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The Aca & G.Ott Awards 2024 has confirmed actors Kang Ki-young and Tiffany Young as the hosts for this year’s award ceremony. Kang Ki-young has shown a remarkable spectrum of acting in content including Extraordinary Attorney Woo (2022), recipient of the Aca Best Content Award in 2022. Recently, he held the main role in Queen of Divorce (2024), which entered the Top 10 chart in six Asian countries in only two weeks. Tiffany Young is steadily solidifying her career as a multitalented actor across various content, including the series Reborn Rich (2022) and the musical Chicago‘s Korean run since 2023. She has been nominated for the Best Newcomer Actor (Female) category in the Aca & G.Ott Awards this year for her performance in Uncle Samsik.

[Left: Kang Ki-young; Right: Tiffany Young]

The main guest line-up includes eight talented actors who will be presenting awards this year. Actors Ryu Seung-ryong and Lee Jung Ha, whom each received the Best Lead Actor (Male...

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,...

The 28th edition of the Shanghai TV Festival wrapped up on Friday with its Magnolia Awards presented to a range of TV drama series, documentaries and animation programs. The drama awards were dominated by two shows “A Lifelong Journey” and “Bright Future.”

“A Lifelong Journey,” adapted from a novel of the same name by Liang Xiaosheng, tells the story of three generations of one family in China’s Northeast as time moves from the late Cultural Revolution period through to the country’s reform and opening up. With a starry cast and broadcasters including CCTV-1 and Jiangsu Satellite TV, the show is reported to have attracted 310 million viewers at the beginning of 2022. In mainland China, it ran for 58 episodes, while in Hong Kong it played in 35 parts.

“Bright Future” is a 24-part CCTV-1 political drama which tells the story of a local official who united his county.

Chinese sci-fi also shone at the awards.

3 March 2023 – “I feel that I have had some adventures with these pieces before recording them,” says Rafał Blechacz, whose latest album is a tribute to his compatriot Chopin. “I’m freer today regarding the use of tempo rubato, dynamic contrasts and emotional extremes, and maybe I’m braver with certain ideas. I didn’t want to wait any longer before going into the studio.”

Blechacz’s devotion to the art of Chopin predates his victory in the 2005 Warsaw International Chopin Piano Competition – when he became just the fourth Polish winner in its prestigious history. It has continued to deepen and mature over the years, underpinned by a desire to uncover fresh layers of expression and meaning. Rafał Blechacz – Chopin presents his insightful interpretations of Sonatas Nos. 2 and 3, among the most musically adventurous and technically demanding in the piano repertoire. It also includes two carefully chosen companion pieces: the Nocturne Op.

“Godzilla vs. Kong” was once again muscled out of the top China box office slot by local drama “Sister” thanks to a $13.2 million third weekend cume that was no match for the latter’s $21 million.

Its China tally was a touch less than its $13.4 million second weekend sales in North America. Though “Godzilla” is being hailed Stateside as the highest grossing film domestically since the pandemic began for its $69.5 million cume to date, that figure is less than half its earnings in China thus far.

The Legendary and Warner Bros. title has now grossed a total of $165 million in China since its March 26 release, with data from the Maoyan platform predicting that it will bow out with a final cume of $188 million. But whatever its final tally, China will certainly far and away end up its top market worldwide.

Even so, the monster movie was smacked down by “Sister,” the...

Fantasy adventure, which also stars Vivian Sung and Gingle Wang, is adapted from the director’s novel God Of Love.

Taiwanese director Giddens Ko is reuniting with actor Kai Ko in a new whimsical romance, Till We Meet Again, which is being positioned as a summer blockbuster by producer-distributor Machi Xcelsior Studios.

The film also stars popular actresses Vivian Sung (Our Times) and Gingle Wang (Detention). Kai Ko starred in Giddens Ko’s You Are The Apple Of My Eye, which was a huge hit in Taiwan and across the region in 2011.

Till We Meet Again is adapted by Ko,...

(Welcome to The Quarantine Stream, a new series where the /Film team shares what they’ve been watching while social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic.) The Movie: The Lighthouse Where You Can Stream It: Amazon Prime The Pitch: Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe play two lighthouse keepers who are stranded on the remote island during a storm, leading them to descend […]

The post The Quarantine Stream: ‘The Lighthouse’ is the Perfect Claustrophobic Cautionary Tale For Our Times appeared first on /Film.

