Noticias

The 30th Biff has introduced the new Competition section and the ‘Busan Award,’ with the winners to be revealed at the Closing Ceremony. Na Hong-Jin, one of Korea’s most prominent new-generation masters, has been appointed Jury President. He will oversee the selection of winners from the 14 Competition titles that represent some of the year’s most outstanding Asian films.

The seven names of jurors includes Tony Leung Ka-fai, the internationally acclaimed Hong Kong actor; Nandita Das, the Indian actor-filmmaker with an exceptional global presence; Marziyeh Meshkiny, the leading female director of the Iranian New Wave cinema; Kogonada, celebrated director among cinephiles for Columbus (2017) and After Yang (2021); Yulia Evina Bhara,...

Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has announced the seven members of the jury for its first ever fully fledged competition section, which will be headed by Korean filmmaker Na Hongjin.

Also on the jury are Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-fai; Indian actor and filmmaker Nandita Das; Iranian New Wave director Marziyeh Meshkiny; US-based filmmaker Kogonada; Indonesian producer Yulia Evina Bhara, and Korean actor Han Hyo-joo.

Biff, which is taking place September 17-26, recently announced the 14 titles that will compete in the inaugural competition section. The jury will hand out Busan Award prizes in five categories: Best Film, Best Director, Special Jury Prize, Best Actor, and Artistic Contribution.

Biff Festival Director Jung Hanseok said: “Since this is a newly launched section, we sought to appoint jury members with discerning eyes, bold perspectives, and international influence. To broaden the scope of deliberation, the Busan International Film Festival has...

The New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) has revealed the features that will compete for this year’s Uncaged Award and that Hong Kong actor Nicholas Tse will receive the Screen International Star Asia Award.

The eight-strong competition for best feature film at the festival, running July 12-28, will include the North American premiere of Thai hit How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies, directed by Pat Boonnitipat.

The film, which ranks as this year’s biggest film at the Thai box office to date, is a family drama that stars popular Thai singer Putthipong Assaratanakul (aka Billkin) as a...

Distributor Trinity CineAsia has acquired Donnie Yen-starring action film “Raging Fire” from Emperor Motion Pictures for the U.K. and Ireland.

The film debuted at the top of the box office last weekend in China, where it grossed $37.2 million in the three-day period, and led sales since, grossing $56.8 million in its opening week.

It’s the last film from the legendary Hong Kong writer, director and producer Benny Chan, who died last summer. He was beloved for his action titles like “The White Storm,” “Call of Heroes,” and Jackie Chan pictures like “New Police Story.”

“Raging Fire” reunites Donnie Yen with his co-star Nicholas Tse (“New Police Story”) after past collaborations on 2006’s “Dragon Tiger Gate” and 2009’s “Bodyguards and Assassins.” It features Yen’s fight choreography.

“It is with tremendous anticipation and profound sadness we are releasing Benny Chan’s final picture, Raging Fire,” said Trinity CineAsia director Cedric Behrel.

It’s no great leap forward in filmmaking, but the big-budget disaster movie “Skyfire” does prove that China is now capable of producing its own brand of utterly preposterous and enjoyably trashy popcorn entertainment for a global audience. This thrill-packed tale about an angry volcano wreaking havoc on thinly written characters at a luxury island resort plays like a souped-up and much better remake of Irwin Allen’s 1980 turkey “When Time Ran Out.” Starring a predominantly Chinese cast and energetically directed by British action specialist Simon West, “Skyfire” did Ok without setting the Chinese box-office alight in December 2019 release. It should be a hot number with action fans when launched on VOD in North America by Screen Media on Jan. 12.

While several recent Chinese productions including “The Wandering Earth,” “The Captain” and “The Bravest” have depicted large-scale calamities, none have embraced the tried-and-true disaster movie format with the unashamed reverence and gusto of “Skyfire.

To be completely honest, I’ve never been a big subscriber to the Chinese brand on VFX-heavy fantasy films. Not only do they, for the most part, miss their mark in the story-telling department, the VFX often feels excessively used and frankly, unpleasant to the eye at times. It is, thus, with increased trepidation that I approached Teddy Chen’s new feature “Double World”, which is based on the popular online Chinese video game Zhengtu.

A reimagined ancient China is the setting of the story, where the otherwise warring regions Northern Yan and Southern Zhao have known peace for a number of years, which now seems to be coming to an end. When a plot to assassinate the young king of Southern Zhao is foiled, the kingdom’s Grand Tutor Guan proposes to hold a tournament to choose the Kingdom army’s Grand Field Martial, a tradition that’s been dead since the peace.

