One of the canniest film buyers I ever met – from London – once told me his tactics for operating at film markets. On the first day of a market he would quickly jump on the movies he knew he was most strongly interested in, and if possible seal a deal there and then.

Having made it clear that he was serious about buying, he would then sit it out until the end for any other titles he was interested in, but were lower priorities. At the AFM he described this as waiting for "price cut Wednesday."

I mention this because Thursday/Day 4 of FilMart was pretty deathly. Most people had a lie in, went shopping or frankly rushed home in time for Easter.

However those left behind may have been on to something clever.

Having belatedly found out that I had a pass that got me in to the Dragon Lounge, I sat down for an hour with Kaiju Shakedown's Grady Hendrix.

The quality of the market stragglers put the Grand Hyatt Coffee Shop to shame. Around me as I nibbled the free biscuits and coffee were Mandarin Films' Nansun Shi, Arclight Films' Gary Hamilton, IDG's Ted Perkins, (UK) Showbox Entertainment Steven Rivers, Infotainment's Cindy Lin and Lotus Entertainment's Thomas Leong. Not too shabby.

(P. Frater)

The Hong Kong - Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) has always been a bit of a home for me during FilMart as an ex-HAF'er. It is a place where I can sit and work, hang out and relax when I have a break, knowing I won't get kicked out for being an idler. During one of my breaks I had a brief chat with an HAF filmmaker to see what his day entails.

Q & A with HAF project filmmaker Aditya Assarat, who has been winning plenty of kudos across the globe for his feature "Wonderful Town."

Variety: What is the name of your HAF project?
Aditya: High Society.

V: What is your daily HAF schedule like?
A: It starts at 9am and ends at 6pm. During the day I have meetings with various people...distributors, sales agents, production companies, and other organizers of project markets looking for projects.

V: How have the meetings been?
A: Very productive so far!

V: Do you guys get free coffee?
A: Yes we do, but I wish they have coca-cola.

V: What do you do after your work day is over?
A: I nap for an hour, then I go hang out with friends.

V: Bunnies or Tigers?
A: I personally prefer chaud lapin.

V: If you can direct any sequel of any film, what would it be?
A: Bangkok Love Story.

V: What does someone need to know if they want to take you out to dinner?
A: I don't eat anything white except for rice and coconut, which happens to be my favorite food. So no milk, eggs, cream, milk, tofu and anything in between.

(V. Ho)

There was plenty of celebrating going on last night on the part of a number of Korean visitors.

Having won nearly all the top prizes at the Asian Film Awards for "Secret Sunshine," CJ Entertainment went out on the town with the pic's local distributor Golden Scene.

Much maotai (Chinese rice wine) was consumed until about 4am. Actress Jeon Do-yeon, whose recovery skills make her the envy of many who drink with her, was apparently on top form and made others keep pace.

Needless to say, Tuesday morning a comatose quiet had settled comfortably over the CJ FilMart booth and many coffees were ordered.

However, late breaking news says that at least one person left the CJ shindig and headed deeper into the night and joined another still lively party being hosted for another AFA prize-winner Tony Leung Chiu-wai.

Nice to know that Asia's stars keep themselves in good shape.

(P. Frater)

A Japanese company at Filmart is using one of the oldest tricks in the book to sell one of the newest – girls in sexy uniforms crowd Sprasia's stand here to draw customers to look at the company's platform which is a suite of visual effects which people can download and use to enhace their video footage.
Sprasia's strategic division manager Yoshinori Washizu demonstrates the process using video of Santa Claus throwing shapes across the screen. He then overlays laser effects blasting from Santa's hands. Over footage of a girl receiving applause he overlays snapping photographers, before dropping a snappy "Breaking News" banner over the picture. It's terribly impressive.
"You can make your own news show and embed it in your blog. We have over 1,000 effects and are adding five or 10 every day. And it's all free," says Yoshi, as the girls in their miniskirts look on cheerfully.
Users can upload video from YouTube, which he says is like a megabank of material and also a good way of filtering unsuitable or illegal material.
Tomorrow I'm going back and see if I can give all the women working the stand bunny ears using the programme. You can see for yourself on www.sprasia.com. At the moment, it appears to be in Japanese but Yoshi tells me it supports English and Chinese too.

(C. Coonan) 

Some foreign visitors are not exactly thrilled by their hotel accommodation this year.

          The Trade Development Council, which runs the show, is no longer offering free accommodation in the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel and instead is billeting people, shock horror, in places like the Park Lane or Excelsior. They might have to walk, take a shuttle bus or a taxi.

          It is easy to blame budget cuts, of course. But is the smaller subsidy a sign of poverty in Hong Kong? Or rather that FilMart's prosperity means delegates are no longer getting such a cushy ride?

          Now in its 12^th frame FilMart genuinely seems to have momentum of its own and a place in the calendar that the industry takes notice of. So there is less need to pay people to come.

          There are some industry folk who have decided that the convenience and comfort of the Renaissance are worth pay for from their own pocket. (This has the helpful side effect of identifying for the rest of us who is making money.)

          Whatever the reason, the handful of Hong Kongers who actually pay income tax might be grateful for the TDC's miserliness.

          But if you are one of those foreign visitors who are feeling hard done by, please have a compensatory drink on us. Hong Kong's economy is currently doing so well that in his recent budget, finance secretary John Tsang eliminated all taxes on beer and wine. And drinkers report that pubs and bars around the city have actually lowered their prices. 

(P.Frater)