Esther Lim: A woman in action

By Elaine Liu

 

Esther Lim walks at a quick pace, with the warmth of sunshine on her dark-blue jacket. She is dressed in a casual orange sweater, wears no makeup at all, and talks with an affable yet authoritative voice. It is difficult to link Lim’s plain outfit with the dazzling film industry, yet the firm light in her eyes reveals her determination and devotion to innovate the Macao film industry.

As many may remember, in the night of February 18, 2016, Macao was under the spotlight with celebrities from all over the world for the grand charity premiere of the Hollywood movie “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny”. In spite of the success of the premiere, seldom did people notice the organizer of the event, Lim, president of the Star Rise Cultural and Creative Association, who was the woman behind the scene.

“It was pretty troublesome,” Lim said. “All the things you see, such as the posters and backdrops, needed to be mailed to Hong Kong, Beijing and the U.S. for their approvals, which took a considerable amount of time.”

Lim even wrote on her Facebook, “I just hope to make more effort for the development of young artists and the creativity industry in Macao.”

Lim said, “Although the profit of holding the charity premiere could hardly cover cost, all our event’s revenues were donated to support the work of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and to improve the living standard of people in war areas.”

Actually it was Lim’s friend’s suggestion to host the premiere in Macao. She took it seriously afterwards and started inviting celebrities from Hollywood and Hong Kong, only found out later that her friend was just joking.

Lim said that her motivation for doing philanthropy and innovating Macao’s film industry is to cultivate young artists in Macao. She is now responsible for the distribution of the new movie that will be shot in Macao in coming April by a Hollywood director Thomas Lim, and she plans to offer local university students the chance to participate in the movie. She is now also preparing for the promotion of another action movie, “The Bodyguard”, which is directed by Sammo Hung and starring Andy Lau, Tsui Hark and Hu Jun, etc.

When asked about the development trend of the local film industry, Lim said that it was a question that every filmmaker and policy maker in Macao should contemplate.

According to Lim, though the Macao government is pushing forward Macao’s cultural and creative industry, it may invest in a wrong direction, and does not pay enough attention to the operation of various projects.

Lim planned to produce a Macao-made action movie three years ago. However, the Macao government did not offer any financial support for the original Macao movie, because Lim was a movie producer, not a director. The government funding goes only to local directors, not producers. Lim said that reputable Macao producers should also be supported as they play an important role as well in developing the local film industry.

Under the glorious cover, it is a lonely and bumpy road to develop Macao’s film industry, not to mention walking along the road without government subsidies.

Still, Lim has prepared for three years to make Macao local action movie anyway, and the project will start shooting this year. Just like kung-fu stars fighting in movies, Lim said she is fighting for the future of the Macao film industry.

She thinks the future of Macao’s film industry lies in the improvement of capabilities of Macao artists, thus, she has strived to promote the communication between artists in Macao and Hong Kong, elevating Macao’s place in the world’s film industry by hosting various cultural events and producing local movies.

After the interview, Lim asked the reporter not to polish her profile photo. She said, “I won’t beautify my photo using applications. People could always recognize me as I look exactly like the photos I posted online.”