Japan's Nakata Hideo (Ring series) and South Korea's Park Chan-wook (Old Boy) and Bong Joon-ho (The Host) are among the world-renowned Asian filmmakers who have had projects selected for the 2008 edition of the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF).

A total of 25 projects have been selected for the co-production and financing market which takes place March 17-19. Mainland Chinese filmmakers account for the greatest number of projects - six in all, from filmmakers such as Li Yang, Ning Hao and Sheng Zhimin - followed by South Korea with four projects and Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong with three each.

This year's selection also includes a UK-Hong Kong co-production from Richard Jobson and an Iranian project to be directed by Hassan Yektapanah (Story Undone). South-East Asia is represented with projects from Thailand's Nonzee Nimibutr and Aditya Assarat (Wonderful Town), the Philippines' Brillante Mendoza and Malaysia's Chris Chan-fui Chong.

'We have some very good projects this year; particularly those from Japan and Korea,' said HAF reading committee member Philip Lee.

'The projects submitted to HAF 2008 were of an extremely high standard and we had to reject a number of very high quality projects unfortunately,' said Fortissimo Films co-chairman and HAF reading committee member Wouter Barendrecht.

Several projects that participated in last year's HAF have recently completed production including Kim Jee-woon's The Good, The Bad And The Weird, which is scheduled for release in South Korea in Feb 2008, while Kurosawa Kiyoshi's Tokyo Sonata (working title) wrapped in December 2007.

Clara Law's The Messenger, starring Guy Pearce and Radha Mitchell, will go into production in July 2008.

Organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society, and co-organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and the Motion Picture Industry Association, HAF will run concurrently with sister events the Asian Film Awards (March 17) and Filmart (March 17-20).

List of the 25 projects selected for HAF 2008:

1. 7 Dreams (Chinese mainland)

Director: NING Hao

Producer: NING Hao

Production Company: Injo Film

2. Adrift Time (Chinese mainland)

Director: CAI Shangjun

Producer: LEE Xudong

Production Company: Xiudong Hao Ye Investment & Consulting Ltd

3. The Best Draw (working title) (Taiwan)

Director: HOU Chi-jan, SHEN Ko-shang, WU Mi-sen

Producer: LEE Gang

Production Company: Khan Entertainment

4. Bloodline (United Kingdom-Hong Kong)

Director: Richard JOBSON

Producer: Luc ROEG, Jacky PANG

Production Company: Independent Film Co / Jettone Films Production

5. The Bus (Hong Kong)

Director: PANG Ho-cheung

Producers: PANG Ho-cheung, Subi Qi-yuan LIANG

Production Company: Making Film Productions Limited

6. Cafe Astoria (Taiwan)

Director: YEE Chin-yen

Producers: James LIU

Production Company: Joint Entertainment International

7. Dancing Mary (Japan)

Director: Sabu

Producer: KASHINO Takahito

Production Company: IMJ Entertainment

8. Detour (Hong Kong)

Director: Alexi TAN

Producer: Terence CHANG

Production Company: Lion Rock Productions

9. The Fugitive Club (Chinese mainland-Hong Kong)

Director: TANG Xiru

Producer: Daniel YU, Rosa PANG

Production Company: Beijing October Pictures Co

10. Gensenkan (Japan)

Director: NAKATA Hideo

Producer: Jennifer FUKASAWA

Production Company: Hideon Productions

11. High Society (Thailand)

Director: Aditya ASSARAT

Producer: Soros SUKHUM, Aditya ASSARAT

Production Company: Pop Pictures Co

12. Karaoke (Malaysia)

Director: Chris Chan-fui CHONG

Producer: Paul LEE, Pierre LABURTHE

Production Company: Tanjung Aru Pictures

13. Mang Liu (Chinese mainland)

Director: LI Yang

Producer: LI Yang

Production Company: Tang Splendor Films Ltd

14. Mother (working title) (South Korea)

Director: BONG Joon-ho

Producer: CHOI Jae-won, SEO Woo-sik

Production Company: Barunson Film Division

15. Red Spider Lily (Chinese mainland)

Director: Robin WENG

Producer: ZHANG Xianmin

Production Company: Wonderland Pictures

16. Romance Rental (Taiwan)

Director: KUO Chen-ti

Producers: WU Nien-Jen, Jennifer JAO

Production Company: Wu' s Production Co

17. Secret Of The Butterfly (working title) (Thailand)

Director: Nonzee NIMIBUTR

Producer: Nonzee NIMIBUTR, Apichana LEENANOND

Production Company: Cinemasia Co

18. Service (The Philippines)

Director: Brillante MENDOZA

Producer: Ferdinand LAPUZ

Production Company: Centerstage Productions Inc

19. Sharaku (working title) (South Korea)

Director: PARK Tae-Choon

Producer: KIM Seung-Bum, ISEKI Satoru, KIM Dong-gu

Production Company: Studio 2.0

20. Shuffle (Hong Kong)

Director: Carol Miu-suet LAI

Producers: CHOW Keung

Production Company: Indies Production

21. The Taxi Passenger (Iran)

Director: Hassan YEKTAPANAH

Producer: Hassan YEKTAPANAH, Nikta TAYEBAN

Production Company: Valla Film Productions

22. Tsutenkaku (working title) (Japan)

Director: OTANI Kentaro

Producers: KUBOTA Osamu, MAMEOKA Ryosuke

Production Company: IMJ Entertainment

23. Untitled Park Chan-wook Project (South Korea)

Director: PARK Chan-wook

Producer: PARK Chan-wook, AHN Soohyun

Production Company: MOHO FILM

24. White Nights (Chinese mainland-Hong Kong)

Director: SHENG Zhimin

Producer: Fruit CHAN, Chris LIU

Production Company: Nicetop Independent, Beijing Oriental Picture Film Co

25. A Woman In Paris (South Korea)

Director: IM Sang-soo

Producer: Carole SCOTTA, LEE In-ah

Production Company: Haut et Court, Greensky films

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