The Hong Kong Films Retrospective 2010 was launched on Monday in Shanghai, which would present 23 acclaimed Hong Kong movies to the mainland audiences, said the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau of the Hong Kong government in a statement.

The 5-day event, organized by the Hong Kong Film Development Council (FDC), is an official Hong Kong Special Administrative Region program for World Expo 2010 Shanghai China, seeking to foster exchanges between Hong Kong and Shanghai on film culture and to help Hong Kong's film industry tap the mainland market.

Hong Kong government has been committed to promoting the long- term development of the Hong Kong film industry, said Rita Lau, the secretary for commerce and economic development, in the opening ceremony.

"Film co-productions between the two places have begun to bear fruit with the number of co-produced films surging from about 10 per year before 2004 to around 30 per year now."

Apart from the retrospective, the FDC will hold a business matching event to provide a platform for Hong Kong new-generation directors to promote film projects to investors from the mainland.