(THR) Nicolas Cage was the big draw at the opening night of the International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM) on Saturday, as for one evening the film industry stole the limelight in the city-state famed for its casinos.Macau, the “Las Vegas of the East”, is playing host to the third edition of IFFAM and the opening ceremony saw stars from Hollywood and Asian cinema walk the carpet at Macau's Cultural Convention Center.
Cage, an IFFAM talent ambassador who also held an actor's masterclass at the festival on Sunday, stole the show on the red carpet with his colorful dinner jacket, but local and Asian media were captivated by South Korean singer-turned-actress and former Girls' Generation member Lim Yoon-A.
A slew of global talent also walked the carpet including Mandy director Panos Cosmatos, Indian director Vasan Bala, British director Toby McDonald and Fly By Night director Zahir Omar. The great and the good of Macau high society and business were also in attendance.
Donning a colorful tuxedo and sunglasses, Cage was in an effusive mood on the red carpet, and offered advice on perseverance and blocking out naysayers. "Don't let anybody talk you out of your dreams. You have to stand by and believe in yourself. There are a lot of people out there saying, 'you can't, you can't, you can't'. Don't listen to them. Don't give up," said Cage.
In her opening address, director of Macau's tourism office and president of the IFFAM organizing committee Maria Helena de Senna Fernandes reiterated the festival's goals. "With the experience of the last two years, IFFAM has lived up to its objective to explore new cinematic dimensions, inspire boundless creativity, and present a visual splendor under the theme 'A new avenue to the world of films'. The organizing committee aspires to forge IFFAM into a cultural exchange platform of east and west across borders and generations," Fernandes said.
IFFAM will run for 7 days and close with Zhang Yimou's Chinese ink painting-inspired period actioner Shadows. The lineup includes gems such as Alfonso Cuarón's Roma, Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite, Gustave Moller's The Guilty, Josie Rourke's Mary Queen of Scots, Gilles Lellouche's Sink or Swim, local director Ivo Ferreira's Macau-set drama Empire Hotel, as well as a retrospective of Chinese actress Yao Chen.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter by