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DA
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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26 2014
TODAY
From Vegas
To Macau
AT FILMART
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China falls for Italian
battle of the sexes
Top Star
Lotte sells Top
Star remake
rights to China
BY JEAN NOH
South Korea’s Lotte Entertainment
has sold China remake rights to
Jong Hoon Park’s Top Star to Beijing-based Aim Media.
Top Star features a talent manager who becomes a superstar
himself but is thrown into crisis as
his passion turns to greed.
Lotte said Aim Media producer
Helen Lee, whose credits include
the recent mainland China hit Beijing Love Story, plans to proceed
with the Chinese version’s production this year with the makers of
Beijing Love Story.
“I think Top Star has the quality
and storyline to potentially succeed
as a remake in China,” said Justin
Choi, Lotte Entertainment general
manager and head of international.
“A lot of Asian countries have
recently expressed interest in
Korean film remake rights, and as
a seller, this seems to have more
significance than simple film
exports.
Busan films
set for Berlin
showcase
A selection of titles from Busan
International Film Festival is to be
showcased in Berlin next month.
The 3rd Korean Cinema Today
festival (April 24-May 4) will open
with Rotterdam Tiger Award
winner Han Gong-ju and includes
Yeon Sang-ho’s gritty animation
The Fake, Kim Jae-han’s Thuy,
Jung Yoonsuk’s Non-fiction Diary
and a remastered version of Lee
Man-hee’s classic Black Hair.
Jean Noh
BY MELANIE GOODFELLOW
Italian comedies Men Vs Women
and Women Vs Men are to be
remade for the Chinese market in a
joint project involving Cai Gongming’s Road Pictures and Italian
producer Cristiano Bortone.
Italian film-maker Fausto Brizzi’s original films, each consisting
of four intertwining stories exploring the battle of the sexes, were
released in Italy in 2010 and 2011
respectively.
Bortone of Orisa Produzioni,
which operates in Italy and Germany, negotiated the acquisition of
the Mandarin-language remake
rights for both films from Federica
Lucisano and Fulvio Lucisano of
Italian International Film, who
produced the film with the support
of Rai Cinema. Bortone is collaborating with Road Pictures on the
development of the remake.
“The Chinese version takes two
episodes from each of the original
films to make one film. Some of the
episodes in the original films
wouldn’t work culturally in China,”
said Bortone.
“We could eventually use some
of the remaining episodes for a
sequel,” he added. Cai Gongming,
former vice-president of MercedesBenz China, is packaging the
remake through his recently created Road Pictures.
“We’re in discussions with some
big companies in China to partner
on production and distribution,”
said Cai, adding that principal
photography was scheduled for the
fourth quarter of 2014.
“We don’t have any confirmed
cast members as yet but we’re confident the film will attract top stars,
which is important for its success
in China.”
NEWS
Local dishes
Chinese film-makers told to focus
on local tastes
» Page 4
Sin city
From Vegas To Macau sequel in works
» Page 4
REVIEW
Aberdeen
Pang Ho Cheung delivers a
delightful slice of family life
» Page 6
Final print daily
This is Screen’s final print edition for
Filmart 2014. For continued news
and reviews, see ScreenDaily.com
Third Window
delivers Baby
BY JEAN NOH
The UK’s Third Window Films has
launched sales at Filmart on Japanese film Be My Baby, set to make
its international premiere at
HKIFF on April 5.
The film, about a group of young
people in the weeks after a house
party, is directed by Hitoshi One,
who previously made the popular
romantic comedy Love Strikes!.
The film stars Kenta Niikura,
Naoko Wakai and Chihiro Shibata.
“It’s the first film on which I’ve
handled sales while not involved as
a producer or distributor,” said
Adam Torel, Third Window CEO.
Screen, NYAFF
team on award
(From left) Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Zhou Xun attended a press conference to launch Distribution
Workshop’s Overheard 3 at Filmart yesterday. Co-directed by Alan Mak and Felix Chong, the crime thriller is
scheduled for release in May.
BAFTA outlines Asian aims
BY LIZ SHACKLETON
The British Academy of Film and
Television Arts (BAFTA) plans to
expand its networking and cultural
exchange activities in Hong Kong
as part of its outreach programme
into the region, according to
BAFTA vice-president and producer Duncan Kenworthy.
“We’re here because we recognise the industry is global,” said
Kenworthy. “This is an extension
of the idea that cross-cultural col-
laboration is an integral part of a
healthy industry.”
BAFTA held the first of its Afternoon Tea networking events in
Hong Kong on Monday, bringing
together new talent including
Celina Jade, Anthony Chen and
Jamie Campbell Bower. The academy may also expand its BAFTA
Crew online networking programme in Asia.
“We hope to build our network
and feed that back into our indus-
try,” Kenworthy said. “It will help
our members and film-makers in
the UK if networks can be created
jointly here.”
BAFTA also plans to hold regular masterclasses in Hong Kong —
actor Eddie Redmayne visited in
December and Kenworthy, best
known as the producer of Notting
Hill and Love Actually, is hosting a
masterclass today.
These initiatives will run alongside the Academy’s previously
announced scholarships, backed for
three years by the Yip Foundation,
founded by financier Katherine Yip.
New York Asian Film Festival
(NYAFF) is to partner with this
publication to launch the Screen
International Rising Star Award.
“By recognising up-and-coming
talent with the Screen International
Rising Star Award, we hope to
remind audiences in America and
beyond of the immense creativity
to be experienced in Asian cinema,”
said Goran Topalovic, NYAFF
co-founder and executive director.
“NYAFF is a strong platform for
Asian film in America, and we look
forward to honouring a hot new
talent from their line-up,” said
Wendy Mitchell, editor of Screen
International. The 13th NYAFF is set
to run June 27-July 14.
Jean Noh
NEWS
Adriano Apra
Jeonju names
Competition jury
By Jean Noh
The 15th Jeonju International
F i l m Fe s t i v a l ( J I F F ) h a s
announced its Korean Film Competition jury to be made up of
renowned Italian critic Adriano
Apra, Korean film-maker Yoon
Jong-chan and Locarno festival
programmer Mark Peranson.
In addition to teaching and
authoring books on film history,
Apra has written for Filmcritica
and Cinema & Film and was
involved in programming for the
Pesaro and Salsomaggiore film
festivals as well as running the
Cineteca Nazionale in Rome.
Yoon made his feature debut
with award-winning horror film
Sorum, which he followed up with
Blue Swallow and I Am Happy. His
most recent film, My Paparotti, won
the grand prize at Fukuoka Asian
Film Festival and was in the 14th
JIFF’s Korea Cinemascape section.
In addition to programming for
the Locarno and Vancouver festivals, Peranson is publisher of Cinema Scope magazine and has
written for publications such as
The Village Voice and Cahiers Du
Cinéma. He also made a feature
debut with Waiting For Sancho,
which travelled to festivals and
played at the Centre Pompidou in
Paris as an installation.
Fine Time to
ride with
Dream Kid
Chinese film-makers told
to focus on local tastes
By Liz Shackleton
Fox International Productions
(FIP) president Sanford Panitch
and the jury of the HAF/Fox Chinese Film Development Award discussed how film-making across the
Greater China region has become
more local, at a roundtable discussion here at Filmart yesterday.
Although mainland China,
Hong Kong and Taiwan share language and culture, audiences in
the three markets have different
tastes. “Each of us should focus on
making our own movies — it’s
impossible for film-makers to
merge the three markets,” said
Wanda Media head of development Abe Kwong.
“It’s a conundrum because
often the very thing that makes a
film successful locally is the thing
that prevents it from being international,” said Panitch.
Taiwanese film-maker Giddens
Giddens Ko and Abe Kwong
Ko (You Are The Apple Of My Eye)
agreed that the priority should be
to focus on making a good movie:
“We first need to understand
what we like ourselves, rather
than guessing what other markets
will like.”
Ko, who recently turned producer on A Choo and Café Waiting
Love, is gearing up to direct Kung
Ties That Bind settles on finalists
By Jean Noh
The 6th Ties That Bind Asia:
Europe Producers Workshop has
announced 10 finalists for this year
— five from Asia and five from
Europe. The producers will work
together on developing their projects over two events at Udine’s Far
East Film Festival in Italy (April
29-May 3) and Busan International Film Festival (October 2-11).
Producer/country/title/director
n Karim Aitouna (France) Women
n Justin Deimen (Singapore)
Of The Weeping River, Sheron Dayoc
n Joenathann Alandy (Philippines)
Hypothalamus, Dwein Baltazar
n Valérie Bournonville (Belgium)
Walkers, Olivier Meys
n Weronika Czolnowska (Poland)
Baby, Kei Ishikawa
n Antonin Dedet (France) Black
Stones, Roh Gyeong-tae
n Julius Ponten (Netherlands)
From Vegas To Macau
Mega-Vision plans Vegas sequel
By Liz Shackleton
Hong Kong’s Mega-Vision Project
Workshop is planning a sequel to
its Chinese New Year hit From
Vegas To Macau, reuniting stars
Chow Yun Fat and Nicholas Tse
and director Wong Jing.
Andrew Lau will also return to
produce From Vegas To Macau II.
The first film, about a smalltime
conman (Tse) who turns to a legendary gambler (Chow) to avenge
his brother, grossed $85m in
n 4 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
mainland China. Mega-Vision is
also in pre-production on Law
Wong Jing’s King Of Drug Dealers,
starring Nick Cheung, about
gangsters and corrupt policemen
in 1960s Hong Kong.
The company also has two
new titles in post: Daniel Chan’s
La Télé De Vampire, starring
Ronald Cheng and Yuen Biao,
and sex comedy Flirting In The
Air, starring Chapman To and
Dada Chan.
By Jean Noh
Singapore-based media fund and
distribution outfit Silver Media
Group has partnered with Cambodia’s The Rock Production to
launch global distribution on
Cambodia-Singapore co-production Before The Fall. The deal was
facilitated by the recently established Southeast Asian Audio-Visual Association (SAAVA).
Directed by Ian White, the English-language noir thriller is set
during the 1975 fall of Phnom Penh
to the Khmer Rouge. A beautiful
singer tries to escape from the capital but is caught in a web of political, financial and romantic intrigue.
In pre-production, the film is set
to start shooting in July. SAAVA
described it as “the first commercial
Khmer-led feature production created for international distribution”.
Executive producer Oknha Kith
Thieng of The Rock Production
said: “This is a particularly exciting time for Cambodian films. I
hope with Before The Fall, we’ll
continue building towards a
robust and sustainable future.”
Lanun, Chua Jingdu
Fatu Adil, Jim Taihuttu
n Alina Yan Qiu (China) Mazu,
Guardian Of The Seas, Xiao Zheng
and David Ebner
n Masumi Soga (Japan) Kodokushi, Janus Victoria
n Lina Tan (Malaysia) Five Star
Billionaire, Bernard Chauly
Italy casts light
on tax credits
By Liz Shackleton
Japan’s Dream Kid and Taiwan’s
Fine Time Entertainment have
joined forces to co-produce road
movie Riding The Breeze, directed
by Japan’s Koji Hagiuda.
Filmed on location across Taiwan, the film follows a young Japanese woman who takes a cycling
tour following a break-up, and
befriends a local teenage girl who
lies about her age to join her on the
trip. Mei Kurokawa, Teresa Daley
and River Huang head the cast.
The Taiwan-Japan co-production, which is receiving its market
premiere at Filmart, will be
released by Bitters End in Japan in
July. Taiwanese distribution is currently under negotiation.
Fu, adapted from his own novel,
for FIP. The film is one of three
Chinese-language productions
that Fox has scheduled to start
shooting this year. One of the others is a Chinese remake of a Fox
romantic comedy to be co-produced with Bona Film Group.
Panitch and the three jurors also
discussed how the fast-growing
China market is changing. “It’s difficult to see through the China
market and understand which
movies will be a success,” said
Hong Kong producer Mathew
Tang, whose credits include
romantic comedy Finding Mr
Right and cop thriller Cold War.
Both films were hits. “We expected
Cold War to do well but we were
lucky with Finding Mr Right.”
