at filmart

DA
Y
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 2013
AT FILMART
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Editorial +852 2582 8958
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DA
Y
3
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 20 2013
AT FILMART
www.ScreenDaily.com
StudioCanal
spreads Fear
StudioCanal has sold Sundance
Film Festival title In Fear to
Umbrella for Australia and New
Zealand at Filmart.
The chilling feature debut by
Jeremy Lovering, starring
newcomers Iain De Caestecker
and Alice Englert, is about a young
couple who must fight to survive
when they are lost in the country.
“We have a great US deal in
place,” StudioCanal’s Anne Chérel
said, referring to the EFM sale to
Anchor Bay. “I hope this will help
us attract other territories such
as Korea, Thailand and maybe
China.” The Asian territories that
have been sold since EFM include
Taiwan (Long Shong), Singapore
(Shaw), Malaysia (USG),
Philippines (Pioneer), Indonesia
(PT Amero) and India
(PictureWorks).
Sandy George
Hopewell unveils
theatre plans
BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Hong Kong property giant
Hopewell Holdings unveiled details
of its planned Kowloon Bay multiplex at a launch party last night.
Located at Kowloon Bay International Trade & Exhibition Centre
(KITEC), the E-Max Cineplex will
house nine screens with around
1,333 seats. The developers are also
planning a separate 2,000-seat
Star Hall aimed at awards ceremonies and film premieres.
The nine screens will include a
Grand Premiere House, three
standard screens, three VIP screens
and two smaller Culture Houses,
aimed at arthouse films. The site is
expected to open early in 2014.
Editorial +852 2582 8958
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Mak teams with Miike
BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Following his collaboration with
Takashi Shimizu on Rigor Mortis,
Hong Kong film-maker and actor
Juno Mak has revealed he is working with another iconic Japanese
film-maker, Takashi Miike, on his
next project.
Mak is currently scripting the
film, The Torturer, The Cleaner And
The Gravedigger (aka The TCG),
which he describes as a dark psychological thriller. Miike has come
on board to produce and will visit
Hong Kong in May to work with
Mak on the script.
The project will be produced by
Mak’s Kudos Films, which he
established with veteran producer
Willie Chan in 2011 (Chan is now a
consultant to the company).
Kudos’ debut production is horror
film Rigor Mortis, inspired by the
Geung Si (vampire) movies of the
1980s. Fortissimo recently picked
up international rights to the film.
Panel: power of the written word
BY SANDY GEORGE
Indian investment banker-turnednovelist Chetan Bhagat said the
Indian film industry is only
recently becoming active in adapting books for screen, but that
should grow as India’s independent film production sector grows.
He noted that in India, commercial films are driven by the audience’s desire for escapism,
formulaic stories and stars, but he
hopes a space will always be available for arthouse films.
“A $25m box office is considered
a hit in India but you can get $2m$3m to make an artistic film that
makes $6m-$7m and that’s still a
success,” he noted. “Some Indians
want movies that give them
insights into themselves and are
tired of formula movies.”
Bhagat has experience with his
novels being adapted into a huge
box-office hit with big stars (3 Idiots), and also a more modest-sized
success with lesser-known actors
(Brothers For Life).
The experts at Filmart’s conference about book-to-screen oppor-
(Discussion panel from left) Marysia Juszczakiewicz, Stu Levy, Michael Tolkin
and Chetan Bhagat with Screen International editor Wendy Mitchell
Tokyo chief Shiina plots Asian focus
Incoming Tokyo International Film
Festival director general Yasushi
Shiina says he will keep Tokyo’s
green carpet theme, but that he is
also looking for new initiatives and
ways to improve the programme.
“I want to focus on Japanese
“There was something unique
about those hopping vampire movies and I always wanted a chance to
revisit the genre,” said Mak. “But
I’ve tried to transform what used to
be seen as ‘popcorn films’ into
something with a message.”
Mak previously co-wrote awardwinning drama Revenge: A Love
Story with the film’s director, Wong
Ching-Po. He is also scripting an
as-yet-untitled project aimed at the
Korean market.
films including animations.
Japanese animation right now is one
strong kind of content that appeals
to foreign countries. Secondly, we
want to be number one in the Asian
markets, which means we will need
to find and bring in strong content
and focus on Asian films. We also
want to focus on the quality of the
competition and have films that
appeal to movie fans as well as the
general public,” he said.
Commenting on the ageing
cinema-going population in Japan,
tunities also spoke about the
challenges and potential of integrating cultures via film adaptations.
Hong Kong-based literary agent
Marysia Juszczakiewicz, who represents writers including China’s
Yan Geling (The Flowers Of War),
said the growing interest from the
US studios and others in Chinese
stories has been very noticeable in
the past two or three years.
Stu Levy, the Tokyopop entrepreneur known for pushing
manga into the US and executive
producer of Priest, said people
working in this terrain have to
think outside the box. He referred
to a still-under-wraps project he is
involved with that is a typical Hollywood film except that it will have
a “very, very well known Chinese
star” in the lead and will be filmed,
in part, in China.
US novelist and writer-directorproducer Michael Tolkin, best
known for The Player, said the studios do not want original scripts.
They want stories that have already
succeeded in other forms and have
franchise potential: “That’s why the
people at Marvel are billionaires”.
he added: “We will announce new
events to bring the youth to the
cinemas.”
Meanwhile, outgoing TIFF
chairman Tom Yoda was presented
with a Letter of Appreciation at the
Hong Kong International Film
Festival Society’s Asian Film Awards.
Jean Noh
TODAY
Petal Dance
REVIEW
Women in bloom
Hiroshi Ishikawa’s Petal Dance is a
moving story of four women
haunted by their individual sorrows
» Page 6
HAF PROFILES
Return of the King
Apichatpong Weerasethakul finds
more inspiration from the Mekong
River in Cemetery Of Kings
» Page 8
Numbers game
Morgan Matthews plans X+Y,
a UK and China-based love story set
in the world of maths students
» Page 12
FEATURE
Boxed in
Even while China’s box-office
revenues are booming, exhibitors
are finding increased risks
» Page 14
Taped
New Selects
nabs Taped
BY SANDY GEORGE
New Select has bought Japanese
rights to Dutch thriller Taped from
Australian sales agent Odin’s Eye
Entertainment here at Filmart.
Taped is directed by Diederik
Van Rooijen and stars Barry Atsma
and Susan Visser as a couple revisiting Buenos Aires, where they fell
in love, in a last-ditch effort to save
their marriage. While videotaping
their vacation, they inadvertently
record a murder.
As previously reported, US producers Douglas Wick and Lucy
Fisher, from production company
Red Wagon, have acquired the English-language remake rights with
the backing of Columbia Pictures.
Odin’s Eye principal Michael
Favelle is also handling two films
with strong Asian themes: Inseparable, a comedic drama set in
China with Kevin Spacey in the
lead role; and One Mile Above,
which was released theatrically in
China as Kora, and is about a
young man cycling in Tibet.
NEWS
China should boost new talents
By Liz Shackleton
The jury of the HAF/Fox Chinese
Film Development Award — Bona
Film Group chairman and CEO
Yu Dong, Hong Kong film-maker
Fruit Chan and Jet Tone Taiwan’s
Rachel Chen — offered their
thoughts on the development of
the Chinese film industry at a
press briefing here yesterday.
“You need new talent and
smaller films to develop the market,” said Chan. “A few years ago it
was difficult for the young generation, especially in China. But there
are more opportunities now
thanks to events like HAF, Asian
Project Market and the Beijing
and Shanghai film festivals.”
Chen agreed but said it takes
time to develop new talent: “Young
(From left) Carrie Wong, Yu Dong, Fruit Chan and Rachel Chen
film-makers need lots of different
skills in addition to film-making
such as help with pitching.”
Yu Dong spoke of the mainland
China censorship restrictions that
are preventing the film industry
progressing as quickly as it could.
“In terms of original content, film
is falling behind the TV industry.
TV shows are tackling subjects
that you can’t touch in film.”
HAF/Fox reading committee
member Abe Kwong, who heads
production for Lost In Thailand
producer Enlight Pictures,
observed that comedies are useful
when developing a market as they
are relatively low budget and can
travel around the region.
The final five projects in the
HAF/Fox competition are Sobel
Chan’s League Of HK Movie Heroes
(Hong Kong), Huang Yao’s Male
Joy Female Love (China-Canada),
Han Yew Kwang’s Qing Gong (Singapore-Hong Kong-China), Wu
Yen-chieh’s Ten Brothers (Taiwan)
and Gong Zhaohui’s Underground
River (China).
The winner, who is announced
tonight, receives a cash award of
$13,000 ( hk $100,000) and a
development contract with Fox.
Salon’s First Cuts unveils micro-slate debuts
By Liz Shackleton
Hong Kong’s Salon Films unveiled
the first three micro movies to
receive funding through its Asia
First Cuts initiative, which was
launched at Filmart last year.
Salon has collaborated with
Japanese talent agency Yoshimoto
Kogyo, Hong Kong production
outfit Beautiful Productions and
Hong Kong Baptist University on
the first round of projects.
Hong Kong film-maker Cheung
King-Wai is directing short drama
The Hill Of Ilha Verde for Asia First
Cuts. Set in Macau, the film is
about the reunion of a broken family and the process of self-development. Macau Sin Meng
Association and Social Entertainment Enterprise Co are also
Salon production Taxi! Taxi!
investing in the film. Cheung’s
credits include award-winning
documentaries KJ: Music And Life
and One Nation, Two Cities.
Japanese film-maker Kei Horie
is directing Blue Bird, a surreal
drama about a gunman in a Chinese restaurant, for Asia Short
Cuts. Filmed in Hong Kong, the
project is a co-production between
Salon and Yoshimoto Kogyo. The
third short is Yanping’s Choice,
directed by Su Ke, who is a student
at Hong Kong Baptist University.
The initiative was founded with
the aim of “nurturing a new wave
of young, vibrant and capable creative talent in Asia, generating a new
creative pulse and rejuvenating the
whole pan-Asian content industry”.
Salon also presented clips from
Kelvin Sng’s feature Taxi! Taxi!,
backed by SIMF Management,
Galaxy Entertainment, RAM
Entertainment and other partners.
Released in Singapore early this
year, the Singapore-set social comedy is inspired by famed blogger
Dr Cai Mingjie’s accounts of his
life as a taxi driver after losing his
job as a microbiology scientist.
SIMF Management is a Singapore-based company established
by Salon Films to manage the Integrated Media Fund (IMF), in partnership with the Singapore’s Media
Development Authority (MDA).
Create Hong Kong (CreateHK) of
the Commerce and Economic
Development Bureau has
launched the First Feature Film
Initiative (FFFI) at Filmart.
Targeting first-time directors, the
plan is to hold a competition for
screenplays and production
proposals for commercial films.
Supported by the Hong Kong
Film Development Council (FDC),
the Film Development Fund will
provide full funding within two
years for three new directors and
their production teams to
complete films on the basis of
winning screenplay and proposal
packages.
“The First Feature Film
Initiative seeks to identify and
nurture prospective film
production talent to help
promote the long-term
development of the local film
industry. It also serves as a
stepping stone for youngsters
aiming for a career in the film
industry. Existing film workers
can also take the opportunity to
switch to film directing,” said FDC
chairman Jack So. He added that
the pilot programme will have an
estimated expenditure of $1.28m
(hk$9.95m).
FFFI’s competition will be
divided into two groups — the
Higher Education Institutions
Group (HEIG) and the
Professionals Group (PG). HEIG
will have two prizes, with each
winning team receiving a
maximum of $258,000 (hk$2m)
from FDF to make a debut
feature. PG will have one prize of
a maximum $644,000 (hk$5m).
