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While the films we see from Mainland China in festivals mostly follow arthouse social/family drama paths, the ones we see outside of the circuit, mostly in various streamers and occasionally in distribution, are almost always of the crime/action variety and quite frequently, of dubious quality. “Go For Broke”, a Chinese/Hong Kong production by Marc Ma, checks both these last two boxes.

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In a hidden corner of Mancheng, a profit-seeking drug cartel is unscrupulously causing countless people to fall into the abyss of drug addictions and tearing apart families. Zhang Yao was persecuted by the drug traffickers until his family met their ruin, so, with his life in shambles, agrees to cooperate with anti-narcotics captain An Du to seek revenge against the leaders of the criminal syndicate, Mu Kun and An Pei. To do so, Zhang Yao takes the place of Mu Kun’s lost son,...

Most of us watch Netflix through the app, whether it's on a smart TV, a tablet, or a phone. But millions of us still stream it on our computers, even if only occasionally. There's one advantage to watching on a browser that Netflix has yet to replicate on their app. That would be the famous secret category codes. Or not so famous; that's probably why you're reading this.

The secret categories originated from the dull boring days before streaming. Yes, Virginia, there used to be a thing called DVDs by mail. There used to be video stores, too, but that's a story for another time. When Netflix's primary business was DVD rentals - crazy, right? - they categorized and subcategorized movies ad infinitum to make films easier to find. Sadly, they haven't carried those subcategories forward to the app, but you can find them through a web browser.

When I say they created subcategories,...

In a hidden corner of Mancheng, a profit-seeking drug cartel is unscrupulously causing countless people to fall into the abyss of drug addictions and tearing apart families. Zhang Yao was persecuted by the drug traffickers until his family met their ruin, so he secretly cooperates with the anti-narcotics captain An Du to seek revenge. The two join forces with a plan to ruthlessly eliminate the leaders of the criminal syndicate, Mu Kun and An Pei. But what they least expected is, behind all this, there is a carefully planned revenge game – are they bound by hatred for a common enemy or do they all have their own sinister agendas? In this staged contest, who is the chess player and who is the manipulated chess piece? When a crisis ensues, do you sink or swim? Above all else, please proceed with caution… [Source: Translated from Douban]

A crime action thriller directed by Marc Ma and starring Nick Cheung,...

Busan Dean Appointment

Zhang Lu, the Chinese Korean director, has been appointed as dean of the Chanel x Biff Asian Film Academy, part of the Busan International Film Festival.

Zhang has been making feature films since 2004, when his “Tang Poetry” won acclaim at the Locarno and Vancouver festivals. He has since made titles including “Grain in Ear” (2005), which won the New Currents Award at Busan, “Desert Dream” and the recent “The Shadowless Tower.” He was also a professor at Yonsei University for eight years.

Indonesia’s Kamila Andini was announced as the Academy’s directing mentor, while Urata Hideho is set as cinematography mentor.

The Academy’s 20-day curriculum runs Sept. 22nd to Oct. 11th. The main festival runs Oct. 2-11 and the Asian Film Market (Oct. 5-8).

Old Fox Keeps Winning

“Old Fox,” directed by Hsiao Ya-chuan, won five of the top prizes at the Taipei Film Awards. Its haul included best feature,...

Awards News

Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best supporting actor. It was followed by “Old Fox” with ten nominations and “Big,” with eight.

The film tells the story of a gangster who discovers that he is only the country’s third most wanted criminal and, before he dies, sets out to eliminate those ranking above him.

The best film contenders are “Salli,” “Trouble Girl,” “Big,” “Old Fox” and “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon.”

The best actor nominees include Frederick Lee for “Fish Memories,” Bai Run-yin for “Old Fox,” Vic Chou for “Be With Me,” Ethan Juan for “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” and King Jieh-wen for “A Journey in Spring.” The best actress...

Taiwanese actor and director Doze Niu may be able to look back on a career spanning over four decades, but his legacy is ultimately tainted given the charges of sexual assault for which he was sentenced to four years in jail. This is especially tragic as his directorial efforts such as “What on Earth Have I Done Wrong?!” and “Monga” had opened a new chapter for Niu, winning awards at international festivals and known by audiences in many countries. “Monga” may just be one of his best works which was selected at the Taiwanese Entry for Best Foreign Language Films at the Oscars 2010, but which also highlights his prowess in visual storytelling and blending drama with action.

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The Wanhua District, also known as Monga, is one of Taipei's many districts. It is also a world of its own, as...

Wong Ching Po’s crime thriller The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon has emerged as the second biggest Taiwanese film of all time on release in mainland China, having grossed over $69.5m (Rmb 500m) amid a simultaneous worldwide launch on Netflix.

Distributed by Star Alliance Movies, the film opened third on March 1 at the tail end of the Chinese New Year period, behind festive hits Article 20 and Pegasus 2. But it climbed to number one on its third day of release and has since been topping China’s daily box-office chart for 16 consecutive days, beating other new releases such as Dune: Part Two,...