A Voluntary YearAn easy bet to win is to wager that the first reel is any given movie is more interesting than its remaining minutes. This is because the field is open: the story frequently has yet to settle, the plot to develop, or the formal and aesthetic approach to be determined. The possibilities, for the audience, are seemingly endless: Where will this film go, what will it do, what shall I see and how shall I see it? As more minutes pass, the probabilities shrink, more things become less likely to happen; we begin to detect patterns, conventions, likelihoods. One sees boundaries around the imagination, and what can and can’t happen becomes palpable. Suddenly, without really being able to pinpoint when the transition occurs, something full of promise becomes a picture like any other—and possibly worse. Rarer are the films that through a kind of narrative permeability...

International players’ ambitions to turn Taiwan into a center for Mandarin-language productions might have given new hope to the island’s struggling filmmakers, but local observers say there is still a long way to go to reinvigorate its film industry.

Industry practitioners and critics say that although networks such as Fox, HBO and Netflix will give Taiwanese talents more international exposure and raise the standards of production, it is more likely to benefit genre filmmakers only. Arthouse filmmakers will have to look elsewhere.

In the decade since the wild success of “Cape No.7” in 2008, Taiwanese films have yet to find a way to sustain the box office miracle set by the acclaimed romantic drama. There have been occasional hits, such as “You Are the Apple of My Eye” (2011), “Our Times” (2015) and 2018’s box office winner “More Than Blues,” which was among the four Taiwanese films showcased at the recent Far East Film Festival in Udine,...

Beijing and Amsterdam-based sales agent also adds Super Me, exec produced by the Russo Brothers, to its Cannes slate.

Fortissimo Films is launching sales in Cannes on Ann Hui’s latest drama, Love After Love, an adaptation of a short story by Eileen Chang.

Based on the story Aloeswood Incense, published in Chang’s Love In A Fallen City collection, the film follows a young woman who moves from Shanghai to Hong Kong in search of an education. However, she ends up working for her aunt by luring rich and powerful men and is forced into a loveless marriage with a playboy.

The film’s Chinese title literally means ’A Story Sadder Than Sadness’.

Taiwanese romantic drama More Than Blue knocked Captain Marvel off the top spot at the Chinese box office in the seven-day period of March 11 -17 .

With a Chinese title which literally means ‘A Story Sadder Than Sadness’ the melodrama about a terminally ill man who hides his conditon from his girlfriend has grossed $47.3m since opening on Thursday March 14. It is is expected to surpass 2015’s Our Times to become the biggest Taiwanese film in China of all time.

More Than Blue is Singapore-based mm2’s first wide release in China.

Lunar New Year holiday season helped to propel titles including The Wandering Earth and Alita: Battle Angel

February 2019 was the biggest month in history at the Chinese box office as ticket sales crossed $1.6bn (RMB10.75bn) propelled by Chinese New Year releases. This makes it the highest-grossing month in a single market anywhere in the world ever.

It is the second time the Chinese box office has broken such a world record following February 2018.

Chinese New Year holdover The Wandering Earth retained the weekly crown for the period February 18-24, adding $80.6m for $620.4m after 20 days.

Over the three-day weekend (February 22-24), however,...

Frant Gwo’s big-budget sci-fi has dominated Chinese New Year period.

After the end of the prime Chinese New Year holidays, the Chinese box office began to cool down with a 45% week-on-week contraction in the week of Feb 11-17. But the good news is the ticket sales in February are set to top the figures in the same month last year, which held the world record for the biggest single month in a single market.

While the Chinese New Year titles still dominated the box office with the top three positions remained unchanged from the week before, the new releases...

The first trailer for Take Me to the Moon stars Vivian Sung (Our Times) and Jasper Liu and looks to be a potentially delightful high school romance.  Set in Taiwan and directed by Chung-yi Hsieh, the film is inspired by the song "Take Me to the Moon," a classic by Taiwanese singer Tom Chang, according to ScreenDaily. The story revolves around six friends who are in a band together during high school. After they graduate, they go their separate ways until a 10-year reunion. But then one of them is "suddenly transported back to 1997" and "given the chance to change everyone's fate."  Take Me to the Moon will open in Taiwan on December 1 and in Hong Kong via Edko Films on December 7....