The four HAF/Fox finalists
pitched their projects to the jury
yesterday and the winner will be
announced tonight.
Silver, The Rock
back Khmer
Rouge drama
The Italian delegation of
government agencies and film
commissions at Filmart is holding
a seminar today to explain the tax
credits, film funds, benefits and
support available when filming in
Italy (see page 20).
Representatives of the Italian
Film Industry Association (ANICA)
China Desk, opened last June to
promote co-operation between
China and Italy, will be on hand.
“[We are here to] offer support
and information to Chinese
companies interested in shooting
in Italy, enforce the imminent
co-production agreement and
find distribution channels for
Italian movies in China,” said
Edoardo Gagliardi, ANICA China
representative. Jean Noh
Regis Wargnier
The Gate
closes shoot
By Jean Noh
Regis Wargnier, the Oscar-winning
director of Indochine, has wrapped
shooting on The Gate, the first coproduction to be made following
the Cambodia-France co-production agreement signed last year.
Based on French ethnologist
Francois Bizot’s memoir of his
Khmer Rouge imprisonment, the
film adaptation finished shooting
in Cambodia last month and postproduction is underway in France.
The Gate is produced by Les
Films du Cap and Gaumont in
France, and Rithy Panh’s Bophana
Production. Panh directed Cannes
award-winning film The Missing
Picture.
Cambodia Film Commission
CEO Cedric Eloy and director
Sovichea Cheap are at Filmart to
promote co-productions and
locations.
YOLKI 3!
Action comedy,
97 min
BAZELEVS
DISTRIBUTION
TWO WOMEN
Melodrama,
100 min
PRODUCTION
CENTER
HOROSHO
PRODUCTION/
REZO
DISTRIBUTION
THE SOULLESS
Action/Drama,
100 min
RUSSIAN WORLD
VISION
TRUE BLUE
STORY
Romance/
Comedy, 100 min
INTERFEST
REVIEWS
Reviews edited by Mark Adams [email protected]
Aberdeen
In brief
Lilting
Dir-scr: Hong Khaou. UK. 2013. 86mins.
Indie Power
A deft and delicate drama, writer-director
Hong Khaou’s debut film is the gently moving story of how a mismatched pair try to
overcome the loss of someone who both love
deeply as they try and bridge a cultural and
language barrier. Lilting is gently memorable
and given heart and soul by the engaging
lead performances by up-and-coming talent
Ben Whishaw and Chinese acting legend
Cheng Pei-Pei (who starred in Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon). A low-budget UK
film, Lilting relies on low-key charm, some
nice performances and a simple but nuanced
story, and while lacking a sense of dramatic
drive, it is a strong debut film and should
attract arthouse distributor interest.
Mark Adams
CONTACT PROTAGONIST PICTURES
www.protagonistpictures.com
Abuse Of Weakness
Dir/scr: Catherine Breillat. Fr-Bel-Ger. 2013.
104mins. Isabelle Huppert: Playing Roles
Catherine Breillat’s appetite for fearless selfexamination has led her to court controversy
throughout a long career. What surprises
most about Abuse Of Weakness (Abus De Faiblesse) is the straightforward approach she
has taken to some of the most painful and
baffling experiences of her life. Based on
Breillat’s 2009 book, this is a considered,
unsentimental attempt to understand the
film-maker’s seemingly inexplicable entanglement with a convicted conman. A fully
committed performance from Isabelle Huppert captures the physical fragility and emotional vulnerability of the Breillat character
and is likely to be one of the major factors in
recommending the film to arthouse audiences who have loyally supported Breillat’s
work over the decades.
Allan Hunter
CONTACT REZO
www.rezofilms.com
Cairo Drive
Dir: Sherief Elkatsha. Egy. 2013. 77mins.
Documentary Competition
An enthralling, insightful and often rather
funny look at the vibrant, complex and dramatic city of Cairo as seen on its teeming
roads, director Sherief Elkatsha’s film, shot
over three years from 2009-12, is a delightful
portrait of a city as it goes through massive
change yet is still united through the people
who drive its streets. As a documentary concept Cairo Drive is a simple one. Elkatsha
(also the cameraman) simply becomes one
with the traffic, watching from the passenger
seat, talking to drivers and observing the
hectic and often angry streets from a slightly
amused point of view. The film should be a
nice pick up for broadcasters looking for an
alternative view of the Arab Spring.
Mark Adams
CONTACT KATSHA FILMS
[email protected]
n 6 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
Reviewed by Mark Adams
Hong Kong director Pang Ho Cheung delivers
another delightfully observed slice of local family
life in Aberdeen as he focuses on the loves, laughs
and longings of three generations of an extended
middle-class family. It may lack the warm-hearted
laughs of his hits Love In A Puff and Love In The
Buff, or the gross-out humour of his most recent
film Vulgaria, but Aberdeen shows him to be a confident director able to craft an astutely assembled if
structurally complex film.
Set to open in Hong Kong and China in May
(often his films have opened HKIFF and gone
straight into distribution), Aberdeen has the class
and intelligence to be another local hit for writer/
director Pang, and deserves to feature in further
festivals. It should also sell to niche distributors.
The film dwells on the Cheng family, with the
title referring to a district on the southern side of
Hong Kong island. First introduced are middleaged Wai-ching (Yeung), who works as a museum
tour guide and her husband Yau Kin-cheung
(Tsang), a doctor who happens to be having affair
with a young nurse.
Their extended family includes Wai-ching’s
brother Wai-tao (Koo), his actress/model wife Ceci
(Leung) and their young daughter Chloe (Lee),
and Wai-ching and Wai-tao’s widower father Dong
(Ng Man-tat) — once a fisherman and now a Taoist
priest — who is in a relationship with nightclub
hostess Ta (Carrie Ng).
The Huntresses
Reviewed by Mark Adams
A playful period blend of The Three Musketeers and
Charlie’s Angels, South Korean action-comedy romp
The Huntresses offers up some modest mainstream
girl-power fun, though will disappoint action fans
out for a dash of martial-arts mayhem. It is at its best
a genial, frothy adventure but loses its way when it
comes to the fully blown action scenes, despite the
fact it is impressively designed and brimming with
knowing over-the-top performances.
The heroic threesome, played with zest by Ha Jiwon, Kang Ye-won and Son Ga-in (best known as a
member of K-pop group Brown Eyed Girls), are a
band of tough bounty hunters in Joseon-era Korea,
each with a specific fighting skill (though favouring similar distinctive white outfits) and a gettheir-man-at-all-costs attitude.
The first film produced by management company Wellmade STARM — which manages Ha and
Kang — has the laughs and modest action to work
with the local family market, and could appeal to
home entertainment overseas, where its blend of
rather innocent action and attractive leads make it
an easy sell.
The group’s leader is Jin-ok (Ha), still haunted
after witnessing her father’s murder at a young
age, and she is joined by more straight-laced Hongdan (Kang) and newcomer Ga-bi (Son). They are
World premiere
— opening night
HK-Chi. 2104. 98mins
Director/screenplay
Pang Ho Cheung
Production companies
Making Film Productions,
CKF Pictures, Sun
Entertainment, Huayi
Brothers
International sales
Bravos Pictures
Producers Chen Kuo Fo,
Subi Liang, Pang Ho
Cheung, Zhonlei Wang
Executive producers
Alvin Chow, Alex Tong,
Zhongjun Wang
Cinematography Jason
Kwan
Editor Wenders Li
Production designer Lim
Chung Man
Music Peter Kam
Main cast Miriam Yeung,
Louis Koo, Gigi Leung, Eric
Tsang, Chapman To,
Shawn Yue, Dada Chan,
Carrie Ng, Miriam Yeung,
Lee Man-kwai, Ng Man-tat
The turmoils of ordinary life are explored to
good effect as the characters struggle to find love
and happiness and have to face up to forgiveness
and reconciliation as they try to move on. Sadness
and humour collide in familiar vignettes of family
life, and though it can give the appearance of a
soap opera at times, there is some real depth to
Aberdeen.
From Wai-tao’s plans to check the DNA of his
daughter (he worries she isn’t beautiful enough for
him to be the father) and his debate about Star
Wars with an old school friend (To) through to Kincheung’s eventual realisation about what a mistake
he would be making if he left his wife, the film tackles emotional issues with real skill and resists the
temptation to slip into melodramatic territory.
Quite simply the film dwells on the fact that
there are always problems in life and lets its characters go along an often clumsy and fraught journey to find the answers they desperately need.
Market
S Kor. 2014. 107mins
Director Park Jae-hyun
Production company
Wellmade STARM
International sales
Showbox/Mediaplex Inc,
www.showbox.co.kr
Producer Kang Chul-kyu
Screenplay Kim
Ha-young, Kang Chul-kyu,
Kim Ba-da
Cinematography Yoon
Gang-jun
Editor Steve M Choe
Music Hwang Sang-jun
Main cast Ha Ji-won, Kang
Ye-won, Son Ga-in, Joo
Sang-wook, Ko Changseok, Song Sae-byeok
issued assignments by corpulent Moo-Myung
(Ko), though their latest one turns out to be the
most complex and deadly they have faced.
Secret envoys were due to deliver a ‘stauroscope’
— the MacGuffin of the film — to the King of the
Joseon dynasty but are killed by assassins. The
bounty hunters are recruited to track down the
item, but find themselves under attack by an army
of assassins, with Jin-ok having to face up to the
man responsible for the death of her father.
The film — which has the literal title translation
of ‘The Joseon Beautiful Three’ — can never quite
find the right balance between action and oldfashioned sentimental drama, but its final action
scenes are impressively staged and make great use
of the stylish sets, with Ha Ji-won (who starred in
Lee Myung-se’s 2005 film Duelist) the best of the
fighting trio.
HAF profiles, page 8
Beautiful 2014
Reviewed by Mark Adams
The now annual HKIFF world premiere of the latest of the Beautiful compilation films — backed
jointly by Youkou and the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society — typically offers up a
mixed bag of four short films, linked by no obvious
theme apart from the fact love and compassion are
at the core of most of them.
All, though, are delightfully made and each distinctive in its own right, and while Beautiful 2014
could travel — and sell — as part of the Beautiful
branding, each of the films could also exist as a
standalone short and have (and deserve) profile at
other international film festivals.
The first film is Kang Je-kyu’s Awaiting, which
stars South Korea’s Moon Chae-won (who starred
in hit 2011 film War Of The Arrows) as Cho, a
woman awaiting a reunion in Pyongyang with her
husband Minwoo who travelled north of the border but failed to return home. Verging on the sentimental at times, its charming twist is nicely staged
and gently moving, with the film making its point
about families torn apart by the separation
between North and South Korea with sad grace.
The second film is Shu Kei’s The Dream, a lustrously shot period piece about a beautiful but
bored housewife who fantasises about a tall dark
stranger at the next table. Sadly the version seen
had no subtitles, but its style and lingering sexuality were evident.
There were no such issues, luckily, with Christo-
That Demon Within
Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan
Dante Lam conjures up an inferno in That Demon
Within (Mo Jing) a dark, twisted trip through one
Hong Kong cop’s explosive meltdown. Possessed
by the afterlife, Lam’s story plays out in funeral parlours and graveyards where the director’s action
and special effects co-ordinators go about setting
the city on fire.
Although it opts for a tricksy narrative with
fussy flashbacks and hallucinations delivered in
the widest-possible variety of styles, That Demon
Within is bleak at its core, a dark, hopeless tale of
death, corruption and mental illness shadowed by
spectres.
Despite a slightly opaque and somewhat overblown narrative, That Demon Within is a professionally executed production, laden with
impressive special-effects shots and bone-crunching violence. Some set pieces are particularly innovative, and Lam’s visual manifestations of mental
illness are striking.
Like Infernal Affairs, two male characters on
opposing sides of the good/evil tightrope lead the
charge: Wu as troubled policeman Dave Wong and
Nick Cheung as his nemesis, Hon Kong, leader of
the Gang From Hell.
