Filmart Festivities

HONG KONG-- Variety hosted its first ever Filmart cocktail Thursday at the Dragon Lounge on the market floor. Guests were welcomed by a sea of orange — Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre staff — who could have been mistaken for security the way they surrounded people and asked for invites as they came in. Asia Editor Patrick Frater stood post at the door giving individual verbal OKs for the orange sea to roll back. Once drinks were in hand and dim sum morsels consumed, Variety Director of International Sales Alberto Lopez and Frater both thanked the crowd for coming and mentioned the new Web site geared toward Asia: http://www.varietyasiaonline.com, as well as the experimental Variety Filmart e-Dailies that had gone out since Monday, the day before the confab started. Event was attended by the creative and business sides of the industry.

Attendees included Japanese director Kiyoshi Kurosawa ("Purse," "Bright Future"); Venice Film Fest head Marco Mueller; Colette Koo, producer with Hippopotamus Films; Lee Beasley, director and head of media and entertainment at Standard Chartered Bank in Hong Kong; and Fortissimo duo Michael Werner and Wouter Barendrecht. (V. Rothrock)