Noticias

Prolific filmmaker Herman Yau is no stranger to Hong Kong cinema who has directed bold films that touched on sensitive themes since the 1990s. Films like the Category III rated “The Untold Story” and “Ebola Syndrome” are famously explicit in violence, sex and gore. Most of all, he tells the real stories of Hong Kong through his raw and complex characters. Nonetheless, Yau would move on to direct big budget action films mostly financed by China like “Shock Wave” (2017), “The White Storm” series and “Moscow Mission” (2023) during the last decade. Filmed in different locations, “Customs Frontline” is such a film.

A young hotshot but principled Chow Ching Lai (Nicholas Tse) works for the Hong Kong Customs Department as an assistant superintendent. Fortunately, he has a sympathetic boss Cheung Wan Nam (Jacky Cheung), a senior superintendent there who gives him guidance throughout his career. One day while on a routine patrol,...

“Tape,” a Hong Kong remake of Richard Linklater’s iconic 2001 psychological thriller film of the same title, is heading for the American Film Market and theatrical release in its adopted territory. In anticipation of those steps, the producers are unreeling a “Tape” trailer.

“Tape” explores the fallout from a traumatic event at a high school graduation party, forcing the three former friends to confront their past in a story that delves into themes of power, manipulation, and the subjective nature of truth. The remake transposes the story from the U.S. to Hong Kong, a region that has yet to fully reckon with the #MeToo movement, while adapting to today’s technology-dependent age.

The new film is directed by banker turned film producer and director Bizhan Tong. It stars Kenny Kwan, Selena Lee (“Queen of News”) and Adam Pak (“A Guilty Conscience”) in roles originally portrayed by Robert Sean Leonard,...

Touted as Hong Kong’s first radiation-disaster blockbuster, Anthony Pun’s Cesium Fallout chronicles the political and frontline responses to a national catastrophe as it unfolds on the outskirts of the city. Emulating the blockbusters of Irwin Allen and Roland Emmerich, the rampant urban destruction is complemented by a star-studded ensemble of some of the local industry’s most prominent talent. Andy Lau takes top billing as the scientist drafted to advise Karen Mok’s bullheaded politician when a fire breaks out in a landfill site riddled with illegal radioactive waste. As the leadership bickers over the appropriate response and who is to be reprimanded, it falls to the blue collar heroes of the Hong Kong Fire Services Department to tackle the inferno head on.

Yu Bai and Louise Wong are among the heroes in helmets putting their lives on the line for the sake of seven million innocent souls,...

The late Benny Chan directed “The White Storm” back in 2013 starring Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Nick Cheung. In “The White Storm 2: Drug Lords” (2019) which starred Andy Lau and Louis Koo, Herman Yau took over as director. Now in 2023, Yau is back in this in-title-only third installment again featuring Koo, Lau Ching Wan and Aaran Kwok, the newcomer to the series. All these actors play different characters altogether but the themes of war against drugs, royalty and brotherhood are still there but told in a new storyline.

Check also this article The 20 Best Asian Action/Martial Arts Movies of 2023

The year is 2021 and Kang Su Chat, a Thai-Chinese drug lord who runs his operation in Hong Kong has his men fish up a few barrels containing heroin off the coast. As they leave the docks after unloading their precious cargo, the police show up which results in an intense firefight.

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.

The Donnie Yen-starring action thriller “Raging Fire” will open in North American theaters on Aug. 13, its distributor Well Go USA Entertainment announced Friday.

The film is the final project of the late iconic Hong Kong film director Benny Chan, who passed away last summer. Chan was beloved for action films like “The White Storm” and Jackie Chan pictures like “New Police Story.”

“Raging Fire” will screen ahead of its broader theatrical outing on Aug. 9 as the Centerpiece film selection of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff). Later this year, it will land on the martial arts streaming channel Hi-yah!, prior to its physical and digital release.

“We have been long-time champions of both the late director Benny Chan’s work and Donnie Yen,” said Nyaff executive director Samuel Jamier. “The Centerpiece presentation is the keystone event of Nyaff, representing the tone and unique spirit of our festival, which...

Chan, widely regarded as one of Hong Kong’s leading action directors, became ill while shooting Raging Fire last year.

Benny Chan, widely regarded as one of Hong Kong’s leading action directors, has died aged 58.

