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Loev
Buyers fall for India’s Loev BY JEAN NOH
France’s Wide has secured a raft of deals on Indian gay-love story Loev. Writer-director Sudhanshu Saria’s feature debut has sold to Italy (The Open Reel) and Poland (Film Village) on top of previously announced sales to Germany (Pro Fun Media), Taiwan (Swallow Wings) and Estonia (Menufilmid). Loev made its world premiere in Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival’s inaugural Tridens first features competition. It also screens at the SXSW festival and is set for its UK premiere at the BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival next week.
China 3D gives notice on $13m thriller Hong Kong-based China 3D Digital Entertainment launched a slate of six titles here at Filmart, including $13m (HK$100m) detective crime thriller The Death Notice (working title). Directed by Philip Yung (Port Of Call ), A-list actors are expected to be cast in the co-production with Chinese streaming platform iQiyi. The Death Notice was originally published as an internet novel and adapted into an online drama. Also on China 3D’s slate is The Menu, an adaptation of HKTV’s series; 29+1, which is based on Kearen Pang’s theatre production of the same name; and Lawrence Cheng’s Diary Of A Small Man 3. Silvia Wong
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John Woo’s Manhunt tracks down its cast BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Chinese star Zhang Hanyu and Japan’s Masaharu Fukuyama have been confirmed as the first leading cast for John Woo’s upcoming action thriller Manhunt. Backed by Hong Kong’s Media Asia, the film is based on Japanese novel Hot Pursuit, from pulp fiction writer Juko Nishimura, about a prosecutor who is framed for robbery and rape and sets out on a mission to clear his name. It was first adapted into a 1976 Japanese film, titled Kimi Yo Fundo No Kawa Wo Watare, starring Ken Takakura. Woo is directing the reboot from
Zhang Hanyu and Masaharu Fukuyama
a script written by Chan Hing Kai (A Better Tomorrow) and Gordon Chan (Painted Skin). A third major cast member will be announced soon and production is expected to start in late May. Zhang has starred in Chinese hits such as The Taking Of Tiger Mountain and Bodyguards And
Assassins and will also appear in Zhang Yimou’s upcoming co-production The Great Wall, alongside Matt Damon and Andy Lau. Fukuyama is known to international audiences for his role in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son. Media Asia is unveiling its new slate at Filmart today. The company is also selling Jazz Boon’s crime thriller Line Walker, starring Louis Koo and Nick Cheung; Johnnie To’s Three; Gordon Chan’s period action title God Of War; and Johnnie Toproduced crime thriller Trivisa, which opens Hong Kong International Film Festival next week.
Thunder, Poisson storm the world BY MICHAEL ROSSER
China’s Thunder Communications International and the UK’s Poisson Rouge Pictures are joining forces to develop a slate of Anglo-Chinese films aimed at the international market. Up to five productions are planned by the two companies, of which the first is The Proving Ground, an action adventure set in Cambridge and northern China in 1948. The story is inspired by the life of biochemist Joseph Need-
ham, who undertook a dangerous mission to investigate mysterious biological weapons that were used against the Chinese. Jonathan Finnigan is attached to direct a script written by Andy Briggs (The Philadelphia Experiment), which has already attracted interest from several buyers. Other projects selected for development are a Cold War thriller and a Mandopop road movie. Charles Lei, founder and CEO of
To, Hui join Macao film fest BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Johnnie To and Ann Hui have been named ambassadors for the first International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFA Macao). Both film-makers have a long association with Macau — Hui spent part of her childhood living in the city, while To has filmed more than 10 movies there, including Exiled, Isabella and Vengeance. As previously announced, Marco Müller has been appointed director of the festival, which is hosted by the Macau government and Macau Film & Television Pro-
ductions and Culture Association, and is set to run December 8-13. The event will feature a competition section, gala screenings, a focus on Asian genre cinema, “best of the fests” Panorama and a retrospective that sees 10 East Asian genre directors choose their favourite non-East Asian and non-US genre films. It will also have an industry platform, including a projects workshop. “The festival aims to become a new hub in Greater China that can build industry bridges between the region and the rest of the world,” said Mueller.
Thunder Communications, and previously general manager, China, for Disney TV, said: “Working with writers and directors from the UK is a real opportunity to push Chinese films into international markets.” Christopher Granier-Deferre, founder of Poisson Rouge Pictures, added: “With China on the cusp of becoming the single biggest market in the world, this is an exciting way to develop ideas that are a natural fit for that market.”
TODAY
Old Stone, page 4
NEWS Old Stone Asian Shadows scoops rights to Johnny Ma’s Berlinale film » Page 4
REVIEW A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery Lav Diaz’s eight-hour epic is confusing but mesmerising » Page 6
Final print daily This is Screen’s final print edition for Filmart 2016. For continued coverage, see ScreenDaily.com
Huace dives into Korean remake BY JEAN NOH
Huace Union Pictures has announced it picked up Chinese remake rights to Korean film Canola on the strength of its script. Directed by Chang, whose The Target was at Cannes in 2014, the original Canola is produced by Zio Entertainment and set for release in Korea this May. Veteran actress Youn Yuh-jung (The Bacchus Lady) stars as a legendary free diver on Jeju Island whose granddaughter, played by Kim Go-eun (Coin Locker Girl), returns mysteriously after a 12-year disappearance. The script was developed by Chang and Huace Union Pictures’ Korean division director Im Gun Joong. International sales are now being handled by Mirovision.
The One to invest in HK talent BY LIZ SHACKLETON
Former Tomson Entertainment executive Yvonne Chuang and fund manager Barry Lau have cofounded a finance and distribution company, The One Entertainment Group, which aims to invest in Hong Kong talent. The company’s first project is omnibus film Good Take!, produced by Eric Tsang, comprising short films from Hong Kong filmmakers. The One Entertainment has executive produced and is distributing the film, which will open in Hong
Kong in mid-April. It is also investing in a second instalment, Good Take 2, also produced by Tsang. Chuang and Lau, who is backing the venture through Adamas Asset Management, are looking for projects in which to invest and will establish a distribution team in 2017. The first instalment of Good Take! comprises short films directed by Derek Tsang, Henri Wong, Wong Chun, Vernie Yeung and Wong Ching Po. Cast includes Alex Fong, Charlene Choi and Chau Pakho.
News
Old Stone is scooped up by Asian Shadows the Salt Planet
Central Park lands on The Salt Planet By JeAn nOh
South Korea’s Central Park Films, formerly specialising in short-film sales, is launching a feature slate that includes Lee Jun Hak’s The Salt Planet. Featuring child stars Park Seoyeon and Park Hee-geon, the film follows a little girl who is sent to live in the countryside with her grandparents. She makes friends with a little boy of a different skin colour who works on a salt farm. Central Park Films is also taking some of their most notable shorts and compiling them into omnibus films for sale. Set to be completed this summer, Urban Evil is a compilation of 12th Assistant Deacon directed by Jae-hyun Jang, Marionette directed by Seung-yeon Cho, and Mould directed by Chun-kyu Park. Neighbors comprises awardwinning shorts on a similar theme, framed with an overall narrative.
By Liz ShAckLetOn
Hong Kong-based Asian Shadows has picked up worldwide rights excluding China and North America to Johnny Ma’s Old Stone, which premiered at the recent Berlinale. The film, which marks Ma’s feature debut, follows a taxi driver in a small Chinese town who faces losing his job, friends and family after refusing to follow usual practice and takes responsibility for a traffic accident. Produced by C2M Media and
Shanghai Junrui Cultural Communication Co, the film will receive its Asian premiere in the Young Cinema Competition at the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF). It also has two press and industry screenings at Filmart. Producers on the film include Wu Xianjian, Chi-an Lin, Jing Wang and Sarah Stallard. Asian Shadows has also sold French rights to Wang Bing documentary Ta’ang, which also premiered in Berlin and is screening
Putrama tuta set to unwrap happy Birthday By Liz ShAckLetOn
Indonesian director Putrama Tuta is set to start shooting romantic thriller Happy Birthday Every Day in Jakarta on April 17. Produced by John Badalu and Dewi Piay through The United Team Of Art, the film revolves around a dying writer attempting to write his masterpiece who realises that he is already dead and living inside his own story.
The script was written by Ilya Sigma, who also wrote Tuta’s award-winning 2011 debut, Boy’s Diary. The cast is headed by Indonesian TV star Anjasmara Prasetya, who will play the writer, and actress Fahrani Pawaka Empel, who previously starred in Joko Anwar’s Kala. Tuta’s credits as director also include rockumentary Noah Awal Semula. He is also developing a
disaster movie about a volcanic eruption for Korea’s CJ Entertainment, which is investing in Indonesian film. Badalu previously produced Indonesian films such as Paul Agusta’s Parts Of The Heart, selected for Rotterdam in 2012, and Mouly Surya’s What They Don’t Talk About When They Talk About Love, which played at Sundance in 2013.
Pandemic spreads across Asia
Musicals festival tunes into Filmart Artistic director Hong-Joon Kim and staff are here scouting for the first edition of Chungmuro International Musical Film Festival, set to launch July 6-11 in Seoul. “Musical films will be our main content, but we’re aiming for a convergence in cinema and performance art, so we’re looking for fiction and documentaries as well as performances that can go with screenings that reflect this,” said Kim, former head of Chungmuro International Film Festival and Bucheon (then Pucheon) International Fantastic Film Festival. Chungmu Art Centre is to serve as the main location with screenings also held at Dongdaemun Design Plaza. The festival plans to programme around 30 films over 12 sections. Jean Noh
in HKIFF, to Les Acacias. The Paris-based company also distributed two previous Wang Bing films in France. In addition, Zhang Yang’s Paths Of The Soul has been sold to Japan’s Moviola, which is planning a summer 2016 release. Asian Shadows has also sold Pema Tseden’s Tharlo to Icarus Films for the US and Canada as well as Day For Night for the UK, where it will receive a theatrical release. Paths Of The Soul and Tharlo are also screening at HKIFF.
Los Angeles-based Content Media has closed deals throughout Asia on three titles. The films include Pandemic, set in the near future where a virus has overtaken the planet, with deals including Japan (CCC/Culture Entertainment) and Korea (Entermode). Other titles to score sales include sci-fi Higher Power and supernatural horror Don’t Knock Twice, starring Katee Sackhoff. See ScreenDaily.com for full list. Michael Rosser
Butterfly woman tops Mei Ah slate By SiLviA WOng
Hong Kong-based Mei Ah Entertainment Group has unveiled a slate of films here, including the latest works by directors Joe Ma and Philip Yung. Butterfly Cemetery 3D is a $12m fantasy thriller, about a woman
4 Screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
who is half butterfly, directed by Ma and produced by Manfred Wong. The effects-heavy film was shot mainly in Budapest and stars Zhang Li and Vivian Dawson. It is based on a novel by Cai Jun. Wong is also the producer of another two projects, Yung’s unti-
tled crime thriller and Yu Zhong’s coming-of-age drama Growing Up. Doris Wong’s The Travel Diary is about a girl who cycles across Taiwan in search of another girl who looks just like her, while other new titles include Wong Jing-produced family adventure Girl Of The Big House and Chan Hing Ka’s untitled film about bras.
