(30 September 2020, Hong Kong) Organized by the Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing (“AIM”), with Create Hong Kong (“CreateHK”) of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (“HKSAR”) as the Lead Sponsor, the Microfilm Production Support Scheme (Music) (“Support Scheme”) has come to its 8^th edition. To continue cultivating outstanding creative talent in the advertising production and music sectors, the Support Scheme strives to build a platform to foster more cooperation between the two sectors in Hong Kong. A total of 32 teams of directors and singers have been selected to join the 8^th Support Scheme with a view to producing their original microfilms in the coming four months.

AIM held the Online Microfilm Production Matching & Launching Ceremony (“Ceremony”) today to commemorate the launching of the 8^th Support Scheme. The organizer was delighted to have Ms. Jersey YUEN, Assistant Head of CreateHK, to deliver a pre-recorded speech on this occasion. At the ceremony, the lists of advertising production companies, directors and singers/groups/bands (“singers”) participating in the 8th Support Scheme were unveiled. A matching session was also held with Mr. Ralph SZETO, Chairman of AIM, and Ms. Flora KWONG, Committee Member of IFPI (Hong Kong Group), drawing the lots to pair up the 22 local advertising production start-ups and their directors, and 22 units of local singers who are selected to participate in the Tier 1 “Advertising Production Start-ups” of the 8^th Support Scheme. The list of 10 teams of local small-scale advertising production enterprises and their self-partnered directors and singers who are selected to participate in the Tier 2 “Small Advertising Production Enterprises” was also announced after the matching session.

With the Support Scheme’s comprehensive support, the participating teams will receive funding for producing their original microfilms. To further enhance the microfilms’ quality, the 8^th Support Scheme has increased the funding amount for each participating team. The advertising production enterprises participating in the Tier 1 “Advertising Production Start-ups” will receive a maximum of HK$120,000 each. For those in the Tier 2 “Small Advertising Production Enterprises”, each will receive a maximum of HK$220,000. Besides, a microfilm production training programme hosted by local professional mentors will be arranged for all participating teams, covering the skills in scriptwriting, directing, production and post-production, etc.

The Support Scheme will also arrange different channels to promote the participating teams’ microfilms to the public. These channels include the Hong Kong International Film and TV Market (FILMART) 2021, TVs, the Internet, social media platforms, and the Support Scheme’s official website, among others. To further recognize the production teams and singers’ outstanding performance under the Support Scheme, AIM will hold the 8^th Microfilm Production Support Scheme (Music) Awards Presentation Ceremony cum Premiere next year. Professional judges will select the respective winners of various awards from both Tiers, namely the “Best Microfilm Production Award”, the “Best Microfilm Actor” and the “Best Microfilm Actress” Awards, the “Best Microfilm Screenplay Award”, the “Best Cinematography Award”, and the “Best Art Direction Award”, while winners of the “Most Popular Microfilm Award” will be selected by online public voting. The winning teams with outstanding performance will be further recommended for participation in international microfilm or short film-related competitions, through which their masterpieces can be showcased on different platforms.

The Support Scheme aims to cultivate local advertising production start-ups and small-scale advertising production enterprises for them to master the techniques in microfilm production. It has been widely acclaimed since its first launch in 2013, and has been successfully building up a platform for discovering emerging directors and bridging advertising production teams and singers for further cooperation. Over the years, by dint of the original microfilm production, the participating advertising production companies and their directors have gained favour from different clients and received more job opportunities by taking part in other advertising, TV and even movie productions. At the same time, the participating singers have enhanced their popularity by providing their songs for use in the microfilms produced under the Support Scheme and performing in these microfilms. In turn, they are benefitted from further promotion and more performance opportunities.

The details of the two tiers and the lists of participating advertising production companies and singers of the 8^th Support Scheme are outlined as below:

Tier 1 “Advertising Production Start-ups”

This tier provides 22 teams, each formed by a local advertising production start-up which has been established in not more than 6 years, its director with a ceiling of 6 years’ experience and a singer paired up by drawing of lots, with a maximum of HK$120,000 as a production fund to create a microfilm with storyline lasting for 4 to 8 minutes.

Matching results of the Tier 1 “Advertising Production Start-ups”’ of the 8^th Support Scheme are listed in alphabetical order of the English names of the singers’ record labels as follows:

Tier 2 “Small Advertising Production Enterprises”

This tier provides 10 teams, each formed by a local small-scale advertising production company which has been established in not more than 12 years, its director with under 12 years’ experience, screenwriter and singer, with a maximum of HK$220,000 as a production fund to create its original microfilm with storyline of 12 to 16 minutes.

The 10 teams selected to participate in the Tier 2 “Small Advertising Production Enterprises” of the 8^th Support Scheme are listed in alphabetical order of the advertising production companies’ English names as follows:

The 32 microfilms produced by the participating teams of both Tier 1 and Tier 2 of the 8^th Support Scheme will be premiered next year.

For more details about the 8^th Support Scheme, please visit: https://www.hkmfa.hk

Organizer:                                Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing

Lead Sponsor:                 Create Hong Kong of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region

Issued by:                                Hong Kong Association of Interactive Marketing

Media enquiries:                     VIS Communications Consultancy Limited

Mr. Felix Poon                                                          Tel.: 9202 2885 / 2804 2388

Fax: 2804 2390                                            Email: felix@vis-pr.com

Disclaimer: The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region provides funding support to the project only, and does not otherwise take part in the project. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials/events (or by members of the project team) are those of the project organizers only and do not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Communications and Creative Industries Branch of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau, Create Hong Kong, the CreateSmart Initiative Secretariat or the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee.