concepts.

 "Winning the Annecy has brought us even more attention from overseas. Many more distributors from other countries are expressing interest in getting the film for their respective territories," added Mr Choy.

The film was recently released in French in more than 50 cinemas around France and is set to make its debut in Taiwan later this year.

Overseas industry players will have sourcing opportunities with the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (FILMART) held from September 24 - 26. Organised by the Trade Development Council, FILMART covers not only the trading of films and TV programmes, but also the latest film technology and services covering production, post-production, digital technology, financial and legal consultancy.

Related link:
FILMART http://www.hkfilmart.com/indexms.htm