Seventh Hong Kong Thematic Film Festival launched in Beijing (with photos)

     The 7th Hong Kong Thematic Film Festival, entitled "Music in Hong Kong Cinema" and jointly presented by the Office of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in Beijing (the Beijing Office) and Broadway Cinematheque, was launched tonight (July 20) at Broadway Cinematheque MOMA, Beijing. 

     This year's film festival is themed around film scores and includes a selection of impressive work covering genres such as wuxia, musicals and Chinese opera, and will travel to 15 cities across the Mainland. The guest curator of the film festival is Lowell Lo, a famous Hong Kong musician. After tonight's screening of the opening film he shared some of his creative ideas on making film music with the audience.
 
     To mark the 40th anniversary of China's reform and opening-up this year, a seminar will be specially held during the festival period with veteran Hong Kong and Mainland experts and academics invited to review the history and environmental changes in the co-production of films between the two places, and to explore strategies and opportunities on film co-production in the future.
 
     Tonight's opening ceremony was officiated by the Director of the Beijing Office, Ms Gracie Foo; Executive Director of Edko Films Limited, Ms Tessa Lau; Director of Broadway Cinematheque, Mr Gary Mak; Mr Lo; well-known lyricist Susan Tang; guest speakers for the seminar including renowned Hong Kong cinematographer and film director Peter Pau; prominent local film critic Reeve Wong as well as veteran film producers Shan Tam and Eric Lin.
 
     Speaking at the opening ceremony, the Director of the Beijing Office, Ms Gracie Foo, said that the film festival was held annually in different Mainland cities with the aim of promoting contemporary Hong Kong film culture and to foster closer exchange between the Hong Kong and Mainland film industry.
 
     She also noted that this year marks the 40th anniversary of the country's reform and opening-up, and the filmmaking industry had been booming over the past years. After the signing of CEPA (Mainland and Hong Kong Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement) in 2003, there was an upsurge of co-production films in the two places. Through the seminar, Hong Kong and the Mainland could explore strategies and opportunities on film co-production to boost closer co-operation, she said.
 
     The opening of the film festival was marked by the screening of a film trailer of 17 films, namely the opening film "A Chinese Odyssey Part Two-Cinderella" as well as "Passion", "The Legend of the Owl", "Hong Kong Nocturne", "Perhaps Love", "Swordsmen", "Lost in Time", "The Mad Phoenix", "Banana Cop", "Twelve Nights", "Once Upon a Time in China II", "A Chinese Ghost Story", "The Phantom Lover", "Stage Door", "Peking Opera Blues", "The Wild, Wild Rose" and "Cold War". The films will be screened from July 20 to 29 at Broadway Cinematheque MOMA and Broadway Cinema (Oriental Plaza store), Beijing.

     After the Beijing leg, the film festival will travel to Jinan, Shenyang, Shanghai, Dalian, Tianjin, Kunming, Chengdu, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Wuhan, Changsha and Ningbo, lasting until the end of this year.