It’s taken me a while to gather my thoughts on Filmart and what is currently going on in Hong Kong. More on that below. First a quick introduction to a new event in India, Cinevesture International Film Festival, which kicks off in the city of Chandigarh next week. And more on Streamlined’s new content strand soon…although Filmart is over it’s still an insanely busy festival and markets season.
Cinevesture IFF: New Indian Film Festival & Market With A Focus On Producers
I’ve just learned that Chandigarh is a union territory that serves as the capital of two Indian states; Punjab to the north, west and south, and Haryana to the east. That sounds like a lot of administration for one city. It’s now also hosting a new film event, Cinevesture International Film Festival (CIFF, March 27-31), launched by a team including Nina Lath Gupta, former head of the NFDC and founder of Film Bazaar; former Films Division head V.S. Kundu; Bina Paul, who was previously artistic director of Kerala International Film Festival; and critic and programmer Namrata Joshi.
The event has an industry platform, CIFF Market, that has a focus on producers and investors, which includes bringing entrepreneurs from other fields into the film industry; and presenting projects to investors that have marketable elements and/or involving filmmakers with a strong track record, although they may have worked in a different area of the industry previously (see projects line-up here).
Among the 20 selected projects (mostly features but also three web series) are works from Alankrita Shrivastava, who directed Bombay Begums for Netflix; Randeep Jha, a director on Netflix series Kohrra and Trial By Fire; Bangladeshi filmmaker Mostofa Sarwar Farooki (No Bed Of Roses) and local filmmaker Gurvinder Singh, known for a string of award-winning Punjabi films, including Chauthi Koot.
CIFF’s film screenings include recent festivals favourites such as The Taste Of Things, Monster, The Zone Of Interest, Breaking Ice, Paradise and current Korean hit Exhuma (see more details of the film programme here), along with workshops and masterclasses. Streamlined will report on the inaugural edition next month.
Filmart Wrap & Hong Kong Film Industry
There isn’t much to say about Filmart that I haven’t already written for Deadline, except that there’s been a fair amount of chatter over the past week about the real meaning of the Alibaba announcement on the first day of Filmart. During an event that was closed to press, the Chinese tech giant announced that it is investing $640m (HK$5bn) into the slates of all the leading Hong Kong production companies, including Media Asia, Emperor Motion Pictures, Universe Entertainment and One Cool Group.
Theories about this have ranged from it being a politically motivated move, part of the on-going economic and cultural integration of Hong Kong into mainland China’s Greater Bay Area, to the more mundane theory that Alibaba has paid a packet for its Filmart booth, was offered a stage for an event for a few hours, and had to come up with something big.
The reality probably lies somewhere between these two theories. After all, Hong Kong-listed Alibaba is already investing a large amount into Hong Kong-produced content, so why not curry political favour by highlighting that fact? But whether the move was politically motivated or not – it all leads to the same conclusion. The Hong Kong film industry – which two decades ago helped to build out the nascent mainland Chinese film industry – can no longer exist without China’s money, market and patronage. It will therefore be difficult to maintain any separate cultural identity in the future. Many Hong Kong filmmakers have either left the city or are semi-retired and not motivated to work. As depressing as these facts are to write, they are not news to anyone in Hong Kong.
And yes, there is a new generation of Hong Kong filmmakers, as I wrote for Deadline (and Silvia Wong also wrote for Screen), who don’t court the mainland for either finance or distribution. But the challenges they face are huge – stuck between the tastes of a tiny local market, where box office recovery since the pandemic has been slow, and the international market outside of China, which for smaller-budget films means arthouse-skewing film festivals and sales agents. The competition in that international space is fierce, with new regions rising up and gaining traction among festivals, funders and sales agents all the time – Southeast Asia, Central Asia, Arab cinema and now Africa.
The Hong Kong Film Development Council (HKFDC), under the Hong Kong government’s Create Hong Kong agency, is attempting to support this new generation through schemes including the new ‘Hong Kong-Europe-Asian Film Collaboration Funding Scheme’, designed to encourage co-production between Hong Kong and countries in Europe and Asia. But while this investment is commendable, it’s difficult to imagine what kind of stories Hong Kong filmmakers will be able to tell in the future.
