“NAE
has already sponsored us for several projects. And it’s the first time for us
to attend such a famous festival. As we all know that Clermont Ferrand
International Short Film Festival is the biggest one in Europe. During the
whole stay, we kept learning how the festival and the short film market did work.
We tried to figure out how we could distribute our film and how to make
connections. We talked to all the potential partners and we took time to discuss
with buyers, distributors and different organisations. We have to make contact
every day. The first thing we promote is our production. We’ve opened our eyes
to look for opportunities and before the trip sponsored by NAE, we had no idea
that how European see Hong Kong film industry. We were glad that we had good
feedback.







And
the second thing is about our role as an educator. As teachers, we want our
students enjoy making movies, that’s why we’ve brought the Security Guards Series
to the festival because one of them is directed by our student. When we organised
public screening in Hong Kong, we’ve also invited that student. We would like
to follow this example and invite more students and show their work in front of
the public. During our tour at the film market, we found that Italy, Spain, Republic
of Czechoslovakia, Slovania, Poland, Korisha all got their own students film academy,
which is a very good way to develop our project.







Besides
the market, we wanted to watch more short films. We tried to understand the
international standard norm for film selection, including the independent and the
Labo category. We loved the Labo Competition which showcased the innovative way
of the production. Some of them are going beyond the present concept which
inspired us a lot for our own creation. Nowadays, this kind of works is very
rare in Hong Kong, there is no such kind of high level competition dedicated to
the Labo category.”







—
Shared by Chan Ho-lun Fredie, Ma Chi-hang, directors of The Woman Security
Guards after
attending Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival & Market 2016
in France, under the sponsorship of NAE.