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PUBLICATIONS, BROADCASTING AND FILMS
filmlets, entitled A Moment's Carelessness Can Cause Disaster, were made to show the dangers of fire caused through carelessness and were shown in Colony cinemas during the winter months of 1961-2. The award, which consists of a silver medal and a diploma, is made biennially for documentary films 'of a character calculated to promote progress in a declared social, economic or cultural field.' Hong Kong's entry was one of 19 films from 11 Common- wealth countries, the joint winner being from Jamaica.
The film unit again concentrated in 1962 on the production of newsreel shorts, most of which were accepted by six or more major distributors serving cinemas and television networks in all parts of the world. This, wide acceptance of newsreel films by com- mercial agencies, coupled with full use in officially sponsored reels, meant that millions of people had the opportunity of regularly viewing film stories depicting aspects of life in Hong Kong and the Colony's problems and achievements. Among subjects dealt with were drought, the Chinese New Year, new homes for boat squatters, a special report on the influx of illegal immigrants in May, and the opening of the new airport terminal in November.
In addition to newsreels a number of more ambitious 20-minute productions in full colour were also completed for world release. The first of these, Hong Kong Sea Festivals, showed the Colony's fisherfolk at work and at three of their festivals-Tin Hau, the Dragon Boat Races and the Cheung Chau Bun Festival. At the end of the year the film was accepted by MGM for general release in Britain. For purely local release the unit made two one-minute anti-polio films.
السلام
The other 'arm' of the overseas publicity campaign consists of distributing illustrated feature articles to magazines and newspapers in all major countries. The articles vary in length from 500 to 3,000 words and are usually accompanied by at least a dozen black and white photographs. Colour transparencies are also in- cluded whenever possible. The articles explain Hong Kong's problems and achievements in terms of everyday life in the Colony, touching upon facets not normally encountered in other forms of Government publicity, and are distributed by British government agencies and commercial agents. Because the articles must com- pete for space in the highly competitive magazine and newspaper feature fields, the emphasis at all times is on quality rather than