Udine fest to launch market Italy’s Udine Far East Film Festival, in partnership with MIA — the International Audiovisual Market in Rome — is launching Focus Asia as a market to take place April 27-29 during the festival. Known for showcasing more mainstream and commercial Asian films than usually seen at most Western festivals, the 18th Udine will run April 22-30. The 1st Focus Asia will take place at the city’s Cinema Visionario with screenings, research panels and meetings. Jean Noh
Taiwan classics sail for Japan By SiLviA WOng
Japan’s Shochiku has picked up three restored classics from the Taiwan Film Institute, including Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s Daughter Of The Nile, which recently premiered at Berlinale Classics, King Hu’s The Dragon Inn and A Touch Of Zen. The two martial-arts films by Hu, which premiered in Cannes Classics 2014 and 2015 respectively, have also been sold to Germany (Rapid Eye Movies), the UK (Eureka Entertainment) and US (Criterion). The deals were brokered by Eric Chou for the Taiwan Film Institute. Formerly known as Chinese Taipei Film Archive (CTFA), the institute was established by the Ministry of Culture in 2014. It has since restored 16 classic films, including Lee Hsing’s The Young Ones and Chen Chun-Liang’s Love In Chilly Spring, which starred Taiwanese singer Feng Fei-Fei in her big-screen acting debut. The restored films are available in 2K and 4K digital format. Here at Filmart, the Taiwan Film Institute is relaunching Super Citizen Ko by Wan Jen, a pioneering Taiwan New Wave director. The film, which brought Lin Yang the best actor award at the 1995 Golden Horse Awards, is about the political history of Taiwan following the imposition of martial law in 1947.
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GR AND EPOCH CI T Y, CHINA MARCH 25, 2016 W W W.CHINA-US-SUMMIT.COM
Alfonso Cuarón Award-winning Director Cheryl Boone Isaacs President, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Andrew Cripps Executive Vice President, IMAX Corporation Randall Wallace Award-winning Filmmaker and Best Selling Author Ann An Founder, Desen International Media David Lee Chief Executive Officer, Leeding Media Don Hahn Award-winning Producer Gary Lucchesi President, Producers Guild of America, and President, Lakeshore Entertainment Dick Cook Chairman, Dick Cook Studios Bill Borden Producer, Mili Pictures Elizabeth Daley Dean, USC School of Cinematic Arts Richard Fox Executive Vice President, Warner Bros. Entertainment Betty Thomas Producer, Director, and Vice-President of the Directors Guild of America Hawk Koch Award-winning Producer
Our speaking faculty has worked on such notable and award-winning films as:
Gravity The Mermaid Star Trek The King’s Speech Precious The Forbidden Kingdom Million Dollar Baby The Godfather: Part III The Artist We Were Soldiers Maleficent Y Tu Mamá También
Braveheart Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade The Karate Kid Pearl Harbor Beauty and the Beast Children of Men High School Musical Kung Fu Hustle The Lion King Charlie’s Angels Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban Pirates of the Caribbean
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Reviews
Filmart EvEnts, pagE 8
Reviews edited by Fionnuala Halligan finn.halligan@screendaily.com
Ta’ang Reviewed by David D’Arcy
A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery Reviewed by Jonathan Romney Many films by Filipino director Lav Diaz take place wholly or partly in forests — and the feeling of being lost in one has never been so bewitchingly acute as in A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery, his latest fictional contemplation of the history and politics of the Philippines. Clocking in at just over eight hours — although it is hardly the longest from this diehard of durational cinema — this confusing, slightly patchy but overall mesmerising weave of narratives, and of history and myth, will be a harder sell than the already tough Norte, The End Of History (2013), a mere bagatelle at five hours. While only the most audacious distributors will approach, festivals should prepare to clear the schedules for an ambitious statement by one of contemporary cinema’s authentic radicals. The multi-strand ensemble drama is set ostensibly in 1896-97, during the days of the Philippine Revolution, although there is an increasingly cavalier poetic licence with costumes, props and even dialogue when it comes to historical verisimilitude. The film begins with a young man, a musician and singer, taking leave of his beloved before going to join the revolution — not before witnessing the execution of revolutionary author Jose Rizal. This young man, seemingly the film’s protagonist, drops abruptly out of the action, as so often happens in Diaz films — but there are more than enough characters, including some real-life figures, to keep the action going. Photographed in magnificently textured black and white — and in Academy ratio — by Larry Manda, the film is unfailingly gorgeous although is often uncomfortably heavy on the dialogue. This, coupled with the often incantatory delivery and opaque narrative, makes the film hard going at times — and after the exuberant magic of the first half, things turn a little somnolent for much of the final stretch. But when the film reaches its operatic coda, the emotional surge delivers a cathartic payoff. The populous cast contains assorted Diaz regulars such as Angel Aquino and Sid Lucero. Dialogue is in Tagalog with some Spanish, and sometimes hair-raisingly anachronistic English, as two characters discuss the course of the action in amusingly self-referential terms: “I’ll just wait for the next chapter to unfold and flow with it” (sic). The viewer can only do likewise.
6 screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
MAsterclAss Phil-Sing. 2016. 485mins Director/screenplay/ editor Lav Diaz Production companies Epicmedia Productions, Ten17P, Sine Olivia Pilipinas, Protokol, Akanga Film Asia International sales Films Boutique, info@ filmsboutique.com Producers Bianca Balbuena, Paul Soriano Co-executive producers Charo Santos-Concio, Malou Santos, Marc Tanunliong, Empyreal, Henry Wee Co-producers Jeremy Chua, Fran Borgia Cinematography Larry Manda Production designer Popo Diaz Main cast Piolo Pascual, John Lloyd Cruz, Hazel Orencio, Alessandra De Rossi, Joel Saracho
In Ta’ang, Wang Bing follows families from a population fleeing the war that has been smouldering on the border between Burma and China. In this portrait of despair, he finds some radiant humanity in an unseen people. Wang usually makes serious demands of his audience, but by the standards of this director — who made Crude Oil (2008), a 14-hour documentary on petroleum extraction — Ta’ang is short, not even three hours. It also has moments of stunning beauty as it sits and walks through the mud — rather than fog — of war, with victims of a brutal conflict. The Ta’ang, also known as the Palaung, are a displaced people, fleeing from their own war with the Burmese government. We encounter women in flight with their children, dressed in distinctive greyish skirts and jackets, wearing hats held down with silver bands. They do not carry much more property than those clothes, although some have mobile phones. Cinema cannot get more iconic than this, as the Ta’ang, made itinerant by war, create shelter with whatever they can find. Wang watches as a group tries to build a frame for a tarpaulin roof with bamboo poles scavenged from what grows along the road. The poles tumble into a pile before any improvised structure can stand. It is the myth of Sisyphus, in Southeast Asia. As the sounds of fighting move closer, the Ta’ang are back on the road, marching from a camp to destinations inside China’s Yunnan province. Sometimes they harvest sugar cane, but they are essentially the walking poor. Wang’s signature contemplative shots make Fred Wiseman seem hurried. His extended observations remind us of a perennial truth about war. For combatants and for the refugees, time is experienced through long periods of inactivity and sudden bursts of urgency. It is an odd paradox here that Wang’s camera, viewing the Ta’ang at tactile range, is remarkably steadfast, capturing moments of mothers talking, children playing and conversations halting when distant artillery fire gets louder. Like Wang’s other films, Ta’ang is about people enduring circumstances beyond their control. War is the extreme version of that, although we never see the conflict itself. Here the film-maker gives us collateral damage, family style, one step at a time.
