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A household name after starring in Korean epics like Taegukgi: Brotherhood of War and Friend, Jang Dong-gun has been part of the explosive growth of the Korean film industry and has worked with a lengthy, star-studded list of talent over the last three decades.

However, Jang tells Deadline that there are still many actors and directors that he has not had a chance to work with yet, although he hopes to collaborate with them in the near future. This list includes fellow actors and friends Hwang Jung-min and Lee Byung-hun, as well as directors like Bong Joon-ho, Park Chan-wook and Kim Jee-woon.

Jang says that he is also on the search for an “ordinary” role, after playing a wide range of characters with extraordinary and extreme backgrounds.

“Over my past works, I have done a lot of roles that are not common, that you can’t see in real life usually,...

The 18th Asian Film Awards proudly announces this year’s recipients of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award —Korean screen icon Jang Dong-gunand acclaimed Chinese actress Tang Wei. Recognised for their remarkable achievements and lasting contributions to Asian cinema, both esteemed actors will attend the awards ceremony on March 16 at the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District to accept this prestigious honour.

Jang Dong-gun expressed his gratitude, saying, “It is a tremendous honour to receive this award, and I sincerely thank the Asian Film Awards for this recognition. Having my three-decade acting career acknowledged is deeply meaningful and inspires me to keep going. I look forward to sharing this joy with everyone in Hong Kong.” Tang Wei also shared her excitement, stating, “I am truly grateful to the Asian Film Awards for recognising my work. Hong Kong has always been special to me, and I...

The Asian Film Awards has unveiled Korean veteran actor Jang Dong-gun and Chinese actress Tang Wei as this year’s recipients of the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, which will be presented during the awards ceremony in Hong Kong on March 16.

With more than 30 years in the film and television industry, Jang has starred in top Korean films like Friend, Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, No Tears for the Dead and A Normal Family, among others. He has also acted alongside Hong Kong talent like Cecilia Cheung and Nicholas Tse in Chen Kaige’s pan-Asian production The Promise and reunited with Cheung in Dangerous Liaisons.

Tang played leading roles in Park Chan-wook’s Decision to Leave and Bi Gan’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. She also co-starred with Chris Hemsworth in Michael Mann’s Blackhat and worked on numerous Hong Kong productions and co-productions like The Golden Era, Office...

The Fifth Generation, started by the graduates of the Beijing Film Academy in 1982, is considered one of the most important movements in Chinese cinema. Paradoxically, Zhang Junzhao, the director of “One and Eight”, the movie that is associated with the beginning of this movement, is one of the lesser known creators of this group. While other members of the Fifth Generation, such as Zhang Yimou, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Chen Kaige and Li Shaohong, have been awarded numerous times at international festivals, Junzhao managed to gather only two nominations – “One and Eight” (1984) was nominated for Prize of the City of Torino at the 6th Torino International Festival of Young Cinema, and “Arc Light” (1989) for Golden St. George at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival.

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Based on an epic poem by Guo Xiaochuan, the story focuses on Communist Party member Wang Jin (Tao Zeru) who is suspected of being...

First-time Chinese director Jing Yi can pinpoint the precise moment that led him to become a filmmaker. The 31-year-old was born and raised in a tiny village in the dry grasslands of China’s remote northeastern Xinjiang region, near the border with Khazakstan. Coming of age in one of China’s few multicultural communities far from the bustle of the country’s gleaming modern metropolises — the region is home to Han Chinese, Kazakhs, Uyghurs and numerous other ethnic groups — Yi’s early encounters with cinema were limited to the sanitized, mainstream fare broadcast on Chinese state TV.

As he was nearing the end of high school, though, a friend lent him a hard drive filled with downloaded movies, a cache packed with works from China’s masters — Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, Wong Kar-wai and Hong Kong’s Johnnie To — but also foreign names that were completely unrecognizable to him: Emir Kusturica,...

Renowned Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke held a masterclass during Fica Vesoul, offering insights into his journey, the evolution of independent cinema in China, and the socio-political role of filmmaking. Known for capturing the realities of contemporary China, Jia spoke candidly about his early influences, creative challenges, and his vision for the future of cinema.

From VHS Tapes to Independent Filmmaking

Jia’s passion for cinema began in his school years, watching films in small VHS cabins outside the official circuit. This early exposure to Hong Kong and Taiwanese cinema, including King Hu, Johnny To, and Ann Hui, shaped his cinematic sensibilities. However, his true awakening came in 1991 when he watched Chen Kaige‘s “Yellow Earth“, a film that revealed to him how cinema could express social reality beyond traditional storytelling.

His first feature, “Xiao Wu”, was made without script approval or official authorization—a defining moment in his commitment to independent filmmaking.

Yao Chen was fully aware of the challenges that lay ahead when she formed Bad Rabbit Pictures out of Beijing back in 2017.

