Editor

The International Film Festival & Awards • Macao (IFFAM) announced today that Paul Schrader, Mabel Cheung, Tillotama Shome and Paul Currie will join jury president Chen Kaige in deciding the winners of the International Competition programme at the 3^rd edition of the festival.    

The International Competition programme is dedicated exclusively to films by first and second time film makers and includes an award of 60,000 USD for best feature.

Legendary screenwriter and director PAUL SCHRADER began his career writing screenplays and counts the Martin Scorsese films Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ among his many writing credits. He also wrote and directed many films himself, including Blue Collar, American Gigolo, Cat People and his most recent work, First Reformed, starring Ethan Hawke; the latter will be screened during this year’s festival.

Leading Hong Kong filmmaker, writer and producer MABEL CHEUNG’s filmography includes A Tale of Three Cities, which was nominated for six Hong Kong Film Awards, and The Soong Sisters staring Maggie Cheung, Vivian Wu and Michelle Yeoh.

TILLOTAMA SHOME had her breakthrough with her portrayal of Alice in Mira Nair’s Monsoon Wedding. Her other films include Rohena Gera’s Sir, which won the Critic’s Week Grand Prize in Cannes this year, Shadows of Time, The Waiting City and A Death in The Gunj. 

Australian producer and director PAUL CURRIE has worked on such varied films as Hacksaw Ridge, Rampart, and Bleeding Steel with Jackie Chan. He also recently directed 2:22 staring Teresa Palmer and Michiel Huisman.

Ambassadors

For 2018, the IFFAM ambassadors will include South Korean filmmaker Kim Yong–Hwa, previous IFFAM jury president Shekhar Kapur and Chinese film director Xue Xiaolu.

International Advisory Board

Indian film critic and Mumbai Film Festival’s director Anupama Chopra and eminent producer Peter Loehr have joined the International Advisory Board which also includes veteran Asia-Pacific based producer Michael J. Werner; Korean producer Oh Jung-wan; Hong Kong producer and distribution expert Nansun Shi, renowned producer Luís Urbano, producer and current chairman of the Producers’ Committee at UniFrance Philippe Carcassonne and producer, movie critic and publisher San Mu.

IFFAM Programme Highlights 

As recently announced the IFFAM is expanding its programme to include New Chinese Cinema, a new competitive section which will present a dedicated showcase of outstanding films from Chinese speaking territories to audiences and guests.

The rest of the programme will comprise of the following strands:

• Competition – An international competition comprising a maximum of twelve feature films which is a showcase for first and second time film-makers with 60,000 USD as the award winning prize.
• Gala – mainstream crowd pleasing films will be presented, comprising a maximum of six films
• Flying Daggers – A non-competitive selection of international genre films
• Best of Fest Panorama –A non-competitive selection of films from other major international film festivals of the year
• Director’s Choice (Retrospective) – A non-competitive selection of six classic genre films, selected by six well-known directors; three films from Asia selected by non-Asian directors and three films from the world outside Asia selected by Asian directors
• In Focus (Retrospective) – A celebration of one or two specific outstanding talents to be invited among directors, actors, actresses, writers, directors of photography, production designers, producers, composers, editors etc with screenings of their films and on-stage interviews
• Special Presentations – Screenings of films at the discretion of the Artistic director and jury president related to special guest attendance and lifetime achievement honorees
• For All The Family – Films which will appeal to a wide family audience.

The IFFAM Industry Hub will also be held during the event.

International Professional Team

The International Professional Team for IFFAM includes Artistic Director, Head of Festival Management, Ambassadors, International Advisory Board, Head of Industry as well as Programming Consultants. Mike Goodridge and Lorna Tee are Artistic Director and Head of Festival Management respectively.

The team of International Consultants in charge of film selection include Giovanna Fulvi for Mainland China, Hong Kong and the Taiwan Region; Violeta Bava for Latin America, Spain and Portugal; Fionnuala Halligan for Europe, Russia, Israel and Australia/New Zealand and Hiromi Aihara for Japan; Maxine Leonard will be the consultant for US-related affairs; June Wu will also return as the Head of Industry.

For more information, please visit the official website: http://www.iffamacao.com