When Hon is injured in a chase, during which
he murders two policemen, he winds up at the hos-
World premiere
— Gala
HK-Chi. 2014. 117mins
Directors Zhang Yuan,
Kang Je-kyu, Christopher
Doyle, Shu Kei
Production companies
Youkou, Hong Kong
International Film Festival
Society
International sales
Hong Kong International
Film Festival Society,
[email protected]
Main cast Li Quan, Lv
Yulai, Moon Chae-won,
Koo So, Lip Ching-man,
Wong Pak-hei, Erica Yuen,
Yau Hawk-sau
In brief
Minuscule: The Valley Of The Lost
Ants
pher Doyle’s documentary themed HK2014 —
Education For All (pictured), which dwells on what
the next generation may be striving for, blending
fascinating comments from a series of young people with beautifully shot images of Hong Kong.
The last film, ironically, has no need for subtitles.
Zhang Yuan’s I Love You Boss is a stylishly shot film
that focuses on the changing nature of the relationship between a driver and the well-to-do boss he
transports around the city. What begins as a chilly,
formal relationship veers into different territory
when the boss’s wife leaves him and he drunkenly
starts to sit in the front seat of the car. But the driver
harbours feelings for the wealthy boss, imagines
them together, and even tolerates a severe beating
— there is a vague sado-masochistic undercurrent
to the story — just so he can be near to the boss.
Beautiful 2014 once again reinforces the extent
of the film-making talent in the region, with these
well cast and wonderfully shot films each distinctive and engrossing in their own way.
Asian premiere —
Closing night
HK-Chi. 2014. 112mins
Director Dante Lam
Production companies
Emperor Film Production
Company, Sil-Metropole
Organisation Limited
International sales
Emperor Motion Pictures,
enquiry.emp@
emperorgroup.com
Producers Candy Leung,
Albert Lee, Ren Yue
Executive producers
Albert Yeung, Song Dai
Screenplay Jack Ng,
Dante Lam
Cinematography Kenny
Tse
Editor Patrick Tam
Production designer Lee
Kin-wai
Music Leon Ko
Main cast Daniel Wu, Nick
Cheung, Christie Chen,
Andy On, Liu Kai-chi, Lam
Kar-wah, Lee Kwok-lun,
Stephen Au, Chi Kuan-chun
Dirs/scr: Thomas Szabo, Hélene Giraud. Fr.
2013. 89mins. Market
For those who thought The Artist — a silent
black-and-white French feature with music
— was audacious, along comes Minuscule:
The Valley Of The Lost Ants (Minuscule: La
Vallée Des Fourmis Perdues) a dialogue-free
bug saga carried by brilliant sound effects,
an epic score and delightful animation in the
service of an incredibly basic yet endlessly
inventive story. The melding of animated
critters with real nature backdrops is seamless and, in a way, rather thrilling as a lone
ladybug helps a group of black ants fend off
an army of evil red ants that covet a tin box
full of sugar cubes left behind by humans
after a picnic. There should be no impediment to distribution far and wide for this
3D gem.
Lisa Nesselson
CONTACT FUTURIKON
www.futurikon.com
Thou Wast Mild And Lovely
Dir: Josephine Decker. US. 2014. 79mins.
Young Cinema Competition
US independent newcomer Josephine Decker’s second feature Thou Wast Mild And
Lovely is more conventional — and more
alluring — than its predecessor Butter On
The Latch. Sometime documentarist Decker
and her collaborators, notably cinematographer Ashley Connor, have developed a distinctive signature, but it is in Mild And Lovely
that the stylistics gel into an intriguing slant
on psychological chiller tropes. This story of
a very bad rural summer plays with elements
of both art cinema and horror, but comes
across most strongly as an unsettling character piece. Distribution prospects are moderate, but the film will benefit from placing
one foot in the realm of Malick-esque artsy
delicacy, the other in American Gothic genre
territory.
Jonathan Romney
CONTACT NEW EUROPE FILM SALES
www.neweuropefilmsales.com
The Little House
pital policed by Wong. Not realising who Hon is,
the cop donates blood to save his life, an event that
begins to tear apart Wong’s carefully constructed
world and shatter his all-important beliefs in right
and wrong.
Much of That Demon Within takes place in the
dark, including several key action sequences and
meetings in Kowloon Funeral Parlour with the
Gang From Hell, Hon’s group of robber-killers who
use the mask of The Demon King as disguise. Such
an extensive use of graveyards, funeral paraphernalia and effigies is unusual for a Hong Kong
action film.
Dante Lam never lets up and the effects within a
single hypnosis montage with its floating scenarios
and twisting perspectives, for example, are beyond
the scope of many of his Western counterparts
across an entire film.
Dir: Yoji Yamada. Jap. 2014. 136mins.
Master Class
A wafer-thin weepie shot almost entirely on a
sound stage, Yoji Yamada’s 80th feature film
The Little House (Chiisai Ouchi) will not go
down in history as one of his finest achievements. An adaptation of a bestselling, awardwinning novel by Kyoko Nakamura, it offers
a derivative illicit love affair between a traditional middle-class wife and her husband’s
assistant that seems to be cut out for early
afternoon TV melodrama. Yamada, 82, may
have intended to resuscitate, with painstaking love and attention, a world gone by, but
what comes up on the screen looks entirely
fictitious, a banal collection of clichés piling
up one on top of the other.
Dan Fainaru
CONTACT SHOCHIKU
www.shochiku.jp
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 7 n
HAF Profiles
Game
Dead, End
30 Days Of Ginger
Dir Lam Tze Chung
Dir Dev Benegal
Dir Teo Eng Tiong
Project’s country of origin Hong Kong
Project’s country of origin India
Project’s country of origin Singapore
Hong Kong actor-director Lam Tze Chung returns to
HAF this year with Game, an adventure thriller set on a
deserted island.
Unlike his trademark comedies, the new project is a
story of survival, following a jaded office worker who is
lured to spend a week in the wilderness for a life-changing experience, not knowing that he will be chased by
wolves and hunted as prey by a group of rich kids.
“Wolves will play an important role in the film. I want
to use them to reflect human behaviour,” says Lam, who
will not act in the film in order to focus on directing. He
intends to cast new actors.
Filming will be off the beaten track with a jungle,
probably in China, as the main location. Due to the difficulties filming with real wolves, wolf dogs will be used
and VFX will be employed to make them look more
lupine in post-production.
The project will be submitted to Hong Kong Film
Development Council for funding.
On board as producers are Wing Or, who worked on
Transformers: Age Of Extinction when it filmed in China,
and Ken Hui, a producer on Flora Lau’s Cannes 2013
title Bends. The duo launched a production house, One
Tree Films, last year, which has completed its first project
I Can Sing by new director Wong Wai.
Lam started as a screenwriter at TVB in 1995 before
taking up acting. In 2006, he made his directorial debut
with I’ll Call You as part of Andy Lau’s Focus First Cuts.
His other films include comedies The Luckiest Man and
Hyperspace Rescue. Lam took part in last year’s HAF with
King Of Shrimp Roe Noodle.
WY Wong
Set in present-day India, Dead, End is the story of Abhay,
who is officially declared dead despite being alive. The
only person who can reverse his death certificate is a
bureaucrat in the Governor of Departments (GoD),
which handles all matters of land, life and death.
Abhay is GoD’s latest victim, done to ‘death’ by his
own brothers so they can steal his land. He unites with
the other victims of GoD and forms the Dead People’s
Society, which tackles an increasingly absurd and comic
maze of hurdles to prove he is alive.
Currently in pre-production, the film will be shot in
and around New Delhi in India. “It’s a side of India noone has seen before, and as a director, I like to tell a story
with humour. It can be more expressive than a straight
drama,” says Benegal, who is looking for producing partners and sales agents at HAF.
Benegal’s debut feature English, August won India’s
National Film Award for best English-language feature
in 1994 and became the first Indian film to be acquired
for distribution by 20th Century Fox.
His second feature, Split Wide Open (1999), premiered
at Venice Film Festival and was also distributed by Fox.
His third feature, Road, Movie, screened at Berlin and
Toronto and was picked up by Fortissimo Films for international sales.
Benegal’s production company, August Entertainment, is jointly producing Dead, End with Mumbaibased The Satish Kaushik Entertainment (SKE).
Founded by actor-producer Satish Kaushik, SKE recently
produced Nagesh Kukunoor’s Lakshmi, which premiered at this year’s Palm Springs International Film
Festival. Kaushik has also boarded Dead, End as an actor.
Nandita Dutta
With 30 Days Of Ginger, Singaporean director Teo Eng
Tiong is working with his writer and producer Lim Jen
Nee on a film inspired by another of their partnerships
— childbearing.
After raising two babies, the husband and wife team
have twice gone through the Chinese post-partum tradition of ‘confinement’, in which the woman stays at home
with no showers, undergoing rituals such as full bodybinding, and adheres to a strict diet including ginger and
pig trotters in vinegar to regain her long-term health.
The process inspired them to make a film about a
modern Singaporean career woman who is forced to go
through confinement with her traditional Chinese
mother-in-law.
“Compared to my first film, which was quite serious
and dealt with poverty, this is about new parents taking
care of their family in a fish-out-of-water situation,” says
Teo, whose feature debut Truth Be Told won best original
film at the fifth Asian Film Festival of Rome. “It’s not
slapstick or in-your-face comedy. It’s a more lighthearted kind of film that people can relate to.”
Although set in Singapore, most of the story will take
place indoors. The film-makers are open to co-production and already have Shanty Harmayn and Tanya Yuson
attached as executive producers.
Teo, who also has a background in computer animation and post-production, teaches at Ngee Ann Polytechnic’s School of Humanities & Social Sciences. Lim Jen
Nee also wrote and produced Truth Be Told through Pilgrim Pictures, which is producing 30 Days Of Ginger.
The project is a winner of the New Talent Feature
Grant from Singapore’s Media Development Authority,
which selects first or second feature films for support
and is contributing 25% of the total budget.
Jean Noh
Game
Dead, End
30 Days Of Ginger
Budget Producers Wing Or, Ken Hui Production
companies One Tree Films Budget $2m
Finance raised to date $100,000 (Star City Pictures)
Contact Wing Or [email protected]
Budget Producers Satish Kaushik, Dev Benegal
Production companies August Entertainment,
The Satish Kaushik Entertainment Budget $1.5m
Finance raised to date $150,000 Contact Dev
Producer Lim Jen Nee Production company Pilgrim
Pictures Budget $800,000 Finance raised to
date $250,000 (equity, MDA) Contact Lim Jen Nee
[email protected]
Benegal
n 8 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
[email protected]
» Game p8
» Dead, End p8
» 30 Days Of Ginger p8
» The Embroiderer p9
» Forgive Me p9
» Dust p9
» So Be It p10
» Devil And Dust p10
» Private Eyes p10
» Our Father p10
The Embroiderer
Forgive Me
Dust
Country of origin Philippines
Country of origin China
Country of origin China
Dir Brillante Mendoza
Dir Lina Yang
Dir Zhao Liang
Brillante Mendoza, who won best director prize at
Cannes 2009 for Kinatay, has two projects in HAF this
year: documentary Gay Messiah and fiction feature The
Embroiderer. The latter is about an old woman whose
embroidery work has reflected the story of her love for
two men throughout the chequered history of the Philippines.
“The Embroiderer is not only about a love story, but
also the history of the craft,” says Mendoza. “It’s a period
film that happens mostly in 1945 during the Japanese
occupation, which also makes it different. It has an old
couple, whose scenes will be set maybe in 2000, but the
rest is in the 1940s.”
He continues: “This is really very exciting for me. I
had always been offered period films in the past, but
because I’m a production designer, I’m very critical. If I
don’t have enough budget, I don’t want to do it. I don’t
want to do those kinds of period films that have to make
do with cheap production design.”
Mendoza explains that he started out by discussing
the project with Filipina senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, who is working on a bill to promote shooting by local
and international film-makers in the Philippines. “I proposed this project to her, which actually originated in a
region of the Philippines where embroidery is a dying
industry. She wants to look for private funds outside the
government, so we submitted the project to HAF to look
for co-production,” he explains.