Yao remains an award-winning actress in her own right — thanks to standout performances in the likes of the Chen Kaige-directed hit Caught in the Web (2012) and the acclaimed Send Me to the Clouds (2019), as well as wildly popular TV series including All Is Well (2019). But Yao wanted to give something back to the Chinese industry, and to leverage her own fame (with an estimated social media following of around 80 million) and connections into making sure emerging art house talent in the country was given a chance.

The the company she formed with cinematographer and partner Cao Yu has gone from strength to strength, standing as a testament to their continued commitment to seeking out and supporting young talent.

This year’s Berlinale reflects that growth, with Bad...

Arp has taken distribution rights in France to Huo Meng’s Berlinale competition title “Living the Land,” which will have its world premiere Friday. World sales agency M-Appeal finalized the deal at the opening of the European Film Market.

Set in 1991, as China is going through sweeping socio-economic changes, “Living the Land” follows 10-year-old Chuang, whose family is caught between the weight of tradition and the pull of progress. A teaser clip of the film was released to Variety today.

Arp has acquired all rights and will release the film theatrically in France. The distributor has been instrumental in introducing Asian cinema to French audiences, bringing acclaimed titles such as Zhang Yimou’s “Raise the Red Lantern” (Venice Silver Lion), “The Story of Qiu Ju” (Venice Golden Lion), “To Live” (Cannes Grand Prize), Chen Kaige’s “Farewell My Concubine” (Cannes Palme d’Or), and Wong Kar-wai’s early films, from...

“Beijing Bicycle” was the third film by Wang Xiaoshuai, who was born in Shanghai in 1966 and originally wanted to become a painter. Awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Berlinale in 2001, this was Wang’s first film to be “officially” shown abroad. His first film, “The Days” (1993), was a rough piece of independent cinema, made with minimal resources, and was not submitted for censorship. Without approval from the censors, it was (and is) forbidden to be shown in public. It was thanks to non-Chinese friends that “The Days” was able to be screened in the Forum at the 1994 Berlinale. In 1997, this process was repeated with “Frozen”, which was already sensitive due to its political subject matter. It premiered at the Rotterdam Festival, with the pseudonym Wu Ming (“no name”) given as the director’s name.

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“Beijing Bicycle” is notable,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

All We Imagine as Light (Payal Kapadia)

Following up her enigmatic, beautiful debut A Night of Knowing Nothing, Payal Kapadia shows an entirely different register with her dazzling Cannes Film Festival Grand Prize winner All We Imagine as Light. Luke Hicks said in his review, “Writer-director Payal Kapadia isn’t interested in the flashy world of Mumbai that gets so much global attention. Per its opening soundscape, All We Imagine as Light means to bask in the luminescence of life found among India’s lower classes, which means acknowledging the inequality and socio-economic injustice that defines their everyday as much as it means showcasing their intrinsic glow and dogged refusal to let the inalienable love, beauty, and camaraderie of existence be taken from them.

“Black Snow” dates back to the time when the cinema of the People’s Republic, which had come to a virtual standstill due to the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) and was barely noticeable internationally, was awakening from its deep sleep. Director Xie Fei, who was already 48 years old at the time of completion, is still considered one of the recognized greats today, not least because of his long-term work as a professor at the renowned Beijing Film Academy.

Follow our Tribute to Chinese Mainland Cinema by clicking the image below

In 1978, Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou were among the first to study at the newly reopened Beijing Film Academy. Both graduated in 1982, and Chen’s “Yellow Earth” (1984) marked the beginning of the triumph of the so-called Fifth Generation of Chinese filmmakers. The generations are easy to distinguish in that those of the Fifth Generation were born in the 1950s, those of the Sixth in the 1960s,...

China’s total box office in 2024 saw a sharp decline of 23% year-on-year, dropping to $5.81bn (RMB42.5bn) – the lowest takings since 2015 and 34% down on the pre-Covid peak in 2019 – indicating ongoing struggles to recover from the pandemic.

Last year’s annual gross was down from $7.5bn (RMB54.9bn) in 2023, which was seen as a more encouraging figure despite still being 14.5% behind pre-pandemic 2019.

A total of 501 films were released (425 local and 76 foreign titles), comparable to 512 titles in 2023.

A trio of local films topped the chart, with each exceeding the RMB3bn ($410m) mark: Jia Ling’s Yolo ($472m/RMB3.46bn); Han Han...

Sites such as film discovery platform Letterboxd promote a new way of film-viewing, eschewing sneering gatekeepers for a more open-minded and eclectic experience

Amid all the dire news to come out of the movie business this year – a box office slump, a slowdown of production, growing unemployment in Hollywood, the closure of a dozen cinemas in the UK – good news seems to have come from the unlikeliest of places: cinephilia, pronounced “dead” by Susan Sontag in 1996, is alive and well and sporting a Mubi tote bag among the very demographic, 18- to 25-year-olds, whose gif-shortened attention spans are usually held up as spelling the death of the medium.