Chan was suffering from nasopharyngeal cancer. He had fallen ill while shooting Raging Fire, starring Nicolas Tse and Donnie Yen last year, and handed post-production of the film to his colleagues. He had spent the last few months hospitalised in Hong Kong.

Chan’s career started at Hong Kong broadcaster Tvb where he worked as an assistant director to Johnnie To and later became a director.

Veteran Hong Kong action movie director Benny Chan has sadly passed away at the age of 58.

After a beginning of career working for Rtv and Tvb, director Chan served as assistant to Johnnie To. His directorial debut was “A moment of Romance”, produced by Johnnie To, starring Andy Lau and Jacklyn Wu.

During a long lasting collaboration with Jackie Chan he directed “Who Am I?”, “New Police Story”, “Rob-b-Hood”, “Shaolin”. More action classics directed by Chan include “The White Storm”, “Call of Heroes”, “City Under Siege” and “Connected”.

Benny Chan was filming his latest work, “Raging Fire” with Donnie Yen and Nicholas Tse when he felt ill and was hospitalised. The filming had been completed but Chan wasn’t able to supervise the post production.

Gone too soon, Chan was one of the last genuine directors of action movies in Hong Kong.

Local films grossed a combined $32.5m (Hk$252.9m) for a 13.2% market share.

Hong Kong’s box office decreased by just 1.74% to $247.4m (Hk$1.92bn) in 2019, despite the impact of political protests that have rocked the city since the middle of last year.

According to data from Hong Kong Box Office, the total was achieved despite a decline in the total number of films released to 326 titles compared to 353 the previous year. Overall box office was up by around 6% in the first half of 2019, but started to dip when the protests became more regular in the second half of the year.

The Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong has selected Herman Yau's crime thriller The White Storm 2 — Drug Lords as the country's submission to the international feature film category at the 2020 Oscars.

Starring Andy Lau and Louis Koo as a billionaire anti-drug vigilante and a drug kingpin, respectively, the drama was directed by prolific veteran Herman Yau and concludes with a notable set-piece inside a major Hong Kong subway station. Although billed as a sequel, the film has no narrative relations to The White Storm (2013) except in title and the return ...

The Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong has selected Herman Yau's crime thriller The White Storm 2 — Drug Lords as the country's submission to the international feature film category at the 2020 Oscars.

Starring Andy Lau and Louis Koo as a billionaire anti-drug vigilante and a drug kingpin, respectively, the drama was directed by prolific veteran Herman Yau and concludes with a notable set-piece inside a major Hong Kong subway station. Although billed as a sequel, the film has no narrative relations to The White Storm (2013) except in title and the return ...

Directed by Andrew Lau and Starring Louis Koo Kung Fu Monster The Epic Wuxia Fantasy Debuts on Blu-ray™ & Digital October 8 with a “Making-of” Featurette Martial arts icon Louis Koo stars in the action-packed Hong Kong wuxia fantasy Kung Fu Monster, debuting on Blu-ray™ and Digital October 8 …

The post Kung Fu Monster hit Blu-ray & Digital October 8. appeared first on Hnn | Horrornews.net.

Shootouts and car chases are interrupted only by brief bouts of middling melodrama in “The White Storm 2: Drug Lords,” an in-name-only sequel to the 2013 hit about cops involved in the war on drugs. Vigorously directed by prolific veteran Herman Yau (“Shock Wave”) and well served by an all-star cast headed by Andy Lau and Louis Koo, this Hong Kong action-thriller isn’t deep but is certainly not dull. Mainland audiences have gone wild for “Drug Lords,” with 1.8 million admissions and a $105 million gross in 7 days since its July 5 release, which suggests the potential for relatively strong returns in the U.S., U.K. and other territories as well. Hong Kong release is set for July 16.

In an extended 2004-set prologue, Tin (Lau) and Dizang are low-level hoods working for Tin’s uncle, Yu Nam (Kent Cheng), a triad boss with a strict “no selling drugs” policy. When Dizang breaks the rule,...

Triad violence ripples through Hong Kong society in a second-rate import that brings frustration, agitation and fleeting highs

This sequel-in-name-only to 2013’s action-thriller The White Storm brings over from its predecessor the Hong Kong-set crime milieu, a tri-protagonist structure and just one actor for another bout of serviceable but so-so drama peppered with violence. Several of the participants are major names in Asian cinema but the actor Andy Lau will likely be the best known to western audiences, having played the underworld mole planted with the cops in the immortal Infernal Affairs trilogy, the template for Martin Scorsese’s The Departed.

