MGTO Director Senna Fernandes at the 20th Busan International Film Festival
Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) paid an inspection visit to Busan, Korea on 1 – 2 October. Marking its presence at the 20th Busan International Film Festival currently going on from 1 – 10 October, the Tourist Office seized the opportunity to observe and learn more about the procedures in detail for organizing international events in Korea. Through observation, MGTO learnt from others’ experience in order to keep presenting various spectacular events. During the stay, MGTO also visited Busan Tourism Organization and the film festival organizer. MGTO Director Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes, Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association Director General Chan Lai Sze, Vice President Ho Sio Man and Deputy Managing Director Lei Sou Ian, together with other delegates, paid a visit to Founder and Honorary Festival Director of the Busan International Film Festival, Kim Dong-ho during the event. Director Senna Fernandes and MGTO’s representative in Korea also paid a visit to Busan Tourism Organization and met with the Organization’s Chief Executive Officer, Shin Yong-sam. MGTO rode on the opportunity to visit relevant facilities and learn about the details and keys to organizing successful international events in Korea. By learning from others’ experience, it can remarkably optimize MGTO’s work as a mega event organizer in the future. Busan was designated as a “City of Film” in the UNESCO Creative Cities Network last year. The Network was founded in 2004 to promote international collaboration between cities which are dedicated to investing in creativity as an impetus that leads to sustainable urban development, social inclusion and more powerful influence of culture in the world. The Busan International Film Festival, on the other hand, is the first mega international event of its kind in Korea and also Asia’s most magnificent occasion for film industry, a gathering which has won wide recognition around the globe today. MGTO is committed to organizing a colorful variety of mega events for local citizens and visitors to join, with the aim to attract visitors for a longer stay to experience Macau in depth. The Tourist Office hopes that Macau can become one of the ideal filming locations for film producers from around the world, and local resources such as the World Heritage Site “The Historic Centre of Macao” can be well utilized, such that Macau can march toward industry diversification. Screening over 300 films from some 70 countries, the 20th Busan International Film Festival is expected to host over 12,000 movie industry professionals at home and from worldwide as well as attract more than 200,000 spectators. The Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association is running a booth at Asian Film Market, one of the Festival highlights, to showcase the fruits of Macau’s film production and cultural industry development. This press release is available at: http://industry.macautourism.gov.mo/en/index.php