Back in 2010 in Hong Kong, Wong Ching-po shot the cult “Revenge: A Love Story”, about a man that kills pregnant women, taking away their unborn babies. His later works, however, were mostly martial arts/action movies that definitely did not reach the standards of the aforementioned. That is until this year and “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” which seems to bring him back to the Cat III space that he thrived, this time, though, in a Taiwanese production.

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The film shows its colors from the beginning. Chen Kui-lin, a notorious hitman in the criminal underworld, infiltrates a funeral and shoots down a high-ranking gang boss, amidst a huge crowd of his ‘underlings'. As he runs to escape, he stumbles upon detective Chen Hui, who was surveilling the boss, and ends up chasing the perpetrator. The two engage in a brutal fight,...

“Dune 2” launched in mainland China cinemas this weekend with a solid $19.9 million three-day haul. That put it in second place, narrowly behind holdover crime-drama “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon.”

Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway, showed that “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” earned $21.3 million (RMB151 million) between Friday and Sunday, for a 10-day cumulative of $54.1 million (RMB384 million). “Dune 2” managed RMB142 million.

Many Hollywood titles have struggled in China over the past three years, especially franchise titles. But “Dune 2” with its particularly spectacular visuals looks to have escaped the rut.

Giant screen provider Imax, which has nearly 800 screens in the Middle Kingdom, reported that some $6.5 million of the film’s opening weekend was earned at its venues. That was nearly a third of its opening total in China.

Local cinema ticketing firm Maoyan has increased its predictions for “Dune 2’s” performance in China.

Taiwanese-produced crime action film “The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” opened on top of the mainland China box office over the weekend, ahead of a quartet of holdover titles from Lunar New Year. Sony’s ‘Madame Web’ and a rereleased “Dune” also opened, but they failed to penetrate the top five.

“The Pig, the Snake and the Pigeon” earned $16.2 million (RMB115 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway. Other than the Lunar New Year titles, that represented the highest opening by any new film in China this year. But it was not entirely a convincing performance. It came in only narrowly ahead of “Article 20,” the Zhang Yimou-directed crime comedy drama that has been in cinemas for four weeks now.

Directed by Hong Kong’s Wong Ching-po and starring Ethan Juan, the films tells the story of a gangster who discovers, first that he has cancer and...

Through this partnership, ’Trending Topic’ will hit cinemas in Singapore and Malaysia on December 7, immediately after opening in mainland China.

China’s streaming platform iQiyi is collaborating with Malaysia’s Gsc Movies and Singapore’s Clover Films to expand the distribution networks for its Chinese-language films and expedite their theatrical release.

Through this partnership, Trending Topic, directed by Xin Yukun and starring Zhou Dongyu, Yuan Hong and Song Yang, will hit cinemas in Singapore and Malaysia on December 7, immediately after its opening on December 1 in mainland China.

Further iQiyi titles set for release in both Singapore and Malaysia are Chen Zhuo’s The Invisible Guest,...

‘’Eye Of The Storm’ and ‘Marry My Dead Body’ also secure several nods.

Chong Keat-aun’s historical epic Snow In Midsummer leads the nominations for the 60th Golden Horse Awards in Taiwan, scoring nine nods including best film and best director.

Lin Chun-yang’s Sars drama Eye Of The Storm and Cheng Wei-hao’s ghost comedy Marry My Dead Body are close behind with eight nominations apiece.

Each will compete in the best film category along with Stonewalling by husband-and-wife team Huang Ji from mainland China and Ryuji Otsuka from Japan, and Time Still Turns The Pages, the feature debut...

This year’s Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival will open with a double bill of Snow In Midsummer, directed by Malaysia’s Chong Keat-aun, and Be With Me, from Taiwanese filmmaker Hwarng Wern-ying.

The festival observed that the two films are “coincidentally inspired by faith and narrated in historical memories of Taiwan and Malaysia” – and both are directed by previous winners at Taiwan’s prestigious Golden Horse Awards.

Chong won Best New Director at the Golden Horse Awards for The Story Of Southern Islet in 2020, while Hwarng, an acclaimed art director and long-time collaborator of Hou Hsiao-hsien, won Best Art Direction and Best Makeup & Costume Design for Flowers Of Shanghai and The Assassin, respectively.

A collaboration between Malaysia, Taiwan and Singapore, Snow In Midsummer revolves around a Cantonese street opera troupe during a turbulent period in Malaysia’s political history in the late 1960s. The film is receiving its world premiere in Venice Days.

‘Tales Of Taipei’ set as closing film.

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival (Tghff) is set to open with a double bill of Chong Keat Aun’s Snow In Midsummer and acclaimed art director Hwarng Wern-ying’s directorial debut Be With Me, with Bowie Tsang-produced omnibus Tales Of Taipei as the closing film.