A recent Wim Wenders retrospective including Wings of Desire and The American Friend took £225,700 at the box office – more than double its distributor, Curzon, expected. A North American rerelease of Chen Kaige’s 1993 Palme d’Or winner Farewell My Concubine grossed $350,000. Even...

‘Harbin’ To Be Present At Christmas

Poised to be one of the biggest blockbusters of an uneven year for Korean cinema, “Harbin” is finally confirmed to release on Christmas Day (Dec. 25). The movie had its premiere in September at the Toronto International Film Festival but its distributor and financier Cj Enm chose to hold back the commercial release in its native Korea until the busy end-of-year season.

The period action film follows Korean independence activists who launch a daring attack against the Japanese occupying forces in Manchuria (modern-day China).

It is directed by Woo Min-ho and stars Hyun Bin (“Crash Landing on You”), Park Jeong-min (“Decision to Leave”) and Jeon Yeo-been (“Cobweb”), who were all in action at a press launch event Monday in Seoul.

Apple Cider

Netflix has unveiled a trailer for Australian-produced “Apple Cider Vinegar,” a limited series which it will upload in 2025. The six-part drama chronicles the...

by Jean-Marc Therouanne, Asian Movie Pulse Special Envoy

The Premises:

Pingyao Festival was founded by the great director Jia Zhangke in the mythical Chinese city of Pingyao, which is 2,800 years old. The old city, classified as a Unesco world heritage site, has preserved its ancient protective walls.

In its heart is a former disused factory, transformed into the festival palace. The originality of this palace is to have been able to preserve the old brick buildings by adapting them to the need to have places in line with the organization of an international film festival. This originality is reinforced by the attribution to certain buildings of the site, a name related to the history of Chinese cinema.

The 550-seat, large indoor cinema is called “Spring in a small town” after the cult film by Fei Mu, father of Chinese auteur cinema in the 1930s in Shanghai. The large open-air theatre...

Chen Kaige is one of the most renowned Chinese directors, whose directorial debut, “Yellow Earth”, is considered a turning point in the cinematography of his homeland. Together with Zhang Junzhao‘s “One and Eight” (1983) it marks the beginning of the Fifth Generation, a group of filmmakers who rejected the socialist-realist tradition typical of their predecessors, and were critical of the ideological purity of Cultural Revolution movies. Although causing significant unease among the censors, “Yellow Earth” was not banned in China. What’s more, it was met with critical acclaim abroad and won awards at the 38th Locarno International Film Festival, among others.

Based on the novel “Echoes in the Deep Valley” by Ke Lan, the story is set in 1939, during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Gu Qing (Wang Xueqi), a communist soldier, travels to a rural area in Northern China. He is entrusted with the task of writing down the lyrics of folk songs,...

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” took second place at the mainland China box office over the latest weekend, leading off a season of re-releases that will encompass the full “Harry Potter” franchise.

The weekend’s top-ranked film was “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death” which took RMB77.4 million ($10.9 million) in its second full weekend in Chinese theaters, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Since releasing on Sept. 30, in time to capture the full National Day holiday period, the Chen Kaige-directed film has earned $139 million. The film is the second part of a three-film set that kicked off this time last year with “The Volunteers: To the War.”

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” earned $6.6 million. Warner Bros. Pictures, the studio behind the franchise, said that the films will pay in some 3,400 theaters across 295 cities in China and that they will be available in standard...

Refresh for latest…: After its sadly disappointing start last weekend, Warner Bros and Todd Phillips’ Joker: Folie à Deux is still a sad clown, adding an estimated $22.7M from 77 international box office markets this session (a 70.5% drop). The overseas running cume now stands at $113.7M and the worldwide total is currently $165.3M through Sunday. The outlook offshore is about a $150M final.

New this session was Japan where Joker 2 was the top U.S. title with $2.4M. The Top 5 overseas to date are the UK ($11.8M), Germany ($7.9M), Italy ($7.6M), Mexico ($7.4M) and France ($7.1M). China still has to release, but we’re not expecting firecrackers. The Imax total to date is $13.5M global, of which international is $7.3M.

Onward.

The wild run of Universal/DreamWorks Animation’s The Wild Robot continues as its staggered rollout added 19 markets including France, Spain, Italy and Brazil this session. The offshore...

The Chinese film industry saw mixed results during the 2022 National Day holiday period. While the war epic “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death” was a box office success, total ticket sales were down compared to last year.

Directed by Chen Kaige, “The Volunteers 2” earned nearly $46 million over the weekend, capturing over a quarter of screen time. After one week, the film made $113 million. It could reach $199 million by the end of its run, according to projections. Despite this hit, the overall holiday box office showed weakness.

The crucial $108 million mark was reached on the third day of the seven-day holiday. Last year, it was achieved one day earlier. Total weekend ticket sales were $108 million, notably lower than the $168 million high from 2021. This drop reflects concerns about China’s economic slowdown affecting consumer spending.

Other popular films included the crime drama “Tiger Wolf Rabbit” in second place with $19 million.

