This year’s International Film Festival & Awards • Macao (IFFAM) will be taking place digitally from 3-8 December where all 31 movies will be streamed online, a statement from the event’s organiser said on Tuesday.
The event, in its fifth edition this year, is jointly organised by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and the Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association (MFTPA), which is headed by Alvin Chau Cheok Wa, who is also CEO and director of junket operator Suncity Group.
According to the statement, the festival will honour Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda with the festival’s “Spirit of Cinema” during the awards ceremony to be held online on 8 December.
The festival’s programme shows that 11 feature films from around the world will be screened in the competition and Chinese film director, producer and screenwriter Ning Hao will be the president of a jury with members comprising Mattie Do (Laos), Nina Hoss (Germany), Eric Khoo (Singapore) and Albert Lee Nga-Bok (Hong Kong). The Best Film award will be cash prize of US$60,000 (MOP 478,700).
The Shorts Competition will comprise 10 shorts, and the jury president for this category will be Jia Fu (China), Mathilde Henrot (France) and Johnny Ma (China/Canada).
Other categories include the “Flying Daggers” featuring films of the latest style of genre cinema, and the “World Panorama” celebrating directors and award-winning films from major international film festivals.
The “Special Presentations” will include Chinese blockbuster My People My Homeland, French animated film Calamity and Japanese comedy Tonkatsu DJ Agetaro, documentary 76 Days about the struggles of frontline medical professionals battling COVID-19 in Wuhan, and short film A Dream of A Lifetime about Hong Kong athlete Alex Fong Lik-sun’s 45km charity swimming challenge.
There will also be an “In Conversations” session with renowned filmmakers and actors online, which will be available for free, and an “IFFAM Project Market” that will present 14 projects digitally with members of the global industry.
People will be able to watch the festival’s films on Shift72 online video streaming platform for 24 to 48 hours after rental, and rental tickets will go on sale on Friday from 11 am. However, neither the statement nor the IFFAM website says how much each ticket costs. A list of films is now on the IFFAM website.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macao News)
PHOTO © International Film Festival & Awards • Macao
