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Japanese original was previously remade as ‘Hachi: A Dog’s Tale’, starring Richard Gere.

China’s iQiyi has closed fresh sales of Hachiko, a Chinese remake of Japanese feature Hachiko Monogatari, about a loyal dog who waited for his owner in the same spot even after his death.

The Chinese adaptation has been acquired for Latin America (Star Films) and Cis and Baltics (Kinologistika) with further deals pending.

Directed by Xu Ang and executive produced by Yeh Jufeng, film stars Da Huang, Feng Xiao-gang and Joan Chen.

Based on a true story, the 1987 Japanese feature was remade in the US as Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,...

Hachiko is one of the most famous canines of the 20th century. He was given a generous entrance in Wikipedia and a number of articles and books dedicated to his loyalty to his best friend Hidesaburo Ueno, a professor at the Tokyo Imperial University. The first movie about “the most loyal dog in the history” was shot in Hachiko's homeland Japan in 1925 by Kiyoshi Masomoto, followed by three other films in the 1930s, but the most famous version came up in 1987 penned by Kaneto Shindo, and directed by Seijiro Koyama. Its success led to Lasse Hallström's Hollywood adaptation “Hachi: A Dog Tale” (2009) starring Richard Gere which on the one side garnered mixed reviews, but on the other a considerable sympathy by the audience. The tale of the white Akita dog who came to prominence by patiently waiting nine years for Hidesaburo at the train station at exact same time...

Italy’s Far East Film Festival unveiled a power-packed lineup Wednesday for its 25th anniversary edition. The largest cinema event in Europe specializing in popular moviemaking from Asia, Feff will open April 21 with an inspired double bill, He Shuming’s hit Korea-Singapore co-production Ajoomma followed by first-time Taiwanese director Kai Ko’s black comedy Bad Education. And on April 29, the curtain will come down on the festival with the Italy premiere of legendary Chinese director Zhang Yimou’s latest blockbuster, Full River Red. Between those dates, the festival will screen 78 Asian films from 14 countries, including nine world premieres.

The organizers of Feff, founded in 1999 in the picturesque northern Italian city of Udine by festival pioneers Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche, say the 2023 selection “aims to showcase the immense complexity of Asia more than ever before.” The lineup indeed presents a compelling snapshot of a wildly diverse content’s commercial cinema in flux.

“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” opened in fourth place at the mainland China box office with a muted $5 million haul. Top honors belonged to Japanese animation film “Suzume” for the second weekend.

“Suzume” incurred a 55% week-on-week drop, falling from $49.6 million in its opening weekend, to $22.1 million in is second, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. After ten days in Chinese theaters, “Suzume” now has a cumulative total of $80.6 million.

Nevertheless, its lead at the top of the box office chart was unassailable. The weekend’s best-placed new release title was “Hachiko,” a Chinese retelling of the Japanese tale of a dog which faithfully waited at a station for its master years after his death. (The story was previously given a U.S. version with Richard Gere in the lead human role.) It earned $8.9 million (RMB61.2 million) in its opening weekend.

Produced by streaming service iQiyi, the Chinese film stars Feng Xiaogang,...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month and amongst the highlights is a tribute to Tilda Swinton, featuring I Am Love and a trio of early films: Cycling Frame, The Box, and Egomania: Island Without Hope. There’s also a handful of notable festival favorites and new releases from the past year or so, including Maureen Fazendeiro and Miguel Gomes’ The Tsugua Diaries, Charlotte Gainsbourg’s Jane by Charlotte, Ted Fendt’s Outside Noise, Émilie Aussel’s Our Eternal Summer, and Kofi Ofosu-Yeboah’s Public Toilet Africa.

Also including films by Takashi Miike, Fatih Akin, Zhang Yimou, Albert Maysles, Andrew Dominik, Rick Alverson, and more check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

August 1 – Ichi the Killer, directed by Takashi Miike | Takashi Miike: A Double Bill

August 2 – Nest, directed by Hlynur Palmason | Brief Encounters

August 3 – Our Eternal Summer, directed by Émilie Aussel | Festival Focus:...

On Sept. 16, filmmaker Jia Zhangke unveiled his epic drama Ash Is Purest White in Beijing, days ahead of its wide release in China. Noticeably missing from the movie was a scene featuring director and sometime actor Feng Xiaogang. Just four months earlier, Feng and frequent collaborator Fan Bingbing had been front and center when the film made its world premiere in Cannes, with Feng gracing the poster and Fan, who is not in the drama, walking the red carpet as something of an ambassador given her status as China's biggest female star.

Now, Fan and Feng are missing in ...

$37.56m (£28m) haul is the third-biggest UK opening of all time.

