All articles by Liz Shackleton – Page 172
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Chinese director Ning comes into Lau's Focus
China's Ning Hao has been selected as the sixth director toparticipate in the regional film project, Focus: First Cuts, which was launchedin March by Hong Kong star Andy Lau's Focus Films and Star Chinese Movies. Focusalso announced that it will co-produce Ning's as-yet-untitled film withBeijing-based Concord Creation International. The film, ...
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Fortissimo signs up Wong library
Fortissimo Films has signed a deal with Cannesjury president Wong Kar-wai's Jet Tone Films to handle the increasing list oftitles in the director's library, including films not previously represented byFortissimo.The deal is an expansion of the long-standingrelationship between Wong and Fortissimo which first worked with the directoron Chungking Express in ...
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Fortissimo scores flurry of Snow Cake deals
Fortissimo Filmshad a busy Cannes closing deals with several distributors the company hasn'tworked with before including Svensk which took Scandinavian rights to MarcEvans' Snow Cake.The company alsosold The Night Listener,starring Robin Williams, to Italy's Videa and Tsui Hark's martial arts epic SevenSwords to Filmax inSpain. Snow Cake and The Night ...
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Chan film to focus on landmines in Cambodia
Jackie Chan plans to head toCambodia next year to direct and star in a film that will draw attention to theproblem of landmines in the former war-torn country."It's about a serious subject so it can't be a comedybut it won't be too heavy or violent," said the star who is ...
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Celestial's Love travels to Korea, Japan
Celestial Pictures hasscored a pair of major pre-sales on Peter Chan's musical Perhaps Love to Korea's Show East and Nippon Herald for Japan.The Hong Kong-based companyco-financed and is handling worldwide sales on the $10m film which is currentlyshooting in Shanghai. Produced by Chan's ApplausePictures and Los Angeles-based Ruddy Morgan Organisation, ...
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Toho pre-sells Shining Boy And Little Randy
Confirming the currentappetite for films about animals in Asia, Japan's Toho International haspre-sold Shining Boy And Little Randy, based on the true story of Japan's first elephant trainer, to severalAsian territories. The film has gone to GoldenScene for Hong Kong, Major Cinepictures for Thailand and Long Shong for Taiwan.In addition, ...
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Beta Cinema goes into battle with Genghis Khan
Germany's Beta Cinema hasunveiled details of $10m biopic, Mongol - The Early Years Of Genghis Khan, which starts shooting in July with Japanese starAsano Tadanobu playing the Mongol warrior. Directed by Russia's SergeiBodrov with Hong Kong-based Philip Lee (Hero) and Sergey Selyanov (Brother) producing, the film brings together talent andfinancing ...
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Lou Ye wraps Summer Palace
Productionwrapped last week (May 13) on Chinese director Lou Ye's Summer Palace, following a three-month shoot inChina and two weeks in Berlin.Co-producedby China's Laurel Films and France's Rosem Films, the $3m drama follows thelives and love affairs of four ordinary people from 1988, when China had juststarted to open up, ...
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Fortissimo, Notro in TV deal
FortissimoFilms' recently-established TV sales division has closed its first majormulti-rights deal by selling a package of nearly 50 film titles to Spain'sNotro Films.Included inthe package is the Jim Jarmusch library of films, including Down By Law, the Killer Films Collection,including Todd Haynes' Poison, and Gregg Araki's most recent film Mysterious ...
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Finns fly to China for kung fu co-production Jade Warrior
Beijing-based MingProductions has boarded AJ Annila's Jade Warrior, billed as Finland's "first ever martial arts movie",which is set to shoot in China, Finland and Estonia starting in August. Also the first-everChinese-Scandinavian co-production, the $3m film was previously set to shootonly in Finland with an all-Finnish cast. It will now shoot ...
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Weinsteins on a Promise with Chen
Harvey and Bob Weinstein areback in business with Chen Kaige, the Chinese director whose Farewell MyConcubine shared the Palme d'Or in1993 and gave Miramax one of its breakthrough Chinese hits.The brothers'new operation The Weinstein Company has teamed up with IDG New Media Fund toacquire rights in North America, the UK, ...
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Huayi Brothers takes Battle to Cannes
China's leading privateproduction company Huayi Brothers has unveiled a high-profile slate ofproductions headed by $20m period epic Battle Of Wisdom. Hong Kong star Andy Lau isheading the cast of the film which is scheduled to start shooting this Octoberwith Hong Kong's Jacob Cheung directing. According to Huayi president JamesWang, Battle ...
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Taiwan launches first Asian tax finance incentives
Taiwan has become the firstdestination in Asia for producers looking for tax-based financing. LA and Taipei-based fund,Double Edge Entertainment, is working with the Taiwanese government to provideprivate equity and tax credits that can cover up to 50% of mid-budgetproductions that partially shoot in Taiwan. Following a change inTaiwanese law, the ...
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Fortissimo ices Snow Cake, Shanghai sales
Fortissimo Films has closeda string of sales on Competition title Shanghai Dreams and drama Snow Cake, starring Sigourney Weaver, and racked up furtherdeals on The Night Listener and U-CarmeneKhayelitsha.Shanghai Dreams, directed by China's Wang Xiaoshuai, has gone toItaly's Teodora, Brazil's Imagem, A Films for Benelux and Roadshow for Greece.A drama ...
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CAA advances on Asia with Loehr hire, WEB alliance
Hollywood talent powerhouse CAA has confirmed itsaggressive moves into Asia,bringing China's Hengdian Group to the Croisette to meetwestern players, unveiling an alliance with start-up Korean entertainmentcompany WEB, and advising both Taiwan's private equity fund Double Edge andJapanese giant Kadokawa.The agency'slatest international hire, Beijing-based Peter Loehr, is working with CAA'sexisting Asian ...
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MK Pictures sells Last Bang to France
Korea's MK Pictures has soldIm Sang-soo's Directors' Fortnight title The President's Last Bang to France's CIPA and also revealed details of thedirector's next project. CIPA is planning an Octoberrelease for The President's Last Bang, a creative retelling of the assassination of president Park Chung-heein 1979. The company handled Im's previous ...
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Japanese embark on Korean buying spree
In a repeat of Berlin'sEuropean Film Market, Japanese buyers are devouring Korean product in pre-salesworth millions of dollars.Korea's Showbox has pre-soldaction title Running Wild toJapan's Amuse Soft Entertainment for an undisclosed seven figure sum. Shootingnow, it stars hot young Korean actor Kwon Sang-woo.It's the first of two bigJapanese pre-buys of ...
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Artist Film morphs into Style Jam
Naoki Kai, president of Japan's Artist Film, isheading a management buyout of the company, creating a new outfit called Style Jam focussing on producing films aimed at the international market. The new company, which launches on June 1, has aslate of high-profile Japanese films and international co-productions atvarious stages of ...
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Foreign films return to Thailand in post-tsunami recovery
Foreign shoots are startingto return to Thailand after a slight downturn due to the tsunami according toTourism Authority of Thailand governor Juthamas Siriwan.Several feature films areplanning to shoot this year, including the $15m English-language action dramaRound Five to be produced by Barrie M. Osbourne, which starts production inOctober. German director ...
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Endeavour tries China with Shanghai Media Group
Hollywood talent agencyEndeavor has entered into a strategic partnership with China's second-largestmedia giant, the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), and its subsidiary, ShanghaiInteractive Television (SiTV).The agreement sees Endeavorassisting SMG in acquiring programming for its rapidly expanding TV content andmanagement business. SMG recently launched anational distribution platform for 14 digital pay-TV channels, ...