HKIFF Auteurs HK-Fr. 2016. 147mins Director Wang Bing Production companies Chinese Shadows, Wil Productions International sales Asian Shadows, contact@ chineseshadows.com Producers Wang Yang, Mao Hui Executive producer Wang Di Cinematography Shan Xiaohui, Wang Bing Editors Adam Kerby, Wang Bing Sound Emmanuel Soland
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EvEnts 09:00 – 17:00 OUR VIRTUAL FUTURE WORKSHOP And dISCUSSIOn FORUM Venue Meeting Room
S421, HKCEC Organiser Hong Kong Televisioners Association, HKTDC Supporting organisation
CREATEHK Language Cantonese 10:00 – 12:00 InTERnATIOnAL OPPORTUnITIES BROUGHT BY CHInA FILM IndUSTRY’S GLOBALISATIOn Venue Event Room,
Hall 1, HKCEC Organisers HKTDC, China
Daily Moderator Alexander Wan,
Senior Advisor of China Daily Asia Pacific Session Chairman Zhou Li, editorial board member, China Daily Group, Publisher & Editor-inChief, China Daily Asia Pacific Keynote Speakers Wilfred Wong Ying-wai (Hong Kong SAR), Chairman, HKIFF Society, Asian Film Awards Academy Deputy Chairman, Hong Kong Film Development Council; Michael C Ellis (Hong Kong SAR), President and Managing Director, Asia-Pacific Region Motion Picture Association (MPA); Park Keun-tae (Korea), CEO and President CJ Korea Express CJ Group
China Headquarters; Amy Liu (Chinese mainland), Co-founder & Senior Vice President of EntGroup; Jeane Huang (Taiwan), former director of Taipei Film Festival jury of 9th Asian Film Awards, jury of 28th Tokyo International Film Festival; Kriengsak Victor Silakong (Thailand), Festival Director, World Film Festival of Bangkok Panelists Li Yansong (Chinese mainland), President, iQIYI Motion Pictures Vice President, iQIYI.com; Hao Bin (Chinese mainland), Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of SMI Culture Group Holdings; Cary Cheng (Chinese mainland), Deputy General Manager of Wanda Media Co; CT Yip (Hong Kong SAR), Executive Director of Media Asia Group Holdings Limited CEO of Lai Sun Group; Ma Runsheng (Chinese mainland), former president of China Radio, Film and Television Programme Exchange Centre Vice President of China Television Drama Production Industry Association China’s film industry grossed more than rmb40bn in 2015, with more than 60% from local productions. China’s box office is expected to reach rmb100bn in 2020, surpassing North America
» Event times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration
as the world’s largest film market. The Chinese film industry’s rapid globalisation has recently effected strategic deals with the world’s largest film markets including Hollywood, the UK, India, Japan and Korea on content, IP, talent, capital, technology, distribution channels, etc. How should Hong Kong and Asian film industries capitalise on opportunities brought by such globalisation? 10:30 – 12:00 AnIMATIOn COnFEREnCE: HOW CAn A SMALL/ MEdIUM-SIZE AnIMATIOn STUdIO BE SUCCESSFUL In THE GLOBAL MARKET? Venue The Studio, Hall 1, HKCEC Organisers HKTDC, City of Moving Images (CITIA) Moderator Natalie Altmann, CEO, Media Valley Speakers Samuel Choy, General Manager of Bliss Concepts; Gerry Shirren, Managing Director of Cartoon Saloon; Kazuhiro Nishikawa, Director of Dandelion Animation Studio; Guillaume Hellouin, President and CEO, Founder of TeamTO Languages Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Japanese Small/medium-size enterprises face many hurdles to reach the world stage. However, there are strategies and business models achieved by smart market players that have
proved the feasibility in standing strong in the global market. This panel will explore the successful stories of small/mediumsize animation studios. 11:00 – 12:00 ‘CHInESE KUnG FU’ FILM SERIES PRESS COnFEREnCE And LAUnCH CEREMOnY Venue Room S225, HKCEC Languages Cantonese,
Mandarin. Press and media. By invitation only. 11:00 – 12:30 InAUGURAL PRESS COnFEREnCE OF FLAGSHIP EnTERTAInMEnT
Presented by TVB Flagship Entertainment (a joint venture of CMC Holdings, Warner Bros Entertainment and TVB) Venue The Stage, Hall 1, HKCEC Organiser TVBI Co Ltd (TVB) Languages Cantonese, English, Mandarin 12:30 – 14:00
PRESEnT IdEAS In THE dIGITAL ERA Venue The Studio, Hall 1,
HKCEC Organisers HKTDC, Hong Kong Digital Entertainment Association Sponsor CREATEHK Moderator Joel Kwong, Artistic Director, Transmedia Department — Asia Pacific of Sun Mobile Communication Ltd; Programme Director, Microwave International Media Arts Festival Speakers Robert Powers, Global Business and Technology Strategy of 20th Century Fox; Bingbing Tang, Chief Creative Officer of Base FX; Yusuke Tominaga, CEO of dot by dot; Leonard Wong, Head of Digital of Universal Music Hong Kong; Wayne Tsang, Director of Wazza Creative Languages Cantonese, English, Mandarin, Japanese Developments in the digital entertainment industry.
2016 HOnG KOnG AnIMATIOn FILM FORUM And PRESS COnFEREnCE
MEdIA ASIA PRESEnTATIOn
Venue Event Room, Hall
Venue The Stage, Hall 1,
14:00 – 14:30
1, HKCEC
HKCEC
Organiser Asian Comic
Organiser Media Asia
16:00 – 17:00 dIGITAL EnTERTAInMEnT IndUSTRY nETWORKInG RECEPTIOn Venue Hong Kong
Animation and Digital Entertainment Pavilion, Hall 1A Organiser HKTDC Sponsor CREATEHK 16:00 – 18:00 14TH HAF AWARdS PRESEnTATIOn CEREMOnY Venue The Studio, Hall 1,
HKCEC Organisers Hong Kong
International Film Festival Society Limited, Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum, iQIYI Languages Cantonese, English, Mandarin 16:00 – 18:00 THE CHALLEnGE OF ASIAn CInEMA Venue The Stage, Hall 1,
HKCEC Organiser Hong Kong
International Film Festival Society (HKIFF) Supporting organisation
CREATEHK, Hong Kong Film Development Fund Languages English, Mandarin 16:30 – 18:00
& Animation Culture RECEPTIOn TO CELEBRATE The voice of the Distribution international film industry Association Company US-HK PARTnERSHIP AT Language Cantonese Languages Cantonese,
Mandarin 13:30 – 15:30 dIGITAL EnTERTAInMEnT SUMMIT — EXPERT dIALOGUES: HOW TO The
FILMART
14:30 – 16:00
Venue Event Room, Hall
ACC COCKTAIL dRInKS
1, HKCEC
Venue Event Room, Hall
Organiser American
1, HKCEC
Consulate General Hong Kong (USCS), HKTDC. voice film industry By invitation only Centreof the international Organiser Arab Cinema
The voice of the international film industry H OT BO 41 T SI -D VI 1C
H OT BO 41 T SI C-D 1
VI
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HAF ProFiles
Lieutenant Yi
When The Waves Are Gone
The Autumn Morning
Dir René Liu
Dir Lav Diaz
Dir Song Fang
Project’s country of origin Taiwan
Project’s country of origin Philippines
Project’s country of origin China
Lieutenant Yi will mark the directorial debut of Taiwan actress René Liu. Although a fictional tale, Liu — who also wrote the script — was inspired by the story of three generations of her family who live in a mansion where time seems to have stopped. The title character, Lieutenant Yi, settled in Taiwan from China in 1949. When his granddaughter, a famous pop singer, returns to the family mansion for the first time in 10 years, her desire for change upsets the family’s precarious harmony and puts their love and loyalty on trial. She finds herself cast as a traitor by everyone around her, including the man who influenced her most, Lieutenant Yi. “As my grandmother is getting old and losing her memories, I feel I have got to do something to document the bittersweet times of an era,” says Liu of the 1950s. “The era of a lifetime of self-sacrifice, which treats loyalty as a basic virtue and asks for nothing in return, seems to have gone — but it shouldn’t have.” Liu, who is also a well-known singer, has won numerous acting accolades in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan for roles in film, TV and theatre production. Her frequent collaborator, Taiwanese filmmaker Sylvia Chang, serves on the project as producer through Hong Kong-based Red On Red. Also on board is Patricia Cheng, who has produced several of Chang’s films, including 20 30 40, Run Papa Run and more recently Murmur Of The Hearts, all of which star Liu. Liu’s own YinYi Studio, is also producing. Lieutenant Yi will be its first feature-film production. Silvia Wong
When The Waves Are Gone follows a man, now in his 50s, who has been locked up in the most crowded prison in Manila for 29 years. When he is finally released, he makes his way home by boat, which is loaded with a gun and 24 packs of bullets. He is ready to claim back his wealth, land and love from his best friend, the man who has taken them away. “To yearn for freedom is not an illusion,” says Diaz of the theme of his project. “It’s our obligation to free our motherland from those who do not own it because history remembers. I only hope this rebellion could mean something for the country.” Like his previous films, the Tagalog-language Waves will be shot in black-and-white and clock up an epic-running time. With more than a dozen films under his belt since 1998, Diaz has won international awards including Locarno’s Golden Leopard in 2014 for From What Is Before and the Berlinale’s Silver Bear Alfred Bauer prize this February for A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery. Producer Bianca Balbuena has worked on more than 20 features in various capacities before choosing to focus on producing in 2011. Her credits include Pepe Diokno’s Above The Clouds, Antoinette Jadaone’s That Thing Called Tadhana and A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery. Bradley Liew is a Malaysian producer, director and cinematographer who was involved in Diaz’s short Prologue To The Great Desaparecido. He is working on a documentary about Diaz. Epicmedia is a Manila-based production company established by Diokno and Balbuena in 2011. Silvia Wong
The Autumn Morning is a drama about the selfdiscovery of a Chinese woman through two relationships with the same man, 12 years apart. At 21, she falls for a young Japanese man who she meets on her travels in Yunnan. While they become close he doesn’t reciprocate her feelings. A decade later, she meets him again and discovers he is now married with a child. “This film is about our inner emotions and our understanding of the world,” says Song, who also wrote the screenplay. “Our feelings will change as time goes by; it’s the same for our perception of what we see. I want to capture in this film moments beyond our daily experience.” She studied at the INSAS institute in Belgium and received her MA in film directing from Beijing Film Academy. Her Chinese graduation short film, Goodbye, received the second prize from Cinéfondation at Cannes in 2009, while her 2012 debut feature Memories Look At Me won the best first feature prize at Locarno, the special jury prize at Tokyo Filmex and the grand prize at the International Women Film Festival in Brazil. Memories Look At Me, in which Song also stars, is a docudrama and received a limited theatrical release in 16 major cities in China. The Autumn Morning is being produced independently by Japan’s Shozo Ichiyama, whose recent credits for Office Kitano include Jia Zhangke’s Mountains May Depart and Sabu’s Chasuke’s Journey. He is the programme director of Tokyo Filmex and is also producing Song’s second feature The Calm, which is set to start filming later this year. Silvia Wong
Lieutenant Yi
When The Waves Are Gone
The Autumn Morning
Producers Sylvia Chang, Patricia Cheng Production companies Red On Red, YinYi Studio Budget $2m Finance raised to date 50% Contact Yeh Ju-Ting tintinyeh@hotmail.com
Producers Bianca Balbuena, Bradley Liew Production companies Epicmedia Productions Budget $200,000 Finance raised to date 5% Contact Bianca Balbuena
Producer Shozo Ichiyama Production company TBA Budget $1.5m Contact Shozo Ichiyama
10 Screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
griskabiancabalbuena@gmail.com
ichiyama@office-kitano.co.jp
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ScreeningS, page 20
Border Bride
Never Die Again
Warrior Of Love
Dir Wang Bing
Dir Park Jung-bum
Dir Derrick Lui
Project’s country of origin Hong Kong-China
Project’s country of origin South Korea
Project’s country of origin Singapore
After completing his award-winning documentary Three Sisters in 2012, Chinese director Wang Bing searched for the mother of the three sisters who were the subject of that documentary at the China-Laos border. There in the rainforest, he discovered a community of young Laotian women who sell themselves as wives to Chinese migrant peasants in the hope of a better life. Border Bride follows these brides, from those just arriving in China, to the women who have been married for several years and now have children. Many of the latter couples, without a common language or official marriage certificate, have separated and the women are searching for new husbands. “Marriage is redefined in this kind of extreme relationship,” says Wang. “Through the daily life of these mixed couples, we will show the struggle of the individuals under the surface of their apparently peaceful lives. It will be about China and Laos, about the contradiction between humanity and society.” With his unique depiction of contemporary China, Wang’s work has been celebrated internationally since his documentary West Of The Tracks was a festival hit in 2002 and played in France for more than six months. Three Sisters also had a successful release in France (45,000 admissions) and Japan (20,000 admissions), and will soon be followed by a North American release. His latest film, Ta’ang, premiered in the Berlinale’s Forum section last month. Isabelle Glachant of Hong Kong-based Chinese Shadows is producing the new project. Silvia Wong
Korean director Park Jung-bum — known for his award-winning festival films The Journals Of Musan and Alive — is going back to his cinematic and martial-arts roots with Never Die Again. “I started making films because I love cinema, not because I necessarily wanted to do realist cinema,” he says, of what could be seen as a change in direction. Set in 17th century Korea, Never Die Again features three generations of sword-making martial-arts practitioners swept up in a cycle of killing, craftsmanship and vengeance. “I grew up on martial-arts adventures and practised Taekwondo in college. Watching the OneArmed Swordsman series from China or the Zatoichi series from Japan, I used to dream of making this kind of film about Korean martial arts,” says Park. “I started working five years ago on this revenge story of a person with a limp and a blacksmith. It’s like The Godfather — a family trilogy, with someone who tries to avenge their father, loses himself and then in the end goes through the process of finding himself.” At the treatment stage, Park is working with an illustrator to create manhwa (Korean comics) that will be used like storyboards to help investors visualise the project, and could be published in their own right. Park is producing through his Second Wind Film. “In total, three films could cost up to won20bn [$17m], but if we condense and shoot them together, the budget would be won8bn [$6.7m],” he says. “It’s a vast project that I’m taking my time with. I haven’t proven myself commercially, so I need to do so while continuing to work on this project for a couple more years.” Jean Noh
Billed as Singapore’s first racing-car film, Derrick Lui’s Warrior Of Love is about a girl who aims to follow in her family’s racing tracks while uncovering the truth behind the deaths of her parents and grandfather. The Singaporean director, who was born into a family crazy about racing, has been dreaming of making such a film for 20 years. “While I’ve been living out my other passion in film-making, it’s natural to want to combine my two passions,” says Lui, who worked at Mediacorp’s TVC arm and MTV Asia before becoming a freelance director. He says Warrior Of Love will be full of wit and humour, romance and heart-rending moments. Most of the racing scenes are expected to be shot in Malaysia, including at the Formula 1-ready Sepang International Circuit. Lui’s extensive directing portfolio includes awardwinning short films, documentaries and music videos. Last year, his debut feature 1400 premiered at Montreal World Film Festival and won best feature film at flEXiff in Sydney. Chan Pui Yin is producing the project through SIMF Management, a film fund managed by Hong Kong’s Salon Films. It previously funded Singaporean box-office hits Taxi! Taxi! and Homecoming. Chan’s producer credits also include Jack Neo’s breakout hits I Not Stupid and its sequel for the now dormant Mediacorp Raintree Pictures. Singapore writer-director Boris Boo is co-producing with Chan Yan Yan. Boo will co-write the script with veteran TV writer Chen Sew Khoon. Silvia Wong
Border Bride
Never Die Again
Warrior Of Love
Producer Isabelle Glachant Production company Chinese Shadows Budget $110,000 Finance raised to date 9% Contact Isabelle
Producer Park Jung-bum Production company Second Wind Film Budget $8m Finance raised to date N/A Contact Oh Ji-yoon bonlumiere@naver.
