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Some 16 titles were showcased at a packed launch in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) presented a massive line-up of 16 titles at Filmart, including actor Nicholas Tse’s directorial debut New Police Story 2 and a further two action films also led by Tse.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first New Police Story, which was directed by the late filmmaker Benny Chan. The new feature reunites the original cast, including Tse, Jackie Chan and Charlene Choi, from the original film. Chan will produce for Tse who will direct for the first time.

The film is set to enter production this year,...

The Rescue is one of the most anticipated Chinese release of the year, and the latest action thriller from legendary director Dante Lam, whose films Operation Mekong and Operation Red Sea were stellar box office hits in China and internationally. Released in time for Chinese New Year through Cmc, distributor of global phenomenon The Wandering Earth, the film hits cinemas across the UK day and date with China on 25 January.

The first Chinese film to focus on China’s Coast Guard rescue organisation, The Rescue has an all-star cast of top Chinese talent including Eddie Peng (Operation Mekong), Wang Yanlin (Operation Red Sea), Xin Zhilei (Brotherhood of Blades) and Lan Yingying (Pacific Rim Uprising).

The film is one of the biggest Chinese productions of recent years, with a budget of over 700 million Rmb, shot on location in China and with underwater scenes shot at the world-famous Baja Studios in Mexico,...

The most anticipated action film “The Rescue”, directed by Dante Lam, produced by Candy Leung, will be released in North America, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom on January 25, 2020, Chinese Lunar New Year. Starring Eddie Peng, Wang Yanlin, Xin Zhilei as the lead roles, the film is anticipated to hit local theaters on Chinese New Year in early 2020.

This is the second time that Dante Lam’s film releases in Chinese New Year, one of the biggest holiday seasons in China’s film market. “The Rescue” has scheduled a day-and-date opening with China in North America, Australia, New Zealand and United Kingdom on the first day of Chinese New Year. Cmc Pictures acquires the distribution rights of United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The company has distributed several top Chinese films oversea during the past several years, including the hit sci-fi blockbuster “The Wandering Earth” in 2019, which...

Director Dante Lam and star Eddie Peng celebrated the completion of shooting on “The Rescue” with an underwater dive in Mexico and a couple of bottles of sparkling wine.

Made without prominent guns or martial arts, the film is an upbeat and intense action film that features China’s Coast Guard Services in airborne, marine and mountain rescues. It used the Baja Studios facilities in Mexico for extensive under water scenes.

Post-production will last for the remainder of 2019, ahead of an anticipated release at Chinese New Year time in 2020.

At the Cannes Film Festival, rights to the movie are being sold by China Modern Film and Television Development (Hk). Hong Kong studio Emperor Motion Pictures is handling distribution in selected territories in Asia.

Lam and producer Candy Leung assembled a multinational crew including Martin Laing and cinematographer Peter Pau.

The story focuses on five characters who form the nucleus of a rescue team.

China Modern Film and Television Development (Hk) is to handle international sales of “The Rescue.” The film is a big-budget Chinese action thriller, by smash hit director Dante Lam with the bankable Eddie Peng in the lead role.

The Hong Kong-based company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of China Modern Film and Television Development, one of the producers of the $90 million picture. It will represent the film for most international territories. At FilMart in March it was announced that Hong Kong studio Emperor Motion Pictures would be handling distribution in selected territories in Asia.

Now in the final stages of production, the film is a spectacular feast of action – without prominent guns or martial arts – featuring China’s Coast Guard Services in airborne, marine and mountain rescues. Locations included China and Baja, Mexico. The film is set for release at Chinese New Year season in early 2020.

Lam and producer Candy Leung...

How do you follow “Operation Mekong” and “Operation Red Sea,” two of China’s biggest hit films in recent years?

For Dante Lam, who directed those two movies, it’s not by further cranking up the body count or delivering yet more on-screen patriotism. Instead, he and producer Candy Leung are now working on one of the costliest films in Chinese history, “The Rescue,” a thriller with four massive action sequences that each could drive a movie like “Deepwater Horizon” or “xXx.” The film focuses on an emergency rescue operative and his pilot girlfriend, whose team find courage and camaraderie in adversity.

The $90 million budget is more than double the $38 million cost of “Operation Red Sea,” at a time when the Chinese industry is currently undergoing a painful slowdown. But with Lam’s last two films clocking up a combined $750 million at the Chinese box office, the project has been...

