All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 159
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News
India on parade
The Indian film industry is rapidly expanding its worldwide reach. On the eve of Cannes, Liz Shackleton looks at how the territory's leading producers and distributors are making their films more attractive to an international audience. The Indian film industry's gradual emergence as a force at an international level has ...
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News
India: who's who at the market
Liz Shackleton profiles some of the leading Indian film companies and what they are selling at Cannes. UTV MOTION PICTURESInitially a broadcaster, UTV has evolved into an integrated studio that also encompasses film and TV production and distribution, post-production, animation, new media and games. The company is co-producing with US ...
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India's Seven ramps up with Moser Baer backing
Mumbai-based producer Seven Entertainment is making its Cannes debut with an expanded line-up of independent pictures, just a few months after securing backing from optical disc manufacturer Moser Baer. The company is currently ramping up production after sealing a $10m deal with the industrial giant in February to produce 12 ...
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News
Warner Bros signs Hong Kong VoD deal with Video Online
Start-up video-on-demand operator VideoOnline Communications has signed a multi-year VoD and subscription VoD agreement with Warner Bros International Television Distribution (WBITD) for Hong Kong rights to all current feature-length films in addition to hundreds of library titles. The agreement allows VideoOnline to offer legal downloads of Warner Bros content through ...
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Hong Kong's first IMAX cinema to open with Panda Adventure
Hong Kong 's first IMAX cinema, the seven-screen UA MegaBox, is set to open in June withthe screening of large-format title China: The Panda Adventure. The 50-minute film is being screened to tie in with the 10-year anniversary of Hong Kong 's reunification with China and the arrival of pandas ...
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News
Mandarin finds Tsui Hark's Missing on Cannes slate
Hong Kong 's Mandarin Films Distribution has added the latest picture from Tsui Hark, romantic thriller Missing, to its Cannes slate. The film features a hot cast of young Asian actors including Lee Sin-je, Isabella Leong, Chang Chen and rising Chinese star Guo Xiao Dong. Produced, directed and written by ...
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Hong Kong's Johnnie To splits from Milkyway Image
Leading Hong Kong director Johnnie To is parting ways from Milkyway Image, the production outfit he founded with fellow filmmaker Dennis Law, which is listed on Hong Kong's Growth Enterprise Market (GEM). To is paying $3.3m (HK$26m) to acquire two Milkyway Image subsidiaries - Milkyway Image Hong Kong and Luminous ...
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Network 18 launches $110m fund for Indian film
India's Network 18 Group is launching a fund to invest in both Indian films and films targeted at Indian audiences, which aims to raise $110m via a flotation on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. The Mumbai-based media giant is behind the Indian Film Company (IFC), a newly-incorporated, ...
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China's J.A. Media taps Chan, Shi as consultants
Start-up Chinese producer-distributor J.A. Media has tapped former Media Asia sales chief Jeffrey Chan and leading Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi as consultants as it ramps up its film distribution activities. Based in Beijing, the company is a subsidiary of Jilin-based biotech and alternative energy producer, Jian Group, owned by ...
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Emperor Motion Pictures appoints Ng as sales chief
Former Celestial Pictures executive Alan Ng has joined Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) as assistant general manager, distribution. Ng, who will report directly to EMP chief executive Albert Lee, will oversee the company's growing distribution team. However he is not a direct replacement for Ricky Tse, who left the ...
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News
Fortissimo's Eye In The Sky turns to Constantin
German distributor Constantin Film has acquired all rights to Hong Kong action thriller Eye In The Sky from Fortissimo Films. Fortissimo, which picked the film up on the eve of Hong Kong Filmart at the end of March, also recently sold it to French distributor ARP Selection. The Sundream Motion ...
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Hong Kong government unveils Film Development Council
The Hong Kong government has announced the establishment of the long-awaited Hong Kong Film Development Council (HKFDC) to be chaired by Jack So who is currently chairman of the existing Film Development Committee. The new body will advise the government on policy for the promotion and development of the Hong ...
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News
Love, Betelnut conquer Hong Kong film festival awards
Malaysian director Tan Chui-mui and China's Yang Heng continued their awards sweep at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) yesterday where both picked up prizes in the Asian Digital Competition. Tan's Love Conquers All, about a young woman involved in an unconventional relationship in the big city, was presented ...
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Columbia Asia acquires worldwide rights to Chow's A Hope
Sony's Hong Kong-based content arm, Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia (CPFPA), has acquired worldwide rights, excluding China, to Stephen Chow's latest comedy feature A Hope. Chow wrote, directed and is starring in the film which was shot in China late last year. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film in ...
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Features
Market focus - Double ahead for India
India 's film industry is expected to more than double in value in the next five years, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers. The business will be worth $4.1bn (rup175bn) by 2011, compared to the $2bn (rup84.5bn) it was worth in 2006, according to the report presented at this week's Ficci-Frames conference in ...
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News
Chan exits Hong Kong's Media Asia Distribution
Jeffrey Chan, head of distribution and sales at Hong Kong producer-distributor Media Asia, is leaving his position after five years with the company. Chan, whose last day will be Saturday (March 31), hasn't announced his next move and said he would be taking a short break in the interim. Media ...
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News
Indian film industry to double in value to $4bn in five years
India 's film industry is estimated to more than double in value to $4.05bn (Rs175bn) by 2011, compared to the $1.96bn (Rs84.5bn) it was worth in 2006, according to a PriceWaterhouseCoopers report presented at the FICCI-Frames conference in Mumbai today. Domestic box office, which was worth $1.48bn (Rs64bn) in 2006, ...
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News
Filmart wraps with 20% increase in overseas visitors
Hong Kong Filmart closed on Friday (March 23) with organisers reporting a 20% increase in overseas visitors to 1,900, while the number of exhibitors was up 11% to 453 from more than 30 territories. The number of overall visitors, including those from Hong Kong, had not been calculated by the ...
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News
Chiao signs 10-picture output deal with Meridian Pictures
Taiwanese producer Peggy Chiao has signed an output deal with David Dong's Meridian Pictures, under which she will produce a slate of ten films for the Shanghai-based production and financing entity. The projects will be mostly from young, first-time directors from Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, which Chiao will recruit ...
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Big Media Group unveils plans to produce 100 movies
In defiant response to Hong Kong 's falling production levels, local producer BIG Media Group has unveiled a strategy to produce 100 movies in five years. The company, which has recently undergone a restructuring, is also setting up an investment fund with IDG China Media Fund, while talks with further ...