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Shout! Studios’ Hong Kong Cinema Classics collection is getting bigger and more badass than ever with the addition of four films featuring martial arts filmmaking masters John Woo and Tsui Hark! Upcoming additions to the platform include A Better Tomorrow, A Better Tomorrow II, A Better Tomorrow III, The Killer (1989), and Hark’s Hong Kong action-comedy classic Peking Opera Blues. All films will be available On Demand and digitally starting in July on Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, YouTube, Fandango At Home, Microsoft, and other digital platforms.

The following hails from Shout! Studios’ press release about the upcoming releases:

This summer, prepare for even more high-octane action and thrills when Shout! Studios and Hong Kong Cinema Classics invite movie enthusiasts and loyal fans to binge-watch some of the acclaimed early works by legendary filmmakers John Woo and Tsui Hark, and internationally celebrated actors Chow Yun-Fat, Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung Ka-Fai,...

“The Shadow’s Edge” is a new China-produced action feature directed by Larry Yang starring Jackie Chan, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Ci Sha and Wen Junhui, opening internationally August 16, 2025:

“….cunning and treacherous high-tech thieves are challenging the ‘Macau Judiciary Police’ from all directions. Losing ground in the battle, they turn to tracking expert ‘Huang De Zhong’, who had retired years prior.

“He joins forces with the young elite of the ‘Criminal Investigation Department’ of the Judiciary Police to go after these new thieves.

“Using a combination of traditional tracking techniques and high technology, the police and the criminals display wits and courage in a layered cat-and-mouse game.”

Click the images to enlarge…

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Director Larry Yang, celebrated for acclaimed films like Ride On, Adoring, and My Other Home, appears poised to deliver a truly captivating action film with the upcoming release of The Shadow's Edge. The recently unveiled trailer offers a compelling look at what promises to be an intense and gripping cinematic experience.

The movie boasts a formidable cast, led by the legendary Jackie Chan, whose extensive career spans decades of iconic action films, from Rumble in the Bronx to the more recent Karate Kid: Legends.

Joining him is the venerable Tony Leung Ka-fai, known for his powerful performances in features like She Shoots Straight and Once Upon A Time In Hong Kong.

These two seasoned actors provide a strong foundation for the film, anchoring an ensemble that also includes promising young talent such as Zifeng Zhang, recognized for her compelling role in Aftershock.

The Shadow's Edge benefits from established collaborative history...

The 27th Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off with a galaxy of Chinese stars present and a heartfelt message of peace from jury president Giuseppe Tornatore.

The gala event at the city’s spectacular Grand Theatre opened with an orchestral performance accompanied by a children’s choir. Stars present included the cast of the opening night film, Peter Chan Ho-sun’s “She’s Got No Name,” led by Zhang Ziyi, Mei Ting, Lei Jiayin, Li Xian and Yang Mi; Ni Ni, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Kara Wai Ying-hung, Zhu Yilong and Wu Lei among many others.

The festival was officially declared open by Gong Zheng, the Mayor of Shanghai.

Given the ongoing conflicts around the world, the jury members focused on the connective aspects of cinema. Indian filmmaker Kiran Rao said, “Cinema is like the Tree of Life, eternally nurturing stories and sparking conversations. Its branches stretch across generations, connecting us through images and shared memories.

The home video distributor Shout Factory is collaborating with Hong Kong Film Archives to bring you the 4K remastering of the most coveted of Chinese action film classics. The films will include works by Jet Li, Chow Yun-Fat, John Woo, Ringo Lam and Tsui Hark. The digital titles will include A Better Tomorrow in 4K, A Better Tomorrow II in 4K, and A Better Tomorrow III in 4K, Tsui Hark’s Peking Opera Blues in 4K, John Woo’s The Killer in 4K, Tony Ching’s A Chinese Ghost Story (starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wang), A Chinese Ghost Story II (starring Leslie Cheung, Joey Wang), and A Chinese Ghost Story III (starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Joey Wang) and John Woo’s Bullet In The Head in 4K (starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai).

However, the first two big releases are the Chow Yun-Fat films Hard Boiled and City on Fire. The descriptions...

In a reimagined 1994 Hong Kong scarred by snow and fallout, Sons of the Neon Night throws us into a world where pharmaceutical heirs become warlords. We meet Moreton Li (Takeshi Kaneshiro) on the brink of reforming his family’s empire just moments after a hospital bombing shatters the city’s fragile order.

Across town, an anonymous shoot-out signals that no one is safe—be they corporate scion or street-level informant. This stark prologue sets up a power struggle between two brothers: one driven by conscience, the other by profit.

What follows is less a straightforward crime saga and more a tense clash of ideals in neon shadows. The film’s opening gambit—blood-soaked streets, a shattered ambulance plowing through chaos—pulls you in with visceral immediacy.

