at filmart

Transcription

at filmart

DA
Y
1
MONDAY, MARCH 23 2015
AT FILMART
www.ScreenDaily.com
Editorial +852 2582 8958
Advertising +852 5131 5309
C
M
Y
M
Y
Y
MY
K
DA
Y
1
MONDAY, MARCH 23 2015
AT FILMART
www.ScreenDaily.com
Circle Of Atonement
Finecut shoots
for Circle Of
Atonement
BY JEAN NOH
Korea’s Finecut has picked up Circle Of Atonement, the feature directorial debut of Park Eun-gyoung
and Lee Dong-ha, whose credits as
writers include The Terror, Live.
Son Ho-jun (Death Bell) stars as
a high school teacher whose fiancée was murdered while Sung
Dong-il (Miss Granny, Mr Go)
plays the detective who worked on
the case. Kim Yoo-jung plays the
detective’s daughter who grows
close to the teacher, sharing intimate secrets.
Produced by Film Dorothy and
presented by Sansoo Ventures Inc
in association with CGV Arthouse,
the shoot wrapped last week.
Finecut has also sold The Royal
Tailor to Japan (Klockworx), China
(Lemon Tree Media Company),
Taiwan (AV Jet International
Media), Malaysia and Brunei (Hwa
Yea Multimedia) and worldwide
in-flight rights (Emphasis).
Klockworx and Hwa Yea Multimedia also picked up Fashion King
for their respective territories.
The Bong Joon Ho-produced
Haemoo sold to Australia and New
Zealand (Madman Entertainment)
and Turkey (Fabula Medya).
Editorial +852 2582 8958
Enlight hits the road
with stellar line-up
BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Beijing-based Enlight Pictures has
lined up a string of top Chinese
film-makers for its 2015 slate
including Xu Zheng, Zhang Yibai,
Deng Chao and actress Zhou Xun.
The ambitious studio is also
expanding its partnership with Justin Lin, who recently produced Hollywood Adventures and is set to
direct a 3D remake of Shaolin Temple for Enlight and Bruno Wu’s
Seven Stars Entertainment. Lin is
already planning a UK-set sequel to
Hollywood Adventures, which is
expected to start shooting next year.
Following the huge success of
Lost In Thailand, Xu Zheng has
directed a sequel, Lost In Hong
Kong, in which he also stars with
Zhao Wei and Bao Bei-er. In post-
Hollywood Adventures
production, the film is tentatively
scheduled for an August release.
Zhou Xun is making her first
foray into producing for Enlight
with two projects — Zhou Ke’s
legal thriller Black Mandara, in
which she also stars with Francis
Ng, and an as-yet-untitled drama
starring male supermodel Liu
Chang and directed by Janet Chun.
In addition, Deng Chao is planning a follow-up to his 2014 hit The
Breakup Guru, which is scheduled
to start shooting in June; while
Zhang Yibai is directing an adaptation of Zhang Jiajia’s novel Passing
By Your World, to shoot this summer. Enlight’s Chinese slate also
includes Alec Su You-peng’s youth
drama My Left Ear, which is scheduled for release on April 30.
Enlight had a 19.43% share of the
Chinese-language film market last
year with box office of $510m. Last
month, Alibaba acquired an 8.8%
stake in the company for $380m.
Third Window open to porn comedy
BY JEAN NOH
Third Window Films has picked
up porn comedy Make Room for
UK distribution and international
sales excluding Asia.
Third Window is also handling
the film for festivals worldwide following its Grand Prix win at Yubari
International Fantastic Film Festival last month.
CEO Adam Torel quickly sealed
a deal for the Japanese comedy
with Joint Entertainment for Taiwan, and has agreed with Ryohei
Distribution Workshop ups Leung
Distribution Workshop sales chief
Virginia Leung has been made a
director of the company, now
majority owned by co-founders
Nansun Shi and Jeffrey Chan.
Leung has been given a seat on
the board with Shi and Chan, who
increased their joint shareholding in
the Hong Kong-based sales
company to 60%, while previous
majority shareholder, Beijing-based
studio Bona Film Group, holds 40%.
Advertising +852 5131 5309
Leung started her sales career
with Media Asia in 1995 and has
also worked at Universe Films
Distribution and Mandarin Films.
She joined Distribution Workshop
on its launch in 2008.
Following its ownership changes,
Distribution Workshop plans to
move into production and financing
with an eye on international markets
and possibly English-language films.
Liz Shackleton
Make Room
Masuoka, director of Japan’s Geta
Films/Spirits Project, to handle
other Asian territories.
“It’s a funny and touching film
set in the make-up room of a porn
set and based on director Kei Morikawa’s experiences in the adult film
industry,” said Torel.
“Starring a host of real-life porn
stars alongside professional and
amateur actors, it was the standout film of Yubari.”
Directed by Kei Morikawa, the
film stars Beni Ito, Aki Morita,
Nanami Kawakami, Riri Kuribayashi. The actresses, aside from
Morita (Metamorphosis), are from
the adult film industry.
Universe launches Benny Chan epic
BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Sean Lau Ching-wan, Louis Koo
and Eddie Peng will head the cast
of Benny Chan’s epic action film
The Deadly Reclaim, which is being
launched at Filmart by Universe
Films Distribution.
Set in 1914, following the collapse of the Qing dynasty, the
$32m project tells the story of a
group of villagers standing up to a
cruel young warlord. Production is
scheduled to start in April for delivery at the end of the year.
Universe has also added Oxide
Pang’s comedy Detective Gui and
Vincent Kok’s comedy House Of
Wolves to its Filmart slate.
Currently in production, Detective Gui — about a talented female
investigator — stars Luodan Wang
(The Continent), Vic Chou, Simon
Yam and Nina Paw Hee-ching,
while House Of Wolves, about
three conmen who have a
change of heart, stars Francis
Ng, Ronald Cheng and Jiang
Shuying.
TODAY
Meet The In-Laws 2
NEWS
A family affair
Lotte picks up Meet The In-Laws 2
» Page 4
REVIEW
Lost And Love
A tender-hearted ode to China’s
missing children
» Page 8
FEATURE
Euro stars
European sales companies out in
force at Filmart
» Page 16
Ode To My Father
heads CJ sales
BY JEAN NOH
Korea’s CJ Entertainment has
secured a raft of sales, led by JK
Youn’s hit Ode To My Father going
to Latin America (Alebrije) and
Spain (European Dream Factory).
Taegukgi director Kang Je-kyu’s
new romance Salut d’Amour, set
for local release in April, sold to
Australia (Mingyo), while Chang
Youn-hyun’s mystery thriller The
Peaceful Island sold to Singapore,
Malaysia and Brunei (Hwa Yea).
Period action romance Empire
Of Lust sold to Mongolia (Bloomsbury).
Popcorn has picked up PanAsian pay TV rights to romantic
comedy Love Forecast and 20, Once
Again, Leste Chen’s hit Chineselanguage remake of Korean comedy Miss Granny.
Golden Network
saves Mr. Wu
Hong Kong-based Golden Network
Asia has picked up international
rights to Ding Sheng’s crime thriller
Saving Mr. Wu, starring awardwinning actors Andy Lau, Liu Ye,
Wang Qianyuan and Wu Ruofu.
In post-production, the film
revolves around the battle of wits
between the police and the
underworld following the abduction
of a Hong Kong star in Beijing.
The film is the first production of
Ding’s Beijing Going Zoom Media
Co and is co-financed by Shanghai
New Media Group.
Ding’s credits include Little Big
Soldier and Police Story 2013, which
both starred Jackie Chan.
Liz Shackleton
News
Little Forest
planted in
Korea, Taiwan
By Jean Noh
Japan’s Shochiku has sold foodie
film Little Forest to Korea and Taiwan. Directed by Junichi Mori
(Laundry), it has sold to JinJin
Pictures for Korea and Flash Forward Entertainment for Taiwan.
Ai Hashimoto (Confessions)
and Takahiro Miura (Chronicle Of
My Mother) star in the film, which
centres on a girl who cooks delicious dishes from food she gathers through the changing seasons.
The Summer and Winter segments screened at the Berlinale.
Little Forest: Winter & Spring will
screen for the first time at Filmart.
Gaga launches
Sono comedy
By Jean Noh
Japan’s Gaga Corporation is
launching sales on a comedy from
Tokyo Tribe director Sion Sono.
Based on the manga Minna!
Esper Dayo! by Kiminori Wakasugi (Detroit Metal City), the film is
as-yet-untitled in English.
Shota Sometani (Himizu) stars
as a high school student who discovers he has psychic powers. The
film is due for release in Japan in
September.
WAF partners
with Golden
Network Asia
Korea’s Writers Agency of
Finecut (WAF) has struck a
deal with Hong Kong’s Golden
Network Asia to be its Chinese
agency partner.
Golden Network Asia
director Clarence Tang said:
“The China market is hungry
for screenplays and has already
recognised South Korea as its
natural partner in the region.”
WAF is launching 10 original
stories at Filmart. The writers
include Cho Sang-bum (Tazza
— The Hidden Card ), Kwon
Sung-hui (As One), and Oh Taekyung (Insadong Scandal ).
Jean Noh
Clown all smiles for
9ers, Daemyung pact
By Jean Noh
Korea’s 9ers Entertainment has
signed a deal with Daemyung
Culture Factory to handle international sales of the investor/distributor’s titles.
The first title to come under the
agreement is Clown Of A Salesman, which 9ers will launch here
at Filmart. Directed by Jo Chi-un,
the film stars Kim In-kwon (C’est
Si Bon), Park Cheol-min (No
Breathing) and Lee Joo-sil (Roaring Currents).
The story follows a down-andout father trying to pay his daughter’s hospital bills by working for a
company that provides free entertainment to lonely old ladies in
exchange for them buying health
products. He strikes up a friend-
Clown Of A Salesman
ship with a woman who lives alone
in order not to burden her attorney
son, but his debts keep mounting.
Daemyung Culture Factory has
two more films going into production in the first half of 2015. The
company previously invested in
and distributed record-breaking
documentary My Love, Don’t Cross
That River, which clocked up 4.8
million admissions.
The firm is involved in leisure,
construction, lifestyle, distribution, culture and media businesses
and also sponsors the Daemyung
Culture Wave Award at Busan.
Lotte meets In-Laws sequel
By Jean Noh
Korea’s Lotte Entertainment has
picked up Meet The In-Laws 2
(working title), directed by Kim
Jin-young.
Kim directed the first Meet The
In-Laws, which recorded 2.5 million admissions locally in 2011.
In the sequel, the only son of a
notorious crime family falls in love
with a cop from a police family. He
agrees to take the police exam so
they can marry but both families
work to sabotage the wedding.
The leads are played by TV
stars Hong Jong-hyun and Jin Seyeon, and the film is set for release
on April 30.
Ablaze tends Flower, A Fool
By Liz Shackleton
Taipei-based sales company
Ablaze Image has picked up international rights to Tom Lin’s Zinnia
Flower and mainland actor Chen
Jianbin’s directorial debut A Fool.
Starring Karena Lam and Shih
Chin-hang, lead guitarist of Taiwanese rock band Mayday, Zinnia
Flower revolves around the friendship between a man and woman
whose partners were killed in the
same accident.
In post-production, the film is
produced by Taiwan’s Atom Cinema. Lin previously directed
award-winning dramas Winds Of
September (2008) and Starry
Starry Night (2011).
