ENG-2005 — Page 438

380 | Communications, the Media and Information Technology

Government on all matters relating to the development of the film industry in Hong Kong, and to promote Hong Kong films on the Mainland and in overseas markets.

Film Services Office

The Government set up a Film Services Office under the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority in April 1998 to provide better support for the film industry by facilitating film production in Hong Kong and promoting Hong Kong films locally and abroad. Since it was established, it has obtained agreements from over 3 200 organisations, including government departments, on the use of their premises for location filming and has published reference materials on locations for the industry. The office also provides a one-stop service to the film industry for requests of a more complicated nature such as location work that requires lane closures or special permits. In 2005, it dealt with 497 such requests, with a 99 per cent of success rate. The office is responsible for coordinating the processing of applications for lane closures by filmmakers under guidelines agreed with the Police, Transport Department and Highways Department. A total of 61 applications for lane closures were approved during the year. It also, as the coordinator of the vetting process for film industry parking applications, processed 77 such applications, all of which were approved.

In addition, it facilitated the organisation of Hong Kong Film Festival in Washington DC and promoted Hong Kong as an ideal city for location filming at the global exposition, 'Busan International Film Commission and Industry Showcase'. In 2005, 146 overseas film crews, including the production teams of the British-German film, DOA: Dead or Alive, and the Italian film, The Counting House, carried out location filming in Hong Kong.

The office is also responsible for licensing special effects operators and issuing permits for the discharge of special effects materials for the film and entertainment industry. In 2005, it processed a total of 2 515 applications, representing an increase of 33 per cent increase over 2004 and an 111 per cent increase over 2003.

Financial Support

The Government reactivated the Film Development Fund in 2005 to provide financial support to projects conducive to the long-term development of the local film. industry. The fund was first set up in April 1999 to run for five years and allocated more than $48 million to 72 projects. They included training courses, workshops, seminars, consultancy studies, and sponsorship for the participation of Hong Kong films in overseas film festivals.

A Film Guarantee Fund was established since April 2003 to assist local film production companies to obtain loans from local lending institutions for film production. It also serves to develop a film-financing infrastructure in Hong Kong. So far the guarantee fund has provided loan guarantees totalling $18.04 million for eight film projects.