Here Lau, working up his best mournful expression of melancholy (or perhaps just constipation), plays Yu, a mid-level gangster in a triad gang when the action starts in 2004. He is compelled by the big boss to cut off three fingers of his colleague/friend Fung (Koo), for disobeying orders...

In 2013, the veteran director Benny Chan gave us the spectacular action film “The White Storm” which honored the best heroic bloodshed films Hong Kong madein the 80s and 90s. This year the sequel: “The White Storm 2: Drug Lords ” arrives, at the hands of Herman Yau, another veteran director who does not need any introduction.

The White Storm 2: Drug Lords is released in UK cinemas 12th July from Cine Asia

As is usual in some franchises of this type, the continuity is different, which is why it has nothing to do with the previous one. Louis Koo repeats his part in this installment, and he is accompanied by Andy Lau, Michael Mui, Chrissie Chau, Kent Cheng and Kar Yan Lam among others.

The story begins in 2009 in Hong Kong, where the criminal gang of Ching Hing controls much of the city. This criminal gang, led by Yu Nam (Kent cheng...

The Andy Lau- and Louis Koo-starring Hong Kong action film “White Storm 2: The Drug Lords” was the third highest grossing film in the world this weekend thanks to a strong $62.4 million China opening. It far outstripped other Chinese and U.S. content in Chinese theaters.

Directed by Herman Yau and produced by Lau, the film tells the story of the chaos that ensues after a former triad member turned philanthropist offers a large bounty in exchange for the life of Hong Kong’s top drug dealer. Though it shares a name with 2013’s “The White Storm,” which also starred Louis Koo, it is a standalone story. That earlier film was directed by Benny Chan and went on to earn around $35 million (RMB238 million) in China.

This installment’s three-day haul more than doubled the second weekend performance of Sony’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home,” which came in second with $29.8 million,...

Following the success of the critically-acclaimed box office hit The White Storm, Drug Lords is a thrilling new story in this highly cinematic, action-packed franchise. 

Starring Hong Kong cinema legends Andy Lau and Louis Koo, The White Storm 2: Drug Lords is released in UK cinemas from 12th July, on the same date as the USA and just one week after China. 

Synopsis: In Hong Kong, a former triad member-turned-property tycoon publicly offers a $100 million bounty to eliminate the notorious, number one drug dealer in the city. Causing a ripple effect throughout the underworld, the bounty sets off an escalating rivalry with devastating consequences between the two titans.

Boasting a stellar cast and directed by Herman Yau, The White Storm 2: Drug Lords is an epic and electrifying new action-thriller which demands to be seen.

Chinese director David Lam has completed his most recent production “P Storm”. The action film is the fourth in the “Storm” series with the first entry “Z Storm” being released back in 2014. The film stars Louis Koo, who reprises his role as Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) investigator William Luk.

“P Storm” is set for theatrical releases on April 4th. Cmc Pictures has provided a trailer in anticipation of the release, and can be viewed below.

Synopsis

The Independent Commission Against Corruption received the real name report from the reporter Liao Yuping (Zhou Xiuna), reporting that the second generation of Cao Yuanyuan (Lin Feng ornaments) who was in jail was suspected of bribery in prison. Shen Jiquan (Tan Yaowen) and the correctional officer, Chief Investigation Officer Lu Zhilian (Gu Tianlian) ) decided to go deep into the tiger’s den, lying in prison. In the prison, the former police chief Huang...

“Warriors of Future” is the debut work of visual effects artist Ng Yuen-fai who worked on previous productions such as “The Warlords”, “Re-Cycle” and “Tai Chi Zero”. The Action/Sci-fi blockbuster boasts a well-seasoned cast in Louis Koo, (“Three” “Drug War“) Sean Lau, (“The White Storm” “Black Mask”) and Carina Lau. (“Days of Being Wild” “2046”)

The film has been in production since early 2017 and is set to release next year, a trailer for the film has been released.

Synopsis

In 2055, a meteorite, which brings a fast-growing alien vine named “Pandora”, crashes down on a barren Earth ravaged by pollution and global warming. “Pandora” purifies the planet but kills everything in its path. To protect the citizens of their city, the heavily armored military of Hong Kong, armed with the plant’s genetic map, tries but fails to destroy “Pandora” and uncovers a conspiracy. (From Wikipedia)...

