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[Hong Kong, 24 February 2010 ] The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) today announced that the 8th HAF, which will be held from 22th to 24th March, 2010, will present a new award dedicated to the memory of the late Wouter BARENDRECHT, the co-founder of the HAF.

The Wouter Barendrecht Award commemorates BARENDRECHT’s contribution to both the HAF and Asian cinema. An internationally renowned film producer and founder of Fortissimo Films, BARENDRECHT was credited with helping a generation of Asian filmmakers such as WONG Kar-wai and IWAI Shunji to reach a global audience.

This new award, worth HK$50,000, will be funded by the Wouter Barendrecht Film Foundation and the Film Development Fund, and will go towards promoting nascent filmmaking talents in Asia. It is open to the HAF projects led by directors who have made less than three films, with the winner selected by the Foundation’s representatives.

This new prize complements the strong line up of awards already available to projects at the HAF. They include:

• The HAF Awards – Awarded to one project from Hong Kong and another from overseas, and this year’s prizes have increased the cash value from last year’s HK$100,000 to HK$150,000 each. The winning projects are selected by the HAF Reading Committee based on the creativity of the scripts. The HAF Awards will be given to two of the 25 selected HAF projects.
• The Technicolor Asia Award – This will be presented by Technicolor Thailand Limited to a project that shows the highest potential for film financing. The project’s director must have directed at least one other film, TV commercial, documentary or TV programme and be willing to undertake post-production in Thailand. The winner will be selected by representatives of Technicolor Thailand Limited.
• Paris Project Award – The winner will be invited by the representative of Paris Cinéma International Film Festival to participate in the Paris Project 2010 with all travel and accommodation expenses covered.

This brings the total number of awards up to five at this year’s HAF. The total value of the five awards is approximately HK$595,000 in cash and value in-kind.

Widely recognised as one of the most important film-financing platforms in Asia, the HAF brings Asian filmmakers with upcoming film projects to Hong Kong for co-production ventures with top film financiers, producers, investors, distributors and buyers. Past HAF Awardees include: Dante LAM, Clara LAW, PANG Ho-cheung, Lawrence GARY and Ann HUI from Hong Kong; NA Hong-jin from Korea; NING Hoa from China; KORE-EDA Hirokazu from Japan; and Royston TAN from Singapore.

The winners of the five awards for the 8th HAF will be announced during the HAF Awards Ceremony on 24th March, 2010 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre during the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (FILMART).

For more HAF alumni projects accomplishments, please visit the official website at http://www.haf.asia.

For further information, media only:

Waggener Edstrom Worldwide 
Tramy Leung, Tel: +852 2907 8812
Vickie Chong, Tel: +852 2578 2116
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The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society
Clifton Kwan, Tel: +852 2102 7362
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