Jean Noh
Lee to head
Busan academy
Aussie convention moves to October
By Sandy George
The 68th Australian International
Movie Convention (AIMC) will
give exhibition delegates a better
look at the Christmas line-up as it
moves from August to October
14-17. Organisers of the productfocused event said another benefit
will be the opportunity to reach
more international delegates, particularly from Asia.
“We have one of the most sophisticated markets in the world and a
lot to offer,” said Michael Hawkins,
executive director of the National
Association of Cinema Operators —
Australasia (NACO). “Everyone
comments on the camaraderie here
between distributors and exhibitors, and we lead the world in
trends such as gold-class cinemas.”
CreateHK takes
its First steps
By Jean Noh
Michael Hawkins
NACO says an estimated 72% of
Australia’s 1,995 cinema screens
are now digital, with 57% of these
being 3D capable.
Since 2009, the screenings,
seminars, tradeshow and more
have all been held at Jupiters Hotel
and Casino on Queensland’s Gold
Coast. Last year $20.8m (a$20m)
was spent on enlarging and
improving the theatre, which now
holds 1,800 people.
n 4 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
Toast of the Asian Film Awards
At the Asian Film Awards after-party on Monday night, jury president
Andy Lau celebrated with 2012 best actress winner Deanie Ip (left)
and Michelle Yeoh, who was honoured with the Excellence in Asian
Cinema Award.
Busan’s Asian Film Academy has
appointed Korean director Lee
Chang-dong as dean of the workshop this year. Previous Busan
New Currents Award winner Aditya Assarat from Thailand will join
him as a directing mentor.
Lee’s sophomore feature Peppermint Candy (2000) was the 4th
Busan International Film Festival’s
opening film as well as screening
in Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.
The academy (September
26-October 13) is accepting applications until April 30.
The workshop includes masterclasses, mentoring and short-film
production.
Fortissimo Films_filmart daily day 2 (LINSANITY)_2st RHP_corrected.pdf 16/3/2013 1:36:37
THE RISE OF AN UNLIKELY BASKETBALL HERO
4 0 8 F I L M S AND AR OWANA FILMS PRESENT
C
M
Y
CM
MY
CY
CMY
K
SCREENINGS:
Mar. 18 (Mon.), 10.00 am
Mar. 18 (Mon.), 9.30 pm
Mar. 20 (Wed.), 3.30 pm
Mar. 30 (Sat.), 6.00 pm
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC (Market Screening)
HK Science Museum Lecture Hall (INTERNATIONALPREMIERE)
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC (Market Screening)
HK Science Museum Lecture Hall
A FILM BY EVAN JACKSON LEONG
OFFICIAL SELECTION
HONG KONG
INT’L FILM FESTIVAL
REVIEWS
Reviews edited by Mark Adams [email protected]
Petal Dance
HKIFF In brief
Reviewed by Mark Adams
Golden Gate, Silver Light
World Premiere/Filmmakers And Filmmaking.
Dir: S Louisa Wei. US. 2013. 107mins
An intriguing delve into the life of little-known
Chinese-American film-maker Esther Eng,
who made Cantonese films in San Francisco
and Hong Kong. Starting her film from Eng’s
photo albums, director S Louisa Wei tracks
Eng’s journey to Hong Kong in 1936 and subsequent film-making career (which included
Bruce Lee’s screen debut in Golden Gate Girl)
as well as detailing her love for gambling and
the restaurant she eventually ran in Manhattan. The film finds its energy when detailing
Eng’s work in Hong Kong and highlights a
talent only belatedly receiving due attention.
Mark Adams
CONTACT BLUE QUEEN CULTURAL
COMMUNICATION www.bqcc.com
Emperor Visits The Hell
Asian Premiere/Young Cinema Competition.
Dir: Li Luo. Chi-Can. 2013. 71mins
This low-budget political satire — which won
the Dragons and Tigers Award for Young
Cinema at the Vancouver International Film
Festival — is a contemporary re-imagining of
three chapters from Journey To The West, written during the Ming Dynasty (16th century)
which has been transplanted to modern-day
China and with characters re-imagined as
gangsters and party bosses. Li Luo’s film is a
subtle and gently provocative look at the
machinations of modern China and while
perhaps no easy sale for formal distribution
has the credentials to appeal to festivals.
Mark Adams
CONTACT Li Luo
[email protected]
Longing For The Rain
Asian Premiere/Young Cinema Competition.
Dir: Yang Lina. Chi. 2013. 98mins
An intriguing fusion of the traditional Chinese ghost story with contemporary erotic
drama, Yang Lina’s feature debut is a smart
dissection of China’s new wealthy middle
classes. Fang Lei (Zhao Siyuan), caught in a
loveless marriage, dreams of sex and is visited by a ghostly lover who makes passionate
love to her. She becomes increasingly unable
to separate her dreams from reality and turns
to religion and exorcism to rid herself of her
lustful imaginary lover. Zhao is bold and
striking as the young woman.
Mark Adams
CONTACT CHINESE SHADOWS
[email protected]
n 6 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
A moody and moving story of four women caught
up with their own very different painful memories,
the brittle and gently sorrowful Petal Dance (Petaru
Dansu) is an impressively low-key drama driven by
strong and subtle performances by the four leads.
The film, which has its world premiere at the
Hong Kong International Film Festival and is set to
open in April in Japan, is made with admirable
restraint by writer/director Hiroshi Ishikawa (who
made 2005’s Su-ki-da). It is a story that could easily
have lapsed into melodrama, but he maintains a
delicate intensity as the film heads off into roadtrip territory. Though the core story is relatively
downbeat, it ends with an underlying sense of optimism as these four women look to the future rather
than the past.
Using flashbacks and shot (with real style by
Yoichi Nagano) with wintery blues and greys, the
film interweaves the story of four different women,
and how they are brought together by an attempted
suicide.
Jinko (Aoi Miyazaki, who starred in 2005 hit
Nana) and Motoko (Sakura Ando) are college
friends who hear that their former classmate Miki
(Kazue Fukiishi, from 13 Assassins) has attempted
suicide and is in hospital.
Meanwhile Jinko meets Haraki (Shiori Katsuna)
at the library where she works when Haraki asks
for information on books about suicide. When
Finding Mr Right
Reviewed by Edmund Lee
Just as Meg Ryan’s character juggled serendipity
and sentimentality with the aid of weepie An Affair
To Remember, Tang Wei here draws inspiration
from Sleepless In Seattle, finding her own Mr Right
while making her way via Seattle to the top of the
Empire State Building.
A spirited sophomore effort after her heavyhanded directorial debut (the Jet Li tearjerker
Ocean Heaven), writer-director Xue Xiaolu’s Seattle
and New York-set Finding Mr Right is nothing you
haven’t seen before — although it is also pleasant
enough to disarm you with its sweetness.
Tang plays Jiajia, a materialistic prima donna
who is staying temporarily in Seattle — presumably because she is a huge fan of the Nora Ephron
movie — to give birth to the child of her rich married lover in Beijing.
When her plan to check into a maternity centre
goes awry, however, she is instead taken by
her hired driver Frank (veteran TV actor Wu
Xiubo, dutifully wooden) to a small home run
by his friend, Taiwanese caretaker Mrs Huang
(Elaine Jin).
As her (off-screen) boyfriend continually fails to
shrug off either his wife or the criminal investigations into his possibly shady business, the lonely
Jiajia soon discovers a loving side to Frank, who
was once a famous doctor in Beijing before moving
World premiere
— indie power
Jap. 2013. 90mins
Director Hiroshi Ishikawa
Production company
Go Seek Pictures
International sales
Bitters End, www.bitters.
co.jp
Producers Tamotsu
Kosano, Yuji Sadai, Skoga
Ishizuka, Ryuta Hashimoto
Cinematography Yoichi
Nagano
Music Kanno Yuke
Main cast Aoi Miyazaki,
Shiori Kutsuna, Sakura
Ando, Kazue Fukiishi
Jinko sees her at a railway platform she thinks she
is about to kill herself so drags her to the ground,
injuring her arm but establishing a friendship with
Haraki, who was innocently stretching her legs
rather than mulling suicide.
When Motoko borrows her ex-husband’s car,
Haraki offers to drive the two women to the hospital to see Miki. They spend two days and one night
on the road, getting to know each other and sharing aspects of their past. Though Miki is subdued
and bemused to see them, she asks if they can take
her to a nearby beach.
The film’s final scenes sees the four women, each
haunted by their own sorrows, wander onto the
snowy beach. Elegantly and plaintively framed as
they scatter across the beach, the film hints at sadness before ending on a moment of joy as they run
giggling from the on-coming waves. The subtext is
that they are allowing the sadness of the past to
merge with a low-key optimism for the future.
International
Premiere —
market
HK-Chi. 2013. 121mins
Director/screenplay
Xue Xiaolu
Production company
Edko Films
International sales
Edko Films, info@edkofilm.
com.hk
Producers Bill Kong,
Mathew Tang, Lu Hongshi
Executive producers
Bill Kong, Hao Lee, Susan
Ma, Yan Xiaoming
Cinematography Chan
Chi-ying
Editor Cheung Ka-fai
Production designer
Yee Chung-man
Music Peter Kam
Main cast Tang Wei,
Wu Xiubo, Hai Qing, Mai
Hongmei, Elaine Jin
to the US and being divorced by his more financially competent wife, an inconvenient truth that
he has been keeping from his young daughter and
grieving silently ever since.
Directing from her own script, Xue has come up
with a conventional yet surprisingly delightful
rom-com, at once filled with authentically written
supporting characters and some gently humorous
sequences, including several that mischievously
toy with Jiajia’s limited knowledge of English.
Amid the predictable story trajectory which sees
the budding couple respectively recover from their
unfortunate romantic past, re-adjust their focuses
in life and finally meet up again for their purely
coincidental romantic resolution at you-knowwhere, it is Tang’s immense likeability in her alternately sassy and vulnerable role that holds it all
together. Finding Mr Right thrives on the effortless
charisma of its lead actress.
HAF profiles, page 8
Library Wars
Reviewed by Mark Adams
The fight for freedom of information and expression reaches action-packed heights in Shinsuke
Sato’s adaptation of Hiro Arikawa’s best-selling
novel The Library War — which has sold more
than 2.8 million copies since its publication in
2006 — which delivers engagingly over-the-top
militarised mayhem, all in the good name of
saving books.
Given his previous success with the Gantz fantasy film series, it comes as no surprise Sato shows
a sure hand at marshalling the complex action
sequences — with the film also giving due credit
to the Ministry of Defence and the Japan Ground
& Air Defence Systems for helping provide onscreen military-style muscle — as well as managing the tough job of layering in humour and
a dash of romance into the rather fantastical
storyline.
The film is set in 2019, in a Japan where public
anger at media excesses has been fanned by a
group called the Media Betterment Committee,
which has pushed through government acts to
suppress and censor television, newspapers, the
internet, films and books. The nation’s libraries
have formed their own paramilitary Library
Defence squads, who are based at — and defend
— libraries.
After a Library Defence member helped save
her — and rescue the book she was after — from a
World premiere —
market
Jap. 2013. 128mins
Director Shinsuke Sato
Production companies
Kadokawa Shoten
Publishing, Sedic
International, Toho
Company
International sales TBS,
www.tbs.co.jp
Screenplay Akiko Nogi,
based on the novel by Hiro
Arikawa
Cinematography Taro
Kawazu
Music Yu Takami
Main cast Junichi Okada,
Nana Eikura, Kei Tanaka,
Sota Fukushi, Naomi
Nishida, Jun Hashimoto,
Chiaki Kuriyama, Koji
Ishizaka
HKIFF In brief
raid on a bookstore five years earlier, Iku Kasahara
(Eikura) becomes the first woman to join the elite
gun-carrying section of Library Defence.