Both opening films took part in Golden Horse Film Project Promotion project market in 2020 and will have their Asian premieres at Tghff. The world premiere for Snow In Midsummer will be at the Venice Days sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, which begins today.

Malaysian director...

The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival has announced dual opening night titles, both inspired by faith and local memories, as well as its closing gala presentation.

The festival will open with “Snow in Midsummer,” directed by Chong Keat-aun, a former winner of the Golden Horse Film Awards’ best new director prize with “The Story of Southern Islet,” and “Be With Me,” by Hwarng Wern-ying, who previously won Golden Horse prizes for art direction, costume and makeup.

The festival, which runs Nov. 9-26, will close with the world premiere of “Tales of Taipei,” produced by Bowie Tsang and comprising ten stories by directors from East Asia.

The two opening films were both part of the 2020 Golden Horse Project Promotion, a project matching event. They both have their Asian premiere at the festival.

“Snow in Midsummer” is a story spanning nearly half a century about two generations of females, a troupe master and the Nyonya offspring,...

Inaugural slate includes ‘Be With Me’ and ‘Abang Adik’.

Taiwanese distributor Applause Entertainment Taiwan is moving into sales and will make its market debut in Cannes, with Hou Hsiao-Hsien-produced Be With Me and Lee Sinje-produced award-winning Malaysian film Abang Adik on its inaugural slate.

Be With Me is directed by Hou’s long-time collaborator Hwarng Wern-Ying, who won the Golden Horse Awards for best art director and best makeup and costume design for Flowers Of Shanghai and The Assassin respectively. She also worked as a supervising art director on Martin Scorsese’s Silence, which shot in Taiwan.

Starring Ariel Lin,...

Bad Education

Director: Kai Ko

Producers: Ko Yao-zong, Lu Wei-chun, Giddens Ko, Midi Z, Molly Fang

Key cast: Berant Zhu, Kent Tsai, Edison Song

Actor Kai Ko’s directorial debut revolves around three young men who decide to bond with each other as sworn brothers as they graduate from high school by sharing dark secrets. The film’s Berant Zhu won the supporting actor prize at the 2022 Golden Horse Awards.

Sales: Harvest 9 Road Entertainment

COO-coo 043

Director: Chan Ching-Lin

Producers: Lin I-ling, Lin Shih-ken

Key cast: Yu An-Shun, Hu Jhih-Ciang, Yang Li-Yin, Rimong Ihwar

Haunting family drama set against the world of pigeon racing in Taiwan. Winner of 59th Golden Horse Awards’ narrative feature in 2022 and the Golden Horse Film Festival’s Fipresci prize.

Sales: Distribution Workshop

In The Morning Of LA Petite Morte

Director: Wang Yu-lin

Producers: Patrick Mao Huang, Jan Yi-ting

Key cast: Fukuchi Yusuke, Wang Yun-zhi, Ivy Yin,...

Taipei-based international sales company Distribution Workshop will be selling Lunar New Year hit Hidden Blade, starring Tony Leung Chiu-wai, and Wong Ching-po’s highly-anticipated new film, The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon, at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin.

Directed by Cheng Er, Hidden Blade is a spy thriller set in Shanghai during the Second World War, and also stars Wang Yibo (Born To Fly) and Zhou Xun (Our Time Will Come).

The 45m production has so far grossed 116.6M since its release over the Lunar New Year holidays on January 22, according to figures from Artisan Gateway.

The film is the third installment in the “China Victory Trilogy” produced by Beijing-based Bona Film Group, following Chinese Doctors and The Battle At Lake Changjin. Cheng Er is known for crime dramas such as Lethal Hostage (2012) and The Wasted Times (2016).

The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon is produced by Lee Lieh,...

Tseng Ying-ting’s thriller opens with pyrotechnics lightning up the New Year Eve’s sky to Yazoo’s 1982 smash hit “Only You”, an uncharacteristically romantic environment for a suicide attempt. This sequence is the introduction into the movie’s key character, police officer Wu Jie (Janine Chun-Ning Chang) whose plans of ending it all are derailed when a teenager appears out of nowhere and starts banging on her window pleading for help. Her car is actually parked close to the popular gathering spot at the river bank, and Wu decides to get out and see what made the teenagers leave the place in panic. It is there she discovers a bloated corpse washed up on shore. Hit by the paradox of a dead person saving her life, Wu chooses to solve the case despite the anguish she is experiencing at work.

The Abandoned is screening at...

