Hong Kong Filmart will be held online for the third year running in 2022 as Hong Kong’s borders look unlikely to open to quarantine-free travel until much later in the year.
The annual content market’s organisers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), confirmed that the event will be held virtually on its originally scheduled dates of March 14-17, 2022.
Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which is organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (HKIFFS) and takes place at the same time as Filmart, will also be held online (March 14-16, 2022).
A new conference, EntertainmentPulse, will launch during Filmart Online 2022 to bring together international industry experts to discuss the latest developments in streaming and content creation, technological breakthroughs in production and the future of documentary and animation.
Hong Kong continues to have one of the strictest Covid-19 quarantine regimes in the world, with visitors from most countries required to undergo a 21-day hotel quarantine at their own expense. Negotiations are currently underway for Hong Kong to open its border with mainland China, with some progress expected in the next few weeks, but the volume of cross-border travel is likely to remain restricted for some time.
Both China and Hong Kong are pursuing a zero Covid strategy and are unlikely to open further until after the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing (February 4-20), with a full opening not expected until much later in 2022.
Due to its March timing, Filmart was one of the first major international content markets to be affected when the Covid-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020. It has since been held online twice – first in August 2020 and then again in March 2021. Filmart Online 2021 brought together around 8,000 participants from 81 countries and regions over a four-day market, during which 2,600 online business meetings were arranged.
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