Source: Disney

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Dollar amounts are based on today’s conversions.

Disney

Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a huge four-day total of $37.56m (£28m).

Disney made The Last Jedi the UK’s widest ever release by opening it in 708 sites, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Bfg’s 680 sites.

The haul makes the film the third-biggest opening of all time behind The Force Awakens’ $50.5m (£33.9m) and Spectre’s $61.5m (£41.3m), though the latter had a mammoth seven-day opening.

The film’s Fri-Sun total was $27.23m (£20.3m), narrowly besting fellow 2017 release Beauty And The Beast’s $26.31m (£19.7m), though that film opened on 567 screens.

Overall, the film is third on the UK Fri-Sun list, behind The Force Awakens ($32.49m / £24.33m), Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($31.72m / £23.75m).

The...

$37.56m (£28m) haul is the third-biggest UK opening of all time.

Source: Disney

Star Wars: The Last Jedi

Dollar amounts are based on today’s conversions.

Disney

Star Wars: The Last Jedi landed with a huge four-day total of $37.56m (£28m).

Disney made The Last Jedi the UK’s widest ever release by opening it in 708 sites, eclipsing Star Wars: The Force Awakens and The Bfg’s 680 sites.

The haul makes the film the third-biggest opening of all time behind The Force Awakens’ $50.5m (£33.9m) and Spectre’s $61.5m (£41.3m), though the latter had a mammoth seven-day opening.

The film’s Fri-Sun total was $27.23m (£20.3m), narrowly besting fellow 2017 release Beauty And The Beast’s $26.31m (£19.7m), though that film opened on 567 screens.

Overall, the film is third on the UK Fri-Sun list, behind The Force Awakens ($32.49m / £24.33m), Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 ($31.72m / £23.75m).

The Last Jedi posted an opening day total of...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’ve taken it upon ourselves to highlight the titles that have recently hit platforms. Every week, one will be able to see the cream of the crop (or perhaps some simply interesting picks) of streaming titles (new and old) across platforms such as Netflix, iTunes, Amazon, and more (note: U.S. only). Check out our rundown for this week’s selections below.

The Big Sick (Michael Showalter)

From start to finish, The Big Sick, directed by Michael Showalter, works as a lovingly-rendered, cinematic answer to the dinner party question: “So how did you two meet?” Based on comedian Kumail Nanjiani‘s real life (he co-wrote the screenplay with his wife Emily V. Gordon), we meet Kumail (Nanjiani) as he finishes a stand-up set in Chicago. He becomes fast friends with a...

Festival competition jury also features Park Chan-wook, Fan Bingbing, Agnès Jaoui, Gabriel Yared.

The 2017 Cannes Film Festival (May 17-28) has unveiled the jury for its main competition.

American actor and singer Will Smith will be joined by German director Maren Ade, whose Toni Erdmann played in Cannes competition last year.

The jury also features:

South Korean director Park Chan-wook, who has had three films play in competition at Cannes: The Handmaiden, Oldboy, and Thirst.

Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, who has been nominated for the Palme d’Or five times: Youth, The Great Beauty, This Must Be The Place, Family Friend and The Consequences Of Love.

American actress Jessica Chastain, a two-time Oscar nominee who also starred in Terrence Malick’s Palme d’Or-winning The Tree Of Life.

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing, whose credits include Xiaogang Feng’s I Am Not Madame Bovary.

French director, writer and actress Agnès Jaoui, whose 2004 comedy-drama Look At Me played in competition...

A couple of months ago, we noted how it’s been a seriously underwhelming year for Chinese-language cinema – an assessment that stands despite the recent release of Berlinale-winner Crosscurrent. Well, turns out the Middle Kingdom might have a year-end surprise or two up its sleeve after all. Having scored a Fipresci prize at Toronto and the prestigious Golden Seashell at San Sebastián, I Am Not Madame Bovary is a healthy return to form for veteran director Xiaogang Feng that, while not exactly hitting the ball out of the park, delivers a genuinely funny, slyly observant diagnosis of contemporary China complete with lush, absurdist flair.

The many cultural references that give a societal satire like this its texture but inevitably get lost in translation begin with the title. Instead of Flaubert’s world-known creation, it’s actually Pan Jinlian that our heroine Li Xuelian (played by Bingbing Fan) denies of being.

The 64th San Sebastian Film Festival, which ran from September 16 to 24, closed out its celebrations by announcing its winners on Saturday night. The top prize, known as the Golden Shell, was awarded to Feng Xiaogang’s drama “I Am Not Madame Bovary.” Its lead, Fan Bingbing, also took home the Best Actress award that night.

