A festival of laughter

Inside a sprawling, architecturally striking white building, a comedy unfolded. Though it lasted only 10 minutes, the play, Sky Trap, which was based on an airline conducting a rehearsal for an anti-hijacking drill, with chaos ensuing when the crew unexpectedly encounters a real armed criminal attempting to hijack the flight, was both hilarious and gripping. It was just one of a series of productions being presented that day.

Offstage, four special audience members sat in the front row, focused intently on the play. They weren't just there to be entertained — they also had the responsibility of deciding whether it would receive financial support to be developed into a full-length show.

The four were Shen Teng and Ma Li, who are both actors, director Feng Xiaogang, and actor-filmmaker Xu Zheng — the top celebrities in Chinese comedy cinema — and their job was to vote for the most appealing shows, which were awarded bonuses ranging from 200,000 yuan ($27,295) to 500,000 yuan.

The competition — a pitch session in which six productions had 10 minutes to prove their worth — was one of the most anticipated segments of the second Macao International Comedy Festival, held in Hengqin in Guangdong province and the Macao Special Administrative Region from April 9 to 13.

They were short-listed from over 300 submissions, which encompassed a variety of styles, including urban comedies, absurdist plays, and dark humor, according to the organizers.

Sky Trap took the Best Creative Award, while the Best Storytelling Award — the competition's biggest honor — went to Parenting 404: Son Not Found, a fantasy comedy about a father waiting outside the delivery room, who encounters an angel with the power to grant him an ideal child.

As an annual event designed to attract top comedy performers, creators and filmmakers from China and abroad, the festival drew a string of celebrities, including Indian star Aamir Khan, Japanese actor-director Takeshi Kitano, director Jeffrey Lau, and comedian Bai Ke.