Our reporter Ni Zhaozhong reported in Beijing
In order to support Hong Kong films to expand the mainland market and cultivate more and better Hong Kong filmmakers, the reporter of "China Business News" learned at this Beijing Film Festival that the Hong Kong Film Development Council officially announced The "Mainland Film Market Development Subsidy Scheme" has been launched, and eligible projects can receive subsidies of up to HK$10 million.
press conference scene. Ni Zhaozhong/Photography.
Films co-produced with the Mainland are also eligible to apply
In recent years, Hong Kong filmmakers have been co-producing films with Mainland practitioners, and the Hong Kong government has also introduced relevant funding programs.
Mak Sing-hee, Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Film Development Council and Assistant Director of Creative Hong Kong, said that this "Mainland Film Market Development Funding Scheme" is committed to supporting the investment of Hong Kong film companies and mainland cultural enterprises and promoting the production of Hong Kong directors, increasing the entry of Hong Kong films opportunities in the mainland film market, and at the same time cultivate more Hong Kong directors who can enter the mainland film market. Since
is a program to support Hong Kong filmmakers, its application qualifications naturally include a lot of "Hong Kong elements." First of all, the applicant must be a film production company registered in Hong Kong, and have produced and produced mainland-Hong Kong co-productions or local Hong Kong films successfully introduced to the mainland in the past seven years; the producer and director must be Hong Kong permanent residents, and have at least one A number of films produced or directed by him have been publicly screened in cinemas in Hong Kong or Mainland China. The main screenwriter of a
movie needs to have a film that he participated in as a screenwriter that has been publicly screened in Hong Kong cinemas in the past ten years; two of the protagonists or supporting actors must be Hong Kong permanent residents. The plan also requires that staff in at least three of the following nine job categories must be Hong Kong permanent residents: photography, action design, art direction, costume styling, editing, original film music, original film songs, sound effects and visual effects.
Judging from the funding amount, this plan mainly targets small and medium-cost films. For example, the program requires that for films that qualify for funding, the production cost must be between HK$25 million and HK$150 million. What is particularly important for filmmakers is that, according to staff from the Hong Kong Film Development Council, the program will provide actual funds rather than equivalent items.
This plan also has strong market attributes, requiring that the approved film must be publicly released in Hong Kong. If it is successfully released in mainland theaters, it will receive a full subsidy of HK$10 million. If the film is ultimately not released in mainland theaters or streaming platforms, the funding amount will be reduced accordingly.
For those in the Hong Kong film industry, a major advantage of this funding program is that there will be no restrictions on the shooting locations of funded film projects. What is particularly beneficial to the current Hong Kong film industry is that the so-called "Hong Kong films" in the plan include co-productions between the Mainland and Hong Kong, as well as local Hong Kong films that enter the Mainland market in the form of imported films.
The maximum amount of funding is
In fact, this is not the first time that the Hong Kong government has introduced a related funding plan. As early as 2007, the Hong Kong government launched a film production financing plan. A rough calculation shows that so far, the Hong Kong government has launched about ten funding programs, funding a total of more than 400 projects.
lists these funding schemes, with different funding purposes and funding amounts. For example, the purpose of the "First Feature Film Project" is to support new directors and their film production teams to shoot their first feature films in a commercial model, thereby cultivating talents for the local film industry. The maximum funding amount is HK$8 million.
The purpose of the "Eurasian Cultural Exchange Film Production Funding Scheme" is to promote the exposure of these co-produced films in the European or Asian and international markets by subsidizing film projects co-produced by filmmakers from Hong Kong, China and European or Asian countries. The maximum amount is HK$9 million. The purpose of the
"Streaming Platform Content Development Plan" is to cultivate cross-film and television creative teams that develop streaming platform works for the new era of film development, and to promote the film industry to enter new distribution markets by creating high-quality streaming platform works. The maximum amount is 570 Thousands of Hong Kong dollars.
’s “Subsidy Scheme for Developing the Mainland Film Market” will begin accepting applications on May 6.A staff member of the Hong Kong Film Development Council told reporters that this plan is a new plan launched this year and is also the plan with the highest funding amount so far.
Zhang Chi, Director of the External Relations Department of the China Film Association, said that the China Film Association is willing to work with the Hong Kong Film Development Council and Creative Hong Kong to promote this funding plan, promote in-depth cooperation between Hong Kong films and the mainland, and promote more co-productions and Hong Kong-produced films. Distributed and screened in the mainland to promote the high-quality development of Chinese films.
(Editor: Zhang Jingchao Reviewer: Li Zhenghao Proofreader: Zhai Jun)