“I have a lot of experience and a lot of habits. These habits can cage you. When I started this film, I tried to set these habits aside and try to work as if it were my directorial debut and do something courageous. I knew it was very risky,” Feng said, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I didn’t know if it was the right thing to do, but today the San Sebastian Film festival gave me the answer with this prize for the best film.”

Read More: Critics Pick the Best Films From the Toronto...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our special edition of Tiff-only buys, just as the annual fall festival is wrapping up in the Far North.

– IFC Films has announced that the company has acquired U.S. rights to Philippe Falardeau’s “The Bleeder.” The film, directed by Falardeau and written by Jeff Feurzeig and Jerry Stahl, stars Liev Schreiber, Elisabeth Moss and Naomi Watts. The feature had its world premiere at the 2016 Venice Film Festival followed by its North American premiere in Toronto this week.

It is “is the true story of Chuck Wepner, the man who inspired the billion-dollar film series Rocky—a liquor salesman from New Jersey who went 15 rounds with the greatest boxer of all time, Muhammad Ali. In his ten years in the ring, Wepner endured two knockouts, eight broken noses, and 313 stitches. But his toughest fights were outside...

Breaking: Well Go USA Entertainment will release the Fan Bingbing-starring I Am Not Madame Bovary after it releases first in China on Sept. 3oth. The company committed to handling distribution in North America after Thursday evening's world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The drama, from filmmaker Xiaogang Feng's (Aftershock) also stars Guo Tao (The Dead End) and Da Peng (Jian Bing Man), is based on Liu Zhenyun’s 2012 novel I Did Not Kill My Husband…...

Well Go USA Entertainment has landed the North American distribution rights to Xiaogang Feng’s “I Am Not Madame Bovary,” a dramedy lead by international superstar and Fan Bingbing. Well Go won the film following its world premiere on Thursday at the Toronto International Film Festival. The movie hits U.S. theaters Oct. 7. More to come. Read the full release: Following Thursday evening’s world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, Well Go USA Entertainment has acquired the North American distribution rights to acclaimed filmmaker Xiaogang Feng’s (Aftershock, Back to 1942, If You Are the One) I Am Not Madame Bovary.

Lee Sang-il, Bartosz M. Kowalski and Emiliano Torres also help complete competitive line-up.Scroll down for full list of titles

San Sebastian film festival (Sept 16-24) has added five titles to its competitive official selection, completing the line-up of films in line for the coveted Golden Shell.

The titles include The Oath (Eiðurinn) by Icelandic filmmaker Baltasar Kormákur, who competed at San Sebastian with The Sea in 2001.

In his latest feature, the director - who made last year’s Venice opener Everest - tells the story of a heart surgeon whose family begins to unravel when his daughter gets mixed up with a drug-dealing boyfriend.

Also in the running for the Golden Shell will be China’s Feng Xiaogang with contemporary fable I Am Not Madame Bovary (Wo Bu Shi Pan Jinlian), starring Fan Bingbing.

Feng’s The Banquet competed at Venice in 2006 while Aftershock was China’s submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar in 2011.

Other...

From the late 80’s until the early 00’s, Chinese cinema has been a mainstay at A-list film festivals worldwide, picking up trophies left and right. Things changed, however, as the Mandarin film market experienced an exponential growth in the last decade, inspiring many award-winning “underground” filmmakers to go “mainstream.” While making movies for a mass audience is in itself a perfectly valid pursuit, the drastic decline in quality of these auteurs’ commercially-oriented work has been more than disheartening. Golden Bear (Red Sorghum) and two-time Golden Lion (The Story of Qiu Ju; Not One Less) winner Yimou Zhang, for example, has given us splashy CG-extravaganzas like House of Flying Daggers or Curse of the Golden Flower that are a far cry from his earlier work in terms of subtlety and insightfulness. Palme d’Or winner Kaige Chen (Farewell My Concubine) crashed and burned with the much-maligned Sacrifice; and Cannes Granx Prix...

China's box-office gross in February was $650 million, which is (a) a lot; and (b) significant because it beat the U.S.'s gross for the first time ever, by $10 million. And the No. 1 film in China? A little historical epic called Dragon Blade that's grossed over $100 million after only two weeks of release. But Dragon Blade isn't just any historical epic: It stars Jackie Chan, Adrien Brody and John Cusack as Roman soldiers in China. Here's a quick primer to the film. 1. It's a Passion Project for BrodyBrody worked with Chinese filmmaker Xiaogang Feng in 2012 on the drama Back to...

