Rita Wong, Chief Operating Officer of Cinematheque Passion, believes that the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM), launched in 2016, and the Cinematheque Passion, inaugurated in 2017, have been contributing concurrently to the public’s growing appetite for non-mainstream films, creating cinema-going habits and building audiences.
“I think we work in parallel, because the festival is a [yearly] city event, so the people in the region will be interested in having a look. Also, because there are lots of movie stars and talents attending, local people will also pay attention, while the Cinematheque runs every day, therefore it became a habit for cinema lovers. I think the two work in parallel, and it’s good for each other”, Rita Wong said to Macau News Agency (MNA).
Some of the IFFAM films will be shown at the Cinematheque Passion, with Ms. Wong adding that cinema audiences are increasing.
“I think, from my observation at the Cinematheque, there is a continuous growth of an audience willing to watch real cinema, that may not be easy to find in the commercial circuit”, she said.
At the same time, “this year, the festival has a quite good number of films and people are very curious to watch a premiere, because, including me, they want to watch all those new Chinese movies which are not easy to see in Macau”, she said.
Apart from the screenings, the festival also offers master classes and workshops, which may invite the public from neighboring cities, she added.
Meanwhile, the Cinematheque attracts mainly Macau locals; although there are also those attending from Hong Kong and Zhuhai, as well as Mainland China students interested in seeing non-mainstream movies and participating in the Cinematheque activities.
Since its inauguration, the Cinematheque Passion has been offering the locals a greater opportunity to be exposed to Classic Movies, internationally awarded films and independent cinema, creating a habit for these moviegoers to watch films of a different kind.
“People are eager and quite excited to buy the tickets early as we see at the Cinematheque, we announce the films quite in advance and they are quickly sold out”, she said.
Also, the classic movies scheduled for the IFFAM, namely Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up; Francois Truffaut’s The 400 Blows; and Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story, “have been sold very fast, because before having this kind of world festival and a cinematheque in Macau, it was quite difficult to watch classics in the theatre.
People are eager to watch the old movies in a big-screen cinema”, Wong emphasized.
Rita Wong’s favorite films at the IFFAM
Wong also purchased her tickets in advance for the movies she didn’t want to miss at the festival. These included the opening film Jojo Rabbit, the Singaporean Wet Season, Saturday Fiction and The Wild Goose Lake, both from Mainland China.
International must-see movies include the American psychological horror film, The Lighthouse, and French drama Proxima; while in terms of local productions, Rita Wong recommends Years of Macau.
By Cláudia Aranda