A Fool, which also stars Chen
Jianbin, is a comedy drama about
a farmer who tries to bribe a local
4 Screen International at Filmart March 23, 2015
A Fool
official to have his son released
from prison. The film, which also
stars Jiang Qinqin and Wang
Xuebing, won the best new director and best actor prizes at last
year’s Golden Horse Awards.
Ablaze Image has also picked
up Lee Chung’s action comedy
The Laundryman, about a laundry
shop that serves as a front for contract killers, which was produced
by Lee Lieh and Roger Huang.
Lotte’s Filmart slate also
includes Min Kyu-dong’s period
drama The Treacherous, Lee Haeyoung’s mystery thriller The
Silenced, Chun Sung-il’s war
drama The Long Way Home, Park
Heung-shik’s action drama Memories Of The Sword and Jang Woojin’s drama A Fresh Start.
IM Global
has eyes for
Only You
IM Global will introduce Huayi
Brothers’ romantic comedy
Only You, starring Tang Wei and
Liao Fan, to buyers at Filmart.
Based on Sony’s 1994 film
of the same name, which
starred Marisa Tomei and
Robert Downey Jr, Only You
follows a woman (Tang) who
cancels her wedding plans to
fly to Italy and meet the man
who a fortune teller has
suggested she is destined to
marry.
In post-production, the
film is directed by Zhang Hao
and produced by leading
Chinese film-maker Feng
Xiaogang. Liao’s credits
include Black Coal, Thin Ice,
which won the Golden Bear at
Berlin in 2014.
IM Global, which has an
output deal to handle
international sales on Huayi
Brothers’ Chinese titles, is also
selling Wuershan’s The Ghouls,
co-produced by Huayi, Wanda
and Enlight Pictures.
Liz Shackleton
Edko scares
up Master Fat
By Liz Shackleton
Toho brings
Cats to Filmart
Japan’s Toho Company is
launching sales here on If Cats
Disappeared From The World,
directed by Akira Nagai (Judge! ).
The film stars Takeru Sato
(Ruroni Kenshin) and Aoi
Miyazaki (The Great Passage).
Screenwriter Yoshikazu Okada
(Be With You) is adapting from
Genki Kawamura’s novel.
The story follows a postman
with a cat who finds out he has a
brain tumour and is told by a
devil that he needs to eliminate
a selection of things from the
world if he wants to live longer.
In production, the film is
produced by Kei Haruna.
Jean Noh
Hong Kong-based Edko Films is
launching sales at Filmart on
actor Nick Cheung’s second feature as director, horror film Master Fat, in which he also stars with
Amber Kuo and Shi Xing Yu.
Cheung made his feature
directing debut last year with
another horror film, Ghost Rituals,
in which he starred with Annie
Liu and Carrie Ng. His latest film
tells the story of an exorcist who
becomes famous when recordings
of his work go viral, attracting
unwanted attention from the
media and the underworld.
Edko is also launching sales on
Ferris Lin’s Boundless, a documentary about Hong Kong director
Johnnie To, and previously
announced action title The Bodyguard, directed by Sammo Hung,
which Edko is co-producing with
David Linde’s Lava Bear.
www.screendaily.com
HKTDC RAYMOND YIP
Welcome
A very warm welcome to this year’s Hong Kong International Film & TV Market
(FILMART), Asia’s largest entertainment market, which brings together exhibitors,
buyers and service providers from around the world.
We have a record number of more than 780 exhibitors from over 30 countries and
regions, with a particularly strong participation from Asia, including pavilions from
the Chinese mainland provinces of Zhejiang (Hangzhou), Shandong and Sichuan,
and the largest ever presence from both Japan and Korea. The return of renowned
international pavilions from countries including France, the UK, Singapore, the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam,
Canada and the US is an excellent indication of FILMART’s effectiveness as a trade global platform.
Among the fairground highlights is the renowned TV World, presenting more than 360 exhibitors from different
corners of the globe. The TV World International Forum adopts the theme: “The Rise of TV Streaming –
Opportunities and Challenges”, with leading experts sharing their ideas on ways to capitalise on the proliferation
of content streaming while also tackling the challenges of new media.
Digital entertainment is another booming area for the industry, highlighted by the participation of more than 170
digital entertainment companies from countries including France, Italy, Korea, Malaysia and Thailand, among
other places. The Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Pavilion features over 30 local companies involved in all
sectors of the industry.
An enhanced conference programme this year includes six thematic events that gather expert speakers from
the realms of film, TV, digital entertainment and music. We are delighted to be engaging the Producers Guild of
America to organise a panel discussion on “Making Asian Films in America”, featuring producers from Hollywood.
Now in its 19th year, FILMART has become a highly effective platform for the industry to meet and trade right
here in the heart of Asia. There will be more than 70 activities featuring high-profile award presentations, cocktail
receptions and a variety of other networking events, where the biggest names in the entertainment world can
connect with counterparts from the Chinese mainland and across Asia to explore new business opportunities.
FILMART is also one of 10 spectacular events featured in the Entertainment Expo Hong Kong (23 March-19 April),
which covers a global mix of film, television, digital entertainment and music.
I wish all participants an enjoyable and fruitful FILMART 2015.
Raymond Yip
Deputy Executive Director, Marketing
Hong Kong Trade Development Council
6 Screen International March 23, 2015
www.screendaily.com
a wide label
ALREADY 116 PARTNERS
51 FESTIVALS
52 DISTRIBUTORS
8 VOD PLATFORMS
5 SALES AGENTS
OFFICIAL SELECTIONS AT THE 39TH HONG-KONG INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
T
GH
NI T
ID A
M HE
A film by Eric Cherrière
28/03 11.45PM UA Cine Moko
01/04 7.30PM The Grand Cinema 6
AL
OB N
GL ISIO
V
A film by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov
29/03 9.45PM UA Cine Moko
31/03 5PM MCL Telford
MARKET SCREENINGS AT FILMART
A film by Jordan Goldnadel
A film by Jakob M. Erwa
24/03 10AM HKCEC Meeting room N101B
24/03 4.10PM HKCEC Meeting room N101B
DORA
OR THE
SEXUAL
NEUROSES
OF OUR
PARENTS
A film by Stina Werenfels
A film by Sanna Lenken
25/03 2PM HKCEC Meeting room N102-103
25/03 3.45PM HKCEC Meeting room N101B
ATTENDING FILMART I WIDE I UNIFRANCE BOOTH 1C-C13
GEORGIA POIVRE INTERNATIONAL SALES I +33 7 61 57 96 86 I [email protected]
EoF IN PARIS 9 RUE BLEUE - 75009, PARIS - FRANCE | +33 1 53 95 24 43 | [email protected] | www.eyeonfilms.org
REVIEWS
HAF profiles, page 10
Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan [email protected]
Lost And Love
Hkiff in brief
K
Dirs Darhad Erdenibulag, Emyr ap Richard.
Chi. 2015. 88mins, Young Cinema
Competition/market screening
In a daring example of artistic risk, Inner
Mongolian documentary maker Darhad
Erdenibulag and Welsh translator-photographer Emyr ap Richard push to the limits the
well-trod theme of Kafka’s unfinished work,
The Castle: the alienation and dehumanisation of the individual in the face of incomprehensible, dysfunctional bureaucracy. The duo
succeed, at the possible cost of turning off
traditional arbiters of the Kafkaesque.
K, a minimalist film with an intentionally
grungy veneer, was completed with little
regard for commercial prospects, although
the imprimatur of producer-mentor Jia
Zhangke could help secure limited distribution in a few select territories.
The borderline narcoleptic K (first-timer
Bayin, whose shaggy hair, unkempt beard,
and piercing eyes serve him well as the archetypal alien) is a land surveyor mistakenly
asked to work at a faraway location called
The Castle. Lost at first in the vast, forbidding
steppes, he arrives in the village nearest his
destination — no establishing shot, here or
anywhere else — where he is greeted with
contempt by the locals, then ignored by minions of the overlords meant to be his bosses.
Irritated, K goes through the motions
associated with the role of a functionary, such
as making appointments that are never kept,
and prioritising “pressing concerns”. Initially
defiant, he becomes increasingly blasé.
Howard Feinstein
From Vegas To Macau II
Dir: Wong Jing. HK-Chi. 2015. 110mins.
Market screening
Chow Yun-fat returns for a second helping
of comedic hijinks in the follow-up to Wong
Jing’s 2014 holiday blockbuster From Vegas
To Macau (released in mainland China as
The Man From Macau). A bankable supporting cast and exotic locations proved an irresistible combination at home over Lunar
New Year, taking $150m in China as of
March 15), but beyond Chow’s perennial
popularity, sloppy plotting and colloquial
humour will likely see From Vegas To Macau
II have limited international appeal.
Nick Cheung and Carina Lau sign on for
the sequel, with Shawn Yue joining the cast
as Chow’s godson. While much of the action
is transplanted from Macau to Thailand, this
second outing lacks its predecessor’s winning
combination of energy, wit and spectacle.
Superstar gambler Ken (Chow) is
approached by his godson Vincent (Yue), an
Interpol agent, to help put an end to the
criminal gang DOA once and for all. They
soon find, however, that there is a DOA mole
in Interpol. Logical plotting and narrative
coherence come a distant second in From
Vegas To Macau II, though, reducing it to a
series of loosely strung together set-pieces.
James Marsh
8 Screen International March 23, 2015
Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan
Lost And Love is a sad, tender-hearted ode to
China’s missing children, trafficked in their
thousands every year. More than 14 years after
his toddler was snatched, Andy Lau’s heartbroken father still drives through China on his
motorbike, flying flags bearing his son’s face,
which flap hopelessly in the wind behind him.
There are no official statistics regarding this
epidemic, which is estimated to run to hundreds of thousands of cases every year and is
only partly explained as an unintended consequence of China’s one-child policy.
Directed and written by novelist Peng Sanyuan
and shot beautifully by Mark Lee Ping-bin (Norwegian Wood), Lost And Love is a wistful elegy
whose commercial prospects are boosted by
superstar Lau playing against type as a Chinese
peasant farmer. China Lion Distribution gave it a
multi-city release in the US and Canada, timed
day-and-date with its local opening last Friday.
While at times she can veer towards the overwrought, Peng has a firm sense of the film’s
tone. Bookended by slightly garish segments
involving a mother at a traffic junction who
searches desperately for her missing baby, the
Market
Chi. 2015. 108mins
Director/screenplay
Peng Sanyuan
Production companies
Huayi Brothers, Young And
Saint Films, Focus Films.
International sales
IM Global, info@
imglobalfilm.com
Producers Wang
Zhonglei, Chan Pui-wah,
Zhang Dajun
Screenplay Peng Sanyuan
