All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 171
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Dragon Tiger Gate starts production at Hengdian
Hong Kong director Wilson Yip Wai-shunhas started shooting $10m kung-fu action movie, Dragon Tiger Gate, at China's Hengdian World Studios with acombination of talents from China and Hong Kong.Donnie Yen, whose credits include Seven Swords and Hero,heads the cast along with Nicholas Tse, Shawn Yue and Chinese actress Dong Jie.Yen ...
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HK bets on Love, China has Promise in Oscar race
Peter Chan's musical PerhapsLove has been selected as Hong Kong's candidate for thebest foreign-language film category at next year's Oscars, while China has submitted Chen Kaige's fantasy epic ThePromise. Both films are scheduled toopen in December and both are being released on a single screen in theirrespective territories this week ...
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Heirloom scares up strong opening weekend
Horror picture TheHeirloom has racked up the biggest opening for a local film in Taiwan this year, grossing $105,500 (NT$3.49m) over thethree-day weekend (Sept 16-18) in Taipei.Directed by newcomer LesteChen, the film was released by Buena Vista on 12 screens in Taipei and 50 nationwide. It came second in the ...
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Hong Kong producers look West and East
After a strong showing atthis year's Venice and Toronto film festivals, not to mention a few big hitsover the summer, Hong Kong producers currently have several reasons to feelconfident. But the trend towards declining production numbers is unlikely to bereversed before the end of the year.Although Media Asia's mangaadaptation Initial ...
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Disney eyes China as Hong Kong park opens to public
Hong Kong Disneyland opensits door to the paying public today after a weekend of celebrations attended byDisney president Robert Iger, outgoing CEO Michael Eisner, China's vice president Zeng Qinghong and a host a localcelebrities.Hong Kong stars such as KarenMok, Coco Lee, Charlie Young and HK Disneyland spokesman Jacky Cheung turned ...
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Rosem secures international deals for Chinese pair
Frenchproduction house Rosem Films has secured international distribution for two ofits upcoming features from Chinese auteurs Lou Ye and Wang Chao. Wild Bunch has picked up worldwide rights outside China andFrance to Lou's Summer Palace, currently in post-production, while OceanFilms has acquired French rights to the film.Co-produced by Rosem and ...
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Chinese film companies launch anti-piracy agency
The China Film Copyright Protection Association (CFCA), anon-profit organisation formed by 62 film-related companies, was officiallylaunched in Beijing on Monday.Headedby former Shanghai Film Group president Zhu Yongde, the association aims tohelp the Chinese film industry to combat the nation's high levels of DVD, VCDand online piracy.Apart from advising its members ...
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Chinese media giant takes stake in Oz film channel
ShanghaiOriental Pearl Group (OPG), owned by China's second largest media conglomerate,the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), is acquiring a stake in Australian TV channeloperator Pan TV, according to local press reports. OPG has signedan agreement to buy the stake but is still awaiting approval from Chineseregulators according to spokesman Hua Wei. ...
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String of international projects gear up for China shoots
IfChina wasn't such a big place, the film crews would be tripping over each otherthis summer. Several international productions are gearing up to shoot in thecountry which, following a temporary Sars-induced blip, has once again become ahot production base. On August 15, The Painted Veil, which John Curran isdirecting for ...
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Fraser in frame for Spottiswoode's Sea in China
Brendan Fraserhas been lined up to star in historical drama The Bitter Sea which Roger Spottiswoode is set todirect in China later this year. The US$19mproject, also known as The Children Of Huang Shi, is based on the true story of Britishjournalist George Hogg who saved a group of children ...
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China blocks summer release of foreign films
No Hollywood films will bereleased in China for the next five weeks in what seems to be turning into aregular blackout on foreign films over the summer holiday box office season. It's understood that thefive-week ban officially begins today (July 20) and runs until the release ofUIP's War Of The ...
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Chow Yun-fat hops on board Ann Hui project
Chow Yun-fat is reteamingwith Hong Kong director Ann Hui on the US$5m drama, The Aunt's PostmodernLife, produced by start-up Beijing-based production outfit Cheerland Films.Chow said he would forgo hisusual fee to work with Hui, who directed him in his first critical success,The Story Of Woo Viet, in 1981. Their new ...
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Zhang Ziyi boards Feng's $15m Banquet
Zhang Ziyi is attached to star in Feng Xiaogang's $15mperiod drama The Banquet which has been set up as a co-productionbetween Beijing-based Huayi Brothers and Hong Kong's Media Asia. Thefilm's stellar cast also includes Feng regular Ge You, hot up-and-comingactress Zhou Xun and Hong Kong star Daniel Wu. Production is ...
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MPA strikes anti-piracy deal with Chinese government
The Motion Picture Association (MPA) has signed an agreementwith two Chinese government agencies to co-operate in the fight against China'srampant piracy.China'sMinistry of Culture (MoC) and the State Administration of Radio, Film andTelevision (SARFT) both co-signed a memorandum which aims to help Chineseenforcement agencies to identify pirated movie products.Under the terms ...
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Lau takes lead in Lee's Three Kingdoms
Hong Kong star Andy Lau has signed on to play the lead in$10-15m period drama, Three Kingdoms: Resurrection Of The Dragon(working title), to be directed by Black Mask director Daniel Lee.Arclight Films is handling international sales on the filmwhich is being produced by Hong Kong-based Visualizer Film Production and Lau'sFocus ...
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Broadcasters boost backing for Hong Kong film
There was acollective sigh of relief in the Hong Kong film industry last week as the firstlocal release of the summer - Media Asia's drift racing drama Initial D -burnt rubber in five Asian territories, including an impressive haul of US$2.6min its first week in Hong Kong. The results seemto ...
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Initial D burns box-office records across Asia
Media Asia's Initial D zoomed to the top ofthe box office chart in five Asian territories on its opening weekend (June23-26).The $12m car racing drama has also smashed records inall five territories. It scored the biggest opening of all films so far thisyear in Hong Kong, China and Malaysia and ...
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Village Album picks up top prize at Shanghai fest
The Village Album, from Japanese director Mitsuhiro Mihara, picked upbest film and best actor in the main competition of the Shanghai InternationalFilm Festival (SIFF) on Sunday night.Produced by Japan's WakoCompany, the film tells the story of a father and son who photograph theinhabitants of a village that is about to ...
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Chinese film-makers eye global distribution at Shanghai
'Be realistic about your film'sinternational potential' and 'don't ignore your home market' were the twostrongest messages delivered at a seminar on the global distribution of Chinesefilms at the Shanghai International Film Festival this week. Speakers includingOcean Films' head of acquisitions Thierry Decourcelle reminded Chinesefilmmakers that the space for foreign-language cinema ...
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Huayi Brothers unveils $15m Feng project The Banquet
Beijing-based production anddistribution outfit Huayi Brothers Film Investment has announced the nextproject from hot Chinese director Feng Xiaogang - a US$15m period film with theworking title The Banquet. The film, which is looselybased on William Shakespeare's Hamlet but set in Tang Dynasty China, reteams three crew members who worked togetheron ...