Banyoles organizes second edition of the Dragon Boat Festival

From http://dragonboatbanyoles.com

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="576"] 2nd Dragon Boat Festival in Banyoles, 18 May 2013[/caption]

After a succesful first edition in 2012, Club Natació Banyoles and Agenda Sports & Elements, in collaboration with the Banyoles City Council and Casa Asia are organizing a second edition of the Dragon Boat Festival (龍船節) in Banyoles Lake for May 18th, 2013. Further information can be found at http://dragonboatbanyoles.com.

Disclosed first movies for the Asian Summer Film Festival in Vic

From http://cinemaoriental.com/ca/portfolio-item/avanc-de-programacio (in Catalan)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="350"] Image from the movie Joyful Reunion (飲食男女好遠又好近) from Film Business Asia website[/caption]

This year the Asian Summer Film Festival (Festival Nits de Cinema Oriental) will project more movies than ever before. Sixteen titles will be displayed in the official competition of the festival to win the Lucky Cat (Gat de la Sort), given by popular votes. The festival will also display a selection of Taiwanese films, of morning children's movies and other special night projections.

So far, these are the movies that have been announced for this year's festival:

• The Last Tycoon (大上海), by Wong Jing (王晶)


• Wu Dang (大武当之天地密码), by Patrick Leung (梁柏坚)


• Lost in Thailand (人再囧途之泰囧), by Xu Zheng (徐峥)


• Joyful Reunion (飲食男女— 好遠又好近), by Tsao Jui-Yuan (曹瑞原)


• Barfi!, by Anurag Basu

 

The opening movie will be The Soul of Bread (愛的麵包魂), by Sean Kao (高炳權) and Lin Chun-Yang (林君陽).



Finally, the festival organizers also presented this year's poster, with the mascot Xi Wang, the Formosa bear.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="300"] 2013 poster of the Asian Summer Film Festival in Vic with the mascot Xi Wang, the Formosa bear[/caption]

La Jabugueña Iberian cured ham aims at Chinese market

From http://www.elpuntavui.cat/noticia/article/4-economia/18-economia/643309-la-jabuguena-de-salt-entra-al-mercat-xines.html (in Catalan)

La Jabugueña, a company based in Salt (Girona province) and devoted to the production and distribution of Iberian cured pork products, is aiming at the Chinese market and because of that has recently attended the the Hofex trade fair in Hong Kong. The 35-year-old company has a processing plant in Salt for the meat coming from the Iberian pigs raised on their estate in Jabugo (Huelva province). According to Yolanda Escuredo, "it is a great business opportunity for us because it is a country with a high number of consumers of Iberian cured ham and despite having different food habits they are big lovers of this kind of meat". Ham production in East Asia has a much shorter curation process and it is mainly eaten cooked, which gives La Jabugueña's Iberian curated ham a selective advantage. To increase exports is a present priority for La Jabugueña, a company that despite their solid position in Spanish market has seen an important decline of their sales in the home market. However, they are also witnessing an important increase in sales abroad, like Japan, where nearly 50% of exports are sold, followed by Austria, Russia, Denmark and Santo Domingo.

Food industries from Girona province promote products in China

From http://www.diaridegirona.cat/economia/2013/05/07/sector-agroalimentari-gironi-promociona-productes-xina/616184.html (in Catalan)

After the visit of Chinese importers in April 2013 to knowx Catalan meat industries, nine food companies from Girona province, mostly from the meat sector, have showcased their products in the SIAL and Hofex trade fairs in Shanghai and Hong Kong, respectively.

 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="104"] SIAL - The Asian Food Marketplace[/caption]

SIAL is Asia's Leading Food & Beverage Exhibition and it is a key reference to enter the China's food market. This year's exhibition is expected to receive around 35,000 professional visitors and the companies from the Girona province attending this event are Frigorífics Costa Brava (meat products, certified to export to China), Friselva, Grup Batallé, Iberdigest and Miquel Alimentació Grup.

 

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="196"] Hofex Hong Kong[/caption]

Hofex is a biennial trade fair specialized in food and drinks that is reaching its 15th edition. In the previous edition it hosted 1,800 companies and 33,000 professionals of the sector and it is the main event of this kind in the region.  The companies from the Girona province taking part in Hofex 2013 are Casademont (meat products), La Jabugueña (Iberian meat products), Mas Parés (foie and duck products), and Vichy Catalán (drinks). Despite of the reduced size of the market in Hong Kong, it is a very attractive one because of both the high economic level of the residents and its strategic location to re-export the food products to other areas in the region, specially to China.

Presentation of the Asian Summer Film Festival in Vic

According to a press release by the organizers, the presentation of the 10th edition of the Asian Summer Film Festival (Festival Nits de Cinema Oriental) will take place in Vic in May 9th, 2013, and it will include a conference by Mr. Javier Ching-Shan Hou, representative of the Office for the Economic and Cultural Promotion of Taipei in Spain (駐西班牙台北經濟文化辦事處), entitled "Taiwan, a country of opportunities". Both this Office and the Ministry of Culture of Taiwan are involved in the organization of this festival as official sponsors. The activities will also include an official reception by the Mayor of Vic, Josep Maria Vila d’Abadal.

Last year's edition of the Asian Summer Film Festival was won by the Taiwanese movie Starry Starry Night (星空), a 2011 fantasy drama based on an illustrated novel by Taiwanese author Jimmy Liao (廖福彬). The movie was directed by Tom Lin (林書宇) and had Xu Jiao (徐嬌) and Lin Hui-min in the main acting roles.



 

Asian Summer Film Festival in Vic reaches 10th edition

From http://cinemaoriental.com/en (in English)

Between July 9th and 14th, 2013, the city of Vic (province of Barcelona) will host the 10th edition of the Asian Summer Film Festival (Festival Nits de Cinema Oriental). This festival will display some of the most acclaimed commercial works in Asia as well as radical new projects. This years' program will include one world premiere and several international releases from other festivals, only shown in their country of origin. As in previous editions, the festival will also host the traditional outdoor dinners, where attendants will be able to sample delightful dishes from Hong Kong, India, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

Sinergies, a talent hunting program for Catalan and Chinese young entrepreneurs

From http://www.tarragona.cat/lajuntament/conselleries/empreses/tarragonaimpulsa/noticies/joves-catalans-i-xinesos-participen-al-programa-sinergies-de-captacio-de-talent-emprenedor-i-internacionalitzacio-empresarial (in Catalan)

Since April 5th, 2013, 30 young entrepreneurs (15 Chinese and 15 Catalan) are taking part in the program Sinergies, a pilot activity jointly organized by the Tarragona city council and the University Rovira i Virgili, with the collaboration of the Tarragona province government (Diputació de Tarragona), Casa Àsia and Europe Direct.

From April to June 2013 these students will share academic and cultural activities aimed at getting the knowledge and the skills to create and manage a company, at knowing the potential of the area and at understanding how the Chinese and European markets work. The program also wants to help develop personal links between these students, so later they can turn into something profitable for Tarragona and its province.

A pdf document containing detailed information about the Sinergies program for 2013 can be found in Casa Àsia website and also read and downloaded here at the following link - http://www.casaasia.es/media/asset_publics/resources/000/031/484/original/Sinergies_Dossier_Resum_Projecte.pdf