Actualités

Amsterdam- and Beijing-based Fortissimo Films is to pre-sell Chinese crime drama “Family at large,” kicking off at the Cannes Market.

The film had previously been announced with sales handled jointly by Fortissimo and Rediance. Now, Fortissimo alone is representing rights worldwide, ex-China.

Directed by Kang Bo, the film is set in the chilly far north of the country. A man, nicknamed “Reindeer,”, is released from prison and becomes involved in a child-abduction case across Northeast China. The man, a pregnant young woman and a mute boy wade into the dense forests of the frozen North in search of an abducted child. The film exposes a family-run human trafficking organization and portrays the underworld of the Northern border of China.

The cast is headed by the in-demand Hu Ge “(“The Wild Goose Lake,” Wong Kar-wai’s TV series “Blossoms”), “Angels Wear White” star Wen Qi (aka Vicky Chen), Yan Ni and Song Jia.

Taipei- and Hong Kong-based sales agency Distribution Workshop heads to Berlin with a rich slate that includes one of the mainland Chinese hits from the recent Lunar New Year season and an anticipated supernatural horror film from Taiwan. The company will present to buyers in person at Berlin’s European Film Market next week.

Starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai and pop star turned actor Wang Yibo, Huang Lei and Zhou Xun, “Hidden Blade” is a lusciously presented espionage story that runs from the 1920s to the period Second Sino-Chinese War. It is directed by Cheng Er, who previously directed 2017’s “The Wasted Times.”

(Wang and Zhou also both appear in “All Tomorrow’s Parties,” a Chinese short film by Zhang Dalei that plays in next week’s Berlin short film competition.)

As nationalist, Communist and Japanese factions fan out across China and Japanese-occupied Manchuria, the narrative sees espionage agencies operating behind enemy lines,...

Taipei-based international sales company Distribution Workshop will be selling Lunar New Year hit Hidden Blade, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Wong Ching-po’s highly-anticipated new film, The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.

Directed by Cheng Er, Hidden Blade is a spy thriller set in Shanghai during the Second World War, and also stars Wang Yibo (Born To Fly) and Zhou Xun (Our Time Will Come).

The 45m production has so far grossed 116.6M since its release over the Lunar New Year holidays on January 22, according to figures from Artisan Gateway.

The film is the third installment in the “China Victory Trilogy” produced by Beijing-based Bona Film Group, following Chinese Doctors and The Battle At Lake Changjin. Cheng Er is known for crime dramas such as Lethal Hostage (2012) and The Wasted Times (2016).

The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon is produced by Lee Lieh,...

No one attending the Pingyao International Film Festival can escape learning about Jia Zhangke’s upcoming projects, with the same three trailers for them playing before each and every screening. The arthouse icon-turned-businessman’s presence looms large over the festival he founded in his native Shanxi province.

First off, there is a new collaboration between Jia and Momo, a Chinese social media app that started as a Tinder knockoff and now appears to be pivoting in more wholesome directions, with moves into live-streaming and, now, film production via a new arm called Momo Pictures. The app is one of the main sponsors of the Pingyao festival.

Jia will executive produce Momo’s first foray into features, a Beijing-based production called “The Best Is Yet to Come.” A co-production between his Fabula Entertainment and Momo Pictures, it will be the first full-length work by newcomer Wang Jing, a Beijing Film Academy...

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke is preparing to step in front of the camera.

The celebrated director, known for his arresting art house dramas such as The World and A Touch of Sin, has signed on to make his acting debut in Pseudo Idealist.

Jia will star in the film as a "middle-aged artist who makes new discoveries about himself, life and art by probing his feelings during the process of creation," the official plot summary released by the producers says.

The projected is directed by Cheng Er (The Wasted Times, 2016) and co-stars Zhou Xun (Perhaps Love, The Equation of Love ...

Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke is preparing to step in front of the camera.

The celebrated director, known for his arresting art house dramas such as The World and A Touch of Sin, has signed on to make his acting debut in Pseudo Idealist.

Jia will star in the film as a "middle-aged artist who makes new discoveries about himself, life and art by probing his feelings during the process of creation," the official plot summary released by the producers says.

The projected is directed by Cheng Er (The Wasted Times, 2016) and co-stars Zhou Xun (Perhaps Love, The Equation of Love ...

