[2017.10.17] JOHNNIE TO CALLS FOR DONATIONS TO SUPPORT FRESH WAVE

Johnnie To

Rain Lau
courtesy of mingpao.com

Johnnie To Kei Fung as the president attended the 11th Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival opening ceremony. Attending actors including Rain Lau Yuk Chui, Joman Chiang and Himmy Wong Ting Him. To Sir shared the achievements that past "Fresh Wave" directors have made recently in the domestic film industry. He encouraged a young of young director to insist upon original creation, work hard to develop domestic films and revealed that "Fresh Wave" has already been officially registered as a charitable organization to operate independently. He asked everyone to donate money to support "Fresh Wave".

To Sir said, "In the past we have worked with the Art Development Council's support for nine years. This time the reason behind the independence is that every year the ADC allocates a lot of funding to different groups, but some groups after receiving the funding do not develop with it. Thus it was very rare for new groups to join. Every year we would receive HK$ 4 million from ADC, then 5% less every year after. Thus aside from government support we also needed to find outside funding. We cannot completely rely on the government, otherwise it would be very hard for new groups to join."

With TRIVISA's good performance, To Sir said that he would continue to cultivate talented people but needed to find suitable scripts. He personally hoped to make movies without any pressure. He planned to make one this year. Did he have a script? He said, "I have never made movies with a script, never."

In addition, Lau Yuk Chui worked on a young director's film this year. She said, "I played a home prostitute without her left palm. I was back to my old job. I don't know why I don't get to play the rich wife, haha. At first I performed with the commercial 'hand in homework' method, but the new director made me feel like a rookie again. I thought about what an actor had to do. (Would you give up your salary for a good script?) The best would be the professional rate. Actually Hong Kong actor salary isn't great, but I would be a glutton for punishment when I see a good script. Now I get more a sense of satisfaction than money from acting."