All Asia articles – Page 540

  • News

    Asia Pacific awards recruite Cheah and Hong-Joon

    2007-05-21T14:06:00Z

    The Asia Pacific Screen Awards, a collaboration with CNN International, UNESCO and the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF), announced nine members of its nominations council yesterday (May 20).They included Philip Cheah, head of the Singapore International Film Festival, Azize Tan, director of the International Istanbul Film Festival, Anne ...

  • News

    Cineclick's Eastern western conquers France

    2007-05-21T06:28:00Z

    Cineclick Asia has closed a flurry of deals headed by the sale of Kim Jee-woon's Oriental Western The Good, The Bad, and The Weird to ARP for French-speaking territories. After screening footage of the $11 million film, ARP pacted with Cineclick for a high-six-figure deal - relatively high for an ...

  • News

    JA Media unveils debut five-picture slate

    2007-05-20T08:51:00Z

    Start-up Chinese production outfit JA Media has unveiled plans to invest $200m in film and TV production over the next five years, along with details of its debut $30m five-picture slate. Hong Kong filmmakers Stanley Kwan, Tsui Hark, Ann Hui and Stephen Fung are lined up to direct projects for ...

  • News

    IDG, China Film to co-finance five-picture slate

    2007-05-19T14:43:00Z

    IDG China Media Fund has announced that it will cooperate with state-owned China Film Group to invest in five Chinese-language films over two years. China Film president Han Sanping and IDG China Media Fund president Hugo Shong signed a memo of cooperation in Beijing on Thursday. The first film to ...

  • News

    UTV looks to acquisitions for new channels

    2007-05-19T07:26:00Z

    India's UTV is ramping up its acquisition activities here at Cannes ahead of the launch of a bouquet of new movie channels over the coming months. The first to launch will be Bindass Movies, a companion to general entertainment channel Bindass, both of which are aimed at upwardly mobile 16-35 ...

  • News

    Arclight and Micott & Basara fund fighters

    2007-05-19T04:32:00Z

    Arclight Films and Japan's Micott & Basara will jointly finance and produce a live-action adaptation of bestselling video game King Of Fighters, which is set to be directed by Hong Kong film-maker Gordon Chan.Chan (The Medallion, Fist Of Legend) will direct from a script by Chris Chow who wrote the ...

  • News

    Activers sells titles to Thailand

    2007-05-19T04:22:00Z

    Korean sales agent Activers Entertainment has sold high school comedy The Legend of Seven Cutter and library title The Hidden Princess to Lionheart Pictures for Thailand. Activers has also announced a content deal with major South Korean internet portal site Daum for ad-based free VOD. The seller's library comprises more ...

  • News

    Not Quite Hollywood goes to Madman, Magnolia and Optimum

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    Several distributors have come on board early for the Australian project Not Quite Hollywood, about Australian genre cinema in the 1970s and 1980s. Deals have been struck for Australia and New Zealand (Madman Entertainment), North America (Magnolia Pictures), and the UK (Optimum Releasing).Director Mark Hartley is in production now on ...

  • News

    Pretty Pictures turns a page for North Korean Diary

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    North Korean film A Schoolgirl's Diary had its debut screening in Cannes Market yesterday. Paris-based Pretty Pictures is selling the film at Cannes after acquiring international rights earlier this year. CEO James Velaise originally picked up French rights last October after seeing the film at the Pyongyang International Film Festival.'This ...

  • News

    Cathay Classics signs $1m deal with Malaysia's new Variety View

    2007-05-19T04:00:00Z

    Singapore-based Cathay-Keris Films has inked a distribution deal with Variety View, a new distribution start-up in Malaysia, for 230 titles from its Cathay Classics library.Under the terms of the deal, worth close to $1m, the Malaysian company holds worldwide rights for theatrical, pay and free TV, DVD and other distribution ...

  • News

    Germany's Splendid takes on Jaa's Ong Bak 2

    2007-05-18T13:10:00Z

    Germany's Splendid has become the first distributor to pounce on Ong Bak 2, starring and directed by Tony Jaa, since The Weinstein Company surrendered international rights to the project. TWC acquired all rights excluding Asia and the UK to the film last year, from Thailand's Sahamongkolfilm International, but recently renegotiated ...

  • News

    Last Vampire gets first bite in UK

    2007-05-18T04:20:00Z

    Hong Kong producer Bill Kong has sealed one of the first major deals on upcoming action title Blood: The Last Vampire in the first days of the market, by selling all UK rights to Pathe UK Distribution. Chris Nahon is directing the $35m English-language film starring Korean superstar Gianna Jun ...

  • News

    Pop star Rain drops into Speed Racer cast

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    Pan-Asian pop star Rain has joined the cast of the Wachowski brothers' upcoming Speed Racer, Warner Bros announced here.Rain, aka Jung Ji-hoon, made his big screen debut in Park Chan-wook's Berlinale competition title I'm a Cyborg but That's Okay. He is to play an young contender in Speed Racer, which ...

  • News

    Japanese in Cannes talk co-production cash

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunka-Cho) is attending Cannes this year to talk up the subsidies that are available in Japan for international co-productions.Since introducing a film promotion policy in 2003, the agency has $6.6m (Y800m) available annually to support production of domestic films. It now wants to alert international ...

  • News

    First Sun takes shine to remake of Argento's Suspira

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    New Italian production outfit First Sun has acquired remake rights to Dario Argento gothic horror classic Suspira.The company is led by Italian director Luca Guadagnino (Melissa P), Fendi group fashion designer Silvia Venturini Fendi with producers Carlo Antonelli, Marco Morabito and Massimilano Violante.The English-language remake will have an international cast ...

  • News

    Thailand's GMM Tai Hub sells Alone to UniKorea

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    Thailand's GMM Tai Hub (GTH) has sold Korean rights to horror hit Alone to UniKorea. The company also sold to a string of other territories including France, Benelux and Brazil. Alone stars Thai pop singer-model-TV actress Marsha Wattanapanich as an expat wife living in Korea. The second film from the ...

  • News

    Heavyweight sales for KM's 200 Pounds Beauty

    2007-05-18T04:00:00Z

    Korean sales company KM Culture has sold cosmetic surgery romantic-comedy 200 Pounds Beauty to Amuse, Inc. for Japan, M Pictures for Thailand, Vietnam Media for Vietnam, and AOE for Malaysia. The Amuse deal in particular is good news after last year's huge slump in Korean sales to Japan. Lee Sang-mi, ...

  • News

    Mira Nair to executive produce Taraprevala's Little Zizou

    2007-05-17T10:22:00Z

    Sooni Taraprevala, the award-winning screenwriter of The Namesake, Salaam Bombay and Such A Long Journey, is at work in Mumbai on her directorial debut, Little Zizou.The film, which started shooting late last month, stars Boman Irani and Mahabanoo Kotwal. It is being executive produced by Taraprevala's long-term collaborator, Mira Nair.The ...

  • News

    Prime Entertainment adds two to Cannes slate

    2007-05-17T04:33:00Z

    Korean seller Prime Entertainment has announced two additional titles for its Cannes line-up - Face/Off-like thriller The Devil's Game, and kickboxing drama Punch Lady. The Devil's Game stars Shin Ha-kyun (No Mercy for the Rude) opposite veteran actor Byun Hee-bong (The Host). A struggling young artist and a rich old ...