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Chow Yun-fat Donates Trophies to Hong Kong's New Film Archive
Hollywood star Chow Yun-fat, the star of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" which is widely tipped in this year's Oscars, has donated all his film awards to Hong Kong's new film archives.
The Hong Kong-born actor has added his collection to the multi-million dollar archive which opened Wednesday showcasing thousands of Hong Kong films and memorabilia, media reports said Thursday.
"No one will be looking at them at home anyway," he told reporters jokingly, adding the trophies would just be in the way.
"If my wife is watching the trophies and we're looking at each other, we can never cook our meals!" said Chow.
Chow, who starred opposite Jodie Foster in "Anna and the King", joined Financial Secretary Donald Tsang in opening the Hong Kong Film Archive, which will display 3,800 films and 85,000 pieces of film heritage dating back to 1898.
The four-storey archive, collected over the past eight years, features viewing rooms, a mini-cinema, studios and a film bank, as well as a vast collection of posters, photos, scripts, reviews relating to Hong Kong cinema.
The government has worked to revive Hong Kong's once thriving film industry, setting up a 100-million Hong Kong dollars (12.8 million dollars US) Film Development Fund.
Six years ago Hong Kong was the world's third largest film producer, behind the United States and India.
But following the Asian financial crisis, output was cut to one third.
The decline in quality films has also not been helped by an exodus of filmmakers and stars. Action star Jackie Chan, director John Woo, Bond girl Michelle Yeoh and Chow have all been lured away by Hollywood.
(www.chinadaily.com.cn)
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