Opening film PADDINGTON 2

Part live-action, part CGI animation, this heartwarming tale of a Peruvian bear in London picks up where its crowd-pleasing 2014 prequel left off, with the title character happily settled with an English family in Windsor Gardens. It is based on the Paddington Bear stories by children’s author Michael Bond, who appeared in the first movie before passing away in June 2017.

After the events of the first film, Paddington (voiced by Ben Whishaw) has become a pillar of his community. He takes on odd jobs for money to buy his aunt a pop-up book for her 100th birthday, but is framed and jailed when the book is stolen from the shop. Over the course of the film, Paddington befriends the inmates and reforms the prison while his family fights to prove his innocence.

British director Paul King pulls double duty as screenwriter alongside Simon Farnaby. King works in television, film and theatre, and brings a deft comedic touch to the Paddington movies, the first of which earned him two nominations at the BAFTA Film Awards.

King previously directed all three series of BBC Three comedy “The Mighty Boosh”, for which he was nominated as Best New Director at the 2004 BAFTAs. He wrote and directed “Bunny and the Bull”, his first feature film, in 2009. The film stars Simon Farnaby and Edward Hogg with cameo appearances by Noel Fielding, Julian Barratt and King’s former Cambridge classmate, Richard Ayoade.

New artistic director and team

Mike Goodridge will succeed Macau Government Tourism Office director Helena de Senna Fernandes as IFFAM’s artistic director, following her replacement of Marco Müller last year.

The ex-journalist and former CEO of Protagonist Pictures – a London-based film financing, production and distribution house – wants IFFAM to “cook up a feast of world cinema” and “shine a spotlight on young filmmakers” to grow Macau as an entertainment hub.

Goodridge worked at Screen International US for almost 20 years, including a stint as editor. He has programmed the Sarajevo Film Festival’s Kinoscope section since 2011, and sat on more than 25 international film festival juries in addition to writing several books.

Returning as head of festival management is pan-Asian producer and consultant Lorna Tee, who has worked with global film companies and festivals for over 10 years. Tee is the director of CinemAsia Film Festival (the Netherlands) and the Asian representative of Back Up Media Group (France).

This year’s five programming consultants are veterans of the international film festival circuit. The team comprises Giovanna Fulvi, IFFAM 2016 judge and Asian cinema expert; Fionnuala Halligan, Screen International UK’s Reviews Editor; Violeta Bava, Latin American consultant for the Venice International Film Festival; arts journalist Aseem Chhabra, director of the New York Indian Film Festival; and Japanese producer Hiromi Aihara.

Rounding out the team is Head of Industry June Wu, founder of Taiwan-based film distributor Ablaze Image.

RULES & REGULATIONS

● IFFAM’s Official Selection comprises eight categories, curated by the Artistic Director and a team of international consultants.

● Except for films in the retrospective categories, submissions must not have been screened to public audiences before January 1, 2017.

● An international jury of five to seven industry leaders decides competition winners.

● There will be no joint winners and no submission can receive more than one award, but the final decision rests with the jury.

● The Artistic Director will recommend nominees for the Career Achievement award to the Organizing Committee.

All submissions must display the IFFAM logo and mention any prizes received.

● Non-English films must have English or Chinese subtitles for all languages and/or Chinese dialects. 

THIS SUPPLEMENT IS SPONSORED BY MGTO