Ronan Wong will help the agency with developing, investing in and distributing Chinese-language content.

Former Le Vision Pictures executive Ronan Wong has joined Wme Img China as vice president, film and TV, based in Beijing.

In his new role, Wong will be helping the agency ramp up its involvement in developing, investing in and distributing Chinese-language film and TV content, including sales to China’s digital platforms. He will work with Rick Yan, who joined the agency in Beijing at the end of 2016.

Wong was previously general manager, international co-production and distribution at Beijing-based Le Vision Pictures. He also had...

Assassins and the Missing Gold 

Veteran producer Jeffrey Lau (Kung Fu Hustle, ChungKing Express) takes directing duties on this period suspense actioner from Hong Kong-based Entertaining Power. The film features Max Zhang (Ip Man 3) and his real-life wife Ada Choi as an estranged couple who reunites to expose a conspiracy, foil an assassination and search for a fortune.

Drug Lords

Drug Lords, Universe Entertainment's sequel to the 2013 crime thriller The White Storm, which took in $45 million at the international office, sees Hong Kong megastar Andy Lau joining Louis Koo and prolific helmer Herman Yau (Shock Wave) taking over directing...

Director Herman Yau and actor-producer Andy Lau are reteaming on a sequel to 2013 action drama The White Storm.

Following their collaboration on Shock Wave, director Herman Yau and actor-producer Andy Lau are reteaming on a sequel to 2013 action drama The White Storm, which Hong Kong’s Universe Films Distribution is introducing to buyers here at Filmart.

In addition to Lau, The White Storm 2 - Drug Lords (working title) will star Louis Koo, who also starred in the original film directed by Bennie Chan, along with Michael Miu, Karena Lam and Cherrie Ying.

Budgeted at $25m, a substantial hike from the original’s $16m budget,...

Lou Ye’s Blind Massage was the big winner at this year’s Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, scooping six prizes including best film and best new performer for Zhang Lei.Scroll down for full list of winners

The mainland China production also won best adapted screenplay (Ma Yingli), best cinematography (Zeng Jian), best film editing (Kong Jinlei, Jolin Zhu) and best sound effects (Fu Kang).

Ann Hui won best director for historical biopic The Golden Era, while best original screenplay went to Yee Chih-yen for Meeting Dr Sun.

Chen Jianbin won best new director and best actor for A Fool, along with best supporting actor for Paradise In Service, which also took the best supporting actress prize for Regina Wan’s performance. Chen Hsiang-chi took best actress for Exit.

Fruit Chan’s The Midnight After won best visual effects and Liu Qiang was awarded best art direction for Black Coal, Thin Ice. Brotherhood...

You may recall that last year the Golden Horse celebrated its 50th year so it was a big big deal. All the stars of Chinese language cinema were out with all the living winners of the lead acting prizes prominently displayed on stage. Zhang Ziyi finally took home Best Actress for The Grand Master, a prize that had continually eluded her. This year, the 51st, is bound to be a let down in comparison but it's still worth noting since we like to see how the Oscar submissions from various Asian countries fare. So let's just hit that straightaway...

Tang Wei stars in The Golden Era, a 30s era biopic of an important Chinese writer

The Golden Era (Ann Hui) - Hong Kong's Oscar submission

This historical bio of a famous female writer finds Lust Caution's then-novice star Tang Wei headlining another acclaimed 3 hour period epic. It's nominated for 5 awards...

It is great to see Nick Cheung returning to comedy following a string of hit thrillers like Beast Stalker, Stool Pigeon, Unbeatable and The White Storm. Many of the actor's early film roles were actually in comedies and films such as The Conman and The Duel prove how good a comic actor he is. In his latest film Temporary Family, he teams up with Hk's queen of romantic comedies Sammi Cheng (Needing You..., Love On A Diet) and the pair look to bring lots of laughs to audiences. Temporary Family is due to be released in Australian cinemas on August 21, and thanks to its distributor Magnum Films, we have Five double passes to give away. For a chance to win, all you have to do is to...

