The "Macau Tourism Awareness Campaign" kicks off a series of activities. The "Know Your Macau" Short Film Production Contest for college students will call for entries starting from April 15.

The main objective of the contest is to encourage students to capture on film their own impressions of Macau as a tourism city to enhance their awareness of tourism. At the same time, through the short films as an art form and communication medium, the public will be able to learn more about Macau and admire its features as a tourism city. The public will be encouraged to play their role actively in the "Macau Tourism Awareness Campaign".

Director of Macau Government Tourist Office, Engo João Manuel Costa Antunes, introduced the details of the contest at the press conference held yesterday. Mr. Jingle Ma, a renowned Hong Kong film director, was invited as special guest to share his experience in filming "Marooned" in Macau and exchange his views with the students who were present at the conference.

Representatives from the co-organizers of the contest, including the University of Macau, the Macau Polytechnic Institute, Macau University of Science & Technology, Asia International Open University (Macau) and the Institute for Tourism Studies, as well as college students taking part in video production course, also participated in the press conference.

Prizes will be attributed in four categories, namely Best Short Film, Best Concept, Best Innovation and Best Cinematography. The participants must be enrolled in any institution of tertiary education in Macau. The content of the short film should be attractive, express their feelings and be able to promote the tourism image of Macau.

The duration of the short film should be between 3 to 10 minutes. The language can be Cantonese, Mandarin, Portuguese or English. More details are available at the Macau Government Tourist Office (MGTO) web page at http://www.macautourism.gov.mo.

The jury will be composed of representatives from MGTO, the institutions of tertiary education, filmdom professionals, other concerned groups and the local television TDM. The hosting organization invited renowned Hong Kong film director Mr. Jingle Ma as special guest. Jingle Ma has started his career in the film industry in 1984 and became a Director of Photography in 1996. Over the past 10 years, he has worked for more than 50 films and became a film director in 1998. "Fly to Polaris" has won several awards in the 19th Hong Kong Academy Awards. The film "Marooned" produced by Jingle Ma portrayed most of the scenery of Macau.