Chen Kaige’s war epic “The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death” was the dominant force at the mainland China box office over the weekend. But the end of the National Day holiday week maintained the trend of relative weakness.

“The Volunteers: The Battle of Life and Death” scored RMB324 million in commemoration of China’s founding in 1949.

The film is directed by Chen Kaige and stars Zhu Yilong, Xin Baiqing and Zhang Zifeng. It represents the second instalment of his patriotic “The Volunteers” trilogy. Part one was released at the same period last year.

Ticketing agency Maoyan reports that “Volunters 2” now has a cumulative of RMB802 million after seven days and it is now estimating that the film could finish its theatrical run with RMB1.4 billion ($199 million). That would put it in the top ten films this year.

Comparison with the same season last year is clumsy as...

Pingyao Prizes

The 8th edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China awarded its top prize on Saturday to “Karst,” a drama film by China’s Yang Suiyi. The film depicts a cattle breeder who travels between villages and towns to treat sick cattle in the Southwest of the country. The jury commended it for “its great fullness simplicity and subtlety and portrait of a region and a woman.” The prize is worth RMB1 million with half given to the director for use in the development of his/her next film, and half given to the film’s Chinese distributor.

The best director award went to Tang Yongkang for “Stars and Moon, which the jury said had “savagely poetic direction.” The prize provides RMB200,000 for future film development.

The best actress award went to Jiang Zhuojun for her role in “Betwixt and Between, directed by Zhou Quan. The best...

Yang Suiyi’s Karst won best film in the Fei Mu Awards for up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival, while Swiss director Ramon Zurcher’s The Sparrow In The Chimney won best film in the Roberto Rossellini Awards for emerging international directors.

The Fei Mu jury praised Karst, about a woman reconnecting with her childhood in Guizhou Province, for “the great fullness, simplicity, subtlety and portrait of a region and a woman.” The award came with a $143,000 (RMB1m) cash prize, half of which is given to the film’s director to develop their next film, and half to the film’s Chinese distributor. Chinese actor Duan Yihong partly sponsored the award.

Also in the Fei Mu awards, Tang Yongkang won best director for Stars And The Moon, while Xu Lei’s Green Wave won the Jury Award and best actor for Xu Chaoying. Best...

“Transformers One” took top spot at the China box office over its debut weekend. It was the only major title to release on an atypical Friday that precedes next week’s National Day holiday season. That also made the latest Friday-to-Sunday session the lowest-grossing weekend of the year for mainland Chinese cinemas.

Released only a week after its North American debut, “Transformers One,” an animated spin-off from the “Transformers” franchise which has been enormously popular in the Middle Kingdom, earned $4.9 million, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Including its previews, the film finished Sunday with a running total of $8.0 million in China.

In second place, “Like a Rolling Stone,” a drama film about a 50-year-old woman who decides to take charge of her own life and embarks on a driving tour, earned RMB15.2 million ($2.3 million). That lifts it to an 15-day cumulative of $15.6 million.

“Stand by Me,” the...

Yang Suiyi’s Karst and Ramon Zurcher’s The Sparrow In The Chimney took home the top awards at the eighth edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff) on Saturday (September 28).

Chinese drama Karst won best film in the festival’s Fei Mu Awards, selected from the Hidden Dragons competitive section that comprises features from emerging Chinese directors. Yang’s feature directorial debut follows a cattle breeder who travels to a nearby town to seek treatment for her cattle as memories begin to flood back. The prize includes $142,000 (RMB1m), half of which is given to the director to...

Chinese-produced drama film “Stand by Me” held on to top spot at the mainland China box office. Dreamworks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” enjoyed a modest third-place debut.

After an almost imperceptible uplift provided a week earlier by the Mid Autumn Festival, mainland China’s theatrical business extended the slump that it has been in since the second quarter.

Weekend box office, in the country with a population of 1.3 billion, and some 90,000 cinema screens in commercial operation, amounted to just $25.1 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. That was the third lowest weekend figure this year.

The Mid-Autumn Festival box office totaled RMB389 million ($55.2 million) between Sept. 14 -17, according to the National Film Administration. That was less than half of the RMB803 million recorded at the same time of year in 2019. Chinese films accounted for an 85% market share. The slump came despite an all-time record number of screening sessions,...

The world premiere of Liu Juan’s A River Without Tears is set to open this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival, which has revealed its full line-up.

The eighth edition of the festival, founded by acclaimed director Jia Zhangke, is scheduled to run from September 24-30 in the picturesque city of Pingyao, in China’s Shanxi province.

Sections include Crouching Tigers, made up of emerging international filmmakers; Hidden Dragons, featuring the first or second films of Chinese directors; gala films by renowned directors; and Made-in-Shanxi, comprising titles by local filmmakers or films shot in in the province.

Opening film...

Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff) has announced the line-up for its eighth edition, including its Crouching Tigers and Hidden Dragons sections, and opening film A River Without Tears.

