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Celebrated Taiwanese director Edward Yang‘s penultimate feature is a deceptively simple and straightforward affair. “Mahjong” poses as an over-the-top, soap opera-esque tale full of petty criminals, blackmail, sentimental manipulation and unrequited love. But it also offers a bittersweet chronicle of life, love, greed and economic opportunism in the booming, bustling Taipei of the late 1990s.

Mahjong is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival

The film follows a group of rowdy young men who share the same apartment while ripping off other people for a living – and almost, it seems, for a hobby. Their leader is Red Fish (Tsung Sheng Tang), an enterprising young hustler who sees the world as one huge scamming opportunity with only the capitalist sky for a limit. His father is a fugitive businessman and con man who has made a fortune out of Taiwan’s roaring economy, and Red Fish has assimilated to his...

Filmed back-to-back with Hsu Hsia's “Crystal Hunt” (1991) with most of the cast returning except Sibelle Hu, right down to the similar thin plot and the Hong Kong and Thai locations. This time around, director Yip has everyone hunting for a computer chip instead of a golden crystal which starts off in Hong Kong and ends up in the tropical jungle of Thailand.

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In Hong Kong, arms dealer Tong Yeung (Shing Fui On) has a computer chip that contains the country's most advanced missile system. After his arrest, three American CIA agents, John (Mark Houghton), Peggy (Sharla Cheung Man) and Ann (Takajo Fujimi) arrive to take him back to the States. On their way to the airport, with the tag along of local Inspectors Sonny Ng (Carrie Ng) and Kwan (Eddie Kwan), Long Hair (Gordon Liu) and his ruthless gang ambush them.

As a director, Sammo Hung often brought out the harder edge in his collaborators, his choreography was often pretty brutal even when what surrounded it was comedic. As an actor though, he definitely more readily embraced the inherently comedic qualities that his rotund body and aptitude for physical comedy afforded him. That’s very much the case in this 1990 action comedy from director and co-star Lau Kar-Wing.

Hung plays Fatty Dragon to Karl Maka’s Skinny Tiger, both of them plain clothes cops who are constantly in trouble with their bosses for skirting the rules. The plot here is convoluted, but involves the two investigating a drug ring headed by Lau Kar-Wing, many cross dressing and trans (which is Not how the film refers to them) bad guys, Dragon and Tiger tricking a gangster’s moll (Naked Killer’s Carrie Ng) into witness protection, the two of them getting thrown...

Released in 1992, the erotic girls-with-guns thriller “Naked Killer”, written and produced by Wong Jing, the crowd-pleasing, prolific filmmaker and starring Chingmy Yau and Carrie Ng later reached a cult status. A decade later, he’s back with “Naked Weapon” but with a different director and filmed in English in order to attract the international audience.

The movie kicks off in Rome; a beautiful lady arrives at a hotel, goes to a room and kills a man with her bare hands after performing some sort of erotic dance moves first . More dead bodies start to pile up while she makes her escape and her car is finally blown up leaving her fatally injured. Her boss, Madame M (Almen Wong) promptly shows up and kills her in cold blood, while two CIA agents on surveillance also meet the same fate. But agent Jack Chen (Daniel Wu) manages to escape without a scratch.

This is an authentic Hong Kong cinema experience from maverick filmmaker Pang Ho Cheung set in the old port city of Aberdeen in Hong Kong’s southwest district. “Aberdeen” the movie is a story about an extended Hong Kong family tormented by secrets and insecurities with an all-star Hong Kong cast. The area of Aberdeen is also known indigenously as “Heung Gong Zai” or “Little Hong Kong” and this is also the movie’s Chinese title.

Widowed grandpa Cheng Dong (Ng Man Tat) is a Taoist Priest who performs rituals at funerals to help the dead to reincarnate. However, he was a fisherman before until the government relocated all fishermen to live on land which he considers a curse. Hence, he becomes a Taoist instead, thereby hoping to seek peace spiritually. Nonetheless, he’s now happily living with Ta (Carrie Ng) who’s a much younger nightclub hostess.

