IFFAM 2019 | Festival opens with praised black comedy, focus on Macau’s own productions

The 4th International Film Festival & Awards – Macao is set to open in December with a black comedy film. Jojo Rabbit will kick off the annual festival, which will screen the highest number of Macau productions ever.
Jojo Rabbit is a satirical black comedy film and a screen adaptation of Christine Leunens’ novel, Caging Skies. The story is set against the backdrop of the Second World War, about a young German boy facing various disputes in those times of turbulence.
Set to be held from December 5 to 10, this year’s talent ambassadors are Hong Kong’s Carina Lau and Korean star, Suho.
However, organizers have said that they are set to announce a European talent ambassador in the next two weeks, without dropping a hint.
In a press conference held yesterday, organizers announced that this edition will present a section titled “20th Anniversary Macao Special Presentations,” where a selection of local films will be screened in this non-competitive section.
This section includes Ina and The Blue Tiger Sauna, Let’s Sing, Patio of Illusion, Strings of Sorrow and Years of Macao, to bring local film productions onto the stage, as well as to highlight the city’s film industry professionals.
Special Presentations will include a drama film named A City Called Macau. Directed by Li Shaohong, the film unfolds against the backdrop of Macau.
“We will be screening movies at the Black Box Theatre [of Old Court Building] for the first time. We have various competitions this year, which is why we need more screening venues,” said the Macao Government Tourism Office’s director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes.
“In the past, we just had one award with something related to the [New Chinese Cinema Competition], but now we have more awards for that category. These are our new added elements,” she added.
Continuing to showcase the best of Asian and international cinema, the program includes 10 films in the International Competition, including Bombay Rose, which opened Critics’ Week at the 2019 Venice Film Festival, and Buoyancy, which won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury during Berlinale.
The film festival will feature a series of sections, including opening and closing films; three competition sections such as New Chinese Cinema and Shorts Competition; six non-competition sections including World Panorama, Flying Daggers, Gala, and Director’s Choice, among other sections in the program.
Meanwhile, IFFAM artistic director Mike Goodridge said that they are still set to announce seven more films in the next two weeks.
“I’m thrilled with the competition; 10 really distinct and unique films and I’m really thrilled about the jury with Peter Chan and Cristian Mungiu. I feel like we’re getting a lot of traction from people who want to come here and interact with the Macau [directors] and regional film directors,” said the artistic director.
Goodridge intimated that there were festival attendees who were quite concerned about the ongoing social unrest in Hong Kong.
However, he hoped that the unrest would not impact the number of visitors to the festival.
“We want to just carry on with our festival and make sure we’re not affected,” he said.
The budget for the festival is similar to previous years, amounting to 55 million patacas.