Producers Chan Pui Yin, Boris Boo, Chan Yan Yan Production company SIMF Management Budget $1.8m Finance raised to date 57% Contact Chan Pui Yin puiyin@salonmedia.com
Glachant
chineseshadows@gmail.com
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March 16, 2016 Screen International at Filmart 11
HAF PROFILES
Lhamo And Skalbe
Trains In The Night
Letters
All My Daughters
Dir Sonthar Gyal
Dir Adam Wong
Dirs Jero Yun (left), Marte Vold
Dir Phan Dang Di
Project’s country of origin China-
Project’s country of origin Norway-
Project’s country of origin Vietnam
Tibetan director Sonthar Gyal’s third feature Lhamo And Skalbe focuses on a beautiful woman who is believed to bring bad luck to her village, especially when her leading role in a local theatre production is apparently jinxed. The woman has other worries too: she has endured a miserable marriage and is now being pursued by a businessman who turns out to be married. “There is a lack of realistic characters in Tibetan films. I would like to portray more fleshed-out characters,” says Gyal, who plans to cast well-known Tibetan singers in the main roles. “I hope to present a valuable portrayal of Tibetan culture and achieve high production values.” Gyal’s vision for this project is more commercial than his two previous films, which were both arthouse and lowbudget. Sun Beaten Path won the Dragons & Tigers Award for young cinema at Vancouver International Film Festival and a special mention at Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2011. River won best youth feature film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in 2015. Prior to directing, Gyal worked as a cinematographer and art director on several of fellow Tibetan director Pema Tseden’s films, including The Search. Sonam Rinchen Gyal returns to produce having worked on River. Beijing Garuda Film & TV Culture Communication specialises in the production of film and TV in Tibetan areas. Silvia Wong
Trains In The Night is Hong Kong director Adam Wong’s love letter to Japanese manga. It is about a young girl who leaves everything behind in Hong Kong and travels to Sapporo to pursue her dreams to learn about manga and search for the famous yet reclusive author of her beloved Mystery Train. The key to his identity may lie with her dispirited but talented manga-class instructor. “Manga inspires and ignites young readers and encourages us to chase our dreams,” says Wong. “Is manga a paradise created to drag people away from complicated reality or is reality nothing but a ruthless killer of youthful dreams? This question resonates because it’s the dilemma we’re all facing.” The Chinese-language script, co-written by Wong, is finished and has been translated into Japanese. Jacqueline Liu’s Hong Kong-based production company Playhouse produces. Veteran producer Kenji Hayashi is also on board, while independent writer-filmmaker Hiroshi Fukazawa serves as associate producer. Wong is best known for The Way We Dance (2013), a low-budget film about street dancers that won the audience award at Fukuoka International Film Festival as well as three prizes at the Hong Kong Film Awards, including best new director and best new performer. His latest film She Remembers, He Forgets was the opening film of last year’s Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. Silvia Wong
A project developed at CPH:LAB’s 12-day workshop last year, documentary Letters brings together Norwegian visual artist and short-film director Marte Vold with South Korean director Jero Yun. They traded visual messages about their daily lives, creating a comparative study of two ordinary people on opposite sides of the world. “We are watching these brief little shorts, me learning about her life and her learning about mine, as will the audience,” says Yu, explaining that they aim to complete the film within the year. “These little letters will be layered until August — winter, spring, summer and maybe a bit of fall — to show a bigger picture.” Yun’s credits include co-directing The Pig as part of omnibus film Taipei Factory, which went to Cannes, Busan and Hong Kong in 2013, and feature documentary Mrs B. A North Korean Woman (2015), a France-South Korea co-production that won CNC’s World Cinema Grant and was selected to IDFA Amsterdam Central Pitch 2014. Vold’s credits include Out Of Nature, which screened at Toronto in 2014 and Berlin in 2015. Trained as a cinematographer, she has shot award-winning shorts, music videos and documentaries. She is working on her feature debut. Mille Haynes, head of CPH:LAB in Denmark is producing, with Filmmart’s Vold in Norway and Yun’s production company K Plus Y, based in Seoul. Jean Noh
“Nowadays, when TV is filled with news of refugees fleeing war-torn countries, I can’t help being reminded of a similar tragedy in Vietnamese history in the 1980s,” says director Phan Dang Di. “While the Vietnamese boat people grabbed the world’s attention, less talked about but nonetheless causing untold pain to those it affected was the issue of mixed children.” All My Daughters follows a retired US woman who travels to Vietnam in search of her late son’s daughter, whose mother was Vietnamese. But the povertystricken woman has sold her child to a wealthy couple, unaware the US government now allows families of half-American children to legally migrate to the US. “It’s a story about strangers trying to understand each other’s strange, even immoral, actions in order to communicate and forgive. Maybe it’s they who suffer the hardest and longest from war, not the soldiers who die in battle,” Phan says. He is producing the project with Lizeroux Le Hang, an entrepreneur who backed Phan’s second feature Big Father, Small Father And Other Stories. His first, Bi, Don’t Be Afraid, was screened at more than 50 festivals and won several awards, including two at Critics’ Week in Cannes. Phan is also the producer of Nguyen Hoang Diep’s debut feature Flapping In The Middle Of Nowhere. DNY Productions was founded by Phan with producer Tran Thi Bach Ngoc and actress Do Thi Hai Yen. Silvia Wong
Lhamo And Skalbe
Trains In The Night
Letters
All My Daughters
Producer Sonam Rinchen Gyal Production companies Beijing Garuda
Producers Jacqueline Liu, Kenji Hayashi, Hiroshi Fukazawa Production company Playhouse Budget $2.5m Finance raised to date 12% (Japan) Contact Hiroshi Fukazawa vivamanga2015@gmail.com
Producers Mille Haynes, Marte Vold, Jero Yun Production company K Plus Y Budget $104,700 Finance raised to date $14,700 (CPH:LAB, Norwegian Film Institute) Contact Jero Yun jeroyun@hotmail.com
Producers Phan Dang Di, Lizeroux Le Hang Production companies DNY Productions Budget $4.5m Finance raised to date 2% Contact Phan Dang Di phandangi76@ gmail.com
Project’s country of origin China
Film & TV Culture Communication Budget $780,000 Finance raised to date 19% Contact Sonan Rinchen Gyal snrqj2011@163.com
Hong Kong
12 Screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
South Korea-Denmark
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JUNE 22JULY 9
2016
NYAFF NEW YORK ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL
15T H ANNIVERSARY 2002 - 2016 North America’s leading festival of popular Asian cinema is back with over 50 new feature films from China, Hong Kong, Japan, Korea, Taiwan and South East Asia! “The Best of New York City in 2015!” -- Village Voice
sponsor of Screen International Asia Rising Star Award at NYAFF 2016
presented by
subwaycinema.com facebook.com/nyaff @subwaycinema
HAF PROFILES
Vampire Diary
March April May
Hanalei Bay
Dirs Anthony Yan (left), Hang Chiu
Dir Rooth Tang
Dir Daishi Matsunaga
Project’s country of origin Hong Kong
Project’s country of origin Thailand
Project’s country of origin Japan
Vampire Diary is a comedy drama about a school girl whose family descends from a long line of Taoist priests with magical powers. Her dreams of catching vampires come true after she runs away and meets a beautiful century-old vampire who wants to go home. So begins her adventure of locating the vampire’s ancient home in modern-day Hong Kong, while her father finally reveals his long-kept secrets to get back his daughter. “This is a movie about faith and relationships. A child runs away from home, while a vampire wants to go home. Faith is the basis of human behaviour and human will,” say Anthony Yan and Hang Chiu, who are co-directing the project as their debut feature. Both directors graduated from the directing department of the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Yan’s short film Hearse Driver won the jury award in the professional category of Beijing Student Film Festival in 2008. He works as a scriptwriter with credits including Let’s Go, I Love Hong Kong 2013 and The True Love. Chiu, a well-known YouTube personality, has directed and acted in micro-films that regularly attract more than 5 million views. He is also the lead singer of Hong Kong pop-punk band ToNick. Producer Ha Yu is a veteran TV actor-turnedproducer. Recent productions from his production outfit Smart include ATM and The Moment. MM2 Entertainment Hong Kong is a subsidiary of Singapore-headquartered MM2 Entertainment. The parent company covers a wide range of businesses, from financing, production to distribution and sponsorship. Jack Neo’s box-office hit Ah Boys To Men series is one of its major co-productions. Silvia Wong