The film is being produced by Mendoza’s own Center
Stage Productions. Mendoza says the script is in its first
draft and he hopes to have it finished by the end of the
year.
Jean Noh
“We’ve always known that China follows a one-child
policy. In reality, however, a man can have many wives
and many children, not unlike polygamy under the feudal system 2,000 years ago,” says Chinese director Lina
Yang.
Her latest project, Forgive Me, is about a successful
film producer who, as a lingering soul after being killed
in a car accident, looks back at his life and tries to make
amends with his three ex-wives and children.
“Although marriage and love are not fresh subject
matters, this story hasn’t been told in any Chinese films
and I’ll tell it with a new perspective,” says Yang. While
she is currently developing the script by herself, Yang
may hire a co-writer at a later stage. Filming locations
will range from Tibet to the US.
Sodium is a new production outfit founded by Yang in
2013 for her first feature, Longing For The Rain. The
erotic drama, about a married woman finding sexual
pleasure with a mysterious young man who appears in
her dreams, received a special mention at last year’s
Hong Kong International Film Festival.
Liao Ching Sung, who edited Longing For The Rain,
will reunite with Yang on Forgive Me as her producer.
The renowned Taiwanese editor has cut all Hou Hsiao
Hsien’s films and subsequently become his producer.
Yang was a dancer for 10 years before turning to filmmaking. She started off as a documentary director with
her debut Old Men, which grabbed multiple awards,
including the award of excellence at Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 1999 and the
Golden Dove award at DOK Leipzig in 2000. She was
also one of the lead actors in Jia Zhangke’s Platform.
WY Wong
After spending two years conducting nationwide
research about the subject matter, Chinese director Zhao
Liang started filming his latest documentary, Dust, last
June. Set on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, the documentary follows four individuals brought together by a
coalmine. They include a young girl whose family lives in
a traditional yurt near the mine; a man working as a
miner for four years without a protective face-mask; the
old boss who has been running the mine for decades; and
a former miner now suffering from black-lung disease.
“The film will reflect the imminent, severe environmental issue created by the over-exploitation of the mining industry, which remains largely unregulated. The
issue is not unrelated to the thick haze shrouding us
every day,” says Zhao.
The film-maker, who also works as a contemporary
artist in photography, video installations and video arts,
has earned a reputation as a social activist. Most notable
is his documentary Petition, about China’s justice system,
which was filmed over 12 years. After premiering in
Cannes, it received a humanitarian award at Hong Kong
International Film Festival in 2010.
While Petition was banned in China, his last film
Together (2010), on the subject of HIV and Aids, became
his first documentary to be shown in his own country.
Commissioned by China’s Ministry of Heath, it was produced as a ‘making of ’ for Chinese director Gu Changwei’s narrative feature Til Death Do Us Part.
Zhao is working for the first time with Hong Kong’s
Jet Tone Films on Dust. Producers on the project include
Jet Tone’s Jacky Pang and Sylvie Blum from France’s
Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), who previously
produced Petition.
WY Wong
The Embroiderer
Forgive Me
Dust
Finance Producer Teeda Pascual Production
company Center Stage Productions (CSP) Budget
$1.5m Finance raised to date $100,000 (CSP)
Contact Brillante Mendoza [email protected]
Producers Liao Ching Sung, Yang Lina Production
company Sodium Budget $3.35m Finance raised
to date: $850,000 Contact Yang Lina na.sodium.
Producers Jacky Pang, Sylvie Blum Production
company Jet Tone Films Budget $380,000
Finance raised to date $200,000 Contact Charlotte
[email protected]
Yu
[email protected]
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 9 n
HAF Profiles
So Be It
Devil And Dust
Private Eyes
Our Father
Dir Kongdej Jaturanrasamee
Dir Li Xiaofeng
Dir Chang Jung Chi
Dir Jun Robles Lana
Project’s country of origin Thailand
Project’s country of origin China
Project’s country of origin Taiwan
Project’s country of origin
Philippines
Currently in production, So Be It, from Thai
director Kongdej Jaturanrasamee, mixes
documentary and fictional elements.
The film is inspired by a Thai reality
show on TrueVisions TV in which sevenyear-old Thai-American boy William took
part in a Buddhist summer ordination programme. Kongdej follows William as he
continues his Buddhist journey as a monk,
along with an 11-year-old hilltribe boy who
has been sent to a temple with 2,000 other
children.
“The first time I heard about William, so
many questions were raised in my mind,”
says Kongdej. “In the age of a Buddhism
crisis, so many people lose their faith in
religion. Why would a little American boy
such as him choose to become a monk?
And what about those children who live in
temples to survive? What do they think
about the religion?”
Kongdej’s mainstream features include
the award-winning Sayew and Midnight
My Love. He is also a well-known scriptwriter whose credits include Tom Yum
Goong and Queens Of Pattani. His first and
second independent films, P-047 and Tang
Wong, premiered at the Venice 2011 and
Berlin 2013 film festivals respectively.
“This is my first time with a documentary. So everything is so new for me and
makes me feel so fresh all the time. I’ve
learned many things on this project, from
‘make it happen’ to ‘let it happen’, from
shoot to snap,” he says.
Soros Sukhum (Mundane History) and
Kongdej are producing through their company Song Sound Production. Attaphon Na
Bangxang, chief content officer at TrueVisions, is also attached as producer.
Jean Noh
Chinese writer-turned-director Li
Xiaofeng explores the themes of love and
the loyalty of women in his new project,
Devil And Dust.
Set in the late 1990s in his home town, a
rural village in Anhui Province, the story is
partly about the forbidden love between a
brother and his half-sister and partly about
the enduring love of their elderly parents.
“The characters stay true to their feelings in chaotic times. This film is about the
revenge of timeless feelings on modern
society,” says Li.
Although the project’s Chinese title
(Hypnotized By Water) is the same as a
novel written by Li when he was 15 years
old, the plot is different. He finished the
new story last summer and his collaborator
Wang Mu is now writing the screenplay.
Once a leading film critic under the
pseudonym Liar, Li joined Lu Chuan’s
workshop as a creative consultant in 2002.
He directed the ‘making of ’ film for Lu’s
Mountain Patrol and was a screenwriter on
Zhang Yuan’s Dada’s Dance, in which he
also starred.
Li is set to make his directorial debut
with Scrape My Bones, which won the most
creative project award at Shanghai International Film Festival’s China Film Pitch
and Catch project market last year. The
rite-of-passage drama is due to start shooting in April.
Devil And Dust will be produced by Shen
Yang (Black Coal, Thin Ice) and Jia Lisha,
who is also a producer on Scrape My Bones
and co-wrote Dada’s Dance. Loyalty & Royalty Cultural Transmission is a new production company set up by Li with Devil
And Dust as its first project.
WY Wong
Set to be the first detective-mystery film
from Taiwan in recent years, Chang Jung
Chi’s Private Eyes follows an academicturned-detective investigating what looks
like Taiwan’s first serial-killer case.
The dark yet comical story is based on
the bestselling and multiple award-winning novel of the same name written by
Chi Wei Jan.
Taipei-based production company Double Edge Entertainment (DEE), which is
financing the project, acquired the movie
rights in early 2012.
Chi is a successful playwright as well as
a screenwriter for such films as A Way We
Go and animation Fire Ball. Private Eyes is
his first novel and he is adapting it into a
screenplay himself.
“I’ve spent much time studying the logic
behind the crimes and visited all the local
locations portrayed in the book, hoping to
create a brand new and unique private
investigator character for Taiwan,” says
Chang, whose debut feature Touch Of The
Light earned him the best new director
prize at the 2012 Golden Horse Awards.
Chang’s credits also include My Football
Summer, which won the best documentary
prize at the 2006 Golden Horse Awards.
He also recently directed a genre film,
high-school thriller Partners In Crime, for
DEE, which is due to open in Taiwan this
September. He also co-directed DEE’s 3D
concert film Mayday 3DNA.
DEE producer Wolf Chen is developing
the new project with Warner Bros Taiwan,
which invested in 2013 hit Zone Pro Site,
and Hong Kong and Taipei-based Jet Tone
Films. Production is expected to start this
summer on location in Taipei.
WY Wong
Director Jun Robles Lana returns to HAF
to complete his “small-town Philippines”
trilogy with Our Father. “It’s edgier in tone
than my previous two films and probably
my most personal yet,” he says.
The film follows a young teenager, Jonathan, who discovers his mother after she
has committed suicide, and finds out his
mystery father is a priest. He goes to live
with the priest under the guise of joining
the seminary.
“I come from a family of priests, and
priests fathering children is a topic that is
often discussed in hushed tones in family
gatherings,” says Lana. “Having an absentee father myself, I know first-hand what it’s
like to long for a parent’s love and validation. This is a story I connect with deeply.”
The first film in the trilogy, Bwakaw, won
the best actor prize at last year’s Asian Film
Awards for Eddie Garcia and was picked up
by Fortissimo Films. It also played at
Toronto and New York and was selected as
the Philippines’ submission to the Oscars’
best foreign-language film category.
The second in the trilogy, Barber’s Tales,
won the best actress prize for Eugene
Domingo at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2013 and has a best actress nomination at this year’s AFAs. It also won the
HAF, ARRI and Technicolor awards at last
year’s HAF.
Further casting details are yet to be
announced but Domingo will play “a special role” in Our Father. “If everything goes
to plan, principal photography should start
in May,” says Lana. “But like Barber’s Tales,
we’re still flexible to accommodate any
potential investor/production partner.”
Jean Noh
So Be It
Devil And Dust
Private Eyes
Our Father
Producers Kongdej Jaturanrasamee,
Producers Shen Yang, Jia Lisha
Production company Loyalty & Royalty
Cultural Transmission Budget $600,000
Finance raised to date $60,000
Contact Shen Yang shenyang60@126.
Producers Wolf Chen, Jacky Pang
Production companies Double Edge
Entertainment Budget $5m Finance
raised to date $2.5m Contact Eric Chou
Producers Ferdinand Lapuz, Perci Intalan
Production company Octobertrain Films
Budget $150,000 Finance raised to
date $20,000 (seed money from local
partners in Manila) Contact Ferdinand
Soros Sukhum, Attaphon Na Bangxang
Production companies Song Sound
Production, TrueVisions Budget $366,700
Finance raised to date $205,000
Contact Parinee Buthrasri
[email protected]
n 10 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
com
[email protected]
Lapuz
[email protected]
Screen Daily.indd 1
2/7/2014 12:25:16 PM
In partnership with
Trading ideas in Hong Kong
UK Trade & Investment, UK Film and Screen International held a drinks reception here in Hong Kong on Monday
evening at the Mandarin Oriental to recognise the achievements of the British industry at Filmart and beyond
martinstudio.net
1
2
4
5
8
9
n 12 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
6
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filmart IN PICTURES
Guest List
3
1
ndrew Willis, University of Salford,
A
Philomena Chen, UK Trade and Investment,
Angie Chen, Scorpio Films, Pamela Lay,
Scorpio Films, Sarah Perks, Cornerhouse and
Emma Chibulu, Box Productions.
2
liver Stoltz, Dreamer Joint Venture, O
Andy Green, Distrify and Alastair Clark,
Wellington Films.
3
Michael Rosser, Screen International,
Richard Flood, UK Trade & Investment,
Philomena Chen, UK Trade & Investment and
Charlie Bloye, Film Export UK.
4
evin Adege, Content Film and Vicki Brown,
K
Altitude.
5
enriette Wollmann, Celsius Entertainment
H
and Thierry Wase-Bailey, Celsius
Entertainment.
6
arah McKenzie, Sargent-Disc and Kevin
S
McGlone, UK Trade & Investment.
7
L ee Li, UK Trade & Investment, Lili
Zheng, Film Young, Kaihong Lin, Xingxing
Entertainment.
8
enjamin Ross, Grimm Distribution, Steve
B
Balshaw, Grimmfest, Naomi Pattirane, NQ
Films, David Chen, DC Brands International,
Zhang Yan, UK Trade & Investment.