Cinematographer Mark
Lee Ping-bin
Editor Angie Lam
Music Zbigniew Preisner
Main cast Andy Lau, Jing
Boran, Ni Jingyang, Tony
Leung Ka-fai, Sandra Ng
main thrust of Lost And Love is apparently
based on a true story.
The film covers territory from Quanzhou in
Fujian Province to Sichuan, when anguished
dad Lei Zekuan (Lau) meets up with an
abducted boy named Zeng Shuai (promising
young actor Jing Boran, from Rise Of The Legend), now working as a mechanic, and they start
to search together. Sandra Ng and Tony Leung
Ka-fai have cameo roles.
Some social aspects of their plight are keenly
felt: without identified parents, for example,
Zeng cannot get his papers, meaning he is not
permitted to even board a train.
Lau reinvents himself here as a poor and desperate peasant. It is a strong performance, softened by Jing’s youthful confusion.
The Taking Of Tiger Mountain
Reviewed by Fionnuala Halligan
Tackling anthemic Chinese work The Taking Of
Tiger Mountain in a typically epic style, Tsui
Hark retains every ounce of the exuberance that
propelled him through works such as Once
Upon A Time In China more than 20 years ago.
Tiger Mountain’s impressive 3D twists itself to
accommodate the Hong Kong director’s vision
and Tsui makes full use of its potential to invigorate a tale that is a fundamental part of the folklore/propaganda surrounding the foundation of
modern China. Other audiences might want to
brush up on their PLA/KMT general knowledge
before diving into this (over-long) 142-minute
tale, and, indeed, this story will not have the
same resonance outside China.
But this is a family film, a special occasion
event, even at home (with $144m in box office
takings as of March 1, it is China’s tenth highest
grossing film of all time). Based loosely on a
true story, Tiger Mountain is a ripping yarn.
There is no trademark wire work, but a good
deal of period gunplay, splattering bullet
impact shots, over-the-top set pieces and, even,
an emotional finale set in the present day.
Long on action but short on characterisation,
Tiger Mountain plays out in 1946, in the after-
HKIFF: awards
gala
Chi. 2014. 142mins
Director Tsui Hark
Production company
Bona Film Group
International sales
Distribution Workshop
Producers Nansun Shi,
Huang Jianxin, Yu Dong
Screenplay Huang Xin, Li
Yang, Wu Bing, Dong Zhe,
Lin Chi An, Tsui Hark, Dong
Zhe, based on the novel
Tracks In The Snowy Forest
by Qu Bo
Cinematographer Choi
Sung-fai
Designer Yi Zhenzhou
Editor Yu Baiyang
Music Wu Wai Lap
Main cast Zhang Hanyu,
Tony Leung Ka-fai, Lin
Gengxin, Tong Liya, Su
Yueming, Yu Nan, Chen
Xiao, Gui Yiheng, Han Geng
math of the Japanese withdrawal from Northeast
China, where the Communist Party is consolidating its base and the KMT and local warlords
are in a loose coalition to stop them. The starving
people are subject to the whims of bandits, however, and PLA boss ‘203’ (Lin Gengxin) has been
charged with taking Tiger Mountain from ruthless gangster Lord Hawk (Tony Leung Ka-fai).
Detective agent Yang (Zhang Hanyu) and his
assistant nurse (Tong Liya) are sent to help 203
and an opportunity arises for them to capture a
valuable map held by a KMT gang, and use it to
infiltrate Lord Hawk’s outfit.
While Tiger Mountain stops short of adopting a jocular tone, it is a heightened action
fable. Technically, the film pops and sparkles,
with impressive 3D effects from Korea, and cinematographer Choi Sung-fai resists over-prettifying the arresting visuals.
www.screendaily.com
HAF Profiles
The A Women
Haf/Fox award, page 14
Ghost In Mountain
The Bicycle Girl
Dir Hannah Moon
American Serial
Killer In Manila
Dir Yang Heng
Dir Shivajee Chandrabhushan
Project’s country of origin
Dir Mikhail Red
Project’s country of origin China
Project’s country of origin India
Australia
Project’s country of origin
Philippines
This feature-length documentary examines the growing number of educated
20-something Chinese women who are
stepping away from tradition and putting life and work before marriage. The
narrative will build towards Chinese
New Year, when there is extraordinary
pressure to bring home a boyfriend.
“The subject interests me because I’m
31 and single,” says director Hannah
Moon, who lives in port city Ningbo,
where the film is set. “These women are
at the centre of China’s fast-developing
economy and Western feminism doesn’t
apply. To them, life is about integrating
their cultural identity into a changing
world — holding on to what’s valuable.”
Moon will use several protagonists to
explore her themes, including how family remains so central in China. “Family
is absolutely put first and it’s wonderful
— grandparents raise kids and people
genuinely want to look after their parents. There’s a stronger sense of connectedness than in the West,” she says.
Her project contrasts starkly with
how Western media likes to portray the
“weirdness” of China, she adds.
Screen Australia and Film Victoria
have provided development funds for
The A Women, which Melbourne-based
producer Joanna Bence aims to finance
as a co-production.
Sandy George
Up-and-coming Filipino director
Mikhail Red says his latest project puts
a new spin on a popular genre by combining it with “a new, exotic and exciting environment”.
He describes the film as a suspenseful serial killer/slasher story seen from
the point of view of the mysterious US
character. The perspective also shifts to
the other main character of the story, a
young girl forced into cybersex prostitution, who forms an unusual friendship
with her reclusive neighbour.
“From her point of view, we see what
it is like to be a victim of a vicious society,” says Red. “As she struggles to free
herself, we witness a dramatic, emotional escape plot.”
Red, son of independent cinema pioneer Raymond Red, made his feature
debut with crime thriller Rekorder
(2013), which won Vancouver’s best
new director award.
In script development, American
Serial Killer In Manila will have a US
lead and most of the dialogue will be in
English. PelikulaRED, founded by Red
and his father, will produce.
The project was one of the winners at
last year’s Manila Film Financing Forum
and received a script development grant
from the Philippines’ National Commission for Culture and the Arts.
Jean Noh
Chinese writer-director Yang Heng is
revisiting Hunan province — his birthplace and the setting for his first three
films — in Ghost In Mountain.
The story focuses on a drifter who
returns to his home town after being
away for years. He is found stabbed to
death as the story begins and his wayward journey will unfold in flashback.
Yang aims to explore China’s displaced people, who find they cannot fit
into urban cities and yet the villages
have become unfamiliar to them.
“They’re always on the road in search of
something and live their lives as if in an
absurd dream,” he says.
Like Yang’s previous three films —
Betelnut (2006), Sun Spots (2009) and
Lake August (2014) — the new project
will be made on an ultra-low budget
with a small production team. In preproduction, the film will be shot in
Hunan in the local dialect.
He is collaborating for the first time
with Yang Cheng, CEO of Beijing-based
Heaven Pictures Culture & Media and a
curator of China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing, where Yang Heng’s last
film, Lake August, won the jury award
last year.
Yang Cheng has produced all his
films through his production outfit
Xiang Xi Yang Heng Film Studio.
WY Wong
The Bicycle Girl revolves around a teenage girl, Meera, who has to convince her
father to let her participate in the school
cycling competition. Her father hates
cycling as he lost his wife some 17 years
ago after a treacherous cycle ride to a
hospital.
“Though cycling is quite popular in
India, the country has never produced a
world-class cyclist. This is the story of a
teenage girl who aspires to be a champion cyclist. The scope for conflict in the
story is immense, with a female character getting into a male-dominated sport
in India,” says writer-director Shivajee
Chandrabhushan.
At script development stage, the film
is set in the hill station of Coorg in the
Indian state of Karnataka, where it will
be shot.
Chandrabhushan’s debut film Frozen
premiered at Toronto International
Film Festival in 2007 and went on to
play at Rotterdam, Busan and Hong
Kong, winning more than 20 awards.
The film also had a limited theatrical
release in India.
His second title, One More, was also a
sports-themed drama, revolving around
an amateur ice hockey team in Ladakh.
Chandrabhushan will produce The
Bicycle Girl under his own banner,
Shivajee Chandrabhushan Films.
Nandita Dutta
The A Women
American Serial Killer In
Manila
Ghost In Mountain
The Bicycle Girl
Producer Yang Cheng Production
company Xiang Xi Yang Heng Film Studio
Budget $400,000 Finance raised to
date $50,000 Contact Yang Cheng
Producers Shivajee Chandrabhushan,
Triparna Banerjee Production company
Shivajee Chandrabhushan Films Budget
$200,000 Finance raised to date
Producer Joanna Bence Production
company Curb Denizen Budget
$350,000 Finance raised to date
$205,000 Contact Joanna Bence
[email protected]
Prod Pamela L Reyes Prod co PelikulaRED
Budget $880,000 Finance raised to
date $92,000 (from Manila Film Financing
Forum, National Commission for Culture
and the Arts, PelikulaRED) Contact
Pamela L Reyes [email protected]
[email protected]
$26,000 (Shivajee Chandrabhushan
Films) Contact Triparna Banerjee
[email protected]
www.screendaily.com
HAF PROFILES
Breathing
The Memory Of Okinawa
Hell Is Other People
Dir Gilitte Leung
Dir Kazuo Hara
Dir Peng Tao
Project’s country of origin Hong Kong
Project’s country of origin Japan
Hong Kong director Gilitte Leung turns to Thai boxing for inspiration for her second feature Breathing,
which is about a 30-year-old singleton who takes up
Muay Thai to lose weight and find a husband.
“There are so many pressures on young women
today to look the way a man wants them to. On top of
that, they also have to be successful career women
and have a husband before society deems them too
old. This film doesn’t attack that way of living, but
shows that success and beauty can be more than skin
deep,” says Leung.
Inspired by her real-life experience, she came up
with the story idea and wrote the script with new
writer Anastasia Tsang. The film will be shot largely in
Hong Kong with additional scenes in Thailand.
The project marks a change in style for Leung,
whose debut feature Love Me Not was a small-budget
LGBT drama. It will be much more accessible and
entertaining, while maintaining her visual style and
personal attachment.
Love Me Not enjoyed a theatrical run in Hong
Kong in 2012 and the following year played at Terracotta Far East Film Festival in London, where
Leung met Richard Geddes, who programmed the
festival’s Chinese-language section.
Geddes is now producing Breathing through Terracotta Media, which is making its first foray into
film production. The London-based company is also
a distributor of Asian films.
Leung was a music composer for Hong Kong