The festival also announced that it is screening a restored version of Chen Kaige’s award-winning Yellow Earth, to mark the 40th anniversary of the film, one of the first major titles of China’s Fifth Generation movement, which won a Silver Leopard at Locarno as well as best cinematography for Zhang Yimou at Nantes Three Continents Film Festival.

Opening film A River Without Tears, the second feature of female director Liu Juan, is the story of a father who insists on finding out the truth of his daughter’s suicide. Executive produced by Chinese auteur and Pingyao festival founder Jia Zhangke, the film will also screen as one of 12 titles in the festival’s Hidden Dragons section for emerging Chinese filmmakers (see full list below).

Meanwhile,...

A restored edition of Chen Kaige’s “Yellow Earth” is one of the highlights of the selection for the 8th edition of China’s boutique Pingyao International Film Festival. The film, which helped put Chinese art-house cinema on the map overseas and signaled a new era of Chinese directors, now referred to the FIfth Generation, was originally released 40 years ago.

The festival, which runs Sept. 24-30, will open with the world premiere of Liu Juan’s “A River Without Tears.”

The festival’s Hidden Dragons section of Chinese-made films includes: the Asian premiere of Ma Lanhua’s “Hello, Spring”; the Asian premiere of Tang Yongkan’s “Stars and the Moon”; and world premieres of Wang Lina’s “Village Music”; Zhu Xin’s “A Song River”; Yang Suiyi’s “Karst”; Luka Yang Yuanyuan’s “Chinatown Cha-Cha”; Shen Tao’s “Floating Clouds Obscure the Sun”; Siu Koon-ho’s “True Love, For Once...

Australian Film Television and Radio School

Australia’s finest film and television school draws applicants from far and wide with its picturesque Sydney campus and many lecturers with deep ties to the Australian screen industry. Notable alumni include The Power of the Dog Oscar winner Jane Campion and Poor Things screenwriter Tony McNamara and a long list of accomplished craftspeople like Margaret Sixel (editing on Mad Max: Fury Road), David White (sound editing for Mad Max: Fury Road) and Andrew Lesnie (cinematography for The Lord of the Rings). In July, Aftrs also tapped Peter Noble, a local industry veteran of Indigenous background, to serve as director of the school’s First Nations and Outreach program, which develops training pathways for emerging and experienced industry practitioners from Australia’s culturally and racially marginalized groups.

Beijing Film Academy

The de facto USC of the world’s second-largest movie market, the Bfa was...

Chen Kaige’s Farewell My Concubine is an epic melodrama about the Peking Opera set against the backdrop of 50 years of 20th-century Chinese history. As structured by screenwriters Lu Wei and Lilian Lee, adapting the latter’s 1985 novel, the film unfolds through a series of chapters that stitch together a sense of how physical discipline, unrequited love, and art comingled with broader political and revolutionary movements in China from 1924 to 1977. The film is a melancholic portrait of a nation and its people at a crossroads, relating as much to the conceptions of so-called Fifth Generation Chinese filmmakers in the present as to the country’s past.

Farewell My Concubine features a dizzying array of characters, but the story’s focus is essentially on the inevitably tragic love triangle between Cheng Dieyi (Leslie Chung), Duan Xiaolou (Zhang Fengyi), and Juxian (Gong Li). By 1937, both Cheng and Duan are Peking opera stars...

Crushing almost sixty years of twentieth-century turmoil into less run time than the equally decade-skippy first season of HBO's House of the Dragon, Chen Kaige's Farewell My Concubine joins the Criterion Collection this week in a new 4K transfer. The film was the first Chinese feature to win the Palme D'Or at Cannes, but was later banned, then censored, then banned again in its home country. It remains a bravura act of filmmaking, which fuses two men's personal longings to the end of China's Imperial era and the devastation of the Cultural Revolution. The first hour is exquisite, if agonizing. Young Douzi -- already so androgynous as to be easily mistaken for girlish, with bright red ribbons in his hair -- is given by his...

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

It has been commonplace in academic circles to divide up and label Chinese filmmakers into generations that reflect socio-political currents as much as cinematic style.

Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou, who were educated at the end of the Cultural Revolution, are considered the leading lights of the “fifth generation.” The rebellious cluster that followed them, Zhang Yuan, Wang Xioashuai, Jia Zhangke and Lou Ye are among those labelled as “sixth generation.”

But with substantial bodies of work under their belts and international reputations already established, the sixth generation are no longer quite so new, nor so angry.

The four Chinese films selected for the main competition – all world premieres – at this year’s Shanghai International Film Festival represent a showcase of directors who are also known-quantities, but who are worthy of higher profiles. (The festival’s Asian Talent selection has a further selection of six more directors seeking to break through.

The Locarno Film Festival is set to honour filmmaker Jane Campion with the Pardo d’Onore Manor, its award for outstanding achievement in cinema.

