The Commerce & Economic Development Bureau announced today that around $260 million will be earmarked under the Film Development Fund to implement five major measures to re-energise Hong Kong's film industry.

The five measures are the Directors' Succession Scheme, relaxation of the Film Production Financing Scheme (FPFS); the Scriptwriting Incubation Programme, short-term advanced training programmes and the enhanced First Feature Film Initiative (FFFI).

Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Edward Yau said: "As a result of social events and the epidemic, local film production and investment have shrunk, posing acute challenges to the trade and practitioners in the past year.

“The Government is therefore committed to providing multi-pronged support for the trade to go through this difficult period and sustaining the success story of Hong Kong films."

Under the Directors' Succession Scheme, qualified directors are invited to partner with young directors to co-produce films, with earmarked funding of about $100 million to subsidise 10 to 12 local film productions. Each film will be granted a subsidy of around $9 million.

Directors who have accepted invitations to join the first round of the scheme include Derek Yee, Wong Kar-wai, Peter Chan, Gordon Chan, and Mabel Cheung and Alex Law as a duo. They will partner with young directors Keane Wong, Ronald Zee, Wong Chun, Ralph Chau and Norris Wong respectively.

To increase the number of local film productions in the short term and render relief to film practitioners, the Government will increase the actual financing amount, grant priority to investors to recover half of their investment and make the disbursement earlier.

More than 10 film productions will benefit from the relaxation of the FPFS, involving government financing of $100 million.

The Scriptwriting Incubation Programme encourages would-be scriptwriters to join the profession and current scriptwriters to produce high-quality scripts. With funding of around $8 million, about 40 quality scripts will be incubated.

To add value to the movie industry, the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers and the Hong Kong Film Directors' Guild have been subsidised with $20 million to organise in-depth professional training courses with tuition fees exempted.

For the FFFI enhancement, the maximum number of winning teams under the initiative was increased to six in the sixth edition. The production budget for the Higher Education Institution Group has been raised from the previous cap of $3.25 million to $5 million, while that of the Professional Group has been raised from the previous cap of $5.5 million to $8 million.