As someone who grew up devouring Hong Kong thrillers on late-night VHS, I couldn’t help but recall that rush of discovering a city both familiar and alien.

After a marathon 10-year production journey, Hong Kong dystopian thriller Sons of the Neon Night finally hit the red carpet yesterday, premiering in the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival.

Starring veteran actors Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chungking Express), Sean Lau (Papa), Tony Leung Ka-fai (Double Vision), Louis Koo (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), and Gao Yuanyuan (Blind Detective), Sons of the Neon Night is written and directed by Juno Mak, who is also a record producer and musician.

Leung and Mak sat down with Deadline to talk about shooting in a “wintry” Hong Kong, a “magical” six-hour music session with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto — and they also call on audiences to keep coming back to cinemas.

Sons of the Neon Night is set in an alternative, snow-covered Hong Kong. The death of a pharmaceutical company chairman unleashes a wave of chaos and power struggles in the underworld, while...

One of the key figures in Hong Kong cinema, Tsui Hark is a writer, actor, producer, and groundbreaking director. Born in Vietnam, he attended college in the US before working in Hong Kong television.

Hark directed his first features in the early 1980s. In 1984 he formed Film Workshop, a studio that helped boost the careers of John Woo, Chow Yun-fat, and Jet Li. Shanghai Blues, the first Film Workshop release, brought a revolutionary style and originality to Hong Kong filmmaking. Hark’s other films include the Once Upon a Time in China and Detective Dee franchises, Peking Opera Blues, and entry into the anthology film Septet.

I had the opportunity chat with the legendary filmmaker at this year’s Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, where he received the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement, in addition to introducing restored versions of Shanghai Blues and Green Snake, Hark brought his latest film,...

Hong Kong-based Golden Network Asia has sold Jackie Chan action thriller The Shadow’s Edge to a string of territories, including Plaion Pictures for Germany, Nk Contents for South Korea and Klockworx for Japan.

Currently in post-production, the film has also gone to Spi International for Eastern Europe, Atv for Turkey, Great Movies for Latin America, Shanghai Pictures for Malaysia, Prima Cinema for Indonesia, Shaw Renters for Singapore, Eagle International for Taiwan, Abnormal Studios for Cambodia & Myanmar and Izagur Media for Mongolia.

Negotiations are also underway for Cis, Ukraine, Benelux and other territories.

Directed by Larry Yang, one of China’s most acclaimed new generation filmmakers, the heist thriller was filmed on location in Macau. The film is produced by Victoria Hon and backed by China’s iQiyi Pictures, Tao Tickets, Hairun Pictures and Chen Xiang.

Chan stars as a retired surveillance expert from the Macau Police who is drawn...

Larry Yang’s The Shadow’s Edge, starring Jackie Chan, has secured multiple deals across Asia, Latin America and Europe through Hong Kong’s Golden Network Asia.

In the Macau-set action heist film, Chan plays a retired surveillance expert who is rehired by the Macau Police Force to team with elite young detectives and capture a group of wanted criminals.

The film has been sold to Germany (Plaion Pictures), Eastern Europe (Spi International), Turkey (Atv) and Latin America (Great Movies).

In Asia, it has been picked up for Japan (Klockworx), South Korea (Nk Contents), Malaysia (Shanghai Pictures), Indonesia (Prima Cinema...

Jackie Chan’s latest action vehicle, The Shadow’s Edge, has locked down a raft of global sales heading into the Cannes market.

Buyers across Europe, Asia and the Americas have snapped up rights from sales agent Golden Network Asia, including Plaion Pictures for Germany, Spi International for Eastern Europe, Atv for Turkey, and Great Movies for Latin America. The Klockworx has taken Japanese rights, while Nk Contents secured South Korea. Additional deals were struck with Shanghai Pictures for Malaysia, Prima Cinema for Indonesia, Shaw Renters for Singapore, Eagle International for Taiwan, Abnormal Studios for Cambodia and Myanmar, and Izagur Media for Mongolia. Distribution is also locked for Cis, Ukraine, and the Benelux region, with other territories still in active negotiations.

Currently in post-production, The Shadow’s Edge is directed by Larry Yang, one of China’s more promising new-generation commercial filmmakers. Chan and Yang previously collaborated on the 2023 sleeper hit Ride On.

Exclusive: Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Juno Mak’s dystopian crime thriller, Sons of the Neon Night, is set to premiere in the Midnight Screenings section at Cannes this week.

Sons of the Neon Night is set in an alternative, snow-covered Hong Kong — a startling sight, given that the city does not experience snowfall. The death of a pharmaceutical company chairman unleashes a wave of chaos and power struggles in the underworld. His youngest son attempts to break away from his family’s criminal legacy. However, he faces threats from his fugitive older brother and the ruthless lieutenants loyal to their deceased father.