The lanky, ungainly, but determined Kasahara
is initially at odds with the by-the-books leadership style of her squad leader Atsushi Dojo
(Okada), but as the battles with the more violent
Media Betterment groups increase, she learns to
appreciate his commitment as qualities.
The book has been adapted before — the Japanese animated series Library War in 2008 and the
2012 animated television film Library War: Wings
Of Revolution — but this big-screen version is a scifi film that makes the most of the incongruous
action concept.
The casting of cult star Chiaki Kuriyama (from
Kill Bill) as Kasahara’s best friend could help international profile. Plus the action sequences are
expertly staged, especially as the film hits its stride
in the thrilling last third.
A Werewolf Boy
I See It My Way. Dir/scr: Jo Sung-hee. S Kor.
2012. 122mins
Part fantasy thriller and part allegorical melodrama, the engaging A Werewolf Boy has been
a great success with Asian audiences, though
it may prove too whimsical and gentle to click
at international cinemas, despite outings at
various festivals. It dwells on the sweetly
staged ‘romance’ between a young woman
(Park Bo-young), new to the remote countryside, who meets feral young man (Song
Joong-ki) and is drawn to his innocence and
trustworthiness. It might lack the action and
more overt sexuality of the Twilight films, but
behind the genial facade there is a lot going on
as the film slowly blends thrills with romance.
Mark Adams
CONTACT CJ ENTERTAINMENT
www.cjent.co.kr
Tenderness
Closed Curtain
Reviewed by Lee Marshall
The very fact this film exists is cause for celebration:
it is the second time, after This Is Not A Film, that
Iranian film-maker Jafar Panahi has managed to
defy the 20-year film-making ban imposed on him
by the Islamic republic’s authorities in 2010, and
strike a blow for creative freedom. Currently under
house arrest, Panahi follows up that droll post-modern documentary, which was smuggled out of Iran
inside a cake, with more meditations on the same
self-referential theme of a director — once again
played by Panahi himself — whose need to create
and film meaningful stories breaks through the
physical and legal cage in which he has been penned.
This time, though, the tone seems a little shriller,
the symbolism just a tad hackneyed. There is more
than a pinch of Pirandello in the premise of a film
that knocks gaping holes in the fourth wall of cinematic illusion by introducing characters who turn
out — perhaps — to be figments of Panahi’s imagination. But in the moment Panahi himself appears
and the intriguing story turns meta-fictional, there
is a sense of let-down that never quite lifts.
Digital out of necessity, and not the crispest of
views on a big screen, Closed Curtain will make it
onto the ‘try to see’ checklist of committed cineastes.
But this may not be enough for arthouse distributors in some territories, given the sense of déja vu.
Global Vision. Dir/scr: Marion Hansel.
Bel-Fr-Ger. 2013. 81mins
A delicate and captivating road trip of reminiscences, Marion Hansel’s film — the first
based on her own script — is a magnificently
mature piece of work driven by engaging performances from Marilyne Canto and Olivier
Gourmet. While perhaps too low key in tone
to break-out fully, it deserves to be on the
radar of experienced arthouse distributors.
Tenderness (La Tendresse) is about family, love
and understanding, and this genial road trip
is a thoughtful look at the tenderness that is
at the heart of all close relationships.
Closing night
Iran. 2013. 106mins
Directors Jafar Panahi,
Kamboziya Partovi
Production company
Jafar Panahi Film
Productions
International sales
uCONNECT, www.umedia.eu
Producer/screenplay/
editor Jafar Panahi
Cinematography
Mohammad Reza
Jahanpana
Main cast Kamboziya
Partovi, Maryam
Moghadam, Jafar Panahi,
Hadi Saeedi, Azadeh Torabi
Mark Adams
A small dog emerges from the bag of a professorial type (Partovi) who turns up in a seaside villa, out
of season. We realise the man, who shaves off his
hair and tacks up blackout curtains on the windows,
is a writer. More compellingly, it is also revealed that
dogs, considered ‘impure’ by the authorities of the
unnamed country, are being rounded up. This is
partly true: there is some scapegoat persecution of
dog owners in Iran, though the canine carnage suggested here supplies what we take as a metaphor for
wider repression in the Islamic state.
Around half an hour in, two new characters
appear: Melika (Moghadam), a woman who slips
into the house with Reza (Saeedi) who, she claims, is
her brother. They say they are on the run after a party
was raided, and the writer shelters them until noises
of the manhunt subsides. At this point the brother
heads off, leaving the woman in the writer’s care,
and telling him to watch for her suicidal tendencies.
CONTACT DOC & FILM INTERNATIONAL
www.docandfilm.com
Pluto
Young Cinema Competition. Dir/scr: Shin
Suwon. S Kor. 2012. 120mins
One of the strongest films at last year’s Busan
International Film Festival, Pluto is a stupendous feature that is likely to make an impression on the festival market, while it also has
potential for further distribution. Writer/
director Shin Suwon, who was a school
teacher before she became a filmmaker,
explores the competitive nature of the
Korean education system through a compelling narrative that tells the story of a student
forced to conduct cruel tasks in order to enter
an exclusive club at a prestigious school.
Jason Bechervaise
CONTACT SH FILM
[email protected]
March 20, 2013 Screen International at Filmart 7 n
HAF Profiles
» Cemetery Of Kings p8
» The Ceiling p8
» King Of Shrimp Roe
Noodle p8
» Please Remember Me p10
» Kundo: Age Of The
Rampant p10
» 2:30am p10
» Roundtrip p12
» X+Y p12
» Running In The City p12
Cemetery Of Kings
The Ceiling
King Of Shrimp Roe Noodle
Countries of origin Thailand-UK-Germany-France
Country of origin Hong Kong
Country of origin Hong Kong
Director Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Director Philip Yung
Director Lam Tze-Chung
Cannes habitué Apichatpong Weerasethakul is returning to northeast Thailand near the Mekong River for his
next film, Cemetery Of Kings.
The story follows a group of soldiers taken ill with a
mysterious sleeping sickness and Jenjira, middle-aged
and married to a retired US soldier, who becomes interested in one particular young patient, Itta. Spirits tell her
of a cemetery of kings beneath the hospital and she
shares a dream with Itta filled with poetry and fantasy.
The film is built around actress Jenjira Widner from
Apichatpong’s 2010 Palme d’Or winner Uncle Boonmee
Who Can Recall His Past Lives. The cast will also include
actor Banlop Lomnoi from the director’s Tropical Malady, which won the 2004 Cannes Jury Prize.
“The Mekong River has been an inspiration for me
these past few years. The history of the places around the
river is a good reflection of Thailand — and the changes
that come with the dam constructions upstream are tremendous,” says Apichatpong.
The director plans to keep elements such as the colour
palette and sound elements in line with his previous
work. “However, this film will have more political overtones,” he says. Producer Simon Field, who has worked
with Apichatpong on other projects, describes this one as
“more accessible”.
The project is in development with plans to shoot
close to the Thai-Laos border. Apichatpong is producing
with Field and Keith Griffiths, who both worked with
him on Uncle Boonmee and Syndromes And A Century.
Thailand’s Kick The Machine Films and the UK’s Illuminations Films will produce. German sales company
The Match Factory is also attached as co-producer.
Jean Noh
Philip Yung, whose Port Of Call was the winner of the
HAF Award for a Hong Kong project in 2011, returns this
year with The Ceiling.
He is directing from a script written by Lou Shiu Wa,
scriptwriter of Ann Hui’s The Way We Are, which won
best screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards (HKFA)
in 2009. The script is in the third draft.
Based on a true story, it is about a young man who has
spent 12 years in the hospital after being left paralysed in
an accident. Staring at the ceiling has become his pastime, as he never left the ward. Inspired by the news of a
paralysed British woman given the right to euthanasia,
he writes a letter to the Hong Kong Chief Executive, asking for the same right to die with dignity.
Yung is attracted to the story because “like Glamorous
Youth and Port Of Call, it is about how human dignity
shines in time of darkness,” he says.
Glamorous Youth, about a father and son relationship,
was his feature debut, which earned a best new director
nomination at the HKFA in 2010. Chang Wen’s Digital
Jungle Production, which produced Glamorous Youth, is
teaming up with Yung again for The Ceiling, while Port
Of Call is still in development.
Yung came across the script for The Ceiling when he
was working with Lou on the screenplay of another
project, What’s Up Girls, a follow-up to 1982 classic
Lonely Fifteen about delinquent girls who become prostitutes.
Currently in production with Ng Kin Hung as producer, What’s Up Girls will be Yung’s second feature,
financed by new production house Keen Top Entertainment.
Silva Wong
As a fourth-generation resident of Aberdeen in Hong
Kong, actor-turned-director Lam Tze-Chung has fond
memories of the historic former fishing village. He still
lives there, while his uncle and brother run a family business selling shrimp roe noodles in Aberdeen’s Ap Lei
Chau Main Street. But the area will soon be redeveloped.
“Gone too will be the human touch. It will never come
back,” Lam laments. This prompted him to explore certain forgotten values in today’s society through his new
project King Of Shrimp Roe Noodle.
The story revolves around a traditional noodle master
who is forced to fold his 50-year-old business when his
only son, determined to get rich quick, opts to sell to a
property developer the low-rise building in which the
family live and work.
Lam has shot two three-minute teasers for HAF: one
is about the making of shrimp roe noodle, while the
other is an introduction to the old street, which will be a
key location for the film.
An accomplished actor with credits including Kung Fu
Hustle, Lam made his directorial debut with I’ll Call You,
produced by Andy Lau’s Focus First Cuts initiative.
Lam will play the character of the son in his new
project, which he is co-writing with Amos Why, a TV
director and co-writer of Lam’s last directorial project,
Ultra Reinforcement.
Michael Tung’s Icon Media Group, which co-produced Ultra Reinforcement, is producing the film, along
with former TVB actor Benny Chan who has starred
with Lam in several mainland Chinese TV drama series.
The project will be Chan’s first outing as producer.
Silvia Wong
Cemetery Of Kings
The Ceiling
King Of Shrimp Roe Noodle
Producers Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Simon Field,
Producer Chang Wen
Production companies Digital Jungle Production
Budget $750,000
Contact Philip Yung [email protected]
Producers Michael Tung, Benny Chan
Production company Icon Media Group
Budget $1m
Financed raised to date 10% (from Icon Media and
Keith Griffiths
Production companies Kick The Machine Films,
Illuminations Films
Budget $980,000
Finance raised to date $130,000 (from co-producers)
Contact Simon Field [email protected]
n 8 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
Benny Chan)
Contact Amos Why
[email protected]
HAF Profiles
Please Remember Me
Kundo: Age Of The Rampant
2:30am
Country of origin China
Country of origin South Korea
Country of origin China
Director Zhao Qing
Director Yoon Jong-bin
Director Peng Tao
During a family reunion, Zhao Qing was deeply moved
by the tender love between her elderly grand uncle and
grand aunt, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.
The old lady is fast losing her memory but still recognises her husband who, despite his old age, is her main
caregiver. Both are in their mid-80s.
“If one day I’m old and can’t remember the past and
even my loved ones… These are the thoughts that ran
through my mind when I decided to document their
lives. Their memories shouldn’t be forgotten,” says Zhao.