Born in Bangkok and raised in Los Angeles, Rooth Tang made his feature directorial debut with Toronto International Film Festival title Sway, a triptych of love stories set in Paris, Los Angeles and Bangkok at different points in history. He now turns to science fiction with March April May, “with an emphasis on the sci-fi aspects being as grounded as possible”. The film follows a young Thai woman named Pan who wakes up in wintry Ohio in the US, remembering her past in sultry Bangkok when her best friend and lover May committed suicide. Pan finds herself having out-of-body experiences during a sleep study and meets Ceres, a doctor who has similar visions, of a physical reality that changes at their will. “The story borrows some ideas from theoretical physics to cement what the characters experience. Think of recent films along the lines of Primer, Ex Machina or Interstellar,” says Tang, who adds that he was inspired in part by having to say his final goodbyes to some family members in Thailand. “There’s this revolving door of birth and death that we all experience, as individuals, as family and as a society. I wanted to explore what this meant on a personal level and a philosophical one,” he says. With the completed script undergoing rewrites, the film aims to shoot primarily in Thailand and the US later this year and in early 2017. France-educated producer Chang Chuti’s credits include working for Hou Hsaio-Hsien as script supervisor on Millennium Mambo and international co-ordinator on The Assassin, as well as production assistant in Paris on Tom Lin’s Starry Starry Night. With no production company yet attached, the film-makers are at HAF looking for funds and co-producers. Jean Noh
Japanese director Daishi Matsunaga, whose 2015 award-winning youth drama (and first fiction feature) Pieta In The Toilet played at the Tokyo and Rotterdam film festivals last year, is set to adapt Haruki Murakami’s short story Hanalei Bay. Spurred on by a sense of “anxiety and anger” after the devastating tsunami and earthquake in Tohoku, Japan, in 2011, the director says he wants to focus on “nature and humanity” in this film. Matsunaga made a name for himself on the festival circuit with documentary Pyuupiru 2001-2008, which screened at festivals including Rotterdam, Jeonju and Paris Cinema. In Hanalei Bay, a Japanese woman travels to Hawaii to identify the body of her son. The young man was attacked by a shark while surfing, and his right leg is missing below the knee. While visiting Hanalei Bay, the woman feels a sense of liberation as she watches surfers and sometimes plays piano at a local restaurant. Over the next decade, she returns there for three weeks each year. During one of these trips she hears of a one-legged Japanese surfer that has been spotted on the beach, and she begins looking for him. Shinji Ogawa is producing with his company Bridgehead, which also produced Pieta In The Toilet. Ogawa’s credits include the award-winning Japanese hit Ping Pong, popular indie director Isshin Inudo’s Josee, The Tiger And The Fish and La Maison De Himiko, as well as another Haruki Murakami adaptation, Norwegian Wood, directed by Tran Anh Hung. The script for Hanalei Bay is undergoing a rewrite with casting under way. The film aims to shoot next summer in Hawaii and Tokyo. Jean Noh
Vampire Diary
March April May
Hanalei Bay
Producers Ha Yu, Mani Man Production company MM2 Entertainment Hong Kong Budget $1m Finance raised to date 40% Contact Mani Man
Producer Chang Chuti Production company n/a Budget $600,000 Finance raised to date none Contact Rooth Tang rooth.tang@gmail.com
Producer Shinji Ogawa Production company Bridgehead Budget $1.7m Finance raised to date
maniman@mm2entertainment.com
14 Screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
$765,000 (Geek Pictures, Iwamoto Kinzoku, Bridgehead) Contact Ogawa Shinji info@bridgehead-jp.com
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Dying To Survive
Dir He Jia
From Black And White To Shades Of Grey
Project’s country of origin China
Dir Huang Zi
Project’s country of origin China
Avalanche
Dir Wen Muye
Project’s country of origin China In his new project Avalanche, Chinese director He Jia (aka Wang Haolin) takes us to a snow-capped mountain where a young married couple celebrates their sixth wedding anniversary. Residents are moved by the pair’s apparent devotion to each other in the face of tough times — the wife is paralysed from the waist down as a result of an accident on their wedding day — but they are unaware of the turmoil that lies beneath the surface. The woman wants to kill herself, while the husband is prepared to let her die. “This is a film about love and courage, especially love in a marriage, which is not just about pleasure but also about responsibility. My storytelling structure will be quite unique and the ending will feel warm and hopeful,” says He, who has also written the script. He is collaborating for the first time with renowned producer Nai An, who is on board the project through her Beijing-based company Dream Factory. Nai is a regular collaborator with Chinese auteur Lou Ye, producing many of his critically acclaimed films, including Suzhou River, Summer Palace and more recently Blind Massage. He graduated from the new-media production department of the UK’s University of Sunderland. He has previously worked as a director and photographer for Greenpeace and Médecins Sans Frontieres. His debut feature The Land, about a remote minority community, won the NETPAC award at Rotterdam in 2009. His second film Erdos Rider, three interwoven stories on love and fate, also premiered at Rotterdam last year. Silvia Wong
The debut feature of Chinese director Huang Zi is a personal story that revolves around a family of three, like his own. The drama follows the everyday life of a terminally ill father, an overburdened mother and a teenage son who wants to break free. The family tries hard to keep things in check but life feels overwhelming. A trip to the father’s home town will change their fate. “It is a story without much dramatic conflict, just like life itself. The tone will be sober using a simple narrative style,” says Huang, who spent most of last year working on the script. Filming will take place mainly in his birthplace of Guangzhou. Prior to writing the script, Huang spent seven months filming with his mother and sick father, recording their day-to-day life and the memories they share. He used the footage to make a documentary, My Dad And Mom And Their Young Master, which is now in post-production. Huang graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, and attended part of the MFA programme at NYU Tisch Asia in Singapore. His short film The City won an IMAX Dream award at Beijing College Student Film Festival. Taiwan actor-director Doze Niu, best known for his box-office hit Monga, serves as producer of From Black And White To Shades Of Grey. Huang got to know Niu when both of them attended last year’s FIRST International Film Festival in Xining. Zhu Jiang Film Group is a conglomerate launched in 2008 when local distributor Guangdong Film Company merged with Pearl River Film Studio, one of the top film studios in China. Silvia Wong
Based on a true story, Dying To Survive focuses on a leukaemia patient who travels to India for drugs that are illegal in China. He soon makes lots of money trafficking the drugs to fellow Chinese patients. But when his doctor dies from the same disease, he distributes the drugs freely to the patients and surrenders to the police. Throughout, he fights the system to allow patients to purchase the drugs as a cheaper alternative. “The film explores dignity in life and how we can attain true dignity. The answer is through selflessness and sacrifice,” says Chinese director Wen Muye. “As there’s a lack of dignity in modern society, we long for it even more, but few people can be selfless and self-sacrificing. This story of an ordinary man who becomes a hero makes it all the more touching.” Dying To Survive will be Wen’s solo directorial debut. He is one of five directors of Cities In Love, a love anthology film released last year. He graduated from Beijing Film Academy with a master’s degree in creative writing. His short films have earned him accolades: Battle won best director at the Vision Youth Awards and the jury award at FIRST International Film Festival in Xining in 2013, while Requiem was named best short film at Asiana International Short Film Festival in 2014. Chinese director Ning Hao, best known for boxoffice hits Crazy Stone and Crazy Racer, is producing through his Mountain Of Flowers Films. The Shanghai-based production outfit was established by Ning and fellow Chinese director Sheng Zhimin with the aim of identifying and developing new directing, writing and acting talents. It is a subsidiary of Ning’s Dirty Monkey Films. Silvia Wong
Avalanche
From Black And White To Shades Of Grey
Dying To Survive
Producer Nai An Production companies Dream Factory, He Jia Film Studio Budget $1.6m Finance raised to date 28% (Dream Factory, He Jia Film Studio) Contact He Jia hejia1223@163.com
Producer Doze Niu Production company Zhu Jiang Film Group Budget $500,000 Finance raised to date 40% (Zhu Jiang Film Group) Contact Huang Zi 379172049@qq.com
Producer Ning Hao Production company Mountain Of Flowers Films Budget $6m Finance raised to date $2.5m Contact Luo Huiyan luohuiyan@monkeydirty.com
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March 16, 2016 Screen International at Filmart 15
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HOT PROJECTS TAIWAN
Treasure island Some of the hottest Taiwanese films of the year are profiled by Silvia Wong, including comedies, a supernatural thriller and a highly personal documentary Ace Of Sales Dir Cho Li The new romantic comedy by director Cho Li, whose film The Rice Bomber premiered at the Berlinale in 2014, focuses on an out-of-work woman who is recruited at a TV shopping channel through a triad boss. But her live shopping show becomes a reality piece when she is held hostage by a fellow host, her rival for the TV channel’s top salesperson. Produced by Cho’s regular collaborator Yeh Jufeng, Ace Of Sales stars Bianca Bai and Lin Mei-Hsiu, and is in post-production.