9
L udovica Stoppa, Europacorp SA, Laurent
Danielou, Rezo (part of Unifrance), Lucero
Garzon, Pyramide International and Agathe
Valentin, Les Films du Losange
10 A
na Vicente, Dogwoof and Emmanuelle Le
Courtois, Wide
11 S
arah Lebutsch, Independent and Mercy
Liao, Westend Films.
12 C
atherine Lee, UK Trade & Investment and
Danny Wong, Visun International
7
11
12
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 13 n
FEATURE FOCUS
industry is mostly funded by advertising. Revenues
for online video sites climbed to $2bn (RMB12.8bn)
in 2013, of which advertising accounted for 75%,
and is predicted to rise to $5.95bn (RMB36.6bn) in
2017. The remaining 25% is derived from selling
content rights on to other platforms and valueadded services to consumers such as apps and
online games.
However, the industry has become intensely
competitive in a short space of time and, although
Youku Tudou moved into profit in the last quarter
of 2013, the high costs of acquiring content, bandwidth and servers are keeping profit margins slim.
Sohu streamed the second season
of House Of Cards at the same
time as Netflix in the US
Crossing the streams
China’s online video boom
Boasting a mix of local and foreign content, online streaming is big business in China.
Liz Shackleton reports on the consolidation in the sector and what the future holds
hile online video is slowly gaining
momentum in the rest of the world, in
China it has already become the major
platform for consuming entertainment on small
screens — at least for younger audiences who are
turned off by the stodgy content on state-controlled TV.
China has 460 million online video viewers,
according to consulting firm iResearch, a figure
that is set to rise to 700 million by 2016. The
content mix is broad — viewers can watch local
and foreign films, TV shows and animation. TV
drama, including Korean soaps and the latest
US and UK shows, appears to be driving viewership, accounting for more than 50% of viewing
duration. Leading internet portal Sohu streamed
the second season of House Of Cards at the same
time as Netflix in the US, while China’s biggest
internet company, Tencent, has a channel dedicated to UK dramas including Sherlock, Skins and
Wire In The Blood.
Movies account for only 10% of viewing dura-
W
■ 14 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
tion, but certain titles can attract big numbers and
consumers are more likely to pay for film. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon racked up 130 million
views on Youku Tudou’s platforms and Tencent
has created a subscription channel, Hollywood
VIP, which offers movies such as The
Avengers, Oblivion and The Conjuring.. Some of the online video platforms also carry user-generated
content and nearly all have
stepped into producing their own
content, including microfilms,
web serials and more recently films.
For Chinese viewers, this
means access to an unprecedented wealth of content
— most of which they
can view for free.
While the leading
platforms are experimenting with payment models, the
(Below) Sherlock
The major players have been spending big to win
market share, but the competition has already
resulted in consolidation — industry pioneers
Youku and Tudou merged in 2012, and leading
search engine Baidu acquired PPStream last year,
which it merged with its existing online video platform, iQiyi. Further consolidation is expected later
this year. Competition has also resulted in higher
licensing fees for Western content sellers, although
it is thought the Chinese video platforms are still
paying less than regular broadcasters.
Piracy is also a major headache for the big
online video companies, which have been proactive in removing unlicensed content from their
own websites in order to attract advertisers and
clean up for stock-market flotations, but still face a
tide of rogue websites, video players and apps. Last
year, several legitimate platforms and the Motion
Picture Association joined forces to fight piracy,
and took legal action against Baidu and software
company QVOD for providing access to unlicensed
content. Both companies were fined.
With technology constantly evolving, the online
video giants also need to move fast to keep up with
the next delivery mechanisms and consumer
behaviour. While viewing was initially PC-based,
the availability of smartphones and development
of 4G networks is driving viewership towards
mobile platforms. More than 100 million people in
China are currently using mobile phones and tablets to access online video services every month.
The shift is driving them towards ‘hit’ content that
they are more likely to share with their friends.
Streaming content to televisions is the next frontier, and all the leading video platforms are exploring tie-ups with manufacturers of set-top boxes
and smart TVs. LeTV has so far been the most
active in the smart TV business, launching its
‘SuperTVs’ and offering some content exclusively
on this platform. Its rivals are looking at whether
they need to move into areas such as hardware and
cloud computing, or whether it is sufficient to work
with a range of existing players.
However the industry evolves, it is likely to
remain competitive, dynamic and with a huge
appetite for both local and foreign content. So
far, foreign movies and TV shows on online
platforms appear to have had a much easier
ride with government regulators than content
acquired for broadcast television and theatrical release. The question is how much
longer the state will allow this industry to develop unchecked when there
must be a temptation on both a regulatory and commercial level to inters
vene. ■
Screenings, page 21
The A-stream: CHINA’S LEADING ONLINE VIDEO COMPANIES
Sohu Video
tv.sohu.com
Youku Tudou
youku.com / tudou.com
China’s biggest online video company was
formed by the merger of two industry leaders,
Youku and Tudou, in 2012. The New York Stock
Exchange-listed company licenses content from
all the US studios and big independents such
as Lionsgate and Fremantle Media. It recently
signed a deal to show Lionsgate’s Orange Is The
New Black just 24 hours after Netflix in the US.
Its most popular shows include The Walking Dead, Sherlock and Downton Abbey. Youku and Tudou
both started out by focusing on user-generated content (UGC), which remains an important part
of the combined entity’s content mix. The company has also moved into production of micro-films,
web serials and movies — it invested in Edko Films’ Firestorm and co-produced Old Boys: The Way
Of The Dragon, based on its popular micro-film. While most of its content is free to viewers, the
company launched the Youku Premium subscription channel in 2010.
Who to know Victor Koo, CEO; Zhu Xiangyang, head of content; Allen Zhu, head of movies
The video unit of NASDAQ-listed
Chinese internet portal Sohu has
acquired US TV shows such as Saturday
Night Live, Ellen and House Of Cards,
and also recently signed a deal with
BBC Worldwide for factual and drama
content including Sinbad, Silk and
Frozen Planet. The second season
of House Of Cards was streamed
simultaneously with Netflix in the US,
and became a huge sensation due to
its China-related storylines. Some of
those storylines, such as corruption,
cyber-espionage and tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea, would never
have made it onto mainstream television, suggesting that censorship is more relaxed on video
platforms. Rumours are now swirling that Sohu and Tencent will merge their video operations,
after merging their search engines (Sohu’s Sogou and Tencent’s Soso) last year.
Who to know Charles Zhang, CEO
Tencent Video
v.qq.com
China’s biggest internet company
has revenues and profits bigger than
Facebook ($9.91bn and $3.15bn
respectively in 2013), mostly from
e-commerce and online games. The
Hong Kong-listed giant also operates
the popular WeChat and QQ messaging
services. The company is now bulking
up on movies and TV shows for its online
video platform, which also carries a
small amount of UGC, probably less
than 10% of overall content. Tencent’s
Hollywood VIP online movie service (film.qq.com) has deals with Disney, Lionsgate, Miramax,
Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. It offers a monthly subscription video-on-demand service
and also sells movies on a transactional video-on-demand basis, just a few weeks after US
theatrical release. Tencent has also struck deals with the BBC and five other UK production
companies for its UK drama channel, while its US television content includes CSI.
Who to know SY Lau, president, Tencent Online Media Group; Sun Zhong Huai,
vice-president, online video business
LeTV
letv.com
iQiyi
iqiyi.com / pps.tv
Launched by China’s leading search engine
Baidu in early 2010 with backing from venture
capital firm Providence Equity Partners,
which also backed Hulu, iQiyi has a similar
model to the US video-on-demand (VoD)
pioneer in streaming licensed video content
that is mostly free to users but supported
by advertising. NASDAQ-listed Baidu bought
out Providence’s stake in 2012 and acquired
rival online video platform PPStream for $370m last year, which it is merging with iQiyi. The
company is also moving into smart TVs, working with television manufacturer TCL Multimedia
on the brand TV+, and with Galaxy Internet Television and Skyworth Digital Holdings on set-top
boxes. At the end of 2013, rumours began surfacing that Baidu would launch an IPO for iQiyi in
the US in 2014, after successfully floating its Qunar online travel unit last year.
Who to know Gong Yu, founder and CEO; Zhang Hongyu and Xu Weifeng, co-presidents
(formerly with PPStream)
Founded by Jia Yueting in 2004, this
profitable Shenzhen-listed company
not only provides the platform and
content for online viewing, but also
the viewing terminal and apps. The
company teamed up with Taiwanese
electronics manufacturer Foxconn to
manufacture smart TVs, branded as
Super TV, which support 3D viewing
and stream content paid for through
annual $80 (rmb499) subscription
packages. It also has a deal to be the
exclusive over-the-top (OTT) distributor
in China for the first and second seasons of House Of Cards. The company’s regular online
platform, available through all devices, started out as subscription-only but later added free
viewing supported by advertising.
LeTV also has a film production and distribution subsidiary, Le Vision Pictures, which
produces local movies including Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home and scored a $53m hit when it
distributed The Expendables 2 in China.
Who to know Jia Yueting, chairman and CEO; Liu Hong, COO
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 15 n
Relationship status
What are the biggest challenges faced by European producers when teaming up with Chinese partners to gain access to
the territory’s $3bn box office? Melanie Goodfellow reports
rench director Philippe Muyl spent two
hours a day learning Mandarin before
shooting The Nightingale in Beijing and
the southern Chinese region of Guangxi in 2012.
The film is a Mandarin-language re-working of
Muyl’s 2002 film The Butterfly, about an old man
who takes an eight-year-old girl on a butterfly
hunt, which was a huge hit in China. The new film
stars Chinese actor Baotian Li as a grandfather
who bonds with his spoilt granddaughter as they
journey from Beijing to their rural ancestral home.
Muyl’s ability to communicate with the Chinese
cast and crew was just one of the challenges facing
the production. “The way of working is very different. It seems very disorganised but within this disorganisation things get done,” says producer Steve
René. Once on set, he adds: “The rhythm is a lot
more intense than back home. You don’t get much
sleep.”
René, who lives between China and his native
France, produced The Nightingale with his Chinese
wife Ning Ning, a former actress and TV producer,
through their Beijing-based company Envision. The
film’s other partners include Hong Kong and China
foreign film distribution veteran Paul Delbecq
F
The Nightingale, directed
by Philippe Muyl
n 16 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
‘The rhythm
is a lot more
intense than
back home.
You don’t get
much sleep’
Steve René,
producer
under the France-based Pan Eurasia Film banner,
and associate producers Kuang Da Ai of Guangxi
Film Group, Qin Hong of Chinese production and
distribution company Stella Mega Films, and Elsa
Rodde of France’s Germaine Films.
The Nightingale, titled Le Promeneur d’Oiseau in
French and Ye Ying in Mandarin, is only the second
official France-China co-production to be completed since the two countries signed a film treaty
in 2010. The first was Wang Xiaoshuai’s 11 Flowers,
which portrayed the Cultural Revolution through
the eyes of a child.
The Nightingale, which was showcased at Screen
Singapore in July 2013 before heading to Busan
International Film Festival in January, will see its
Chinese premiere at Beijing International Film
Festival (BJIFF) in April.
“A lot of co-productions have been announced
but very few have happened as yet,” says René of the
difficulties of putting together an official FranceChina collaboration. “It’s a complicated process.
Just coming to China can be a culture shock for
Europeans, let alone trying to make a film here.”
René has launched a Paris-based company
called Between Us Films, which he hopes will act
as a bridge between France and China. He is
already developing a second co-production with
Guangxi Film Group. The as-yet-untitled project
will be an intergenerational epic spanning the
1940s to the present day, set in China, Vietnam and
France. It is based on a screenplay by Fan Yiping
who wrote the script for Lu Chuan’s cult 2012 hit
thriller The Missing Gun.
Further French companies making in-roads into
China include Paris-based entertainment management firm ECI, which also has offices in Beijing
and Los Angeles.
“You can’t just go over once or twice and hand
out business cards. You have to visit often and regularly,” says ECI CEO Vincent Fischer, who is developing a slate of English-language co-productions
with China that he will announce during BJIFF.
Ile de France Film Commission is keen to promote Paris as a location and post-production hub.
