U.K., South Korea Sign Cultural Agreement...

U.K., South Korea Sign Cultural Agreement...

Mainland Chinese opportunities have led to a filmmaking exodus, but the territory is thriving as a shooting destination.
Mainland China's industry is hogging the limelight, but Hong Kong is the most efficient gateway into the booming market north of the border, industryites from the territory said Thursday during an AFM panel discussion.

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STORY: Michael Bay Hails Hong Kong Despite 'Scary' 'Transformers' Attack

Independent filmmaker Maria Lo Orzel spoke of how almost all Hong Kong filmmakers are working with China.

"Going from 300 to 50 films a year shows that most of the local filmmakers have moved north, but they will mostly come to Hong Kong to help start their projects.

"We cannot survive without China," she told the gathering.

Film productions from Hong Kong can take advantage of CEPA (Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement), which affords them special status.

Hong Kong also is proving itself to be a popular location. Recent projects that shot there include Transformers: Age of Extinction, Cyber, Pacific Rim and Fast & Furious 6.

STORY: Michael Mann's 'Cyber' Film Shoot Moves to Hong Kong

Against this backdrop, it is hardly surprising that one of the most eagerly listened to figures on the panel was Zhou Tiedong, president of China Film Promotion International.

"Hong Kong has been acting as a major production force -- Hong Kong filmmakers made the only Chinese genre that can travel internationally: the kung fu movie. It is a better way to go through Hong Kong filmmakers," said Zhou.

He said a ratings system would probably happen in China, but only if the market wants it. "The audience is always right," he joked.

Panelist Jeffrey Chan, COO of Bona Film Group, said Hong Kong still has plenty to offer that China does not.

"I rarely find people who don't like Hong Kong; it's a base camp. It's efficient, it's quick to set up a company, it was under British rule so it has common law. The Chinese yuan is not an internationally convertible currency," he said.

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Hong Kong Film Piracy on YouTube Amounts to $308 Million Loss...

Copyright-infringing videos of over 200 films found on world's largest video-sharing website

HONG KONG – Severe copyright infringement of Hong Kong films is rife on YouTube, with pirated footage of over 200 Hong Kong films found on the world's largest video-sharing website, amounting to an estimated loss of over HK$2.4 billion ($308 million) to the local film industry, according to the Hong Kong Motion Pictures Industry Association (MPIA). MPIA members urged YouTube and other video-sharing websites to enforce the German court ruling last Friday (April 20) to implement measures to restrict content that infringe copyright.

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The recent local box office hit Love in the Buff was found to be uploaded in its entirety, directly affecting the theatrical gross of the film, a situation that the association called "extremely severe" in a statement.
The videos were taken down after a formal complaint made to YouTube by Media Asia, the copyright holder of Love in the Buff.
But YouTube did not act promptly when contacted by Media Asia to remove the illegally obtained uploaded Buff film, taking days for the removal. John Chong, producer of the film, commented in the statement that YouTube showed "an extreme lack of efficiency in the removal of the pirated videos, but was not responsible for any loss incurred due to the delay in the removal." Previously, the website operator had immediately taken down pirated film material when contacted by the copyright holder.
"YouTube repeatedly requested the copyright holder to prove that they are the holder in order to remove the pirated videos of Love in the Buff, while they allow anyone to claim to be the copyright holder when uploading the videos. It's very unreasonable," MPIA CEO Brian Chung told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. "The pirated videos on YouTube greatly hurt the theatrical performance of the film."
Chong believed the German court ruling on Friday for YouTube to restrict videos that might violate copyright should be enforced for YouTube and other video-sharing websites at the earliest possibility.
In view of the pirated video of Buff on YouTube, MPIA members, which are made up of representatives from most of Hong Kong's film studios, have searched and found in three days over 200 films illegally uploaded on to YouTube, including past and recent Hong Kong Film Awards winners: A Simple Life, The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, Echoes of the Rainbow, and Shaolin Soccer. Blockbuster Ip Man and its sequel were split into 107 videos, while the pirated YouTube videos of clubbing drama Lan Kwai Fong and Jet Li's Fearless received 1.8 million and 1.4 million hits, respectively. A fight scene from Bruce Lee's Way of the Dragon was viewed 4.8 million times.
With accumulated views of over 40 million, MPIA estimated a loss of over HK$2.4 billion to the Hong Kong film industry, based on an average cinema ticket price of HK$60.
"For a video-sharing website of this size and scope, YouTube must have censorship mechanisms to prohibit the uploading of illegal material, such as child pornography or content of extreme violence," Chung added. "It makes no sense for the copyright owner of a current film release to upload the entire film on to YouTube, so how can YouTube allow just anyone to claim to be the copyright owner and show the whole film on their website?"
Chung said the association is not trying to single out YouTube, but the company's international visibility and accessibility has made the severity of the situation impossible for Hong Kong filmmakers to ignore. "YouTube, or any other video-sharing websites, should have a set of ethics in dealing with copyrighted material. It's unfair to the copyright owner," Chung said. "The U.S. has always set great store by the protection of intellectual property. As a company headquartered in the U.S., owned by Google, the world's largest internet search company, it turns out that it allows pirated content on its website. How would the U.S. view this situation?"
YouTube and its parent company Google have not yet replied to The Hollywood Reporter's request for comment.
MPIA members are now in discussion to determine a strategy to combat piracy online, but meanwhile, "due to the urgency and severity of the situation, we'd hope to raise awareness on it as soon as possible," Chung said.
While online piracy is an extension of the larger film piracy issue present since the 1990s, remarked Ip Man director Wilson Yip in the statement, he hoped for effective law enforcement to combat the issue. Free viewing of pirated films would pose an even more serious problem for the film industry, noted Lan Kwai Fong executive producer Patrick Tong, as it is nearly impossible to find the culprit responsible. "It's a harsh blow to the producers and investors, giving rise to a vicious circle of fewer and fewer investors, and a further weakening of the Hong Kong film industry."

