The IFFAM Project Market (IPM) Award Winners were announced today at the closing of the IFFAM Industry Hub.  The three winning IPM films were each presented with cash awards of US$10,000.  The winners were:

·         Mihara (USA/Japan) Director: Jacqueline Castel, Producer Pier Harrison - presented by Lorna Tee on behalf John Penotti of Ivanhoe Pictures

·         The Girl with no Head (Malaysia) Directors/producers: Liew Seng Tat and Pete Teo - presented by Tou U from Huace Pictures

·         The Last Savage (USA/France/Indonesia), Director: Liam O’Donnell, Producer: Matthew Chausse – presented by Lizhi Chen from Hairun Pictures

The IPM Award Sponsors are Hairun Pictures, Huace Pictures and Ivanhoe Pictures. Industry Hub Happy Hour Sponsor is Jay Chan of Paradise Entertainment.

The market, curated by genre expert and producer Todd Brown, is designed to showcase international projects with Asian elements and principally with a genre theme.   It is structured around three core principles:

·         Exciting and authentic integration of international elements in film scripts and productions

·         Offer a diversity of content – carefully curated genre cinema, more intimate auteur cinema alongside projects selected by our international partners – to showcase the current direction of international film production

·         Effective networking sessions bringing filmmakers together with experienced industry partners and financiers and fostering lasting creative collaboration and co-production partnerships.

The IPM presented 14 projects – eight selected by IPM and one each from international market partners Blood Window (Argentina), Frontières (Canada) and Sitges Film Festival (Spain) - and three auteur titles.  Each project was represented in Macao by its director and/or producer.

All the selected filmmakers took part in an extensive industry program of pitches, one-on-one meetings and informal gatherings designed to match them with a broad cross-section of high level industry professionals and drive projects forward. The IPM took place within the framework of the Industry Hub at IFFAM.  The line-up was comprised of:

Genre projects:

Daedalus (Portugal) Director: Jerónimo Rocha, Producer: Frederico Serra

Dead in the Lake (South Korea/USA) Director: Im Sang-soo, Producer: Lee Namhee

Loveland (Australia/China) Director: Ivan Sen, Producers: David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin, Ivan Sen

Mihara (USA/Japan) Director: Jacqueline Castel, Producer Pier Harrison

The Girl with no Head (Malaysia) Directors/producers: Liew Seng Tat and Pete Teo

The Last Savage (USA/France/Indonesia), Director: Liam O’Donnell, Producer: Matthew Chausse

Auteur projects:

Projecto Global (Portugal) Director Ivo M. Ferreira, Producer Luís Urbano

The Emerald Butterfly (Netherlands/Indonesia/Germany/France/UK/Belgium/Malaysia)

Director: Martin Koolhoven, Producer: Els Vandevorst

The Price Of Tea (Canada/UK/China) Director: Richie Mehta, Producers: Cassandra Sigsgaard

International Partner projects:

30K Kicks (Spain/South Korea) Director: Santiago Alvarado, Producers: Joaquim Vivas

Darling (Belgium/Canada) Directors: Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani, Producer: Michael Solomon

The Song of the Day (Brazil) Director: M.M. Izidoro, Producer: Guilherme Pinheiro

Macao projects:

Days of Being Trapped (Macao) Director: Vincent Hoi, Producer: Jackie Virginia Tse

Dreaming Girl (Macao) Director: Oliver Fa, Producers: Dice Leong, Adam Tam Chi Wai

Todd Brown commented: “It has been exiting to be here again with a really great selection of projects that we are very proud of.  They represent countries from all around the globe and a huge diversity of styles, genres and approach. It’s been very gratifying to see the support from the industry delegates who have come out to meet the Project Market filmmakers.”

Alongside the IPM, the Industry Hub also introduced the Macao Forum, a new initiative in which industry delegates met in roundtables to discuss some of the key issues facing the film business today. Topics discussed this year were:

·                How can the film industry maintain consumer loyalty to the medium, in a world where TV is better than ever?

·                Do film festivals still have the same significance they used to? How can we use them to launch films effectively?

·                How is the growing Chinese market affecting the rest of the world’s independent business?

Discussions were hosted by Clare Stewart, BFI London Film Festival Director, Gilbert Lim, Executive Vice President of Sahamongkolfilm International and Jonah Greenberg, President of Motion Pictures, CAA China.  Insights, information and action points were then shared in a final open door session on Sunday afternoon.

Commenting on the Forum, IFFAM Head of Industry June Wu said “This year we wanted to try a new format, which would bring together industry delegates with different skillsets and backgrounds.  We had great feedback from all the participants and want to express thanks to everyone who attended, especially the discussion hosts.”

The Industry Hub welcomed more than 250 delegates from twenty three countries and the Macao and Hong Kong SARs over the three day event

The 2nd International Film Festival & Awards‧Macao runs from 8-14 December 2017 and the Industry Hub ran from 9-11 December.  The full line-up and additional information on the Festival can be found at http://www.iffamacao.com/en/