A scene from Undercover Punch & Gun. Courtesy of Sil-Metropole Organisation

Fasten your seat belts for this high-octane Hong Kong crime story. In Undercover Punch & Gun (aka Undercover Vs. Undercover), Wu (Philip Ng) is an undercover cop, firmly embedded in the upper echelon of the local smuggling and drug trade. There are several factions with tenuous associations and rivalries, all poised to switch on short notice. Or less. As is often the case, Wu not only faces the constant concern over having his cover blown, but, as is often the case for these dramas, develops personal relations with some of his targets that add layers to the suspense.

Don’t worry about the story; nothing new intended or to be found there. It’s all a setup for the slew of action sequences which are a whole ’nother matter. But for those who care about such things, Wu stays undercover for...

Around this time, several productions emerged that seemed to mirror the success of “The Untouchables”. “First Shot” was to follow a few years after this, but in the same year came “The Big Heat” also produced by Tsui Hark and starring Waise Lee. All three are set in different periods, but feature a similar narrative around police corruption and a small team of straight cops that refused to succumb. The latter of the three is the finer piece of work but whilst this production is flawed it is not without merit. Kirk Wong is probably not talked about a lot in modern circles. Whilst he doesn’t have the visual flourish of a peak John Woo, or the intensity of a Ringo Lam, his work always has, for the most part, a polish that other contemporaries lack.

During the Chinese civil war, four friends escape from the...

By the time 1992 came along, Stephen Chow was already a prolific actor, featuring in as many as nine to twelve features per year. 1992 was no different, where he starred in eight, but what set that year apart was that seven of those were among the 15 highest-grossing productions that year. Of those 15, the top 5 were astonishingly all Stephen Chow vehicles and the one that reigned supreme was “Justice, My Foot”, the first of only two collaborations of his with director Johnnie To.

“Justice, My Foot” is the story of Sung Sai-kit, a lawyer in Guangdong with a highly bendable ethical code who will win every case by any means necessary. Though a name of both repute and ill-repute outside, it’s a different story at home, where clearly the pants are worn by his wife, Madam Sung, a woman taller than her husband and with far greater martial...

With the massive popularity following “Train to Busan”, it seems inevitable that other Asian countries are keen to follow suit in offering their own take on the tired zombie genre which explains this current Hong Kong/China co-production. Not only is Alan Lo’s debut feature timed perfectly to coincide with that film’s success, but also finds that mixture of humanity and comedy as prime ingredients to exploit in this new zombie comedy offering.

“Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight” screened at the New York Asian Film Festival

Trying to move on in life, friends Lung and Chi-Yeung are two eccentric hot-blooded young men leading a devil-may-care life that deem themselves heroes who can save the earth, to the annoyance of their friends as all they do is immerse themselves in their own world.

However, Lung can do nothing about things in life that don’t work out as he wishes,...

Stars: Michael Ning, Louis Cheung, Alex Man, Carrie Ng, Cherry Ngan, Angie Shum, Venus Wong | Written by Nick Cheuk, Nero Ng, Chi Hoi Pang | Directed by Alan Lo

If there is one type of monster that has been done to death, it has to be the zombie (pun intended). We’ve seen slow ones, fast ones, even vegetarian ones in bad remakes of classics. What could make Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight any different from the rest? How about a man-sized chicken monster?

Lone (Michael Ning) and Yeung (Louis Cheung) are two eccentric young men who like to think of themselves as heroes. When Lone’s favourite animated monster, a man-sized chicken monster starts turning people into zombies, can they Lone and Yeung stop the end of the world?

If you’ve seen Train from Busan, you’ll know that Asian cinema can do zombie movies, and do them well. While...

Centerpiece Gala is North American premiere of Filipino thriller Birdshot.

The Us premiere of Jung Byung-gil’s revenge thriller and recent Cannes Midnight screening The Villainess will close the 16th New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), set to run from June 30-July 16.

Festival brass unveiled on Monday the selection of 57 films including seven entries in the new Main Competition: previously announced festival opener Bad Genius (Thailand, pictured); Birdshot (Philippines); A Double Life (Japan); The Gangster’s Daughter (Taiwan); Kfc (Vietnam); Jane (South Korea); and With Prisoners (Hong Kong).

The Centerpiece Gala is the North American premiere of Filipino thriller Birdshot.

The festival programme includes a 20th Anniversary Hong Kong Panorama with a focus on emerging talent called Young Blood Hong Kong. Selections include Wong Chun’s Mad World, Derek Hui’s This Is Not What I Expected, and Alan Lo’s Zombiology: Enjoy Yourself Tonight.