It is at Filmart with a consortium of companies
including line producers Bayoo and VFX firm
Knightworks.
Upcoming France-China co-productions to
receive the official stamp to date include Charles de
Meaux’s The Lady In The Portrait, inspired by the
EUROPE-ASIA CO-PRODUCTIONS FEATURE
Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Wolf Totem
18th century empress Ulanara; Wang Chao’s Looking For Rohmer, a road movie travelling between
Tibet, Beijing, Paris and Provence; Jean-Jacques
Annaud’s completed Wolf Totem, majority-produced by China Film Group; and Pascal Morelli’s
feature-length animation 108 Demon Kings, which
is inspired by the Chinese classic Water Margin.
“108 Demon Kings is perfect for us, given our
knowledge of China and Chinese culture, as it is
based on one of the ‘Four Great Classical Novels of
China’,” says Gregory Ouanhon, executive vicepresident of Shanghai-based production and distribution company Fundamental Films, owned by
Mark Gao Jingdong. The animation is being leadproduced by France’s Same Player with the support
of Belgium’s Scope Pictures and Luxembourg’s
Bidibul Productions. It combines martial-arts
scenes shot in Beijing using motion-capture technology and animation work being done in Europe.
EuropaCorp, which has a production and distribution pact with Fundamental Films, is selling the
film internationally. Fundamental is also co-producing EuropaCorp’s Warrior’s Gate and its
upcoming reboot of the Transporter franchise,
which will shoot partly in China.
Delegations from the UK and Italy will also be out
in force at Filmart and BJIFF. The UK and China
announced a co-production treaty last December,
which is awaiting ratification. One project to benefit
from that could be an English-language remake
of Feng Xiaogang’s hit A World Without Thieves,
Thieves
to be produced by experienced UK producer
Duncan Kenworthy (Notting
Notting Hill
Hill).
A co-production treaty between Italy
and China will be signed during BJIFF.
Italy-China co-productions in
the works include Maurizio
S c i a r r a ’s E v e r l a s t i n g
Moments,, and Cristiano Bortone’s Coffee.. Set against the
‘You can’t just
go over once or
twice and hand
out business
cards, you have
to visit often
and regularly’
Vincent Fischer, ECI
backdrop of Yunnan in 1905, Everlasting Moments
portrays a doomed love affair between an Italian
photographer and a Chinese woman on the run
from an arranged marriage.
Rome-based Urania Pictures is producing the
project in association with China Movie Channel
and Stephen Lam at Sil Metropol. Principal photography is scheduled to take place in 2015.
Bortone’s Coffee intertwines three stories set in
Rome, London and Beijing and will shoot this summer. The $3.5m (¤2.5m) production is being coproduced by Italy’s Orisa Produzioni, the UK’s Ipso
Facto Films and China’s Ray Production and Road
Pictures. The latter is a production and distribution
company founded by former Mercedes Benz China
vice-president Cai Gongming in 2013.
Bortone, who teaches at Beijing Film Academy,
is also trying to launch a development workshop
aimed at fostering projects that appeal to both Chinese and European sensibilities, called Bridging
the Dragon.
Romantic comedy C’e Sempre Un Perche, pro-
duced by and starring actress Maria Grazie Cucinotta, which features Chinese actor Huang Hai-Bo,
is also expected to receive official co-production
status. The film shot in Sicily and the western Chinese city of Chengdu, and was co-produced by
Seven Dreams International, Beijing Ciwen Film
Distribution and Stars Pictures.
Netherlands is also pre-preparing a co-production treaty with China and exploring different ways
to collaborate. “A memorandum of understanding
was signed between Beijing Film Academy and
Netherlands Film Academy last September and the
two institutions are now gearing up for a student
exchange,” said a spokesperson for Netherlands
Film Fund.
Several Dutch-Chinese documentaries are in the
works, while Amsterdam-based Lemming Film is
planning to shoot David Verbeek’s Shanghai-set,
Mandarin-language vampire picture Dead And
Beautiful in late 2014. It is a co-production with
Natacha Devillers’ Shanghai-based China Blue
s
Films. ■
FRANCE-CHINA CO-PROS: THE FIRST WAVE
Following 11 Flowers, which grossed $800,000
(RMB5m) in China (170,000 admissions), the
first co-productions to test the Chinese market
will be 108 Demon Kings and The Nightingale.
Fundamental, which will release 108
Demon Kings on more than 2,000
screens later this year, is putting
together a high-profile
Mandarin-language voice
cast. “This is a bit of an
experiment for us,” admits
Fundamental’s Gregory
(Left) 11 Flowers
Ouanhon. “The Chinese have yet to fully embrace
the feature-length animation format. Audiences
in the big cities are pretty sophisticated but the
growth at the moment is in the second or third-tier
cities, where tastes are more mainstream.”
The Nightingale is due to hit screens in China and
France in May, where it will be distributed by Stella
Mega Films and UGC Distribution respectively.
“We’re in this strange situation where the film is
regarded as an arthouse picture in China and a film
with mainstream, commercial potential in France,”
says the film’s producer Steve René. “We don’t
quite know what to expect in China, the audience is
changing so rapidly.”
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 17 ■
Book your Cannes 2014
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Published
May 14-21
SCRN096
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Contact [email protected] today
JAPAN HOT TITLES
A Record Of Sweet Murder
Be My Baby
Hot titles: Japan
Japanese companies attend Filmart with a strong line-up of titles.
Jason Gray highlights some of the most eye-catching productions
Forma
A Record Of Sweet Murder
Dir Koji Shiraishi
Nikkatsu has been on a crime-driven roll with
Devil’s Path and Japan-Indonesia co-production
Killers. Now comes Japan-Korea collaboration A
Record Of Sweet Murder (aka One Cut), directed
by low-budget fear and gore maestro Koji Shiraishi
(Grotesque). A socially conscious journalist (Kim
Kkobbi) is contacted by an escaped serial killer
(Yeon Je-wook), who happens to be her childhood
friend. The killer requests an interview to be filmed
in one shot while he tells the stories behind his
numerous murders, including the ones still to be
committed. Also stars Tsukasa Aoi and Ryotaro
Yonemura. The film is a market premiere.
Contact Nikkatsu
[email protected]
Be My Baby
Dir Hitoshi One
Be My Baby unfolds in the two weeks following a
house party attended by nine twenty-somethings, in
this honest take on relationships in modern Japan.
Hitoshi One directed popular romantic comedy Love
Strikes!. This time he collaborates with veteran indie
producer-director Masashi Yamamoto (ThreePoints) of Cinema Impact. It stars Kenta Niikura,
Naoko Wakai and Chihiro Shibata, and screens as an
international premiere in the festival and market.
Contact CinemaImpact
[email protected]
Campaign 2
Dir Kazuhiro Soda
In Campaign 2, documentary film-maker
Kazuhiro Soda returns to hangdog political candidate Kazuhiko Yamauchi, subject of the original Peabody-winning Campaign (2008). After
several years raising his son, Yamauchi returns
to politics to run for Kawasaki city council, this
time without any backing or funds. With a campaign budget of less than $1,000, Yamauchi
mounts an anti-nuclear platform directly after
the March 11, 2011 tsunami disaster. In addition
to other international prizes, Soda’s Mental and
Peace were awarded humanitarian prizes in
Hong Kong in 2009 and 2011 respectively. Campaign 2 screens as an international premiere.
Contact Laboratory X
[email protected]
Forma
Dir Ayumi Sakamoto
Ayumi Sakamoto’s Forma recently won the
Fipresci award in Berlin’s Forum programme, with
the jury praising its effective minimalism. The prize
adds to the film’s laurels since its first win at last
October’s Tokyo fest, where Hong Kong’s programmers pegged Forma for a potential slot. Sakamoto’s
quietly gripping film will vie for another prize in the
Young Cinema competition. Seller Free Stone Productions will also stage two market screenings for
buyers interested in this can’t-look-away psychological suspense drama.
Contact Free Stone Productions
[email protected]
The Little House
Dir Yoji Yamada
At last month’s Berlinale, Yoji Yamada’s period
drama, The Little House, won a Silver Bear
for best actress for Haruki Kuroki’s performance as a devoted young maid who grows
conflicted over a secret liaison between her
housewife employer and her husband’s
younger colleague. The feature also stars
Takako Matsu, Satoshi Tsumabuki and
Chieko Baisho. Shochiku will continue sales
of the film at Filmart.
Contact Shochiku
[email protected]
Campaign 2
The Snow White Murder Case
Dir Yoshihiro Nakamura
This Shochiku-produced thriller set in the
world of social media marks the third adaptation of author Kanae Minato’s contemporary
novels, following Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Penance
and Tetsuya Nakashima’s Confessions. Mao
Inoue (The Eternal Zero) stars as a plain-Jane
cosmetics company office worker suspected of
killing and incinerating her beautiful colleague. Rumours about her guilt fly on Twitter
and trash TV, affecting the investigation.
Directed by in-demand talent Yoshihiro Nakamura (Golden Slumber), the
film also stars Nanao, Go Ayano and
Misako Renbutsu. The Snow White
Murder Case screens as an international premiere following its local
release on March 29.
s
Contact Shochiku [email protected] ■
(Left) The Snow White Murder Case
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 19 ■
Events
09:00 - 17:00
Open-Ended Drama
Workshop and
Discussion Forum
Venue Meeting Room S221,
Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Centre
10:00 - 12:00
The Next Generation
Film Industry in Asia:
Challenges and
Opportunities
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong
Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre
Moderator Alexander Wan,
senior adviser, China
Daily Asia Pacific
Speakers Adolfo Alix Jr,
independent director,
Philippines; Chen Bin,
senior vice-president,
DMG Entertainment and
Media Group; Cheung
Chi Sing, vice-chairman,
Federation of Hong Kong
Filmmakers; Lee Joo-ick,
executive producer,
Boram Entertainment;
Edward Neubronner,
senior vice-president
and regional operations
officer, Asia Pacific
of Motion Picture
Association, Singapore;
Kong Rithdee, filmmaker, Bangkok Post;
Liz Shackleton,
Asia editor, Screen
International
With China fast becoming
the second largest
movie market in the
world and in the course
of doing so, redefining
the movie industry value
chain, how would the
Asian movie industry
further develop? Will
Asia take over from
Hollywood as the centre
stage of global movie
industry? What are
the challenges and
opportunities ahead?
10:30 - 12:00
10:30 - 13:00
The Strategy of
Japanese TV Contents
Expanding Overseas
via Hong Kong
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong
Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre
Moderator Tomoko
Komatsuzaki, president
and PR producer, iNTO
Speakers Toshikazu
Masuyama, directorgeneral, Hokkaido
Bureau Ministry of
Economy, Trade and
Industry; Tomokatsu
Fukui, executive director,
Sapporo Electronics; Koji
Kanazawa, vice-chairman,
Association of All Japan
TV Program Production
Companies; Fred Wang,
honorary secretary, Hong
Kong International
Film; Soko Izumi, Meiah
Entertainment Group,
MATV Limited Anchor
The Way Forward for
Computer Graphic
Practitioners
Venue Meeting Rooms
& What’s Next –
Animation, Interactive
Design and Transmedia
Venue Studio, Hall 1,
Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Centre
S226-S227, HKCEC
Moderator Gabriel Pang,
12:15 - 13:15
‘Full Strike’ Press
Conference
Venue Event Room, Hall
1, HKCEC
13:30 - 15:30
Emperor Motion
Pictures Press
Conference
Venue Stage, Hall 1,
HKCEC
14:00 - 16:00
Filming in Italy
Venue Event Room, Hall 1,
HKCEC
14:00 - 16:30
Digital Entertainment
Summit: What’s New
chairman, Hong Kong
Digital Entertainment
Association
Speakers Simon Yuen,
character supervisor,
Digital Domain; Alex
Li, senior camera and
staging artist, Animated
Feature Film; Eric
Siu, creative director,
Great Works Tokyo;
Lam Wai-keung,
lecturer, Department of
Communication Design
and Digital Media, Hong
Kong Design Institute
16:30 - 18:00
The 12th Hong Kong
– Asia Film Financing
Forum Awards
Presentation Ceremony
Venue Stage, Hall 1, Hong
Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre
17:00 - 18:00
Reception to Celebrate
US-HK Partnership
at FILMART
Venue Event Room, Hall 1,
Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Centre
17:30 - 18:30
Microfilm Production
Support Programme
(Music) Awards
Cocktail
Venue Theatre Foyer,
Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Centre
18:30 - 20:30
Microfilm Production
Support Programme
(Music) Awards
Presentation Ceremony
and Premiere
Venue Theatre 2, HKCEC
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n 20 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2013
Screenings
» Screening times and venues are
correct at the time of going to press
but subject to alteration
Edited by Paul Lindsell [email protected]
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Hao Zhou. Key cast:
Zhou Hao, Liu Xiao Xiao,
Li Jin Kang, Zhou Feng
Qi.