Please Remember Me will be her first documentary
production in nine years. In the 1990s, she was the director of Shanghai TV Station’s popular documentary programme, Documentary Editing Room, the Chinese
equivalent of 60 Minutes. Many of her productions
became award-winners in China. In 2003, she left the
station to become an independent TV producer.
Some 60 hours of footage has been clocked up for
Please Remember Me since filming began last April in
Shanghai. Zhao plans to continue the shoot until the end
of 2014.
“A longer period of time will allow the camera to get
more intimate with the couple, especially when they are
likely to move into a senior home, a big moment in their
lives,” she says.
Violet Du Feng is producing through US film-maker
Bill Guttentag’s Shape Pictures. Feng is a co-producer of
Guttentag’s documentary Nanking, which won a grand
jury prize at Sundance.
Please Remember Me was first pitched at CNEX Chinese Doc Forum (CCDF) in Taipei last October and won
best pitch project of the year.
Silvia Wong
Coming off the success of Nameless Gangster: Rules Of
The Time, Yoon Jong-bin is set to direct — and for the
first time produce — his next project Kundo: Age Of The
Rampant.
The story takes place in 1859, during the late Chosun
period, rife with corrupt rulers and a starving underclass.
A group of thieves (kundo in Korean) takes justice into
their own hands.
“I have always wished to do a simple but dramatically
pleasing story about good punishing evil. If my previous
films talked about the paradox of the times and the collision of power within a system, I wanted to make a new
film that is more genre-leaning and more accessible to
audiences,” says Yoon.
The director says he started off wondering, “What if I
tell a story about a butcher — who were treated worse
than animals in the Chosun dynasty — saving the people?” He is looking to make something that contemporary audiences can find cathartic.
Yoon made an award-winning debut at the 2005
Busan International Film Festival with graduation film
The Unforgiven, which went on to Cannes. His second
film, The Moonlight Of Seoul (aka Beastie Boys), was also
critically acclaimed. Nameless Gangster made $34m at the
Korean box office and sold to multiple territories. It had
six nominations at this year’s Asian Film Awards.
Ha Jung-woo, who featured in all Yoon’s previous
films, will play the butcher set on revenge for the death of
his family. Gang Dong-won will play the illegitimate son
of an aristocrat, responsible for their deaths.
The film is set to start shooting in April. Yoon is producing through his newly established Moonlight Pictures, along with Nameless Gangster producer Han
Jae-deok. Korean studio Showbox/Mediaplex is backing
the film.
Jean Noh
Chinese writer-director Peng Tao returns to HAF this
year with crime thriller 2:30am. This will be a departure
from his usual arthouse fare such as Little Moth, which
earned him fame on the festival circuit.
The time 2:30am is the cut-off point for female prisoners to return to their lock-up after providing organised
special services at local nightclubs. The story follows one
such prisoner who takes the risk of breaking the curfew
to rescue her deaf-mute son from a criminal gang.
Inspired by a true story, Peng started developing the
idea in early 2012 and is currently revising a draft of the
screenplay.
Peng knows his previous films, none of which secured
a release in China, are far from commercial. “From
2.30am onwards, I’ll consider more the commercial elements of my projects while keeping the artistic vision
intact and my strength as a good storyteller. I hope
2.30am will be released in China and more people will get
to see my films,” he says.
New Youth Independent Film Studio and Heaven Pictures (Beijing) Culture & Media are producing. While
both Beijing-based companies produced Peng’s earlier
films, he is also teaming up with first-time producer Lilly
Austin, also based in Beijing.
Peng’s first feature Little Moth, about a physically disabled girl forced to beg on the streets, won multiple
awards, including the Silver Award in the Asian Digital
Competition of the Hong Kong International Film Festival and the NETPAC award at Locarno.
Last year he presented Cross Road at HAF. The drama,
about a man who assumes a new identity to start afresh, is
expected to go into production at the end of the year.
Silvia Wong
Please Remember Me
Kundo: Age Of The Rampant
2:30am
Producers Violet Du Feng, Ruby Yang
Production companies Shape Pictures
Budget $180,000
Financed raised to date $10,000 (from CCDF and
Producer Yoon Jong-bin, Han Jae-deok
Production company Moonlight Pictures
Budget $10m
Contact Judy Ahn [email protected]
Producers Peng Tao, Lilly Austin
Production companies New Youth Independent Film
director’s advance)
Contact Violet Du Feng
[email protected]
n 10 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
Studio, Heaven Pictures (Beijing) Culture & Media
Budget $307,000
Finance raised to date $62,980 (from private investment)
Contact Peng Tao [email protected]
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HAF Profiles
Roundtrip
X+Y
Running In The City
Countries of origin Thailand-Bosnia and
Herzegovina-Denmark
Country of origin UK
Country of origin China
Director Morgan Matthews
Director Fan Jian
Roundtrip is a non-narrative experimental work-inprogress that started life at DOX:LAB, a Danish programme that pairs up European and non-European
film-makers on creative projects.
Directors Anocha Suwichakornpong from Thailand
and Bosnia’s Sejla Kameric have a firm idea of what they
are creating together.
“We are putting together fragments of dreams, wishes
and memories based on our lives. When an audience
watches this film, they will feel the connection between the
fragments. I’d like to think some are evocative and strong
enough visually to make them think of some of their own
pasts or dreams,” says Anocha. “Although it’s not narrative-driven, it will in the end have something of a narrative
structure because of the connections.”
Anocha graduated from Columbia University’s MFA
programme with thesis short Graceland, which screened
at Cannes. Her feature debut Mundane History won support from the Hubert Bals Fund and the Asian Cinema
Fund. It premiered at the 2009 Busan International Film
Festival and won a Tiger Award at Rotterdam.
Kameric made her short film debut at the 2007 Venice
film festival with What Do I Know. Best known as a visual
artist, she won the European Cultural Foundation Princess Margriet Award for cultural diversity in 2011.
The directors plan to shoot mostly in Hong Kong, but
with some fragments to shoot in Thailand and Bosnia and
Herzegovina.
“It is a crossover project that can be shown in a gallery
context as well as in theatres,” says Anocha. She adds
that the producers hope to meet financiers from the art
world as well as the film industry.
Jean Noh
X+Y is a coming-of-age love story set in the world of
“competitive maths”. The film is inspired by Morgan
Matthews’ Bafta-nominated documentary Beautiful
Young Minds, about young mathematicians competing
in an international maths Olympiad.
“The wonderful characters I encountered while making the documentary inspired me to think about a feature film based on them and the extraordinary world
they inhabit,” Matthews has said.
Asa Butterfield is in advanced talks to play Nathan
Hague, an intense and awkward 16-year-old maths whiz,
traumatised by the death of his father several years earlier. As he struggles to connect with those around him,
he is introduced to an anarchic and unconventional
maths teacher who takes Nathan under his wing. Soon
Nathan finds himself selected for the UK mathematics
squad and, against the odds, representing his country in
China, the “mecca of maths”. Rafe Spall and Sally
Hawkins are also in negotiations to board the project.
“In our story, this young boy falls in love with a young
Chinese girl. If you like, he is in search of a formula for
love,” says David M Thompson of Origin Pictures. “It is
set in the UK and China but it is a story that will have
resonance for anyone who has been in love or thought
about being in love.”
The producers are aiming to shoot in Hong Kong,
China or Taiwan later this summer. They will be looking
for an Asian partner at HAF.
Director Matthews is the latest in a long line of UK
documentary film-makers to have made the transition to
features. His previous credits include Taxidermy: Stuff
The World and the Channel 4 TV series My Crazy Parents.
Geoffrey Macnab
Chinese documentary film-maker Fan Jian once again
peeks into the struggles of migrant workers in Beijing in
his new project, Running In The City. He examined this
subject in his 2006 film, Dancing In The City, which
screened at IDFA.
Since 2009, Fan has been documenting a migrant
worker family fighting for their land after the authorities
decided to take it back for redevelopment. Although their
water and electricity have been cut off for more than a
year, the family is still holding on to the land, on which
they have been lived for the past 15 years.
“As China will further speed up the pace of urbanisation in the next few years, more people will be migrating
from farm villages into cities. How can the migrant
workers integrate with the new urban environment?
How can they protect themselves and find a place of
their own?” asks Fan.
Fan brings a rough cut of the documentary to HAF.
The project is supported by Busan’s Asian Network of
Documentary Fund and the Sundance Documentary
Fund and is looking for completion funding.
Isabella Zang, Fan’s assistant director and editor of
his last documentary, The Next Life, has stepped up to
become his producer for Running In The City. The
Next Life, about a couple who lost their only daughter
during the 2008 Sichuan Earthquake, competed at
IDFA in 2011.
Huang Yinghao of DocuChina is also producing.
DocuChina is the exclusive content provider and sales
agent of the Documentary Channel, launched by Shanghai Media Group in 2002.
Silvia Wong
Roundtrip
X+Y
Running In The City
Producers Tine Fischer, Patricia Drati Ronde, Anocha
Production companies Origin Pictures, BBC Films
Budget $5m
Finance raised to date $2m
Contact Alex Gordon [email protected]
Producers Huang Yinghao, Isabella Zang
Production companies DocuChina
Budget $116,700
Financed raised to date $45,500 (Shanghai Media
Dirs Anocha Suwichakornpong (left), Sejla Kameric
Suwichakornpong
Production companies DOX:LAB, Electric Eel Films
(Thailand), Sarajevo Center for Contemporary Art
Budget $100,000
Finance raised to date $17,000 (DOX:LAB)
Contact Patricia Drati Ronde [email protected]
n 12 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
Group, Asian Network of Documentary, Golden DOC
Productions, Sundance Documentary Fund)
Contact Isabella Zang [email protected]
Feature Focus
Exhibitor Orange Sky Golden Harvest continues to expand
High cost of admissions
Explosive growth in screen numbers is driving up box-office revenues in China, but
such rapid expansion could present risks for some exhibitors. Liz Shackleton reports
F
rom the outside looking in, Chinese exhibition appears to be one of the sweetest spots to
be operating anywhere in the world today.
China’s box office grew by 30% to hit $2.7bn in
2012 and won’t be slowing down any time soon.
The number of screens increased by around 3,800
last year — reaching a total of more than 13,000 —
an average of more than 10 new screens a day. The
dynamic growth is driven by well-heeled cinema
investment companies racing to meet demand
from an increasingly wealthy population with time
on its hands to watch movies. Or so the story goes.
n 14 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
‘Cultivating
virgin territory
has been the
secret of our
strategy’
Fang Bin, Dadi
Cinemas
But while this is true to some extent, the spoils
are not being shared evenly in the Chinese exhibition industry and it is a tough business even for
those with substantial resources. Competition has
become fierce as cinema operators have prioritised
expansion over profitability in the race to grab
market share. And as the number of screens has
exploded, per-screen revenues and admissions,
especially in the first-tier cities, have started to
decline.
The market is also reaching saturation point in
major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou
and Shenzhen, while costs for construction, rent,
labour and marketing are rising rapidly.
“We believe there are probably too many cinema
operators in China to sustain over a long-term
basis,” says Rance Pow of Shanghai-based consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. “The growth rate of
new cinemas will slow as the focus shifts to riskier
second and third-tier markets. Failures will
increase as the market reaches saturation point
and increased competition will expose the weakness of some operators.”
By the end of 2012, China had 3,680 theatres
with 13,118 screens, of which 93% are digital and
72% are 3D-enabled. All urban cinemas are
required to join one of 40 government-approved
chains, which arrange film bookings and take a
1%-6% fee from box-office revenues. A few private
companies, such as Wanda and Dadi Cinemas,
have been allowed to establish their own chains.
