25 Critically-Acclaimed Asian Film Projects Selected for
the 8^th Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum

[January 5, Hong Kong]  The 8th Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from March 22 to 24, 2010, announced today a list of 25 selected outstanding film projects from across Asia and beyond.

HAF is organized by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS), committed to promoting the development of the Asian film industry by providing an important funding platform for film projects. In the last seven years, it has attracted renowned directors, producers, filmmakers and emerging filmmakers in Asia to participate, allowing them to gain support from investors from all parts of world. The selected film projects for this year’s HAF come from 17 territories in Asia and other parts of the world, including the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, India, Israel, Japan, Lebanon, Macao, Malaysia, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam.

These projects include productions from world-class talents such as SUZUKI Seijun, a veteran Japanese director known for his jarring visual style and entertainment-over-logic sensibility.  His most famous work Princess Raccoon (2005) stars Zhang Ziyi and Joe Odagiri. Another featured talent is Leon DAI, whose No Puedo Vivir Sin Ti (2009) won four important awards at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards 2009, including Best Director, Best Film, Best Original Screenplay and Outstanding Taiwanese Film of the Year. Other filmmakers include HO Yuhang, praised as the most talented new director in Malaysia, and Dev BENEGAL, one of the few Indian native directors who makes films in English. His new film Road, Movie (2009) garnered several international awards before it officially opened in cinemas.

The selected projects also include films produced by renowned directors, including: the winner of the highest prize, the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival JIA Zhangke; Hong Kong Film Awards and Taiwan Golden Horse Awards winner Fruit CHAN; Hong Kong director Teddy CHEN, acclaimed for his recent work Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) (HAF 2003), and Ross KATZ, the Oscar nominated director of Lost in Translation (2003).

Jacob Wong, Director of HAF, said, “As we can see, the films made possible by HAF in the past years have achieved excellent results, and this year we are seeing a lot of pan-regional co-productions. The selected projects, which were led by diverse talents from veterans to first-time directors will definitely spark new excitement in Asian films and focus the worldwide film industry on Asian productions. In fact, approximately one third of the selected projects have secured more than 50 percent funding before being selected by HAF, demonstrating unlimited market potential of Asian films and the high realization potential of the HAF selections.”

HAF projects have been highly successful and internationally acclaimed. Some of the most notable include Kinatay (HAF 2009), which won the Best Director Award for Brillante MENDOZA at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, and Thirst (HAF 2008), which was directed by PARK Chan-wook and awarded the Jury Prize at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Another outstanding film, Mother (HAF 2008) by BONG Joon-ho, had won multiple awards including Best Film at the Blue Dragon Film Awards 2009. Tokyo Sonata (HAF 2007), directed by renowned Japanese director KUROSAWA Kiyoshi and starring seasoned actors and actresses such as KAGAWA Teruyuki, KOIZUMI Kyōko and YAKUSHO Kōji, won the Jury Prize for the Un Certain Regard section of the 61st Cannes Film Festival, and the Best Film and Best Screenwriter awards at the 3rd Asian Film Awards.

For more HAF alumni projects accomplishments, please visit the official website at www.haf.asia.

A complete listing of all 25 projects selected for HAF 2010 is included in Appendix I. An online project book with full project details will be available at the HAF website in mid-January.
For further information, media only:

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide 
Tramy Leung, Tel: +852 2907 8812
Vickie Chong, Tel: +852 2578 2116
E-mail: HKIFFS-MediaEnquiries@waggeneredstrom.com

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society
E-mail: pr@hkiff.org.hk

About Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF)

Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) is widely recognized as one of the most important film-financing platforms in Asia. HAF brings Asian filmmakers with upcoming film projects to Hong Kong for co-production ventures with top film financiers, producers, investors, distributors and buyers.  Attended by 1,000 filmmakers and financiers, more than 20 projects are selected to participate in this three-day event. 

Past participants include Mainland China's JIA Jiangke, JIANG Wen and LOU Ye, Hong Kong's Stanley KWAN, Ann HUI, Gordon CHAN, PANG Ho-cheung, Taiwan's TSAI Ming-Liang, Japan's SABU, NAKATA Hideo, OTANI Kentaro, KORE-EDA Hirokazu, MIIKE Takashi and YUKISADA Isao, Korea's KIM Jee-woon, PARK Chan-wook, E J-yong and IM Sang-soo as well as Thailand's EKACHAI Uekrongtham, Nonzee NIMIBUTR and Pen-ek RATANARUANG.

For more information, please join the HAF Facebook community at http://www.facebook.com/haf.asia or visit the HAF official website at http://www.haf.asia.

About The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS)

Uniting the World through Film
The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) is a charitable, non-profit and non-governmental organization dedicated to the discovery and promotion of creativity in the art and culture of film. Through its year-round programs, the mission of the Society is to strengthen global appreciation of Chinese film culture and to promote inspiring films from around the world, enriching the cultural life of Hong Kong. Committed to the development of a vibrant film culture in Hong Kong and Asia, the Society organizes three annual flagship events in March and April: Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and Asian Film Awards (AFA). Passionately believing in the power of films to unite cultures and generations, the HKIFFS is devoted to giving thousands of film lovers around the region direct access to the world’s most inspired films all year round.

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Released on behalf of the HKIFFS by Waggener Edstrom Worldwide.

APPENDIX I