“There’s Less Money Everywhere”: Producers Talk Growing Need To Bridge Asia’s Market-Driven Industry With European Subsidy System – Filmart

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The fact that both Asia and Europe are finding it more difficult to finance movies following the pandemic may drive the two regions to start working together more closely, despite the huge differences in their funding systems, said a group of leading producers on a two-session Filmart panel.

In the first session, the heads of major European funds including France’s CNC, the Austrian Film Institute and Berlin Brandenburg Berlin Film Commission explained Europe’s complex web of subsidy funding, while Gary Mak, Secretary General of the Hong Kong Film Development Council (HKFDC) introduced Hong Kong’s new co-production funding scheme.

Called the ‘Hong Kong-Europe-Asian Film Collaboration Funding Scheme’ the new programme offers grants of up to $1.15M (HK$9M) to feature film projects that combine Hong Kong and other Asian and/or European talent.

The projects don’t have to shoot in Hong Kong or be filmed in one of the city’s official languages, but need to employ a certain proportion of Hong Kong crew. “Hong Kong’s film industry has a tradition of working with different cultures, but that’s become less prominent over the past few decades, so we wanted to provide an incentive to encourage filmmakers to look beyond Hong Kong,” said Mak. “We have many new filmmakers, but they’re stuck in their local culture and don’t have much exposure to different film festivals, so we hope through time they’ll have a chance to work with different cultures.” In the second session, a group of producers experienced in international co-production talked about the opportunities and challenges in co-producing within the Asia Pacific region and between Asia and Europe.