singers before turning to films. She still scores her
own film projects.
WY Wong
Japanese documentary film-maker Kazuo Hara,
known for controversial films such as The Emperor’s
Naked Army Marches On, has been thinking about
the situation in Okinawa for decades.
Japan’s southernmost prefecture was invaded by
the US during the Second World War and has
housed military bases ever since.
“I’ve wanted to focus on the issue of Okinawa since
I was in my 20s. Now Japan is rocked by the issue of
US military bases’ relocation to Henoko, and is
inclined towards ‘the road to war’,” says Hara, referring to moves in Japan to reverse the renunciation of
war in the country’s post-Second World War constitution. The director says he would like to shoot in Japan
and the US. “There was a [US invasion] strategy
called the Iceberg Plan, which was not carried out. It
seems significant to simulate what would have happened to the relationship between Japan and the US
if the plan had been carried out,” he says.
Hara’s 1987 documentary The Emperor’s Naked
Army Marches On follows an angry Japanese Second
World War veteran looking into the unexplained
deaths of comrades. His credits also include documentary Extreme Private Eros: Love Song 1974, which
follows his former lover to Okinawa, where she has a
relationship with an African-American soldier.
Having focused on “people who rebel against
authorities”, Hara says he now wants to focus on
these authorities from a historical point of view.
Shisso Production, responsible for Hara’s previous
works including The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches
On, is producing the project.
Jean Noh
Chinese director Peng Tao tells the story of a perfect
murder that goes badly wrong in his latest project
Hell Is Other People.
Based on true events, the psychological thriller
is about a detective novelist who devises a detailed
plan for a married man to make himself look like a
murderer by committing a well-rehearsed crime, as
a pretext for leaving his wife and running off with
his lover.
“I have a strong preference for real-life stories,
which tend to be more dramatic and powerful.
Hence all my previous works were realistic films,”
says Peng, who has been working on the script for
the past two years. “But unlike my previous films,
which focused on niche subject matters and socially
marginalised people, this project will be more mainstream, with elements of love and crime.”
Peng’s first feature Little Moth, about a disabled
girl forced to beg on the streets, won 15 international
awards, including the silver award of Hong Kong
International Film Festival’s Asian Digital Competition and the NETPAC award at Locarno.
His new project will be produced by Wang
Shaofeng, president of Light And Magic Of China,
along with producer Lilly Austin. The latter is also
working with Peng on crime thriller 2:30AM, a HAF
2013 project at script development stage.
Light And Magic Of China is one of two production companies on Hell Is Other People, along with
Heaven Pictures Culture & Media. Heaven Pictures
collaborated with Peng on his last film, The Cremator,
which had its world premiere at Toronto in 2012.
WY Wong
Breathing
The Memory Of Okinawa
Hell Is Other People
Producer Richard Geddes Production company
Terracotta Media Budget $800,000 Finance raised
to date $250,000 (private equity) Contact Richard
Producers Daisuke Hirasawa, Maki Yokoi Production
company Shisso Production Budget $150,000
Finance raised to date $20,000 (from Mels Club)
Contact Maki Yokoi [email protected]
Producers Wang Shaofeng, Lilly Austin Production
companies Light And Magic Of China, Heaven Pictures
Culture & Media Budget $5m Contact Peng Tao
Geddes
terracotadistribution.com
[email protected]
www.screendaily.com
Funding and Organising the UK FILM stand:
HK15_UKF_Screenad_FP_335x245_Art_5.indd 2
18/03/2015 10:45
HAF/fox award
Screenings, page 21
My Beauty Queen Mom
My Last Wish
Unexpected And Ambiguous
Dir Sen-I Yu
Dir Leon Liang Sun
Dir Zhou Hongbo
Project’s country of origin Taiwan
My Beauty Queen Mom, the only project selected for
both HAF and the HAF/Fox Chinese Film Development Award this year, will be the debut feature of Taiwan-born, New York-based writer-director Sen-I Yu.
Set in Taipei, the comedy drama follows the journey of a middle-aged housewife when she joins a
beauty pageant to battle her acute anxiety disorder.
“I will use a satirical and humorous tone to portray the inner feelings of the central character. She’s
a naïve and passionate woman who gives an insight
into what’s crazy versus what’s normal in her fight
against mental illness,” says Yu.
She received a screenplay development grant from
Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture last year, and is finishing the script while casting is under way.
Taiwanese producer and talent agent Rachel Chen
will produce through her production company We
Share Entertainment. She is also the head of Touch Of
Light Films, which co-produced Chang Jung-chi’s feature debut Touch Of Light. Chang won best new director at the 2012 Golden Horse Awards for the film.
Yu graduated from New York University in 2004
with a Master of Fine Arts in directing and has written and directed short films, documentaries and
commercials. In 2001, she launched Spring Bear
Productions, which has produced her short films,
including Acupuncture Girl, a Student Academy
Awards regional finalist, and most recently Milk,
which premiered at NewFilmmakers in New York.
WY Wong
The debut feature of Chinese film-maker Leon Liang
Sun, My Last Wish is based on a true story about a
computing student at Beijing University whose
promising future is cut short when he misses his
graduation examination. His despair drives him to
suicide, but his last wish is to rob a bank and repay
the debt his parents ran up to pay his tuition fees.
“We are often told about the success stories, but
seldom about failure and how to deal with it. We are
often told how to pursue our goals, but not how to
face setbacks,” says Sun, adding that he would consider committing a crime like his protagonist if he
knew he was going to die.
Sun, who is also writing the project, has completed the script as well as location scouting in
Beijing. The project will be produced by Li Feng,
who is a director at Chinese media conglomerate
Beauty Media and vice-president at Beauty Media
subsidiary ICN International TV.
ICN is a leading Chinese broadcaster with 16 English and Chinese channels in North America, ranging from drama and entertainment to news and
education. It aims to launch three feature films and
20 microfilms within the next couple of years.
Sun graduated from New York Film Academy in
2006. Two of his short films, Coin and X2, previously screened at Sundance Film Festival. He has
worked with Li on several TV programmes in New
York for ICN.
WY Wong
Chinese director Zhou Hongbo’s latest project is
about a married woman who travels from Shanghai
to Yangzhou for her 10th anniversary college reunion, not knowing dark secrets involving her ex-boyfriend will come to haunt her.
“Without any supernatural or overtly stylised elements, it’s a rare Chinese metropolitan thriller about
the loss of innocence of the new middle class amid
China’s rapid urbanisation,” says Zhou, who first
conceived the story idea five years ago. “I will lead
the audience into a familiar yet unknown psychological world set in an ordinary urban landscape.”
Yangzhou will be the main location with additional
scenes shot in Shanghai. Taiwanese cinematographer
Mark Lee Ping-bin will serve as DoP. Mei Feng, the
regular writer for Chinese auteur Lou Ye, makes his
first foray into producing with the project. A lecturer
at Beijing Film Academy, he won the best screenplay
prize for Spring Fever at Cannes in 2009 and for Mystery at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2013.
Established in 2010, Shanghai Tanshang Film
Works produced Zhou’s first two features, The
Mirage and Winter Cicadas. Zhou is also known as a
documentary director for Shanghai Media Group
(formerly Shanghai TV Station).
In 2013, he presented Departure at HAF, a documentary following a mortician practising at funerals
in the villages around Suzhou. It is now awaiting
funding from the Shanghai Cultural Fund.
WY Wong
My Beauty Queen Mom
My Last Wish
Unexpected And Ambiguous
Producers Rachel Chen Production companies
Producers Li Feng Production company ICN
International TV Budget $900,000 Contact Leon
Liang Sun [email protected]
Producers Mei Feng, Wu Dan, Li Yuan Production
companies Shanghai Tanshang Film Works Budget
$1.5m Contact Zhou Hongbo [email protected]
We Share Entertainment, Spring Bear Productions
Budget $800,000 Finance raised to date $10,000
(development grant from Taiwan’s Ministry of Culture)
Contact Sen-I Yu [email protected]
www.screendaily.com
AH BOYS TO MEN 3: FROGMEN 新兵正传III：蛙人传
J TEAM PRODUCTIONS & MM2 ENTERTAINMENT
ACTION COMEDY
1965
BLUE3 PICTURES & MM2 ENTERTAINMENT
DRAMATIC THRILLER
BRING BACK THE DEAD 招魂
WEIYU FILMS, MM2 ENTERTAINMENT & CLOVER FILMS
SUPERNATURAL THRILLER
KING OF MAHJONG 麻雀王
CLOVER FILMS
COMEDY
3688 想入飛飛
CHUAN PICTURES & MM2 ENTERTAINMENT
FAMILY COMEDY
COMEDY, MUSICAL
A FANTASTIC GHOST WEDDING 非常婚事
SCOUT PICTURES
COMEDY DRAMA
COMEDY,
/ MDA Singapore
www.mda.gov.sg
Feature Europeans at Filmart
Greenery Will Bloom Again
Song Of the Sea
Pride
Europe spreads the word
With sales companies out in force at Filmart, how much of an appetite do
Asian audiences really have for European films? Melanie Goodfellow reports
E
uropean sales companies are at
Hong Kong Filmart in record numbers this year. It is not hard to work
out why: Asia Pacific beat North
America as the world’s largest regional box
office for the second year running in 2014,
the theatrical marketplace is booming in
China, Japan and South Korea, and over-thetop (OTT) and video-on-demand (VoD) consumption is surging across Asian territories.
“Filmart is one of the best places to meet
the Chinese, from the mainland and Hong
Kong, as well as Korean and Japanese buyers,” says Nicolai Korsgaard, sales manager at
TrustNordisk, who does point out he can
meet the latter all year round at the festivals
and markets. “We’ve been going to Filmart
for the last eight years and it’s really taken off
over the last three to four years. Busan is also
a key date for us. We tried the market in
Shanghai but it didn’t really work for us.”
Hamburg-based European Film Promotion (EFP) is hosting an enlarged umbrella
stand to support 19 sales companies and two
EFP bodies. Further European stands at the
market include the Unifrance and UK pavilions (see sidebars). Companies attending
under the EFP banner include Germany’s
Films Boutique and The Match Factory, Sweden’s The Yellow Affair, Denmark’s TrustNordisk, UK’s WestEnd Films, Spain’s Film
Factory Entertainment and Italy’s Rai Com
and Fandango.
In addition, 39 films are heading to the market with the support of EFP’s Film Sales Support scheme including Berlinale winners Body,
