Macau’s Festival of Young Cinema Kicks Off Debut Edition With Appeal for Cultural Exchange

Patrick Frater
·2 min read
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“I don’t find the definition of Chinese filmmakers by generation to be a useful tool,” said Marco Mueller, introducing dark satire “The Movie Emperor” as the opening film of the first edition of his Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau on Friday. “Much more interesting is the concept of exchange between new and old and between East and West.”

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“The new forces of Chinese cinema are present and participating. More than 100 young filmmakers will have the opportunity to meet and interact with names including Amir Naderi, Aleksei German Jr and Yonfan,” Mueller continued. While Macau is these days best known for its high-tech casinos, the former Portuguese colony has long been a venue for international cultural exchange and retains ambitions to restore some of that diversity.

Along with screenings of 27 films and 17 works in progress, masterclasses and on-stage dialogs are a key educational tool on offer at the new festival’s so-called Year Zero edition. The festival runs Jan. 5-11 making use of the Emperor Cinemas multiplex and the Lisboeta Hotel in Macau’s Taipa district.

Presentations will be held by Russia’s German Jr, Hong Kong’s Yonfan, The Philippines’ Lav Diaz and Japan’s Hamaguchi Ryusuke (“Evil Does Not Exist”) and Tsukamoto Shinya. India’s Anurag Kashyap, Italy’s Gabriele Mainetti, Mainland China’s Li Dongmei and Taiwan’s Lee Hong-chi will be involved in two-handed stage talks.

Ning Hao, “The Movie Emperor’s” director, who has worked in art-house and commercial registers, would have been a useful addition, but suffered transport delays and settled for a post-screening question and answer session.

Films screening include: Kashyap’s “Kennedy,” Lee’s “Love Is a Gun,” Yonfan’s restored sex comedy “Bugis Street,” German Jr’s “Air,” Wang Bing’s documentary opus “Youth (Spring)” and five Hamaguchi titles, including “Drive My Car” and “Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy.”

The festival’s opening ceremony was brisk and breezy, with a handful of speeches in Mandarin and English, followed by a simple ribbon-cutting ceremony.

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