Although foreign players are restricted to a 49%
market share in cinemas, Korean exhibitors such
as CJ CGV, Lotte and Megabox have made some
headway in rolling out new cinemas in the market.
According to local market research firm EntGroup, the five biggest chains take more than 70%
of box-office revenue, leaving 35 chains to scrabble
for the remaining 30%. The intense competition,
especially in big cities, has resulted in ticket price
wars and group sale discounts, which drive down
profitability. Taking into account these pressures
and rising operating costs, many exhibitors say
they now regard their big-city theatres as a branding exercise, while they look to second and thirdtier markets to turn a profit.
Moving into smaller cities where costs are lower
and audiences have never before experienced a
multiplex seems like a no-brainer. “We opened an
eight-screen multiplex in Xining in the west of
China that became profitable in the second month,”
says Crystal Wang, director of strategic planning at
Orange Sky Golden Harvest.
Some exhibitors, such as Dadi Cinemas, even
started out by focusing on smaller markets,
although they later moved into the big cities. “Cultivating virgin territory has been the secret of our
strategy, although we’ve also opened cinemas in
Shanghai and Beijing,” says Dadi Cinemas general
manager Fang Bin. “We have been successful in
identifying the right sites and attracting audiences
that didn’t previously have a convenient venue to
watch films.”
However, cinema operators are also taking a risk
in these smaller markets. Ticket prices need to be
relatively high to cover start-up costs, but local
audiences are used to consuming films cheaply
and illegally online. “There is a risk because you’re
introducing a social habit to audiences for the first
time,” says Pow. “The interest in the content is
proven but it becomes a value proposition. Do I
spend $5.60 (rmb35) on a ticket or continue to consume movies the way I’ve been accustomed to?”
In other words, you have to cultivate the audience in second and third-tier markets, and that
takes time. Feeling the pressure to stake out territory and grab market share, cinema operators are
pushing into riskier and more remote markets,
even though they will not be making money in all
of them for some time. And even if you are the first
cinema in town, you will not be alone for long.
With such fierce competition, it becomes more
important to differentiate your services, and while
SCREENINGS, PAGE 18
China’s box-office growth shows no sign of slowing down
most new cinemas are excellent technically, they
lack experience in customer service and marketing.
Lumiere Pavilions has taken a different course,
rolling out slowly and focusing on customer relationship management (CRM). “In addition to stateof-the-art audiovisual equipment, we use
sophisticated CRM systems and target high-end
customers with superb services,” says Lumiere
chairman and CEO Jimmy Wu. The company has a
direct relationship with some of its most loyal customers to ensure they can book their favourite seats.
However, the best technology and service in the
world does not mean a thing if you don’t have good
movies to show, and despite the expansion of China’s import quota to 34 revenue-sharing films a
year, patchy product flow has become Chinese cinema operators’ biggest headache. It is not that
China cannot produce huge hits. Over the past
year, four films — Lost In Thailand, CZ12, Journey
To The West: Conquering The Demons and Painted
Skin: The Resurrection — have grossed more than
$100m. But these blockbusters are clustered
around summer or the Chinese New Year holiday
period and leave long dry spells in between.
“Quantity is no problem — last year China was
the world’s third biggest producer with more than
700 movies, but each year there are only a small
number of hits,” says Wanda Cinema Line general
manager Ye Ning.
“Feng Xiaogang only makes one film a year, and
there’s only one sleeper hit like Lost In Thailand, so
it’s not enough. We need great content every week
— at least two blockbuster titles every month. But
there are only a few film-makers who know the
rules of the game.”
Some cinema operators have started to experiment with alternative content, including 3D sports,
concerts and operas, but government censors such
as the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) have not formulated clear policy
for screening this kind of product. Lumiere Pavilions screened some games from the 2010 FIFA
World Cup and 3D operas Carmen and Madam
Butterfly, co-produced by RealD and London’s
Royal Opera House. But Chinese cinema operators
are not allowed to sell tickets for such screenings,
so the audience attended for free and the costs
were offset by commercial sponsors.
TOP 10 EXHIBITION CHAINS IN CHINA BY BOX OFFICE 2012
Rank Cinema chain
Box office % change on Admissions % change on No. of
previous year
previous year screens
1
Wanda International Cinemas
$389.5m
+38%
58,416,700
+43%
998
2
Shanghai United Circuit
$261.7m
+27%
44,676,200
+18%
1,128
3
China Film Stellar Theater Chain $256.9m
China Film South Cinema
$210.3m
Circuit
+18%
43,877,000
+14%
1,094
+22%
34,637,799
+21%
1,010
4
‘We target highend customers
with superb
services’
Jimmy Wu,
Lumiere Pavilions
5
GZ Jinyi Zhujiang Movie Circuit
$186.3m
+38%
30,593,600 +36%
801
6
Guangdong Dadi Theatre Circuit $175.2m
+63%
38,501,299
+64%
1,382
7
Beijing New Film Association
$130.9m
+8%
22,062,100
+5%
576
8
Zhejiang Time Cinema
$113.6m
+29%
19,584,800
+26%
691
9
The Pacific Ocean Sichuan
Theater Chain
$95.6m
+29%
16,483,899
+21%
450
10
HG Entertainment
$90m
+62%
17,133,200
+56%
637
Source: EntGroup
‘Failures will
increase as the
market reaches
saturation point’
Rance Pow, Artisan
Gateway
Lumiere is now working hard to lobby SARFT to
allow alternative content to be shown in cinemas.
But in the short-term, the authorities’ focus is likely
to be on developing the local film industry, rather
than encouraging different kinds of competing
product.
The good news is that Chinese films are improving and becoming more market-oriented. Recent
developments such as Beijing Galloping Horse’s
acquisition of Digital Domain should also lead to
improved production values. The big
issue is one of timing: how long can
existing cinema operators wait for a
steady product supply and for consumers to change their habits and
become regular cinemagoers?
Only the most efficient, service-orie n t e d
o r
deep-pocketed
players will be
able to sit out
these tumultuous early
s t a ge s o f
China’s
film industry development. And with competition
and costs increasing, the currently fragmented
exhibition sector is likely to go through a period of
consolidation over the next few years. Already big
players such as Wanda, which has the advantage
of owning most of the real estate that houses its
cinemas, are starting to eye acquisition targets.
In the meantime, it will be difficult for new players to find a foothold in the market, even though
there is undoubtedly room for many more screens.
“We believe it may be too late
for new entrants,” says Pow.
“We are looking at the tailend of multiplex development and anyone coming in
n o w i s l a te to t h e
s
game.” ■
(Left) Painted Skin:
The Resurrection
Feature Italy
Dormant Beauty
Ali Blue Eyes
Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy
Italian for beginners
Italy’s relations with Asia grow ever closer, thanks to a new co-production deal with China. Now HKIFF boasts nine
Italian selections and Filmart welcomes an Italian stand for the first time. Melanie Goodfellow reports
T
he ink is barely dry on an Italian-Chinese coproduction deal signed last December, but
Italy’s film industry is already busy attempting to forge links with its counterparts in China.
“We want to set up reciprocal relations between
Italian and Chinese producers and institutions…
it’s a long-term process,” says Roberto Cicutto,
managing director of Cinecitta Luce, which is
spearheading the initiative alongside cinema
industry body ANICA and Italy’s Ministry of
Economic Development.
“A key pole of our drive is getting Italian films
into Chinese film festivals such as that of Shanghai,
the fledgling Beijing Film Festival and Hong Kong
International Film Festival,” continues Cicutto.
“We have had particular success in Shanghai,
where Gabriele Muccino took the top prize for Kiss
Me Again (Baciami Ancora) three years ago.”
Nine Italian films are due to screen at HKIFF
this year: Caesar Must Die, Me And You, Dormant
Beauty, Piazza Fontana: The Italian Conspiracy,
It Was The Son, The Ideal City, Ali Blue Eyes, The
War Of The Volcanoes and Stromboli.
Pappi Corsicato’s Il Volto Di Un Altra and Luigi
Lo Cascio’s The Ideal City have recently been
selected for the third Beijing Film Festival in April.
Italy is also bolstering its presence at Filmart
where, for the first time, Italian trade commission
ICE is setting up an umbrella stand in the market.
“China has progressively increased its foreign film
and television programme imports over the past
decade, despite having a strict quota system in
place. We see Hong Kong as a key gateway to the
country,” says Italian trade commissioner for Hong
Kong Paola Guida.
The stand will host a dozen Italian bodies
including production companies PayperMoon and
n 16 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
‘A key pole of
our drive is
getting Italian
films into
Chinese film
festivals such
as HKIFF’
Roberto Cicutto,
Cinecitta Luce
Orisa Produzioni, the film commissions of Apulia
and Vicenza Film, ANICA and state producers
guild APE.
ICE also held a conference here entitled ‘Shooting
in Italy, high-quality, low-budget’, at which representatives of ANICA and APE presented Italy’s film
tax breaks and regional funds.
Rome-based independent sales companies Fandango and Intramovies are at Filmart, based at
European Film Promotion’s European Pavilion.
Rai Trade is also present.
Italy’s Filmart drive follows in the wake of a
series of other Italo-Sino networking initiatives
sparked by the signing of the co-production treaty
in December. Earlier this year, for example, an Italian film industry delegation visited China.
“Until now the US, France and Korea have dominated film imports into China, but we would like
Italian films to penetrate the market too, says ANICA’s Rossella Mercurio who organised the industry trip. “Without the co-production deal it was
difficult to do very much, but now we have at least
two co-productions under way — it’s a difficult
process but we’re determined to make it work.”
The first fruits of the accord include a co-production between Rome-based Urania Pictures and
Chinese television company CCTV6 for Everlasting
Moments by Maurizio Sciarra, who is co-writing
the script alongside Red Lantern screenwriter Ni
Zhan. Italian television production house Emme,
meanwhile, has struck a deal with Chinese TV station Tianjin for Paolo Logli and Alessandro Pondi’s Hibiscus.
In other initiatives, Rome-based Italian producer and director Cristiano Bortone, founding
chief of Orisa Produzioni, is scheduled to give a
series of lectures on the Italian film industry and
European film finance to students of Beijing Film
Academy this spring.
“We need to think differently from the past.
Rather than simply taking European subjects to
China, we should think about how to work on Chinese subjects in China or bring Chinese film-makers with Chinese stories to Europe,” says director
and producer Bortone, who has co-produced films
with partners in Germany, Belgium and France.
Bortone is also participating in the Ateliers du
Cinema (ACE) Co-production lab in Hong Kong, a
joint venture with HAF and Filmart. He will present
Coffee, a $3.3m project, revolving around different
national rituals connected to coffee. He hopes to set
s
one story strand in Shanghai. n
Italian films in HKIFF
n Caesar Must Die Master
Class (world sales: Rai Trade)
n Me And You Master Class
(world sales: HanWay)
n Dormant Beauty Master Class
(world sales: Celluloid Dreams)
n Piazza Fontana: The Italian
Conspiracy Auteurs (world
sales: Rai Trade)
n The Ideal City Global Vision
(world sales: Rai Trade)
n It Was The Son Global
Vision (world sales: Rai Trade)
n Ali Blue Eyes Indie Power
(world sales: Intra Movies)
n The War Of The Volcanoes
Filmmakers And Filmmaking
(world sales: Wide House)
n Stromboli Restored
Classics (world sales:
Coproduction Office)
Book your Cannes 2013
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Published
May 15-23
SCRN096
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Contact [email protected] today
Screenings
Edited by Paul Lindsell [email protected]
for the duration of a
two-day journey to collect
their son, hospitalised in
another country after a
serious ski accident. What
do they still feel for one
another: indifference,
rancour, jealousy? Or
perhaps complicity,
friendship and, who
knows, love. This lighthearted road movie, which
takes us from Brussels to
the summit of the Alps,
will allow us to discover
two profoundly sincere
beings for whom we can
only feel affection.
