News

Burmese filmmaker Midi Z caused a stir and gained good notices with his 2019 film Nina Wu, which dealt with the exploitation of women in entertainment, and was released in the midst of the global #MeToo movement, a long overdue public reckoning for powerful men who had committed acts of sexual violence and misconduct.

Selected for the main competition at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, Z’s new film, The Unseen Sister, outwardly at least, has similar themes to Nina Wu — that is, the habitual abuse of women in the entertainment industry as well as the trials of women at the margins of society.

Adapted from Zhang Yueran’s book Unseen Sister, the film tells the story of two sisters, one who is born officially as Qiao Yan and the other who takes on the name of Qiao Yan but lives in a twilight world of illegality, under the constant threat of being discovered.

Exclusive: Dekanalog has picked up North American rights to Constance Tsang’s Blue Sun Palace, which played in Cannes Critics’ Week, winning the French Touch Prize of The Jury.

Set in a massage parlor in Flushing, Queens, the film sees Amy and Didi navigate romance, happiness, and the obligations of family thousands of miles from home. Despite the physical and emotional toll their work extracts, the women who live at the parlor create an impenetrable sisterhood. But when tragedy strikes on Lunar New Year, Amy is forced to consider her future.

Tsang’s well-received feature debut stars Lee Kang Sheng, as well as Ke-Xi Wu (Nina Wu) and Haipeng Xu (Venus by Water). It is produced by Sally Sujin Oh, Eli Raskin, and Tony Yang.

The deal was negotiated between Dekanalog and WME Independent.

Dekanalog Co-Founder Lysa Le said: “We are incredibly honored to release Constance Tsang’s gorgeous, intimate...

The concept of meta in cinema has been on the rise lately, with a number of movies about movies coming to the fore, with different approaches, from “Why Don't You Play in Hell?” to “Nina Wu” and everything between. Soon Teik Ong presents a short that also has the concept as its base, but essentially moves into a whole different direction.

“Neither Nor” is screening at Busan International Short Film Festival

Three graduate Chinese students, one boy and two girls, are shooting a film in the balcony of an apartment building, and talking about how the protagonist (one of the girls) will jump for the sake of the movie. The dynamics among them become evident from this very first scene. The protagonist expresses her issues with how the scene is shot, the girl who acts as the director listens and responds to her, before she mentions that next, they will shoot in a mosque.

With the support and sponsorship from the Ministry of Culture as well as the Taipei Representative Office in Germany, we are delighted to announce the 5th Taiwanese Film Festival in Berlin, organized by Impression Taiwan and cooperated with Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute and Friedrich-Naumann-Stiftung für die Freiheit. The 2022 festival will return to physical edition and in these ten days, it will be delivering 12 works on three diverse themes, including both short films and feature-length films.

Established in 2017, the Taiwan Film Festival Berlin is the largest scale event in Europe for Taiwanese art and culture. The 2022 festival is centered around the theme of ‘Island Fantasia’ and challenges the audience’s imagination with our diverse programme and hence, creates a unique and personal filmic experience.

For this year’s festival, “Nina Wu” and “Dear Tenant” have been selected to discuss developments of the global #MeToo movement in Asia, the situation of...

Midi Z was born in 1982 in Burma as a son of a cook and a doctor. At the age of 16, he moved to Taiwan and in 2011 he renounced his Burmese citizenship. In the same year he shot, directed and produced his first feature film “Return to Burma”, a story about the shift in his home country after the presidential elections of 2010. Over the course of his career, he has made five feature films and three documentaries, which have screened at international festivals. Among the awards Midi Z has received are a Taipei Film Award for Best Director and the Fedeora Award for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival for his fourth feature “Road to Mandalay”. His most recent feature “Nina Wu” has received much critical acclaim and has been released in many countries.

On the occasion of the cinematic release of “Nina Wu” in Germany in September 2020 we...

Psychological thriller “Nina Wu” by Taiwan-based Burmese writer and director Midi Z, was premiered in the “Un Certain Regard” section of Cannes Film Festival. Midi Z has proven before to be a fine and meticulous storyteller, enriching his narration with nuances, planting small significant details. This personal style well fits “Nina Wu” and its Hitchkockian development.

Nina Wu (Ke-Xi Wu) left Taichung 8 years ago following, like many girls, her dream of an acting career in the big city of Taipei. Despite her efforts, in all those years Nina has collected only a handful of minor roles as extra in indie movies or commercials and she’s resorted to moonlighting as a cam-girl. One day, the long-awaited audition arrives; it’s for a Cold War era spy-noir movie, “Romance of the Spies” and Nina’s agent warns her that she must be prepared to perform a full frontal nudity and explicit sex scenes.

