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Asia Insider

Marco Mueller Launching Asia-Europe Young Cinema Festival and Film Market in Macau

Marco Mueller, the veteran film festival curator and director, is set to launch a new festival and market inMacau. It will have its first edition in January.TheAsiaEurope Young Cinema Festival, running Jan. 511, will operate as a bridge between the mainland China markets and audiences and the production and sales industries behind arthouse cinema from Europe and other parts of Asia. Industry and public functions will be evenly matched.To be held at highend venues, some with ensuite screening rooms, the industry side will be built around presentations of footage and trailers from the upcoming slates of some 30 European and Asian film sales companies. The industryfocused audience will comprise representatives from around 20 mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwanese film distributors, as well as delegates from several major European festivals.Mueller has also booked 15 masterclass presentations by major directors, including Hamaguchi Ryusuke (“Evil Does Not Exist”), Luca Guadagnino (“Call Me by Your Name”) and Amir Naderi (“Vegas: Based on a True Story”).For the public and industry alike, the festival will also program a series of completed films that have not received mainland Chinese distribution, as well as some works in progress. The target audience is expected to be mainland Chinese cinephiles, students and a sprinkling of filmgoers from nearby Hong Kong.In order to spearhead the AsiaEurope Young Cinema Festival, Mueller, who is these days based in Shanghai, has had to amicably end his relationship with thePingyao International Film Festival,run by mainland Chinese filmmaker and longtime ally Jia Zhangke.Macau (also written Macao), a former Portuguese colony that returned to full Chinese control in 1999, is the only place in China where casinos are legal. Since its handover, Macau has become the world’s gambling capital. Its preCOVID gambling turnover was significantly higher than that of Las Vegas.Having reclaimed land from the seas and built huge architectural novelties, the tiny territory is now attempting to diversify beyond gambling, attract nongambling tourism and stress its cultural and historical heritage. On the mouth of the Pearl River, Macau was a significant EastWest meeting point for trade and religion long before near neighbor Hong Kong fell to the British at the beginning of the 19thcentury, and was developed as the region’s predominant commercial and financial hub.Mueller, whose track record includes leading positions at festivals in Locarno, Rome, Venice and Beijing, views the new festival as an attempt to build Macau as a “hospitable meeting point” between the East and West, between China and other parts of Asia, and between the film industry and upscale audiences. “It has long been my dream to build Macau as a cultural paradise for the cinephile population,” he toldVariety.Mueller was previously among the founders of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) that debuted in 2016, but he resigned due to creative differences before the first edition got under way. The IFFAM closed its doors after five editions, following a completely online festival in December 2020.The new festival is backed by the Macau government, various commercial sponsors and the Association for the International Promotion of ChineseLanguage Film, a Macau organization financed by Mainlandinvestors.The lineup for the first edition of the AsiaEurope Young Cinema Festival will be announced in early December.Article by Patrick Frater Variety Nov 23, 2023 Picture by Getty Images

11.24.2023

India Increases Film Production Incentives to 40%, Raises Cap to $3.5 Million

Indiahas considerably enhancedincentivesfor filming in the country. The Indian federal government will reimburse up to 40% of qualifying production expenditure, up from the 30% level that was announced when the incentives wererevealed at Cannes last year.The cap limit for the reimbursement has also been significantly raised from a maximum of INR25 million ($300,000) to INR300 million ($3.5 million). There is now an additional 5% rebate bonus for significant Indian content.International productions that have been granted shooting permission by India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Ministry of External Affairs (for xdocumentaries only) since April 1, 2022 will be eligible for this incentive scheme. The incentives will be disbursed in two stages, interim and final. The final disbursement claim can be made once the project is complete in India. Incentives will be provided on the recommendation of a socalled Special Incentive Evaluation Committee. The Film Facilitation Office set up under the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) is executing this incentive scheme. Announcing the enhanced incentives at the opening of the 54th International Film Festival of India, Goa, India’s Minister for Information and BroadcastingAnurag Thakursaid: “This paradigm shift in incentivizing film production serves as a testament to India’s commitment and support for artistic expression and reinforces our position as a preferred destination for cinematic endeavors.”“This step will give further impetus to India’s efforts to attract medium and bigbudget international film projects to the country. The announcement is also part of the efforts to streamline foreign film productions and to ensure ease of doing business in India,” the ministry added in a statement.At the festival opening, Bollywood star Madhuri Dixit was recognized for her contribution to Indian cinema in the presence of several of her industry colleagues including Sunny Deol, Karan Johar, Shahid Kapoor, Shriya Saran, Nushratt Bharucha, Pankaj Tripathi, Shantanu Moitra, Shreya Ghoshal, and Sukhwinder Singh.Earlier, at the inauguration of the Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest film market, Google country head Sanjay Gupta, Thakur and NFDC MD Prithul Kumar launched an online exhibition on Hindilanguage cinema, which includes 120 curated stories, 5,000 images and more than 1,500 videos, posters and songs. Article by Naman Ramachandran, Variety Nov 20, 2023 Picture by IFFI

11.24.2023