All Asia articles – Page 513
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Gerald Green arrested over Bangkok film festival bribes
Los Angeles-based film executive Gerald Green and his wife Patricia of Film Festival Management (FFM) were arrested yesterday (Dec 18) in a Los Angeles federal court for paying bribes to obtain lucrative contracts for the Bangkok International Film Festival (BKKIFF). The US Justice Department announced that a criminal complaint alleges ...
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China Film raises capital for digital production centre
Continuing its capital-raising streak, Chinese state-owned conglomerate, China Film Group Corporation, has issued $67.7m (RMB500m) in corporate bonds to finance digital film production and cinemas. The seven-year bonds have a fixed annual coupon rate of 6.1% and are available to domestic institutional investors. China Merchants Securities is the lead underwriter. ...
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Indigenous film-makers line up To Hell And Back, Samson and Delilah
Australia 's indigenous film-makers are telling their own stories with two features being prepared. Richard Frankland's road movie To Hell and Back finished its six-week shoot in Western Australia last week. Financed by Film Finance Corporation Australia and the local state agency ScreenWest, it has been dubbed the Australian version ...
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Jakarta honours 3 Days To Forever, Nagabonar
Riri Riza's road movie 3 Days To Forever was named best Indonesian film as the 9th Jakarta International Film Festival (Jiffest) came to a close. Deddy Mizwar bagged best Indonesian director for his comedy hit Nagabonar (Becomes) 2. Each was awarded a cash prize of US$5,000.To nurture young filmmakers, Jiffest ...
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Warlords rampages across Asia with $15m opening
Peter Ho-sun Chan's The Warlords has set a record as the biggest simultaneous Chinese release of the year, grossing $15m across five Asian territories on its opening weekend. The bulk of the box office came from China where the film became the biggest domestic opener of the year, clinching $12.2 ...
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Toho set for record annual box office, announces 2008 lineup
Japan's largest distributor, Toho Studios, has surpassed box office earnings of $442m (Y50b) for the fourth year in a row, the company announced. The company's releases during the lucrative Christmas/New Year's period are set to break Toho's record-setting year in 2006.Earnings up until the end of November totaled $476.4m (Y53.63b). ...
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Chan's epicWarlords conquers Chinain sneak previews
Peter Ho-sun Chan's highly-anticipated period epic The Warlords stormed into China, conquering RMB10m ($1.36m) within six hours during its sneak previews in selected cities on Wednesday night (Dec 12). Polybona's Yu Dong expressed confidence that the picture would cross $13.6m (RMB100m) in its first weekend and break new box-office records ...
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Australia's Abacus Fund backs Geena Davis project Accidents Happen
A film fund aimed at raising $26.4m (A$30m) for the production of Australian films has been formed, with the first beneficiary being Andrew Lancaster's debut film Accidents Happen, starring American actress Geena Davis (Thelma & Louise). Accidents Happen was one of five films which yesterday won investment from the ...
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Glickman responds to unconfirmed Chinese block on Hollywood films
Reacting to growing concerns over an apparent blockade of Hollywood films in China, MPAA chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said any such move would represent 'an enormous step backwards' in that country's efforts to establish a legitimate film market.Glickman's comments followed reports that China has told the US majors they ...
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Hong Kong's Pang Brothers to direct Storm Riders sequel
Hong Kong-based Universe Entertainment is lining up a sequel to 1998 martial arts fantasy The Storm Riders, to be directed by the Pang Brothers (Bangkok Dangerous, Re-cycle). The Storm Riders II (working title) is budgeted at $12m and scheduled to start shooting in March 2008 for tentative delivery in October ...
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France makes headway in international chart with L'Auberge, Luke
While The Golden Compass was largely accountable for the 14.5% week-on-week increase in the international top 40, two new entries from France made their presence known taking a collective $4.3m.For the full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.Roissy Films' comedy L'Auberge Rouge was the second highest new entry, ...
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Japan's Shinobu Yaguchi returns to director's chair
After a three year absence from feature films, director Shinobu Yaguchi is set to direct a new comedy set in the world of air travel entitled Happy Flight (working title). Based on research conducted by Yaguchi last year, Happy Flight's story is set on a flight bound for Honolulu, Hawaii. ...
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Japan's Avex establishes arthouse subsidiary
Avex Group film subisidary, Avex Entertainment, has launched an arthouse label PiX Inc, the company announced yesterday. PiX will handle arthouse and other specialty titles that fall outside of Avex Entertainment's more mainstream contents. Avex Entertainment formed the company with a capital outlay of Y60m ($536,000). Avex Entertainment COO Mio ...
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Indonesian filmmakers call for new film rating system
A revised proposal of a new film rating system was submitted to Indonesia 's Constitutional Court in Jakarta today, with the intention of replacing the dated censorship laws made during former President Suharto's regime in 1992. The proposal was submitted by Masyaraka Film Indonesia, the Indonesian Film Society set up ...
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Legend still waiting for China release greenlight
Warner Bros' post-apocalyptic thriller I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, will be released in most Asian territories this weekend except for mainland China. The mainland China release date of the film will likely be later than mid-February, due to the prolonged black-out period of foreign films. 'We struggled very, very ...
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Lust, Caution sweeps Taiwan's Golden Horse Awards
Ang Lee's Lust, Caution dominated the 44th Golden Horse Awards in Taipei with seven wins including best feature, best director, best actor and best adapted screenplay. The film had received eleven nominations. Tony Ayres' The Home Song Stories took best actress for Joan Chen's performance and best original screenplay. The ...
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Dream, Nanking share top prize at Taipei projects market
Clara Law and Yim Ho shared the top award at the 3rd Taipei Film & TV Project Promotion (TFTPP) held Dec 4-6, dividing the cash prize of $15,500. Ironically, runner-up Sherwood Hu walked away with $9,300. Law's $2m Like A Dream follows an American-born Chinese who travels from New York ...
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KOFIC and KEIC move toward new film insurance plan
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) and the Korea Export Insurance Corporation (KEIC) today signed an memorandum of understanding (MOU) towards the creation of a Cultural Export Insurance specifically for films. The MOU was 'an agreement to work together to support the local film industry' - to explore ways to steadily ...
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Romulus, My Fathernamed best film byAustralian Film Insitute
Romulus, My Father last night won the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Award for best film for producers Robert Connolly and John Maynard. 'Some people think awards are a bit frivolous but I think they are of real value,' said Connolly just hours before the award was announced in Melbourne. He ...
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China expected to extend Christmas black-out period
Chinese authorities are understood to be extending the ban on new Hollywood films being released over the Christmas period until the end of the Chinese New Year holidays, according to local sources. China's year-end box office season, which is traditionally reserved for local movies, officially gets underway tonight with the ...