The Pearl Button and My Skinny Sister. Some
54 applications were received in total.
“There’s increasingly strong demand from
our members to attend Filmart. The timing
works well for European sales agents. It’s a
good place to sew up deals that began in Berlin,” says Susanne Davis, director of the EFP’s
Film Sales Support programme.
‘There is
increasingly
strong demand
from our
members to
attend Filmart.
The timing works
well for European
sales agents’
Susanne Davis, European
Film Promotion
It is also a good platform for pitching films
that have Cannes potential, which is always a
big draw for Asian buyers although many like
to wait until a film has actually premiered at
the festival before signing on the dotted line.
“Filmart is very useful, whether it is for establishing relations with new contacts or maintaining the ones we already have,” says Mercy
Liao, who is in charge of sales in Asia at the
UK’s WestEnd Films, and believes Filmart is
the best place to meet Asian buyers.
»
UK: Exploring every angle
A slew of leading UK companies, including
Altitude Film Sales, Carnaby International,
Celsius Entertainment, Content Media
Corporation, HanWay Films, Jinga Films,
Metrodome International, Parkland Pictures,
Protagonist Pictures and The Works are
working out of the UK umbrella pavilion.
“Filmart is a very valuable market. It’s not
just about exploring the evolving potential of
China, it’s about the whole region,” says Charlie
Bloye, chief executive of sales company trade
body Film Export UK.
The organisation co-ordinates the umbrella
stand with the support of the BFI Lottery and
UK Trade & Investment.
“Escapist fare works best but UK films
span the genre spectrum from thoughtful to
kinetic,” says Bloye. “Countries with such large
‘It’s not just
about the
evolving
potential of
China, it’s about the
whole region’
Charlie Bloye, Film Export UK
populations begin to develop valuable niches
that will fit all sorts of UK films.”
Some 13 UK productions and co-productions
will be screening at Hong Kong International
Film Festival this year including ’71, The Duke Of
Burgundy, The Last Emperor 3D, The Look Of
Silence, The President and Pride.
www.screendaily.com
sonsoftheneonnight_screen_int_ad_245x335mm.indd 1
17/3/15 10:23 PM
FEATURE EUROPEANS AT FILMART
Oriana
At Filmart, Liao is focusing on Jeremy
Saulnier’s thriller Green Room, Tomm
Moore’s Oscar-nominated animation Song Of
The Sea, David Gordon Green’s Al Pacinostarrer Manglehorn, Kieran Darcy-Smith’s By
Way Of Helena, starring Liam Hemsworth
and Woody Harrelson, and Michael Winterbottom’s The Face Of An Angel. WestEnd’s
recent success stories include Green’s Joe and
Yaron Zilberman’s A Late Quartet.
Different genres work best in different territories. “Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Hong
Kong are always looking for good dramas
with A-list cast,” says Liao. “Indonesia and
the Philippines are very fond of genre films.”
Action dramas with well-known talent work
well across the region.
Korsgaard, who has had sales success at
Filmart in the past with Thomas Vinterberg’s
The Hunt and Kristian Levring’s Western The
Salvation, both starring Mads Mikkelsen, is
in town to showcase the Norwegian tsunami
disaster movie The Wave and Danish drama
The Model, which is set in Paris.
TrustNordisk launched The Wave with a
promo reel at EFM and the film has already
been picked up by Korea (Euro Communications Pictures), China (New View TV and
Media Group) and Malaysia, Brunei and
Vietnam (Rain Film).
“Disaster movies fit right into the Asian
profile,” says Korsgaard. “They love these
kinds of stories. The one major territory
where it has not sold is Japan because of the
tsunami four years ago. The only other Asian
territories left are Singapore and Thailand,
which is pretty amazing given we only started
selling it three months ago and it’s not going
to be completed before August.”
Japan and Korea are the markets where
titles are more likely to get a theatrical
release, while China is “more for TV and
digital”, says Korsgaard. However, he notes,
China’s New View is mulling a theatrical
release for The Wave, although Korsgaard is
not holding his breath given the lack of official theatrical slots for international films in
the country.
“They’re very keen on pushing it into cin-
The Wave
emas but it’s been a few years since we managed to get a Nordic movie into theatres in
China and it only lasted three weeks,” he
says, referring to Kasper Barfoed’s The Candidate, which he sold to Lens Media in 2010.
Korsgaard is also hoping to close deals on
The Model and will be heading to Tokyo for
three days ahead of Filmart with the aim of
tying up a product placement deal with a
potential Japanese distributor.
‘Japan, Korea,
Taiwan and
Hong Kong are
always looking
for good dramas
with A-list cast’
Mercy Liao, WestEnd Films
Theatrical boost
Mattia Oddone, head of cinema and international TV sales at Italy’s Rai Com, focuses on
selling TV and digital rights at Filmart.
“It’s our most important date for meeting
Asian clients,” says Oddone. “Sometimes we
sell theatrical rights at the market but in general Berlin and Cannes are better for theatrical deals. Our key Asian territories are China,
the Philippines, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan,
Singapore and, above all, Japan.”
Rai Com titles to have sold well in the
region include Maria Sole Tognazzi’s Five
Star Life (Viaggio Sola), which was picked up
by Japan’s Alciné Térran and Taiwan’s Swal-
low Wings Films for theatrical releases in
both territories last year, and Paolo and
Vittorio Taviani’s Caesar Must Die, which
sold to Japan, China, Korea and Taiwan.
Swallow Wings has since acquired Cristina Comencini’s Latin Lover, about four
stepsisters linked by a late screen legend, and
Marco Turco’s biopic Oriana, capturing the
life of journalist Oriana Fallaci.
Oddone is aiming to seal a slew of Asian
deals on these titles alongside Ermanno
Olmi’s First World War drama Greenery Will
Bloom Again. All three titles will make their
Asian premiere at HKIFF as well as screen in
the market — a festival slot is a big boost for a
European film in Asia.
The region’s box office may be thriving but
that growth is still being driven by local Asian
titles and US blockbusters. Korsgaard for one
notes Asia accounts for a “surprisingly” small
chunk of TrustNordisk’s turnover. But the
company’s reasons for heading to Filmart
extend beyond mere sales. “It’s not about the
money,” he says. “It’s also about getting the
movie out there and getting Asian audiences
s
to appreciate our movies.” ■
FRANCE: STRENGTH IN NUMBERS
France has brought one of the biggest European delegations to
Filmart this year. Some 21 French sales companies are attending
under the auspices of the Unifrance umbrella stand. The
territory’s strong presence makes sense: Asia was the second
most important regional export destination for French cinema,
after western Europe, generating 28.3 million entries in 2014.
“It’s essential and strategic for us to be at Filmart to help
maintain our position as the second most important cinema
exporter in the world,” says Isabelle Giordano, general manager of
Unifrance. “Filmart has a central position at the heart of the
Asian markets.”
French films also feature at Hong Kong International Film
Festival, with 33 features and co-productions screening in the
official line-up. They include gala presentations
of Marie Amachoukeli, Claire Burger
and Samuel Theis’s Camera d’Or
winner Party Girl, Benoit Jacquot’s
3 Hearts and Francois Ozon’s The
New Girlfriend.
French sales companies at Filmart include Films Distribution,
which is handling Party Girl, genre specialist Reel Suspects,
Urban Distribution International, Pyramide International and
Futurikon, the Paris-based company representing the Césarwinning animation Miniscule: Valley Of The Lost Ants, which drew
some 800,000 admissions in China last summer.
3 Hearts; (below) Miniscule:
Valley Of The Lost Ants
www.screendaily.com
VietnAM MediA Corp 1D-B26/28 Tel: +852 6284 1768
AA crImE/DrAmA
crImE/DrAmA fILm
fILm BY
BY
NGUYEN
PHAN
NGUYEN
PHAN QUANG
QUANG BINH
BINH
BASED ON “QUYEN”, BEST SELLING NOVEL BY NGUYEN VAN THO
BASED ON “QUYEN”, BEST SELLING NOVEL BY NGUYEN VAN THO
BHd
BHd
MARKET
MARKET SCREENING
SCREENING
International
International Premier
Premier
rd
10:00
am,
Mon,
10:00 am, Mon, 23
23rd March
March
at
N101A
(HKCEC
Meeting
N101A
at N101A (HKCEC Meeting Room)
Room)
BHd
BHd
MAY
MAY 2015
2015
3 KITES AwARdS
3 KITES AwARdS
(for Movie, Actor and Young Actor Of The Year)
3 BlUE
Bl STARS AwARdS
dS
3 BlUE STARS AwARdS
1 HONOR AwARd BY
1 HONOR AwARd BY
lGBT
GBT community for Movie Of The Year
lGBT community for Movie Of The Year
MARKET
MARKET SCREENING
SCREENING
International
International Premier
Premier
rd
7:00
pm,
Mon,
7:00 pm, Mon, 23
23rd March
March
at
HK
Arts
Center
at HK Arts Center
BHd
BHd
EVENTS
10:00 — 12:00
FIND YOUR
OPPORTUNITIES IN THE
MEDIA CONVERGENCE AGE
Venue The stage, Hall 1,
Hong Kong Convention
and Exhibition Centre.
Organised by Hong
Kong Trade Development
Council. Supporting
partner Screen
International
Conference moderator
Liz Shackleton,
Asia editor, Screen
International
Panel speakers Liz
Rosenthal, founder
and CEO, Power To
The Pixel; Michael
Murphy, president,
Gravitas Ventures; Jason
Rubin, brand manager
of CONtv; Tom Ara,
shareholder, Greenberg
Traurig LLP
Media convergence not
only brings opportunity for
Liz Rosenthal
Michael Murphy
Jason Rubin
Tom Ara
consumers to access
media through many
more channels, it
also generates new
opportunities for
companies to explore
and market new and
unique business models.
Online media has great
potential to address this
vibrant shift in audience
behaviour, perhaps
most notably in the
entertainment industry,
with online channels
offering a platform for
consuming content as
well as distribution,
advertising and offering
multimedia experiences
for viewers and filmmakers alike. Leading
experts will gather at
this conference to explore
ways the film industry
can capitalise on the latest
trends and technology
to create new business
opportunities.
10:30 — 11:30
NEW INCENTIVES TO
BOOST INTERNATIONAL
PRODUCTIONS IN FRANCE
Venue Event room, Hall
1, Hong Kong Convention
11:00 — 13:00
SPL2 MOVIE PRESS
CONFERENCE
Venue The studio, Hall 1,
Hong Kong Convention
12:00 — 13:00
Venue The studio,
Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Centre.
Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre.
15:00 — 16:00
WILD CITY PRESS
CONFERENCE
13:30 — 14:30
EMPEROR MOTION
PICTURES PRESS
CONFERENCE
Venue The stage,
Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Centre. By
invitation only.
13:30 — 15:00
TAIWAN PAVILION PARTY
SUNDREAM & STAR
ALLIANCE MOVIES
— CO-PRODUCTION
ANNOUNCEMENT
Venue Event room, Hall
1, Hong Kong Convention
By invitation only.
13:00 — 14:30
ONE COOL FILM PRESS
CONFERENCE
Venue Event room,
Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Centre. By
invitation only.
14:30 — 16:30