Exclusive: With seemingly all of Hollywood eager to get a piece of the increasingly lucrative Chinese pie to help fuel their global ambitions, Adrien Brody has succeeded in doing just that by embracing the local biz. The Oscar-winning actor-turned-producer is currently riding high at the Chinese box office, thanks to a starring role opposite Jackie Chan and John Cusack in the epic Dragon Blade. The film, which opened at No. 1 during the Chinese New Year celebrations, is close to grossing more than $100 million after only two weeks of release.

Dragon Blade‘s success is even more noteworthy for coming the same month box revenues in China exceeded those in the U.S. for the first time ever. In February, the U.S. box office grossed $640 million compared to China’s $650 million — albeit the latter figure was boosted by a host of Chinese New Year releases.

The success is no accident for Brody,...

Personal Tailor, the latest movie by one of China's most popular directors, Feng Xiaogang, has shaken off negative online buzz and the skepticism of market investors to rack up one of the best openings ever in the country. In its opening day on Dec. 19, the movie took around $13.20 million (80 million yuan), with 47,200 screenings and 2.312 million admissions on the first day. Its cume over the first two days was $15 million (152 million yuan), with the movie screening on 57 percent of all screens in China. This makes it the fastest a 2D

read more...

Huayi Brothers exec hired as senior executive for new China offices.

Los Angeles-based financing, sales and distribution company Im Global is to open offices in Beijing at the end of this month.

The senior executive in the office will be local executive Leslie Chen, who was most recently head of international sales at Huayi Brothers Media Corporation.

At Huayi, Chen helped launch sales on major Asian titles such as Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame and Aftershock by Feng Xiao Gang as well as If You are the One II by Feng Xiao Gang and both Tai Chi 0 and Tai Chi Hero from Stephen Fung.

The indie financier and sales company will base day-to-day management and operations of its Apsara pan-Asian distribution label out of Beijing after Chen’s arrival.

Chen will also manage much of the company’s international sales activity in the region as well as overseeing the release of [link...

After Gary Oldman recently dropped out of the production, Motor City seems has finally found its villain in Adrien Brody.

Brody would be playing the bad guy against Gerard Butler in the story which follows a felon who goes out for revenge on the people who framed him after he’s released.

The thriller scripted by Chad St. John is to be helmed by Albert Hughes; the picture stars production in Atlanta on September 17th and will be released by Warner Bros. in April of 2013.

According to Variety it is not known whether Mickey Rourke is attached to Motor City or not; the movie previously saw Jake Gyllenhaal, Dominic Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Clive Owen, Amber Heard, but none of them are currently associated with the project.

Brody recently completed work on political drama about the Chinese famine of 1942 directed by Xiaogang Feng (which co-stars Tim Robbins) as well as Vince Offer...

Variance Films has released the first trailer and the second poster for the Chinese action drama Let the Bullets Fly, which hits theaters March 2. Click on the video player below for your first look at director Wen Jiang's new movie starring Chow Yun-Fat, You Ge, and Carina Lau. You can also take a look at the second poster below the trailer.

Click to watch Let the Bullets Fly Trailer!

In the lawless land that is rural China in the 1920s, legendary bandit "Pocky" Zhang (Wen Jiang) and his gang stage a train robbery. They are quite unhappy to discover that instead of silver, the only thing left on the train is the con man, Tang (You Ge). Desperate, Tang explains that he's on his way to Goose Town, where he's bought himself a governorship. If allowed to live, he will help Zhang assume the governorship in his place... where...

Actors Adrien Brody and Tim Robbins have joined director Xiaogang Feng’s new project about the Chinese famine of 1942, which resulted in the death of an estimated 1 million people. Though the movie does not yet have a title, Feng and his production partner, Huayi Brothers, say it will be based on the Liu Zhenyun novel Remembering 1942. The famine, unfortunately one of many in China’s history, took place during the second Sino-Japanese War from 1942 to 1943. Feng is best known for his 2010 pic Aftershock, depicting the story of a family separated by a devastating earthquake in 1976 China. Aftershock earned him an Achievement in Directing nomination and a Best Film award at the 2010 Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Hit the jump for more on the project. Variety reports that Feng had announced the project as early as April and planned to begin production this fall in order to release the pic in 2012. The...

The fun of Let The Bullets Fly comes directly out of the verbal and situational jump rope that everyone involved commits to. It’s formed with Shakespearean-style characters who both seem larger than life and able to lie. After taking down a horse-drawn train coach, the infamous bandit Pocky Zhang (played coolly by writer/director Wen Jiang) finds out that he’s killed the Governor-to-be of a sleepy little hamlet called Goose Town and decides, what the hell, he’ll ride into town claiming to be the man he’s killed. Fortunately, a toady named Tang (Xiaogang Feng) and the poor dead man’s unaffected widow (Carina Lau) want to tag along to avoid being murdered on the side of the road. When they ride into town, they’ll face off against the man who controls the city with a wealthy fist. Master Huang (played with pure genius by Chow Yun-Fat) gives them the proverbial finger by...