The 77th edition of the festival will feature screenings of two of her titles selected by the director herself: An Angel At My Table (1990) and The Piano (1993), the latter presented in a new 4K restoration that will make its debut on the Piazza Grande.

The Pardo d’Onore Manor will be given to Campion on the evening of The Piano screening on August 16, and she will take part in a panel conversation the following day.

Campion...

When it comes to China, the discourse surrounding queer identities – like many other issues – can be placed in a gray area, on the fragile border with taboo. However, cinema is perhaps the most powerful visual medium for better understanding certain dynamics that are too often subject to useless labels and dichotomous discussions. For this reason, I have selected 12 works – including narrative feature films and documentaries – that explore and reflect on intimate queer representation. The list is presented in chronological order and includes titles from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

1. Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan (1972) Chor Yuan

“Intimate Confessions of a Chinese Courtesan” is a 1972 Hong Kong wuxia film directed by Chor Yuen, known for its blend of elements from martial arts and erotica. The protagonist, Ai Nu (Lily Ho), is sold to a brothel at the young age of 18. She quickly becomes the favorite of the brothel's owner,...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

The Beekeeper (David Ayer)

It’s the time of year for smooth-brained relaxation. Moviegoers can recover from the holidays with the comfort of knowing Gerard Butler, Liam Neeson, or Jason Statham will be here to satisfy their mid-budget, action-programmer needs. Is it really the new year if one of those cherished Kings of January doesn’t appear on the release slate? There’s no Gerry or Liam, but the ever-reliable Statham dons a trucker hat and blue jeans to grit his way through David Ayer’s The Beekeeper, an overall valiant, occasionally fun attempt to take us out of Q1 doldrums. – Conor O. (full review)

Where to Stream: VOD

Brawl in Cell Block 99 (S. Craig Zahler)

S. Craig Zahler is the...

February––particularly its third week––is all about romance. Accordingly the Criterion Channel got creative with their monthly programming and, in a few weeks, will debut Interdimensional Romance, a series of films wherein “passion conquers time and space, age and memory, and even death and the afterlife.” For every title you might’ve guessed there’s a wilder companion: Alan Rudolph’s Made In Heaven, Soderbergh’s remake, and Resnais’ Love Unto Death. Mostly I’m excited to revisit Francis Ford Coppola’s Youth Without Youth, a likely essential viewing before Megalopolis.

February also marks Black History Month, and Criterion’s series will include work by Shirley Clarke (also subject of a standalone series), Garrett Bradley, Cheryl Dunye, and Julie Dash, while movies by Sirk, Minnelli, King Vidor, and Lang play in “Gothic Noir.” Greta Gerwig gets an “Adventures in Moviegoing” and can be seen in Mary Bronstein’s Yeast,...

Jacob Wong is the Director of Hkiff Industry of the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs). He is also the Berlin Film Festival's Delegate for Chinese-language cinemas.

On the occasion of his presence in Qcinema, we speak with him about Hkiff and its various streams, its financial and audience details, the changes the festival and cinema have undergone, his work with Berlin and Locarno, streaming services and the future of cinema, and the filmmakers he considers that stand out.

How would you describe the situation of the Hong Kong Film Festival?

The festival now has two streams officially, one stream being programming, the other stream being industry, practically the screening and all the non-screening activities. For many years, the film festival has been running some industry initiatives, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf), which is entering its 22nd edition and then there are some little things popping up once in a while.

Rita Hollingsworth, a longtime publicist for entertainment clients and non-profit organizations, died Nov. 16 in Los Angeles. She was 61.

Her husband Jeff Hollingsworth said she had suffered a intracerebral brain hemorrhage.

When working at the Lee Solters Company, she represented clients including Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson, Liza Minnelli and Neil Diamond, as well as the Carousel of Hope and Race to Erase Ms with Barbara and Nancy Davis.

After founding publicity firm Rmh Media, she worked with directors including Robert Altman, Mike Figgis, Alan Rudolph, Michael Radford, Tim Hutton and Chen Kaige, bringing their films to Cannes, Toronto, Sundance and other festivals.

Rmh also represented clients including bestselling author Reyna Grande, the Angelus Student Film Festival, the Anthony & Jeannie Pritzker Family Foundation, Foster Care Counts, artworxLA and St. Vincent Meals on Wheels, where she was a key strategist for the large senior nutrition program.

Rmh Media is working with filmmaker Matthew Solomon...

Rita Hollingsworth, the first-rate publicist and communications strategist who worked with the likes of Barbra Streisand, Robert Altman, Chen Kaige, the Carousel of Hope and St. Vincent Meals on Wheels over the years, has died. She was 61.

Hollingsworth died Nov. 16 of an intracerebral brain hemorrhage at Keck Hospital of USC, her husband of 37 years, Jeff Hollingsworth, told The Hollywood Reporter. The couple launched Rmh Media in 1996.

Hollingsworth cut her teeth with The Lee Solters Co., where clients included Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Michael Jackson, Neil Diamond, Barbara Davis’ Carousel of Hope and the Race to Erase Ms.