The film stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (Chungking Express), Sean Lau (Papa), Tony Leung Ka-fai (Double Vision), Louis Koo (Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In), and Gao Yuanyuan (Blind Detective).

The clip, which is part of the film’s opening sequence, is set just outside Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay station,...

The Chinese title of mainland filmmaker Han Yan‘s “Love Never Ends” is “I Love You!”. Adapted from the 2007 South Korean comic of the same name written by Jiang Cao, this romantic offbeat drama follows two elderly couples coming to terms with their love for each other, their families, and life itself as they slowly approach the final chapter of their lives.

A retired widower, Chang Wei Jie (Ni Dahong), lives alone in Guangzhou and spends his days practicing his whip skills in the park. One day, Li Hui Ru (Kara Wai), a widow who collects and sells recyclable scraps, crosses paths with him and a heated argument follows. Later, Chang visits a retired Cantonese opera performer, Qiu Meiling, to enroll his grandson as a student. Unbeknownst to him, Li is a tenant there, and their surprise meeting leads to further quarrels.

Nonetheless, after clearing up their misunderstandings, mutual affection...

Balancing realism with fantasy, commerce with art, and creative freedom with censorship — legendary Hong Kong director Tsui Hark isn’t just making movies; he’s negotiating the complex realities of contemporary filmmaking.

Speaking with Variety from Udine, Italy after receiving his Golden Mulberry lifetime achievement honor at the recently concluded Far East Film Festival, the mastermind behind “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” offers a candid glimpse into his creative process and the forces reshaping Asian cinema today.

Tsui, who is considered the leading figure of Hong Kong’s New Wave of the 1980s and has been dubbed Asia’s Spielberg, is best known for his “Once Upon a Time in China” saga and “Detective Dee” film series, among other titles. His more recent blockbuster action movies — prior to “”Legends of the Condor Heroes” — include “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back” and “The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Chinese comedy-drama Her Story scooped the Golden Mulberry for best film at the Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Udine, Italy.

Shao Yihui’s feminist feature is about a single mother and her friendship with a new female neighbour, which proved a major box office hit when released in China last November, grossing nearly $100m.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Feff’s top awards are decided by a public vote and saw the Silver Mulberry go to the extended version of The Last Dance, Anselm Chan’s funeral rites drama that ranks as Hong Kong’s biggest local film of all time.

Shout! Studios is punching Monday in the face with brass knuckles by announcing an outstanding action film initiative with Hong Kong Cinema Classics! The celebration of Hong Kong action classics includes 4K presentations on Digital and physical media featuring iconic filmmakers, time-honored films, and many of the action genre’s legendary badasses of the silver screen.

The Hong Kong Cinema Classics collection brings films like Hard Boiled, City on Fire, A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, Bullet in the Head, Fist of Legend, Peking Opera Blues, and more to the stage!

Per today’s press release from Shout! Studios:

Hong Kong cinema in the ’80s and ’90s, renowned for its thrilling action choreography, distinctive visual styles, and emotional storytelling, represents a remarkable era in cinematic history, whose crime thrillers, martial arts classics, and action films, in particular, have left an indelible mark on Hollywood, profoundly influencing everything from Quentin Tarantino’s...

Hong Kong cinema in the ’80s and ’90s, renowned for its thrilling action choreography, distinctive visual styles, and emotional storytelling, represents a remarkable era in cinematic history, whose crime thrillers, martial arts classics, and action films, in particular, have left an indelible mark on Hollywood, profoundly influencing everything from Quentin Tarantino’s movies to the iconic Matrix and John Wick franchises. Among these are many acclaimed and popular early works by renowned filmmakers John Woo, Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, Corey Yuen, Gordon Chan, Johnnie To, and internationally renowned actors Jet Li, Michelle Yeoh, Chow Yun-Fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Leslie Cheung, and Tony Leung Ka-fai. Many of these highly sought-after movies from Shout!’s Golden Princess library and seminal Hong Kong classics have been dormant and out–of–print for decades outside of Asia.

For the upcoming Hong Kong Cinema Classics releases, Shout! Studios, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Film Archives,...

Over the decades, the paths of the Far East Film Festival (Feff) and legendary director Tsui Hark have crossed more than once—from the explosive 2015 Closing Night screening of The Taking of Tiger Mountain to his memorable 2007 interview featured in an essay on Patrick Tam. Yet, until now, the perfect storm had never materialized. That changes this year, as Feff 27 presents a celebration that is sure to delight Tsui Hark fans around the world.

The programme features the international festival premiere of his latest fantasy blockbuster, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, alongside the restoration of his 1984 masterpiece Shanghai Blues, and the revival of cult favorite Green Snake as part of the Yokai and Other Monsters retrospective.

Adding to the excitement, Feff 27 will host not one, but two Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement presentations. On Thursday, 1st May, Sylvia Chang—iconic actress and star of Shanghai Blues—will be honored onstage.

