The programme “A Guided Tour at the Cinematheque．Passion”
Since its re-opening in September 2020, the Cinematheque．Passion (hereinafter referred to as “Cinematheque”), under the auspices of the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC, from its Portuguese acronym), has hosted a number of film festivals and film activities, bringing a wide variety of films to the audience. Since September 2020, nearly 8,000 people visited the Cinematheque and the ticketing rate reached over 70%. IC will continue to present various film festivals, activities and exhibitions of different genres and themes through the Cinematheque, bringing audiences a quality film experience.
The Cinematheque will host an environmental programme entitled “A Global Cinematic Showcase of the Environment and Sustainability Crisis” for the first time in April. With the concept of “environmental protection, ecology, and sustainability”, the film festival focuses on the environment, climate change, sustainable development and other issues. A collection of 26 feature films, short films, documentaries, and animations will be featured in the film festival, including the feature film Spread Your Wings adapted from the real story of the French meteorologist/animal rights activist Christian Moullec leading wild goose migrations in over 20 years; the art creation documentary Omelia Contadina in which the French artist JR and Italian director Alice Rohrwacher recorded the funeral of peasant agriculture celebrated by a peasant community and brought out reflection on the influence of urbanisation on rural traditions; and the animated short film Chicken of the Dead exploring the impact of the poultry industry on the social environment. Starting from today, the exhibition entitled “Women in Cinemas – The Extraordinary Worlds of Female Filmmakers” is held on the third floor of the Cinematheque, showing women’s growing importance in the film industry over the past century. The exhibition will be held until 11 June.
The Cinematheque is a space for appreciating films, storing local audio-visual records, hosting exhibitions and reading film books, and is a platform for local film professionals and enthusiasts to communicate, exchange and collaborate with each other. In addition to film screening, the Cinematheque has also included a new feature in recent years. Various exhibitions were held at the Cinematheque, including an exhibition which showed the development of Macao’s screening industry over the past century, an exhibition entitled “Hand-painted Movie Billboard Exhibition” which displayed a number of hand-painted movie posters from the past, as well as large hand-painted movie advertisement recreated by local artists, Lai Ieng and Lio Man Cheong, allowing the audience to reminisce the bygone days.
IC hopes to nurture and expand the niche of cinema lovers through the screening of art films and independent films, which are less accessible to the general public. In the past six months, the Cinematheque has hosted film festivals and events such as “SPOTLIGHT: Female Filmmakers – Forwarding HER Narrative”, “Premiere of the documentary Interpretation of Images”, “Home and Far Away: Contemporary Chinese Cinema In Focus”, “Keep Rolling – The Films of Ann Hui”, “Asian Cinema Today”, as well as a number of post-screening talks with directors and seminars on copyright law for film and television, with a view to enhancing the level of film appreciation of the general public and promoting the development of film criticism.Meanwhile, the Cinematheque has hosted group tours and film screenings of the programme “A Guided Tour at the Cinematheque．Passion” for schools and organisations, in which a professional docent introduces the history of film, the operations of cinemas, and the development of the screening industry, allowing participants to enjoy local short films, and enhancing their understanding of Macao’s screening industry and the Cinematheque’. The programme has attracted enthusiastic participation from many schools and organisations since its launch. For enquiries and registration, please email to info@cinematheque-passion.mo.
The Cinematheque is located at Travessa da Paixão No. 9-13. The ticket office opens from 10am to 11:30pm, while the exhibition hall and film information room opens from 10am to 8pm, including on public holidays (closed on Mondays). In order to prevent the epidemic, a comprehensive cleaning and disinfection was carried out in the facilities. All visitors must wear face masks, undergo body temperature checks, present a “Macao Health Code” of the day and follow crowd control measures. For more information about the programmes, please contact the Cinematheque through tel. no. 2852 2585 or visit www.cinematheque-passion.mo.
