Asian Cinerama: Hong Kong Film Festival dazzles audiences in Dubai (with photos)
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With the support of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Dubai (Dubai ETO), Create Hong Kong, and the Film Development Fund, a festival dedicated to Hong Kong films returned for the second year in a row to Dubai’s silver screen during November. Presented by the Asian Film Awards Academy, the Asian Cinerama: Hong Kong Film Festival showcased a selection of new and restored Hong Kong films to local audiences.
Running from November 10 to 16 (Dubai time) at Dubai’s Cinema Akil, the highly anticipated film festival screened seven Hong Kong films across a range of genres, including martial arts, thrillers and romantic dramas. Aside from the film “Mad Fate” which kicked off the festival, local audiences also enjoyed “A Light Never Goes Out”, “Back Home”, “The Narrow Road”, “Where the Wind Blows”, “Made in Hong Kong” and “The Way of the Dragon”.
Ng Wing-sze, actress in “Mad Fate” and “Back Home”, travelled to Dubai to attend the opening night reception of the film festival held by the Dubai ETO and to interact with local film enthusiasts after the screenings of her films.
Speaking at the reception, the Director-General of the Dubai ETO, Mr Damian Lee, said that the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has been promoting Hong Kong’s cultural and creative industries in order to strengthen Hong Kong’s positioning as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.
“To that end, the Chief Executive has recently announced in the Policy Address the establishment of the Cultural and Creative Industries Development Agency, which will proactively promote the development of arts, culture and creative sectors. A total of HK$4.3 billion will also be injected to the Film Development Fund and the CreateSmart Initiative to provide incentives for attracting private sector capital and expanding new markets,” he said.
Looking ahead, the Dubai ETO will continue to promote cultural exchanges through its regular offerings as well as novel events.