Connecting Film Projects with Internationally Prominent Co-production Ventures

The 13th Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum Calls for Submissions

(28 July 2014) Hong Kong – The 13th Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) announced the call for project submissions. HAF will be held from 23-25 March 2015 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) and running concurrently with the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (FILMART), HAF is a mature and well-established film-financing platform in Asia in its role of connecting filmmakers with film projects to internationally prominent film-industry financiers, bankers, producers, production companies, post-production houses, distributors, buyers, co-production ventures and film festival delegates.

HAF welcomes the submission of fiction and documentary feature length projects from 4 August 2014 through 17 October 2014. Selected projects will be invited to participate in the film financing forum activities in Hong Kong and also stand to compete for awards with a total value over HK$770,000 (approximately US$100,000). An early bird discount is offered to submissions on or before 5 September 2014.

The 12th HAF received over 300 project submissions from 37 regions around the world. During the three-day film financing forum, 780 private business meetings were arranged for the filmmakers of 29 projects consisting of 25 HAF projects and 4 HAF/Fox Chinese Film Development Award finalists.

“HAF proved to be an invaluable platform for producers and filmmakers to bring their projects to the attention of key investors, sales agents, funding institutions and festivals representatives,” said Paolo BERTOLIN of Doha Film Institute who met with HAF filmmakers. “And, the range and quality of projects present at HAF made the trip absolutely worthwhile, confirming HAF to be the essential event to connect with exciting and  contemporary Asian filmmakers.” Charles HWONG, Senior Manager, Acquisitions and Co-Productions of Huayi Brothers International, commented, “there were many interesting opportunities and ideas presented at HAF this year. We hope to follow up on two different projects.”

In addition to meeting key industry players and presenting their respective projects to them, filmmakers also found professional support through their participation at HAF. Taiwan’s CHANG Jung-Chi, the HAF Award (non-Hong Kong project) 2014 winner for Private Eyes, commented, “we received lots of valuable feedback in  funding, the script, and production budget. HAF also provided us with many Press Relation and interview opportunities. HAF is like a home to a new film project, indeed!” YANG Jin, the Chinese director who participated in this year’s HAF, commented, “[HAF] was a very good [project market] to seek opportunities for cooperation.”

The 12th HAF attracted not only up-and-coming filmmakers like CHANG Jung-Chi from Taiwan, but also many award-winning names from other Asian countries. Internationally renowned Filipino filmmaker Brillante MENDOZA, whose HAF 2009 Project, Kinatay, won Best Director at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, returned to HAF with two projects. Other award-winning names in the 12th HAF included Taiwanese director LIN Yu-Hsien (widely recognised for his box office success Jump! Ashin), Dechen RODER from Bhutan (Special Mention winner at the 17th ifva Hong Kong Awards 2012), Lina YANG (Special Mention winner at Hong Kong International Film Festival 2013), SHENG Zhimin (Best Asian Film NETPAC award winner, Locarno Film Festival) as well as Berlinale award-winning documentary filmmaker Rakesh SHARMA.

Over the past 12 years, HAF has supported and championed up-and-coming filmmakers to realise their film projects. Many HAF projects have been made into films which received international acclaim. Some recent HAF successes include: KAWASE Naomi’s Still the Water (Japan, HAF 2013), selected in the main competition section at the Cannes Film Festival 2014; Nariman TUREBAYEV’s Adventure (France and Kazakhstan, HAF 2013), official selection in competition at Karlovy Vary International Film Festival 2014; Arvin CHEN’s Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow? (Taiwan, HAF 2012), selected in the Panorama Section of the Berlin Film Festival 2013; and Flora LAU’s Bends (Hong Kong, HAF 2011) selected for Un Certain Regard at the Cannes Film Festival 2013.  HAF 2014’s Angel Whispers (Hong Kong), the joint directorial debut of Hong Kong award-winning actress, Carrie NG and Hong Kong film industry veteran Shirley YUNG, has been completed and will be released soon. For more details on the 13th HAF’s submission procedures, application eligibility and selection criteria, please visit http://www.haf.org.hk, or contact the HAF via email: haf@hkiff.org.hk