Oh The Places We’ve Been!
Although Reel Asian has rolled away the red carpet after our festival, we’re still always on the lookout for new film titles to bring to our Toronto audiences. Our staff and Programming Team travel to internationally-acclaimed film festivals throughout the year in search for the best in Asian cinema. Welcome to Reel Asian’s Travel Blog Series!
For our first post, we present you with Betty Xie’s journey to the 39th annual Hong Kong International Film Festival. Written by: Betty Xie (Development & Guest Services Coordinator)
As someone who grew up in Guangzhou, China, Hong Kong is not a faraway land. I know its language, food, film & TV. But as my first year to attend the Hong Kong International Film Festival and Filmart, this trip to HK was definitely special. Excited to watch awesome films, meet great people and eat rounds of dim sum, I arrived in Hong Kong on March 22 and began my two-week journey there.
The Entrance of Hong Kong Filmart at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Center
The Hong Kong Film Festival (HKIFF) is one of the most well-established and esteemed festivals in the world, and the Filmart is a hub for distributors, programmers and filmmakers to meet and discuss “the next big idea” of Asian cinema and international co-productions. Things happen fast, just like they do in Hong Kong films. This is the fourth year that Reel Asian attends HKIFF and Filmart. Navigating my ways through the hustle and bustle in the exhibition hall, I was eager to find the best titles for our 2015 festival.
Hong Kong Filmart
During the four days of Filmart, I was happy to meet with over 20 distribution companies, reconnected with members of RA family, and did some “star-seeing.” I also got to watch the newest titles from mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea and Japan throughout the film festival that was happening simultaneously. Here are some highlights:
My pass for Hong Kong Filmart!
Veteran Taiwanese director Sylvia Chang (left 1) brought HKIFF her newest film Murmur of the Heart as its Opening Night film, along with stars Joseph Chang (right 3), Isabella Leung (right 2) and Angelika Lee (right 1)
Caught Hong Kong star Aaron Kwok on his way out from the press conference of Port of Call (dir. Philip Yung), the closing night film of the festival
Media Asia announced Adam Wong’s (right 3) new film She remembers, He Forgets, starring Miriam Yeung (left 4) and Jan Lam (left 3). Adam’s hit film The Way We Dance was showed at RA 2014 Spring Showcase)
Attended Creative BC reception and reconnected with director Tim Yeung and Apple Chen from Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Tim’s short film 90 Days was shown at RA 2014 and is on Air Canada in-flight entertainment this summer
Got interviewed by JETRO to talk about Reel Asian and its deep connection with Japanese cinema
Met up with Elaine Wong, Assistant Festival Director of Chinese Visual Festival in London. We found each other on twitter!
See you next time, HKIFF! Toronto cinephiles, stay tuned to see what titles we brought from Hong Kong this year 😀
Read all about our other travels in Berlinale, CAAMFest and Cannes!