Filmart 2010

Festival fun with friends from far and wide

If there's anything that gives you confidence in the local film industry, its the great energy that surrounds the annual Hong Kong Film Festival and the Filmart (aka Film Market). Its great that the two events are now staged simultaneously, along with the glitzy Asian Film Awards.  If they could just move the Hong Kong Film Awards to around the same time, it would be a one stop shop for our friends and fans from around the world.

Filmart is always work and play for me: there's always multiple meetings (at the same time!), but also the chance to catch up with old friends. I met up with Donnie Yen backstage at the Ip Man 2 press conference. We've been best friends for years, but he's so crazy busy, as am I!, we hardly see each other these days. He's in fine form, and the movie looks just amazing. Wing Chun VS Hung Gar! I can't wait...

I got my son Ryan in to the Filmart to look around and get a taste of the business. (He says he wants to work in the industry, the young fool!). Of course, there's a rule that no-one under 18 is allowed in (way to encourage kids to think of cinema as a career...). My assistant Christine tried the old "he is 18, he's just short for his age" routine on the staff, but we finally had to rely on the charm of Michael Wong to get Ryan in.

Once inside, Ryan got to walk the floor, and we ran into my old friend Chapman To. (We worked on the 'Fist Of Fury' TV series together.)

Michael Wong and I are working on a project at the moment, and it was great to reunite him with his First/Final Option director Gordon Chan. Its strange, Hong Kong is so small, but we hardly ever run into each other!

Glitzily attended, appallingly scripted, run with Germanic precision, best after party of the season... The Asian Film Awards is a study in contrasts. I always have a good time, and its great to see so many Asian, rather than just Chinese, film-makers all in Hong Kong under one roof.

I was delighted to see Nic Tse win for Bodyguards and Assassins. I did his first major film, Gen-X Cops, with him, and he's always been a great guy off screen, and slightly underrated on it. Also, my dear friend Lu Chuan won for City of Life and Death, the one true Chinese masterpiece of recent vintage. I saw him the next day. You were in the audience?, he quipped. You should have brought me a bouqet! (Now that would have set tongues wagging...)

At the after party, I met the lovely Leslie Han, one of the events three lady MCs. I'm a producer, I tell her. "I love producers!", she gushes. He's a very funny guy, says Leslie's manager, who I've known forever. "I love funny guys!", says Han.  I see great things ahead for this gal...

The next day, I run in to the great Wai Ying-hung at the Filmart. She won a much deserved prize for her dramatic performance in At the End of Daybreak. Of course, I've been a fan of hers since her days at Shaw Bros, where she stole the show in films like My Young Auntie and Martial Club. I released the classic Dirty Ho (Best. Title. Ever) on the Dragon Dynasty label in the US, and the last time I saw her we filmed an interviewfor that DVD. I'd love it if she played a role in 'Beach Spike!', but, after her awards run, we probably can't afford her. Anyway, she still looks stunning, and she gave me her number. I have the digits of the girl from 'Lady is the Boss'. How cool is that...?