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Miffest assembles its strongest line-up of ambassadors yet, Bront Palarae returns, joined by Siti Saleha and Daiyan Trisha sets a purposeful vision for the future of regional cinema with asean on screen launch, hong leong bank multi-year partnership, and landmark collaboration with european film festival for its 25th anniversary

The Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) has unveiled key highlights for its highly anticipated 8th edition, taking place from 19-27 July 2025. The announcement was made during a press conference hosted at Parkroyal Collection Kuala Lumpur, the festival’s official hotel partner. This year’s festival will open at MyTOWN Shopping Centre, marking a vibrant return to its signature annual in-person celebrations and reaffirming MIFFest’s role as a leading platform for cinema and cultural exchange in the region.

A Renewed Circle of Storytellers: MIFFest Names Its Festival Ambassadors

Leading the refreshed line-up of Festival Ambassadors are acclaimed actresses Siti Saleha and Daiyan Trisha,...

Malaysian cinema takes center stage as the 8th Malaysia International Film Festival (MIFFest) revealed its strongest ambassador lineup yet, with celebrated actor Bront Palarae returning for a sixth consecutive year, now joined by acclaimed actors Siti Saleha and Daiyan Trisha.

The trio represents what festival organizers describe as “a generation of storytellers deeply connected to audience, culture, and community,” embodying MIFFest’s mission of elevating cinema that speaks to contemporary issues while looking toward the future.

The festival has unveiled its ambitious vision for its July 19-27 run. Themed “Infinity” this year’s festival taps into cinema’s capacity to forge connections during times of change.

The festival’s international footprint continues to expand, with partnership developments highlighting this year’s edition. As Malaysia assumes the Asean chair position in 2025, MIFFest has partnered with the National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (Finas) to launch “Asean On Screen” – a dedicated program celebrating Southeast Asian film and television.

Wbd Unveils Canal+, Amazon Deals For Max In France & Spain Along With Launch Date

Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd) has struck deals with Amazon and Canal+ to distribute streamer Max in France and Spain, as much-anticipated European launch dates inch closer. The House of the Dragon platform will kick off in France, Poland, the Netherlands and Belgium on June 11, a couple of weeks after the Nordics, Iberia, and Central and Eastern Europe. Wbd’s newly-struck distribution deals, which apply to Canal+ in France and Prime Video in France and Spain, hand the streamer major coverage across the two crucial territories as it launches internationally later than most of its rivals. Other partnerships have also been struck with the majority of French and Spanish mobile, broadband and pay TV providers including Telefonica, Free, Vodafone, Orange, Sfr, and MasMovil. Previously, Wbd and Amazon had a Warner Pass deal in France that saw HBO...

Takumi Saitoh is an actor, filmmaker, mobile cinema sponsor and monochrome photographer. Beginning as a model in his teens, Takumi Saitoh’s name has made inroads into such lands as Europe and Asia and has walked for shows during Paris Fashion Week. After working in advertising with Wing Shya, photographer for Director War Wong Kai , an opportunity arose for Saitoh to make his acting debut in the Korean film reboot of “Toki no Kaori – Remember Me.” Having appeared in many television and films, including “13 Assassins” on which he met director Takashi Miike, he appeared in Miike’s next 3 works, “Ace Attorney”, “For Love’s Sake” and the drama, “Qp” consecutively. For his starring role in “For Love’s Sake”, Miike lauded, “Takumi Saitoh was born to play Hiroshi Iwashimizu.” In 2017, Saitoh won the 31st annual Takasaki Film Festival, Best Supporting Actor Award for “The Projects” directed by Junji Sakamoto.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society reunites with celebrated actor Aaron Kwok and international visual artist Wing Shya to lead audiences into another magical voyage to discover the wonders of cinema.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival is one of the longest-running international film festivals in Asia. The full programme of its 44th edition (HKIFF44), to be held from 24 March to 6 April, will be announced on 10 March. The public can purchase tickets online (www.hkiff.org.hk) and through all Urbtix outlets from 13 March.

Shya, who conceived the acclaimed Colours in the Dark motif for HKIFF43, returns this year with a brand new key-art design featuring a stunning collage of extravagant colours and electrifying images.

Unveiling the new key art for the first time today, Hkiffs’s Head of Marketing, Catherine Liu, believes Shya’s design conjures the fantasy, dynamism and diversity of the cinematic universe.

“The imagination it...

