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A hard sell from script to screen

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Investors wary of the rising costs of filmmaking are less willing to back first-time directors. And while some Hong Kong filmmakers are prepared to adapt their movies to suit targeted markets, often at the request of investors, others baulk at what they see as a compromise and choose to give up the chance of a wider audience.

Young and first-time directors spoke of the problems facing them at a trade event yesterday that matches film projects with financiers from around the world.

They urged the government to set aside part of its film funding to support new talent, saying that such a move would ensure new directors are not unfairly pitted against their more established colleagues in their application for funds.

Koan Hui is helming one of the 25 projects being pitched at this year's Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), a three-day event at the annual Entertainment Expo, which opened yesterday at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

Hui has years of experience behind the camera, but still finds it difficult to convince investors to back his directorial debut, the 3D psychological thriller Written in Red.

High production costs have made investors cautious, he says.

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