The 30th Singapore International Film Festival (Sgiff) announced its full Festival line-up at the Shangri-La Hotel today, staying true to its roots as a discovery ground of the spirited stories in Southeast Asia, an enabler to the regional filmmaking scene and talents, and a tastemaker of global developments in cinema.

A leading international film festival in the region and part of the Singapore Media Festival (Smf), Sgiff will present a dynamic array of over 90 films by auteurs from 40 countries that take the pulse of Asian and international cinema.

Sgiff’s Programme Director, Kuo Ming-Jung said, “In the past year, captivating stories told by brilliant filmmakers have unfolded in varying styles and genres across the global cinematic landscape. As with our line-up each year, we hope to bring distinctive films from around the world to the audience, while staying committed to the strong belief in giving a voice to our own...

This week, the /slash Film Festival, Austria’s biggest Fantastic Film Festival, starts its projectors in Vienna to screen a broad catalog of dark and twisted treats. From September 19 until September 29, the 10th edition of the Festival will also present a promising Asian selection.

Six Asian feature films and four animations are among the total number of 70 movies that can be seen in two charming old-town cinemas. The so-called “/asian” selection starts with “The Scoundrels” (2018), the debut of Taiwanese director Hung Tzu-Hsuan. From the Philippines comes Erik Matti’s “The Entity” (2019). An elegant horror-thriller about a secretive family history that is packed with suspense. In cooperation with the Japannual Film Festival, /slash presents the Japanese entry for the selection – “The Fable” (2019) by Kan Eguchi. The Manga adaption is a mixture of over the top action sequences and utterly disarming humor. Highly anticipated is also Won-Tae Lee’s “The Gangster, The Cop,...

Chinese indie films and Indian fare dominate the lineup of the Pingyao International Film Festival. The main selection for the festival’s third edition will include 28 world premieres, organizers said. The event will screen 52 films from 26 countries and territories, with all of them having their China debut.

The opening film is set as the world premiere of Indian director Tushar Hiranandani’s biographical film, “Bull’s Eye.” It tells the story of two real-life female sharpshooters from the same village who learned to shoot late in life, but went on to achieve national fame. The women are now in their 80s.

Chinese films that will have their world premieres at the festival include: “Summer Is the Coldest Season” by Zhou Sun; “Wisdom Tooth” by Liang Ming; “Single Cycle” by Zhang Qi; “Blood Daisy” by Xu Xiangyun; “An Insignificant Affair” by Ning Yuanyuan; “A Trophy on the Sea” by Ju Anqi...

Five Flavours Asian Film Festival, one of the most European important events entirely dedicated to cinematographies of East, South-East and South Asia, has revealed its new visual image that, similarly to previous years, is inspired by the current Lunar Calendar Year of the Pig, a symbol of prosperity, wealth and success. At the same time the Festival has also revealed few bits and pieces of the programme, forming quite an intriguing selection.

The most important section of the festival is the Competition called “New Asian Cinema” showcasing the latest and most daring auteur films from countries such as Singapore, Korea, Vietnam or Thailand, usually accompanied by Q&a sessions with festival guests.

The subject of this year’s national focus will be Japan and independent cinema produced outside of large cities in the section called “Japan: Out of Focus“. It will be an opportunity to discover Japan far from popular imagination.

Karim Ainouz’s “The Invisible Life of Euridice Gusmao” has been named the best film in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival, a jury headed by director Nadine Labaki announced on Friday.

The Brazilian family drama was adapted from a decades-spanning novel by Martha Batalha but focuses on the 1950s, when the status of women in Brazilian society was undergoing change. It deals with two women who cause family upheaval by challenging the patriarchy.

Other awards in the Un Certain Regard section were Oliver Laxe’s “The Fire Will Come,” Jury Prize; Kantemir Balagov for “Beanpole,” Best Director; Chiara Mastroianni for “On a Magical Night,” Best Performance; and Michael Angelo Covino’s “The Climb” and Monia Chokri’s “A Brother’s Love,” Un Certain Regard Heart Prize.

Also Read: 'I Lost My Body,' 'Vivarium' Win Prizes in Cannes Critics' Week Section

Bruno Dumont...

Taiwan-based director Midi Z has become a star of the art-house scene in Asia. The appearance of his film “Nina Wu” in Un Certain Regard in Cannes – already getting strong buzz ahead of its screening Tuesday – is the highest-profile festival berth for the helmer and for lead actress Wu Ke-xi, who recently signed up with CAA.

The film is a departure from Z’s usual register of ultra-low budget, self-penned, Myanmar-set dramas and documentaries. For a start, it’s the ethnic Burmese director’s first film set in Taiwan. It’s also his first with a professional-level budget (of $2 million) and his first from a third-party scriptwriter.

Wu, Z’s lead actress in most of his fiction titles, told him back in 2016 that she was working on a script for him, and then surprised Z by actually delivering. “So many people say they are working on something for me, but then never come through.