Every year, the Macau Cultural Centre (CCM) gives local audiences the chance to view genuinely local productions that it helps to finance through its Local View Power programme. Together with productions with private backing, they comprise the Macau Indies section of the Macau International Film and Video Festival (MIFVF).
Rita Wong, one of the organisers for the Macau Indies, and all the film related activities at CCM, has seen much progress in the local film scene since she took up her position in 2007.
“Filmmakers are getting more serious. They dare to explore other topics rather than just commenting on the changes in Macau,” she notes. “Maybe during the first few years they were more concerned about the city returning to the Mainland, but afterwards they have focused more on other people or matters”.
Many new local productions are focusing on questions relating to the future of Macau’s younger generation.
“People are thinking about their future, most of them are young, especially in this fast-growing society. In the last few years they are seriously talking about their lives and their futures,” she says.
Documentaries are the perfect vehicle to express these fears and hopes, and in 2007 CCM began its Local DocuPower programme aimed at supporting local documentary film productions. In 2012 the criteria was extended to the areas of short films and animation with Local View Power.
This year saw the fifth edition of Local DocuPower, with 37 projects presented. Seven of them, taken from different categories, were endorsed by the jury, and are now being produced.
Apart from the Macao Indies section, the MIFVF is basically only an extension of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. However Rita is keen to point out the selective nature of the films being exhibited.
“You can see films that are of high quality, but they are not totally mainstream. It is not always a Hollywood film, there are films from around the world, with different ideas, not always the same thing – that is what we are trying to promote”.
While further developing and expanding the MIFVF may seem like a natural step for many, Wong’s goal is focused on nurturing local filmmakers and audiences.
“Our main end is still growing the audience, but we want to grow our filmmakers first,” she says. “In Macau there are other international film festivals, at the Venetian for example, but our main objective here is to nurture some real production in Macau.”
Wong says jury members from places such as Hong Kong and Taiwan are surprised at the quality of the non-fiction films being made here, and feels the Macau’s heritage plays a big role in this.
“Macau has such a unique culture, and some of the directors are Portuguese and they have their unique way of seeing Macau, both in an aesthetic sense and also as a way of seeing people from different angles”.
If Wong has a message for aspiring filmmakers in Macau, it is the message of persistence.
“Don’t give up easily because this kind of filmmaking is always a challenge. Like any other type of art form, it is difficult because you are creating something from nothing. Persistence and passion, that is the real challenge”.