Rank the week of September 13th’s Blu-ray and DVD new releases against the best films of all-time: New Releases Thor

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #227

Win Percentage: 58%

Times Ranked: 18033

Top-20 Rankings: 90

Directed By: Kenneth Branagh

Starring: Chris Hemsworth • Natalie Portman • Anthony Hopkins • Jeremy Renner • Kat Dennings

Genres: Action • Adventure • Based-on-Comics • Comic-Book Superhero Film • Fantasy • Fantasy Adventure

Rank This Movie

Conan O’Brien Can’T Stop

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2011)

Flickchart Ranking: #5260

Win Percentage: 54%

Times Ranked: 719

Top-20 Rankings: 5

Directed By: Rodman Flender

Starring: Conan O’Brien

Genres: Comedy • Documentary

Rank This Movie

Incendies

(Blu-ray & DVD | Nr | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #4296

Win Percentage: 51%

Times Ranked: 947

Top-20 Rankings: 8

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve

Starring: Lubna Azabal • Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin • Maxim Gaudette • Rémy Girard • Abdelghafour Elaaziz

Genres: Drama • Foreign Language Film

Rank This Movie

The Tempest

(Blu-ray & DVD | PG13 | 2010)

Flickchart Ranking: #7784

Win Percentage: 37%

Times Ranked: 385

Top-20 Rankings: 2

Directed By: Julie Taymor

Starring: Helen Mirren • Djimon Hounsou • Alfred Molina...

Low budget martial arts comedy Gallants was the surprise Best Picture winner at tonight's 30th Hong Kong Film Awards, also garnering Best Supporting gongs for Teddy Robin and Susan Shaw, as well as Best Score. In a rare display of good taste, the awards jury showered love upon Derek Kwok and Clement Cheng's love letter to classic kung-fu, as well as handing the Best Screenplay award to Pang Ho Cheung and Heiward Mak for Love In A Puff and favouring Tetsuya Nakashima's Confessions over Feng Xiao Gang's earthquake weepie Aftershock as Best Asian Movie of the year. The biggest winner of the evening, however, was Tsui Hark's superb medieval adventure Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame, with 6 awards, including Best Director and...

The True Legend Movie Trailer has premiered. Yuen Woo-ping‘s True Legend (2010) stars Vincent Zhao, Man Cheuk Chiu, Michelle Yeoh, Xiaogang Feng, and David Carradine. True Legend‘s plot synopsis: “Yuen Woo Ping (The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolution, Kill Bill Vol. 1, Kill Bill Vol. 2, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Hero) brings you True Legend, a heart pounding epic about the timeless battle between good and evil. Su Can’s (Vincent Zhao) respectable life is obliterated when his vengeful brother, Yuan (Andy On), returns from war armed with the deadly Five Venom Fists. Weakened but not destroyed, Su Can learns a never-before-seen form of martial arts: the Drunken Fist. Armed with this new power, he returns home to honor his family through retribution by taking on his brother in a battle to become the ultimate warrior. Packed with distinct fighting styles–including Mma, knife combat and sweeping aerial...

Studio says it will no longer screen the Matt-Damon starring drama, which depicts a tsunami, in the quake-ravaged country.

By Aly Semigran

Hereafter

In the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that have ravaged parts of Japan, Clint Eastwood's afterlife drama "Hereafter" has been pulled from theaters in the country. The film, which stars Matt Damon as a former psychic, features a terrifying scene that depicts the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.

The Associated Press reported on Monday (March 14) that Warner Entertainment Japan Inc. official Satoru Otani said theaters will no longer screen the film, which was initially slated to play until late March. "Hereafter" opened in about 180 theaters in Japan last month. Otani concluded that the tsunami scene in the film was "not appropriate" for moviegoers during this sensitive time.

During its run in the U.S., the movie earned roughly $32.7 million at the box office and went on...

Studio says it will no longer screen the Matt-Damon starring drama, which depicts a tsunami, in the quake-ravaged country.

By Aly Semigran

Hereafter

In the wake of the devastating earthquake and tsunami that have ravaged parts of Japan, Clint Eastwood's afterlife drama "Hereafter" has been pulled from theaters in the country. The film, which stars Matt Damon as a former psychic, features a terrifying scene that depicts the 2004 tsunami in Indonesia.