While we eagerly await the next long-form work from Wong Kar Wai—currently announced to be the long-gestating Blossoms, based on a novel by Jin Yucheng—the Hong Kong director has curated a short film for Saint Laurent's Self 05 release, entitled A Night in Shanghai.Directed by photographer and director Wing Shya, the short continues the fashion company's Self project, the intention of which is to evoke different aspects of Saint Laurent through the eyes of artists selected by the company's creative director.The project curated by Wong Kar Wai and directed by Wing Shya is the fifth Self release, and follows films by Bret Easton Ellis and Gaspar Noé, whose contribution, Lux Æterna, was one of the best films to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival this year.Wing has had a long creative relationship with Wong: He took the iconic set photographs for Happy Together (1997)—for which...

Projects include Japanese neo-noir series Shiseishi: The Tattoo Artist and $120m sci-fi Inversion.

Hong Kong-based Sun Entertainment Culture (Sunec) is making a push into international content with a slate of three projects, including a Japanese-language series to be directed by Wing Shya and two English-language features – suspense thriller A Perfect Family and $120m sci-fi epic Inversion.

Entitled Shiseishi: The Tattoo Master, Shya’s neo-noir series is being produced in collaboration with the team behind popular Japanese drama Midnight Diner. Each episode will follow the tattoo master as he works with a different client.

One of Asia’s leading photographers, who...

A suited Tony Leung embracing Maggie Cheung, eyes closed and wearing that impeccably fitted floral qipao — it’s the quintessential image of romantic moodiness in Wong Kar-wai’s 2000 film In the Mood for Love. This is just one of the moments captured by famed Hong Kong artist Wing Shya, who made his name shooting on set as the legendary Chinese filmmaker’s exclusive photographer.

After 25 years in the industry, Wing just launched a limited-edition three-book box set of his work at the opening of his retrospective at the Shanghai Centre of Photography (SCoP).

“I change my direction regularly,” says Wing, who is definitely...

Fox International Productions (Fip) and China’s Bona Film Group are co-producing a Chinese-language remake of Fox hit Bride Wars, which is being directed by Tony Chan.

Currently shooting in Shanghai, the remake stars pop idols Angelababy and Ni Ni in the roles played by Kate Hudson and Anne Hathaway in the 2009 original. The story follows two best friends who turn into bitter rivals when their respective weddings are booked on the same date.

Chan previously co-directed Fip’s Chinese box office hits Hot Summer Days and Love In Space with Wing Shya, who is acting as visual supervisor on the Bride Wars remake. Director-producer Fruit Chan, who was a producer on both Hot Summer Days and Love In Space, is also returning as a producer on the remake.

Fip president Sanford Panitch said: “Tony Chan is truly part of the Fox family. The Bride Wars remake is our third collaboration. As soon as...

Fox International Reteams With Tony Chan, Wing Shya Fox International Productions is working on its third Chinese-language film with the two Hong Kong directors who generated $33 million with their two previous collaborations with the company. Tony Chan and Wing Shya are preparing a follow-up to Hot Summer Days (2010) and Love in Space (2011), said Sanford Panitch, president of the Hollywood studio’s foreign-language filmmaking arm. While the pair’s previous two outings were relation- ship dramas, the new project "will not be a romantic comedy," Panitch told The Hollywood Reporter after his appearance as a panelist

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As can be guessed from its title, “Love in Space” is a romantic comedy, which sees directors Tony Chan and Wing Shya following up their surprise 2010 hit “Hot Summer Days” with more of the same. Boasting Fruit Chan back on board as producer and a glossy budget courtesy of Hollywood studio 20th Century Fox, the film is headlined by a trio of top female stars in Rene Liu (“Run Papa Run”), Guey Lun Mei (“Taipei Exchanges”) and Angelababy (“Hot Summer Days”), with high profile male support from Eason Chan (“Lover’s Discourse”), Aaron Kwok (“Love For Life”) and Jing Boran (“Hot Summer Days”). The film follows the amusing romantic adventures and misadventures of the three Huang sisters and their mother in a series of intertwining subplots. Lily (Guey Lun Mei) is a budding artist in Sydney whose love life is complicated by her obsessive-compulsive fear of germs – put to the...

There's a new film festival every minute, it seems. Here's a new wrinkle: the fourth edition of the first annual International Fashion, Style and Beauty Film Festival--a Shaded View of Fashion and Film--will launch October 7-9 in Paris. Brands, photographers, jurors, prizes and films are listed below: In competition / out of competition short films, short documentaries... Fashion brands & designers featured in this year’s films include Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga, Balmain, Undercover, Miu Miu, Comme des Garcons, Maison Martin Margiela, House of Holland, Stephen Jones, Prada, Dries Van Noten, Charlie le Mindu, Calvin Klein & Gareth Pugh. Behind the camera are photographers & directors Bruce Weber, Ellen von Unwerth, Inez Van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin, Lisa Eisner, Mark Borthwick, Bryan Adams, Wing Shya. Jury ...