City Of Jade
Contact MandarinVision desmond.mvsales@gmail.com
City Of Jade Dir Midi Z A Berlinale premiere in February, Myanmar-born, Taiwan-based film-maker Midi Z describes City Of Jade as a “personal family video”. The documentary depicts the reunion after 16 years with his eldest brother, a former miner who abandoned his poor family and was jailed for drug abuse. As it follows the return of his brother to Hpakant, a malaria-infested war zone most famous for its jade mines, it captures the plight of impoverished miners who are chasing the same dream. Contact Seashore Image Productions isabellaho@seashore-image.com
David Loman 2 Dir Chiu Li-Kwan Following her 2013 debut feature David Loman,, which became Taiwan’s third-highest-grossing film ever, talent manager and producer-director Chiu Li-Kwan reunites with her original cast in the comedy sequel. Veteran comedian Chu Ko-Liang is back as a country bumpkin-turnedgangster boss, along with Amber Kuo and Tony Yang as his character’s estranged
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The Tag-Along
The Road To Mandalay
daughter and son-in-law. David Loman 2 was released over Chinese New Year. Contact Polyface Entertainment Media Group starshan@gmail.com
My Egg Boy Dir Fu Tien-Yu Starring Rhydian Vaughan and Ariel Lin, My Egg Boy is about an embryo that is stored in liquid nitrogen while its owner, a 32-year-old single woman, desperately searches for Mr Right — or at least the right sperm. Currently in production, the romantic comedy is produced by Touch Of The Light producer Rachel Chen and is the second film from director Fu TienYu, whose 2009 debut Somewhere I Have Never Travelled screened at the Taipei, Hong Kong and Karlovy Vary film festivals. Contact Touch of Light Film phchen322@gmail.com
The Road To Mandalay Dir Midi Z The fourth feature from the director of the award-winning Ice (Left) David Loman 2
Poison follows a tragic love story involving two illegal Burmese migrants in Bangkok, played by You Are The Apple Of My Eye actor Kai Ko and Midi Z’s regular actress Wu Ke-Xi. In post-production, The Road To Mandalay has been generating buzz since winning the Taipei New Horizon Screenplay Award at the Golden Horse Film Project Promotion and the first prize at Amiens’ screenplay development fund. It has also received funding from the CNC’s world cinema fund and Aide aux Cinema du Monde.
The Tag-Along Dir Cheng Wei-Hao
Contact Flash Forward Entertainment patrick@ffe.com.tw
Based on the popular urban legend of the little girl in red, director Cheng Wei-Hao’s debut feature The Tag-Along has become the most successful locally financed and produced horror film in Taiwan since its release in November. Starring River Huang, Hsu Wei-Ning and Yumi Wong from Malaysia, it is about a hard-working real-estate broker who doesn’t know where to turn when his grandmother disappears, until he finds a video of a little girl in red walking along behind her.
Rookie Chef
Contact Ablaze Image junewu@ablazeimage.com
Dir Fung Kai
White Lies, Black Lies
Rookie Chef is a feelgood comedy about food and family. It revolves around a young girl who, on discovering her family’s long-lost cookbook, is determined along with her young friends to recreate the traditional recipes, even though none of them has any skill in the kitchen. Fung Kai is a Golden Bell award-winning TV director who made his feature debut with Din Tao: Leader Of The Parade, which became Taiwan’s top-grossing local film in 2012. Like Din Tao, Rookie Chef received a Chinese New Year release.
Dir Lou Yi-An
Contact ifilm jeffrey@ifilm.com.tw
Contact Flash Forward Entertainment s patrick@ffe.com.tw ■
This crime thriller from A Place Of One’s Own director Lou Yi-An is about a hairsalon owner who disappears with his former lover when he is suspected of murdering his wife, while a reporter discovers her death may be linked to an old patricide case. Starring Hsu Wei-Ning, Wang Po-Chieh and model/TV actress Annie Chen in her big-screen debut, White Lies, Black Lies premiered as the opening film of Kaohsiung Film Festival in October.
March 16, 2016 Screen International at Filmart 17
FILMART IN PICTURES
UKTI smooths path to Asia’s markets Where When Who Why
Hooray Bar, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Monday, March 14 UKTI and Screen International Celebrating the UKTI in Asia
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Fatima Ovejero Mediapro Asia, Flavia Burelli Quechua Films
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Richard Flood UKTI, Philomena Chen UKTI North West England, Sarah Perks Home MRC Org, Charlie Bloye Film Export UK
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Aisha Othman and Masnaida Samsudin Storey, Pinewood Iskandar Malaysia Studios
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Mark Adams artistic director, Edinburgh International Film Festival
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David Bauduin All Rights Entertainment, Aleksandra Abykova M-Appeal World Sales
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Kenta Fudesaka UniJapan, Hiroyuki Hata Village Inc
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William Page FilmDoo, Doris Wen, Yang Zishan and Vincent Tang, all Guangzhou International
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German Mori Leon FAPAE, Csaba Szabo BlueMint Studio
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Dominic Yip FilmKo, TJ Chung, More In Group Jackie Poon FilmKo
10 Hooray Bar, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
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March 16, 2016 Screen International at Filmart 19
Long Guan, Real Live HK
GUEST LIST
ScreeningS Edited by Paul Lindsell
paullindsell@gmail.com
10:00
Bus timetaBle
Back to thE North
(China) Documentary. 120mins. Qingdao West Coast Culture Industry Co. Dir: Liu Hao. Key cast: Nan Sheng, Su Yijuan, Ran Weiqun. Portrays a young girl’s simple life as she faces her own death; the story of her middle-aged parents ahead of their divorce; and pictures workers in an old textile factory where they struggle to survive a modern society under fast and dramatic changes.
May 16 FroM hkcEc to agNES B. ciNEMa 10:50, 13:50, 16:05 FroM agNES B. ciNEMa to hkcEc 12:25, 15:55 May 17 FroM hkcEc to agNES B. ciNEMa 10:50, 13:50 FroM agNES B. ciNEMa to hkcEc 12:40, 15:45
Meeting room N109-N110, hkcEc
cJ7: SupEr Q tEaM
(Hong Kong, China) Animation. 80mins. All Rights Entertainment. Dir: William Kan. CJ7 is an alien with magical powers who lives a simple life with his friend Dee, Dee’s dad, and their dog. One day, CJ7’s friend, the forgetful Captain 88, arrives on a mission to save planet Earth from the biggest baddie in town. Meeting room N211-N212, hkcEc
Filmart
human warmth associated with the industry. Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
doroME ‘girlS’ SidE’
(Japan) Horror/suspense. 99mins. Crei Inc. Dir: Eisuke Naito. Key cast: Yuta Koseki, Aoi Morikawa. Dorobushi high school for boys and Shiran high school for girls are going to be merged to become a mixed school. Meeting room N104-N105, hkcEc
childhood
(Hong Kong) Children’s. 27mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Ng Tung Yu. Tung and Su give a storeowner a $500 bill stolen from their grandpa. However, they later realise that the bill is much more valuable than they thought and try to get it back.
EvErythiNg MuSt go
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Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
diSappEariNg iN cENtral
thE FoStEriNg
(Hong Kong) Documentary. 21mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Chu Hoi Ying. In the 1970s and 1980s, the printing industry was extremely active in Hong Kong. Not only have the old skills and odour of Hong Kong been disappearing, but also the
(Hong Kong) Action/ adventure. 19mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Yeung Oi Yu Audrey, Lau Cheuk Che. Can you give my voice back? After answering a strange call one night, renowned disc jockey Tim’s life is subverted completely.
(Brazil) Horror/suspense. 80mins. Wide. Dir: Dante Vescio, Rodrigo Gasparini. Ale, Magu and Jorge decide to visit their friend Apolo at his old farmhouse for the weekend. What they didn’t expect was to be stuck in the midst of a war between good and evil. Meeting room N111-N112, hkcEc
20 Screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
FF
(Hong Kong) Action/ adventure. 30mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Wong Chi Yeung. Fai dreams of being a scriptwriter. Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
givE happiNESS a chaNcE
(Hong Kong) Drama. 19mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Wong Keane TK. When a South Asian who believes that he is the most pathetic person in the world tries to commit suicide and fails, he is given another chance. Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
iN SEarch oF thE ultra-SEx
(France) Sci-fi, fantasy. 60mins. The Bureau Sales. Dir: Nicolas et Bruno. A pandemic infects people everywhere with infinite lust, and the only ones who can save us are a group of astronauts in space, desperately looking for a solution.
11:45 thE MoBFathErS
(Hong Kong) Organised crime. 94mins. Golden Scene Company. Dir: Herman Yau. Key cast: Chapman To, Gregory Wong, Phillip Keung, Anthony Wong. Chapman To and Herman Yau carry on their successful collaboration from Sara with this dark comedy set in the seedy Hong Kong underground
women struggle to change the unchangeable rules, each in her own individual way
Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
(Hong Kong) Romance. 26mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Ma Hei Yan. A married couple gradually hate each other.
lockEd
(Hong Kong) Horror/ suspense. 16mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Huang Chaohong. A Thai boy runs away from home and lives in a haunted house. Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
SaNd StorM
(Hong Kong) Drama. 28mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Wong Chin-yan Doris. Rachel and Ronald
theatre 1, hkcEc
struggle between pursuing their dreams and facing reality. As time goes by, will they swim with the stream or give up what they have to follow their dreams?
Meeting room N101a, hkcEc
JourNEy
WiNtEr 1983
world. Every three years, the five leading gangs elect a representative to stand for election to be the mobfather of the underworld. Each of the candidates has his strengths and his weaknesses, and there is understandably a decided lack of trust among the gangs. With each fighting for his gang’s own vested interests, what will be the outcome?
(Israel) Drama. 87mins. Beta Cinema. Dir: Elite Zexer. Key cast: Lamis Ammar, Ruba BlalAsfour, Haitham Omari. When their entire lives are shattered, two Bedouin
theatre 2, hkcEc
SoMEthiNg iN thE air
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through thE lookiNg glaSS
(Hong Kong) Action/ adventure. 26mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Francis Lu. Winter, 1983. A deserted and ramshackle industrial town in the northeast of China. Zhao Deyong, a petty official, is facing a moral dilemma. Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
11:00 hEE
(Japan) Drama. 72mins. Free Stone Productions Co. Dir: Kaori Momoi. Key cast: Kaori Momoi. In the pleasant climate of California, a Japanese prostitute faces an isolating existence. Her obsession with fire encompasses the people around her one by one. agnes b. ciNEMa! hong kong arts centre
11:45 thE MoBFathErS See box, above
12:00 hErE iS xiNJiaNg
(Hong Kong) Action/ adventure. 16mins. Academy of Film, Hong Kong Baptist University. Dir: Hung Tsz Ching. “I can’t explain myself, I’m afraid, sir,” said Alice, “Because I’m not myself you see.”
(China) Documentary. 78mins. China Film Promotion International. Dir: Zhou Jun. This film, helmed by 12 directors of China Tianshan Film Studio, looks at Xinjiang’s scenery, humanity, people’s livelihoods and society.
Meeting room N206-N207, hkcEc
Meeting room N202-N203, hkcEc
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» Screening times and venues are correct at the time of going to press but subject to alteration
sum, Wong Chun-lung. A pair of ex-lovers are wandering around the campus one random evening. She asks for more while he is afraid of revisiting the past. Love turns into doubt, he wonders if she is really coming back into his arms. Will he leave the past behind? Can we ever get back together again?
