Making a splash

To mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the "Making Waves – Navigators Of Hong Kong Cinema" touring programme will land in Thailand this month.

Presented by Create Hong Kong in collaboration with the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in Bangkok (HKETO Bangkok), with local support from SF Cinema, the Thailand edition of the programme will feature screenings of six films over three consecutive weekends in Bangkok, Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen.

There will also be an exhibition at SF World Cinema's Sky Lobby in Bangkok from July 22-31 showing the works of four Hong Kong photographers, recounting their unique perspectives on the city's cinema.

Actor and director Chiu Sin-hang's inspirational One Second Champion will kick off the programme on July 22 with a personal appearance of Thai co-star Chanon Santinatornkul. Other films include a newly-restored version of Stanley Kwan's timeless classic Rouge; Man Lim-chung's debut documentary Keep Rolling on the iconic Ann Hui; Longmond Leung's biopic Anita on the late superstar Anita Mui; and The First Girl I Loved, a sweet LGBTI romance. To round it all off, actor and producer Gordon Lam will conduct a conversation with the audience live from Hong Kong before the screening of Time, which he also co-wrote.

Deputy director of HKETO Bangkok Michael Ng paid tribute to the diversity of the Making Waves programme while acknowledging SF Group's partnership and all the participating filmmakers.

"We are delighted to be showcasing works by Hong Kong's established and emerging cinematic talents in this edition of the Making Waves programme," Ng said.

Suvannee Chinchiewchan, chief operating officer of SF Corporation, is excited to be working with Create Hong Kong and HKETO Bangkok to bring the Making Waves programme to Thailand. "It has been some time since we last showed this many Hong Kong films in Thailand, with all but one film in the Making Waves programme to be premiered in Thailand," Suvannee enthused.

"After Bangkok, we will be taking Anita, The First Girl I Loved and One Second Champion to Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen."

The Making Waves programme was first launched in Udine, Italy, in April before travelling to Bali and London.

After Bangkok, it will return to Hong Kong in August, before visiting other cities before the end of the year, including Beijing, Sydney, Singapore, Seoul, Stockholm, Shanghai, Honolulu, Tokyo, Prague and Dubai.