- Senior industry figures speaking to film authorities about reducing barriers to southern China market
- Move aims to revitalise Hong Kong cinema, but others warn it risks compromising artistic integrity
Hong Kong could revive its film industry, once dubbed the Hollywood of the Far East, with talks underway to help Cantonese cinema break into the Greater Bay Area, senior officials have told the Post.
Wilfred Wong Ying-wai, the chairman of Hong Kong Film Development Council chairman, revealed his organisation and major industry players had been in talks with mainland China's film authorities over removing barriers restricting them from exploiting the lucrative market over the border.
The move falls under the Chinese government's development plan for the Greater Bay Area, bringing Hong Kong and 10 other southern cities together as a technology-driven economic powerhouse.
Meanwhile, Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Edward Yau Tang-wah said the city's film industry was viable and more opportunities rested on the near 70 million population within the bay area scheme.
"The market is largely Cantonese speaking and its culture is close to Hong Kong," Yau said. "It can serve as Hong Kong's immediate market and a production base."
However, there was concern about the impact on artistic integrity and freedom from local filmmakers trying to get their work past the mainland censors.
Cultural critic Jimmy Pang Chi-ming said everyday images, such as those of Winnie the Pooh, could "turn out to be taboo" on the mainland.
Hong Kong has been losing its crown as Asia's Cantonese movie hub since the 1990s, when it produced about 400 films a year, compared with 53 in each of 2017 and 2018.
The decline was attributed to the changing tastes of a younger audience and brain drains.
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Despite its past glory, filmmaking is part of Hong Kong's cultural and creative industries that accounted for 4.4 per cent of the city's total gross domestic product in 2017 and grew 2 per cent in 2017 year-on-year, based on the government's latest statistics.
The industries employed 213,400 people, or 5.6 per cent of the city's 3.82 million total payrolls.
Under funding aid for the industry since 2007, the government has subsidised 60 film projects, which supported 40 new directors and led to the winning of 110 awards.
Yau said fresh support was given to the industry through the government's injection of HK$1 billion (US$127 million) into the city's film development fund in May, whereas Beijing had torn down barriers for filmmakers to produce across the border.
"We are thinking about how to make the distribution and vetting process easier and quicker for Kong Kong movies to get into the Greater Bay Area," Wong, of the Film Development Council, said in an interview with the Post.
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Wong, who took the helm in April this year, said local filmmakers needed to translate a Cantonese script into Mandarin and submit it to Beijing authorities in order to screen Cantonese-speaking movies on the mainland.
They faced delays because applications were usually placed in long queues with other types of films.
The process of converting a Cantonese script into Mandarin took time and money and was only done to secure screening approval, he explained.
"If Guangdong province is allowed to conduct the vetting process for those Cantonese films which seek screenings only in the Greater Bay Area without the need of a Mandarin script, then the cost of production will be reduced," Wong said.
"The distribution and the approval process will be simpler and quicker as the Guangdong authorities only deal with one queue."
Wong believed this distribution model would greatly help small to medium budget Hong Kong movies thrive in the lucrative Cantonese market of the Greater Bay Area.
For those Hong Kong films which eyed the wider national market, they still needed to go through the vetting process in Beijing, he said.
"Guangdong audience love to watch Cantonese movies … We've raised this idea to the Beijing film authorities and they are very positive about it," he said.
Wong said they would work out the details and submit them to the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau for an official negotiation with the Beijing authorities under the mainland-Hong Kong's closer economic partnership agreement framework.
"If this supporting measure is implemented, I believe many mainland investors will be lured to invest in Hong Kong productions," he said.
Tenky Tin Kai-man, chairman of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers, supported the proposal for turning the Greater Bay Area into a hub for Cantonese movies, calling on the mainland authorities to provide comprehensive policy support for local filmmakers and investors.
"We also hope to see certain regulations being relaxed. For example, is it possible to allow Hongkongers to wholly own a cinema in the bay area, or a Hong Kong firm to hold a licence for film distribution?" he asked.
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He also called for a clear taxation rule that would allow Hong Kong film staff or companies working in the Greater Bay Area to pay Hong Kong tax only, instead of over 40 per cent on the mainland.
Veteran film producer John Chong Ching agreed, saying the government should actively push for the development of Cantonese movies in the bay area.
"Hong Kong movies have an edge in the mainland market such as the cops and gangsters movies. The government should resolve the taxation problem and help Cantonese movies develop in the bay area," he said.
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