Ten producers and feature films from the region are among the 16 currently attending the third Hong Kong co-production lab held by Ateliers du Cinéma Européen (ACE) during Filmart.

Yifan Lai (Knife in Clean Water), Simon Sun (The Aristocrats), Wei Zhong Zhang (KO! M. Tumor) and Han Niu (A Most Peculiar Man) are from China; Titus Ho (Love Revolution), Teresa Kwong [pictured] (A Mighty Adventure) and Gilitte Leung (Future Letters) from Hong Kong; Bertha Bay-Sa Pan (Taiwan Tiger) and Tony Yang (True Love Agency) from Taiwan; and Flora Goh (Mandala) from Singapore.

Five producers from Europe include: Cristiano Bortone (Coffee) from Italy, Fernanda Del Nido (The Moon in September) from Spain, Reinette Van De Stadt-Ho (Hong Kong Sister) from The Netherlands, and Tom Dercourt (Arexes)and Jérôme Dopffere (Red Sky), both from France.

There is also a New Zealander in the mix, being Steven O’Meagher (Jonah).

The four-day lab is held in conjunction with the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) and Filmart, with the support of MEDIA Mundus.

It is for experienced, independent producers. They pitch and attend one-on-one meetings and sessions focussing on a range of subjects including distribution and fund raising.

The main point of the lab is to find the right strategy and the right potential partners for each project, but it also aims to develop more understanding of the cultural differences and working habits between East and the West.

As of this year, ACE has been running for 20 years.