Tsui Hark is a great director. Tsui Hark is a great actor (here the most expert will immediately mention Final Victory by Patrick Tam). Tsui Hark is a great producer. But Tsui Hark is first of all a Great Dreamer. A tireless creator of wonders who, from the late 80s to today, has continually rewritten the expressed codes of entertainment and the rules of the mainstream industry (let’s not forget the Hollywood experiences with Van Damme: Double Team and Knock Off). A brilliant activist of the Hong Kong New Wave who has constantly reinvented himself, project after project, always looking “further ahead”. Eyes wide open to the future but a heart deeply tied to roots and tradition.

Tsui Hark will present the super fantasy “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” and will receive the Far East Film Festival Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement from celebrated China-Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-Fai!

Iconic Hong Kong director Tsui Hark will be celebrated with a lifetime achievement award at Italy’s Far East Film Festival in Udine, where his latest film “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” will have its international festival premiere.

Tsui will receive Udine’s Golden Mulberry Award from Tony Leung Ka-fai, best known for his roles in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “The Lover” based on the Marguerite Duras novel and Johnnie To’s “Election” and appears in “Legends of the Condor Heroes.”

Tsui, who is considered the leading figure of Hong Kong’s New Wave of the 1980s and has been dubbed Asia’s Spielberg, is best known for his “Once Upon a Time in China” saga and “Detective Dee” film series, among other titles. His more recent blockbuster action movies — prior to “”Legends of the Condor Heroes” — include “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back” and “The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark is set to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Italy’s Udine.

The director, known for blockbusters The Battle at Lake Changjin, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back and the Detective Dee film series, will receive the Golden Mulberry Award at the festival on April 30.

The award will be presented by Tony Leung Ka-Fai, who appears in Tsui’s latest martial arts film, Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants. The feature, which was acquired by Sony Pictures International Productions, will screen at...

Over the years, many films and TV series have been adapted from the classic 1957 wuxia novel “The Legend of the Condor Heroes“, by Jin Yong (also known as Louis Cha). Some have been memorable and have become classics in their own rights, like the 1983 TV series or Wong Kar Wai‘s “Ashes of Time“. Tsui Hark‘s latest movie, on the other hand, will not stay long in anyone’s memory.

Trouble starts right away, when the film introduces its characters and their backstories in short vignettes that succeed each other at a furious pace. Little makes sense there, while the events being outlined on screen could easily have filled two movies of their own. It quickly becomes a challenge, for those unfamiliar with the original novel, to understand what is going on and, even more problematically, why the characters are doing the things they do. This is a major...

An action icon is all set to return to screens after being away for five years. Despite announcing his retirement, the martial arts legend and star of such action classics as Once Upon a Time in China, Fist of Legend, Kiss of the Dragon, Fearless, The Expendables franchise, and many, many more, Jet Li is all set to once again demonstrate his particular set of skills in the upcoming live-action adaptation of the comic, Blades of the Guardians.

After rumors began circulating, it has now been confirmed by Chinese Entertainment News that Jet Li will make a triumphant return to screens in Blades of the Guardians, which will adapt the Chinese manhua "Biao Ren," which in turn was given the anime treatment in 2023. Not only will the historical, fantasy, martial arts, action movie feature Li’s return, it is also being helmed by renowned Hong Kong filmmaker and action choreographer Yuen Woo-ping,...

You know what Cobra Kai nailed? Knowing when not to mess with a legend. They wisely left Mr. Miyagi’s dark past alone – yeah, we knew he had heartbreak and tragedy, but they kept him on that pedestal of wisdom and honor. Now, with Karate Kid: Legends bringing Jackie Chan back, I can’t help but wonder: are we finally going to dive into a mentor’s untold struggles?

A still from Cobra Kai | Credits: Sony Pictures Television

Imagine a Miyagi-like figure, but with a grittier backstory, maybe even secrets that flip the whole story on its head. And if anyone can pull that off, it’s Jackie Chan, for sure.

Why Cobra Kai was right to leave Mr. Miyagi’s dark past untold, but Karate Kid: Legends might not Pat Morita as Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid | Credits: Sony Pictures Television

Cobra Kai wrapped up its six-season run without diving into Mr.

Action icon Jackie Chan has completed principal photography on “The Shadow’s Edge,” a high-stakes thriller that marks his second collaboration with Chinese helmer Larry Yang. The duo previously struck gold with “Ride On,” which dominated Asian box offices in 2023, becoming Japan’s highest-grossing Chinese import and landing among Malaysia’s top three Chinese releases of the year.