At Rmh Media, she helped bring major festival and market attention to such films as Alan Rudolph’s Afterglow (1997), Altman’s Cookie’s Fortune (1999), Michael Radford’s Dancing at the Blue Iguana (2000) and Chen’s Caught in the Web (2012) and Legend of the Demon Cat (2017).

Rmh also represented New York Times best-selling author Reyna Grande.

Exclusive: Matthew Morrison (Glee) and Kara Wang (Top Gun: Maverick) have been set to star in From Embers, a dramatic thriller from writer-director Kate Bohan and Studio 6688.

Co-starring in the indie, which wrapped production under an interim agreement in October, are Kathryn Morris (Cold Case), Christopher Shyer (The Night Agent), Kayla Bohan (Harper), Alexander J. Lee, London Kim (Barry), and Omi Vaidya (3 Idiots).

The film follows the life of single mother Lily (Wang) as she grapples with the sudden loss of her husband Ron (Kim) while caring for their nine-year-old autistic son, Kevin (Lee), and forming a bond with their new alcoholic neighbor, Marty Baker (Morrison), a painter with a passion for music who works hard to create a future for his 13-year-old daughter, Chloe (Bohan).

Pic was developed and produced by Studio 6688 in partnership with Kayla’s Movies, LLC. Kate Bohan produced, with Kathleen I-Ying Lee co-producing,...

Via Vision Entertainment is excited to announce its newest media distribution expansion with the launch of Imprint Asia.

Imprint Asia will deliver ongoing releases of contemporary & classic Asian cinema across film festival, multi digital platforms, and physical media including 4K & Blu-ray for Australia and New Zealand.

Already working with some of the biggest Asian licencing partners in the market, the new brand will be launching with a host of key properties including Rui Cui's 2023 box office megahit ‘Lost In The Stars', Larry Yang's 2023 action comedy ‘Ride On' starring Jackie Chan and the 2023 Sci-Fi epic ‘The Wandering Earth II‘ starring Andy Lau.

In addition to the new release slate there will be ongoing classic releases with new restorations and extras produced for physical media collectors including Chen Kaige's ‘The Emperor and The Assassin' (1998) & ‘Farewell My Concubine' (1992), Tsui Hark's ‘The Legend of Zu' (2001), Kei Kumai...

Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam, known for his works like ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, and Italian director Luca Guadagnino, who is known for ‘A Bigger Splash’, ‘Call Me By Your Name’, etc will be honoured with the ‘Excellence in Cinema’ award, here, at the Mami Mumbai Film Festival. Both the directors will attend the festival to receive this prestigious accolade, and will conduct masterclasses at the festival. It will be held at the Opening Night ceremony on October 27.

The award honours individuals who have made outstanding, long-lasting contributions to the world of film and cinema. Previous recipients include Darren Aronofsky, Sharmila Tagore, Fernando Meirelles, and Chen Kaige.

The festival will also screen Mani Ratnam’s most recent historical dramas — ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part one and two’, and Guadagnino’s Golden Globe-nominated film ‘I Am Love’.

With a career spanning four decades, Mani Ratnam is one of the most celebrated directors from South Asia. Over the decades,...

Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam, known for his works like ‘Roja’, ‘Bombay’, and Italian director Luca Guadagnino, who is known for ‘A Bigger Splash’, ‘Call Me By Your Name’, etc will be honoured with the ‘Excellence in Cinema’ award, here, at the Mami Mumbai Film Festival. Both the directors will attend the festival to receive this prestigious accolade, and will conduct masterclasses at the festival. It will be held at the Opening Night ceremony on October 27.

The award honours individuals who have made outstanding, long-lasting contributions to the world of film and cinema. Previous recipients include Darren Aronofsky, Sharmila Tagore, Fernando Meirelles, and Chen Kaige.

The festival will also screen Mani Ratnam’s most recent historical dramas — ‘Ponniyin Selvan: Part one and two’, and Guadagnino’s Golden Globe-nominated film ‘I Am Love’.

With a career spanning four decades, Mani Ratnam is one of the most celebrated directors from South Asia. Over the decades,...

Mumbai Film Fest To Honor Luca Guadagnino & Mani Ratnam

The Mumbai Film Festival will honor Luca Guadagnino and Indian filmmaker Mani Ratnam at the upcoming fest, which runs from October 27 to November 5. The former will win the Excellence in Cinema Award (International) while the latter is handed the South Asian version of the same award. Both directors will attend the festival to receive their gongs and conduct masterclasses. The festival will also screen Ratnam’s recent Tamil-language historical dramas, Ponniyin Selvan: Part One & Two, and Luca Guadagnino’s Golden Globe-nominated I Am Love. Previous receipients of Mumbai Film Festival’s Excellence in Cinema Awards include Darren Aronofsky, Sharmila Tagore, Fernando Meirelles, Jia Zhangke and Chen Kaige.