An Lgbtq showcase features five films: Naoko Ogigami’s Close-Knit from Japan...

Exclusive: Hong Kong-based start-up Young Live Entertainment (Yle) is introducing its debut slate at Filmart, including action titles The Game Changer, starring Huang Zitao and Peter Ho, and Kungfu Is Not Fighting, directed by Marco Mak.

Directed by Xixi Gao, The Game Changer is a period action title about gang wars in Shanghai.

Currently in pre-production, the film also stars Wang Xueqi (Helios, Iron Man 3). Gao previously directed top-rating TV dramas including Legend Of Chu And Han, Three Kingdoms and Shanghai Bund.

Also in pre-production, Kungfu Is Not Fighting is produced by veteran director-producer Jeffrey Lau. Mak’s directing credits include Naked Soldier and Colour Of The Truth.

A subsidiary of China’s Yongle Group, Yle aims to develop and finance Hong Kong stories as well as cherry-pick mainland Chinese titles for international distribution.

Former Star Alliance executive Angus Chan heads the Hong Kong-based operation.

Hong Kong titles on the company’s slate include action thriller...

Hong Kong-based Edko Films is launching sales at Filmart on actor Nick Cheung’s second feature as director, horror film Master Fat, in which he also stars with Amber Kuo and Shi Xing Yu.

Cheung made his feature directing debut last year with another horror film, Ghost Rituals, in which he starred with Annie Liu and Carrie Ng.

His new horror tells the story of an exorcist, who becomes famous when his exorcisms are recorded and go viral on the internet, but then attract unwanted attention from the media and the underworld.

Edko is also launching sales on Ferris Lin’s Boundless, a documentary about Hong Kong director Johnnie To, and previously announced action title The Bodyguard, directed by Sammo Hung, which Edko is co-producing with Davie Linde’s Lava Bear.

Sammo Hung is one of the greatest Screen Fighters, Directors and Choreographers in Martial Arts cinema history. Started his early career as an extra in Shaw Brothers productions, then became of fight choreographer on a few of there movies.

It was when he started his career with Raymond Chow at Golden harvest Studios, that Sammo started to show what he could do in terms of action in-front and behind the camera. Sammo Hung has made some of the finest movies of all time and also bringing us some incredible talent such as Yuen Biao, Angela Mao, Lam Ching Ying, Michelle Yeoh and many more.

This is a list of 30 Sammo Hung movies you should check out, this list is also for new fans of the genre. So i hope you enjoy the list and i also mention some other Sammo Hung movies at the end of the page.

1.Hapkido (1972)

Director:...

In the 1980s and 1990s, audiences could barely go a few days without a new melodrama that (allegedly) glamorized Triad life hitting screens or flooding DVD shelves. Since then, the Hong Kong film industry has changed and so has the city, two ideas that journeyman filmmaker Lee Po Cheung embraces in the imperfect but entertaining and oddly specific Gangster Pay Day, closing out the 2014 Busan Film Festival. Lee assembles a strong cast with a clutch of small parts and cameos for actors from the ’80s heyday (hello, Carrie Ng!) for a workmanlike but sneakily critical story of a retired

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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...

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

The directorial debut of Hong Kong Best Actor winner, Nick Cheung, entitled Ghost Rituals, is scaring up interest at this year's Cannes Film Market, and we've got the details you need to see if this is one haunt you're interested in visiting!

From the Press Release

Darclight Films, the edgy genre-driven label of Arclight Films, is pleased to announce the world market premiere of horror-thriller Ghost Rituals in Cannes. Multiple Best Actor Award Winner Nick Cheung (Unbeatable, The Stool Pigeon), who has over 60 films to his credit and a huge following at the box office, makes his directorial debut with this latest horror piece staring himself, Annie Liu (Floating City), Lam Wai (The Silent War, Adventure Of The King) and Carrie Ng (The Silent War, Hi, Fidelity).

The Hong Kong-Malaysian coproduction will be released in July in Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Ghost Rituals is produced by Adrian Teh,...

Darclight has boarded the Nick Cheung-directed supernatural thriller Ghost Rituals and is handling sales of the film at Cannes. This will be the first film Cheung has directed since 1987 when he did Ninja vs. Ninja. Cheung will star alongside Annie Liu, Lam Wai and Carrie Ng. Here's a bit more about the project...