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The Weekend Watch is an open thread where you can share what you’ve recently watched, offer suggestions on movies and TV shows we should check out (or warnings about stuff to avoid) and discover queue-filling goodies from other Fsr readers. The comments section awaits. I’ll get the ball rolling with the movies/TV my eyeballs took in this weekend. Try, for a second, to imagine a world where the director of The Fugitive (Andrew Davis) made a film that starred Rachel Ward, Daryl Hannah, Joe Pantoliano *and* Adrian Zmed. I know. It sounds like pure fantasy. But I’m here to tell you it’s real. The Final Terror is an early ’80s “killer in the woods” flick that used to be played regularly on HBO, but I hadn’t seen it in decades. Scream Factory’s new Blu-ray gave me the opportunity to revisit it, and while I remembered it being a fun thriller...

Nyaff 2014 runs June 27-July 14 in New York City, and The White Storm plays today (6/29) at 2:50 pm at Walter Reade Theater. Tin (Lau Ching-wan) and Wai (Nick Cheung) are detectives in the Hong Kong police’s narcotics department, and after years of investigation they’re about to make a major arrest. Just as they’re busting in the doors though they get word from above to halt the operation as the opportunity to nab a much bigger fish has become available. The cops are understandably frustrated, but none more so than Chow (Louis Koo) who’s been undercover in the criminal organization for two years and desperately wants to return to his wife. He’s coerced into staying on the job through a combination of duty and guilt-tripping, and soon the new investigation leads them to Thailand and their new target, a man named Eight-faced Buddha (Lo Hoi-pang) who’s far more cautious and dangerous than they...

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival will be taking place once again in Montreal and the first wave of programming has been announced, revealing an eclectic mix of genre films from around the world:

“Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime, here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year, Ray Harryhausen, filmmaker and stop-motion special effects pioneer, passed away at the age of 92. Mr. Harryhausen created some of the most beloved and innovative fantastic film imagery of all time in such classics as The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad...

The grandaddy of all film fests, Fantasia 2014, is set to kick off on July 17th, and we have this year's artwork to share along with the first wave of event and film announcements.

From the Press Release:

The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is gearing up to take Montreal by storm with three weeks of inspiration and excitement starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. Our full 2014 lineup of programming and special events will be revealed shortly, but in the meantime here’s an early First Wave Announcement of several selected highlights and info to whet your appetite.

For this year’s edition and onwards, Fantasia will be returning to the freshly renovated Concordia Hall Cinema as its main base, which now features an even larger screen, new seating, and upgraded projection and sound.

Unveiling Our 2014 Poster Art: Fantasia Pays Tribute To Three Legendary Figures Of The Fantastic

On May 7 of last year,...

Genre festival to open with Jacky in the Kingdom of Women [pictured]; other titles include Guardians of the Galaxy, Boyhood, The Harvest and Suburban Gothic.

Riad Sattouf’s Jacky in the Kingdom of Women will receive its Canadian premiere as the opening film of this year’s Fantasia International Film Festival.

The Montreal-based genre festival runs July 17-Aug 5 and has also announced it will hold a special screening of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Other first wave announcements include six world premieres: Leo Gabriadze’s Cybernatural; Jean Luc Herbulot’s Dealer; Aik Karapetian’s The Man in the Orange Jacket; Sarah Adina Smith’s The Midnight Swim; Dan Bush’s The Reconstruction of William Zero; and Richard Bates Jr’s Suburban Gothic.

Fantasia has also announced six international premieres, including John McNaughton’s The Harvest and Park Jae-hyun’s The Huntresses, and ten Canadian premieres such as The Mo Brothers’ Killers and Mike Cahill’s I Origins.

Richard Linklater’s critically...

It is that time of the year again in which we start preparing for our favourite film festival in the world. For the unfamiliar, Sound On Sight has delivered some of the best coverage of the Fantasia Film Festival since we first launched back in 2008. In the past we’ve published up to 55 reviews, dozens of features and recorded six podcasts dedicated entirely to the three and a half week long event. So be sure to come visit us again and again throughout the months of July and August, as we will surely be all over the 2014 edition. The 18th annual Fantasia International Film Festival is taking Montreal by storm, starting July 17 until August 5, 2014. They’ve just released their new poster and along with the first wave of films, and as expected, Fantasia’s programmers aren’t disappointing. Here’s the press release. Enjoy!

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Montreal, June 19, 2014 – The 18th annual Fantasia...

