Louis Koo raises HK$39 million to support grassroots filmmakers

Affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, film and television production has fallen into a "frozen period", and the livelihoods of film workers have been affected. Louis Koo, president of the Hong Kong Performing Artists Guild, contacted 10 companies including Emperor Entertainment Group, Media Asia and Shaw Brothers to invest HK$3 million each, and applied for HK$9 million in funds from the Film Development Fund, totaling HK$39 million to start filming a heartwarming film about Hong Kong people dealing with the pandemic, to raise funds for grassroots film workers.

The film is directed by Stephen Chow, with co-directors including Kwok Chi-kin and Chen Qing-jia. All actors are performing for charity, and the actors' remuneration will be donated to grassroots personnel. It is reported that each staff member who applies for help can receive a maximum of about 9,000 yuan in funding. The production team is working hard to persuade the actors to perform, and Julian Cheung and Cheung Chi-chung have been invited to perform.

Louis Koo said: "I am very grateful to every kind-hearted person who has donated money to this epidemic support plan, and every enthusiastic person who has contributed. Through this action, the entire industry has worked together to support each other. I hope that the donations can help those in need in the industry. In this difficult situation, the entire industry has almost stopped, and there are only a few dramas that have started filming. It is foreseeable that the epidemic will affect the future and normal production will not be able to resume soon. Therefore, in the days to come, everyone must continue to support each other, persevere together, and get through this adversity together."

Oriental Pictures boss Wong Jing said that 10 companies jointly invested in the filming, and the money was donated to the Performing Artists Association for processing, and then to grassroots film workers. Louis Koo is the chairman and he is mainly responsible for handling the donation matters. The list of actors will be announced later.