CUT, the former operator of the government-owned Cinematheque•Passion, said in a statement on Wednesday that it will hold a film day on Sunday with live music, an exhibition and screenings of two short films – This is Not the End and À Bout de Cinémathèque (“At the End of Cinémathèque”).
Headed by local filmmaker Albert Chu Iao Ian, CUT lost its bid to continue running the cinema near the Ruins of Saint Paul’s after its three-year contract with the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) ended.
CUT won the tender for commercial operation of the cinema four years ago with MOP 24.95 million. The bureau ran a fresh round of tendering, and CUT had the highest bid at MOP 34.6 million, an increase of 38.6 per cent.
It lost out to Companhia de Produção de Entretenimento e Cultura, which won the tender with an offer to run the cinema for MOP 15.2 million for the three-year period, 56 per cent lower than CUT’s bid. The new company will officially reopen the cinema with a film festival on Tuesday.
The CUT statement said that the event, titled “Keep Roll with CUT Film Day”, will take place at the Oriental Foundation – Casa Garden on Sunday, “specially curated for local film buffs”.
According to the statement, the event will begin with the opening of an “Exhibition on Film Aesthetic” in the ground floor gallery at 5 pm, followed by “Macao Films Music Concert” in the garden at 7:30 pm to 8:10 pm, after which there will be an outdoor screening of two short films at 9:30 pm to 10:10 pm.
Directed by Hong Kong’s Chan Kam-hei, This is Not the End tells the story of a 16-year-old who trains to be a hurdler despite his height limiting his performance. The 26-minute piece won Best Screenplay at the 14th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival in Hong Kong recently.
The CUT statement said that À Bout de Cinémathèque was directed by local film curator Penny Lam Kin Kuan, with no further information provided about the film.
The screening will mark the Macao première of both films. The event is free of charge, and the exhibition runs until 13 September.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © Macao Cultural and Creative Industries