Ace Hong Kong director Dante Lam has begun work on “The Rescue,” which is set to be the biggest-budget Chinese film made this year. The $90 million action-adventure picture has already claimed a coveted Chinese New Year release slot in 2020.

Lam was recently responsible for two of mainland China’s highest-grossing films: “Operation Mekong” and last year’s “Operation Red Sea,” which raked in a combined $750 million in their target home market. Both were drenched in blood and Chinese patriotism, which failed to connect with audiences overseas.

For the long-gestating “Rescue,” Lam – whose track record includes upscale Hong Kong thrillers “The Viral Factor” and “The Stool Pigeon,” as well as sports dramas “Unbeatable” and “To the Fore” – has changed direction again. “There are no guns or martial-arts things,” he told Variety. “‘The Rescue’ is focused on courage, which I show through action. This has the energy of song and dance, or...

The New York Asian Film Festival is celebrating a true Master of Action. Director/producer/writer Dante Lam’s career spans Hong Kong’s Golden Age with films like Beast Cops, Twins Effect, Jiang Hu, through today with Beast Stalker, Unbeatable, and To The Fore. With his longtime producer, Candy Leung, Lam spoke with Lmd about receiving the Daniel A. Craft Excellence in Action Award and his blockbuster Mainland-made war epic, Operation Red Sea. The Lady Miz Diva: Director Lam, congratulations on the honour. Dan Craft was a man who prized action movies, and he would’ve been thrilled to give you this award. How do you feel about being here with the Nyaff audience who know your work very well? Dante Lam: Of course, I’m very happy...

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

The 17th annual New York Asian Film Festival closed July 15 after two weeks of boasting four world premieres, 21 North American premieres, and 12 New York premieres. Produced by Subway Cinema and the Film Society at Lincoln Center, the Nyaff aims to showcase Asian cinematic excellence, and to expose audiences to non-Eurocentric, emotionally compelling, and provocative Asian film. The festival kicked off June 29 with the North American premiere of celebrated Japanese director Masanori Tominaga’s “Dynamite Graffiti,” an idiosyncratic drama about the Japanese pornography publisher Suei Akira. For its closing, the festival chose box office darling Erik Matti’s “BuyBust,” an action film starring megawatt actor Anne Curtis and Mma world champion Brandon Vera, all of whom attended the screening. The festival also delivers awards, this year honoring Hong Kong’s Dante Lam with a Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema. The festival’s schedule included a special screening...

He will receive the Daniel A. Craft award for Excellence in Action Cinema.

The 17th New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff) will award Hong Kong’s Dante Lam the Daniel A. Craft Award for Excellence in Action Cinema. The festival runs from June 29-July 15.

Lam and his producer Candy Leung will attend the festival, which will host a tribute. His latest film, the action thriller Operation Red Sea, will screen in the festival; it is the second-highest grossing Chinese-language film of all time at the China box office, having grossed approximately $575m (Rmb 3.65bn) since the February launch.

The festival...

The director will return to Hong Kong for one of his new projects following mainland success with Operation Red Sea.

Operation Red Sea director Dante Lam made a surprise appearance at the end of Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp)’s media launch at Filmart today (Mar 19) to give a plug for two 2019 projects.

Standing on stage with his regular producer Candy Leung and the company’s group chairman Albert Yeung, Lam said his next project will be set on the sea again. It will be a mega-budget production co-produced by Emp and China’s state-run China Central Television (CCTV).

After having...

Bran Nue Dae and Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole have been nominated for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in the Best Children’s Film and Best Animated Film categories respectively.

New Zealand’s Boy was also nominated for Best Children’s Film, and Australian actor Tony Barry has been recognised for his performance in that country’s feature Home by Christmas.

The Jury is headed by producer Lord David Puttnam, and winners will be announced on the Gold Coast on December 2.

The nominees are:

Best Feature Film

Tangshan dadizheng (Aftershock)

People’s Republic of China (Mainland China / Hong Kong)

Produced by Guo Yanhong, Han Sanping, Wang Zhonjun, Peter Lam Kin Ngok, Wang Tonguan and Albert Yeung.

Bal (Honey)

Turkey / Germany

Produced by Semih Kaplanoðlu.

Co-Produced by Johannes Rexin, Bettina Brokemper.

Mengjia (Monga)

Taiwan

Produced by Lee Lieh and Doze Niu Chen-zer.

Paju

Republic of Korea

Produced...