Set against the neon-lit backdrop of Macau, the film stars Chan as a veteran surveillance expert pulled out of retirement by the local police force. He’s tasked with mentoring a crack team of young detectives to hunt down an elusive gang of thieves that has been running circles around law enforcement. The narrative pits old-school surveillance tactics against cutting-edge tech in what’s being billed as a tension-filled game of cat and mouse.

The project assembles a powerhouse cast that bridges generations of Asian entertainment. Chan shares the screen with Zhang Zifeng,...

Hong Kong-based Golden Network Asia will commence sales on Jackie Chan-starrer The Shadow’s Edge, at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM).

Directed by Larry Yang, the action heist film stars Chan as a retired surveillance expert who is rehired by the Macau Police Force to team with elite young detectives and capture a group of wanted criminals. A cat-and-mouse showdown plays out between traditional tracking techniques and state-of-the-art technology.

Emerging actors include Zhang Zifeng of acclaimed 2021 drama Sister, Ci Sha of box office hit Creation Of The Gods I and its upcoming sequel, and Wen Junhui who is better...

Jackie Chan’s newest film The Shadow’s Edge has wrapped principal photography.

Directed by Chinese director Larry Yang, filming commenced in October 2024 in Macau.

The Shadow’s Edge marks the second collaboration between Jackie Chan and Larry Yang, after they also worked together on Ride On, which was released theatrically in more than 30 countries.

Ride On became the highest-grossing Chinese film in Japan since 2022 and ranked among the top three highest-grossing Chinese films in Malaysia in 2023.

In The Shadow’s Edge, Jackie Chan stars as a retired surveillance expert from the Macau Police Service, who is rehired by the Police Force to collaborate with a team of elite young detectives to help capture a group of cunning thieves. In a tense confrontation between traditional tracking techniques and state-of-the-art technology, the police and criminals engage in a battle of wits, setting the stage for a cat-and-mouse showdown between good and evil.

The Shadow’s Edge...

Asian sales and production firm Distribution Workshop is using the Busan International Film Festival’s market to re-launch ambitious “Sons of the Neon Night,” a film it first became attached to in 2015. Only this time the Juno Mak-directed project is now in post-production, has a stellar cast and has expanded to become the highest-budget movie ever hatched in Hong Kong.

“Sons of the Neon Night” is pitched as a high-octane yet highly-stylized, police-crime-action-thriller set in a deconstructed and reimagined Hong Kong. It boasts an A-list cast headed by Takeshi Kaneshiro (“House of Flying Daggers”), Tony Leung Ka-fai (“Cold War”), Sean Lau Ching-wan (“Life Without Principle”), Louis Koo (“Warriors of Future”) and Ritchie Jen (“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In”).

The original music score was composed by Nate Connelly, with the title theme by the late Sakamoto Ryuichi (“The Last Emperor”).

With a production budget of over $50 million, the movie is...

Taiwan-based sales agent Distribution Workshop is launching pre-sales on Juno Mak’s long-gestating Sons Of The Neon Night at the upcoming Asian Contents and Film Market (Acfm) during Busan International Film Festival.

The highly-stylized crime thriller stars Takeshi Kaneshiro (House Of Flying Daggers), Tony Leung Ka-fai (Cold War), Sean Lau (Life Without Principle), Louis Koo and Richie Jen, with the the latter two actors also appearing in Hong Kong’s Oscars submission Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In.

The film, which is set in a deconstructed and reimagined Hong Kong, also features original scores composed by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto.

The story begins with a gigantic explosion and shootout in a snow struck downtown Hong Kong, which turn out to be planned by the heir to a global pharmaceutical conglomerate (Kaneshiro), who is attempting to wipe out the global drugs trade.

Mak made his feature debut with Rigor Mortis in...

Taiwan-based Distribution Workshop is set to introduce Hong Kong director Juno Mak’s Sons Of The Neon Night, starring Takeshi Kaneshiro and Sean Lau, to international buyers at Busan’s Acfm, along with a trio of Taiwanese titles.

It has been over a decade since Mak – who was a singer and actor before moving into directing – premiered directorial feature debut and vampire horror film Rigor Mortis at Venice and Toronto in 2013. His second feature, Sons Of The Neon Night, began filming in 2017 and has gone through a long gestation period including the Covid pandemic.

The $50m cop action thriller marks...

Five Chinese productions are being presented in market screenings on the sidelines of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival in an effort, organizers of the program say, to give North American audiences a “three-dimensional” view into contemporary China.

Put together by the China Film Co-Production Corporation (Cfcc), the selection includes comedian Da Peng’s box office hit Post Truth ($98 million), which focuses on how a former gang boss-turned-burial plot salesman deals with online rumors.

There’s also the pandemic lockdown-themed romance Embrace Again from director Xue Xiaolu, whose breakthrough rom-com Finding Mr. Right (2013) was famously credited with an upsurge in Chinese tourism to Seattle.