Market
screenings
09:30
The Way We Dance
(Hong Kong ) Drama.
110mins. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Adam Wong. Key
cast: Cherry Ngan,
Babyjohn Choi, Lokman
Yeung, Janice Fan,
Tommy ‘Guns’ Ly.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
09:45
Meeting Room N111-112,
HKCEC
9-9-81
(Thailand) Horror/
suspense. 81mins.
Klongchai Picture
Co. Dir: Disspong
Sampattavanich,
Pirun Anusuriya,
Pitak Ruangrojsi,
Sutat Pawilirat,
Adirek Phothong,
Siree Lachonnabot,
Siripon Prasatthong,
Thanyawan Hampanom,
Nuttorn Kungwanklai,
Rapeepimol Chaiyasena,
Oliver Wolfson.
Key cast: Patthita
Attayatomwittaya.
Meeting Room N202-203,
HKCEC
10:00
442
(Japan/US)
Documentary. 97mins.
WAC Co. Dir: Junichi
Suzuki.
During the Second World
War, soldiers of the 442
Regiment, composed
mainly of Japanese
Americans, fought not
only the enemy but
also prejudice in their
homeland. However, the
442 became one of the
most decorated regiments
for its size and length of
service in US military
history.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
1st Animation Startups Support Program
Highlights
Meeting Room N102-103,
HKCEC
The True Life of
Teachers
market
10:00
Gangs of Tooting
Broadway
(UK) Action/adventure.
87mins. Media Luna
New Films. Dir: Dev
Shanmugam. Key
cast: Nav Sidhu, Arun
Villavaraja, Elizabeth
Henstridge, Kate Fellows,
Kabelan Verlkumar,
Ruthi Villavaraja,
San Shella, Karuna
Thulasingam, Oliver
Cotton, Marcus Hadley
Smith, Shavani Seth,
Mallika Senthooran,
Anusha Nava, Kayal
Radhika, Garry Pillai,
Jana Neeraj Singh.
European Film
Promotion (representing
Film Europe Media
Company). Dir: Marek
Tapak. Key cast: Marek
Tapak, Stanislav Marisler,
Ondrej Mlynarik, Martin
Urban, Linda Luptakova,
Bibiana Lanczova,
Katarina Tapakova.
A series of frescos about
basic human needs and
feelings. The narrative
of the film is simple —
love, and the struggle to
experience love.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
DANCING ON BROKEN
GLASS
EVERY BLESSED DAY
(Slovakia) Drama;
romance. 79mins.
(Italy) Romance.
102mins. Intramovies.
n 18 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
Ex-gang member Arun
returns home to stop his
younger brother Ruthi
from participating in a
criminal act that could
ruin his life. Back home,
Arun meets his old flame
Kate and his friendship
with gang leader Karuna
threatens to suck him
back into a violent world
he left behind. The
political tension provides
the backdrop for Arun’s
need to forge a life away
from his past misdeeds
versus his obligations to
his family and friends.
Meeting Room N109-110,
HKCEC
Dir: Paolo Virzi. Key
cast: Luca Marinelli,
Federica Victoria Caiozzo,
Micol Azzurro, Claudio
Pallitto, Stefania Felicioli,
Franco Gargia, Giovanni
La Parola.
Guido is shy, reserved,
well-educated. Antonia
is restless, touchy and
proudly ignorant. He
works as a night porter
and has a love for ancient
languages. She works
for a car rental company
and is an aspiring singer.
They meet each other
only in early mornings
when Guido returns from
work, wakes Antonia with
breakfast and they end up
making love, every blessed
day. Surrounded by coarse
neighbours and with a
family background that
couldn’t be more different,
their love seems strong and
indestructible until the
obstinate desire for a child
that fails to come spins
into motion unpredictable
consequences.
Meeting Room N209-210,
HKCEC
Gangs of Tooting
Broadway
See box, left
Silence of Guru
(India) Drama. 153mins.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Santha Kumar. Key
cast: Arulnidhi, John
Vijay, Uma Riyaz Khan.
Meeting Room N201B, HKCEC
South Bound
(South Korea) Comedy,
drama. 121mins. Lotte
Entertainment. Dir: Yim
Soon-rye. Key cast: Kim
Yun-seok, Oh Yun-soo.
Choi Hae-gap and his
family readily speak their
minds and are not ones
to do anything they don’t
want to. Though they
don’t try as hard and
are different from others,
they believe they can still
live well and leave for
an island in the south
in search of happiness.
However, the peaceful
island life does not last
long. As the island is
caught up an unexpected
turmoil, the family find
themselves in danger.
Meeting Room N204-205,
HKCEC
Tap: Perfect Education
(Japan) Drama,
romance. 106mins. Sedic
International.
Dir: Ikki Katashima.
Key cast: Reisa Maekawa,
Jinta Nishizawa,
Narimi Arimori, Naoto
Takenakai.
A middle-aged Yakuza
who loves flowers and tap
dancing is considered a
loser. He meets a highschool runaway, takes
her back to his place
and declares that he’ll
re-educate her as his
daughter. A strange love/
hate relationship develops
between an abducted girl
and her abductor.
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
TENDERNESS
(France) Drama,
romance. 80mins. Doc &
Film International.
Dir: Marion Hansel. Key
cast: Olivier Gourmet,
Sergi Lopez, Marilyne
Canto, Adrien Jolivet,
Margaux Chatelier.
A couple, separated for
the past 15 years, find
themselves together again
(France) Comedy.
100mins. Films
Distribution. Dir:
Emmanuel Klotz, Albert
Pereira-Lazaro. Key cast:
Lucien Jean-Baptiste,
Audrey Fleurot, Emir
Seghir, Sami Bouzid,
Victoire Poupon, Maeva
Arnoux, Enzo Vallejos
Celotto, Oussama
Abbassa, Catherine
Hosmalin, Vincent
Desagnat.
Anyone who works on
the dull school paper at
Emile Zola junior high
— run by a group of 7th
graders — is reputed to
be a total loser. So when
Albert and JM, two
lowlifes, are punished
by the school principal
and forced to join the
journalism workshop as
a lesson in civics, it’s total
humiliation. However,
once they are over the
culture shock, the good
students and lowlifes are
quick to join forces around
what they agree to be a
pure idea: transforming
their newspaper into
a website focused on
the private life of their
teachers.
Meeting Room N206-207,
HKCEC
10:15
THE LOVE FLU
(China) Comedy,
romance. 90mins. Film
Asia Entertainment
Group Company. Dir:
XIe Mingxiao. Key cast:
Van Fan, Chen Jie, Xu
Events, page 22
Deliang, Evelyn Lin, Chin
Shih-Chieh.
The Love Flu Center
is focused on giving
treatment to patients
with serious emotional
syndromes around love.
Doctor Jiang Hu, a skillful
but kinky shrink who
owns the centre, adopts all
sorts of quirky therapies
that he creates to heal his
patients, among whom
four young people play the
game of love, competing
with each other stealthily
with check and balance. A
series of battles of romance
leads to a number of
laughingstocks. In the
end, someone’s illness is
healed but someone else’s
is aggravated.
Agnes b. CINEMA! HK Arts
Centre
10:30
Casting Blossoms to
the Sky
(Japan) Drama.
160mins. SapporoHokkaido Contents
Strategy Organization
(SHOCS). Dir: Nobuhiko
Obayashi. Key cast:
Yasuko Matsuyuki,
Masahiro Takashima,
Natsuki Harada, Minami
Inomata, Shiho Fujimura.
The Nagaoka fireworks
in remembrance of the
air raid of 1945 serve as a
symbol of peace and hope.
With this inspiration,
Nobuhiko Obayashi
arranged the stories of
various people in post-war
Japan in a fast paced semidocumentary-drama that
seeks to encourage people
to overcome the present
situation and presents the
terror of war through a
truly unique visual appeal.
2012. Together with the
stories about Shanshan’s
and Zhuzhu’s family, the
film expresses the theme
of ‘love in the family’ and
the highlight of family
affection.
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
11:45
Closed Curtain
(Iran) Drama. 106mins.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Jafar Panahi,
Kamboziya Partovi. Key
cast: Kamboziya Paktori,
Maryan Moghadam, Jafar
Panahi.
A house by the sea. The
curtains are pulled shut,
the windows covered with
black cloth. Inside, a man
is hiding with his dog. He
is writing a screenplay.
Suddenly, a mysterious
young woman appears.
She refuses to leave, much
to the writer’s annoyance.
But, at daybreak, another
arrival will flip everyone’s
perspective.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
National Base for
International Cultural
Trade
Meeting Room N109-110,
HKCEC
12:00
A FOLD IN MY BLANKET
(Georgia) Drama.
75mins. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Zaza Rusadze. Key
cast: Tornike Bziava,
Tornike Gogrichiani,
Avtandil Makharadze.
Dmitrij returns to his
provincial home town
after studying abroad. He
divides his time between
his dull job at the local
court of justice and his
hobby, rock climbing.
Dmitrij’s daily routine
is interrupted when he
starts to disappear into his
fantasy world and meets
his new friend Andrej.
Meeting Room N209-210,
HKCEC
Digital Entertainment
Pavilion’s Highlight
90mins. Digital
Entertainment Pavilion.
Meeting Room N102-103,
HKCEC
It’s all so quiet
(Netherlands/Germany)
Drama. 93mins. Films
Distribution. Dir: Nanouk
Leopold. Key cast: Jeroen
Willems, Henri Garcin,
Wim Opbrouck, Martjin
Lakemeier.
Helmer, a single farmer
in his fifties, lives with his
aged, bedridden father
in the Dutch countryside.
His working days are
marked by the visits of
milk collector Johan, a
man of his own age for
whom Helmer holds a
secret fascination. One day
Helmer decides to renovate
the house, buying himself
a new double bed and
moving his father upstairs.
His life gains even
more momentum when
adolescent farmhand Henk
comes to help him out.
Meeting Room N206-207,
HKCEC
LASTING
(Poland, Spain) Drama.
93mins. European Film
Promotion (representing
AP Manana). Dir: Jacek
Borcuch. Key cast: Jakub
Gierszal, Magdalena
Berus, Angela Molina,
Juanjo Ballesta.
An emotional love story
about Michal and Karina,
a pair of Polish students
who meet and fall in love
with each other while
working summer jobs in
Spain. An unexpected
nightmare brutally breaks
into their carefree time in
the heavenly landscape
and throws their lives into
chaos.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
Pororo: The Racing
Adventure
See box, below
Ripples of Desire
(Taiwan) Drama.
120mins. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Zero Chou
(Chou Mei-lin). Key cast:
Ivy Chen, Michelle Chen,
Jerry Yen.
The height of gaiety on
Piao Dao. Merchants
and pirates may have
their treasures but the
biggest prizes are the
sensational twin singing
courtesans, who are ripe
for deflowering. They
dazzle customers with
their flirtatious duets and
tantalising beauty.
Meeting Room N202-203,
HKCEC
The Ravine of Goodbye
(Japan) Drama. 117mins.
SDP. Dir: Hajime
Hashimoto. Key cast:
Kyoko Hinami, Munetaka
Aoki.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
Meeting Room N111-112,
HKCEC
PAPA’S RECIPE
(Thailand) Comedy,
drama. 83mins. Golden
A Entertainment Co.