The Associated Press reported on Monday (March 14) that Warner Entertainment Japan Inc. official Satoru Otani said theaters will no longer screen the film, which was initially slated to play until late March. "Hereafter" opened in about 180 theaters in Japan last month. Otani concluded that the tsunami scene in the film was "not appropriate" for moviegoers during this sensitive time.

During its run in the U.S., the movie earned roughly $32.7 million at the box office and went on...

Director: Xiaogang Feng. Review: Adam Wing. Human drama takes precedence over special effects in Xiaogang Feng’s memorial to the 240,000 victims of the Tangshan earthquake. On July 28, 1976, a massive earthquake struck Tangshan, China, devastating the city in just 23 seconds. Feng Xiaogang (The Banquet, Assembly) sure knows his audience, and Aftershock has gone on to become the highest grossing local film in Chinese history, cementing Feng's status as the go-too guy for blockbuster entertainment. Aftershock was the first Chinese film made for the IMAX giant-screen format, enlisting the service of special effects teams from both the Us and Korea. The opening act is quite possibly the most enticing segment of this over-reaching drama, a film that attempts to depict the emotional tale of a family torn apart by disaster. Once the initial CGI downpour is over, Feng’s movie walks on much safer ground, but it’s the fine cast that keeps it from crumbling.

"Aftershock," from Chinese director Xiaogang Feng, was the big winner at the fourth annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa), picking up the Best Feature Film Award at the awards ceremony held in Queensland, Australia. In addition, "Aftershock" nabbed its lead actor, Chen Daoming, the Best Performance by an Actor award. President of the International Jury for Apsa 2010, Academy-Award winning producer Lord David Puttnam, explained the film's win in a ...

Shanghai -- Harvey Weinstein drew tough criticism at the Shanghai International Film Festival forum on Sunday from popular Chinese director Feng Xiaogang, who accused him of promising financial backing then backing away.

"Harvey is a cheater in the eyes of many Chinese moviemakers," said Feng, whose credits in the region include "Dream Factory" and "If You Are the One." The director, whose films are not as well known in the West, did not offer any specific charges.

Weinstein didn't exactly invite goodwill at the discussion by making a brief appearance there himself, only to leave abruptly, shake Feng's hand and excuse himself to catch a plane.

"Let me talk about Harvey, now that he's gone," Feng teased the crowd of a few hundred, mostly-Chinese industry observers gathered at the Crowne Plaza Hotel.

The attack, in absentia, proved lively and finally led to a broader discussion of Sino-Hollywood cooperation, hitting issues...

Aftershocks (Tangshan Dadizheng) is an upcoming Chinese disaster film about the real devastating 1976 Tangshan Earthquake that killed over 240,000 people. Directed by Xiaogang Feng (The Dream Factory, Happy Funeral, A World Without Thieves), it looks to be a stunning and emotionally charged epic.

Synopsis:

When a mother is informed by a rescue team that, since her 7-year old twins are buried under the debris close to each other, digging one out would result in the collapse of the wreckage on the other, she is forced to make the most difficult decision of her life. Based around the devastating Tangshan Earthquake of 1976.

I'm skeptical about whether the storyline is based on anything real. Seems more like they wrote a "Sophie's Choice" style narrative to give the disaster a mythic emotional core (sort of like how Cameron used Romeo and Juliet for Titanic). Having said that, there's no denying the resonance of the images in the trailer.

I'm pretty damn sure no one has heard of this film before today, but you won't forget about it after watching this trailer. Twitch first discovered this extraordinary teaser trailer for a disaster film called Aftershocks coming out of China about the devastating 1976 Tangshan Earthquake that killed over 240,000 people. This trailer reminds me of Schindler's List with the little girl and the way it uses the red to accent the terror and chaos of the situation. I would say this is China's big disaster film in response to 2012, but since this is about an event that already happened, it's very different and much more emotional. Check out the teaser below. Watch the teaser trailer for Xiaogang Feng's Aftershocks: When a mother is informed by a rescue team that, since her 7-year old twins are buried under the debris close to each other, digging one out would result in...

BEIJING -- Director Feng Xiaogang will unveil his civil war film "Assembly" on Dec. 18 in the 10,000-seat Olympic boxing venue, Huayi Brothers Pictures said Monday.

The film's Chinese premiere will stretch to three hours and include a celebration beginning at 7 p.m. featuring the film's stars -- Zhang Hanyu, Deng Chao, Yuen Wenkang and Tang Yan -- along with such celebrities as Zhang Ziyi, mainland China's most famous comic actor Ge You, Hong Kong director Stephen Chow and composer Tan Dun.

Beijing's Workers Arena will host the event, a warm-up for its turn next year as the site for boxing events during the 2008 Olympic Games.