The post Opera and the Supernatural Collide in Ghost Rituals appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Pang Ho Cheung is easily one of Hong Kong's most interesting directors. His recent films Love In A Puff, Love In The Buff and Vulgaria have all been critical and commercial successes. His latest film, Aberdeen, was one of the two opening films at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, and on-line tickets for its screening were sold out within 8 minutes! Starring Louis Koo, Miriam Yeung, Gigi Leung, Eric Tsang, Ng Man Tat and Carrie Ng, this is one of the must-see Hong Kong films of 2014. Now thanks to Magnum Films, we have Five double passes for Aberdeen to give away to our Australian readers. For a chance to win, all you have to do is to follow these two steps:1) Like the Magnum...

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

Carrie Ng and Shirley Yung’s Angel Whispers won this year’s Haf award for a Hong Kong project at the close of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (March 26), while Taiwan’s Private Eyes won the Haf award for a non-Hong Kong project.

Angel Whispers is a suspense thriller set in the red-light district of Sham Shui Po. Filmmaker and actress Ng will produce with Yung and Chan Pang-chun.

Chang Jung Chi’s Private Eyes is a detective mystery based on the bestselling novel written by Chi Wei Jan. Chang previously directed award-winning drama Touch Of The Light. The Haf awards both come with a cash award of $38,460 (Hk$300,000).

Meanwhile, the $12,820 ($100,000) Haf Script Development Fund, presented by Emperor Motion Pictures and the Hkiff Society, went to Taiwanese filmmaker Jack Shih’s animation feature project The Solitary Pier.

Love Is Speaking, from Shanghai-based director Shu Haolun, won the Haf/Fox Chinese Film Development Award.

Based on a story...

Carrie Ng and Shirley Yung’s Angel Whispers won this year’s Haf award for a Hong Kong project at the close of the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (March 26), while Taiwan’s Private Eyes won the Haf award for a non-Hong Kong project.

Angel Whispers is a suspense thriller set in the red-light district of Sham Shui Po. Filmmaker and actress Ng will produce with Yung and Chan Pang-chun. Chang Jung Chi’s Private Eyes is a detective mystery based on the bestselling novel written by Chi Wei Jan. Chang previously directed award-winning drama Touch Of The Light. The Haf awards both come with a cash award of $38,460 (Hk$300,000).

Meanwhile, the $12,820 ($100,000) Haf Script Development Fund, presented by Emperor Motion Pictures and the Hkiff Society, went to Taiwanese filmmaker Jack Shih’s animation feature project The Solitary Pier.

Love Is Speaking, from Shanghai-based director Shu Haolun, won the Haf/Fox Chinese Film Development Award. Based on a story...

Hong Kong – The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) concluded Wednesday, granting Hong Kong's Angel Whispers and Taiwan's Private Eyes its Haf Awards. Seven of financing awards were given out by the Haf in total. Presented by Create Hong Kong, Hong Kong Film Development Fund and the Haf, each Haf award is valued at $19,230 and is given to one Hong Kong project and one non-Hong Kong project. Pdf: Hong Kong Filmart: Download THR's Day 3 Daily The Haf Award for Hong Kong went to Angel Whispers by first-time directors Carrie Ng and Shirley Yung, to be produced by

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The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has unveiled this year’s line-up of 29 projects, including two from the Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza.

The line-up includes four projects under the third annual Haf/Fox Chinese Film Development Award, which aims to support scripts from up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers (see full line-up below).

Mendoza is bringing feature film project The Embroiderer, about undying love, along with documentary Gay Messiah, which questions religion and belief. The Philippines’ Jun Robles Lana also returns to Haf this year with his project Our Father, after winning the 2013 Haf award for Barber’s Tales.

Hong Kong filmmakers are also strongly represented in the line-up, with five projects, including comedian Lam Tze-chung’s Game and actress-turned-director Carrie Ng’s Angel Whispers.

Hong Kong projects also include Jason Kwan’s A Nail Clipper Romance, produced by acclaimed director Pang Ho-cheung; Philip Yung’s The Sea, produced by Jia Zhang-ke’s regular producer Chow Keung; and Simon Chung...

Lam Ching Ying is my favorite star in any Horror movie, weather it be taking on hopping vampires or just plain old spirits, no one does it better than lam.