Two romance-tinged films from director Yan are also screening this week: Love Never Ends, a tale of old-age friendship and love with a winning turn from Hong Kong action veteran Tony Leung Ka-fai (Election), and Viva La Vida, which follows the relationship that develops between...

Daniyar Salamat’s The Divorce was the first film from Kazakhstan to win the best film prize at the Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff)’s Golden Goblet Awards. It also secured the best actress award for Omarova Amira.

The 1920s-set film revolves around a husband and wife who are in a relationship crisis, while depicting the social realities that repress the role of women.

The jury praised the film for “the sophisticated form of its story which mixes comedy, farce and tragedy and moves fluidly from public sphere to the intimate relationship of a couple in crisis” and for “the...

A jury headed by French Vietnamese director Tranh Anh Hung awarded its Golden Goblet (Jin Jue) prizes for the Shanghai International Film Festival’s main competition.

The top prize for best feature went to “The Divorce,” directed by Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Salamat. The jury praised the film for its sophisticated story-telling which mixes comedy, farce and tragedy, and “which moves fluidly from public sphere to the intimate relationship of a couple in crisis” and its feeling of innocence.

The other jury members were Rolf de Heer (Australia), Matthias Glasner (Germany), Tony Leung Ka Fai (Hong Kong), Santiago Mitre (Argentina), Sonthar Gyal (China) and Zhou Xun (China).

In the separate Asian New Talents section, the best film prize went to “Friday, Funfair,” while double honors were accorded to Abhilash Sharma’s “in the Name of Fire.”

Prizes for the festival’s Siff Project market for co-financing scripts and works in progress...

The 26th Shanghai International Film Festival came to a glitzy conclusion Saturday as Kazakh film The Divorce, directed by Daniyar Salamat, took home the top Golden Goblet award for best feature at a star-studded closing ceremony in the Chinese commercial capital.

A period drama set in the 1920s during the establishment of Soviet authority on the Kazakh steppe, the film explores the convergence of marriage, religion and women’s rights through the story of a typical couple wrestling with the prospect of divorce.

Salamat was presented onstage with his trophy by the Oscar-nominated Vietnamese-French director Tran Anh Hung (Scent of Green Papaya, The Taste of Things), who served as Shanghai’s competition jury president this year. Hung and his fellow jurors praised the “sophisticated form” of The Divorce‘s story, “which mixes comedy, farce and tragedy,” and they hailed Salamat’s “ability to create the feeling of innocence, which radiates...

The promise from organizers of the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival is for a mix of the “old and the new” and to that end this year’s program offers a look at emerging contemporary filmmakers as well as movies that chart a course from the local industry’s development in the early 1900s through to today.

The bustling Chinese metropolis has been transformed by its annual celebration of cinema, with 47 theaters spread out across the city’s 16 districts hosting an estimated 1,600 screenings of 461 films across the June 14-23 event. There’s heavy promotion everywhere you look — hanging from lampposts, dominating the billboards that inform this city of more than 26 million people.

Domestic productions are taking pride of place throughout the program and — most noticeably this year — across the festival’s four central Golden Goblet competitions for feature films, which boast no less than 12 mainland Chinese films.

“As the only...

Along with a red-carpet opening ceremony, a press conference with the members of the main competition jury is a staple event of major film festivals and the 26th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off in traditional form on Friday.

Along with Vietnam-French director Tran Anh Hung, previously revealed as jury president, the other members of the decisive committee this year are: Australian director and screenwriter Rolf de Heer; German director Matthias Glasner; Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka Fai; Argentinian director Santiago Mitre; Chinese director Sonthar Gyal; and, the jury’s only woman, star actor Zhou Xun.

A packed audience lobbed familiar questions about the criteria they jurors would employ to decide the Golden Goblet prize winners, and what informs those views.

Tran, who is based largely in France, rejected the idea of an East-West clash of sensibilities. “Film is its own language, and I try to...

The Shanghai International Film Festival unveiled the competition selection for its upcoming 26th edition Wednesday, featuring a lineup characteristically heavy on Chinese titles. As in recent years, the lineup also includes a bevy of European, Japanese and Central Asian movies, but not a single film from the U.S. or South Korea.

The most anticipated film from the festival’s 14-title main competition in 2024 is undoubtedly Chinese director Guan Hu’s drama A Man and a Woman, featuring a pair of lead performances from the big local stars Huang Bo and Ni Ni. Guan wowed critics at the Cannes Film Festival just a week ago with his darkly comic thriller Black Dog, which took home the French festival’s prestigious Un Certain Regard prize. Guan also is no stranger to the Shanghai festival. His WWII tentpole The Eight Hundred was scheduled to open the 2019 edition of the event, but it...