Dir: Pam Rungsi.
Key cast: Chef Ian
Chalermkittichai,
Ping Lumprapleng,
Billie Ogan, Saicheer
Wongwiroach, Natcha
Supalakorn.
Meeting Room N104-105,
HKCEC
12:30
Taste Of Body
12:15
Goldfish Go Home!
(Japan) Comedy, drama.
98mins. SapporoHokkaido Contents
Strategy Organization
(SHOCS). Dir: Shohei
Shiozaki. Key cast:
Tachi Kirihara, Kappa
Kunikida, Kana Mikura,
Shido Nakamura.
A Brazilian immigrant
boy in Japan finds a
glowing blue goldfish
that turns out to be the
(China) 60mins.
China Film Promotion
International. Dir:
Michele Wang. Key
cast: Gao Yanjinzi Tere
O’Connor.
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
13:00
Beautiful 2013
(Hong Kong) Drama.
100mins. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Lu Yue,
Mabel Cheung, Wu NienJen, Kurosawa Kiyoshi.
Key cast: Chao Wei, Jia
Shen, Lo Pei-An, Lin MeiHsiu, Mita Mao, Elaine
Jin, Wang Zhou-ling,
Emoto Tasuku.
Beauty in the eyes of four
film-makers.
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
13:15
Youth
Meeting Room N211-212,
HKCEC
Sunlight at Fingertips
(China) 89mins.
China Film Promotion
International. Dir:
Huang He. Key cast:
Zeng Meiling, Wang Tao.
Tells the story of brother
and sister Xiaohe and
Xiaoyu, who live in a
rural area, missing their
working parents far away
in Shenzhen, longing for a
family reunion and having
their dream come true in
spirit of a Chinese princess
who came to Japan long,
long ago. He and his
friend Hanako have to
take on the local mayor
and the Yakuza to save
the fish and the town in
a spectacular magical
ending.
market
12:00
Pororo: The Racing Adventure
(Korea) Animation, children’s. 77mins.
CJ Entertainment. Dir: Park Young-kyun.
Pororo and his friends follow the turtles to Northpia
to participate in the ice-racing championship. Upon
arriving at icily beautiful Northpia’s race, Pororo and
his friends end up the unlikely front runners, ahead of
the polar bears, and make it to the finals. However, a
more complicated course awaits Pororo and his friends
— as does their strongest adversary yet.
Agnes b. CINEMA! HK Arts Centre
(Israel/Germany) Drama.
107mins. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Tom Shoval. Key
cast: David Cunio, Eitan Cunio, Moshe
Ivgy, Shirili Deshe, Gita Amely.
Yaki and Shaul are
teenage brothers who share
a strong, almost telepathic
connection. The brothers’
family is suffering from an
overwhelming debt that
led to their father’s deep
depression. The brothers »
March 20, 2013 Screen International at Filmart 19 n
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Evan Jackson Leong.
Key cast: Jeremy Lin,
Gie-Ming, Shirley Lin,
Josh Lin, Joseph Lin,
Daniel Dae Kim.
In February 2012, the New
York Knicks, mired in a
disappointing season and
out of desperation, looked
to the end of their bench
and found Jeremy Lin, an
undrafted free agent from
Harvard. On the verge of
seeing his lifelong NBA
dream vanish, Lin — at
or near what was believed
to be his last chance as
an NBA professional
— underwent a nowlegendary run, obliterating
stereotypes along the way,
and in the process birthed
a global phenomenon
known as “Linsanity”.
Basketball — and the
sporting world — was
never the same.
feel they cannot stand on
the sidelines while their
family falls apart. Up
until now they have been
helpless, but with Yaki’s
enlistment to the army,
like every other 18-yearold Israeli boy, he is given
a rifle.
This rifle gives the
brothers the power they
need to act, and from
helpless teenagers they
become men.
Meeting Room N201B, HKCEC
14:00
18th ifva Awards
Highlights (Youth and
Animation Category)
Meeting Room N209-210,
HKCEC
An Episode in the Life
of an Iron Picker
(Bosnia & Herzegovina,
France, Slovenia) Drama.
74mins. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Danis Tanovic.
Key cast: Senada
Alimanovic, Nazif
Mujic,
Sandra Mujic,
Semsa Mujic.
Nazif barely makes ends
meet as an iron picker
to support his family. He
searches daily for scrap
metal while his partner
Senada tends to their
home and their two young
daughters. A third baby is
on the way. After a long
day’s work, Nazif finds
Senada laid up in pain.
The following day, he
borrows a car to drive her
to the nearest clinic. The
diagnosis is that Senada
has miscarried and is
still carrying her dead,
five-month old foetus. The
condition is critical and
Senada needs immediate
treatment at a faraway
city hospital.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
market
15:00
DEAD SUSHI
(Japan) Action/
adventure, comedy.
91mins. Office Walker.
Keiko is the daughter of
a legendary sushi chef.
Unable to bear his kung
fu-like training, she runs
away from home and
finds work at a rural
inn. There she confronts
something extraordinary:
attack of the killer sushi!
Meeting Room N111-112,
HKCEC
Meeting Room N206-207,
HKCEC
JIN JIN
pianist, who retired in
spite of her young age,
has decided to follow him
but rather unwillingly.
From the very beginning,
Thibault, one of Vincent’s
students, invades his
family and slowly the
couple, whose desires seem
now so far away, falls
apart. But Thibault’s
intentions are not at all
motivated by love. And he
will do anything to achieve
his goal.
Meeting Room N211-212,
HKCEC
Chaos
(France) Drama, horror/
suspense. 101mins. All
Rights Entertainment.
Dir: Etienne Faure. Key
cast: Isaach de Bankole,
Sonia Rolland, Niels
Schneider.
Vincent, Marie and their
son have just moved from
Paris to a farm near a
small town in the south
of France. He is a history
and geography teacher,
who looks forward to a
quieter life, some kind of
return to nature. His wife,
a renowned international
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
can be healed by living.
Sudden death of friends,
a film that has been left
unfinished. The story of a
man who has to face an
absence of loved ones.
DARK WEDDING 3D
(China) Horror/suspense.
90mins. Film Asia
Entertainment Group
Company. Dir: Bosco
Lam. Key cast: Jordan
Chan, Theresa Fu, Miki
Lee, Pat Ha, Julia Jiang,
Tavani Hu.
Meeting Room N109-110,
HKCEC
The Falling Feather
(China) 108mins.
China Film Promotion
International. Dir: Wang
Yi. Key cast: Zheng
n 20 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2013
Xiaodong, Liu Xiaoxiao,
Qu Jingjing, Dong Kefei,
Liuyang Yingzi.
Famous painter Mr Mo
Ke announced that he
would donate the auction
income of his painting,
The Falling Feather, to
the small town of Mengzi
in Southwest China.
No-one knows the reason
why. More than 20 years
ago, young Mo Ke passed
by Mengzi and was
captivated by its beautiful
scenery. He decided to
sketch there. At the farm
in which he stayed, Mo
Ke met Nan Suo, a pretty
girl with a peacock feather
decorated in her hair. They
fell into love.
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
HALCYON SKIES
(Japan) Drama. 130mins.
Sapporo-Hokkaido
Contents Strategy
Organization (SHOCS).
Dir: Tao Nashimoto. Key
cast: Masei Nakayama,
Kunihiko Mitamura,
Mikie Hara, Maki
Aizawa.
Trauma which only
(Japan) Drama. 129mins.
Prism Co. Dir: Daiki
Yamada. Key cast: Yasuo
Daichi, Misaki Komatsu,
BSaku Sato, Kie Nakai.
Meeting Room N104-105,
HKCEC
Longing for the Rain
(Hong Kong ) Drama.
98mins. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Yang Lina. Key cast:
Zhao Siyuan, Fu Jia, Dej
Pongpazroj, Xue Hong.
Fang Lei, a Beijing
housewife, is leading a
peaceful and affluent
life with her husband
and daughter. Life goes
on until one day a man
appears in her dreams.
His appearance is unclear,
but the touch of his body
awakens a woman Fang
Lei didn’t know she could
be. This shadow slowly
becomes the lover she can’t
live without. Afraid of
starting to lose her mind,
she turns to a Taoist
Monk for help. But the
separation with her inner
ghost is too painful and
she soon returns to him.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
Under the Nagasaki Sky
(Japan) Drama. 98mins.
Open Sesame Co. Dir:
Taro Hyugaji. Key
cast: Kii Kitano, Izumi
Inamori, Yuya Yagira.
The story portrays people
living in Nagasaki, the
second and to this date,
last city in the world that
experienced a nuclear
attack and their own life
and death.
15:45
Eternal watch
(China) Drama. 96mins.
Hangzhou Shiqing
Huayi Media Co. Dir:
Xiao Feng. Key cast:
Qian Peiyi, Sheng Xiang,
Zhang Wen.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
16:00
ALi BLUE EYES
LINSANITY
(Italy) Drama. 100mins.
Intramovies. Dir:
Claudio Giovannesi.
Key cast: Nader Sarhan,
Stefano Rabatti, Brigitte
Apruzzesi, Marian
Valenti Adrian, Cesare
Hosny Sarhan, Fatima
Mouhaseb, Yamina,
Kacemi, Salah Ramadan.
Nader and Stefano: one
is Egyptian but was
born in Rome, the other
is Italian and is his best
friend. Nader’s girlfriend
Brigitte is Italian too,
but that’s exactly why
the boy’s parents oppose
their love. A week in
the life of an adolescent
boy who tries to disobey
the values of his family.
Precariously balanced
between being Arab or
Italian, Nader, courageous
and in love, will have to
endure solitude, the streets,
cold, hunger, fear and the
loss of friendship, in an
attempt to regain his own
identity.
(US) Documentary.
88mins. HKIFF Industry
Meeting Room N209-210,
HKCEC
Meeting Room N102-103,
HKCEC
14:30
Military Intelligence
service
(Japan/US)
Documentary. 110mins.
WAC Co. Dir: Junichi
Suzuki.
When the US Army
realised its deficiencies
in intelligence operations
against Japan, JapaneseAmerican soldiers were
secretly trained for the
Military Intelligence
Service. They proved their
patriotism to the country
that had caged their
families in the internment
camps by choosing to fight
against their own race.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
15:00
DEAD SUSHI
See box, above
15:30
SCREENINGS
Fashion Story
(Japan) Drama. 84mins.
Open Sesame Co.
Dir: Sayaka Nakamura.
Key cast: Tsubasa Honda,
Seira Kagami, Mayuko
Kawakita.
Featuring real-life
fashion models, the story
follows aspiring young
models and their struggle
in the competitive world
of fashion magazines
in this part mockumentary
style drama.
Meeting Room N102-103,
HKCEC
Tokyo Family
(Japan) Drama. 146mins.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Yoji Yamada. Key
cast: Isao Hashizume,
Kazuko Yoshiyuki,
Satoshi Tsumabuki, Yu
Aoi.
An old married couple,
Shukichi and Tomiko,
live on a small island in
Hiroshima. They go to
Tokyo to meet their
three children. The
eldest son Koichi runs a
hospital. Their daughter
Shigeko runs a beauty
salon. The second son
Shuji works in stage art.
The children want their
parents to have a good
time in Tokyo but at the
same time the children
are busy doing their
own business, leaving
the old parents to feel
uncomfortable with
their stay in the city.
One day, the family is
shocked when Tomiko
collapses at Koichi’s house.
