************************************************************
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco kicked off a three-day Hong Kong Cinema with an opening night reception today (November 14, San Francisco time).
Hong Kong film director, Wong Jing's "From Vegas to Macau" was chosen as the film festival's opening night movie.
At the VIP reception prior to the opening night movie screening, Director of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in San Francisco, Ms Subrina Chow, said that the Hong Kong Government treasured its partnership with the San Francisco Film Society in this unique festival.
"This is the fourth annual festival presented by our office in collaboration with the San Francisco Film Society. Such a mini-festival dedicated to Hong Kong movies allows us to introduce a wide variety of latest fine works produced by Hong Kong filmmakers to the Bay Area audience.
"The festival has been a success since its first edition in 2011. The San Francisco Film Society has done an excellent job in choosing the best Hong Kong movies of different genres for the enjoyment of its members and other movie lovers in the Bay Area," Ms Chow said.
A total of eight movies are featured in this year's Hong Kong Cinema, including Ann Hui's "The Golden Era", which premiered at the closing of the Venice Film Festival and is Hong Kong's foreign submission to the Academy Awards. A retrospective screening of Wong Kar-wai's "Chungking Express" joins the selection on the occasion of its 20th anniversary.
Bay Area audience will also have the opportunity to watch two premieres in this festival - Jacob Cheung's "The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom" (North American Premiere) and Heiward Mak's "Uncertain Relationships Society" (US Premiere).
"We are happy to see the works of both seasoned and younger directors. We take great pride in our film industry and talents, which have won more than 300 international awards over the last decade. We believe in creatively, free flow of information and freedom of expression. These elements are highly valued by the Hong Kong people and are essential to fostering the growth of our film and other creative industries in the last century.
"To support the long-term development of this important sector, the Hong Kong Government has set up the Film Development Fund to provide financing for small and medium budget films and to help nurture young film talents," Ms Chow added.
Also part of the festival program are Alan Mak's action thriller "Overheard 3", Pang Ho-cheung's family drama "Aberdeen", and Fruit Chan's comedy-horror based on a popular web novel "The Midnight After".
Ends/Saturday, November 15, 2014
Issued at HKT 14:26
NNNN
