The debut edition of the week-long Asia-Europe Festival of Young Cinema in Lisboeta Macau’s Emperor Cinemas in Cotai ended on Thursday, having screened a total of 17 “works-in-progress” [partly completed films] created by young film directors, six of whom had been selected to receive awards, including local director Harriet Wong Teng Teng.
The event was jointly hosted by five media and entertainment organisations from Macau and mainland China, and co-organised by the China Film Director’s Guild’s (CFDG) Young Director Support Programme, featuring the screening of 27 newly released or restored classic movies from various Asian countries.
Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s “12th Fail”, a recently released Indian Hindi-language biographical movie, was screened as the closing film, according to a statement released by the organisers on Thursday.
In addition to a raft of educational “masterclasses” and on-stage dialogues, each delivered by leading Asian filmmakers, the festival also included a Works-in-Progress (WIP) award designed to help film directors and producers to present their projects to film festival programmers, investors, and distribution agents. The prizes were divided into five categories, namely, “In Between Prize” (design services for posters and materials, two winners), VFX [visual effects] Prize, Colour Correction Prize, Sound Prize and Special Mention Prize.
Based on the selection of a jury of five international film professionals, including Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua and Indian film programmers Deepti D’Cunha, local director Harriet Wong Teng Teng’s “Revisit” won the Special Mention Prize, while the other four prizes were all won by directors from the mainland.
In a phone interview conducted on Saturday, Wong told the Post that she had a very positive experience with the festival’s WIP initiative as it offered her a unique opportunity to meet with veteran film directors and programmers from around the world. She said that the event was a great platform for young producers to pitch their film projects and build connections with distribution company representatives, making it easier for them to break into and stand out in the market.
Regarding her award-winning movie “Revisit”, she said that the story was inspired by her memories of her grandmother. “It is a story about family, but through it I hope to reflect the changes of Macau between now and the past – a dialogue between generations,” she added.
Asked about her take on the city’s local talent in emerging directors, she said that there has been a growing number of young film producers from Macau that have gained recognition and attention for their products on the world stage. “Many young filmmakers nowadays are working not only in Macau, which is a very small market, but also expanding their connections with Hong Kong, mainland China and other countries,” she noted, adding that she felt optimistic about the development of Macau’s film industry.
This photo provided by the Organising Committee of the Asia-Europe Festival of Young Cinema shows Harriet Wong Teng Teng, director of the awarded movie ‘Revisit’ (third from right), posing at the prize-giving ceremony with Indian filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra (second from right) and four other representatives of the organisers on Thursday at the Emperor Cinemas of Lisboeta Macau in Cotai.