After a string of successes in front of the camera, including Nightfall, Unbeatable and The White Storm, Hong Kong actor Nick Cheung has become one of the hottest and most sought-after performers in town. He wields so much power in the local industry that the 46-year-old is now venturing behind the camera to write and direct his first feature. The result is Hungry Ghost Ritual, a straight up supernatural horror flick in which Cheung also stars, alongside Carrie Ng, Annie Liu and Cathryn Lee. July marks the Chinese Ghost Festival in the Lunar calendar, when the door to hell is opened and ghosts can wander into the human world in an effort to deter them from haunting people during the rest of the year. To entertain the...

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The North American premiere of Umin Boya’s Kano has been selected as the Centerpiece selection for this year’s New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), set to run from June 27–July 14.

Returning for its 13th edition, the festival will include its Korean Actor In Focus programme, when Lee Jung-jae will present some of his most notable films as well The Face Reader and New World.

The programme will include Takashi Miike’s gangster story The Mole Song: Undercover Agent Reiji, Philip Yung’s juvenile delinquent drama May We Chat, Benny Chan’s genre film The White Storm, Lee Kung-lok’s porn industry comedy 3D Naked Ambition and Andy Lau in Allen Yuen’s police thriller Firestorm.

The Film Society Of Lincoln Center and Subway Cinema made the announcement (8) in association with the Japan Society.

For further details click here.

The White Storm (2013) Review Directing67% Acting81% Story77% Action70%Thumbs UpThree great actors at their best.Good twists and turns.Thumbs DownMediocre directing.77%Overall ScoreReader Rating: (2 Votes)70%To Choose Or Not To Choose

I remember my love for the 90′s action thriller genre. The over-the-top bullet ballet barrages. The bromo-heroic good guys. The somehow always weird-looking evil bad guys. I remember it all. Unfortunately, nowadays it takes a lot more than that to really sustain my attention for 90 minutes – even more so when the movie in question clocks in at 134 minutes. I suspect director Benny Chan hasn’t gotten to that point yet, but credit to him, he managed to bring together three of Hong Kong’s best actors in his latest film “The White Storm“.

Three lifelong friends, now narcotics officers, are hot on the trail of a wanted criminal. Unfortunately for our heroic trio, one of them is starting...

Hong Kong – Director Pang Ho-cheung's Aberdeen and director Fruit Chan's The Midnight After will open the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival. Aberdeen, starring Louis Koo (The White Storm), Gigi Leung (The Monkey King), Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs), and Miriam Yeung (Love in the Buff), will hold its world premiere at 8pm on the festival's opening night on March 24. The film sees Pang (Vulgaria) explore the difficulties faced by three generations of a Hong Kong family. Photos: China Box Office 2013: The Top 10 Movies "We choose Aberdeen because it's a film by Pang Ho-cheung, whom we

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The 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards is expected to be a hell of a show with some great films going head to head. Leading the way with nominations is The Grand Master with 14, followed by Unbeatable (Dante Lam).

There were complaints last year, that the show didn’t live up to expectations, mainly due to the fact the movie Cold Wars, won nearly every award. Best actor award see the likes of these guys going head to head, Tony Leung (The Grandmaster), Louis Koo (The White Storm) and also Anthony Wong (Ip Man: The Final Fight).

Take a look at the list and comment who you think will win. The winners will be announced on April 13.

Best Film:

- The Grandmaster

- Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

- The Way We Dance

- The White Storm

- Unbeatable

Best Director:

- Wong Kar Wai (The Grandmaster)

- Johnnie To...

Hong Kong – Director Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmaster leads the pack with fourteen nominations at the 33rd Hong Kong Film Awards, followed by Dante Lam's Unbeatable with eleven nods. Wong's martial arts epic garnered nominations in the best film, best director, best actor, best actress, best supporting actor, best cinematography, best editing, best art direction, best costume design, best action choreography, best original music, best sound effects, and best visual effects categories. Video: Wong Kar Wai on the Making of 'The Grandmaster' The Grandmaster will compete in the best film category with Mma drama Unbeatable, drug action thriller The White Storm,

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Available to buy from January 29, 2014, Benny Chan's The White Storm celebrates the brotherhood and camaraderie of three policemen played by three of Hong Kong's most sought-after actors; Lau Ching Wan, Louis Koo and Nick Cheung. The White Storm finds Chan in full-on action territory here, and even if it is unlikely to reach the dizzy heights of John Woo in his heyday, The White Storm should serve up enough thrills to keep fans of the Hong Kong action genre satisfied. No word on an English or American release yet but this one certainly looks like one of the more likely contenders. Synopsis: Ma Ngan Tin (Lau Ching Wan), So Kin Chau (Louis Koo) and Cheung Tze Wai (Nick Cheung) met and bonded as kids and their friendship continued in police academy with their shared passion for law and justice. While Ngan Tin and Tze Wai get into the Narcotics Bureau upon graduation,...

