A new year, and indeed a new decade is upon us, and one thing we can be fairly certain of living here in Macau, is that it is going to bring lots of colourful and exciting cultural and artistic events, as well as plenty of opportunities to enjoy luxurious experiences. And CLO- SER is very pleased to bring you lots of great coverage along the way.
One of the first major cultural events every year in the city is The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival, which will present its ninth edition in March. This year’s Festival is based around the theme of Storytelling, and will invite a number of talented guests including writers, artists and musicians to participate.
In our Closer Look section we speak with two of the visiting guests at this year’s The Script Road: Portuguese Fado singer Ana Moura, and Chinese-Tibetan film di- rector Pema Tseden.
As well as previewing the Macau Literary Festival in this issue, we also take a look back at the very successful International Film Festival and Awards Macau (IFFAM), which took place at the end of last year. We interview Festival director Mike Goodridge, as well as visiting Chinese directors Li Shaohong and Qiu Yang. We also catch up with one of the Festival’s talent ambassadors, acclaimed French actress Juliette Binoche, and speak with a number of local directors about their collabora- tion in the 20 Years of Macau film project presented at the event.
Over in Portugal, we meet up with Macau-based photographer and lawyer, João Miguel Barros, who has curated the latest exhibition of works by Guilherme Ung Vai Meng and Chan Hin Io, (De)Construction of Memory, currently on display at Berardo Museum in Lisbon.
In our Gourmet section, we enjoy some delectab- le dishes prepared by Chef Mauro Colagreco of MGM Cotai’s Grill 58. He gives us a sneak peek at his newest restaurant Cote, soon to be opened at Capella Bangkok, and reflects on winning the World’s Best Restaurant Award in 2019 for his Mediterranean inspired Mirazur in the south of France. We also speak with Portuguese wine making couple Jorge Tenreiro and Cláudia Cudell, about their beautiful Quinta do Cume wines.
With the opening of its most recent outlet in Macau in January, we meet the legendary CEO of Longines wat- ches, Walter von Känel, who has been with the company for half a century, and guided it to great success in its main global market, China.
And in Travel, we follow the adventurous jour- ney of contributing writer Catarina Vila Nova, as she takes the long road back to Portugal via Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Russia.
Happy New Year, Kung Hei Fat Choi and as always, Happy Reading!