The Hung Tai Group has been secretly engaged in human trafficking and other criminal activities for a long time, and Chan On’s (Nick Cheung) sister is one of their victims. When the election of the Hung Tai leader is underway, Chan secretly plans to take revenge and try to overthrow the power of the group. His actions are backed up by police officer Mak Long Wen (Ethan Juan) and gang member Ma Wen Kang (Darren Wang). The fight between the forces of the two sides is obvious, and a fierce melee is about to take place

Starring: Nick Cheung (张家辉), Ethan Juan (阮经天), Darren Wang (王大陆), Paul Chun Pui (秦沛), Marc Ma (马浴柯), Danny Chan Kwok-Kwan (陈国坤), Chen Xiaoyi (陈晓依), and He Xinlin (何昕霖).

Director: Marc Ma (马浴柯).

iQiyi announced its 2021 year end to 2022 line-up of new Chinese films and series that bring together award-winning stars including Feng Xiaogang, Joan Chen, Simon Yam, Nick Cheung, Ethan Juan, Richie Jen, Wang Qianyuan and Wang Jingchun, as well as fan favourites Darren Wang, Li Wenhan, Oho Ou, Jason Gu and more. Viewers can look forward to enjoying 26 fresh titles across 7 genres including crime and suspense; heartwarming and inspirational; Asian fantasy; romance; comedy; war and history; as well as animation, available worldwide on the iQiyi International app and on www.iQ.com.

Set to draw the most viewers are iQiyi’s slew of new crime films. Man on the Edge starring Richie Jen, Simon Yam, Alex Fong and Patrick Tam, follows a cop undercover in a Hong Kong drug trafficking ring. Action-packed Wolf Hiding features Nick Cheung, Ethan Juan and Darren Wang in a clash of police and underworld forces. Based...

Continuing to thrill audiences into his 60s, Jackie Chan has truly become a living icon in the world of Action and Martial Arts movies with a resume that spans back to the birth of the Martial Arts renaissance in Hong Kong. Despite a few missteps in recent times, he’s at his best with the merging of death-defying stunts and family-friendly comedy, which is what’s in store in his latest effort from director Jia Yan available January 21 on Blu-Ray, DVD and Digital from WellGo USA.

Trying to move up the ranks, Yan Fei (Austin Lin) looks to solve a mystery in the village which soon leads him to Pu Songling (Jackie Chan), a local eccentric who tells stories to kids about battling monsters and demons. Realizing there’s a grain of truth to the stories, he sets out to become an apprentice monster hunter that battles...

Director Tsui Hark (The Taking of Tiger Mountain) brings back the popular hero in the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise for Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, coming to digital, Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD November 13 from Well Go USA Entertainment. Set during the Tang dynasty, the third film in the action-packed, martial arts franchise finds the intrepid detective defending himself from the Empress while looking to recover a magical weapon. Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings has Mark Chao (Young Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon) returning in the title role, with Feng Shaofeng (The Monkey King franchise),  Lin Gengxin (The Taking of Tiger Mountain),  Ethan Juan (The Guillotines),  Ma Sichun (Goldbuster) and  Carina Lau (Detective Dee franchise) rounding out the cast.

A bold and exciting new entry into the smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark, Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings sees...

The Flying Guillotine (1975) was the first movie to feature this deadly flying weapon, starring Chen Kuan Tai and directed by Ho Meng Hua. It became quite a sensation and soon sequels were popping up. Fast forward to 2012, Andrew Lau from Infernal Affairs had another go at it, giving us an even more deadly and faster weapon.

In this updated version set in the Qing Dynasty, Leng is the leader of a secret assassination squad known as The Guillotines. He has six, well trained warriors working under him and they kill anyone who’s against their Emperor. Their latest mission is to hunt down Wolf, a rebel leader of The Herders. After a brutal showdown, the guillotine squad manages to capture Wolf, but he soon escapes while taking a female guillotine member as hostage. Accordingly, the stage is set for a bigger showdown. As Leng sets out with his squad,...

For the first time, all three of Tsui Hark’s (“The Taking of Tiger Mountain”) Detective Dee films are available in one awesome collection exclusively at Walmart on November 13. The bold and exciting smash hit wuxia fantasy franchise from master action director Tsui Hark tell the story of Detective Dee, one of the most celebrated officials of the Tang Dynasty, who is tasked by the Empress to solve a series of inexplicable murders and mysteries.

Included in the collection are “Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon” (Well Go USA), “Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame” (Shout Factory) and “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” (Well Go USA). The collection sells for $34.98 Srp.

Detective Dee And The Mystery Of The Phantom Flame (2010)

A bizarre mystery brings together the most powerful woman in China. The soon-to-be-Empress Wu Zetian (Carina Lau) and a formerly exiled detective, Dee Renjie...

China kicked off the New Year with a massive $200m hit delivered by The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes, but Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened soft.

Disney’s Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the first Hollywood blockbuster to arrive in 2018, but it was easily defeated by a large margin. Despite its worldwide success ($1.2bn worldwide so far), it took $30.9 from its three-day opening weekend, half of Star Wars: The Force Awakens and about 70% of Rogue One: A Star War Story which was released almost exactly one year ago.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi was the only new entry in the top 10 chart.