Alfonso Cuaron's science fiction blockbuster Gravity holds firm at the top of the charts for a second straight week, although Benny Chan's The White Storm opens strong. Rank Title Origin 25/11 - 01/12 (Us$M) Total (Us$M) Screening days 1 Gravity USA $22.74 $58.77 13 2 The White Storm Hk/China $12.94 $12.94 3 3 The Hunger Games：Catching Fire USA $11.10 $24.18 11 4 Epic USA $3.65 $3.65 3 5 Control China $3.26 $6.80 10 6 Thor: The Dark World USA $2.13 $55.01 24 7 Escape Plan USA $1.78 $40.76 28 8 Red 2 USA $0.46 $8.98 17 9 Voyage Extraordinaire China $0.16 $0.16 3 10 My Boyfriends China $0.09 $1.22 17 Gravity has been a colossal success around the world, and proves China is no exception....

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The 8th Rome Film Festival drew to a close Sunday with the international premiere of Benny Chan's thriller The White Storm (Sou duk) and the wrap-up of the festival's The Business Street market event. In an unusual move, festival officials scheduled the main awards ceremony for the festival's penultimate day. That means Tir, a documentary from Alberto Fasulo about a Bosnian truck driver, a surprise winner of the festival's main prize, acting awards to Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson, and other prizes were all handed out a full day before the fest officially shut down. Rome Film Fest: Italian

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Matthew McConaughey and Scarlett Johansson win actor prizes.Scroll down for full list of winners

Tir, the first narrative film by Italian director Alberto Fasulo, has picked up the Golden Marc Aurelio Award for best film at the 8th Rome Film Fesival.

The docu-drama explores the current econmic crisis as seen through the eyes of a former professor who becomes a trucker to solve his money problems. It stars Slovenian actor Branko Zavrsan (No Man’s Land).

Fasulo is best known for documentaries including White Noise (Rumore bianco). Tir is being sold internationally by Fandango Sales.

One of 18 competition titles, Tir beat heavyweight Us titles including Jean-Marc Vallee’s Dallas Buyers Club, Spike Jonze’s Her and Scott Cooper’s Out of the Furnace.

However, all three of those films did manage to secure wins at the festival on Saturday evening.

Scarlett Johansson, who walked the red carpet at Rome earlier in the festival, won the best...

A total of 24 co-production projects and sections devoted to China, digital and remakes help make up Rome’s industry events.

The 8th Rome Film Festival (Nov 8-17) has revealed details of its International Film Market ahead of its launch next week.

Rome’s key industry initiatives – the informal The Business Street (TBS) screenings market and the New Cinema Network (Ncn) co-production market – will run from Nov 13-17.

Organisers are expecting distributors and producers from 45 countries and 700 accredited visitors as well as 24 selected projects, a China Day and a new initiative dedicated to remakes as well as meetings, panel discussions and conferences.

Single venue; digital focus

For its eighth edition, TBS will take place once again in Via Veneto, the street famously featured in Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita.

But for the first time both TBS and Ncn will be held in a single venue, the Hotel Bernini Bristol.

The Terrace will host the buyers and sellers...

The White Storm is the latest action movie from director Benny Chan (New Police Story, Shaolin), which stars Sean Lau, Louis Koo, and Nick Cheung.

The movie is based on a group of cops who must track down a drug lord, from the trailer it looks set to deliver some great action, Ken Lo also stars in the movie.

Synopsis:

The Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau’s Team A, led by Wan (by Sean Lau Ching Wan, successfully arrests the most active international drug dealer, Hak Tsai, following two years of undercover work by detectives Koo (by Louis Koo) and Fai (by Nick Cheung). But Wan, with a desire to perform and a hunger for ambition, tricks and persuades the Thai Police to extradite Hak Tsai back to Thailand in order to set a trap for the legendary drug lord, also known as the last warlord in the Golden Triangle area,...

The White Storm is the latest action movie from director Benny Chan (New Police Story, Shaolin), which stars Sean Lau, Louis Koo, and Nick Cheung.

The movie is based on a group of cops who must track down a drug lord, from the trailer it looks set to deliver some great action, Ken Lo also stars in the movie.