His roles in the Mr.Vampire movies show his skills as an actor, with great comic timing which goes well with his serious acting side, which we dont normally get to see on screen. This role would make him, not just a big star in Asia but also worldwide as the master of Vampire killers.

I hope you enjoy my top 10 list and please feel free to write your own favorites in the comments box at the bottom of the page.

10.Mr.Vampire 2 (1986)

Cast:Lam Ching Ying, Yuen Biao, Moon Lee, Chung Fat, Billy Lau

Mr.Vampire 2 as some good moments throughout the movie but doesn’t live up to the first one. Here Lam Ching Ying takes on Hopping...

I thought it was about time i did a post on the great vampire buster of all time, yes you got it, lam Ching Ying. This will be listing all the movies and tv series where Lam Ching Ying either stars in or takes on the hopping vampires and evil spirits.

His roles in the Mr.Vampire movies show his skills as an actor, with great comic timing which goes well with his serious acting side, which we normally get to see on screen. This role would make him, not just a big star in Asia but also worldwide as the master of Vampire killers.

Other great movies which he starred in (But not in a vampire movie) were the likes of The Prodigal Son, School On Fire, Eastern Condors, The Magnificent Butcher and Painted Faces.

I have been a big fan of these movies since i first watched Mr.

by Nick Schager

[This week's "Retro Active" pick is inspired by the undercover-cop action of the 21 Jump Street remake.]

Women factor into City on Fire but Ringo Lam's 1987 crime saga is a strictly masculine affair awash in male love. An influence on Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs—with which it shares similarities both in terms of narrative (heists, undercover cops, gun standoffs, torture) and themes (shifting allegiances, loyalty, the boundary between nobility and criminality)—Lam's film pivots around Ko Chow (Chow Yun-Fat), a brash Hong Kong police officer intent on retiring. Chow is introduced instigating an incident at a nightclub where his girlfriend Hung (Carrie Ng) is spending time with another man, until his colleagues show up to arrest him in order to bring him to Inspector Lau (Yeuh Sun), who wants him to assume a mission that led to the murder of another cop: to go undercover to break up a gang of deadly jewelry thieves. It's the first of two times that Chow...

After the much anticipated preem for Don’t Go Breaking My Heart and Quattro Hong Kong 2, it was Yuen-Leung Poon's Hi, Fidelity’s turn to shine --- and without a doubt, veteran actress Pat Ha is the film's highlight and that's not to say that fellow thesps Carrie Ng and Michelle Ye didn't offer noteworthy takes either. Deemed a “chick flick” from the get go, this tells the tale of middle-aged women cheating on their husbands -- but as the plot soon thickens, it appears to be a lot more complex, much more of a relationship thriller than just a pure romantic film. Alongside the exploration of women’s midlife crisis and their yearning for the lost times, there are plot twists followed by more plot twists, essentially I’m not sure if it plays off so well and this despite the film's big revelation that certainly has the...

As a mature, successful and supposedly independent woman, what would you do on discovering that your husband had been fooling around? If you're anything like Alice (Pat Ha), Jo Jo (Michelle Ye) or Pinky (Carrie Ng), you'll surrender to the timeless adage: "If you can't beat them, join them" and head over the border to Shenzhen for a little no-strings-attached pleasure of your own. Alice is a reserved, conservative and well-respected member of the community (some might even go so far as to say a little repressed), but when her husband is accidentally caught on camera cavorting with a much younger woman, her friends Jo Jo (the wife of a mid-level triad) and Pinky (who is struggling to raise a young son without her...

The 35th edition of the Hkiff takes place next month and compared to last year, this year's fest will have a little less local films premiering. In the Hong Kong Panorama section, only six films will be screened, which is half the number of last year’s output. This year, Johnnie To’s Don’t Go Breaking My Heart will be the opening film along with Quattro Hong Kong 2, a sort of the continuation to the last year’s Quattro Hong Kong, which is categorized as a tribute film to the city of Hong Kong. This year's quartet of filmmakers includes: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Brillante Mendoza, Ho Yuhang and Stanley Kwan. Here's more info on the short film project. Don’t Go Breaking My Heart is probably one of the most anticipated Johnnie To films in recent years - the romance includes a stellar cast comprised of Louis Koo, Daniel Wu and Chinese actress Gao YuenYuen,...

