Christine Hakim thanks France for tsunami aid at film festival
Christine Hakim thanks France for tsunami aid at film festival
Agence France-Presse/Deauville, France
Actress and producer Christine Hakim has thanked France for its help to the victims of the Asian tsunami at the opening of a film festival here.
"I have not been mandated by the president, but I would like to take the occasion to thank the French government and all the French for the help they have given the victims of the tusnami," Hakim said late Wednesday.
She was addressing the opening of the Deauville Asian Film Festival at which she was presented with a special award recognising her three-decade long work in the film industry.
"This recognition holds great significance," she said, "personally, but also for the whole of the Indonesian film industry and also for my country struck by the greatest tragedy in its history."
She paid particular tribute to the French firefighters who helped the international rescue efforts after huge tidal waves struck the province on Aceh on Dec. 26 following a massive earthquake off the island of Sumatra.
"They have done some incredible work in Aceh," said the actress, whose father came from the province.
As a goodwill ambassador for the UN children's fund UNICEF, she has travelled a dozen times to the province to try to help the people who bore the brunt of the tusnamis which rippled across the Indian Ocean killing some 270,000 people.
Some 40 films many of which have not been released in Europe, and among the best in cult and contemporary movies from the Far East, were screened at the festival in the northwestern French seaside resort which ran until Sunday.
Nine are competing for the coveted Golden Lotus best film award, including three Japanese films: the drama Charon directed by Gen Takahashi, murder mystery Lakeside Murder Case by Shinji Aoyama and a low-budget controversial horror Marebito by Takashi Shimizu (the director of The Grudge).
They will be competing against Electric Shadows a heart- warming tale from China by first-time female director Xiao Jiang, Taiwan's romantic comedy Holiday Dreaming from Fun-chun Hsu and part of South Korea's new wave cinema This Charming Girl, shot entirely by hand-held camera by newcomer Lee Yoon-ki.
Also in the running are the visually poetic Chased by Dreams from Indian Bengali director Buddhadeb Dasgupta, The World also from China by Jia Zhangke and Thailand's The Overture directed by Itthi-Sunthorn Wichailak, which opened the four-day event late Wednesday.
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AFPLifestyle-film-Asia-France AFP
GetAFP 2.10 -- MAR 10, 2005 15:45:27