Ever-changing readjustments: the political economy of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). Issue 1 (2nd January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cheung, Ruby
• Is Part Of: New review of film and television studies. Volume 14:Issue 1(2016)
• Page Start: 59
• Page End: 75
• Publication Date: 2016-01-02
• Subjects: Hong Kong International Film Festival -- colonial and postcolonial -- cultural policy -- corporatization -- political economy -- Asian/Chinese/Hong Kong films; Motion pictures -- Evaluation -- Periodicals; Film criticism -- Periodicals; Television -- Periodicals; Television criticism -- Periodicals; 302.234
• DOI: 10.1080/17400309.2015.1107268
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1740-0309

Abstract

Abstract: Drawing on ideas from political economy and (post)colonialism, archival materials, personal interviews with senior management of the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF), and existing studies on the festival, this essay argues that a thorough study needs to be made of the colonial past of Hong Kong and the political-economic forces that gave rise to the HKIFF in order to better understand the festival's trajectories and the roles it has played over the past thirty-nine years since its launch. As the oldest truly international film festival in East Asia, the HKIFF has never represented a purely cultural pursuit. It was established under the Hong Kong British colonial government in 1977, supposedly to offer diverse choices of cultural activities for the locals. Thereafter, it experienced a period that saw Hong Kong's sovereignty transferred from the British to the Chinese in 1997 and, since the 2000s, China's rising ambition to become a dominant player in the film business arena in East Asia. In coping with these contextual changes, over the years the HKIFF has readjusted its nature from an exclusive, high-art cultural event to a popular entertainment.