The dry spell over Lunar New Year has broken and lovers of the arts are in for a treat next month with the arrival of a deluge of film, literary, and visual and performing arts festivals.
March is certainly the high water mark for the arts in Hong Kong, as the city becomes inundated with all things cultural.
A gentle start to this year's events would be to catch one of the movies featured in the 35th Hong Kong International Film Festival. Asia's first international film festival when it was created in 1977, its agenda has expanded to discovering and promoting Chinese and Asian regional film culture along with exposing Hong Kong audiences to important international films.
Executive director Roger Garcia likens running the event to driving a car: 'You have a rear-view mirror, but you need to keep your eyes on the road ahead, and you are always looking to the horizon towards your destination. A festival keeps its eye on the past, present and future.'
The grand reach of a festival is something that just cannot be achieved by smaller events. This becomes clear with the massive programme undertaken by the Hong Kong Arts Festival each March. This year's schedule includes 200 performances of theatre, opera, music and dance.
Executive director Tisa Ho describes the role such events play in the development of an indigenous cultural scene: 'Locally, we commission, produce and publish new work in theatre and present young talent in music and mixed media. At the regional level, we present exciting young choreographic talent in the Asia Pacific Dance Platform.'
All the upcoming festivals include similar programmes geared towards nurturing home-grown talent in the region.