News

Film Movement has swooped in to take North American rights on Huo Meng’s Silver Bear winner Living The Land and is planning a theatrical release for next year.

The film, which premiered in Berlin’s main competition last month,is set in 1991 as China undergoes sweeping socio-economic changes forcing many out of their countryside homes and into the big cities.

Berlin-based m-appeal is handling sales on Living The Land, whichScreen’s critic described as an “intimate epic… deeply poignant yet staunchly unsentimental”.

The film has also sold to Bir Film for Turkey, Falcon for Indonesia, Beta Films for Bulgaria,...

The Feff Campus, the journalism school of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, reaches the historic milestone of its eleventh edition this year. A project that can now count on very solid roots and that continues to attract young talents eager to test themselves on the front line. So, who are the 11 aspiring journalists of 2024? Here are their names: Cecy Park (South Korea), Jane Wei (China), Jade Wong Lok-yiu (Hong Kong), Do Ha Lan (Vietnam), Daryl Cheong (Singapore), Maria Smirnova (Ukraine), Ruby Power (Ireland), Gijs Suy (Netherlands), Giulia Adami (Italy), Eliska Nodlova (Czech Republic) and Emma Mattiussi (Italy).

Udine – Far East Film Festival 2024 – Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine and Cinema Visionario – from 24th of April to 2nd of May 2024 – Photo © 2024 Alice Bl Durigatto

The team will be led, as always, by long-time journalist Mathew Scott and will have the opportunity to study the mechanisms of the festival from the...

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...

Berlin-based sales agent M-Appeal will handle international sales for “Living the Land,” the second feature by Chinese director Huo Meng, which will world premiere in Berlinale Competition next month. The film is an epic family tale that traces the lives of four generations over the course of a single year.

Set in 1991, as China undergoes sweeping socio-economic changes that drive many to leave their rural villages in pursuit of work in the cities, 10-year-old Chuang, the third child of his family, must remain in the village due to family plans. Against the backdrop of modernization, as the advent of technology reshapes their traditional way of life, cycles of births, marriages and funerals reveal the weight of tradition and the pressures of balancing familial responsibilities with a rapidly changing world.

Huo Meng’s 2018 debut feature “Crossing the Border — Zhaoguan” won the Pingyao International Film Festival Fei Mu Award for best director.

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...

Officially, Yao Chen was a part of the team judging the 26th Shanghai International Film Festival’s Projects initiative for in-development productions, but the actress-producer freely admits she came to town keen — as ever — to take on as many roles as possible.

Yao was also actively seeking out production opportunities for her Bad Rabbit Pictures, as well as possible acting turns for herself. And she was looking for talent to work with in the future.

Yao’s career has been built on such hits as 2018’s Lost, Found, the wildly successful TV series All Is Well (2019), and the critically acclaimed feature Send Me to the Clouds (2019). Her social media community has hovered around the 100 million followers mark. She arrived in town having recently finished shooting her latest film, the Li Yu-directed After Typhoon, a female-led, against-the-elements drama is that is already capturing attention in China because which features the...

The 17th edition of the Siff Project Market, held on the margins of the Shanghai International Film Festival, wrapped this week with the awarding of various prizes and an early evening party.

In the juried section prizes were determined by a panel including Lu Chuan, Luca Liang and Yao Chen. Others were decided by individual company sponsors.

Organizers reported that 34 Chinese film projects were presented, comprising 23 were debut feature films, 8 second features and 3 third features by their respective directors.

They held 19 public pitches and two rounds of work-in-progress screenings. In all, some 150 companies took part in a total of 661 meetings.

“Cold Water,” by director Zhang Xinyang, had previously been pitched at project stage at the 2020 edition of the Siff Project market. This time it returned as a work in progress, earned a unanimous jury verdict and received an offer of financial support from Lu.

Other standouts included: “A Girl Unknown,...

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

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

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

“As the only...

China and Netherlands-based Fortissimo Films has picked up international sales rights to anticipated Chinese blockbuster movie “If You Are the One 3.”

To be released on Dec. 30 in China, the picture is directed by Feng Xiaogang as the second sequel in his anti-romance comedy franchise, about a rich businessman and an air stewardess, which kicked off in 2008 and earned a follow-up in 2010. The new picture reunites the key cast Ge You and Shu Qi, as well as Fan Wei (“One Second”), Yao Chen (“Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back”) and Guan Xiaotong (“Shadow”).

Set in 2031, the new film tells the story of Qin (Ge) retiring alone on a small island, as his wife Xiaoxiao (Shu) is away all year long. Fan (Fan), Qin’s friend, designs an android identical to Xiaoxiao to keep Qin company. Spending time with the android and old friends, Qin reflects on loneliness and companionship,...

The follow-up comes 15 years after the original box office hit.

Fortissimo Films has secured international rights to upcoming Chinese comedy If You Are The One 3, the anticipated third instalment in Feng Xiaogang’s box office hit franchise.

The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company will begin talks on the feature ahead of its local release on December 30. Fortissimo will launch the title to the international market at Berlin’s European Film Market (EFM) in February. The firm will not handle sales in North America, Hong Kong, Macao, Australia or New Zealand.

The third instalment is released 15 years after You Are The One,...