Hong Kong, home to one of Asia's most productive film industries, has proposed an international agreement with Thailand to enhance cooperation and generate plans to produce films and exchange technology jointly.

Suphatra Srimaitreephithak, Thai deputy consul-general in Hong Kong, said the proposed letter of intent seeks cooperation in producing films and other entertainment products.

Thailand is the gateway through which Hong Kong films reach the wider Southeast Asian market, while Hong Kong is the gateway through which Thai films reach the rest of the world. She said the proposed agreement would not only increase export opportunities for films from both sides, but also enable exchanges of film production technology.

Thailand's Culture Ministry is currently considering whether to sign the contract. If it does, cooperation should commence next year.

Sophia Chong, senior services-promotion manager for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, said Hong Kong was one of Asia's largest film producers and had both high technology and a high awareness of intellectual-property protection. Cooperation would create great opportunities for both sides.

Chong said the proposed agreement opened the door for cooperative projects like film-content adaptation, remaking films for fresh markets, co-productions or joint ventures to produce films, distribution in China - because Hong Kong has a closer economic partnership arrangement with the mainland - and exchanges of human resources.

China and Hong Kong have an agreement to collect no tariffs on movies brought in from Hong Kong.

She said cooperation would also lead to tangible cultural exchanges between Hong Kong and Thailand.

The Motion Pictures Industry Association reports Hong Kong films earned a total of US$24 billion (Bt862 billion) in 2004. The figure is expected to increase three-fold next year.

Chong said consumers were also showing a preference for animated films and that innovations and technology development in Hong Kong would create wide opportunities in this medium. She said one-third of the 300 million movie-goers aged under 18 favour animated films, adding that production companies should focus on this market to increase the industry's income.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation

Hong Kong