Instead The Ex-File 3 has become the first runaway success of 2018, garnering $167m in the first week (Jan 1-7). It’s almost on par with the second week earnings of last October’s National...

Based on the novel “Evil Minds: City Light” written by Lei Mi, “The Liquidator” is an action blockbuster in Hollywood style, which features some resemblance with “Seven” in a very interesting combination. Let us see what the film amounts to, though.

The Liquidator comes to UK cinemas starting January 5th, via CineAsia

A series of gruesome and ritualistic murders dichotomize public opinion, since the victims have all been subjected to media controversy, and the perpetrator has adopted the persona of the vigilante. Detective Nam, who is in charge of the case, soon finds herself out of her depth, and her boss advises her to ask the help of forensic psychologist expert Mu, a former associate of the police who has been discharged due to some controversy of his own. The two of them start hunting for evidence and eventually manage to narrow down the suspects significantly. Meanwhile, the murderer is...

Feng Xiaogang’s local hit fends off comedy The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes.

Source: Im Global

‘Youth’

As 2017 drew to a close, a wide variety of Chinese tentpoles led the last week of the year (Dec 25-31). Feng Xiaogang’s Youth, already in its third week, retained the overall No.1 position, while new release The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes ruled the weekend.

With almost overwhelming praise from Chinese audiences, Youth delivered a hat trick and added $51.3m. The bittersweet coming-of-age drama was exceptionally resilient as it bounced back to the second place on Sunday after dropping to the fifth on Friday. After 17 days, it has amassed $169.5m, making it the eighth highest grossing film in 2017. It has also overtaken 2013’s Personal Tailor to become Feng’s top grossing film.

Local romantic comedy The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes took the weekend but came in only...

Feng Xiaogang’s local hit fends off comedy The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes.

Source: Im Global

‘Youth’

As 2017 drew to a close, a wide variety of Chinese tentpoles led the last week of the year (Dec 25-31). Feng Xiaogang’s Youth, already in its third week, retained the overall No.1 position, while new release The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes ruled the weekend.

With almost overwhelming praise from Chinese audiences, Youth delivered a hat trick and added $51.3m. The bittersweet coming-of-age drama was exceptionally resilient as it bounced back to the second place on Sunday after dropping to the fifth on Friday. After 17 days, it has amassed $169.5m, making it the eighth highest grossing film in 2017. It has also overtaken 2013’s Personal Tailor to become Feng’s top grossing film.

Local romantic comedy The Ex-File: The Return Of The Exes took the weekend but came in only second overall with $42m from its first three...

The Liquidator is a new crime thriller from Mainland China that stars Deng Chao (The Mermaid), Ethan Juan (Monga) and Cecilia Liu (Brotherhood Of Blades).   A criminal psychologist and a forensic fingerprint expert work together to track down a serial killer who targets people who have been acquitted of notable crimes and uses their guilt as his modus operandi.   Thanks to Magnum Films, we have Five double passes for the film to give away to our readers.    For a chance to win, all you have to do is to follow these two steps:   1) Like the Magnum Film Facebook page, and   2) Email your name and postal address to me at: hugo[at]screenanarchy.com   The Liquidator will open in Australian cinemas...

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

There is a thrilling selection of Chinese-language titles at Filmart this year. Liz Shackleton picks out some of the most promising.

With very few Hong Kong or mainland Chinese sellers making the journey to this year’s European Film Market in Berlin, Filmart offers a chance for buyers to catch up with the Chinese-language titles that will be rolled out in the region for the rest of the year.

After serving up the biggest film of the Chinese New Year holiday — Kung Fu Yoga, starring Jackie Chan and directed by Stanley Tong — China’s Sparkle Roll Media has launched a Hong Kong-based sales arm that is selling Ding Sheng’s reboot of the A Better Tomorrow series.

Other high-profile action titles new to market include Distribution Workshop’s Extraordinary Mission, from the creative teams behind the Infernal Affairs and Overheard series, and Huayi Brothers’ crime drama Explosion, starring Duan Yihong.

Previously announced...

Romantic duo produced by China’s Huayi Brothers.

Im Global is launching sales on two Chinese romantic dramas at Filmart – New York, New York, starring Ethan Ruan and Du Juan, and Beautiful Accident, with Guey Lun-mei and Chen Kun. Both films are produced by Huayi Brothers.

Directed by Luo Dong, New York, New York revolves a hotel concierge and the girl he falls in love with who get caught up an American visa scam. The film is scheduled for release in China on April 15.

Directed by Wi Ding Ho (Pinoy Sunday), Beautiful Accident also stars Wang Jingchun and Ouyang Nana and is scheduled for Chinese release in summer 2016.

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) is launching sales on new titles from Yuen Woo-ping, Fruit Chan and Ho Yuhang at Filmart.

