COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
board comprises nine non-official members appointed by the Chief Executive, and the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology as an ex officio member. No review of the censor's decisions took place in 2002.
Government Support
The Government is committed to providing a favourable environment conducive to the healthy and long-term development of the film industry in Hong Kong. The Film Services Advisory Committee was established in May 1998 to provide a conduit for dialogue between the industry and the Government and to advise on the work of the Film Services Office, under the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority, which facilitates film production in Hong Kong and promotes Hong Kong films locally and abroad. The committee is appointed by the Chief Executive and comprises the Secretary for Commerce, Industry and Technology who is the chairman, three representatives from the Government/public bodies and nine non-official members. Since its establishment in April 1998, the Film Services Office has obtained the agreement of over 850 government departments and other organisations to let their premises for location filming and has published reference materials in this regard for the industry. To facilitate film production in Hong Kong, the Film Services Office. provides one-stop service to the film industry on location filming requests of a more complicated nature. During the year, it dealt with 398 such requests, with a 99 per cent success rate. To assist the film industry in applying for lane closures for location. filming purposes, the Film Services Office, in consultation with the Police Force, Transport Department and Highways Department, promulgated a set of guidelines in March 2001. Under the new mechanism, the Film Services Office is responsible for coordinating the processing of such applications by other departments; 58 applications for lane closures were approved in 2002. The Film Services Office also continued to organise the 'Support Filming in Your Community' publicity campaign. to enhance the public's understanding of and support for location filming in Hong Kong.
To promote Hong Kong films internationally, the Film Services Office facilitated the organisation of Hong Kong Film Festivals in London, Paris, Washington DC and Vancouver. The Film Services Office also promoted Hong Kong as a choice for location filming at the global expo 'Locations 2002' held in Los Angeles in April, and received a number of awards in the event including a top honour in the marketing awards (promotional video category).
The $100 million Film Development Fund, which was established in 1999, provides financial support to a wide variety of projects that can enhance the professional and technological capabilities of the film industry so as to strengthen its competitiveness. By year-end, a total of $38 million had been approved for 47 projects to promote the development of the local film industry. They included training courses, workshops, seminars, consultancy studies, surveys, film awards presentation ceremonies, overseas promotional projects as well as sponsorship for Hong Kong films' participation in overseas film festivals.
Subsequent to the Hong Kong Film Financing Symposium held in December 2001, a series of follow-up actions has been taken to facilitate the development of a film- financing system in Hong Kong. The Film Services Office organised two rounds of workshops in mid-2002 to brief local bankers on the film production process as well as to explore the possibility of establishing a lender-financing mechanism locally. An
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