The shadow of Xu Zhonglin's influential novel “The Investiture of the Gods” looms long over Chinese popular culture. As one of the most well-regarded vernacular epics since the 16th century, its heady blend of history and mythology has been a creatively enticing gauntlet for many filmmakers. Before now, the last big-budget stab at the material was 2016's 3D flop “League of Gods”, led by an all-star cast including Jet Li, Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Louis Koo, and still somehow won Worst Picture at that year's Golden Broom Awards. The crown now lies heavy on the head of filmmaker Wuershan, a director experienced in the fantasy genre (his “Painted Skin 2: The Resurrection” was at one time China's highest grossing movie domestically) but still holding the great responsibility of condensing 100 chapters of beloved high-concept magic and action into a movie…or three. Does the first chapter, “Kingdom of Storms”, capture...

Director Nao Hing and Hong Kong mega-star Andy Lau Tak-wah reunite after 18 years (when Lau produced Hing's “Crazy Stone”) to bring to life a rather funny Hong Kong (and not only) film industry satire, with “The Movie Emperor”. Inappropriately labelled as a Chinese New Year movie and following its triumphant premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September and the Pingyao International Film Festival in October 2023, the film's theatrical release during Chinese New Year 2024 proved unexpectedly disappointing, grossing just 83 million yuan, probably obscured by more classical and joke-filled comedies, as expected in those festivities.

The Movie Emperor was screened at Udine Far East Film Festival

Dany Lau (Andy Lau) is a veteran megastar with a large fan base, who has been around long enough to start thinking he needs and/or deserves a lifetime achievement award, something like an Oscar. Shortlisted for the Best Actor prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards,...

As meta as it gets, The Movie Emperor (Hong Tan Xian Sheng) stars Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau as superstar Dany Lau, a box-office hero desperate to validate his career with critics. When “Jackie Chen” wins a Hong Kong film award for portraying a peasant farmer, Lau decides to put together his own epic about rural poverty and “fatherly love” as his ticket to film-festival success. Yes, Lau is essentially playing himself in this complex comedy, the closing title at this year’s Busan International Film Festival. What’s more, Lin Hao, the director of the project, is played by the actual Movie Emperor director Ning Hao, whose Crazy Stone helped set a new direction for mainland Chinese comedies back in 2006.

Real-life celebrities (e.g. Tony Leung Ka-fai and Wong Jing) are sprinkled throughout. It’s one of the ways Ning Hao erases boundaries between the real and fake Lau.

Corey Yuen's career may not have hit the heights of his contemporaries Yuen Woo Ping and Sammo Hung but when it came to female led action films, he can certainly claim to have a huge influence, being the director of the seminal “Yes Madam”. He would later rather unsuccessfully try to merge Category III with the genre in the poor “Women on the Run” and remake John Woo's “The Killer” into the Shu Qi starring “So Close”. Yet it is “She Shoots Straight” that comes the closest to matching “Yes Madam” for energy and similarity in form and in many aspects. With Eureka Entertainment releasing a remastered Blu Ray in the UK in September, it's time to go back and revisit one that possibly audiences might have missed out on.

Inspector Mina (Joyce Godenzi) is about to marry Inspector Huang Tsung-pao (Tony Leung Ka-fai) the only male in a family filled with policewomen.

The Shanghai International Film Festival, China’s most prestigious movie industry event, kicks off its 30th-anniversary edition Friday night. It will be the first version of the festival that’s easily accessible to the global film community since 2019, after the past three editions were either canceled or rendered difficult to attend by strict Covid-19 travel restrictions at the time.

This year, film stars from at home and afar will descend on China’s commercial capital to celebrate the ongoing comeback of China’s movie business. Jason Statham will lend some Hollywood star power to the proceedings when he walks the red carpet for the festival’s opening ceremony Friday night in promotion of his upcoming Warner Bros. blockbuster sequel, Meg 2: The Trench, which opens Aug. 4 and co-stars Chinese leading man Wu Jing. European film legend, Jerzy Skolimowski of Poland — who wrote Roman Polansky’s landmark Knife in the Water...

The 25th edition marks a return in-person after being cancelled last year.

Han Yan’s Love Never Ends is set to open the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival (Siff), which has also revealed the nominations for its Golden Goblet Awards.

The romance drama is adapted from a cartoon of the same name created by Kang Full. Ni Dahong, Kara Wai, Tony Leung Ka-Fai and Cecilia Yip play two elderly couples who show it is never too late to love.

Director Han previously directed 2015’s Go Away Mr. Tumor and 2020’s A Little Red Flower. Love Never Ends is set for...

The prolific filmmaker Wong Jing directed and starred in “I Corrupt All Cops” (2009), a film about the establishment of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (Icac) by the Governor of Hong Kong to fight against corruption in the early 70s. Interestingly, the film's English initials clearly spelled out as Icac whereas its Chinese title means “Money Empire”. Twelfth years later, Wong, the master of remakes, was back with yet another spin on Icac this time with the help of four Hong Kong's finest actors. A sequel by name only with an interesting Chinese title, “Money Empire: Chasing Tiger, Capturing Dragon”.

