Macau Film Festival invited to ‘Fantastic 7’ squad

The world-renowned Cannes Film Festival of France has invited the International Film Festival & Awards – Macao (IFFAM) and six famous film festivals from different regions of the world to become the co-operation of film festivals known as the “Fantastic 7”. 

Fantastic 7 is a newly launched project of Cannes Film Festival, counting the participation of seven other film festivals from different regions of the world. 

During the 72nd Cannes Film Festival, each participating entity showcased a start-up project to film industry professionals from around the globe. Representing IFFAM, a local film project “Wonderland”, which received the Macau Spirit Award at IFFAM last year, was presented at the pitching session. Director of the Macau film project, Chao Koi Wang, producer Tingting Huang, together with IFFAM Head of Industry Office, June Wu, and member of the International Advisory Board, Michael J. Werner, participated in the related activities during the Cannes Film Festival.

The other six film festivals invited for Fantastic 7 this year are Sitges-International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia, Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, Festival Internacional de Cine de Guadalajara, SXSW South by Southwest Film Festival, and the Toronto International Film Festival TIFF.

Meanwhile, the Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association, one of the co-organizers of IFFAM, is partnering with the world-famous TorinoFilmLab (FL) this year to launch a Macao-TorinoFilmLab training program, “Script & Creative Production Workshop”. Local young film talents who have the potential to create outstanding film projects are invited to join the film program, which provides opportunities for participants to exchange and interact with international film professionals.

In April, the organizer of the program openly recruited new film projects in Macau, finally selecting “Falling King of Jai-Alai” (Director/Screenwriter: Oliver Fa /Producer: Fernando Lourenço), “The Big Circle” (Director/Screenwriter: Maxim Bessemrtnyi /Producer: Jorge Cordeiro dos Santos) and “The Rainbow Sky” (Director/Screenwriter: David Tan /Producer: Chan Pou Sam). The three selected teams are entitled to take the join the program’s two phases in Italy from June 7 to 11, and from November 18 to 23.

The first phase of the training includes script creation. During the writing process, the teams will be able to discuss their works with film industry experts in order to develop their skills.  The main content of the second phase includes creative development and production, pitching, audience design, sales and distribution, financing and post-production.

The 4th edition of the International Film Festival & Awards – Macao will be held from December 5 to 10, 2019.

Since its launch in 2016, the Organizing Committee has been striving to attain international status for the film festival and establish it as a world-renowned event. The Committee said it continues to work toward forging IFFAM into a prestigious brand in the world and introduce world-class exchange opportunities to local cultural and creative industry professionals.

Through these efforts, the Committee also hopes to steer the city’s tourism industry development, and further raise Macau’s international profile.

“It is a great honor for IFFAM to be invited to be part of Fantastic 7,” a statement from the Organizing Committee read. “This opportunity promises to enhance the strengths of IFFAM continuously and fuels its progress on the international stage.” DB