Local crime thriller “Foreign Cop”, directed by Maxim Bessmertny and produced by Bessmertny and Jorge Cordeiro dos Santos, was among the seven films that formed this years’ Fantastic 7, a Cannes Market initiative, the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) said in a statement on Tuesday.
IFFAM is jointly organised by the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) and the Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association.
According to the statement, it is the second year that Macau has joined the initiative, and this year it took place online on 22–26 June.
On Cannes Film Festival’s website, Fantastic 7 is an initiative of Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes, Sitges – International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia and international expert Bernardo Bergeret.
The initiative presents seven “fantastic” genre projects from seven different festivals and fosters emerging talents and connects them with potential business partners by creating a privileged space for dialogue and exchange.
IFFAM joined Sitges, Bucheon International Film Festival, Cairo International Film Festival, Festival Internacional de Cine en Guadalajara, South by Southwest and Toronto International Film Festival in the festival lineup.
Each festival endorsed a project, which was presented during a pitching session held last Wednesday at the Marché du Film Online, and professionals interested in the projects organised meetings with project creators in speed meetings on 26 June.
The project that IFFAM put forward this year is titled “Foreign Cop”.
According to the statement, the crime thriller, which is currently in development, is set in 1980 Macao “where gangsters, cabaret dancers, and slot machines coexist in an exciting atmosphere of neon lights, kitsch architecture and early consumer electronics.” The “foreign cop” in the film is a private investigator from Portugal by the name of “Mendonza” (the Spanish spelling of the surname spelt Mendonça in Portuguese) who has been hired by a casino boss to catch the perpetrators of the city’s biggest casino heist.
The statement did not elaborate on the result of the pitching session or if there had been speed meetings for “Foreign Cop”.
The statement also said that IFFAM would take place on 3–8 December this year with the theme “A Celebration Of Life & The Big Screen” that will have a full programme of features and shorts, as well as a specially curated section devoted to a selection of films that define the out-of-home “big screen” experience.
(The Macau Post Daily/Macau News)
PHOTO © IFFAM
