The Asia-Europe Festival of Young Cinema will run from January 5-11, 2024 in Macau, it was announced this week. Veteran Italian festival director Marco Mueller heads the creative team, with the former Cannes Marché du Film executive director Jerome Paillard leading a robust industry section that will gather together film industry professionals from Europe and Asia.
With an eye to drawing in audiences from Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China, opening weekend will offer public screenings of between 35 and 40 films. Industry screenings will then begin on Jan. 8 and will include at least 20 works-in-progress of upcoming Chinese-language projects, from new and established directors.
Among the 15 major directors who will be holding masterclasses, the festival has mentioned International Academy Award-winner Hamaguchi Ryusuke (Drive My Car, Evil Does Not Exist), eclectic Sicilian director and producer Luca Guadagnino (Call Me by Your Name) and revered Iranian director Amir Naderi (The Runner, Mountain).
Mueller is one of Europe’s best-known festival directors, having headed Venice, Rome, Locarno and Rotterdam before moving to China, where he has run the Film Art Research Center of Shanghai University since 2021 and where he teaches at the Shanghai Film Academy. He has been the artistic director of China’s Pingyao and Hainan Island festivals and brings with him an experienced team that includes Alena Sumakova, Tomita Mikiko and Jeremy Chua.
Popular industry figure Paillard, who stepped down from the Marché du Film in 2022, assumes the role of industry coordinator, alongside Beijing-based Cao Shanshan. Their expectations for the first market in Macau include the attendance of some 30 film sales and production companies from Europe and Asia.
The festival will be financed through various sources that prominently include the Macau government and the Association for the International Promotion of Chinese-Language Film, a Macau association financed by mainland investors. The complete film lineup will be announced in December.