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

Railroad Tigers Arrives on Blu-ray and DVD June 20th From Well Go USA Entertainment

Hong Kong’s cheeky, lovable and best-known film star Jackie Chan (Rush Hour franchise) reunites with Director Ding Sheng (Little Big Soldier) for a third time withRAILROAD Tigers, debuting on digital May 9 and on Blu-ray™/DVD Combo Pack and DVD June 20from Well Go USA Entertainment. With his patented blend of martial arts action and comedy, Chan plays a railroad worker in 1941 China who leads a team of freedom fighters against the Japanese in order to get food for the poor. The action-packed Railroad Tigers also stars Huang Zitao (Edge of Innocence), Jackie Chan’s son Jaycee Chan (1911), Wang Kai (The Golden Era), Hiroyuki Ikeuchi (Ip Man), Ping Sang (Saving Mr. Wu), Alan Ng (Young Bruce Lee) and Darren Wang (Our Times). Railroad Tigers comes loaded with bonus materials, including five behind-the-scenes featurettes that highlight “The Characters,...

Sparkle Roll Media, the newly launched sales arm of Jackie Chan's global film and TV company, has secured distribution deals in South Korea (Kidarient Corp) and Singapore (Clover Film) for A Better Tomorrow 4, the remake of the John Woo’s classic of the same title.

Directed by Ding Sheng (Railroad Tigers, Saving Mr. Wu, Little Big Soldier), A Better Tomorrow 4 co-stars Wang Kai (Railroad Tigers), Ray Ma (Ice Fantasy) and Talu Wang (Railroad Tigers, Our Times). The film is produced by Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism Co.

A Better Tomorrow 4 follows the journey of a former smuggler attempting...

Exclusive: Wang Kai-starring feature sells to South Korea, Singapore.

Jackie Chan’s new international sales outfit, Sparkle Roll Media, has clinched two early pre-sales on Ding Sheng’s A Better Tomorrow 4, selling the film to Kidarient Corp for South Korea and Clover Films for Singapore.

The reboot of John Woo’s iconic heroic bloodshed series stars Wang Kai (Railroad Tigers), Ray Ma (Ice Fantasy) and Talu Wang (Railroad Tigers, Our Times). It traces the journey of a former smuggler attempting to start his life anew and repair his relationship with his estranged brother after his release from prison.

Produced by Beijing Jingxi Culture & Tourism Co, the film is currently in post-production for a year-end release. Sparkle Roll is showing a new promo and artwork here in Cannes.

Sparkle Roll’s Cannes slate also includes documentary Jackie Chan: Down To Earth, which traces five decades of Chan’s career and features filmmakers and stars such as...

Queen Elizabeth II is the United Kingdom's longest-reigning British monarch, but we can't help but wonder who will take on the crown after her. If she were to abdicate (give up the royal throne), retire, or pass away, her eldest son Prince Charles would become king - making him the oldest heir to accede to the British throne. Of course, he also has the option to immediately pass the crown on to his oldest son, Prince William, who is second in line to the throne, followed by William's two children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte. Even though Elizabeth II recently celebrated her 90th birthday, it appears she isn't ready to give up her royal title quite yet. Sarah Bradford, the author of Queen Elizabeth II: Her Life in Our Times, revealed that she's never even contemplated abdication, adding, "The queen simply feels she must do her duty." RelatedThe Queen's...

Exclusive: Company’s titles include a Cheng Wei Hao crime thriller and a drama exec produced by Hou Hsiao Hsien.

MandarinVision has brought a new slate of titles from Taiwan to Hong Kong Filmart, including crime thriller Who Killed Cock Robin, which reunites The Tag Along [pictured] director Cheng Wei Hao with his actress Hsu Wei Ning.

The new film, also starring Kaiser Chuang, Ko Chia Yen and Christopher Lee, is about an enthusiastic journalist’s investigation into a long-forgotten hit-and-run accident. It will open on March 31 in Taiwan.

Also on the company’s slate are Huang Xi’s Missing Johnny, a relationship drama executive produced by Hou Hsiao Hsien, and Huang A Yao’s The Great Buddha+, executive produced by Godspeed director Chung Mong Hong, a dark comedy about a security guard who unleashes a chaotic chain reaction after watching the private videos of his boss. Both debut features are in post-production.