Yuen’s action film, titled Hand Over Fist, follows a cartoon artist who gets swept up in a feud between battling groups of martial arts masters.

Emp plans to start shooting the film at the end of the year. Yuen Woo-ping, fight choreographer on The Matrix and veteran director of Drunken Master (1978) and Iron Monkey (1993), recently directed martial arts sequel Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny.

Following suspense thriller Kill Time, Chan is directing Shining Moment, a drama revolving around a Latin dance competition, for Emp. The film, in post-production, stars Hins Cheung and Echo Hao.

Ho Yuhang is also in post on action title Mrs K, starring Kara Wai and Simon Yam, produced by Malaysia’s Red Films and Paperheart.

New titles on Emp’s slate also include Herman Yau’s horror...

Stars: Qi Shu, Chen Chang, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Shao-Huai Chang, Nikki Hsin-Ying Hsieh, Ethan Juan, Zhen Yu Lei, Fang Mei, Dahong Ni, Jacques Picoux, Fang-yi Sheu, Chun Shih, Mei Yong, Yun Zhou | Written by Hsiao-Hsien Hou, Hai-Meng Hsieh, Cheng Ah | Directed by Hsiao-Hsien Hou

“That man poisoned his father, he killed his own brother. His guilt condemns him.”

The Assassin, Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s painterly spell of a film, tells the tale of a too-merciful assassin tasked by her tutor with her own cousin’s murder. Nie Yinniang, portrayed with aching affect by Shu Qui, is a woman consummately skilled at an art the practice of which has broken her heart. She kills with balletic precision, opening the film with the understated murder of a corrupt government official as he rides in the countryside with his retinue. Even in the act of killing she projects a sense of listless melancholy, and...

Following the success of his thriller The Midnight After director Fruit Chan returns to dark territory with Kill Time, an upcoming crime thriller starring Angelababy and Ethan Juan.Mak stumbles onto an obscure website called Witch's Zone when looking for a copy of her dead father's favorite song. The mysterious website warns that only one purchase is allowed but Mak can't resist buying another mauve scarf. The scarf triggers her memories and becomes a vital clue in a mysterious murder.With the film now in post production the first images have started to trickle online. Check out a trio below!...

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

Hong Kong-based Celestial Tiger Entertainment (Cte) has renewed its exclusive, multi-year output deals with Hong Kong studios Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp), Mega-Vision Project Workshop (Mvpw) and Universe Entertainment.

Under the terms of the deals, Cte has secured first and exclusive pay-tv rights, as well as pay-per-view (PPV), video-on-demand (VOD) and over-the-top (Ott) rights, to each studio’s upcoming slate of movies for Cte’s Celestial Movies channel in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia.

Upcoming Emp productions include Heaven In The Dark, a drama reuniting Jacky Cheung and Karena Lam who both starred in July Rhapsody in 2002; Fruit Chan’s suspense thriller Kill Time, starring Ethan Ruan and Angelababy; and The Mobfathers, starring Anthony Wong and Chapman To.

Mvpw’s slate includes the third installment of blockbuster franchise From Vegas To Macau, which will star Andy Lau in addition to Chow Yun Fat and Nick Cheung. Mvpw is also in pre-production on The Invincible 12, which marks the 100th film from...

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) launched a 15-film slate at Filmart to commemorate its 15th anniversary.

The line-up includes titles such as Chapman To-directed and Herman Yau-produced The Mobfathers, Stanley Kwan-produced romantic drama Love In Sicily, Fruit Chan’s suspense thriller Kill Time and the new Yuen Wo-ping Project.

For The Mobfathers, the makers of Sara are collaborating again on a dark comedy set in the Hong Kong underworld where the five leading gangs are holding an election for the ruling boss.

For Love In Sicily, Lin Yu-Hsien (Jump Ashin!) directs Korean star Lee Jun-ki in a coming-of-age love story set in Shanghai and Italy.

Angelababy and Ethan Ruan star in Kill Time, a film about an obscure shopping website that leads to a vital clue in a mysterious murder.

Albert Lee is producing the Yuen Wo-ping Project, an as-yet-untitled comedy in which eccentric martial artists gather for an epochal kung-fu showdown...

Black Coal Thin Ice, Haider and Blind Massage also score multiple nominations.

Ann Hui’s The Golden Era leads the pack at the 9th Asian Film Awards with five nominations - but not one for best picture.

The life story of Xiao Hong, one of China’s most famous essayists and novelists, has secured nominations for best director, best actress (Tang Wei), best supporting actor (Wang Zhiwen), best screenwriter (Li Qiang) and best editor (Kwong Chi-leung, Manda Wai).

Best film nominations included Berlinale 2014 Golden Bear winner Black Coal Thin Ice and Blind Massage, which both secured four nominations each, as well as HaiderHill Of Freedom, The Light Shines Only There and Korean box office hit Ode To My Father.

Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets secured four nominations in the technical cateogies.