HUACE FORUM: THE REACH
OF CHINESE CULTURE IN
THE DIGITAL AGE
Venue Meeting rooms
S226-S227, Hong
Venue The studio,
Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Centre.
16:30 — 17:15
THE ENTERTAINMENT
EXPO HONG KONG
KICK-OFF CEREMONY
Venue The stage,
Hall 1, Hong Kong
Convention and
Exhibition Centre.
16:30 — 18:00
PRESS CONFERENCE:
HUACE AND XIAOMI —
MEDIA CO-OPERATION
ANNOUNCEMENT
Venue Meeting rooms
S226-S227, Hong
Kong Convention and
Exhibition Centre.
HONG KONG FILMART OFFER FROM $99
ONLINE ONLY
FULL PACKAGE
ScreenBase
Your production and financing information
for the top European territories
Screen International magazine
Up to 10 printed issues a year, plus
special festival and market editions
ScreenDaily.com
Instant access to the latest news and
reviews plus an extensive archive
WAS
$265
$369
NOW
$99
$125
ONLINE:
Visit: subscribe.screendaily.com SDHKF15
Call: +44 (0) 1604 828706 and quote code SDHKF15
FULL:
Visit: subscribe.screendaily.com SCRHKF15
Call: +44 (0) 1604 828706 and quote code SCRHKF15
Online only: Annual US/ROW $99 (rrp $265)| Full package: Annual US/ROW $125 (rrp $369)
*Offer available for new subscribers only. Closes 21.04.2015
www.screendaily.com
Screenings
» Screening times and venues
are correct at the time of going to
press but subject to alteration
Edited by Paul Lindsell [email protected]
09:45
Bus timetable
From HKCEC to agnes
b. Cinema 09:50, 12:05,
Mentai PiRiRi
(Japan) Comedy, drama,
romance. 15mins.
Television Nishinippon
Corporation (Tnc-Tv).
Dir: Kan Eguchi. Key
cast: Hakata Hanamaru,
Yasuko Tomita.
In Fukuoka, Toshiyuki
runs his own grocery store.
Known as a ‘nobosemon’
(a passionate person),
he is enjoying family life
but is still uneasy because
he can’t seem to find his
real motivation. While
talking with Chiyoko,
he remembers ‘mentai’,
a taste that brings back
good memories. Before they
know it, his family and
workers are dragged into
Toshiyuki’s mentai-making
madness.
Meeting room N202-203,
HKCEC
15:20
From agnes b. Cinema
to HKCEC 11:50, 14:10, 17:20
From HKCEC to UA Cine
Times (Times square)
09:40, 11:20, 11:25, 13:35,
13:40, 15:35, 15:50, 17:50,
17:55
From UA Cine Times
(Times square) to
HKCEC
11:44, 13:15, 14:05, 14:10,
16:05, 16:15
Filmart
a side of Japan she had
never seen before.
HKCEC
10:00
ATOMIC HEART
Perez.
(Italy) Crime. 95mins.
Intramovies. Dir:
Edoardo De Angelis.
Key cast: Luca Zingaretti,
Marco D’Amore,
Loredana Simioli.
Perez could have become
a great lawyer but he is
imbued with fear. Fear
to rise above mediocrity,
a condition he equates
with safety and so keeping
unhappiness at bay. But
when real danger enters
his life, he realises he is
no coward. He will face
everything and everyone to
defend his daughter.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
Tokyo Fiancee
(Belgium, France,
Canada) 100mins. Films
Distribution. Dir: Stefan
Liberski. Key cast:
Pauline Etienne, Taichi
Inoue, Julie Le Breton,
Alice De Lencquesaing.
Her head filled with
dreams, Amelie, 20, goes
back to Japan, where she
spent her childhood. To
earn a living, she decides
to give private classes in
French and meets Rinri,
a young Japanese man
with whom she soon has
an intimate relationship.
Between surprises, happy
times and the pitfalls of a
culture shock, she discovers
www.screendaily.com
(Iran) Drama. 97mins.
DreamLab Films. Dir: Ali
Ahmadzadeh. Key cast:
Taraneh Alidoosti, Pegah
Ahangarani, Mehrdad
Sedighiyan, Mohammad
Reza Golzar.
On the way home from a
well-oiled party, Arineh
and Nobahar crash their
car. A strange man offers
to pay the expenses and
refuses to be reimbursed.
Instead he asks the girls
to follow him into the
unknown. While travelling
through a night-time
Tehran full of mysteries
and surprises, Arineh
and Nobahar discover a
parallel world they had
never imagined.
agnes b. CINEMA! Hong Kong
Arts Centre
10:00
Eva and leon
(France) Comedy,
drama, romance.
85mins. Pyramide
International. Dir:
Emilie Cherpitel. Key
cast: Clotilde Hesme,
Clotilde Courau, Peter
Coyote, Florian Lemaire.
Thirty-five-year-old
Eva is unpredictable,
charmingly immature
and has no children.
destruction of all Altera.
Decades of distrust have
kept apart the humans
and elves but an unlikely
alliance is formed and a
group of brave warriors
take on a secret quest to
the dark mountains.
Theatre 2, hkcec
By invitation only
Eva and leon
See box, above
EVERYTHING WILL BE
Dragon Nest: Warriors
Dawn 3D
(US, China) Action,
adventure, animation,
children’s, sci-fi, fantasy.
90mins. All Rights
Entertainment. Dir: Song
Yuefeng. Key cast: Chen
Dawei, Hu Ge, Jing Tian.
The land of Altera is
inhabited by humans
and elves. Freed from the
dark mountains, beasts
have begun to attack
the peaceful towns. This
signals the return of the
black dragon and the
(Canada) Documentary.
86mins. Fire Horse
Production. Dir: Julia
Kwan. Key cast: Wan
Ning Lai, Angelo Tosi,
Bob Rennie.
Vancouver’s Chinatown
is in the midst of massive
transformation. The
community’s oldest and
newest members discuss
this shifting landscape.
HKCEC
Fires on the Plain
(Japan) Drama. 87mins.
Leon is 10, he’s got the
seriousness and reasoning
of an adult and has no
parents. Eva is bored in
her privileged life as well
as in her love life. Leon
has just run away from
his reception centre to find
his mother. They weren’t
meant to meet but will
spend five unforgettable
days together.
Meeting room N101B,
hkcec No press
Coproduction Office. Dir:
Shinya Tsukamoto. Key
cast: Shinya Tsukamoto,
Lily Franky, Tatsuya
Nakamura, Yusaku Mori,
Yuko Nakamura.
In the final stages of the
Second World War, the
Japanese occupation army
in the Philippines is rapidly
losing ground, facing local
resistance combined with
an American offensive.
The final few Japanese
survivors, almost wiped
out, have now crossed over
the threshold into a realm
where there are no friends,
enemies or God.
House 1, UA CINE Times,
Times Square
How to Win at Checkers
(Every time)
(Thailand) Drama.
80mins. Draft Day. Dir:
Josh Kim. Key cast:
Thira Chutikul, Ingarat
Damrongsakkul, Iirah
Wimonchailerk.
After the loss of both
parents, a boy faces an
uncertain future when his
older brother must submit
to Thailand’s annual
military draft lottery. He
takes matters into his
own hands, resulting in
unexpected consequences.
Times Square
K
(China) Drama. 85mins.
Xstream Pictures. Dir:
Emyr ap Richard, Darhad
Erdenibulag. Key cast:
Bayin, Jula, Yirgui.
A charlatan arrives at
a remote frontier village
and has an affair with
a woman who claims to
be the mistress of a highranking official at the
nearby castle.
Meeting room N111-N112,
HKCEC
THE LOST DRAGON
(Vietnam) Action,
adventure, comedy.
99mins. Vietnam Cinema
Association. Dir: Cuong
Ngo. Key cast: Ngo
Thanh Van, Le Khanh,
Petey Majik, Trang Quoc
Dung.
The time travel story
of two fairies sent to
Earth and assigned
an important task.
Experiencing human life,
the two fairies come to
understand that humanity,
love and other things in
this world are far different
from where they live.
Meeting room N101A, HKCEC
THE MISPLACED WORLD
(Germany) Drama.
101mins. Wild Bunch.
Dir: Margarethe Von
Trotta. Key cast: Katja
Riemann, Barbara
Sukowa, Matthias Habich,
Gunnar Moeller, Rudiger
Vogler, Karin Dor.
Jazz singer Sophie receives
a phone call from her
father, Paul. He wants
to show her a photo on
a US newspaper website
— a photo of a woman
who bears an astonishing
resemblance to his dead
wife, Sophie’s mother.
Paul asks his daughter
to find the woman in the
picture — a celebrated
opera singer. Despite her
misgivings, Sophie agrees.
As she travels to New
York, she cannot imagine
the revelations that await
her about her mother, her
father and herself.
HKCEC
Money On The Road
(China) Comedy.
94mins. Tianshan Film
Studio. Dir: Aersilang
Aabudukelimu, Mulati
M, Zhou Jun. Key cast:
Abudukelimu Abulizi,
Dilixiati Balati.
An ironic story about
money, humanity, affection,
love and friendship is
told through three simple
and honest farmers. Is a
bag of old coins, found
accidentally, the key to
three people’s happiness or
a stumbling block that will
cause endless trouble?
HKCEC
March 23, 2015 Screen International at Filmart 21
»
SCREENINGS
Lo-yuan, Chen Po-cheng,
Su Ming-ming.
Chinese mainlander Zhao
goes to Taiwan to pursue
the love of his life, ShinYe. However, due to the
historical turmoil between
Taiwan and mainland
China, Shin-Ye’s family
refuses to let Zhao marry
her. As Shin-Ye’s pregnancy
comes to light, Zhao’s
parents travel to Taiwan to
salvage the situation.
The Pearl Button
(Chile, France, Spain)
Documentary. 82mins.
Pyramide International.
Dir: Patricio Guzman.
The ocean contains the
history of all humanity.
The sea holds the voices of
the Earth and those that
come from space. Water
receives impetus from the
stars and transmits it to
living creatures. Chile, the
largest archipelago in the
world, is a supernatural
landscape of volcanoes,
mountains and glaciers.
These contain the voices
of the indigenous people,
of the first English sailors
and those of its political
prisoners. Some say water
has memory; this film
shows it also has a voice.
Arts Centre
Zhou Lan-Ping — His Life
and Music
HKCEC No press
Filmart
Thanatos, Drunk
Thanatos, Drunk
See box, right
(Taiwan) Drama.
107mins. Simple View
Production Company.
Dir: Chang Tso-chi. Key
cast: Lee Hong-Chi,
11:45
THE GAMES MAKER
(Argentina, Canada)
Children’s. 112mins.
Cinema Management
Group. Dir: Juan Pablo
Buscarini. Key cast:
Joseph Fiennes, David
Mazouz, Ed Asner.
An exciting family
adventure about 10-yearold Ivan Drago, whose love
of board games catapults
him into a fantastical
world of game invention
and imagination. After
entering the Games Maker
competition, sponsored
by the evil inventor
Morodian, Ivan’s parents
go missing in a freak
balloon accident. When he
is left with no choice but to
find them or be an orphan
at the decaying Possum
Boarding School, Ivan sets
off on a daring expedition.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
The Golden Horse
(Latvia, Luxembourg,
Lithuania, Denmark)
Animation. 79mins.
Rija Films. Dir: Reinis
Kalnaellis.
The old witch Black
Mother seeks to control the
world thorough sadness,
by draining the tears of
all who suffer loss. Her
latest target is the princess,
whose demise should
prompt enough tears to
grant her absolute power.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
10:00
The Moment — Fifty
Years of Golden Horse
(Taiwan) Documentary.
112mins. Dir: Yang
Li-chou. Key cast: Hou
Hsiao-hsien, Li Hsing,
Chen Kuo-fu, Sylvia
Chang, Stanley Kwan,
Peter Chan, Leon Dai,
Gwei Lun-Mei.
In 2013, the Golden Horse
Film Festival celebrated
its 50th anniversary.
The Ministry of Culture
commissioned director
Yang Li-chou to make a
documentary about the
history of Golden Horse.
HKCEC
Haruko’s Paranormal
Laboratory
(Japan) Sci-fi, fantasy.
76mins. SDP. Dir: Lisa
Takeba. Key cast: Aoi
Nakamura, Moeka
Nozaki.
Haruko lives alone and
talks to the TV everyday.
One day, the TV turns into
a human and shows his
feelings.
Times Square
11:50
Beautiful 2015
