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RECREATION AND THE ARTS
performances held in the Sir Run Run Shaw Hall, the Caritas Social Centre and other local community centres.
International Children's Choir Festival
Over 19 800 people attended the 18 concerts held during the first International Children's Choir Festival in Hong Kong, organised by the Urban Council in association with the Tsuen Wan Town Hall and the Hong Kong Children's Choir. Nine overseas groups from Australia, Finland, Iceland, Japan, the Philippines, Puerto Rico and the United States, together with the Hong Kong Children's Choir, took part in the week-long festival in July. The festival was designed to bring together children from different nations, races and religions to promote international friendship and understanding, as well as to encourage cultural exchange through music.
International Film Festival
The Hong Kong International Film Festival organised annually by the Urban Council is established as a major cultural event in Hong Kong. Accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers' Association in Paris, this non-competitive event is winning a high reputation among film festivals world-wide. Attendance has grown steadily and more than 65 000 people saw the 181 films from 28 countries screened during the 16-day sixth festival held in April. Apart from presenting the three selected groups of international, Asian, and Hong Kong contemporary films, the programme featured films of Buster Keaton and Cantonese retrospective films. An exhibition of film stills and posters was held, and six seminars were conducted by overseas and local film directors and critics.
Libraries
The Urban Council operates 16 public libraries, two mobile libraries, three record libraries and a video-cassette library. In the New Territories, the Cultural Services Department operates 11 public libraries including one mobile library.
Under the Urban Council's libraries' expansion programme, four small libraries were opened in Happy Valley, Kowloon Bay, Shun Lee Estate and Quarry Bay; approval was given for a new central library for Kowloon, to be completed by 1984; and a district library at the Aberdeen Complex is due for completion during 1983. In the New Territories, the Cultural Services Department opened a library on Lamma Island. An audio-cassette lending scheme was introduced in August at the City Hall, and at Yau Ma Tei and Kwai Chung public libraries.
During the year, 338 488 new books were acquired by the two library systems, bringing the total stock to 1.72 million volumes. Non-book material included 3 460 newspapers and periodicals, 3 923 reels of microfilm, 1 422 video-cassettes, 1 858 sets of slides and 41 369 records and cassette tapes. Some 113 000 people joined the libraries as new members, bringing the total membership to 1.14 million. More than 6.2 million books were issued for home reading and a further 10.2 million were read in the libraries. Some 1.03 million people participated in extension activities and programmes organised to promote the use of libraries such as book exhibitions, talks, club sessions, video-cassette viewing, hi-fi concerts and live performances. A highlight of library activity for children was the second Creative Writing Competition in Chinese.
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Housed in the high block of City Hall, the Hong Kong Museum of Art presented