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in Macau’s Venetian Theatre on March 25, decided by a 14-person jury headed by Hong...

The Assassin

Director(s): Hou Hsiao-Hsien // Writer(s): Hou Hsiao-Hsien

T’ien-wen Chu Chinese auteur Hou Hsiao-Hsien has been steadily working since the early 1980’s, coming to great international acclaim in the 1990’s, winning the Jury Prize at Cannes for 1993’s The Puppermaster. His 1996 film Goodbye South, Goodbye was named by Cahiers du Cinema as one of the three best films of the 1990s, while his last completed feature was 2007’s Flight of the Red Balloon, starring Juliette Binoche. But it looks like, after years of waiting, 2015 will see the release of his martial arts epic, The Assassin. A project long in gestation, with initial scenes filming as way back as 2010, production on Hou Hsiao-Hsien casts his usual muse Shu Qi. Based on a short story, this about a female assassin during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) who begins to question her loyalties...

New films from Hal Hartley, James Franco, Gus Van Sant among lineup.

Eighteen features - including seven documentaries - have been selected for the Berlinale’s Panorama programme.

Among the selection are new films from Hal Hartley, Doze Niu Chen-Zer, Jk Youn and The Yes Men.

Hartley concludes his filmic trilogy with Ned Rifle while Justin Kelly’s Gus Van Sant-produced debut I Am Michael stars James Franco as a gay activist in the 1980s.

54: The Director’s Cut

USA

By Mark Christopher

With Ryan Phillippe, Salma Hayek, Mike Myers, Sela Ward, Mark Ruffalo

World premiere

Chorus

Canada

By François Delisle

With Sébastien Ricard, Fanny Mallette, Pierre Curzi, Geneviève Bujold

European premiere

Der letzte Sommer der Reichen (The Last Summer of the Rich)

Austria

By Peter Kern

With Amira Casar, Nicole Gerdon, Winfried Glatzeder

World premiere

Dora oder Die sexuellen Neurosen unserer Eltern (Dora or The Sexual Neuroses of Our Parents)

Switzerland / Germany

By Stina Werenfels...

The 19th Busan International Film Festival (Biff) opened with a star-studded red carpet and a conciliatory anti-war undercurrent to proceedings, which included the world premiere of Doze Niu Chen-Zer’s Paradise In Service.

Set in the late 1960s, the coming-of-age film looks through a young Taiwanese army recruit’s eyes at people dispersed and marked by two wars – one with the Japanese following their occupation of much of Asia and one with mainland China’s Communists in a conflict that was continuing into the Cold War.

Played by Ethan Juan, the recruit starts out in an elite squad of frogmen, but is kicked out to work in Unit 831 or “Paradise in Service”, a military brothel teeming with drama.

Director Niu and his film’s stars were on the red carpet with prominent guests including: New Currents jury head Asgar Farhadi; this year’s Asian Film Academy dean Bela Tarr; veteran director Im Kwon-taek with his Revivre stars Kim...

Hong Kong’s Emperor Motion Pictures (Emp) unveiled Dante Lam’s next directorial project, action romance To The Fore, at Filmart today.

Starring Eddie Peng and Ethan Juan, the film is a love story set against the backdrop of the competitive cycling world. Production is scheduled to start in the summer with filming to take place in Taiwan, China, Italy and Korea. The female lead of the film has yet to be cast.

Peng starred in Lam’s Unbeatable, a mixed martial arts-themed drama, which also featured a love story. Lam plans to repeat the combination of action and romance in To The Fore but is aiming for a much younger audience.

Juan’s credits include Andrew Lau’s The Guillotines and Doze Niu’s Taipei-set gangland drama Monga.

Lam’s last film, That Demon Within, premiered at the Berlin film festival and is screening as the closing film of the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Emp also...

The Assassin

Director: Hou Hsiao-Hsien

Writer: T’ien-wen Chu

Producer: Wen-Ying Huang

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Shu Qi, Chang Chen, Satoshi Tsumabuki, Ethan Ruan and Nikki Hsieh, with Ni Dahong, Zhang Shijun, Michael Chang, Jiang Wen, Zuo Xiaoqing, Xu Fan, Tadanobu Asano, Zhou Yunin

Flight of the Red Balloon broke Hou Hsiao-Hsien from his observational, paint-drying long aesthetic treatment and so when news first broke out many moons ago that the Taiwanese filmmaker would next make a martial arts film we naturally thought, this will be interesting. With muse actress Shu Qi toplining, the making of The Assassin might be deserving a film itself – the production (the first scenes were shot in 2010), which concluded in January lasted well over a year.

Gist: Based on a short story, this about a female assassin during the Tang Dynasty (618-907 A.D.) who begins to question her loyalties when...

