Greek actress Katerina Didaskalou was all-praise for the HKIFF which will merge with three other major events to further boost Hong Kong as Asia's entertainment hub

HKIFF screened over 250 international films to full-house audiences throughout Hong Kong and brought international movie stars, filmmakers, critics, buyers and distributors to the city.

HKIFF director Peter Tsi said that Hong Kong is the best place to launch and grow an event of this kind.

"Hong Kong is an international city, it is vibrant and has a very influential film industry. It's also a media hub for Asia, with the presence of all the major advertising agencies and a lot of regional media. If you want to launch something in Asia, Hong Kong is the best place to do it," said Mr. Tsi.

"Hong Kong, with its unique group of talents, is already known as the film production centre of Asia. Our vision is to make Hong Kong a 'must-go' for film festival people, and to co-operate more with international film events to leverage on each other," he said.

Greek actress Katerina Didaskalou  who starred in Eric Rohmer's Triple Agent  was one of the many stars who came to HKIFF to network and find out more about the Asian film industry. She said HKIFF had definitely helped her career. "The two most important people I've met here have been Italian filmmaker Marco Bellocchio, and mainland director Zhu Wen, the award winner for South of the Clouds."

Collaboration with FILMART

The HKIFF will receive a boost next March when the festival will collaborate with three other major film events - FILMART organised by the Trade Development Council, the Hong Kong Film Awards and Hong Kong Asian Film Financing Forum.

Merging the Film Festival with FILMART is a natural step of progression, explained Mr. Tsi. "There will be greater synergy and I expect to see better participation from overseas. We will be able to pool our resources and leverage them more efficiently. Our events next March and April will go beyond the film scope. It's a visionary thing and it will reinforce Hong Kong as an Asian entertainment hub."

French director (Claude Sautet, or the invisible magic), distributor, scriptwriter and film critic, N T Binh who heaped praise on the HKIFF, was also strongly optimistic about the upcoming collaboration with FILMART.

"There is a growing market for Asian films in Europe, and Hong Kong is widely seen as a gateway to procuring films from the Chinese mainland," he said.

"Hong Kong has always had a buzzing industry, and the Festival has been a good place to network. It will be even more so when these events merge next year," he added.

More details in Hong Kong Film Industry

Related links
Hong Kong International Film Festival
FILMART