(China, Hong Kong, Iran,
Taiwan) Drama. 120mins.
(Taiwan) Documentary.
83mins. The Green Shoots
AV. Dir: Mark Huang.
Explores the musician’s life
and music.
Chen Jen-Shuo, Huang
Shang-Ho.
About an anguished
punk, his gay brother
and their gigolo friend.
HKCEC
in black liquid wandering
lost in the forest after an
experiment at a secret
installation goes wrong. He
has been working to develop
a regenerative cell that he
hopes can save his dying
girlfriend. But events get
out of control when the cell
takes over her body.
Dir: Mohsen Makhmalbaf,
Tsai Ming-liang, Huang
Jianxin, Yim Ho. Key cast:
Amirali Khosrojerdi, Lee
Kang-Sheng, Tong Li-ya
Gigi Wong.
Understanding ‘beauty’ in
2015 through a selection
of stories from renowned
directors… from Beijing,
Huang Jianxin wonders
whether it is nobler to
sleep or not to sleep
in ‘Insomniac Diary’.
In London, Mohsen
Makhmalbaf ’s ‘Tenant’
tells the misadventures
of an Iranian boy trying
to retain his bedsit. With
‘Three Days After My
Death’, Yim Ho creates a
parable: a woman who
wants to die must save
someone’s life before her
death wish be granted. Tsai
Ming-liang, returns with
‘No No Sleep’, where barefooted Li Kang-seng walks
the Tokyo streets in the
depths of winter.
HKCEC
Times Square
(Nepal) Drama. 85mins.
Dragon Horse Films. Dir:
Gurung Rudra Bahadur.
Key cast: Manoj Kumar,
Dipti Gurung, Roshni
Karki.
Love blossoms between a
young man and woman
as they journey to a
remote village in Nepal’s
DUSK 2
(Japan) Horror,
suspense. 77mins. Elixir
Entertainment. Dir:
Meidai Takahashi.
The police find an r&d
medical researcher covered
12:00
The Magic Brush
(China) Sci-fi, fantasy,
children’s. 87mins. All
Rights Entertainment.
Dir: Zhixing Zhong.
In the village of Baihua
lives Ma Liang, a boy who
loves to paint. He is given
a brush with magical
powers that transforms
whatever he paints into
reality. With this, Ma helps
everyone in his village.
This information reaches a
greedy general who steals
the brush but it loses all
its power in his hands.
Fighting to get the brush
back, Ma is forced by the
general to draw a golden
mountain. Ma agrees, but
has another plan.
By invitation only
The Necklace
spectacular Mustang
region. Their relationship
is tested after they cross
paths with a poor farm
girl who wears a valuable
gemstone necklace. It soon
becomes the centrepiece
of an unfolding drama of
love, greed and betrayal.
HKCEC
Redeemer
(Chile) Action, adventure.
88mins. Xyz Films. Dir:
Ernesto Diaz Espinoza.
Key cast: Marko Zaror,
Jose Luis Mosca, Loreto
Aravena, Mauricio
Diocares.
A former hitman for a
drug cartel becomes a
vigilante to pay for his sins
and find redemption.
Meeting room N101B, HKCEC
No press
The Werewolf Game: The
Villagers Side
HKCEC
13:25
THE CONNECTION
(AKA LA FRENCH)
(France) Drama.
135mins. Gaumont.
Dir: Cedric Jimenez.
Key cast: Jean Dujardin,
Gilles Lellouche, Benoit
Magimel, Celine Sallette,
Melanie Doutey.
Marseille, 1975. Pierre
Michel, a young magistrate
with a wife and children,
has been transferred to
help in the crackdown
on organised crime.
He decides to take on
French Connection, a
Mafia-run operation that
exports heroin around the
world. Paying no heed
to warnings, he leads
a one-man campaign
against Mafia kingpin
Gaetan Zampa, the most
untouchable godfather of
them all.
(Japan) Horror, suspense.
110mins. Nikkatsu
Corporation. Dir: Izuru
Kumasaka. Key cast:
Nanami Sakuraba, Taiga,
Saika Taketomi.
Who will win, the
werewolves or the
villagers? Ten high school
students are targeted for a
deadly, strategic game — a
nerve-fraying game where
lives are at stake.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
HKCEC
12:15
It Takes Two to Tango
(Taiwan) Drama.
102mins. Wan Jen Films
Co. Dir: Wan Jen. Key
cast: Lee Tsung-i, Wang
13:30
The Dream Youth
Beijing Tianchao Yinghua
Film And Television
Communications Co. Dir:
Li Yushan. Key cast: Liu
Yue, Xiao Haoran.
Seven future kings and
queens go on a difficult,
but fantastic, adventure.
14:00
francesca
(Japan) Animation.
30mins. Hokkaido
Cultural Broadcasting Co. »
www.screendaily.com
by Vera Glagoleva
Starring Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel,
Harry Potter, The English Patient) and Sylvie Testud
(La Vie en Rose, Lourdes).
Market Screening:
Tue 24th 10:00H (N109-110)
Based on the Ivan Turgenev’s classic play A MONTH IN THE COUNTRY.
by Beata Gardeler
Winner of the Crystal Bear at Berlinale 2015
(Generation 14Plus). Based on true stories!
Market Screening:
Tue 24th 14:00H (N102-103)
by Marco Polo Constandse
Box Office hit in Mexico! - Third highestgrossing film of all time
Starring Martha Higadera (Street Kings, Amar te
duele), Luis Gerardo Méndez (Cantinflas) and Michel
Brown (Pasión de Gavilanes – TV)
Market Screening:
Tue 24th 16:10H (N102-103)
by Barney Cheng
From Oscar-winning producer of Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon, Eat Drink Man Woman and The
Wedding Banquet by Ang Lee.
Starring the award-winning actress Ah-Leh Gua (The
Wedding Banquet and Eat Drink Man Woman).
Market Screening:
Wed 25th 11:45H (N101A)
by Carlos Caridad Montero
Miss Venezuela. When obsession for beauty and
cosmetic surgery is taken too far.
Starring Diana Peñalver, Josette Vidal, Fabiola Arace &
Fabián Moreno.
Visit us!
www.medialuna.biz
Market Screening:
Wed 25th 14:05H (N101A)
media luna new films @ FILMART – European Pavilion 1C-D13
Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring 38 • 6th floor • D-50672 Cologne Germany • Tel.: +49 221 510 91891 • [email protected]
Ida Martins • Mobile: +49 170 966 7900
Dear Jean-Claude Van Damme,
We have loved your movies since we were young.
You were our hero then and you still are.
It has been a true privilege to work with you.
Thank you for your many years of high kicks and epic splits.
Your friends and fans,
VISIT US AT BOOTH 1C-B26
SCREENINGS
Dir: Hitoshi Kumagai.
Key cast: Yui Makino,
Asami Tano, Tomofumi
Ikezoe, Jin Urayama,
Kenji Hamada.
Francesca travels around
Hokkaido’s tourist spots,
eats the area’s delicious
food and encounters the
local characters.
Niigata Network Co. Dir:
Yoshiaki Tokita. Key cast:
Tomomi Takahashi.
Follow a little girl’s dream
over 26 years.
HKCEC
SHOOT ME IN THE HEART
HKCEC
Halser Acre The Movie:
ACRES
(Japan) Action,
adventure. 93mins. Ritz
Productions. Dir: Tsukasa
Kishimoto. Key cast:
Akina, Moeko Fukuda,
Tomoji Yamashiro,
Shingo Chinen, Kenta
Nakaza, Shinichiro
Chinen, Benbee, Natsumi
Ikema, Shinichi Tsuha,
Kyohei Higa.
“Something is wrong,”
believes Satsuki, a girl
with innocence in her eyes.
Concerns for her village
prompt her to visit Halser
Acres.
HKCEC
The Galaxy on Earth
August 1st Film Studio.
Dir: Ning Haiqiang,
Shen Dong. Key cast:
Li Youbin, Yu Feihong,
Duan Yihong.
Drama set around water
conservation.
HKCEC
Granny’s Got Talent
(South Korea) Comedy.
108mins. Contents
Panda. Dir: Shin Hansol. Key cast: Kim Soomi, Jung Man-sik, Kim
Jeong-tae.
A grandmother is released
from prison but her two
sons are nowhere to be
seen. She finds them
through a private detective
and realises they are
both married but leading
miserable lives. Dejected
and feeling responsible
for their miseries, she goes
on a personal cursing
rant at a nearby park.
There she is picked up by
a tv producer who is in
search of contestants for
a tv audition battle that
sees people curse at each
other until one is rendered
speechless.
HKCEC No press
Filmart
16:00
Cat Funeral
(South Korea) Drama,
romance. 107mins.
Indiestory. Dir: Lee
Jong-hoon. Key
cast: Kang In, Park
Se-young.
Aspiring musician Donghoon and prospective
cartoonist Jae-hee first
met at their friend’s
wedding. Dong-hoon is
a timid boy and Jae-hee
The Nutcracker
(Japan) Action, adventure,
romance, animation,
children’s. 80mins. Crei.
Dir: Sebastian Masuda.
Key cast: Kasumi
Arimura, Tori Matsuzaka,
Ryoko Hirosue,
Masachika Ichimura.
In search of her stolen
doll, a girl finds herself
in a land of dolls cursed
by the two-headed mouse
queen. The key to breaking
the curse lays with the
young girl’s love. With a
complete 3D conversion,
the magical adventure is
about to begin.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
NATIONAL BASE FOR
INTERNATIONAL CULTURAL
TRADE HIT SHOWS
(China) 120mins.
National Base For
International Cultural
Trade (Shanghai).
HKCEC
Summer, Kyoto
Skeleton Films. Dir:
Toda Hiroshi. Key
cast: Hayashi Yoichi,
Wakahara Hitomi,
is a sassy, lively girl.
It didn’t look like the
perfect match but they
fell in love and moved
in together. However,
their love didn’t survive
their misunderstandings
and differences and
they broke up. One day
Dong-hoon calls Jaehee because the cat they
raised together has died.
HKCEC
Yamada Shyoji.
An elderly couple earn a
living by making scented
bags. One night, when
the husband takes a walk
alone, he finds an old man
lying helpless in the street.
Being kind by nature, he
takes the old man to his
house and offers him food
and a night’s lodging.
The next day the old man
offers his help to show
his thanks, so the goodnatured husband asks him
to deliver their products to
a customer. The old man
leaves and doesn’t return,
just as his wife expected.
HKCEC
Taxi Driver Gion Taro
THE MOVIE — To All You
Deserted Dudes
(Japan) Animation.
56mins. Yuba Motion
Pictures. Dir: Munenori
Nagano. Key cast:
Chikara Honda, Shiori
Doi, Gota Ishida.
My name is Gion Taro.
I’m just an ordinary taxi
driver. Born and raised
in Kyoto, I’m ashamed
to say that I’ve never left
the area. But this is home
to beautiful scenery and
nostalgic cityscapes. Who
would want to abandon
this sophisticated town
and go elsewhere? I love
this place from the bottom
of my heart. One day, I
became interested in the
world. Seeing other places
may help me learn more
about Kyoto. Maybe my
love for Kyoto will deepen.
112mins. Nikkatsu
Corporation. Dir: Izuru
Kumasaka. Key cast: Tao
Tsuchiya, Aoi Morikawa,
Misato Aoyama.
Who will win, the
werewolves or the
villagers? Ten high school
students are targeted for a
deadly, strategic game. A
nerve-fraying game where
lives are at stake.
HKCEC
Three Sisters
LEGEND OF RABBIT:
MARTIAL OF FIRE 3D
(Japan) Comedy.
104mins. Three Sisters
Head Office. Dir: Kiyoshi
Sasabe. Key cast: Kazue
Fukiishi, Eri Tokunaga,
Yo Yoshida, Tuda Kanji,
Seishirou Nishida.
A touching comedy about
three beautiful sisters.
HKCEC
14:05
(China) Animation.
90mins. Arclight Films.
Dir: Sun Lijun, Dong
Dake.
The rabbit is back in
action in the third
animated film ‘Legend Of
A Rabbit’.
CHASUKE’S JOURNEY
Wan Chai Baby
(Hong Kong) Drama.
75mins. Dragon Horse
Films. Dir: Craig
Addison. Key cast:
Chanel Latorre, Ines
Laimins, Courtney Wu,
Aaron Palermo.
A young Filipina, Tess,
arrives in Hong Kong
a year before the 1997
handover to China to work
as a housemaid. Although
the work is menial it still
pays more than she could
earn in the Philippines
in a more respectable job.
When her employer dies
unexpectedly, Tess’s life
changes course in a way
she never imagined.
the Werewolf Game: The
Beast Side
(Japan) Horror, suspense.
(Japan) Drama, sci-fi,
fantasy. 106mins. Films
Boutique. Dir: Sabu. Key