Wielding decapitation-causing spinning blades that are hurled off the edges of swords and resemble a cross between Transformers weaponry (all whirling metal) and the deadly boomerang-thingy from Krull, The Guillotines prove formidable covert assassins in service to China's Qing dynasty until, alas, they're betrayed by the emperor while hunting for rebel leader Wolf (Xiaoming Huang). This treachery, which leaves Leng (Ethan Juan) and his Guillotine mates labeled traitors, stems from the emperor's desire to replace his sword-fighting killers with newfangled canons and firearms, a tradition-vs.-progress dynamic that's handled with maximum melodrama by director Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs). Full of look-at-me crane shots and slow-motion imagery of silent scream...

A secret brotherhood of assassins, The Guillotines, once favored by the Emperor, are now a force of terror and oppression under a new regime. Exiled to a remote village and hunted by a squad of fighters with firearms that challenge their cold steel, The Guillotines must now outwit and outfight enemies from both sides. Take a look at our exclusive clip, which finds armies coming together from all-sides to unleash their cannon ball fury on the The Guillotines, in select theaters this Friday, June 14th.

The Guillotines - Exclusive "Cannons"

The Guillotines was released June 14th, 2013 and stars Xiaoming Huang, Ching-Tien Juan, Purba Rgyal, Tian Gao, Yi Wei Zhou, Boran Jing, Peng Guo, Yuchun Li. The film is directed by Wai-keung Lau.

Andrew Lau’s Qing Dynasty-set action film “The Guillotines,” distributed by Well Go USA, is currently out on VOD and iTunes and will soon be hitting the theaters June 14. If you’re a huge fan of Lau’s films and are excited to see “The Guillotines” in theaters, you have come to the right post; ShockYa has an exclusive clip from the film, and you can take a look a it right below the post, along with the film’s trailer. Here’s more on “The Guillotines,” starring Zhang Wen, Xiaoming Huang, Shawn Yue, Yuchun Li, Ching-Tien Juan, Stephy Tang and Boran Jing: “A secret brotherhood of assassins – The Guillotines – once favored [ Read More ]

The post Watch Exclusive Clip from Andrew Lau’s The Guillotines on ShockYa! appeared first on Shockya.com.

The Well Go USA action adventure starring Zhang Wen and Xiaoming Huang, opens On Demand on May 14th, and hits theaters on June 14th. Also in the cast of Xue di zi are Shawn Yue, Yuchun Li, Ching-Tien Juan, Stephy Tang and Boran Jing. A secret brotherhood of assassins – The Guillotines – once favored by the Emperor, are now a force of terror and oppression under a new regime. Exiled to a remote village and hunted by a squad of fighters with firearms that challenge their cold steel, The Guillotines must now outwit and outfight enemies from both sides.

An incredibly unique sword is put on display in our exclusive poster for Well Go USA's The Guillotines, the latest from legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs). Xiaoming Huang, Ching-Tien Juan, and Purba Rgyal star in this period drama centering on an elite crime-fighting unit who protect the Chinese emperor from those who wish him harm. Check out this one-sheet that you won't find anywhere else, before this action-thriller debuts on iTunes and VOD formats May 14, ahead of its theatrical premiere on June 14.

The Guillotines comes to theaters June 14th, 2013 and stars Xiaoming Huang, Ching-Tien Juan, Purba Rgyal, Tian Gao, Yi Wei Zhou, Boran Jing, Peng Guo, Yuchun Li. The film is directed by Wai-keung Lau.

With Chinese period epics still continuing to fill cinemas, it’s no surprise that old school Shaw Brothers favourites are increasingly being brought back to screens, 1975 classic “The Flying Guillotine” now reappearing as “The Guillotines”. The film was produced by Peter Chan, who recently updated the Shaws’ “Blood Brothers” as “The Warlords”, this time allowing Andrew Lau of “Infernal Affairs” fame to take the director’s seat and with a big name pan-Chinese language cast headlined by Huang Xiaoming (“Ip Man 2”), rising Taiwanese star Ethan Ruan (“Monga”), Shawn Yue (“Motorway”), pop singer Chris Li (“Bodyguards and Assassins”), Jing Boran (“The Bullet Vanishes”) and Wen Zhang (“Love is Not Blind”). The guillotines of the title are a secret brotherhood of assassins controlled by Emperor Qian Long (Wen Zhang) during the Qing Dynasty, their name also referring to the fearsome decapitation weapon they wield. Charged with bringing down rebel leader and apparent...

This movie is really turning into a potential blockbuster. With “The Grandmaster” delayed until next year, “The Guillotines” is going to have some breathing room. Andrew Lau, like any director will have some hits and misses. He’s overdue for a hit, and hopefully this one will be it. An elite crime-fighting unit in the court of the Chinese emperor relies on flying swords to defeat their enemies. Starring Huang Xiaoming, Ethan Juan, Shawn Yue, Li Yuchun, and Boran Jing. Hong Kong gets it first later this year on December 20th,...