Arts Festival tickets on sale now, short-films fest opens

The box office for this year’s Macao Arts Festival (FAM) is now open simultaneously at the Macau Ticketing outlets, by telephone and via online booking.

Themed “Wondrous Encounters,” this year’s festival, between May 3 and June 7, will feature 19 selected events covering theater, Chinese opera, dance, circus, music and visual arts.

As the first festival after a full year of post-pandemic normalcy, this year’s is the 34th festival and it focuses on a post-modern remake of several classical art pieces.

Opening the festival is “Jungle Book” reimagined, an adaptation of the classic The Jungle Book, written by Nobel Laureate in Literature Rudyard Kipling.

The “reimagination” is a dance theater produced by British dancer and choreographer Akram Khan and team. It aims at inspiring the public to ponder the survival crisis of humanity from a child’s perspective.

To close the festival is a Sino-Portuguese Concert, in which Portuguese pop rock band Capitão Fausto will share the limelight with David Huang, who is an expert in melding Western and Asian flavors.

They will jointly create wonderful moments of Sino-Portuguese cultural exchange with their distinctive music.

The contemporary ballet, “Sleeping Beauty,” presented by Spanish National Dance Award winner Marcos Morau and the Lyon Opera Ballet from France, will try to reshape the public’s imagination.

The festival also includes a series of local productions, such as “A Star is Arriving” by Dóci Papiaçám di Macau Drama Group, “Frankenstein/Creatures” by Space for Acting and “Impression of Iec Long” by The Funny Old Tree Theatre Ensemble.

THE ‘SHORTS’ IN FULL STEAM

The First Macao International Shorts Film Festival opened Saturday and will run until March 30.

The Shorts Film Festival features four sections of screenings, namely “Macao Shorts,” “New Voices from Horizon,” “Director in Focus” and “Special Screenings”.

During the event, over 50 short films from different genres will be screened at the Galaxy Cinemas of Galaxy Macau and Cinematheque.Passion.

The closing and award ceremony will be held March 29 at the Galaxy International Convention Center.

Ten shortlisted short films in the section “Macao Shorts” will compete for the “Best Macao Short” Award.

In the section “New Voices from Horizon,” 26 works from across the world will compete for four awards, namely the “Best Short Film,” the “Best Technical Contribution Award,” the “Best Director Award” and the “Innovative Storytelling Award”.

The section “Director in Focus” of the Shorts Film Festival features renowned Japanese director Shunji Iwai, who will come to Macau to share his creative experiences with the public.

In the section “Special Screening,” Hong Kong actor Will Or and director of the film “Fly Me To The Moon,” Sasha Chuk Tsz-yin will hold post-screening talks, offering audiences a deeper viewing experience.