Because while Filmart was taking place, an aggressive piece of national security legislation, Article 23, was being rushed through Hong Kong’s Legislative Council. It comes into effect today (March 23). I can’t write much here about Article 23, or the National Security Law imposed on Hong Kong in 2020, because it’s not safe for me to do so, especially after the Hong Kong government recently attacked the BBC and Bloomberg for their coverage of the new law. Suffice to say the mood in this city is currently dark and very defensive.
Hong Kong films are not regulated by the same authorities as mainland China, but the vague wording of the national security legislation has already resulted in self-censorship and is likely to result in more. Filmmakers in China and countries like Iran, that also regulate their film industries heavily, have had decades of experience in telling stories between the cracks in a repressive environment. Hong Kong filmmakers have yet to develop these subtleties. I hope the world doesn’t turn its back on Hong Kong’s creative industries, as only through collaboration can they learn how to navigate this new landscape, but it’s difficult to see how creativity can flourish under these new laws.
IN THE TRADES:
LAB & FUNDING NEWS:
HK Film Development Council Hands Out First Round Of Streaming Content Development Grants
PRODUCTION NEWS:
S11 Partners Launches Chinese Film Slate With Medialink Backing; Imagine Entertainment Co-pros
Zhang Ziyi, Lei Jiayin and Jackson Yee Star in Peter Chan’s ‘She Has No Name’
Taiwan’s Big Think, Coco International tie the knot on ‘Hello Marriage’ film series
China’s Linmon Pictures Readying ‘Second Sister’ Adaptation, Hong Kong-Set Crime Series ‘Hate Coin’
Filipino Studio ANIMA & Project 8 Projects Team On Antoinette Jadaone’s ‘Sunshine’
Thailand Planning Film Development Measures and $200 Million Funding
Thailand’s Film Investment Drive Attracts Nation Group Newspaper Publisher
‘4 Kings’ director, cast reunite for Thai prison drama ‘Wai Noom 2001’
Egypt’s Al-Ahram studio destroyed by fire
Production begins in Japan on Brendan Fraser comedic drama ‘Rental Family’, Searchlight adds cast
‘Drive My Car’s Toko Miura To Lead ‘Heart Attack’ Anime Series From ‘Walking Dead’ Maker Skybound
Australian TV Veterans Launch Lantern Pictures to Implant Creative Showrunner System Down Under
CORPORATE:
Paramount Global Sells 13% Stake in India’s Viacom18 to Reliance for $517 Million
CANCELLED:
‘#LookAtMe’ Denied Exhibition in Singapore, Lands U.S. Distribution with Buffalo 8
CURATED:
First Ho Chi Minh City film festival welcomes Anne Fontaine, Hirokazu Kore-eda
RELEASED:
Korean Horror Film ‘Exhuma’ Roars Towards 10 Million Admissions
Bong Joon-Ho’s ‘Mickey 17’ Going Earlier In Helmer’s South Korea Homeland
‘The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon’ becomes second biggest Taiwanese film ever in China
Filmart: CMC Pictures to Release Andrew Lau’s ‘The Dumpling Queen’ in U.S., U.K.
SOLD:
Lionsgate Takes Domestic Rights To Indonesian Horror Pic ‘Dancing Village: The Curse Begins’
Korean box office hit ‘Exhuma’ sold to US, UK, Asia
Vietnam’s Mockingbird Pictures Enters International Sales With Record-Breaking Horror ‘Quy Cau’
Asian Film Awards Nominee ‘Rapture’ Finds Distribution in France With Capricci
Mirror feature ‘We 12’ lands distribution in the UK and Ireland
STREAMING UPDATES:
Oscar winner ‘The Boy And The Heron’ heading to Max as Studio Ghibli extends deal
Amazon Strikes First-Of-Its-Kind Deals With Japan’s Nippon TV & BBC Podcasts
I just said this to a friend, but it's worth saying here, and let's see how much freedom of speech Hong Kong still has. Article 23 was a massive own goal for Hong Kong. The world had forgotten that China had imposed authoritarian rule on HK, because it mostly happened during the pandemic, but now they have reminded everyone & are throwing temper tantrums when the world says not cool. This is yet another huge boost for other East Asian cities to attract international business - Singapore, Seoul, Taipei, Tokyo, there is no shortage of competition. And is it just coincidence that all these cities are also producing or co-producing interesting series and cinema?