BBC Buys Denmark’s ‘Prisoner’ Starring ‘The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl

The BBC has acquired Danish drama Prisoner starring The Killing’s Sofie Gråbøl. The series for national broadcaster Dr revolves around the lives...

Guadagnino’s 2009 drama ‘I Am Love’ to screen at the festival.

Indian director Mani Ratnam and Italian filmmaker Luca Guadagnino are to receive honorary awards at the upcoming Jio Mami Mumbai Film Festival.

Ratnam will receive the festival’s Excellence in Cinema Award (South Asia) while Guadagnino will accept the Excellence in Cinema Award (International) during its opening night ceremony on October 27. Both will take part in discussions about their careers to date during the Jio Mami Masters sessions.

The festival will also screen Ratnam’s recent box office hits Ponniyin Selvan: Part One and Ponniyin Selvan: Part Two, and...

“Only the River Flows,” a pitch-black crime noir from auteur Wei Shujun, comfortably topped the mainland China box office on a quietish weekend.

The film, ostensibly a murder mystery, but one concerned more with atmosphere than linear plotting, earned $12.6 million (RMB90.8 million) in its opening three days, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway, or close to a third of the market.

The film had its premiere in Cannes where Variety gave it a rave review, calling it an “inventive riff on Asian-noir” and making comparisons with films by Park Chan-wook and Diao Yinan.

“Only the River Flows” has since played at a succession of festivals ever since, including New Zealand, BFI London, Vancouver, Adelaide and last week’s Pingyao event in China.

Falling to second place at the box office after three weeks on top was Zhang Yimou’s “Under the Light,” which earned $6.9 million for a four-weekend cumulative of $176 million.

A dearth of new release films allowed Zhang Yimou’s “Under the Light” to retain a comfortable lead at the China box office over the weekend, in its third week of release.

The contemporary crime drama film earned $13.5 million (RMB97.2 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Since releasing on Sept. 28, it has accumulated gross revenues of $163 million (RMB1.17 billion).

Zhang will be feted with a lifetime achievement award in Japan next week, where the Tokyo International Film Festival will play his February record breaker “Full River Red,” but not “Under the Light.”

“The Volunteers: To the War,” a 1950s-set propaganda film directed by Chen Kaige, earned $9.6 million (RMB69.2 million) and rose from third to second place. It now has a cumulative of $93.2 million. Chinese comedy franchise film “The Ex-Files 4: Marriage Plan” took $8.8 million in its third week of release, advancing its cumulative to $123 million.

The Zhang Yimou-directed contemporary drama film “Under the Light” retained its top spot at the mainland China box office for a second weekend, but with numbers that dropped steeply, as macro-economic weakening led to a Golden Week of across the board disappointment.

Financial media Monday reported that consumers travelled less and spent less on leisure than had been forecast, likely reflecting general economic belt tightening, high unemployment and property sector worries.

Before the holidays, cinema ticketing firm Maoyan had forecast that the first three days would throw up box office of RMB1.5 billion (208 million) and that “Under the Light” alone would reach RMB2 billion ($278 million) by the end of the eight-day holiday season (Sept. 29-Oct. 6). Those estimates proved to be highly over-optimistic.

The company now reports that the eight-day total box office amounted to Rmb 2.734 billion from ticket sales of 65.1 million.

The positive spin is that box office was...

A clutch of Chinese movies released for the end of September holiday season dominated the global box office over the latest weekend. Mainland Chinese-produced films took first, third and fifth places across the planet, according to U.S.-based data service Comscore.

Comscore shows “Under the Light,” which released only in mainland China, grossing an estimated $54 million between Friday and Sunday. That put it ahead of Paramount’s “Paw Patrol: The Mighty Movie,” which earned an estimated $23.0 million in the North America (aka ‘domestic’) market and a further $23.1 million in the rest of the world, for a weekend total of $46.1 million.

In third place globally was another Chinese film “The Ex-Files 4: The Marriage Plan,” which released in China and five other territories for a weekend total of $41.4 million. “The Creator” earned $32.3 million across the planet, comprising an $18.3 million international score and $14 million from North America. Fifth, planetwide, was Chinese...

It’s turning into the year of Zhang Yimou at China’s box office. The venerable 73-year-old director’s 26th feature, crime drama Under the Light, topped ticket sales during China’s Mid-Autumn Festival holiday over the past four days, opening to $62.6 million, according to data from Artisan Gateway. This comes after Zhang’s previous feature, the historical mystery thriller Full River Red (2023), dominated China’s previous big holiday release window, the Lunar New Year in January, with a whopping $673 million tally — the country’s biggest haul this year and sixth-biggest of all time. Local ticketing app Maoyan currently forecasts Under the Light to earn between $250 million and $300 million before its run is complete, which would put Zhang close to the $1 billion mark for total ticket sales in 2023.

The Mid-Autumn Festival weekend wasn’t without some spirited competition, however. Huayi Brothers Media’s comedy franchise sequel The Ex-Files 4: Marriage Plan...