Easternlight Films has opened a production and distribution arm in Singapore. Easternlight Film Productions' pictures will be sold internationally through partner company Easternlight/Arclight Films.

The new outfit states it will be 'a first for Singapore, a one-stop shop for feature films from script development to post-production,' specialising in Asian content aimed at international audiences.

Writer/director Max Mannix, Robin Leong, and award-winning director of photography John Radel will head the company.

' Singapore offers the film world so much. In this country, east literally meets west,' says Mannix. 'What other Asian country has English as its first language' We are privileged to be here at a time that we feel will eventually be heralded as the dawn of a fabulous era of Singaporean film.'

Mannix will direct the company's inaugural film, an action love story called Dance Of The Dragon . Jason Scott Lee, who previously featured in Dragon - The Bruce Lee Story, will star. With a $4m budget, the predominantly English-language Dance Of The Dragon will also have about 5% in Chinese for the main character.

The film is slated for an early 2008 release with Easternlight Films handling worldwide sales.

'We are very excited to work on Easternlight's first production with the deeply passionate and multi-talented Max Mannix. I believe Dance Of The Dragon has all the charm of Strictly Ballroom mixed with the action of the best martial arts cinema,' says Easternlight director Ying Ye.

The Easternlight label, developed by Arclight Films founder Gary Hamilton, and Ying Ye, was launched at Berlin in 2006.

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