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Hong Kong International Film Festival and Market Preview...

On the eve of Filmart, here's everything you need to know about business in the east and who's changing the industry (starting with Dreamworks' "Kung Ku Panda 2").
If the first Kung Fu Panda was Jeffrey Katzenberg's love letter to China, then the megahit's much-anticipated sequel is DreamWorks' bear hug to the world's fastest-growing film market.
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Kung Fu Panda 2, which adds the voice of Pan-Asian superstar Michelle Yeoh to a cast that brings back Jackie Chan and Lucy Liu, is all but certain to be released in China on May 26, simultaneous with its North American debut.
The first Kung Fu Panda, released in China in June 2008 in the run-up to the Beijing Olympics, became the first animated film to gross more than 100 million yuan ($15 million) at the local box office. That might not seem like much by Hollywood standards, but it's quite an accomplishment in a market where animated fare is largely ignored by adults.
Changing China's moviegoing habits isn't going to be easy, but Hollywood is hoping projects like KFP2 will at least make inroads.
The timing couldn't be better. Thanks to a World Trade Organization ruling that goes into effect March 19, China is supposed to address how its historically closed state-run film distribution monopoly will open to "greater foreign participation." Before the ruling, the government only allowed 20 imported films a year to share in their own box-office gross.
Nevertheless, at press time, even local insiders couldn't say for sure what China's one-party government might change in the distribution landscape as of March 20. Rumors range from a possible raising of the import cap to 30 titles to a relaxation in distribution that could see the Hollywood studios dealing directly with smaller Chinese companies instead of the state-run monolith, the China Film Group.
Another possibility some Hollywood executives hope for is an increase in the gross box-office share, which is now limited to a tight range of 13-17 percent.
If any of these things actually happens, Hollywood will surely benefit. But not everyone in the Asian film sector is thrilled with that prospect.
"Honestly, though it's hard to say what China will tell the WTO, most Chinese producers will view Hollywood studios as insurmountable competition," says Hong Kong-based producer Albert Lee, CEO of Emperor Motion Pictures, whose 2010 co-production Let the Bullets Fly became the highest-grossing film to date in China. "My feeling is that the film market opening will happen sooner or later. I can't say if that means it's going to mean 30 or 40 imports right now, but I do think it's inevitable."
Recent box office suggests it's not just Hollywood that stands to benefit from new access to Chinese moviegoers. Since the bumbling panda Po, voiced by Jack Black, first shouted "Hai-ya!" in theaters here, China's box-office take has soared, climbing 64 percent in 2010 to $1.5 billion. Cinemas are mushrooming to meet growing middle-class demand, and local moviegoers feel more comfortable paying the premium charges for 3D and Imax tickets.
Additionally, on the heels of the first Kung Fu Panda, several Hollywood imports have made more money in China than in any other territory outside the U.S. With the shimmering China box-office success of recent Hollywood releases like 2012, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Avatar and Prince of Persia, which collected a combined $376 million in China, DreamWorks is back for more, this time setting Po and his kung fu master idols the Furious Five off on an adventure that pits them against Lord Shen, a peacock voiced by Gary Oldman.
What's certain at the moment is that thanks to increased communication between Hollywood and China, executives on both sides of the Pacific are working together in unprecedented ways to tailor KFP2 to the Chinese market, meaning the film will likely become a model for future cooperation. Given the potential returns from the massive — and rapidly expanding — Chinese film sector, the stakes couldn't be higher.
The first film kicked off a heated round of debate and shined a harsh light on the state of China's animation industry, which has never successfully made a big-budget feature, let alone exported one around the world.
"I see [the original] Kung Fu Panda as a milestone in East-West cross-pollination," says leading film critic and industry observer Raymond Zhou Liming. "It shows Chinese filmmakers that outsiders could tell a Chinese story just as well as, if not better than, the Chinese. The thematic subversion is so well handled as to introduce new themes without jolting traditional Chinese sensibility. That was a major coup — culturally, at least."
So far, the cultural synergy the first film tapped appears to be continuing in the buzz about the sequel. "This film has an even higher level of authenticity than the first one," says Eugene Yang, Greater China chief representative for distributor Paramount, who will work closely with the China Film Group on the nationwide Imax 3D release. "The DreamWorks team spent a lot of time observing actual Chinese locations and incorporated lots of little surprises into the film that will be best appreciated by the Chinese audience. Katzenberg said the first film was his love letter to China, but this one will bring the countries closer."
To make the most of a challenging promotional and distribution situation, DreamWorks and Paramount are working with major global sponsors and local Chinese outlets to help the film's China launch. McDonald's is said to be planning a KFP2 Happy Meal in China, Nestle has a breakfast cereal tie-in in the works, and domestic casual-clothing giant Metersbonwe will do a whole line of T-shirts and accessories.
The sponsorship planning this time is a huge improvement on the release of the first Kung Fu Panda, when the short advance notice of the confirmed release date only allowed enough time to sign four relatively unknown Chinese sponsors, including a manufacturer of rubber balls.
From a marketing standpoint alone, KFP2 looks to be a game-changer.
"From what we've seen so far, the new movie has exceeded all expectations and will really raise the bar," Yang says.

