All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 167

  • News

    Star backs high-def trio from Hong Kong's Yee

    2006-05-08T00:00:00Z

    Star Chinese Movies isinvesting in three high-definition films to be executive produced byaward-winning Hong Kong filmmaker Derek Yee.The first of the threefilms, love story Pandora's Booth,started filming last week in Hong Kong. Starring Hong Kong popidols Fiona Sit and Kenny Kwan, the film is directed by Mak Kai-kwong whostarted his ...

  • News

    Fortissimo drawn to Sketches Of Frank Gehry

    2006-05-05T00:00:00Z

    Fortissimo Films hasacquired worldwide rights outside the US, France, Benelux and Italy to SydneyPollack's documentary Sketches Of FrankGehry, which screens in official selection, in an out-of-competition slot, atthis year's Cannes.Oscar-winning filmmaker Pollack- who is friends with acclaimed architect Frank O. Gehry and filmed thedocumentary over five years - will present ...

  • News

    China greenlights secure box office reporting system

    2006-05-01T00:00:00Z

    Auckland-based VistaEntertainment Solutions has been granted permission to sell its cinemamanagement software independently in China and has made its first sale to Hong Kong exhibitor MCL's new cinema in Shenzhen. Vista claims to be the first company offering globallyaccepted financial management and secure reporting systems to gain officialaccreditation from China's ...

  • News

    Taking Father Home wins digital prize at HKIFF

    2006-04-18T00:00:00Z

    Shanghai-based director Ying Liang's Taking Father Home was awarded the Golden Digital Award at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). The film tells the story of a country boy who travels to the big city in search of his father whom he believes has become a rich property ...

  • News

    Election takes top prizes at Hong Kong Film Awards

    2006-04-09T00:00:00Z

    Johnnie To's Election was awarded best film and bestdirector at this year's Hong Kong Film Awards on Saturday night (April 8).The gritty triad thriller,produced by Milkyway Image and One Hundred Years of Film Co, picked up fourawards in all, including best screenplay, which was co-written by Yau Nai Hoiand Yip ...

  • News

    Canada's Seville swoops on Seven Swords

    2006-03-28T20:30:00Z

    Fortissimo Films has soldTsui Hark's martial arts epic SevenSwords to Canada's Seville Pictures, one of several deals that the Dutch/HK-based salesagent concluded at last week's Filmart in Hong Kong. Seville, a Montreal-based distributor, is planning a theatricalrelease for the film in late summer or early autumn this year. The dealcontinues ...

  • News

    Filmart wraps with record attendance

    2006-03-23T00:00:00Z

    The tenth edition of Filmartwrapped today with the organisers reporting record attendance and delegatesagreeing that this year was the biggest and busiest yet. More than 400 companies tookbooths at the market while the number of buyers increased to almost 4,000.Meanwhile projects market, the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), ...

  • News

    Fat Englishmen among winners at HAF

    2006-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Lawrence Gray's Fat Englishmen, about a group ofbeer-swilling Brits who get cast as Sumo wrestlers in a Japanese beercommercial, was presented with the HAF Award for a Hong Kong project at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) today. The cash award of $13,000(HK$100,000) was based on the creativity ...

  • News

    Filmko, Fortissimo come up for Air

    2006-03-22T00:00:00Z

    Fortissimo Film Sales andHong Kong production company FilmkoEntertainment have boarded Zhang Yang's Air(working title), one of 25 projects participating at this year's Hong Kong AsiaFilm Financing Forum (HAF).Filmko announced today thatit is fully financing the $2.5m film while Fortissimo will handle world sales.Production is scheduled to start in southern China ...

  • News

    Drummer marches to a German-Asian beat

    2006-03-21T20:30:00Z

    Germany's Twenty Twenty Vision Filmproduktion has boarded Hong Kong director Kenneth Bi's upcoming drama The Drummer as co-producer alongside Hong Kong's Kenbiroli Films and Taiwan's Arc Light Films.The $1.8m film, scheduled to start shooting in mid-May, tells the story of a young Hong Kong man who runs away to Taiwan ...