#23. Red Night Director: Julien Carbon & Laurent CourtiaudCast: Frédérique Bel, Carrie Ng, Carole Brana, Stephen WongDistributor: Rights Available. Buzz: Looking like an Irma Vep meets Femme Fatale, this co-directing film debut might looks like the guilty pleasure of the film festival. Hope to watch it with a sold crowd and hungry buyers looking for something that can only compliment their slate.  The Gist: This shocking debut by director duo Carbon and Courtiaud is a seductive cat-and-mouse thriller set in Hong Kong, about a woman's obsessive desire to own a rare object that hides a deadly and perverse secret. Tiff Schedule: Wednesday September 15 11:59:00 Pm Ryerson Friday September 17 2:15:00 Pm Scotiabank Theatre 2 Sunday September 19 5:45:00 Pm Scotiabank Theatre 11  ...

Whoa. We have a very weird trailer to debut for you today for a film that will be playing in the Toronto Film Festival 2010 Midnight Madness category, which is where all the dark, weird stuff goes. It's a French-Hong Kong film from filmmaking duo Julien Carbon & Laurent Courtiaud titled Red Nights (in English) starring Carrie Ng (Sex Medusa) and Frédérique Bel (Adèle Blanc-Sec). It's kind of a modern, bondage version of a Cantonese Opera. Here's how this was pitched to me: "If you are interested in lethal Chinese ladies with jade claws and moody French women with Mausers, you can take a look at our teaser." Need to say more? Watch the first trailer for Julien Carbon & Laurent Courtiaud's Red Nights: [flv:http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/rednights-firstfrenchtrailer-full.flv http://media2.firstshowing.net/firstshowing/rednights-firstfrenchtrailer-full.jpg 598 336] This shocking debut by director duo Carbon & Courtiaud is a seductive cat-and-mouse thriller set in Hong Kong, about one woman's obsessive desire to own ...

[Updated with an updated trailer.]

It seems that every year there is at least one film that hits the Tiff Midnight Madness program seemingly out of nowhere. Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud's Franco Hong Kong co-production Red Nights is one of those films. Here's how programmer Colin Geddes describes it:

A pulpy, fetishistic thriller, Red Nights marks the startling directorial debut of Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud, best known as the screenwriting team behind Hong Kong director Johnnie To's thriller Running Out of Time. Red Nights also boasts the long-overdue return of Hong Kong starlet Carrie Ng, famous for her sexy and deadly presence in such films as Naked Killer and Sex and Zen. Here she revels in her role as the jade-clawed Dragon Lady, equal parts seductress and psycho-sexual killer.

A box containing a white jade seal rumoured to have belonged to China's first Emperor falls into the hands of Catherine (Frédérique Bel...

Ok. I may have spoken too soon. There was another film in Tiff’s Midnight Madness line-up that caught my attention: Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud directorial debut Red Nights and though it sounded interesting, I didn't expect it to look quite this good. Described by festival programmer Colin Geddes as a “fetishistic thriller” the film stars Carrie Ng as Carrie, a patron of the arts in search of an elixir which enhances sensations.

The official verbage reads like a twisted fairy tale:

During the reign of the first emperor of China, an ingenious torturer concocted an elixir that paralysed its victim's limbs, while increasing the sensitivity of their nerve endings tenfold. Kept in a jade skull, the elixir could provoke sensations in infinite variations - everything from erotic caresses to appalling lacerations. Haunted by the desire to experience the extreme sensations caused by the elixir, the executioner kills himself with his own poison,...

Titles in the Midnight Madness and City to City programmes are to be announced Tuesday morning and many cult/horror fanatics are looking forward to this year’s Mm lineup. One of the films we expect to hear tomorrow is Red Nights (Les Nuits Rouges du Bourreau de Jade), a Hong Kong-French production that is being described as a “fetish-mystery thriller”. Directed by Julien Carbon and Laurent Courtiaud (scriptwriters of Johnnie To’s Running Out Of Time), it stars Chinese actress Carrie Ng and Chinese-French speaking actor Stephen Wong Cheung-Hing, playing a female Cantonese Opera singer. Some photos taken on set can be seen below. Here’s the synopsis from their website:

During the reign of the first emperor of China, an ingenious torturer concocted an elixir that paralysed its victim’s limbs, while increasing the sensitivity of their nerve endings tenfold. Kept in a jade skull, the elixir could...