Marco Mueller Set To Launch Asia-Europe Young Cinema Festival In Macau In January 2024

Marco Mueller Getty Images

Veteran film festival director Marco Mueller is working with the Macau government to launch a new film festival, Asia-Europe Young Cinema Festival, which is scheduled to take place in Macau from January 5-11.

Former Cannes Marche chief Jerome Paillard has also joined as Industry Coordinator, with Beijing-based Shanshan Cao, an independent producer and former CAA China executive, heading the China and Asia side of the event.

More than 30 European and Asian sales companies will be screening features for theatrical and streaming buyers from China, Macau and Hong Kong. International film festival programmers will also be attending the event.

While venues are still being confirmed, the event will be held in Macau’s high-end hotels with adjacent screening facilities. Each sales company will be given the opportunity to screen two features and a showreel of trailers.

Speaking to Deadline, Mueller described Macau as an “ideal meeting place” to bring sales companies together with the Chinese industry. “We will be presenting films from the very commercial to the more arthouse – the aim is to bring everyone together – and the buyers from China will be those looking for theatrical releases, not just the streamers,” Mueller said.

The festival will also present around 20 works-in-progress from filmmakers from China, Macau and Hong Kong for festival programmers and sales agents. It will also host around 15 Master Classes from leading filmmakers such as Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi (Evil Does Not Exist), making his first trip to China, Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (Call Me By Your Name) and Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi (Magic Lantern). Some of the screenings will be related to the Master Classes.

“On the one side we are trying to honor new talents and on the other side we will be showing films that already have confirmed release dates. We will also have a training camp devised for students and young film lovers from Macau, Hong Kong and China,” Mueller told Deadline.

In addition to funding from the Macau government, the festival will be supported by the Association for the International Promotion of Chinese-language Film, a Macau-based organisation financed by mainland investors.

Mueller also explained that the event would expand to become a fully-fledged film festival in future editions and that the dates for a larger event in late 2024 or 2025 are still being discussed. Long known as a casino center, Macau is aiming to diversify away from gambling revenue to attract tourists through cultural and other activities.

Currently based in Shanghai, Mueller was previously artistic director of Pingyao International Film Festival, which he founded with Jia Zhangke, but has stepped back from that position to focus on the new festival.

He has also held leading artistic director positions at Locarno, Rome, Venice and Beijing international film festivals. He also briefly headed the now defunct International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM) although he left that post due to creative differences before the first edition of the event.