ENG-2006 — Page 457

Recreation, Sport and the Arts | 385

theatre production of Geisha by Ong Keng Sen. Asian premieres of the commissioned works Eclectic Tales from Mongolia and city:zen were highly acclaimed. A total of 28 visiting and 20 local artist groups performed 84 events during the four-week festival which ran from October 20 to November 19, 2006. More than 71 000 people attended the performances.

Hong Kong International Film Festival

Presented by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society Limited, the 30th Hong Kong International Film Festival offered a wide range of programmes. The 16-day festival included outdoor film shows screened at the Inflatable Games Carnival held at Tamar Site, 30th Anniversary Programme HBO Theatre, Chinese Renaissance, [si]@hkiff, Master of Genres: Nakagawa Nobuo, James Benning: Stilled Emotions and a retrospective on Kong Ngee Studio contributed by the Hong Kong Film Archive. Awards presented during the event included the Sony HDV Asian Digital Competition, the Humanitarian Awards for Documentaries, the FIPRESCI Prize, the SIGNIS Award and the new Fresh Wave Joint-U Short Film Competition Award. Under the classifications of Global Vision, Indie Power, Gala Presentation and Master Class, more than 250 films from over 40 countries were shown during the festival.

Heritage

Antiquities Advisory Board and Antiquities and Monuments Office

The Antiquities and Monuments Office continued its task of preserving Hong Kong's heritage and promoting public awareness of it through various educational and extension projects in 2006.

The Antiquities Advisory Board has 21 appointed members and advises the Government on sites and structures that merit protection by declaring them monuments and about other matters related to antiquities and monuments.

In 2006, the office carried out restoration and repair work on a number of historical buildings, including the Tang Chung Ling Ancestral Hall and Tin Hau Temple in Lung Yeuk Tau, Fanling, Leung Ancestral Hall in Pat Heung and Tang Ancestral Hail in Ping Shan. The office also provided technical support to the privately-funded restoration work on the Liu Ying Lung Study Hall in Sheung Shui, which won Honourable Mention of the 2006 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Culture Heritage Conservation.

In 2006, rescue archaeological excavations were conducted in Lam Tei, Tuen Mun and Cheung Shue Tan, Tai Po before the sites were developed. Artefacts dating back to the prehistoric period and the Qing dynasty were recovered at these places respectively. Similar operations were carried out at Sai Kung, Tuen Mun, Cheung Chau, and Lamma Island to prevent the underground archaeological remains there from being damaged during the development of village houses at those sites.

Some of the facilities at the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre in Kowloon Park, opened in October 2005, include the exhibition gallery, reference library and lecture hall. Major exhibitions held in the centre in 2006 included the 'Cartographic Survey of Historic Buildings', 'Transforming Our Community' and 'Preserving Hong