Synopsis:

The Hong Kong Narcotics Bureau’s Team A, led by Wan (by Sean Lau Ching Wan, successfully arrests the most active international drug dealer, Hak Tsai, following two years of undercover work by detectives Koo (by Louis Koo) and Fai (by Nick Cheung). But Wan, with a desire to perform and a hunger for ambition, tricks and persuades the Thai Police to extradite Hak Tsai back to Thailand in order to set a trap for the legendary drug lord, also known as the last warlord in the Golden Triangle area,...

Hong Kong (AP) — The White Storm, a crime thriller starring three of Hong Kong's most prolific actors, has opened the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. Lau Ching-wan, Louis Koo and Nicholas Cheung star in the action film about a clash between an undercover cop and a drug lord that director Benny Chan called his most defining work to date. The three actors said at the opening ceremony of the festival Friday night that while the movie is filled with explosions and gunfights, some of the more memorable scenes showed the trio at their quietest and most emotional. Film

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Benny Chan cranks it up to 11 in his latest high-stakes crime thriller, but with the action, intrigue and melodrama all hitting fever pitch, The White Storm proves an entertaining, yet exhausting and unintentionally amusing affair.Three childhood friends, Tin (Lau Ching Wan), Wai (Nick Cheung) and Chow (Louis Koo), all joined the police force, and while Tin rose through the ranks to lead a narcotics bureau task force with Wai as his right hand man, Chow went deep undercover amidst a gang of drug-dealing triads. When Chow wants out, Tin pushes him in deeper, in the hope of catching a notorious drug kingpin operating out of Thailand, known as Eight-Faced Buddha (Lo Hoi Pang). But when the Thai operation goes awry, and only two of...

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Benny Chan’s The White Storm to close Rome Film Festival; Amit Dutta’s The Seventh Walk to close CinemaXXI strand.

The White Storm (Sou Duk /Saodu) by Benny Chan is to close the 8th Rome Film Festival (Nov 8-17).

The new film by the Chinese director, producer, and screenwriter will be presented Out of Competition in its world premiere screening.

The story revolves around an operation against a notorious druglord in Thailand and its impact on three members of a Hong Kong narcotic team. Several years later, a crime brings the trio back together for a final face-off.

It stars Sean Lau as an ambitious narcotics police chief inspector, Nick Cheung as his loyal subordinate and Louis Koo as an undercover cop.

The Seventh Walk (Saatvin Sair) by Amit Dutta will be the closing film of CinemaXXI, the strand dedicated to new trends in international cinema. The latest film by the Indian director will be screened...

The full line-up for this year's Hong Kong Asian Film Festival has just been unveiled and it looks to be an incredibly strong year, bookended by two of the region's most hotly-anticipated thrillers. Opening the festival on 25 October is the world premiere of Benny Chan's drug trafficking drama The White Storm, starring three of Hong Kong's most prolific actors of the moment, Nick Cheung, Lau Ching Wan and Louis Koo. Perhaps more exciting, however, is that Bong Joon-ho's stellar science-fiction thriller, Snowpiercer will be closing the festival on 19 November, screening in its full Korean version ahead of going on general release in the city the following week. Other highlights of the programme include a special presentation of Tsai Ming Liang's Stray Dogs, winner of...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

Pan-Asian broadcaster Celestial Tiger Entertainment (Cte) has signed exclusive output deals with Hong Kong-based producers Mega-Vision Project Workshop (Mvp) and Universe Entertainment.

The deals cover first-run pay-tv rights, pay-per-view and VoD for all upcoming movies from the two studios for Cte’s Celestial Movies channel in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

The Hong Kong-based broadcaster has similar deals with local studios Media Asia Distribution, Emperor Motion Pictures and Distribution Workshop.

Headed by prolific director-producer Wong Jing, Mvp recently produced Young And Dangerous: Reloaded, a remake of the classic triad franchise, and comedy Princess And The Seven Kung Fu Masters.

Upcoming Mvp productions include From Vegas To Macau, starring Chow Yun Fat, Nicholas Tse and Chapman To, and comedies Mr & Mrs Player, directed by Wong Jing, and Black Comedy, directed by Wilson Chin.

Universe’s upcoming slate includes the Pang Brothers’ fire-fighting drama Out Of Inferno 3D, starring Louis Koo, Sean Lau and Lee Sinje, and action...