PseudoNyM see box, below
s is For staNley
(Italy) Documentary. 78mins. Rai Com. Dir: Alex Infascelli. Key cast: Emilio D’Alessandro, Janette Woolmore. The story of Emilio D’Alessandro, Stanley Kubrick’s personal driver. A friendship that lasted 30 years, helped create four cinema masterpieces, and brought together two apparently opposite people, who found their ideal journey companion far away from home. Meeting room N101a, hKCeC
the seveNth seNse
(Egypt) Comedy. 112mins. Mad Solutions. Dir: Ahmed Mekki. Key cast: Ahmad Al Fishawy, Rania Kurdi, Ahmed Rateb, Omar Al Arian. A young gym teacher tries to commit suicide after a series of failures, only to meet a voodoo man who gives him the power to read minds.
» Whiteboard
Filmart 12:00 PseudoNyM
(France) Horror/ suspense. 74mins. Wide. Dir: Sebban Thierry. Key Cast: Sebban Thierry, Tourneux Perrine, Skreblin Igor, Abkarian Simon. Alex is a divorced father and a stressed executive. His daily
routine is work, work, work. Tonight he’s in a hurry, he’s due to meet a beautiful young stranger who contacted him via the internet. But this blind date will flip him on a downward spiral and disrupt forever the course of his life. Meeting room N109-N110, hKCeC
(Japan) Documentary. 46mins. Mylamstudio. Dir: Man Lam. Key cast: Yoshinori Tsubouchi, Man Lam, Enwei Shan. A car accident in Australia… A memory from one atomic-bomb survivor… A promise for two wishes… Changing three journeys of life. Meeting room N201b, hKCeC
WheN geeK Meets serial Killer
(Malaysia, Taiwan) Horror/suspense. 90mins. All Rights Entertainment. Dir: Remus Mook, Eric Cheung. A self-published comic artist accidentally kills his friend during a quarrel. In order to avoid going to jail, he comes up with an ingenious way to dispose of the body. Until his cheating girlfriend comes to visit and he accidentally kills her too. Down the hall lives a vigilante serial
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killer whose MO is to dress as a police officer. The two become friends.
city we are living in; these feelings belong to them, and also us.
Meeting room N101b, hKCeC
theatre 2, hKCeC
13:45 the MoMeNt
(Hong Kong, Malaysia) Drama. 87mins. Top Entertainment Production. Dir: Wong Kwok Fai. Key cast: Gordon Lam, Dada Chan, Eric Suen, Kelvin Kwan, Eric Kwok, Poon Chan Leung, Grace Yip, Carman Kong. The story of four relationships: a couple breaking up yet holding tight; a father and a daughter meeting up after a long separation; a girl escaping from growing up; and two buddies’ reunion after years of misunderstanding. Different people carry different stories. The stories are connected by a vintage photography studio. Their experiences bring out a variety of sensations to the
14:00 21st iFva aWards highlights (youth aNd aNiMatioN Category) » all i WaNt
(Hong Kong) Drama. 22mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Wu Tin-long. Depicts several conflicts between a couple. He wants to be released from his repression, while she hopes to leave behind her emptiness. The immature couple take advantage of each other to find their own peace of mind. Is this selfishness? An insult to love? Or have they torn away the mask of morality after all? » behiNd the sChoolbag
(Hong Kong) Animation. 10mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Ho Chu-yu.
Centre. Dir: Lo Hin-kit. Earlier this morning I attended a funeral. It was peaceful and calm. » oxygeN
(Hong Kong) Drama. 10mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Ho Yui-chi Savio. We are all searching for a place with freedom. But once we get there, it may not be as beautiful as you have expected.
(Hong Kong) Drama. 14mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Yip Yuenching. Fifty years after the Handover, the Hong Kong media is under surveillance by the government. Familiar places turn foreign and strange. Cheung Jing, with her team Oxygen, challenges the authority, and tries to awaken others to what is happening around. Her yearning for freedom is like a distant dream.
» eye’M Free
» shear MarKs
(Hong Kong) Animation. 9mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Pau Chingyee Louise. In the near future, holographic goggles have substituted all electronic devices and those who can afford them become wholly dependent on them. Chuck is one of the devoted goggles users and an incident leaves him deprived of the privileges. Alice, his classmate, offers aid but things take a turn for the worse when she cooks up an inventive solution.
(Hong Kong) Animation. 9mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Lam Ho-tak, Kwok Man-ho, Ng Kaichung. The lines marked on the lamp post, which records the height of Chi, carry his childhood memories in the era of resettlement. The frivolous youthful days, the budding first love, the past with no regrets… mixed memories reappear in his mind’s eye, lighting up the innocence in his heart all over again. » WheN the suN goes doWN
Meeting room N206-N207, hKCeC
» Mur Mur
(Hong Kong) Drama. 12mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Cheng Kui-
Fish iN Puddle
» the dorMer
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We are liNKed — Wishes
A story about salvation of oneself. Shun has experienced painful days during his youth, so he deliberately keeps a distance from others. Living a stressful life, it is nowadays easy to suffer from all sorts of mental illness. Only through selftherapy can one live a life at present.
(Hong Kong) Drama. 4mins. Hong Kong Arts Centre. Dir: Keung Shing-lok. When a simple whiteboard doodle becomes alive and sentient, it interacts with its creator and hilarity and mishaps ensue. Playtime is cut short, however, as a mysterious evil being suddenly springs in with only one intention: to bring chaos and destruction. It is now up to the doodled hero to save the day.
(Hong Kong) Animation. 3mins. Hong Kong Arts
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a PlaCe Where the dreaM begiNs
(China) Drama. 97mins. China Film Promotion International. Dir: Su Lei. Key cast: Yan Xiaopin. Ayigul, a girl from a remote Xinjiang desert, came to study at Shanghai Runhe High School. Suffering from an eye disease, Ayigul has to make more effort and work harder than the other students. And her class teacher Wen Hui is exposed to enormous pressure. Meeting room N202-N203, hKCeC
the CoNditioNed
(Hong Kong) Drama. 24mins. Fresh Wave Film Festival. Dir: Chan Kam Hei. In order to fulfil the expectations of her mom and her grandpa, Nam is raised as a boy.
(Hong Kong) Drama.
March 16, 2016 Screen International at Filmart 21
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ScreeningS
19mins. Fresh Wave Film Festival. Dir: Wong Suk Nga. Although 15-year-old Wing is bounced around the foster homes, he forms a genuine sibling relationship with Hoi Lam and the mentally challenged Chi Yan.
hesitates but finally decides to help him. agnes b. CINEMA! Hong Kong Arts Centre
THE LAsT Egg
(Vietnam) Comedy. 94mins. Vietnam Media Corp. Dir: Nam Cito, Bao Nhan. Key Cast: Diem My 9X, Binh Minh, Dieu Nhi, Huynh Lap, Viet Huong, Huu Chau. A beautiful and successful lady who always says “no” to getting married discovers that she has a strange sickness which may lead to infertility. How can she quickly find a husband in just two months and have a child?
Meeting Room N206-N207, HKCEC
THE food fACIsT
(Hong Kong) Drama. 30mins. Fresh Wave Film Festival. Dir: Yip Man Hay. Legendary chef Mo Yik-Tin is notorious for turning animals into spectacular dishes. Meeting Room N206-N207, HKCEC
Filmart 14:15
THE sEA WITHIN
oLd sToNE
(Hong Kong) Drama. 30mins. Fresh Wave Film Festival. Dir: Wong Wai Nap. Fishermen couple Ah Shing and Mei-wah have different visions about the rest of their days.