The Taiwan-based...

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...

Jackie Chan’s “Railroad Tigers” bowed into theaters this weekend, grossing $127,600 from just 42 theaters. Well Go USA’s film averaged around $3,038 from each location. “Railroad Tigers” is set in 1941, with Chan starring as railroad worker Ma Yuan, who leads a team of fearless fighters to stop the Japanese war effort. The film stars Huang Zitao (“Edge of Innocence”), Wang Kai (“Nirvana in Fire”) and Darren Wang (“Our Times”). Also Read: Jackie Chan Film 'Railroad Tigers' Picked Up by Well Go USA This weekend also marked the second run for A24’s “20th Century Women,” which took in $142,824 from 10 screens,...

Who said average Joes can’t achiever great things? Certainly not the team behind the upcoming film Railroad Tigers! The producers recently released a teaser trailer for the action comedy caper. It features a ragtag team composed of a head porter, an amateur tailor, a noodle shop owner, a wounded soldier, a thug, and a railway intern all coming together to fight an entire army using only their wits.

Railroad Tigers boasts a whopping $50 million budget and a star-studded cast led by no less than newly-minted Academy Award winner Jackie Chan. Chan plays Ma Yuan, a railroad porter who leads the ragtag group of freedom fighters to defeat the Japanese. Unarmed and outnumbered, Yuan and his team vow to outsmart, outplay and outclass the enemy…all in the noble goal of providing for the poor.

This film is Jackie Chan and director Ding Shang’s third collaboration. They have previously...

Well Go USA Entertainment have acquired the distribution rights to Jackie Chan’s latest martial arts action comedy “Railroad Tigers”.

The tentative release will be on December with further details to be announced at a later date. This will coincide with the the film’s opening in Chinese theaters. RailRoad Tigers is directed by Ding Sheng, who also directed Jackie in Police Story: Lockdown and Little Big Soldier.

Alongside Jackie Chan, the film also stars Darren Wang (Our Times), Wang Kai (Nirvana In Fire) and Huang Zitao (Edge of Innocence)

Railroad Tigers

Set in the 1941, “Railroad Tigers” is about the Chinese heroes of World War II. Chan stars as Ma Yuan, a railroad worker and unlikely hero. He uses what he knows of the train network to steal supplies for the hungry Chinese. He leads a team of fighters in ambushing enemy soldiers and stopping the Japanese.

The latest martial...

The biggest European film festival excludsively dealing with Asian cinema will open on Friday the 22nd of April with the South Korean blockbuster “The Tiger” and close with the Hong Kong thriller “The Bodyguard” on Saturday the 30th with the presence of the legendary Sammo Hung. Legendary director Johnnie To and composer Lim Giong will also attend.

The festival will feature 72 films in the official selection (5 world premieres) a retrospective of Japanese science fiction, the restored 4K versions of four Bruce Lee masterpieces and over 100 events organized around the city.

The line up of 2016 includes the followings:

Competition Section

China (10)

Chongqing Hot Pot, Yang Qing, crime-action- hipster noir, China 2016, European Premiere

The Dead End, Cao Baoping, cop-loves-cop thriller, China 2015, European Premiere

Destiny, Zhang Wei, human drama, China 2016, World Premiere

The Left Ear, Alec Su, youth drama, China 2015, European Premiere

Lost in Hong Kong, Xu Zheng, clash of cultures comedy, China 2015, International Festival Premiere

The Master,...

The 18th Feff will feature 50 titles in competition, including Lost In Hong Kong, Mojin: The Lost Legend and Ip Man 3, as well as a new Focus Asia market.Scroll down for full programme

The Udine Far East Film Festival (Feff) has revealed the programme for its 18th edition (April 22-30), featuring a myriad of high-profile Asian titles from the past year.

The event will close with the European premiere of director and actor Sammo Hung’s latest feature, The Bodyguard [pictured], with Hung due to be in attendance.

Hung’s appearance marks the second year in a row that the festival has played host to a Hong Kong film icon, after Jackie Chan attended last year’s edition.

The Bodyguard (also known as My Beloved Bodyguard) has grossed close to $50m since its release in China on April 1. The film stars Sammo Hung as a retired bodyguard who strikes up an unlikely friendship with a young girl.

