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HK films hope for splash at Venice Film Festival
HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong films hope to make a splash at this year's Venice Film Festival with local movies opening and closing the prestigious event for the first time.
Two other films from the southern Chinese enclave will also be featured at Venice, the world's oldest international film festival and, along with Cannes and Berlin, one of the most glamorous. "This is the first time that Hong Kong films have been selected to close and open one of the major film festivals in Europe," the territory's Financial Secretary Henry Tang said. "Hong Kong movies have been recognised by the international industry. This is the result of the hard work contributed by the local film workers," he said last week at a celebration of the city's role in the annual event. This boost comes at a time when the Chinese territory is struggling to revive an industry that was the third-largest producer of films in the 1980s after India's Bollywood studios and Hollywood. It saw more than 300 films roll from its studios but 80 percent of its workforce has since been lost due to the Asian financial crisis and rampant piracy. Last year, barely 60 films were made. The festival's decision to open and close with the two films prompted the government to grant the two directors each 300,000 Hong Kong dollars (38,500 US dollars) to promote their works in Venice. "We are glad that Hong Kong films are being honoured in this first-class festival," a government spokeswoman said. Set in 17th-century China not long after the Manchurians took control from the Qing dynastic rulers, "Seven Swords" follows seven martial arts masters who struggle to keep their art alive in the face of a government purge. The film, which cost 18 million US dollars to make, has taken more than 100 million Hong Kong dollars (12.8 million US dollars) at the box office in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong since it was released on July 29. Rights for the film have also been sold to most European countries including France, Germany, Italy and Britain. In contrast to the standard gangster or kung-fu fare that have traditionally dominated Hong Kong cinema, Chan's "Perhaps Love" is a story framed within a romantic triangle set during the making of a Chinese musical. A collaboration with Andre Morgan, producer of Oscar-winning boxing drama "Million Dollar Baby", the 10 million US dollar film is set in the sleazy Shanghai of the 1930s and in modern-day China. It brings together Asian star Takeshi Kaneshiro and mainland Chinese actress Zhou Xun. Farah Khan, of "Bombay Dreams" fame, is in charge of choreography. Another Hong Kong drama, "Everlasting Regret" by director Stanley Kwan, will also compete for the festival's top Golden Lion award. Kwan's "Centre Stage" won starlet Maggie Cheung the Best Actress award at the 1992 Berlin Film Festival. "Initial D" by Andrew Lau and Alan Mak, a screen adaptation of a hit Japanese comic of the same name, will be screened in the out-of-competition section of the festival. Lau, best known for directing the cop-thriller "Infernal Affairs" that has
been remade by Martin Scorsese, is set to make his Hollywood debut with an
independent thriller starring Richard Gere.
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![The Venice Film Festival Golden Lion. Hong Kong films hope to make a splash at this year's festival edition with local movies opening and closing the prestigious event for the first time. [AFP]](xin_55080231085399032711.jpg)