Lifei decides to set up a
mushroom farm in the
desert between Dubai and
Abu Dhabi with her best
friend. It means hardearned cash for these two
Chinese girls working
in Dubai. Now they are
ready to go clean and
become business women.
Life quickly gets tough
for the girls, and whereas
her best friend is quick
to return to her former
life, Lifei is resolute. She
has to manage a team of
workers from Bangladesh,
find investors and keep
growing and delivering
mushrooms throughout
Dubai. Just as she gets a
grip on the situation, and
gains some control over
her life, personal tragedy
pushes her to return to
China. The only problem
is that she is unable to
leave until she pays back
the mounting debt she has
got herself into.
Martin Urban, Linda
Luptakova, Bibiana
Lanczova, Katarina
Tapakova.
A series of frescos about
basic human needs and
feelings. The narrative
of the film is simple —
love and the struggle
to experience love. The
story has few words,
lots of authentic music,
captivating mountains
and irresistible dance
sequences. And these
are as dynamic, cruel
and genuine as the lives
of the main characters.
The film’s images
transport the viewer back
to the roots of protoChristian Europe and
universal emotions.
Meeting Room N211-212,
HKCEC
(China) 90mins.
China Film Promotion
International. Dir: Tao
Haii. Key cast: Ma Wu
Zhen Ni Guo.
Emperor Hsuan-Tsung of
the Tang Dynasty declared
the artistic genius Wu
Tao-tzu was only allowed
to paint what the Emperor
wanted, when he wanted
it, and how he wanted it
painted.
DANCING ON BROKEN
GLASS
(Slovakia) Drama,
romance. 79mins.
European Film
Promotion (representing
Film Europe Media
Company). Dir: Marek
Tapak. Key cast: Marek
Tapak, Stanislav Marisler,
Ondrej Mlynarik,
Meeting Room N204-205,
HKCEC
One Night and Two Days
See box, below
Wu Tao-tzu
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
16:30
Princess And Seven
KungFu Masters
96mins. Mega-Vision
Pictures.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
16:45
Bloom
(Thailand) Drama.
85mins. Angel & Bear
Productions. Dir: Fa
Poonvoralak. Key cast:
Tanyalak Namnorin,
Juthamas Namnorin,
Tidarat Cheubuppa,
Supitsara Kaltivanitch,
Napatsawan Butthasuwai.
A story of five girls who
lived near a canal in Bo
House Village, Bang Pa-In
district, Ayutthaya. They
were best friends since
kindergarten, playing and
having adventures together
until they grew up. One
day they went to compete
in a boat race and were
the finalists. They had to
compete with a team who
were undefeatable. What
could they do?
Meeting Room N104-105,
HKCEC
17:00
SUPERSTAR
(France) 113mins. Wild
Bunch. Dir: Xavier
Giannoli. Key cast: Kad
Merad, Cecile de France.
Overnight, a complete
nobody becomes a celebrity
Meeting Room N201B, HKCEC
UNIJAPAN SHORT FILM
PROJECT 2013
(Japan) Drama. 30mins.
Unijapan. Dir: Masayuki
Inoue, Hitoshi Kitagawa,
Omoi Sasaki. Key cast:
Daichi Watanabe,Chizuru
Ikewaki, Ryuichi
Tsukuba.
A collection of three short
films directed by young
Japanese directors.
Meeting Room N109-110,
HKCEC
16:15
A FALLIBLE GIRL
(China, UK) Drama.
104mins. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Conrad
Clark. Key cast: Sang
Juan, Huang Lu.
market
16:15
One Night and Two Days
(South Korea) Drama, romance.
157mins. HKIFF Industry Screenings
@ Filmart. Dir: Leesong Hee-il.
Key cast: Won Tae-hee, Yi Yi-kyung,
Kim Young-jae, Han Joo-wan, Kim
Jae-heung, Chun Shin-hwan.
Leesong Hee-il’s gay omnibus.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
without knowing why.
Meeting Room N111-112,
HKCEC
017:30
Forgetting To Know You
(China) Drama. 87mins.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Quan Ling. Key
cast: Tao Hong, Guo
Xiaodong.
Chen Xuesong lives with
her husband Cai Weihang
in a small town near the
Yangtze River. Chen runs
a small supermarket. Cai
is a worker at a furniture
factory, which is on the
verge of bankruptcy.
Learning that Cai needs
a sum of money to run
the factory, Chen borrows
from her ex-boyfriend, a
real-estate tycoon. One
day, Cai sees by chance a
picture from the internet,
in which Chen leans
closely to her ex-boyfriend.
The wife and the husband,
live together because they
love each other. Yet they
become estranged from
each other because of such
a love. What will they face
in the future?
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
21:30
Lost for Words
(Hong Kong ) Drama;
Romance. 107mins. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Stanley J
Orzel. Key cast: Sean
Faris, Grace Huang,
Terence Yin, Joman
Chiang, Will Yun Lee.
Amid the sweeping
cityscape of cosmopolitan
Hong Kong, Chinese
dancer Anna Zhou
meets Michael Vance, an
ex-Marine who is new in
town. Anna is dedicated
and determined to become
a world-class dancer.
Unlike her best friend
Meimei, Anna is cautious
with matters of love. As a
devout Catholic, she has
taken a vow of chastity.
During their discovery of
Hong Kong, ostensibly for
language lessons, Anna
and Michael find love.
Separately they embody the
differences between East
and West; together their
love bridges the cultural
divide. A fateful journey to
Anna’s home town breaks
the lovers apart. But will
love survive?
Editorial office: Room G202,
second floor, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition
Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wanchai,
Hong Kong
Filmart stand: 1E-D26
Editorial
Tel +852 2582 8958
Editor Wendy Mitchell
(wendy.mitchell@
screendaily.com)
Contributing editor (Asia)
Liz Shackleton
([email protected])
Reviews editor
Mark Adams (mark.adams@
screendaily.com)
Reporters
Sandy George (sandy.
[email protected]), Jean Noh
([email protected])
Group head of production
and art
Mark Mowbray (mark.
[email protected])
Sub-editors
Medina Lau, Paul Lindsell
Translator
Arthur Chin
Chief executive, MBI
Conor Dignam
Advertising
Tel +852 2582 8959
Commercial director
Andrew Dixon +44 7595
646 541 (andrew.dixon@
screendaily.com)
Sales consultant
Ingrid Hammond +852 6809
7492 (ingridhammond@mac.
com)
Production manager
David Cumming (david.
[email protected])
Group commercial director
Alison Pitchford
Festival and events
manager Mai Le +44 7734
967 324 (mai.le@mb-insight.
com)
Printer
G.L. Graphic & Printing Ltd,
flat A, C, D, second floor,
Howard Factory Building,
66 Tsun Yip Street, Kwun
Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Published by Media
Business Insight Ltd (MBI)
101 Finsbury Pavement,
London EC2A 1RS
Subscription sales
Tel: +44 (0) 3033 2626
E-mail: customerservices@
screendaily.com
Theatre 2, HKCEC
March 20, 2013 Screen International at Filmart 21 n
w w w.filmeurope.eu
EVENTS
WEDNESDAY 20
presents
A MAR EK TAPAK FI LM
09:00
LOvE AND DANCE, MuSIC AND MOuNTAINS, TRADITION
AND MAGIC IN ThE RIvETING AND FASCINATING
HONG KONG FILM NEW ACTION — IDEA
ACTION YOUR NEXT SYMPOSIUM AND
WORKSHOP — PROJECT PITCHING
Venue Meeting Rooms S226-S227, Hong
Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
10:00
CHALLENGES, OPPORTUNITIES AND
PARTNERSHIP FOR ASIA’S FILM INDUSTRY
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre
Moderator Alexander Wan, senior
advisor, China Daily Asia Pacific
Speakers Zhou Li, conference chairman
and editor-in-Chief, China Daily
Asia Pacific; William Pfeiffer, CEO,
Dragongate Entertainment; Song
Dai, chairman and general manager,
Sil-Metropole Organisation; Fred
Wang Cheung Yue, chairman, Salon
Films Group; Wilfred Wong Ying-wai,
chairman, Hong Kong International
Film Festival Society; Gong Yu, founder
and CEO, iQIYI.com; Zhang Yuan, filmmaker
10:30
DANCING
Venue Studio, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre
12:30
MEDIA ASIA PRESENTS ‘SDU: SEX DUTIES
UNIT’ PRESS CONFERENCE
ZHENGHE — GREAT NAVIGATION FUND
ESTABLISHMENT & FILM TAKING PRESS
CONFERENCE
14:00
NEW GENERATION DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT
SUMMIT (MOBILE ENTERTAINMENT &
GAMES: NOW & FUTURE)
Watch trailer on www.dancingonbrokenglass.eu
■ 22 Screen International at
Inz-SCREEN-DOBG-107x304.indd
1 Filmart March 20, 2013
Venue HAF Area, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre.
By invitation or for HAF badge holders
only
SCREENING: MICRO MOVIES FROM
MASTERS
Venue Meeting Room S221, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre. By
invitation only
17:00
RECEPTION TO CELEBRATE US-HK
PARTNERSHIP AT FILMART 2013
Venue Event Room, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre.
For selected guests
Digital Entertainment Pavilion,
Hall 1B, Hong Kong Convention and
Exhibition
Convention and Exhibition Centre
European Pavilion 1C – D16 • Film Europe Media Company
HAF & BOOK MEETS FILM COCKTAIL
Venue Hong Kong Animation and
Venue Event Room, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Sales: [email protected]
cell: +42 1 903 420 262
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre
Convention and Exhibition Centre
13:00
Market Screening
March 20 • 16:15 • Meeting Room N204-205 • HKCEC
March 21 • 10:00 • Meeting Room N104-105 • HKCEC
PRESENTATION ON HONG KONG BOXOFFICE REPORT BY HKTA & MPIA
Venue Meeting Room S421, Hong Kong
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre.
For company’s selected guests and
press only
INtERNatIoNal PREMIERE MaRCH 20, 2013
HKCEC tHEatRE 1 • 10:00 a.m.
15:00
DIGITAL ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY
NETWORKING RECEPTION
CHINESE KUNG FU — NO BORN HEROES &
WINNERS
玻璃渣上的舞蹈
Venue Event Room, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre
MICRO-FILM IS THE FUTURE OF MEDIA —
PERSONAL TV STATION
11:00
ON BROKEN GLASS
14:30
BONA FILM GROUP PRESENTS ‘MMA’
PRESS CONFERENCE
Venue Studio, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre
Moderator Gabriel Pang, chairman, Hong
Kong Digital Entertainment Association
Speakers Takeshi Sankawa, COO, gumi;
Howard Cheng H L, CEO, JoyHubs
Interactive; Yoshiyuki Miyagawa, CEO,
AppBank Games; Katsunori Yamaji,
CEO, Premium Agency; Andy Chung,
co-founder, XNT
1.3.2013 18:22
18:00
THE 11TH HAF AWARDS PRESENTATION
CEREMONY AND 11TH ANNIVERSARY
CELEBRATION PARTY
Venue View 62, Hopewell Centre.
By invitation only
THURSDAY 21
10:30
THE 3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL
MOBILE FILM FESTIVAL — AWARD
PRESENTATION CEREMONY
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Open to all Filmart visitors and selected
guests only
11:00
HONG KONG ASIAN-POP MUSIC FESTIVAL
2013 — BUSINESS FORUM
Venue Meeting Room S221, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre
14:00
THE 3RD HONG KONG INTERNATIONAL
MOBILE FILM FESTIVAL (HKIMFA)
— INTERNATIONAL MOBILE FILM
CONFERENCE
Venue Studio, Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition Centre