An above-average action thriller set in the snow-covered environs of Baekdu Mountain on the China-North Korea border, “Savage” marks a confident directing debut for Chinese screenwriter Cui Siwei (“The Island”). This no-nonsense affair about a dogged detective squaring off with a trio of vicious crooks packs plenty of excitement and visual splendor into a familiar scenario, and is well performed by a top-notch cast including Chang Chen (“The Assassin”) and Liao Fan. Another example of China’s increasing ability to produce slick commercial fare with broad international appeal, “Savage” opened strongly in local cinemas on April 30 and ought to perform credibly in North America when released by Well Go USA on May 3.

Produced by veteran hitmaker and frequent John Woo collaborator Terence Chang, “Savage” shared the New Currents Award (given to best first or second film) at Busan with the South Korean psychodrama “Clean Up” — a notable feat considering Cui...

Plano, Texas – Famed action director Dante Lam returns with this explosive follow-up to his 2016 box office smash Operation Mekong when “Operation Red Sea” debuts on digital, Blu-ray and DVD July 24 from Well Go USA Entertainment.

Set amid militant unrest in a fictional Middle Eastern country, it tells the stories of a ship’s crew and an assault team as they rescue Chinese citizens and foreign refugees, resolving a potential nuclear crisis along the way.

A massive box office hit, the film is China’s first modern naval film and a celebration of the 90th Anniversary of the Founding of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army and the party’s 19th National Congress. “Operation Red Sea” stars Zhang Yi (Goldbuster), Huang Jingyu (Guns and Kidneys), Hai Qing (Finding Mr. Right), Du Jiang (The Wasted Times), Jiang Luxia (Legend of the Naga Pearls), Yin Fang (Fist & Faith), newcomer Wang Yutian...

A story about loyalty, love, betrayal and revenge. The Wasted Times captures all the ins and outs of the organized crime business during the late 30’s with absolute care and elegance. Starring Ge You, Tadanobu Asano, Zhang Ziyi, Gillian Chung and Chun Du among others, this film resembles classic crime drama in a good way.

Directed by the same director who made the surprisingly great “Lethal Hostage” some years ago with Sun Honglei, comes “The Wasted Times”, a film about the organized crime in Shanghai in the late 30s, just at the beginning of a possible open war against the Japanese. The film was hanging around at festivals such as the Asian Film Awards, where it was nominated for cinematography and costume design; at the China Film Director’s Guild Awards in several important categories and ended winning the Best Director award; and it also made its...

Drama Di Jiu Tian Chang stars Wang Jingchun, Yong Mei and Qi Xi.

Chinese filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai has completed principal photography on Di Jiu Tian Chang, the first instalment in a ‘Homeland trilogy’ spanning China over the past 40 years.

Filmed for three months in different cities across China, the drama stars Wang Jingchun (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yong Mei (The Assassin) and Qi Xi (Mystery), as well as rising actors Du Jiang (The Wasted Times) and Wang Yuan.

Much wider in scale than Wang’s (pictured) previous work, the film follows two families through the huge changes in Chinese society since the economic reforms of the early 1980s. Initially close, the families are forced to become estranged following an unexpected and unspoken event.

Wang co-wrote the script with Amei, whose credits include Zhang Yimou’s Under The Hawthorn Tree.

Wang’s last film, Red Amnesia, premiered at Venice in 2014. His credits also include critically-acclaimed dramas 11 Flowers (2011), Shanghai Dreams...

Drama Di Jiu Tian Chang stars Wang Jingchun, Yong Mei and Qi Xi.

Chinese filmmaker Wang Xiaoshuai has completed principal photography on Di Jiu Tian Chang, the first instalment in a ‘Homeland trilogy’ spanning China over the past 40 years.

Filmed for three months in different cities across China, the drama stars Wang Jingchun (Black Coal, Thin Ice), Yong Mei (The Assassin) and Qi Xi (Mystery), as well as rising actors Du Jiang (The Wasted Times) and Wang Yuan.

Much wider in scale than Wang’s (pictured) previous work, the film follows two families through the huge changes in Chinese society since the economic reforms of the early 1980s. Initially close, the families are forced to become estranged following an unexpected and unspoken event.

Wang co-wrote the script with Amei, whose credits include Zhang Yimou’s Under The Hawthorn Tree.

Wang’s last film, Red Amnesia, premiered at Venice in 2014. His...