I've returned from Hong Kong last night, but I'll chronicle the last day of my trip there.
19th of March began early because I had to rush to the HK Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC) for the KURUS (Days of the Turquoise Sky) screening at 10am. Despite being really early, and neither of the booths at Filmart were open, I managed to invite a few FINAS representatives to watch the film with me. Really appreciated their support, and was happy to have new friends like them.
Once the screening was over, I started exploring the Filmart, and had the opportunity to meet other film producers and film festival programmers. It took me a while before I realized that I didn't manage to take any photos the day before, so I immediately snapped some quick ones of the impressive-looking booths of the event.
The Red Cliff posters looked cool.
So does Painted Skin, the 4th Wilson Yip-directed Donnie Yen-starrer.
It would turn out that I didn't really take any photos of myself except for one below, when a friendly booth girl I was chatting with suggested that we should take a photo together.
While we chatted, she suggested to me that I should go to the Ladies' Street in Mong Kok to buy souvenirs and stuff. I ended up really doing that right after the HAF Awards Ceremony. HAF is where filmmakers and producers pitch their projects and hope they can get funding. The one who ended up winning for the most promising project is one of my new heroes of HK cinema, Edmond Pang:
Would've wanted to take a photo with him which I can name 'Edmund and Edmond', but didn't have the chance.
I left HKCEC right after the ceremony, foregoing the chance to watch Hong Sang Soo's NIGHT AND DAY because I decide that I need to explore HK more as my time there was short. And I needed to buy souvenirs as well.
Before taking the MTR at the Causeway Bay station below Times Square shopping mall, I did what many suggested. Try out the Krispy Kreme donuts.
I did.
It was bloody awesome.
And I then made my way to Mong Kok, the atmospheric place famous for being portrayed in countless HK triad films, like YOUNG AND DANGEROUS, AS TEARS GO BY, ONE NITE IN MONGKOK etc.
I had been to Mong Kok during my previous trips in HK, but never at night. So I had never been to the LADIES' STREET, which really reminds me of the night markets I went to in Taiwan, and Petaling Street.
Navigating through the sea of humanity in Mong Kok was quite a chore, the streets were swarmed with people, unsurprising, according to Guinness World Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world (mean 130,000 per km2). Managed to buy lots of stuff for other people, but needed to do lots of haggling. Happy to finally get myself a new paper fan (yes, I'm actually a collector of paper fans and tend to carry one around during a shoot).
Left Hong Kong the next day with a heavy heart, hope it won't take another six years for me to return. At the airport, as I headed to my gate, I saw jazz musicians and two women dressed up as bunnies giving out Easter eggs.
Would be cool if there were more bunny women in the airport, and that they don't appear only during Easter's.
19th of March began early because I had to rush to the HK Convention and Exhibition Center (HKCEC) for the KURUS (Days of the Turquoise Sky) screening at 10am. Despite being really early, and neither of the booths at Filmart were open, I managed to invite a few FINAS representatives to watch the film with me. Really appreciated their support, and was happy to have new friends like them.
Once the screening was over, I started exploring the Filmart, and had the opportunity to meet other film producers and film festival programmers. It took me a while before I realized that I didn't manage to take any photos the day before, so I immediately snapped some quick ones of the impressive-looking booths of the event.
The Red Cliff posters looked cool.
So does Painted Skin, the 4th Wilson Yip-directed Donnie Yen-starrer.
It would turn out that I didn't really take any photos of myself except for one below, when a friendly booth girl I was chatting with suggested that we should take a photo together.
While we chatted, she suggested to me that I should go to the Ladies' Street in Mong Kok to buy souvenirs and stuff. I ended up really doing that right after the HAF Awards Ceremony. HAF is where filmmakers and producers pitch their projects and hope they can get funding. The one who ended up winning for the most promising project is one of my new heroes of HK cinema, Edmond Pang:
Would've wanted to take a photo with him which I can name 'Edmund and Edmond', but didn't have the chance.
I left HKCEC right after the ceremony, foregoing the chance to watch Hong Sang Soo's NIGHT AND DAY because I decide that I need to explore HK more as my time there was short. And I needed to buy souvenirs as well.
Before taking the MTR at the Causeway Bay station below Times Square shopping mall, I did what many suggested. Try out the Krispy Kreme donuts.
I did.
It was bloody awesome.
And I then made my way to Mong Kok, the atmospheric place famous for being portrayed in countless HK triad films, like YOUNG AND DANGEROUS, AS TEARS GO BY, ONE NITE IN MONGKOK etc.
I had been to Mong Kok during my previous trips in HK, but never at night. So I had never been to the LADIES' STREET, which really reminds me of the night markets I went to in Taiwan, and Petaling Street.
Navigating through the sea of humanity in Mong Kok was quite a chore, the streets were swarmed with people, unsurprising, according to Guinness World Records, Mong Kok has the highest population density in the world (mean 130,000 per km2). Managed to buy lots of stuff for other people, but needed to do lots of haggling. Happy to finally get myself a new paper fan (yes, I'm actually a collector of paper fans and tend to carry one around during a shoot).
Left Hong Kong the next day with a heavy heart, hope it won't take another six years for me to return. At the airport, as I headed to my gate, I saw jazz musicians and two women dressed up as bunnies giving out Easter eggs.
Would be cool if there were more bunny women in the airport, and that they don't appear only during Easter's.
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