09:30
M Cream
(India) 113mins. Comedy,
drama. All Rights
Entertainment. Dir:
Agneya Singh. Key cast:
Immad Shah, Ira Dubey,
Barry John, Tom Alter,
Aurita Ghosh, Raaghav
Chanana, Lushin Dubey,
Beatrice Ordeix.
A motley crew of university
students set out on a
journey in pursuit of a
mythical form of hash,
meeting a series of
challenges that begin to
unravel the myriad realities
of rebellion.
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
12:00
The Chair of Happiness
(Italy) 92mins. Comedy,
drama. European Film
Promotion (representing
Rai Trade). Dir: Carlo
Mazzacuratii. Key cast:
Valerio Mastandrea,
Isabella Ragonese,
Giuseppe Battiston.
A treasure hidden in a
chair, a beautician and a
tattoo artist who fall in
love while looking for it, a
mysterious priest looming
over them like a threat.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
09:45
Lake August
(China) 113mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Yang Heng. Key
cast: Tian Li, Shang
Xiaoling, Yao Maosheng.
One summer morning, Ah
Li’s father throws himself
into a lake and ends his
life. After the funeral, Ah
Li lives a solitary existence
until one day, his former
girlfriend tells him she is
getting married.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
Filmart
10:00
Ablations
(France, Belgium)
93mins. Drama. Funny
Balloons. Dir: Arnold
De Parscau. Key cast:
Denis Menochet,
Virginie Ledoyen,
Yolande Moreau.
A man wakes up at dawn
in a wasteland with no
The Gambler
memory of his escapades
the night before. Back
at his hotel, he discovers
a freshly stitched scar
on his back. His former
mistress, now a surgeon,
makes her diagnosis:
someone has stolen his
kidney.
Meeting Room N101A,
HKCEC
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
Life Feels Good
(Poland) 107mins.
Drama. Intramovies. Dir:
Maciej Pieprzyca. Key
cast: Dawid Ogrodnik,
Kamil Tkacz, Dorota
Kolak, Arkadiusz Jakubik,
Katarzyna Zawadzka.
The story of Mateusz, a
man with cerebral palsy,
who in his early childhood
was diagnosed as mentally
disabled and had no
contact with the outside
world. After 25 years it
turned out that diagnosis
was incorrect. We get to
know Mateusz now, when
he is 30 and is still
institutionalised at a clinic
for the mentally disabled.
He is about to be examined
by the board to judge his
mental health.
Entertainment. Dir: Wang
Zhangjun, Yin Yuqi.
Meeting Room N102-N103,
HKCEC
10:00
Key cast: Ivo Pietzcker,
Georg Arms, Luise Heyer,
Nele Mueller-Stofen,
Vincent Redetzki, Jacob
Matschenz.
Den Dop, Bob Schwarze.
Meis is 15, lives in the back
of beyond and aspires to a
grand and stirring life, but
all that happens is the
passing of the time,
waiting for the next car to
run into the front of the
house. She dreams of a
young car driver called
“Brad”, whom she would
like to take care of and
maybe have sex with.
During one of Meis’
forbidden, dangerous
nocturnal visits to the
half bridge, deliverance
arrives.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
Meeting Room N204-N205,
HKCEC
Journey to the West
The Tale of Iya
(France) 56mins. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Tsai Ming
Liang. Key cast: Lee Kang
Sheng, Denis Lavant.
In a new edition of the
ancient Buddhist ritual
journeys, Xuanzang, the
seventh century monk
celebrated for his rigour
and his 17-year quest for
vacuity on the roads of
Asia, wanders through the
streets of Marseille.
(Japan) 169mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Tsuta Tetsuichiro.
Key cast: Takeda Rina,
Tanaka Min, Ohnishi,
Kawase Naomi,
Murakami Hitoshi.
Ablations
See box, above
Exit
(Taiwan) 96mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Chienn Hsiang. Key
cast: Shiang-chyi Chen,
Easton Dong.
Ling juggles redundancy, a
hospital-bound mother, a
crumbling flat, menopause
and a rebellious daughter
in this sharply observed
chronicle of an average
woman’s struggle against
despair.
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
Press only
Meeting Room N209-N210,
HKCEC
agnes b. CINEMA! Hong Kong
Arts Centre
(Hong Kong) 90mins.
Blank. Digital
Entertainment Pavilion.
Supernova
Meeting Room N109-N110,
HKCEC
Seer 3 3D
JACK
(China) 103mins. Action/
adventure, animation,
children’s. All Rights
(Germany) 103mins.
Drama. Beta Cinema.
Dir: Edward Berger.
(Netherlands, Germany,
Belgium) 102mins.
Drama. Wide. Dir: Tamar
Van Den Dop. Key cast:
Gaite Jansen, Tamar Van
Meeting Room N211-N212,
HKCEC
10:30
Digital Entertainment
Pavilion’s Highlights
11:00
Fall of Ming
(China) 100mins. China
Film Promotion
International.
Meeting Room N202-N203,
HKCEC
Nai River
(China) 98mins. Drama.
China Film Promotion
International. Dir: Luo
Bin. Key cast: Chen
Xiaoxia, Zhao Leyi, Zhu
Xuan, Fang Xiaoli.
In China, the problem of
abandoned babies has
become a serious social
issue. Qiang had a car
accident and became an
invalid. Baby Xin had an
inoperable brain tumour
so was abandoned to die.
Ying, a rebellious country
girl, left the city where she
worked and returned
home. This is a story of a
family, about hope, faith
and love.
Meeting Room N206-N207,
HKCEC
Homeland
(Japan) 118mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Nao Kubota. Key
cast: Kenichi Matsuyama,
Seiyo Uchino, Yuko
Tanaka, Sakura Ando,
Yoji Tanaka.
Meeting Room N111-N112,
HKCEC
11:30
The Night
(China) 95mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
(Lithuania, Latvia)
109mins. Drama.
Wide. Dir: Ignas Jonynas.
Key cast: Vytautas
Kaniusonis, Oona Mekas,
Romuald Lavrynovic,
Valerijus Jevsejevas,
Lukas Kersys.
Paramedic Vincentas is a
passionate gambler, who is
forced to make radical
decisions to repay his
debts. An idea strikes him
to create an illegal game
related to his profession.
Love, life and death will be
at stake.
Meeting Room N204-N205,
HKCEC
The Last Act
(Hong Kong) 85mins.
Drama. Dragon Horse
Films. Dir: Jeff Kennedy.
Key cast: Robin Queree,
Muriel Hofmann,
Caroline Addison, Charlie
Schroeder, “Kieran”
Barry O’Rorke.
After suffering a minor
stroke, down-and-out
playwright Harold Lansky
is left in the hands of a
suspicious new caregiver,
Ruth. Resembling his latewife and full of questions
about her death, Ruth
embarks on a campaign to
expose and destroy Harold
through the unearthing of
a long-lost stage play that
hides ghosts from Harold’s
past. Aided by a nosy but
smart 10-year-old
neighbour, Harold
»
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 21 n
Musical. XYZ Films. Dir:
Jerome Sable. Key cast:
Minnie Driver, Meat
Loaf, Allie MacDonald,
Douglas Smith.
A snobby musical theatre
camp is terrorised by a
blood-thirsty killer.
attempts to uncover the
truth about Ruth’s identity
and free himself from her
control before it is too late.
Meeting Room N102-N103,
HKCEC
School of Babel
(France) 89mins.
Documentary. Pyramide
International. Dir: Julie
Bertuccelli.
They are Irish, Senegalese,
Brazilian, Moroccan,
Chinese. They are between
11 and 15 years old and
have just arrived in France.
For a year they will be all
together in the same
adaptation class of a
Parisian secondary school.
In this multicultural arena,
we see the innocence, the
enthusiasm and inner
turmoil of these teenagers
who, caught in the midst of
starting out on a new life,
question our preconceived
ideas and give us hope for
a better future.
Meeting Room N209-N210,
HKCEC
Yes and Yes
(Russia) 115mins. Drama,
romance. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Valeria Gai
Germanica. Key cast:
Agnia Kuznetsova,
Alexander Gorchilin.
Meeting Room N209-N210,
HKCEC
Stations of The Cross
(Germany) 107mins.
Drama. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Dietrich
Bruggemann. Key cast:
Lea van Acken, Franziska
Weisz, Florian Stetter,
Lucie Aron, Mron, Moritz
Knapp, Michael Kamp,
Georg Wesch.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
Three Working
Generations
Filmart
13:45
Uzumasa Limelight
(Japan) 103mins.
Action/adventure,
drama. Eleven Arts.
Dir: Ken Ochiai. Key
cast: Seizou Fukumoto,
Chihiro Yamamoto,
Masashi Gouda, Hisako
Manda.
Uzumasa is considered
the Hollywood of Japan.
It has produced many
‘Jidaigeki’ films — period
dramas with sword
fights. These films
wouldn’t be what they
were if it weren’t for the
“Kirareyaku”, actors
who’s main job is to be
killed by the lead star.
Men who are killed,
without ever being lit by
the limelight.
Meeting Room N111-N112,
HKCEC
agnes b. CINEMA! Hong Kong
Arts Centre
12:15
The Little House
(Japan) 136mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Yoji Yamada. Key
cast: Takako Matsu, Haru
Kuroki, Takataro Kataoka,
Hidetaka Yoshioka,
Satoshi Tsumabuki,
Chieko Baisho.
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
The Midnight after
(Hong Kong) 120mins.
Drama, horror/suspense,
sci-fi, fantasy. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Fruit Chan.
Key cast: Wong You
Nam, Janice Man, Simon
Yam, Kara Hui, Chui
Tien You, Lam Suet,
Vincci Cheuk, Lee
Sheung Ching, Sam Lee,
Cherry Ngan.
Story of a late-night
minibus driving from
urban Hong Kong to the
New Territories town of
Tai Po. The driver and his
16 passengers go through
Lion Rock Tunnel and find
the world changed on the
other side.
fellows, comprising elves,
wizards and humans.
Together they set off to
face the Black Dragon.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
Theatre 2, HKCEC
12:30
Dragon Nest: Rise of
the Black Dragon
(China, US) 30mins.
Action/adventure,
animation, children’s. All
Rights Entertainment.
Dir: Song Yuefeng.
For half a century, the
power of the evil Black
Dragon has been sweeping
through the once peaceful
land of Altera. Lambert,
an ordinary village boy,
witnessed the murder of
his parents and the
destruction of his
hometown. He swears to
obtain mighty powers to
revenge his parents’
death and bring back
peace to his beloved
country. Years later,
Lambert joins the Dragon
Slayers League, a
companionship of fearless
n 22 Screen International at Filmart March 26, 2014
Rain Doll
(France) 55mins. Drama,
romance. Wide. Dir:
Jean-Louis Daniel. Key
cast: Marine Renoir,
Johanna Capliez, Marie
Fevrier, Benjamin
Feitelson, David Atrakchi,
Akim Ben Hafsia.
Two young women’s
destinies cross as they go
from Paris to Cambodia,
hell to redemption. They
will finally meet at the
seventh wonder of the
world: the Angkor
Temples, lost deep in the
jungle.
Meeting Room N201B, HKCEC
13:00
Rights Entertainment.
Dir: Song Yuefeng.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
Hong Kong ICT Awards
2013 Highlights
(Hong Kong) 120mins.