The film's premiere marks the 10-year anniversary of China's so-called genre of New Year films. In China, where many cannot afford movie tickets, viewers long have been in the habit of going to the cinema only once per year.

Starting with "Dream Factory" in 1997, Feng has been the unrivaled king of the New Year film at the boxoffice, earning record-breaking sums from late December through the Lunar New Year in late January and early February.

BUSAN, South Korea -- Jiang Wen and Ge You, two of China's biggest actors, will star in director Feng Xiaogang' next movie, The Nobles, a comedy poking fun at the growing ranks of China's overnight millionaires.

"Jiang will play the nouveau riche guy and Ge You the con artist who scams him for his money," Feng told The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday, on the eve of the premiere of his anti-war film Assembly which opens the 12th Pusan International Film Festival.

Feng said he had delivered them a treatment of the script he wrote himself and hopes to start and finish it in time for release in 2008 around Christmas, a period that in years past has boosted Feng to become China's most bankable director at the boxoffice.

Feng hopes to shoot The Nobles in Beijing for about $5 million with Huayi Brother Pictures producing, but he said it might be inconvenient to do so because of the madness that will arrive in the Chinese capital with the Summer Olympics.

Chinese director Feng Xiaogang, whose Assembly will play to more than 5,000 people at the Thursday opening of the 12th annual Pusan International Film Festival, said he hopes the film will remind the audience of the real terror of war.

Feng, who served in China's army from 1978-84 during a period of conflict with Vietnam, said he was inspired by the rawness of Saving Private Ryan, Enemy at the Gate and the Korean Taeguki, (Brotherhood), whose crew helped him shoot battle scenes near China's border with North Korea last winter.

"In the past, Chinese war film heroes were unafraid," Feng said, sitting under a tree, chain smoking under the brim of his trademark baseball cap. "This film should remind the world of the horrors of the regular soldier. No sacrifice should be forgotten, no matter what side you're on."

The film, about the struggle of a communist captain (Zhang Hanyu) to commemorate his fallen colleagues after a series of bloody battles in 1948-49, was drawn from a Yang Jingyuan short story and co-produced by Huayi Brothers Pictures of Beijing, Media Asia Films of Hong Kong and MK Pictures of Seoul.

MOSCOW -- Turkey's third international Eurasia Film Festival will open in mid-October with the local premieres of more than 80 films and a prize purse worth $115,000.

Dubbed the "international gateway" to its older, concurrent sister event, Turkey's national Antalaya Film Festival, which opens its 44th edition at the same time, Eurasia offers its best film an award worth $75,000 and best director $25,000.

Additionally, a new Critics Award, worth $15,000, will be offered for the first time, organizers said Tuesday.

Opening Oct. 19, the international competition lineup includes Russia's latest epic, Sergei Bodrov's Ghengis Khan biopic "Mongol"; "You the Living", Roy Andersson's reflection on mankind's need to love and be loved; Tony Ayres' "The Home Song Stories", the story of a Chinese singer and her family who settle in Australia in '70s; and Kenneth Bi's Chinese Zen drumming movie, "The Drummer".

Other competition films include Eran Korilin's feature directorial debut, "The Band's Visit", an Un Certain Regard winner at this year's Festival de Cannes, and "Assembly", the latest film from Chinese helmer Xiaogang Feng.

A body double who starred in a nude scene for Memoirs Of A Geisha star Ziyi Zhang has demanded her name appear in the credits. The actress, Shao Xiaoshan, revealed in her internet blog that she was paid $2,448 to feature in Zhang's latest movie The Banquet, which will be released in China later this year. The blog, which was reprinted in the Chinese press, details how director Fang Xiaogang is refusing to answer her calls despite being "very satisfied" with her body. She said, "I just want everyone to know Zhang's back is mine." However, the film's producers are reportedly confused by the actress's grievances as the film has not even been released. Wang Zhongjun of Huayi and Taihe Movie Investment Company said, "The film has not been shown to the public. How can Shao know her name is not included in the credits."...

BEIJING -- Japan's Gaga Distribution has paid $5 million at the American Film Market for distribution rights to top Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's latest film The Banquet, starring Zhang Ziyi, Beijing-based producers Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co. said Monday. "The deal is confirmed", Leah Xu, a Beijing-based vp of Huayi Bros, one of China's leading independent film production companies, which is handling its own international distribution with Media Asia of Hong Kong. "Other deals are still being processed."...

BEIJING -- Japan's Gaga Distribution has paid $5 million at the American Film Market for distribution rights to top Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's latest film The Banquet, starring Zhang Ziyi, Beijing-based producers Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co. said Monday. "The deal is confirmed", Leah Xu, a Beijing-based vp of Huayi Bros, one of China's leading independent film production companies, which is handling its own international distribution with Media Asia of Hong Kong. "Other deals are still being processed."...