(China, Canada) Drama. 80mins. Maktub Films. Dir: Johnny Ma. Key cast: Chen Gang, Nai An, Wang Hongwei, Zhang Zebin, Luo Xue’er. After a car accident that
puts a man into a coma, a small-town taxi driver becomes overburdened with paying the injured man’s hospital costs to the point of considering murder as a possible way out. Meeting Room N201B, HKCEC
Meeting Room N206-N207, HKCEC
WHERE’s THE HEAd? TEN yEARs
(Hong Kong) Drama. 103mins. Golden Scene Company. Dir: Kwok Zune, Wong Fei-Pang, Jevons Au, Chow KwunWai, Ng Ka-Leung. Key cast: Liu Kai Chi. A collection of five short stories; a prophecy, and a fable for Hong Kong. Through their films, five of Hong Kong’s young directors are raising questions about the most central issues concerning their city. agnes b. CINEMA! Hong Kong Arts Centre
WEEds oN fIRE
(Hong Kong) Drama. 94mins. Flash Glory Dir: Chan Chi Fat. In the year of 1984, the Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed and the future of Hong Kong became unclear. In the stream of history, this story of a baseball team beneath the Lion Rock had gradually been forgotten: In that year, Shatin Martins, the first Hong Kong youth baseball team, was formed. Meeting Room N101B, HKCEC
(Hong Kong) Drama. 24mins. Fresh Wave Film Festival. Dir: Lui Mei Fung. Lai Ha, once a notorious mob boss, has been strategically planning the career of her only son, Yan. It is, however, never Yan’s intention to follow his mother’s footsteps — instead he aspires to be a film-maker. Meeting Room N206-N207, HKCEC
WHILE THE WoMEN ARE sLEEpINg
(Japan) Action/adventure. 103mins. Toei Company. Dir: Wayne Wang. Key cast: Beat Takeshi, Nishijima Hidetoshi, Oyamada Sayuri. While vacationing at a seaside resort with his wife, frustrated novelist Kenji Shimizu’s curiosity is sparked by an intriguing couple: beautiful young woman Miki and older man Sahara. His fascination lures him into peeping in their room late at night and he sees Sahara methodically filming Miki while she sleeps. He soon
22 Screen International at Filmart March 16, 2016
befriends Sahara who confesses his obsessive love for Miki. Theatre 1, HKCEC
14:15 oLd sToNE see box, above
16:00 fRog KINgdoM: suB-ZERo MIssIoN
(China) Animation. 87mins. Golden Network Asia. Dir: Peng Fei. Rain returns to Frog Kingdom after a series of explosions rock the capital. In the mass panic, with Frogizens fleeing the city, a chameleon distributes leaflets proclaiming “Crystal Frog no longer protects Frog Kingdom! The end is nigh!” The Frog King reveals that the land’s legendary protector is indeed missing and can only be located by solving a four-line riddle. He sends the Frog Warriors to investigate. Theatre 2, HKCEC
LEgACy of soMAAoNoRAN
(Japan) Action/ adventure. 138mins. Village. Dir: Hidenori
Inoue. Key cast: Yuki Amami, Kenichi Matsuyama, Taichi Saotome. In 11th-century Japan, Soma and Masakado meet at a festival in the countryside and fall in love. Soma is a former warrior who now lives as a fortune teller after her people were driven out of their country by an invasion. Masakado is a bungling but wellmeaning samurai from the Kanto Plains. Their destinies take a dramatic turn when Masakado decides to fight the army sent over by the Mikado in Kyoto, and to set up his own sovereign state. But can he win without his wife, an even more indomitable warrior, by his side? Meeting Room N102-N103, HKCEC
RoBBERy
(Hong Kong) Comedy. 92mins. Bravos Pictures. Dir: Fire Lee. Key cast: Derek Tsang, J Arie, Lam Suet. A young guy named Ping takes a job working as a cashier in the Exceed convenience store. At midnight, Grandpa goes into the store. Annoyed and offended by the store manager Fat Boss’s sarcasm and contempt, Grandpa stabs a pair of scissors into Fat Boss’s neck. Everyone in the store — Yan, who is just a passerby using the toilet, Anita, who is buying some condoms, Fat Boss, Ping
and his co-worker Mabel — are suddenly taken hostage. Theatre 1, HKCEC
Meeting Room N202-N203, HKCEC
16:30 LIfE AfTER LIfE
sCANNER
(Japan) Horror/suspense. 109mins. Toei Company. Dir: Syusuke Kaneko. Key Cast: Mansai Nomura, Hiroyuki Miyasako, Shota Yasuda, Hana Sugisaki, Fumino Kimura, Zen Kajihara, Morio Kazama, Atsuko Takahata. Sengoku, who used to be a once-famous comedian, has a special ability to read one’s residual thoughts, but lives humbly and avoids meeting the others. One day, a young pianist, Ami, requests him to search for her missing piano teacher, Yukie. Sengoku was reluctant to help Ami at first, but Yukie’s left-behind nail file makes him read Yukie’s residual thoughts unexpectedly. Meeting Room N201A, HKCEC
16:15 THE BACCHus LAdy
(Korea) Drama. 118mins. M-Line Distribution. Dir: E J-yong. Key cast: Youn Yuh-jung, Chon Moosong, Yoon Kye-sang, An A-zu, Choi Hyun-jun. So-young is a so-called ‘Bacchus lady’, who sells her body to old men for a living. Bacchus is a famous energy drink loved by Koreans for 60 years. One day her customer Song, suffering from a stroke, desperately asks her to end his life. So-young
(China) Action/ adventure. 80mins. Xstream Pictures. Dir: Zhang Hanyi. Key cast: Zhang Li, Zhang Mingjun. The spirit of a deceased mother takes over her son’s body in order to oversee the task of replanting a very important tree. Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
18:15 CRossCuRRENT
(China) Romance. 116mins. Ray Produktion GmbH. Dir: Yang Chao. Key cast: Qin Hao, Xin Zhilei, Wu Lipeng, Tan Kai, Wang Hongwei, Jiang Hualin. Gao Chun, captain of a cargo ship sailing up the Yangtze River, disembarks at every port on his journey in search of love. However, he gradually realises that the women he meets at different ports appear to be the same person — An Lu — except that they get younger and younger as the ship sails upstream. Gao Chun keeps seeing her and soon finds out where she appears traces back to a handwritten collection of poems. He sails upwards alone to the snow-capped mountain to unveil the mystery of An Lu and the secret of the river. Meeting Room N101A, HKCEC
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Thursday March 17 10:00 raisE Your arms aND TwisT — DoCumENTarY of Nmb48
Editorial office: Room G202, second floor, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, 1 Expo Drive, wanchai, Hong Kong Filmart stand: 1C-D41
(Japan) Documentary. 121mins. Toho Co. Dir: Atsushi Funahashi. Key cast: NMB48. This documentary featuring NMB48 independently for the first time looks back on the four whirlwind years the girls went through, from the first-generation member auditions before the group’s formation up to the present day. With new interview footage. meeting room N101a, HKCEC
Too YouNg To DiE!
(Japan) Comedy. 123mins. Toho Co. Dir: Kankurou Kudou. Key cast: Tomoya Nagase, Kamiki Ryunosuke. An innovative story set in hell! Featuring hell’s red demon teacher and a high school student who dies before having a chance to kiss. The world’s first, never-before-seen comedy about a hilarious hell. meeting room N201a, HKCEC
11:00 THE boDYguarD
(China) Action/ adventure. 90mins. All Rights Entertainment. Dir: Yue Song. Key cast: Yue Song, Collin Yu, Yu Xing, Michael Chan. After his master’s death, Wu leaves for the big city in search of this fellow apprentice Jiang. Wu takes a job as a bodyguard for Faye, the daughter of the richest man in town. When Wu finds Jiang, Jiang is already deep in the underbelly of the criminal world, with a plan to kidnap Faye. Wu is torn between his duty to protect and loyalty to his clan. agnes b. CiNEma! Hong Kong arts Centre
12:00
Editorial Tel +852 2582 8958 managing editor Michael Rosser, michael.rosser@ screendaily.com asia editor Liz Shackleton, lizshackleton@gmail.com Editor Matt Mueller, matt. mueller@screendaily.com reporters Jean Noh, hjnoh2007@gmail.com, Silvia Wong, screenasia@ yahoo.com
FilmarT Thursday 12:30 a DragoN arrivEs!
(Iran) Drama. 108mins. The Match Factory. Dir: Mani Haghighi. Key cast: Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh, Ehsan Goudarzi, Kiana Tajammol, Nader Fallah. Detective Babak Hafizi is being interrogated by the secret police. Everything began on January 23, 1965, the day after the prime minister was shot. Hafizi was ordered to investigate the suspicious suicide of an exiled political prisoner on the remote island of Qeshm in the Persian Gulf. In an abandoned
and against authority. meeting room N202-N203, HKCEC
CiTY of JaDE
(Taiwan, Myanmar) Documentary. 98mins. Seashore Image Productions. Dir: Midi Z. Key cast: Zhao De-chin. A film that depicts how people struggle for survival in the darkest corners of probably the poorest country in Asia. meeting room N104-N105, HKCEC
THE TasTE of YouTH
(Hong Kong) Documentary. 79mins. Edko Films. Dir: King Wai Cheung. During the Umbrella Movement, many Hong Kong people, especially the young, have stepped up the fight for freedom
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THE islaND fuNEral
(Thailand) Drama. 105mins. Mosquito Films Distribution. Dir: Pimpaka Towira. Key cast: Heen Sasithorn. Laila sets out on a road trip to Pattani, one of the three southernmost
ship next to an ancient cemetery in the desert, Hafizi stumbles on an even bigger mystery. A local gravedigger tells him about the legend of earthquakes occurring whenever someone is buried in the haunted cemetery. Seeing is believing for Hafizi and he dares to spend the night alone in the creepy ship, waiting for the ground to shake. Back in Tehran, Hafizi is determined to discover the truth about his eerie experience, even without agency approval. meeting room N101a, HKCEC
Key cast: Ren (Nu’est), Fumiko Aoyagi. Traces the intricate connections between seven men and women. Shoe repairman Leon meets feisty drunk Suna, and can’t stop thinking about her. Kokaze, Leon’s workmate, is secretly attracted to him. A customer, Sang-soo, falls for Kokaze at first sight. He studies Japanese with Suna’s boyfriend, Ji-woo, who likes their teacher Kanako, but she lives with the wheelchair-bound Arakawa. The accident that left him disabled was witnessed by Leon. As their emotions become entangled, their lives begin to tumble in unexpected directions.
Thai provinces, to visit her long-lost aunt. Her brother and his friend are tagging along. The three take off from Bangkok during a time when the capital is going through radical conflict. Being from the city has prevented them from realising much about the violent outbreaks that have been occurring around Pattani for many years. Meeting a suspicious soldier sent to fight the insurgents, the four head together to find Laila’s aunt, where the route leads them to discover a land stranger than that they are familiar with.
meeting room N204-N205, HKCEC
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(Hong Kong) Drama. 103mins. Golden Scene Company. Dir: Kwok Zune, Wong Fei-Pang, Jevons Au, Chow KwunWai, Ng Ka-Leung.
THEir DisTaNCE
(Japan) Romance. 106mins. Nikkatsu. Dir: Rikiya Imaizumi.
12:30 a DragoN arrivEs! see box, above
14:00 THE mobfaTHErs
(Hong Kong) Organised Crime. 94mins. Golden Scene Company. Dir: Herman Yau. Key cast: Chapman To, Gregory Wong, Phillip Keung, Anthony Wong. agnes b. CiNEma! Hong Kong arts Centre
14:30 TEN YEars
Key cast: Liu Kai Chi. A collection of five short stories; a prophecy, and a fable for Hong Kong. Through their films, five of Hong Kong’s young directors are raising questions about the most central issues concerning our city, and the audience is invited to ponder together: Theatre 2, HKCEC
15:00 NEssuN Dorma
(Hong Kong) Horror/ suspense. 94mins. Bravos Pictures. Dir: Herman Yau. Key cast: Andy Hui, Janice Man. Primary school teacher Brian Fong becomes depressed after his wife’s suicide. Unable to take care of his dog, he decides to leave it with Beloved Pets, where he befriends founder Jasmine Tsang. Pressed by her family, Jasmine agrees to a marriage of convenience. A week before her wedding, she gets cold feet. Jasmine looks for Brian in the countryside to find out if he shares her feelings. Unfortunately, Brian is unwilling to commit. The heartbroken Jasmine drives home alone and is attacked. When she finally comes to, she finds herself locked up naked in a room. During her confinement, her captor seems to be sleepless and she often hears the theme song Nessun Dorma from Puccini’s masterpiece Turnadot…
reviews editor Finn Halligan, finn.halligan@ screendaily.com group head of production and art Mark Mowbray, mark.mowbray@screendaily. com sub-editors Paul Lindsell, Adam Richmond, Richard Young advertising Tel +852 9186 8384 sales consultant Ingrid Hammond +852 9186 8384, ingridhammond@ mac.com international account manager Pierre-Louis Manes, +44 7768 237 487, Pierre-Louis. Manes@screendaily.com Production manager Jonathon Cooke, jonathon. cooke@mb-insight.com Head of events Dee Adeosun, +44 7827 363 420, dee.adeosun@ mb-insight.com Publishing director Nadia Romdhani managing director (publishing and events) 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: +44 330 333 9414 E-mail: help@subscribe. screendaily.com
meeting room N101a, HKCEC
March 16, 2016 Screen International at Filmart 23
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