Chinese movie “Double World” will forgo a theatrical premiere in favor of a simultaneous online debut on Netflix and China’s streaming service iQiyi.

The news comes as China’s cinemas have yet to offer a timeline for reopening despite nearly six months of closures.

The film will stream via iQiyi in China on July 24. It will debut on Netflix, which is blocked in China, for all the other territories the platform operates in on July 25, the company confirmed Wednesday to Variety.

Made on a budget of around $43 million (RMB300 million) and comprised of 80% special effects, “Double World” will be the fifth most expensive new movie to ever premiere on iQiyi’s premium video on demand (PVOD) service, which launched in January as coronavirus took off.

Shifting to an online release “will provide some relief to the struggling production company in the nick of time, and it will also help...

A versatile producer in her own right, Jojo Hui Yuet-chun began working as an assistant director in Samson Chiu’s Yesteryou, Yesterme, Yesterday (1993) and soon found herself in numerous film projects. She collaborated with Peter Ho-sun Chan on many of his earlier films, including the award-winning Allan and Eric: Between Hello and Goodbye (1991) and He’s a Woman, She’s a Man (1994). She also served as associate producer and assistant director on acclaimed films such as Chan’s Comrades, Almost a Love Story (1997), Teddy Chen’s Purple Storm (1999) (which she co-wrote) and The Accidental Spy (2000) starring Jackie Chan. Hui worked with international renowned filmmakers such as Wayne Wangon Chinese Box (1997) as assistant director, and Tsui Harkon Knock Off (1998) as a casting director.

Having joined Applause Picturesin 2002, Hui has since produced a series of smash hits such as Jan Dara (2001), The Eye (2001), Three: Going Home (2001), Golden Chicken series, The Eye 2 (2004) and...

Popular industry blog Yuemuchina recently named the “new big four” companies that it believes have edged out the old guard studios and now dominate the Middle Kingdom movie scene. Along with obvious choices of tech giant Tencent and Beijing Culture, a producer on a hot streak, the list also included Bona Film Group.

Given that Bona is celebrating its 20th anniversary, something that makes it one of the oldest players in the Chinese film industry, labeling it as new and influential is testament to the company’s enduring significance.

That success is in large measure attributable to founder and present-day chairman Yu Dong, who dominates through intellect, instinct and a willingness to make huge decisions that others would shy away from. His analyses of the trends in the Chinese industry are always listened to and his box office forecasts are mostly right.

Yu began his career as an intern at state-controlled behemoth China Film Group,...

Felix Chong’s crime drama won seven awards, including best film.

Project Gutenberg was the clear winner at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, picking up seven prizes, including best film, as well as best director and best screenplay for Felix Chong.

The Hong Kong-China co-production, about a team of money counterfeiters, also picked up awards for cinematography, editing, art direction and costume & make-up design. Going into the ceremony, the film had 17 nominations, making it the second most nominated film ever, behind Bodyguards And Assassins in 2009.

However, Project Gutenberg lost out on the best actor award, which went to Anthony Wong in Still Human,...

Jon Favreau confirmed that Harrison Ford has joined the cast of Cowboys and Aliens, which would have been great news twenty years ago. My first reaction was that this was a good thing, but then I realized that the universe is too malicious a place for that to really be the case. Have you flipped through Ford's list of films lately? He hasn't made a decent movie since The Fugitive in 1993. Other than the campy entertainment of Air Force One in 1997, his resume is like a highlight reel of the worst movies made every year. No one under the age of twenty has seen a good Harrison Ford movie in theaters unless they caught the Star Wars re-releases back when they were seven or so.

(source: Film School Rejects)

David Cross (Tobias) says that the Arrested Development movie is completely dead, which is as unsurprising as it is nevertheless disappointing.

More Afm news

Hong Kong -- Big-budget Chinese period thriller "Bodyguards and Assassins" has been sold by We Distribution to four territories at the beginning of the American Film Market.

E1 Entertainment picked up the film for the U.K. and Canada, while Cj Entertainment bought it for South Korea and Gulf Films took it for the Middle East.

The $23 million film directed by Teddy Chan is set in early 20th century Hong Kong with all the action taking place on the day of a failed assassination attempt on Sun Yat-sen. Its all-star cast includes Donnie Yen, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Leon Lai and Simon Yam.

" 'Bodyguards and Assassins' caters to the intelligence and appetites of China's increasingly sophisticated and fast-expanding audiences. I am also thrilled that we have phenomenal response from territories outside mainland China," producer Peter Chan Ho-sun said.

The film is already destined for a wide Asian release Dec.