BEIJING -- Japan's Gaga Distribution has paid $5 million at the American Film Market for distribution rights to top Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's latest film The Banquet, which stars Zhang Ziyi, Beijing-based producers Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co. said Monday. "The deal is confirmed," Leah Xu, a Beijing-based vp of Huayi Bros, one of China's leading independent film production companies, which is handling its own international distribution with Media Asia of Hong Kong. "Other deals are still being processed," Xu added. The deal, believed to be a record presale from a Japanese distributor for a Chinese film, will come as welcome news to the Chinese filmmakers. The Banquet, which is currently shooting, like most Chinese films had no completion guarantor, and went $5 million over its initial $20 million budget in September (HR 9/2). Huayi Brothers -- which made the Hong Kong hit Kung Fu Hustle with Sony Pictures Entertainment -- are co-producing Banquet -- dubbed by Xu as an "Asian version of Hamlet" - in partnership with Media Asia. Leading actor Ge You has appeared in six films by Feng, including such hits as Big Shot's Funeral and Cell Phone. Zhang will next be seen in Princess Racoon by Japan's Seijun Suzuki, and Memoirs of a Geisha, by Rob Marshall for Spyglass Entertainment.

BEIJING -- Japan's Gaga Distribution has paid $5 million at the American Film Market for distribution rights to top Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's latest film The Banquet, which stars Zhang Ziyi, Beijing-based producers Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co. said Monday. "The deal is confirmed," Leah Xu, a Beijing-based vp of Huayi Bros, one of China's leading independent film production companies, which is handling its own international distribution with Media Asia of Hong Kong. "Other deals are still being processed," Xu added. The deal, believed to be a record presale from a Japanese distributor for a Chinese film, will come as welcome news to the Chinese filmmakers. The Banquet, which is currently shooting, like most Chinese films had no completion guarantor, and went $5 million over its initial $20 million budget in September (HR 9/2). Huayi Brothers -- which made the Hong Kong hit Kung Fu Hustle with Sony Pictures Entertainment -- are co-producing Banquet -- dubbed by Xu as an "Asian version of Hamlet" - in partnership with Media Asia. Leading actor Ge You has appeared in six films by Feng, including such hits as Big Shot's Funeral and Cell Phone. Zhang will next be seen in Princess Racoon by Japan's Seijun Suzuki, and Memoirs of a Geisha, by Rob Marshall for Spyglass Entertainment.

• The Mwff was officially launched today with a quick 24hr long visit by Maggie Cheung (please check out some press conference goodies here)and the premiere of A World Without Thieves (Dir. Xiaogang Feng, China, 2005). Tonight's presentation of the film was reserved for the lucky few who were given a precious ticket. Luckily for festival goers, they could attend a special screening of the film in the morning along with the regular journalists. Unlike most previous years, the 10Am screening of the opening film at imperial theater wasn't sold out however. Most of the tickets were sold but many empty seats could be seen throughout the theater. At this point it's hard to tell whether or not the attendance of the festival has declined since there was only one public screening, but it's probably not a good sign for the festival whose financial problems were reported in a local

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TORONTO -- When the curtain goes up on the 29th Montreal World Film Festival on Friday night, it will launch eight weeks of marathon screenings in Montreal by three different festivals. A gala screening at the Place des Arts for Chinese director Xiaogang Feng's A World Without Thieves caps off a difficult year for MWFF founder and director Serge Losique, who lost key government funding to the rival New Montreal FilmFest, which opens Sept. 18. At the same time, Claude Chamberlan is set to go ahead with the 34th edition of the Montreal Festival of New Cinema and New Media on Oct. 13, having seen key backers Daniel Langlois and Sheila de la Varende defect to the New Montreal FilmFest.

HONG KONG -- Columbia Pictures' Kung Fu Hustle garnered best film honors at the Hong Kong Film Critics Assn.'s 10th annual Golden Bauhinia Awards on Sunday. Kung Fu Hustle also scored a supporting actor nod for actor Yuen Wah for his role as a Tai Chi master. The film was also named one of the year's top 10 Chinese-language movies. Kung Fu Hustle, about a wannabe gangster who finally turns his martial arts talents to saving others, is the highest-grossing Chinese-language film in Hong Kong. Hustle helmer Stephen Chow was bested in the director category by Derek Yee, who won for his dark crime drama One Nite in Mongkok, while 2046 star Tony Leung took home the best actor award. The nod for best actress went to Rene Liu for her performance in Feng Xiaogang's World Without Thieves.