In this new but fabricated crime drama yarn, we are back in British Hong Kong of the early 70s in which corruption and bribery rule big time under the watch of the greedy Chief Detective Chui Lok (Francis Ng) of the police force, who is in bed with local crime lord Wu Shi Hao,...

The award-winning writing/directing duo Longman Leung and Sunny Luk strike again with a star-studded cast in this sequel to the 2012 megahit, Cold War. Chow Yun Fat joins Aaron Kwok, Tony Leung Ka Fai and Eddie Peng as they reprise their roles in the tumultuous aftermath of Operation Cold War.

A suspected criminal mastermind escapes from police custody, throwing the city into turmoil. With the police department now divided, rival police chiefs are forced to take their fight to the streets of Hong Kong – with deadly consequences.

(Source: Well Go USA)...

Warning: This article contains major spoilers for "The Menu."

Following in the class-conscious footsteps of horror comedy films like "Ready or Not" and "The Hunt," "The Menu" serves its viewers a deliciously deranged takedown of society's elite members. Centered around an exclusive dining experience on a private island, Chef Julian (Ralph Fiennes) has decided his craft (and life) will no longer be ruled by the demanding whims of wealthy people. With each course, Julian's remaining grip on reality and sanity loosens. By the film's end, he and his burnt-out crew literally go up in flames, damning his impossible-to-please clientele along the way. Director Mark Mylod crafts an impeccably paced film — something the fictional Julian would appreciate — that dials up its tension through each foreboding frame.

Pairing "The Menu" with other horror films about food is an unenviable task. No horror comedy movie balances its thrills, dark humor, and food design as well as Mylod's work.

Second entry in Ringo Lam’s “on Fire” quadrilogy, “Prison on Fire” was Hong Kong’s second highest grossing film in the year of its release, and another stepping stone in the path Ringo Lam and Chow Yun-fat were taking towards the top of Hk cinema.

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Yiu is a young advertising executive in Hong Kong. One night, during an attack his father suffers from thugs, he ends up pushing one of them in front of a passing bus, in a series of events that end up with him sentenced to spend three years in prison. In an environment filled with sadistic or illogical employees (head guard Scarface and the prison doctor respectively), bullies and triad members, Yiu looks like a fish outside the water. Thankfully, Mad Dog, a cheerful inmate who knows the ins and outs of prison, takes him under his wing, trying to protect him from everyone.

Our Ben Stykuc reviews the epic “Bodyguards and Assassins”, a 2009 Hong Kong historical action film, directed by Teddy Chan, with a stellar cast including Donnie Yen, Wang Xueqi, Tony Leung Ka-fai, Nicholas Tse, Hu Jun, Eric Tsang, Simon Yam, Fan Bingbing, Zhou Yun and Leon Lai.

In 1905, revolutionist Sun Yat-Sen visits Hong Kong to discuss plans with Tongmenghui members to overthrow the Qing dynasty. But when they find out that assassins have been sent to kill him, they assemble a group of protectors to prevent any attacks. (IMDb)...

12 – 17 July 2022, Louis Koo Cinema

New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival is back with three screenings and a masterclass! The moving image programme is presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac), financially supported by the Film Development Fund, Create Hong Kong, and in festival partnership with the Busan International Film Festival (Biff). Through an integrated series of screenings, talks, workshops and a masterclass, the programme aims to introduce the cross currents in Hong Kong and Korean cinema, as well as the importance of Biff as one of the leading film festivals in Asia. The screenings comprise a Hong Kong showcase curated by Maggie Lee, and a Korean showcase co-curated by Lee and Nam Dong-chul.

Previously brought to a halt by the pandemic, the programme now brings back screenings of Too Many Ways to Be No. 1, Dumplings and Thirst, and Masterclass on Screen Adaptation: A Conversation Between Chung Seo-kyung and Fruit Chan,...

It is no secret that Jimmy Wang Yu, with his connections had helped Jackie Chan, then a young actor to settle his dispute with director Lo Wei. So in returning the favor, Chan appeared in a few movies produced by Wang and this is one of their collaborations. Interestingly, even though he only showed up briefly in support roles, these movies still get marketed as him being the main lead. As Chan became more popular in the West, and on DVD, this production became “Jackie Chan is The Prisoner”, which is misleading.

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Set in Taiwan, this prison drama has quite an impressive ensemble cast of supporting Hong Kong actors besides Golden Horse Awards winner, veteran Taiwanese actor Ko Chuen Hsiung as the prison superintendent. Nevertheless, Tony Leung Ka Fai plays Andy Wang Wei, a cop who, upon his return to Taipei, witnesses his father-in-law gunned...