Internationally renowned movie star Jackie Chan introduces new Hong Kong films at a gala dinner for buyers and exhibitors from around the world

The Hong Kong movie market FILMART is a great meeting place where you get to network with all the right people from the Asia-Pacific region and also from around the world, said a French movie producer.

Francois Margolin, a producer with French production house Margo Films, attended  FILMART with an eye to finding a co-production partner for his new murder thriller Boarding Gate which he is planning to film partly on location in Hong Kong during August 2006.

"Hong Kong is a wonderful international city which in many ways is a much better film location than New York. From the eyes of an outsider, you see and sense the spirit of the city," said Mr Margolin.

FILMART, he said, is a wonderful experience. "I met exactly the people I wanted to meet from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Japan - not to mention those from Europe and the US. From my point of view, it is very important to have a physical presence as relationships are important."

Mega event

	French movie producer Francois Margolin met the right partners at FILMART

Leading players in Asia's entertainment industry have converged on the city to participate in Hong Kong's glitziest entertainment events organised under Entertainment Expo (EE). The mega event brings together key elements in Hong Kong's entertainment calendar for film, digital entertainment and music. Together, EE provides a platform for business deals, screenings, recognition of industry excellence and of course entertainment.

Running from 20 March to 19 April, the first two weeks focus on commercial programmes, while the second two weeks are open to the public. Some 4,000 film makers and film-buyers participated in FILMART, the business-to-business platform for the industry organised by the Trade Development Council (TDC).

A survey among 340 exhibitors and buyers at FILMART found that the twin events FILMART and the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) are the best platform in Asia to market the latest products and to get financing for film productions.
 
Besides FILMART and HAF, the other core events include the Digital Entertainment Awards, the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum, the IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Award and the Hong Kong Independent Short Film & Video Awards.

 HK: "A Beautiful Place to Film"

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Asia's multimedia extravanganza Entertainment Expo Hong Kong kicks off today