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Industry News: Hong Kong Film Fund Fuels Foray into Mainland (Berlin)...

In the years before the government-run Hong Kong Film Development Council (FDC) began its operation in 2007, many filmmakers in Hong Kong faced the choice of leaving the industry or leaving the territory. But as the 2010 Chinese box office breaks the billion yuan mark, it's a no-brainer.

Even the business-matching platform Hong Kong and Asia Film Financing Forum is launching a Chinese language script development award for young filmmakers to get a leg up on entering the Chinese market.

"Hong Kong filmmakers have found a foothold in the Chinese market," says Wellington Fung, Secretary-General of the Hong Kong Film Development Council. "Funding is much easier to find compared with four to five years ago."

It's a sea change from the mid 2000s, when local productions, and, more importantly, local financing, dropped to an all-time-low that forced filmmakers to ask the government for help.

During its four-year operation, the FDC has won the appreciation of filmmakers. Its involvement has become a "stamp of quality" of sorts, evident in the 2010 Berlin Crystal Bear winner Echoes of the Rainbow by director-producer-writer team Alex Law and Mabel Cheung, and last summer's surprise indie hit The Breakup Club, both of which FDC-funded. The publicity followed by Echoes' Berlin accolade and subsequent HK$23 million ($3 million) gross helped make FDC the focal point of local filmmakers as a means to attract other investors. And now it seems that many of the filmmakers, whether veteran or young blood, do not even need the government's help.

Since 2007, the Film Development Fund under the FDC has invested almost HK$40 million ($5 million) in 14 film projects out of the HK$300 million ($38.5 million) the government set aside for the film industry. Although projects with more diversified subject matter are getting FDC investment approval, such as 80s hitmaker Wong Jing, whose new comedy Micro Sex Office received HK$1.7 million ($218,000) from the FDC, it's clear that the organization's main objective is not to co-financing local films. HK$104 million ($13.4 million) has been used to subsidize 54 film-related projects, such as the Hong Kong Film Awards, the Asian Film Awards, sponsorships for filmmakers' participation in overseas film festivals, and even short films representing Hong Kong to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Fung estimates that the rest of the fund would be exhausted in the next three years, and the FDC is open to the question of whether to get more from the government to keep the ball rolling.

"What we need is a conceptual shift, from the investor's point of view of gambling on a film's box office, to creating revenue streams in a series of products," Fung explains. "We have to move from a vertical to a horizontal value chain. We can learn to generate revenue from ancillary products, as is the norm in the U.S. and Europe." To that end, FDC is organizing a symposium called Beyond Box Office to be held on March 22 and 23 alongside the Hong Kong Filmart.

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