Blank. Digital
Entertainment Pavilion.
Meeting Room N109-N110,
HKCEC
13:30
Man from Reno
(US) 111mins. Drama,
horror/suspense,
organised crime. Eleven
Arts. Dir: Dave Boyle.
Key cast: Ayako Fujitani,
Kazuki Kitamura, Pepe
Serna.
Japanese mystery author
Aki Akahori takes a trip to
San Francisco in order to
escape the press tour for
the latest book in her
world-famous Inspector
Takabe series. Feeling
lonely and vulnerable, she
begins an affair with a
mysterious traveller from
Reno who is staying in the
same hotel. Her lover is
charismatic and charming
but disappears abruptly
from the hotel, leaving
behind his suitcase and a
trail of questions.
Meeting Room N211-N212,
HKCEC By invitation only
13:45
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Bas Devos. Key cast:
Cesar De Sutter, Raf
Walschaerts, Mira
Helmer, Koen De Sutter,
Fania Sorel, Brent Minne.
Fifteen-year-old Jesse is the
only one who witnesses the
stabbing of his friend,
Jonas. Now he has to face
his family and friends from
the BMX riders crew and
explain the unexplainable
– how he feels about it.
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
14:00
Minuscule – Valley of
the Lost Ants
(France, Belgium)
85mins. Animation.
Futurikon. Dir: Thomas
Zsabo, Helene Giraud.
In a peaceful forest, the
remains of a picnic trigger
a ruthless war between
rival ant colonies, obsessed
with gaining control of the
same prize: a box of sugar
cubes. Amid this struggle,
a young ladybug befriends
a black ant and helps him
save his friends from the
horrible red ants.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
National Base for
International Cultural
Trade Hit Shows
120mins. National Base
For International
Cultural Trade.
(China) China Film
Promotion International.
90mins.
Meeting Room N206-N207,
HKCEC
The Ultimate Accessory
(France) 109mins. Wild
Bunch. Dir: Valerie
Lemercier. Key cast:
Samatin Pendev, Valerie
Lemercier, Gilles
Lellouche, Marina Fois,
Nanou Garcia, Olivier
Perrier, Bruno Podalydes.
Aleksandra has a fantastic
husband, a fantastic
apartment in Paris, a
fantastic lover and a
fantastic job as editor-inchief of Elle magazine. In
short, she’s got it all except
the ultimate accessory – a
child. With her usual good
luck, the adoption goes
smoothly. Seven-year-old
Aleksei arrives from Russia
into this 100 per cent
cashmere home. Only he’s
not as cute as the rest.
Meeting Room N102-N103,
HKCEC
14:30
Forma
(Japan) 145mins. Drama,
horror/suspense. Dir:
Sakamoto Ayumi. Key
cast: Matsuoka Emiko,
Umeno Nagisa, Nozoe
seiji, Mitsuishi Ken.
Meeting Room N201B, HKCEC
Dragon Nest: Rise of
the Black Dragon
See box, above
Meeting Room N104-N105,
HKCEC
‘NEW ACTION EXPRESS’
Short Film Highlights:
(China, US) 30mins.
Action/adventure,
animation, children’s. All
Violet
Stage Fright
» GALAMAN
(Belgiou) 82mins.
Drama. HKIFF Industry
(Canada) 89mins.
Horror/suspense,
(Hong Kong) 18mins.
Animation. Hong Kong
Uzumasa Limelight
SCREENINGS
Arts Centre. Dir: Lau
Kwun Yiu, Johnee.
» K.A.R.L.
(Hong Kong) 9mins.
Drama, sci-fi, fantasy.
Hong Kong Arts Centre.
Dir: Eli Tsui.
» Left Behind
(Hong Kong) 20mins.
Documentary. Hong
Kong Arts Centre.
Dir: Leung Yu John.
» Not Now But When
(Hong Kong) 23mins.
Drama. Hong Kong Arts
Centre. Dir: Yuen ChiHim.
» Wheelchair Users
(Hong Kong) 19mins.
Documentary. Hong
Kong Arts Centre.
Dir: Chiu Wing Wa.
Meeting Room N204-N205,
HKCEC
14:45
Black Coal, Thin Ice
(China) 106mins. Drama,
horror/suspense. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Diao Yinan.
Key cast: Fan Liao, Lun
Mei Gwei, Xuebing
Wang.
Ex-cop Zhang Zili,
seriously wounded five
years earlier while working
on a gruesome murder
case, was forced to retire
from the police force due to
his injuries. Five years
later, the killer strikes
again, and Zhang, now a
factory security guard, is
determined to redeem
himself and solve the case
on his own.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
15:00
Thread of lies
(South Korea) 117mins.
Drama. CJ Entertainment.
Dir: Lee Han. Key cast:
Kim Hee-ae, Ko A-sung,
Kim You-jung, Kim
Hyang-gi, Yoo Ah-in.
Chun-ji is a composed
middle-school girl who is
always prepared for
tomorrow. Her apathetic
sister Man-ji does
everything halfheartedly.
One afternoon, Chun-ji,
an avid knitter, hangs
herself with her own red
yarn. Because of Chun-ji’s
unexpected suicide, her
mother, Hyun-suk, and
Man-ji move to an
apartment complex slated
for redevelopment. Man-ji
searches for answers to
Chun-ji’s death.
agnes b. CINEMA – Hong
Kong Arts Centre
The Lion Men
(Singapore) 122mins.
Action/adventure,
Comedy. mm2
Entertainment. Dir: Jack
Neo. Key cast: Tosh
Zhang, Wang Weiliang,
Eva Cheng, Chen
Tianwen.
Follows the rivalry between
two lion dance troupes. Shi
Shen is the top performer
in the Tiger Crane Lion
Dance Association, but feels
restricted by Master He’s
traditional mindset. He
decides to take a group of
disciples and forms his own
lion dance troupe, which
fuses hip hop with lion
dance movements. A major
lion dance competition is
coming up and Mikey is
groomed to be Shi Shen’s
successor. However, he has
a fear of heights. The
situation worsens when
both Mikey and Shi Shen
fall for Xiaoyu.
Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
16:00
Be My Baby
(Japan) 138mins. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: One
Hitoshi. Key cast:
Niikura Kenta, Wakai
Naoko, Shibata Chihiro,
Goto Yumi.
Meeting Room N211-N212,
HKCEC
Dark Wedding 3D
(China) 90mins. Horror/
suspense. Film Asia
Entertainment Group
Company. Dir: Bosco
Lam. Key cast: Jordan
Chan, Theresa Fu, Miki
Lee, Pat Ha, Julia Jiang,
Tavani Hu.
A car accident has taken
the life of Li Xianer, the
fiancee of Ling Zhijie.
Zhijie can’t help regarding
himself as an inauspicious
guy. A college girl named
He Xiaoling comes back
from the US to research
the ancient custom called
“Marriage with the Dead”.
When strange things begin
happening, Xiaoling starts
to suspect that Li Xianer
isn’t dead. A dangerous
scheme is about to break
loose. The final destination
for Ling Zhijie is a well-
plotted and vicious dark
wedding.
reasons far more complex
than just farm work.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
Meeting Room N209-N210,
HKCEC
ERDOS RIDER
(China) 86mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Wang Haolin.
Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
Next Station I Love U
(China) 91mins.
Romance. The Media
Evangelism. Dir: Terry
Lee. Key cast: Yang
Ziyen, Steven Ma, Makiyo
Lin, Liuxin.
A sweet couple living a life
of hope are blighted when
the wife, Zi Xuan, is
diagnosed with cancer and
could die at any time.
Facing the reality of a lifethreatening disease, and
based on their religious
beliefs, they choose a
positive way to live.
Meeting Room N109-N110,
HKCEC
Kiasu
(Taiwan) 90mins.
Comedy. mm2
Entertainment. Dir: Law
Gwo Yun. Key cast:
Shiou, Mimi Chu, Mini
Chai, Bright Pu, Isaac
Dang, Henry Thia.
De Ming is a dentist who
hates his job, as he was
forced into it by his
mother. After attending a
motivation workshop, De
Ming takes a leap of faith
and quits to become an
actor. Fearing objections
from his mother, De Ming
tries to hide his new life.
But he is caught and
has to deal with her
disappointment.
Eventually she realises that
she needs to let her son live
his life. Gaining new
resolve, De Ming
successfully auditions for
the lead role in a play.
Meeting Room N111-N112,
HKCEC
16:15
Open Windows
(Spain) 90mins. Wild
Bunch. Dir: Nacho
Vigalondo. Key cast:
Elijah Wood, Sasha Grey,
Neil Maskell.
Nick’s a lucky guy – he’s
having dinner with Jill
Goddard, the hottest
actress on Earth. Then a
guy named Chord calls:
dinner’s been cancelled.
And it’s Jill’s fault. But
Chord’s got something
better in mind.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
16:30
Boonie Bears: To the
Rescue!
(US) 76mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Josephine Decker.
Key cast: Joe Swanberg,
Sophie Traub, Robert
Longstret, Kristin
Slaysman, Geoff Marslett.
A man finds himself a job
on a farm in the wilds of
Kentucky, only to learn he
was perhaps hired for
agnes b. CINEMA! Hong Kong
Arts Centre
17:30
Those Gathered
Meeting Room N102-N103,
HKCEC By invitation only
(Japan) 62mins. Drama.
HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Imaoka Shinji. Key
cast: Niyama Shiho,
Matsunaga Yuki, Suzuki
Shoichiro, Shigeta
Hiroyuki, Abe Junya.
Night Flight
Meeting Room N201A,
HKCEC
(China) 90mins. Action/
adventure, animation,
children’s. All Rights
Entertainment. Dir: Ding
Liang.
(South Korea) 144mins.
Drama. CinemaDAL.
Dir: Leesong Hee-il.
Key cast: Kwak Si-yang,
Lee Jae-joon.
Three teenage boys who
were once close friends
grow apart when they go to
high school: Yong-ju hides
his true sexual identity;
Gi-woong becomes the
leader of the school gang;
and Gi-taek turns into an
obsessive comic-book fan.
Tired of the constant
malicious bullying by
Gi-woong’s gang, Gi-taek
betrays them by disclosing
that Yong-ju has been in
love with Gi-woong for
years.
Meeting Room N104-N105,
HKCEC
17:00
18:00
The Transcend
(Malaysia) 116mins.
Horror/suspense. mm2
Entertainment. Dir: Ryon
Lee, James Wong.
Key cast: Mindee Ong,
Teddy Chin, James Wong.
Meeting Room N111-N112,
HKCEC
18:15
(Italy, Syria) 95mins.
Drama. European Film
Promotion (representing
Rai Trade). Dir: Alessio
Cremonini. Key cast:
Dana Keilani, Sara El
Debuch, Wasim Abo Azan.
Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
19:00
KANO
Campus Confidential
(Taiwan) 101mins.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
(Hong Kong) 105mins.
Drama. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Amos Why. Key cast:
Moses Chan, Meng Ting
Yi, Susan Shaw, Lam Tsz
Chung, Davil Siu, Candy
Cheung, Shandy Gun,
Crystal Cheung.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
17:15
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Border
(Taiwan) 185mins.
Drama. HKIFF Industry
Screenings @ Filmart.
Dir: Umin Boya.
Key cast: Masatoshi
Nagase, Takao Osawa,
Togo Igawa, Maki Sakai.
In the 1920s, when
Taiwan was under
Japanese rule, a multiethnic baseball team
endeavoured to make its
way to Japan’s high school
baseball championship.
Dot 2 Dot
Thou Wast Mild and
Lovely
Romance. HKIFF
Industry Screenings @
Filmart. Dir: Lai ChunYu. Key cast: Chen
Bo-Lin, Chen Yi-Han,
Kuo Shu-Yau, Chiang
Kang-Che.
Legend has it that if a
man and a woman meet
on the night when Lake
Chrysanthemum is dried
up, they will fall in love
and stay together forever.
So when the beauty queen
of the campus chances
upon the Otaku king at
the lake on just such a
night, everybody starts
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March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 23 n