ENG-2001 — Page 456

COMMUNICATIONS, THE MEDIA AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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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 film 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 Information Technology and Broadcasting who is the chairman, two public officers and nine members who are non-officials.

Since its establishment in April 1998, the Film Services Office has obtained the agreement of over 530 government departments and public 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 281 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, formulated a new application mechanism to co-ordinate the processing of such applications; 35 applications have been successfully dealt with since the mechanism was instituted in March. The Film Services Office also launched the 'Support Filming in Your Community' publicity campaign in July to enhance the public's understanding and to garner their support for location filming in Hong Kong.

To promote Hong Kong films, the Film Services Office facilitated the organisation of Hong Kong Film Festivals in Brussels, Belgium; in Washington DC and Los Angeles in the United States; in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane in Australia; and in Berlin, Germany. The Film Services Office also promoted Hong Kong as a choice for location filming at the international trade show 'Locations 2001' held in Los Angeles in February. The Film Services Office's production guide and directory were awarded the Honourable Mention prize in the Marketing Excellence Awards.

In December, a symposium was co-organised with the local film industry to explore the development of the film financing system in Hong Kong. Overseas bankers and executives of completion bond companies were invited to share their experience with local bankers and film-makers.

With the commencement of the Entertainment Special Effects Ordinance (Cap. 560) and its subsidiary legislation on March 16, a streamlined regulatory system is now in place to facilitate the use of pyrotechnic materials for producing special effects for films, television and theatrical productions. Under the new legislation, the Commissioner for Television and Entertainment Licensing is the authority responsible for licensing special effects operators; issuing discharge permits; registering and regulating the supply, conveyance and storage of pyrotechnic special effects materials. The authority has issued 202 discharge permits for films and television productions and 235 permits for theatrical performances since the legislation came into effect, in comparison with only 158 permits issued the previous year. This indicates that the new regulatory measure has been well received by the industry.