  • News

    Filmart focuses on European and Asian co-operation

    2006-03-21T20:30:00Z

    Now is a great time forEuropean and Asian producers to start talking to one other about potentialcollaborations, if only because they are at least nine months away from doingbusiness together under any one of the official co-production treatiescurrently being negotiated.The need for internationalpartners to work organically together, rather than be ...

  • News

    Antony Szeto's Wushu gets golden touch

    2006-03-21T20:30:00Z

    Golden Network has picked up international rights to Hong Kong-based director Antony Szeto's Wushu, which is currently in pre-production.Produced by Hong Kong's Hippopotamus Films, the $1.5m drama is a coming-of-age story set in a martial arts school in a remote corner of China.Szeto is an award-winning action choreographer who recently ...

  • News

    Dot-com murder tale to be shot twice

    2006-03-20T20:30:00Z

    US and Asia-based production company Bigfoot Entertainment plans to start shooting thriller Irreversi in Hong Kong next Monday. But the project has an unusual twist in that the two versions will have distinct casts and crews will be filmed simultaneously in Mandarin and English. Bigfoot founder Michael Gleissner plans to ...

  • News

    Sammo Hung to direct Sundream Motion Pictures latest film

    2006-03-20T20:30:00Z

    Sundream MotionPictures, the film production arm of Hong Kongcable operator i-Cable, has lined up veteran actionstar Sammo Hung to direct big-budget period epic Howling Arrow. Scheduled to shoot from September, the film follows acommunity of gangsters at the end of the Qing dynastyin North-East China, at the turnof the 20th ...

  • News

    Action star Sammo Hung to direct gangster saga

    2006-03-20T20:30:00Z

    Sundream MotionPictures, the film production arm of Hong Kongcable operator i-Cable, has lined up veteran actionstar Sammo Hung to direct big-budget period epic Howling Arrow.Scheduled to shoot from September, the film follows acommunity of gangsters at the end of the Qing dynastyin North-East China, at the turnof the 20th Century.According ...

  • News

    China's Lotus remakes Japanese smash

    2006-03-19T20:30:00Z

    Hong Kong and Beijing-basedproduction house Lotus Entertainment has acquired the Chinese-languageadaptation rights to 1980s Japanese blockbuster Kamata Koshin Kyoku (TheFall Guy). Based on the successfulJapanese play by Tsuka Kohei, who also wrote the screenplay, the originalJapanese film was produced by Haruki Kadokawa for Shochiku in 1982 and went onto gross ...

  • News

    Media Asia unveils brace from Infernal Affairs duo

    2006-03-19T20:30:00Z

    Hong Kong's Media Asia isplanning to produce two films this year from Infernal Affairs directors Andrew Lau and Alan Mak as part of anambitious slate of between eight and ten productions.First up is HK$60m ($7.7m)thriller Behind The Sin which isset to star Tony Leung Chiu-wai and scheduled to start shooting ...

  • News

    MPA to host film production workshops in Beijing

    2006-03-17T00:00:00Z

    The Motion PictureAssociation (MPA) is holding a series of workshops on film production andscreenwriting in Beijing starting this weekend. Organised with the supportof the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT), the five-daycourse offers 20 Chinese producers and 20 screenwriters the chance to developtheir projects with help from established ...

  • News

    Hong Kong festival to open with Election 2 world premiere

    2006-03-02T00:00:00Z

    This year's Hong KongInternational Film Festival (HKIFF) will open with two local films - the worldpremiere of Johnnie To's Election 2and Pang Ho Cheung's Isabella, whichrecently won a Silver Bear for best score at Berlin. The festival, which runs April4-19, will close with two other Berlin competition titles - Marc ...

  • News

    Celestial Pictures launches youth culture channel

    2006-02-27T20:30:00Z

    Hong Kong-based CelestialPictures is rolling out a 24-hour youth lifestyle and entertainment channel,WaTV, starting with a launch on Indonesia's PT Direct Vision pay-TV service on Feb 28. The channel, which isfocused on content from mainland China, will launch in Malaysia and Brunei later in 2006, followed by other countries in ...