Press Release - April 16, 2007

"Hong Kong Films: 10 Years After", the first University of Toronto Film Festival, was launched today by Stephen Siu, Assistant Director (Public Relations) of the Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), and Joseph Wong, Director of Munk Centre's Asian Institute of the University of Toronto (U of T). The event is part of the celebration activities held in Canada to mark the 10th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

The exciting lineup of films and panels were revealed by Bart Testa, Professor of Cinema Studies, U of T and Alice Shih, Reel Asian International Film Festival. Special guest was Academy Award-winning animator, Chris Landreth.

The festival to be held on May 4-6, 2007 is co-presented by Asian Institute at the University of Toronto, the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.

The May 4th Opening Night Gala starts at 7:30 p.m. with a screening of the Toronto premiere of Isabella directed by Pang Ho-Cheung at the ROM Theatre. The film has received a nomination for best actress by the Hong Kong Film Award Association and is winner for best original film score; the film has also won a Silver Bear at the 56th Berlin Film Festival for best film music. The Opening Night Party celebration will be held at the Munk Centre. Dinah Koo of Koo & Co is doing the catering; one of the city’s best. Dufflet will be bringing the dessert.

The festival continues with Saturday morning cartoons at 10:00 a.m. in the Innis Town Hall with the short film Jaime Lo, Small and Shy and the feature My Life as McDull directed by Toe Yuen. An animation and comics panel follows with Wendy Wong (York University) and Chris Landreth (Academy Award Winning Animator). The afternoon session opens with a keynote conversation at 1:30 p.m. with dynamic Hong Kong film experts, Poshek Fu (University of Illinoi at Urbana-Champaign) and Leong Ping-Kwan (Lingnan University, Hong Kong). Horror cinema is represented at 2:30 p.m with the short film Banana Bruises and the feature Dumplings. A horror panel follows with Suzie Young (York University) and Bart Testa (U of T). In the evening at 6:30 will be a director Derek Yee fest with a melodrama Lost in Time and a crime thriller One Nite in Mongkok, Short films Eastbound and Asthma Tech precede respectively each feature.

The festival on Sunday, May 6th is also in the Innis Town Hall and starts at 1:00 with short film My Matsura and a mocumentary The Heavenly Kings directed by Daniel Wu. The Hong Kong film industry panel follows with Peter Rist (Concordia University), Raymond Chow (Media Specialist), and Colin Geddes (Ultra 8 Pictures). The Closing Film at 4:00 p.m. is the searing social drama From the Queen to the Chief Executive directed by Herman Yau.

Advanced tickets can be purchased at UofT Tix by phone at (416) 978-8849, on-line at www.uofttix.ca, or in person at Hart House, at 7 Hart House Circle. The Box Office is open Monday-Friday from 11:00 a.m-5:00 p.m.

Tickets to all screenings, including opening night, can be also purchased 30 minutes before screening time at the venue box office.

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For more information, please contact Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office:
Elison Chu, Senior Information Officer at: (416 )924-5544 or e-mail: [email protected]

(Photo caption) At today’s (Monday) press launch of the “Hong Kong Films: 10 Years After” at the University of Toronto, the Assistant Director (Public Relations) of the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office in Canada, Mr Stephen Siu (centre), briefs the audience the latest development of the film industry in Hong Kong, noting that the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government has earmarked a HK$300 million (C$45.5 million) new fund to help finance the city’s film production and overcome the shortage of talent.

Click here to download a Chinese version of this press release in PDF format.