Written by on Nov 6, 2013. Posted in On Location

Hong Kong Day to promote location filming through American Film Market

'Hong Kong Day' will promote location filming in Hong Kong through the American Film Market (AFM) in Los Angeles. Screenings and a seminar will encourage more productions like Michael Bay’s Transformers sequel to shoot in the Chinese city.

The event will take place tomorrow (7 November 2013) and will be a joint presentation from the AFM and the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC). A seminar will discuss the advantages of working with Hong Kong production companies and there will also be screenings of Hong Kong films.

“Hong Kong is Asia’s co-production hub, thanks to its free-trade agreement with mainland China - the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement - its excellent services sector and its renowned film industry,” said Jonathan Wolf, the AFM’s Managing Director: “We are thrilled that HKTDC has chosen the AFM to share these benefits with the world’s producers.”

“Given our long-time alliance with AFM, we are very pleased to once again highlight the film industry in Hong Kong,” added HKTDC Assistant Executive Director Raymond Yip: “Through Hong Kong Day, we hope that overseas film professionals at AFM will discover Hong Kong’s advantages for exploring Asian markets, particularly co-production opportunities with the Chinese mainland.”

Transformers: Age of Extinction (above) is the latest big-budget Hollywood shoot to film partly in Hong Kong through a co-operation agreement. Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (right) is among the other high-profile shoots to have visited the city in recent years.

The Chinese film industry is now second in the world only to the US in scale. Securing co-production status enables US movies to bypass tight Chinese restrictions on the number of international films that are approved for distribution in Chinese cinemas.

A host of US stars attended a special event recently in Qingdao when the Wanda Group announced an USD8 billion plan to build a large-scale studio complex and theme park. When completed, the studios will host 30 international films every year.

(Transformers photo: Paramount Pictures/Michael Bay; Dark Knight photo: Steven Vaughan/Warner Bros)