cast: Ken’ichi Matsuyama,
Ito Ohno.
In Heaven, scribes are
busy writing scenarios for
all of mankind, dictating
everyone’s destiny. Celestial
tea server Chasuke never
misses a chance to catch
up on the latest chapters,
especially those of Yuri,
for whom he has a
secret crush. But when
he discovers the writers
accidentally kill her off, he
decides to break the rules
to save her.
Times Square
14:10
A Little Girl’s Dream
(Japan) Documentary.
86mins. Television
(Korea) Drama. 102mins.
9ers Entertainment.
Dir: Mun Che-yong.
Key cast: Lee Min-ki,
Yeo Jin-goo.
Soo-myung and Seungmin are locked away
in a private mental
hospital with abusive
staff and noisy patients.
Soo-myung has been in
such institutions since his
mother’s death when he
was 19. Seung-min is a
sane guy with prospects as
a champion paraglider but
was locked up by his halfbrother, who is chasing
his inheritance. Soomyung accepts his fate but
somehow becomes involved
in Seung-min’s regular
escape schemes.
15:00
DO NOT DISTURB
(France) Comedy.
79mins. Wild Bunch.
Dir: Patrice Leconte. Key
cast: Christian Clavier,
Carole Bouquet, Valerie
Bonneton, Rossy De
Palma, Stephane De
Groodt, Sebastien Castro.
When passionate jazz
fan Michel finds a rare
album at a flea market,
he can’t wait to listen to
it — at home, on his own
— but the whole world
seems bent on preventing
him from doing so. His
wife picks this moment
to make an unwelcome
confession, his wayward
son appears out of the blue,
one of his friends drops by
announced, and his mother
won’t stop calling. Glib
and manipulative, Michel
will lie through his teeth to
get what he wants: in this
case, an hour’s peace.
HKCEC
15:30
CONCRETE CLOUDS
(Hong Kong, Thailand)
Drama, romance.
99mins. Far Sun
Film Co. Dir: Lee
Chatametikool. Key cast:
Ananda Everingham,
Apinya Sakulkaroensuk,
www.screendaily.com
Janesuda Parnto, Prawith
Hansten.
1997. Mutt, a currency
trader in New York,
returns home to Bangkok
after his father’s suicide.
Having been to the funeral,
he tracks down Sai, his
high-school girlfriend.
Meanwhile, his younger
brother Nic is in love with
Poupee, who lives in a
low-income flat behind
their townhouse. While the
economic crisis looms over
the city, both relationships
face uncertainty.
Arts Centre
15:45
The Life and Times of
Randen Town
Ritsumeikan University
College Of Image Arts
And Sciences. Dir: Sakura
Yoshida, Jyun Nonaka,
Susumu Sasaki. Key
cast: Haruka Nakasako,
Ryousuke Satake Kazuya
Tsurui Taisuke Igaki,
Susumu Morisaki, Yuuhei
Miyamae, Kotomi Ikeda,
Takashi Naitou.
Three tales set in Kyoto.
‘Give And Take’ follows the
struggles of two volunteers
at a senior citizens home.
‘Oh! Brother’ tells the tale
of three homeless men,
who live under a bridge
on the Kamo River but
are ordered to leave. In
‘Song For A Scoundrel’
arts university students
stumble on the lonely
death of an old man and
find a new meaning in
life as they search for his
family.
15:55
Detective K: Secret of
the Lost Island
(South Korea) Action,
adventure. 125mins.
Showbox/Mediaplex. Dir:
Kim Sok-yun. Key cast:
Kim Myung-min, Oh Dalsoo, Lee Yeon-hee.
In 1795, the 19th year of
King Jeongjo’s reign, a
large amount of fake silver
is slipped into circulation
creating a threat to the
economy. Detective Kim
Min investigates the crime
ring behind the scheme.
16:00
Early Spring, Kyoto
Skeleton Films. Dir:
Toda Hiroshi. Key cast:
Hayashi Yoichi, Arai
Harumi, Yamada Shyoji.
Kenichi Kusuda, who lost
his wife six months ago,
runs a café alone. He lives
in her memory, without
even trying to bury her
ashes. One day he finally
decides to place her remains
in the family tomb. He
drives to his home town
where he meets an old
friend. Finally his life
begins to move on.
Meeting room N109-110
From Vegas to Macau II
(Hong Kong) Action,
adventure, comedy,
drama. 110mins. MegaVision Project Workshop.
Dir: Wong Jing. Key
cast: Chow Yun Fat, Nick
Cheung, Carina Lau.
Now an Interpol agent,
Vincent seeks Macau-based
master gambler Ken’s help
in busting the mastermind
of an international crime
syndicate.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
Genuine Love
Tianshan Film Studio.
Dir: Gao Huanggang.
Key cast: Kunduzai Tasi,
Baihetiyaer Eziz.
The story of a special
family, composed of a
Uyghur mother and 19
children from six ethnic
groups. The story takes
place in the Qinghe county
of Altay in Xinjiang
autonomous region.
HKCEC
Little Big Master
(Hong Kong, China)
Drama. 113mins. Universe
Films Distribution
Company Ltd. Dir: Adrian
Kwan. Key cast: Miriam
Yeung, Louis Koo.
Schools are being forced to
close due to Hong Kong’s
low birth rate. Based on a
true story, a headmistress
stands by her principles
to run a kindergarten
for underprivileged kids.
Regardless of the low
pay and difficulties, her
sacrifice wins the respect of
the public.
Theatre 1, HKCEC
Cat Funeral
Stung
See box, above left
(Germany) Horror,
www.screendaily.com
suspense. 85mins.
Xyz Films. Dir: Benni
Diez. Key cast: Matt
O’Leary, Jessica Cook,
Clifton Collins Jr, Lance
Henriksen.
Mrs Perch, an elderly,
wealthy lady in rural
America, is throwing a
fancy garden party at
her remote country villa.
However her illegally
imported plant fertiliser
has seeped into the ground
and a species of killer
wasp has mutated into 7ft
tall predators.
HKCEC No press
16:15
Betel Nut Girl
(Hong Kong) Drama.
Films Limited. Dir: Craig
Addison. Key cast: Frank
Bren, Paul Sheehan,
Anne Shie.
The Fate Of Three People
— an ‘old China hand’, a
Taiwanese girl from the
wrong side of town and a
US engineer — intersect
in the days before a crossstraits political crisis
threatens to engulf Taiwan.
HKCEC
THE DEAL
(South Korea) Horror,
suspense. 102mins. 9ers
Entertainment. Dir: Son
Young-ho. Key cast: Kim
Sang-kyoung, Kim Sungkyun, Park Sung-woong.
Tae-soo, a veteran cop,
goes after a hit-and-run
case and succeeds in
capturing the serial killer
suspect, Gang-chun. Not
long after his victory, Taesoo realises his sister, Sookyung, was the last victim.
Gang-chun, sentenced to
death, refuses to reveal the
whereabouts of the victims’
bodies. Tae-soo and his
brother-in-law Seunghyun’s lives are devastated.
Three years later, Tae-soo
handles a murder case of
a gangster boss and finds
evidence Seung-hyun is the
prime suspect.
GAME ON: TIME TO PULL
THE STRINGS
(Hong Kong) Comedy.
Films. Dir: Aaron
Palermo. Key cast: Jay
Neville, Billy Buck, Jai
Day, Danielle Chupak,
Ailynn Murphy, Paul
Sheehan, Ines Laimins.
An online game has a high
death count because people
go insane chasing the
money. But three fearless
players join forces with a
drama queen to steal the
master player’s password so
they can win.
House 1, UA Cine Times,
Times Square
Entertainment Group
Company. Dir: Wilson
Kwok-wai Chin. Key cast:
Kelvin Kwan, Fama Luk
Wing, Sharon Hsu, Barbie
Xia.
In order to marry May,
Caprio goes to Taipei
with his mother’s ring.
Unfortunately, Taiwanese
boy JinGua accidentally
knocks the ring into a ditch.
Theatre 2, HKCEC
LadyGrey
(France, Belgium, SouthAfrica) Drama. 104mins.
The Bureau Sales. Dir:
Alain Choquart. Key cast:
Peter Sarsgaard, Emily
Mortimer, Jeremie Renier,
Liam Cunningham.
South Africa, 10 years
after the end of apartheid.
A mixed community at the
foot of the Drakensberg
Mountains lives with the
trauma of some unsolved
killings. None of them
has forgotten but they all
choose to remain silent.
A young woman, who
has just arrived in the
community, will shatter
the fragile balance. Meeting room N104-105
16:30
Sand Pebbles
(Hong Kong) Drama.
Films. Dir: Choi Kai
Kwong. Key cast: Paw
Hee Ching, Silkie Choi,
Simc, Kitson Shum.
This touching drama set
during the Sars epidemic
of 2003 tells the story
of how a grandmother
copes during the epidemic
together with her three
teenage granddaughters,
who all come from different
cultural backgrounds and
speak different languages.
18:15
(SEX) APPEAL
(Taiwan). Drama.
107mins. Chinese
Shadows. Wang Wei
Ming. Key cast: Vivian
Hsu, Kuo Tsai Chieh,
Leon Dai.
Pai arrives in the town of
Taitung to take a music
degree. For the first time
in her life she is free
from her mother and can
pursue her love of music.
Times Square
Virgin mountain
(Iceland, Denmark)
Drama. 94mins. Bac
Films Distribution. Dir:
Dagur Kari. Key cast:
Gunnar Jonsson, Ilmur
Kristjansdottir.
Fusi is in his 40s and yet
to find the courage to enter
the adult world. When a
bubbly woman and an
eight-year old girl arrive
on the scene, he is forced to
take the leap.
19:00
PARADISE IN HEART
One Night in Taipei
(Hong Kong) Drama.
100mins. Film Asia
Arts Centre
17:45
Wolf Warrior
(China) Action,
adventure. 100mins.
Arclight Films. Dir: Wu
Jing. Key cast: Wu Jing,
Yu Nan, Scott Adkins.
A Chinese special forces
soldier is confronted by
deadly foreign mercenaries
who are hired by a drug
lord to assassinate him.
Meeting room N101, HKCEC
18:00
Editorial
Tel +852 2582 8958
Asia editor Liz Shackleton,
[email protected]
News editor Michael Rosser,
michael.rosser@screendaily.
com
Reviews editor Finn
Halligan, finn.halligan@
screendaily.com
Reporter Jean Noh,
[email protected]
Group head of production
and art Mark Mowbray,
mark.mowbray@screendaily.
com
Sub-editors Kim Harding,
Paul Lindsell, Jon Lysons,
Adam Richmond, Richard
Young
Screen editor Matt Mueller
18:20
(Vietnam) Drama.
99mins. Vietnam Cinema
Association. Dir: Phi
Tien Son. Key cast: Mai
Thu Huyen, Trung Dung,
Binh An, Thanh Loc, Vu
Tuan Viet.
Trung is a prisoner who
steals a gun in order to
escape. During a police
chase he jumps into Kim’s
car. She is a nurse who
lives in an isolated farm
and is responsible for
taking care of Hai, who
suffers from an illness.
Kim drives to the farm,
unknowingly carrying
Trung… and then, the
relationship between three
people begins. Both Kim
and Hai fall in love with
Trung.
HKCEC
Editorial office: Room G202,
second floor, Hong Kong
Convention and Exhibition
Centre, 1 Expo Drive, Wanchai,
Hong Kong
Filmart stand: 1E-F27
Advertising
Tel +852 5131 5309
Sales manager
Scott Benfold +44 7765
257 260, scott.benfold@
screendaily.com
Sales consultant
Ingrid Hammond +852 5131
5309, ingridhammond@
mac.com
Production manager
Jonathon Cooke, jonathon.
[email protected]
Commercial director
Nadia Romdhani
Group commercial director
Alison Pitchford
Chief executive officer,
MBI Conor Dignam
Printer G.L. Graphic &
Printing Ltd, level 1-8, Howard
Factory Building, 66 Tsun Yip
Street, Kwun Tong, Kowloon,
Hong Kong
Published by Media
Business Insight Ltd (MBI)
Zetland House, 5-25 Scrutton
Street, London EC2A 4HJ
Subscription customer
services
Tel: +44 1604 828 706
E-mail: help@subscribe.
screendaily.com
March 23, 2015 Screen International at Filmart 27

at filmart

Transcription

Similar documents

Bandyke Moving Pictures

Oct 2013 reg layout

Call for entries 2016

impression of a war - Camilo Restrepo Films

China 2006 July 7 - 18 Beijing, Xi`an, Shanghai and Hong Kong

REEL-Recovery-Film-Festival - Lifeskills Of South Florida

THE SOURCE (international)

CINEMA VILLAGE new york

mapping perception - European Media Art Festival

Letters From the Sky