The...

Exclusive: Singapore distributor Encore Films is making its first foray into production with the debut of Young & Fabulous at Hong Kong Filmart.

Billed as Singapore’s first cosplay film, the $1.5m feature is a coming-of-age story about a group of teenage friends. The cast is headed by Joshua Tan of Ah Boys To Men fame and YouTube star and singer Joyce Chu in her acting debut.

It is directed by veteran TV producer and director Michael Woo, who previously co-directed One More Chance with Jack Neo. The original score is composed by Taiwan’s JerryC, known for his hit theme song for Taiwan blockbuster Our Times.

Young & Fabulous is mainly financed by Encore and also backed by Golden Village Pictures, Singapore Film Commission and Simf Management. Singapore release is set for May 26.

Encore started off as a distributor in Singapore 13 years ago and has since expanded its distribution business to countries including Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong...

In 2015, Australian distributor Magnum Films has had a phenomenal year, releasing one hit film after another. Some of the highlights included Monster Hunt and Lost In Hong Kong, the 2 biggest films in Chinese box office history; Our Times, the number 1 box office hit in Taiwan in 2015; and 12 Golden Ducks and Triumph In The Skies, both big commercial hits in Hong Kong. "Magnum Films has had an unprecedented successful year of box office-breaking Asian releases. Thanks to the growing support for Asian films, Magnum Films will continue to bring in more great Asian titles for Australian/Nz/UK/North American fans and hope they will enjoy our selections," the distributor told Twitch Film.Magnum Films has been most generous in giving us movie tickets to run...

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

Posting more than 48% growth from the same period last year, China’s box office has hit 40B yuan ($6.25B). A record, it was set Thursday night as films like The Martian ($62M) and local title Our Times ($48M) continue their runs. Unsurprisingly, locally produced movies have accounted for more than 59% of the year-to-date take (23.7B yuan/$3.7B), according to state authority Sapprft. Comparatively, the 2014 total box office was 29.6B yuan ($4.6B) Domestic Chinese numbers…...

Lionsgate and the world.s exhibitors were probably betting that nearly everyone who saw The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 1 would roll up to the finale.

How wrong they were -- and by a long shot. In Australia the finale of the franchise based on Suzanne Collins. novels rang up $9.8 million on 624 screens. That.s $2 million less than the debut of part 1 and Catching Fire.s $12.5 million opening in 2013.

Some exhibitors were theorizing that the Francis Lawrence-directed action fantasy was impacted by going against the second weekend of Spectre. That may be so although the Bond film plunged by 52 per cent to $5.4 million, scoring $20.6 million so far.

Another possible explanation is that some cinemagoers were so let down by part 1 they had no desire to see how the story ended. Or maybe it.s just that part 2 is bleak, too long and lacking the excitement and thrills of earlier editions.

Thanks to Australian distributor Magnum Films, we have Five double passes for Our Times to give away to our readers. This smash hit romantic comedy has taken Taiwan and Hong Kong by storm and drawn comparisons with 2011's Taiwanese blockbuster You Are The Apple Of My Eye.  For a chance to win, all you have to do is to follow these two steps:1) Like the Magnum Film Facebook page, and2) Email your name and postal address to me at: hugo[at]twitchfilm.netOur Times will open in Australian cinemas on November 19, and this competition will close at 3pm on November 17. -- Good luck!...

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

Our Times

Directed by Yu Shan Chen

Screenplay by Yung-Ting Tseng

Taiwan, 2015

Our Times is a Taiwanese comedy/romance film directed by Yu Shan Chen (Frankie Chen). The film is a sweet as honey coming of age story that will appeal to those with a love of the standard will they or won’t they rom-coms, schmaltzy drama, and slapstick humour as well as those who get a kick out of 90’s nostalgia.

Truly Lin (Joe Chen) is a sad-sack 30-something, suffering through the doldrums of life in Taipei. Truly has an unfulfilling yet demanding job, gets ragged on by her underlings, and her boyfriend is a dick. Just as the audience starts to fully grasp Truly’s lowly existence, Our Times flashes back to her high-school life in the 90’s (where Truly is played by Vivian Sung). As a high-school student, Truly is young, vibrant, and bristling with enthusiasm...