Following up last year's Hot Summer Days, directors Tony Chan and Wing Shya return with Love In Space, another ensemble romantic comedy featuring a host of exceptionally good-looking people playing out cripplingly clichéd tales of love for our entertainment. Co-financed by Fox International and China's Huayi Brothers and produced by Fruit Chan, the film boasts top drawer production values and takes place in as far flung locations as Beijing, Sydney and, um, the surface of a heart-shaped moon. The story focuses on the romantic trials and tribulations of three sisters - Rose, Lily and Peony - and their doting mother, Mary, who keeps a close eye on them, wherever in the universe they may be.Rose (Rene Liu) is a strong, determined and stubborn astronaut who...

China Lion Film Distribution and Fox International Productions will co-distribute Wing Shya and Tony Chan's "Love in Space," the directing team's follow-up to "Hot Summer Days." The story "follows a mother and her three grown daughters as they juggle their assorted love lives. Each woman is successful in everything except love – until they unexpectedly encounter new romances in Beijing, Sydney and even on a space shuttle." The romantic comedy ...

Sanford Panitch, President of Fox International Productions, announced yesterday that principal photography for rom-com Love in Space will start March 8.The pics will shoot on location in Beijing and Sydney.

Features a star cluster from the Greater China Area, including Hong Kong’s Cantopop singer/actors Aaron Kwok (‘After This,” Our Exile’) and Eason Chan (Lady Cop & Papa Crook), and Chinese shemale lead of last year’s grossing ($91.2 million) Aftershock, Xu Fan, and Taiwan’s Kwai Lun-Mei (Ocean Heaven, The Stool Pigeon). Liu, Angelababy and Boran also appeared in “Days.”

The film is a sequel to last year’s ensemble romantic comedy, co-directed by Hot Summer Days helmers Wing Shya and Tony Chan. Chan and Lucretia Ho, who previously collaborated on ‘Hot Summer Days,’ wrote the screenplay and Fruit Chan is producing.

The film represents the second co-production between Fip and Huayi Brothers, with Hong Kong’s Sundream as a new partner.

Los Angeles, CA (March 3, 2011) – Sanford Panitch, President of Fox International Productions, announced today that principal photography for Love In Space will begin March 8. The film will shoot on location in Beijing and Sydney, and stars Aaron Kwok, René Liu, Eason Chan, Kwai Lun Mei, Angelababy, Jing Boran, with a special appearance by Xu Fan. Wing Shya and Tony Chan direct a screenplay written by Chan and Lucretia Ho, who previously collaborated on Hot Summer Days. Fruit Chan is producing the film. An ensemble romantic comedy, Love In Space is the follow up to the directing team’s box office hit, Hot Summer Days. The story follows a mother and her three grown daughters as they juggle their assorted love lives. Each woman is successful in everything except love – until they unexpectedly encounter new romances in Beijing, Sydney and even on the moon. “Our concept is certainly something that has never...

Hot Summer Days (2010) PG, for mild thematic elements and smoking. This film opens October 8th in selected Los Angeles theaters.Directed by Tony Chan and Wing Shya, Hot Summer Days is romantic comedy which takes place in Hong Kong, Beijing, and Shenzhen, consisting of seven intertwined love stories in the middle of the hottest summer on record ever. There’s a story about a chauffer and a foot masseuse who encounter each other through accidental text messaging, a young man who makes a bet to see if he can date a pretty factory girl, an air-conditioner repairman who chases a...

Fox International Productions is making its first foray into China with the Chinese-language romantic comedy "Hot Summer Days," which it is producing and distributing with Star Television Asia and Huayi Brothers Media.

Assembling a cast from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the film will star Jacky Cheung, Nicholas Tse, Daniel Wu, Rene Liu, Vivian Hsu, Barbie Hsu, Angelababy, Jing Boran, Duan Yihong, Fu Xinbo and Gordon Liu.

The film, which began filming in August in Beijing, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, is being co-directed by first-time directors Wing Shya, who has made his mark as a cinematographer and fashion photographer, and Tony Chan.

Fruit Chan and Paul Cheng are co-producers.

The film is slated for release early next year in China by Huayi Brothers and by Fox in all territories outside of mainland China. Star holds pay TV rights to the film in Asia excluding China.