The 2nd Macau International Comedy Festival kicked off yesterday when its opening ceremony was held at the Hengqin Culture and Art Centre.
The five-day festival is being held until Sunday with comedies, film screenings, forums, workshops and other related activities at cultural facilities in Macau including the public Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) in Nape and those run by three of Macau’s six gaming operators – MGM, Sands and Melco, as well as in Hengqin.
The 2nd Macau International Comedy Festival is jointly organised by mainland-based comedy production company Mahua FunAge and cultural communication company Damai, both headquartered in Beijing, with the Macau government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) and Hengqin In-depth Cooperation Investment Group, a public enterprise, as co-organisers.
Last year, the festival was held for eight days in March when its activities were also held at several cultural facilities in Macau and Hengqin, but with its opening ceremony in Macau.
The Hengqin Culture and Art Centre is a newly completed facility there, which started operating at the end of last year.
After the new Hengqin Culture and Art Centre started operating, Beijing-based Mahua FunAge also launched its operations in part of the facility, known as Mahua FunAge Hengqin Theatre.
The comedy festival was launched yesterday afternoon by a performance of a play adapted from Peppa Pig, a British children’s cartoon.
After the performance at the Hengqin Culture and Art Centre, the festival’s opening ceremony was held there.
The Chinese version of the play is directed by mainland director Zhang Kai.
The opening ceremony was attended by guests such as Zhang Kai, Mahua FunAge CEO Han Mei, Guan Xiaojing, a manager of Hengqin In-depth Cooperation Investment Group, and Su Kun, a deputy director of the executive committee of the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin.
The in-depth cooperation zone was set up in 2021 with the aim of deepening collaboration between Macau and Guangdong.
Guests such as Su Kun (fourth from right), a deputy director of the executive committee of the Guangdong-Macau In-Depth Cooperation Zone in Hengqin, Mahua FunAge Founder and President Zhang Chen (second from right), Mahua FunAge CEO Han Mei (first from right), Guan Xiaojing (third from right), a manager of Hengqin In-depth Cooperation Investment Group, and Zhang Kai (second from left), the director of Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out, pose for a group photo during yesterday’s opening ceremony of the 2nd Macau International Comedy Festival.
Children watch a Chinese-version play adapted from British children’s cartoon Peppa Pig, known as Peppa Pig’s Fun Day Out, at the Hengqin Culture and Art Centre yesterday afternoon. – Photos: Tony Wong
