Noticias

Universal Pictures International Entertainment has bought the international blockbuster Chinese Zodiac, also known as CZ12, and will distribute the film in North America, Australia, and the United Kingdom (among other locations) in the upcoming year. This is no doubt great news to Jackie Chan fans in these countries as he both directed and starred in this action film that has already earned $180 million in the Asian box-office. Some will note that this film has already had a limited release through AMC Theatres this last October, however this film will now reach an even greater number of eyes through Universal.

The plot of this films circles around the loss of twelve bronze figures of the Chinese zodiac, whose retrieval Jackie Chan’s character Jc has been tasked with completing. While fulfilling this mission Jc finds himself not only caught up in international intrigue dating as far back as the Second Opium War,...

Well you know what they say, if anyone can do it, Jackie can and he certainly as done it again. According to reports issued by the official Movie Zodiac on Weibo, Chinese Zodiac had a record breaking opening day in China, with a box office of 43.5 million Yuan.

The first couple of reviews suggested that Jackie’s latest offering wasn’t so great and it lacked any real action, but i don’t listen to one person’s views and i am glad i was right. Jackie Chan as once again shown he is the real deal at the box office and with movies such as Police Story 2013 on the way, i cant see it stopping any time soon.

Plot

Jackie Chan reprises his role as adventurer and treasure hunter Asian Hawk, who is seeking to repatriate twelve bronze heads of the animals of the Chinese zodiac that were looted...

Sneak Peek "Chinese Zodiac", the new Hong Kong action film produced, written, directed by, and starring Jackie Chan, as a sequel to the 1991 feature "Armour of God II: Operation Condor":

"...treasure hunter 'Asian Hawk' tries to repatriate twelve bronze heads of the animals of the Chinese zodiac that were looted from the 'Old Summer Palace' during the 'Second Opium War'..."

Cast also includes Cary Woodworth, Vincent Sze, Pierre Bourdaud, Kenny G, Emmanuel Lanzi, Kwon Sang-woo, Liao Fan, Laura Weissbecker, Rosario Amadeo, Pierre-Benoist Varoclier, Ken Lo, Yao Xing Tong, Zhang Lan Xin, Oliver Platt, Caitlin Dechelle, Zheng Wei, Bo-Yee Poon, Christian Bachini and Steve Yoo Seung Jun.

Locations included  the 'Aerodium Latvia' vertical wind tunnel in Jelgava, Latvia, France, China and Taiwan , with Chan handling (as ususal) most of the stunts and fight scenes himself .

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Chinese Zodiac"...

Iran recently hosted the first Kish Island Film Festival to promote Cinema from Asia and North Africa. I was surprised to come across some great film makers from Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. I was on the feature film Jury with famous Iranian director Masoud Kimiyai who is a novelist and has 32 films to his credit. Others on the Jury were Elchin Musaoglu of Azarbaijan, Asif Noorani, a journalist for the newspaper Dawn in Pakistan and editor of the Eastern Film magazine. The woman director from Tajikistan, Gulandom Muhabatova could not come at the last minute.

The festival screened documentaries and short films too. Each award comprised cash prize of 3000 Us dollars. There were seminars by famous producers from UK, France and Australia.

Besides a hectic schedule of watching films, we really enjoyed the hospitality of the festival team. There were some minor problems regarding the tickets but the beautiful...

Move over, Harvey Weinstein. Korean-based sales company Finecut is representing no fewer than three films submitted for consideration for this year's foreign-language Oscar.

Offered up as Korea's national entry is Kim Tae-Kyun's Cold War story "Crossing," which tells the tale of a family just happy to be, despite living in poverty. Pablo Trapero's Cannes competition entry "Lion's Den," meanwhile, has been submitted as the national entry for Argentina; and Siddiq Barmak's Afghan war tale "Opium War" has been entered for Afghanistan.

"We actually had all three films before they were (submitted)," Finecut's Ej Cho said. "There has been a higher interest in the films since (they were submitted). This could increase more if they are selected as one of the five (nominees) for this year's prize."

Both "Crossing" and "Opium War" are screening at Afm this week, while "Lion's Den's" is playing AFI.

A record 67 countries submitted films...

Rome -- "Resolution 819," Giacomo Battiato's dramatic exploration of the Balkans conflict, took home the top prize Friday at the third annual Rome International Film Festival.

The Marcus Aurelius prize, which includes a 75,000 euro ($97,000) cash award, is selected by a popular vote from festivalgoers weighted in proportion to the number of tickets sold for each of the 20 competition films. The festival said that nearly two-thirds of the viewers voted on the films they saw.

It was the first time the prize went to a film at least partially produced in Italy. "Resolution 819" is a French-Polish-Italian co-production and Battiato is Italian.

The previous two winners were Jason Reitman's comic hit "Juno," which won the prize in 2007, and the cerebral "Izobrajaya Zhertvy" (Playing the Victim) from Russia's Kirill Serebrennikov, which won the inaugural Marcus Arelius prize.

A second jury award -- which does not carry a cash prize -- went to "Opium War" from Siddiq Barmak.

A record 67 countries have submitted films for consideration for best foreign-language film for the 81st Academy Awards, Academy president Sid Ganis said Friday. Nominations will be announced on Thursday, Jan. 22, and the awards will be presented on Sunday, Feb. 22.

The complete list of foreign-language submissions follows. For more details on some of the films, visit THR.com/foreignoscars.

Afghanistan, "Opium War," Siddiq Barmak

Albania, "The Sorrow of Mrs. Schneider," Piro Milkani and Eno Milkani

Algeria, "Masquerades," Lyes Salem

Argentina, "Lion's Den," Pablo Trapero

Austria, "Revanche," Gotz Spielmann

Azerbaijan, "Fortress," Shamil Nacafzada

Bangladesh, "Aha!," Enamul Karim Nirjhar

Belgium, "Eldorado," Bouli Lanners

Bosnia and Herzegovina, "Snow," Aida Begic

Brazil, "Last Stop 174," Bruno Barreto

Bulgaria, "Zift," Javor Gardev

Canada, "The Necessities of Life," Benoit Pilon

Chile, "Tony Manero," Pablo Larrain

China, "Dream Weavers," Jun Gu

Colombia, "Dog Eat Dog," Carlos Moreno

Croatia, "No One's Son," Arsen Anton Ostojic

Czech Republic, "The Karamazovs," Petr Zelenka

Denmark,...

• I'll be offering my early bird predictions for the films slated for the upcoming 08' edition of the Cannes film festival shortly, but here is a sure bet for one film that is well positioned to make a trip to the croisette. Circa 2003, the Director's Fortnight saw a stunning portrait from Afghan director Siddiq Barmak. Osama would claim three prizes at the fest, collect a Golden Globe win, it was especially well received by critics and elicited this response from me "...Barmak’s unflinching docu-drama depiction of the frightening Taliban terror is a traumatizing watch-but a necessary one. Filmed with the country’s only 35mm camera at a total cost of the price of used Volvo...". Listed as a project currently in post-prod, Barmak's Opium War tells the story of a U.S. chopper that crashes in an Afghan desert, leaving a white officer and a black soldier encounter

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