News

It may seem hot and summery, but it’s now less than 100 days until Halloween, and Arrow Video is ushering in the season with a formidable slate of genre releases. October’s drop features a high-concept comic book adaptation, a punk-fuelled zombie cult hit, two trailblazing Asian horror anthologies, an apocalyptic Carpenter classic and a ferocious revenge thriller from the heart of 1980s New York.

Leading the pack is Spawn, newly restored in 4K and arriving in Limited Edition Uhd and Blu-ray formats. The 1997 adaptation of Todd McFarlane’s comic book casts Michael Jai White as a betrayed Black Ops assassin reborn as a hell-bound antihero. Directed by Mark A.Z. Dippé and produced by the teams behind Blade and The Crow, Spawn returns with both its Theatrical and Director’s Cuts, alongside new interviews, featurettes and collector’s packaging.

Dan O’Bannon’s cult classic The Return of the Living Dead also receives the 4K treatment.

Netflix, Cartoon Network and Crunchyroll will lead the entertainment lineup at Lucca Comics & Games 2025, the international pop culture festival, which returns to the Tuscan city for this year’s event, running Oct. 29-Nov. 2.

Netflix will spotlight the fifth and final season of Stranger Things with a special event at Lucca on Oct. 31, ahead of the show’s multi-part release starting in late November. Cartoon Network will unveil The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, an interactive pavilion experience inspired by Ben Bocquelet’s cult animated series, which has been revived for a final, seventh season, that will premiere on Hulu and Cartoon Network International. Crunchyroll will return to Lucca with a dedicated anime space featuring screenings, previews, and exclusive merchandise.

Headline’s Lucca’s video game section this year will be Japan’s Kojima Productions, presenting Hideo Kojima’s Death Stranding 2: On The Beach. Fellow Japanese game designer Keiichiro Toyama,...

by Vu Luu

This review may contain spoilers.

A burglar’s life takes an unexpected turn when he stumbles upon a plaster statue of a woman. A special connection develops between the burglar and the elderly homeowner, who fervently asks the burglar to end his life to reunite with his deceased wife for eternity. This is the premise of “Bury Us in a Lone Desert“. Directed by Nguyễn Lê Hoàng Phúc, the 62-minute Vietnamese film competed at the Tiger Short Competition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) in 2025. The 31-year-old editor-turned-filmmaker brings a bittersweet and quirky experience in which familiar genre elements are woven into an original drama.

Bury Us in A Lone Desert screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam

There aren’t many ups and downs to the narrative, apart from the fateful confrontation between the lowlife burglar (played by Psycho Neo) and the elderly homeowner (played by Lưu Đức Cường). The homeowner,...

Despite the challenges currently faced by the Hong Kong film industry, a wave of new filmmakers has emerged in recent years. Backed by government funding and the mentoring of experienced local producers and directors, these talents have seen encouraging box office results at home as well as festival play and some commercial success overseas.

Unlike Hong Kong’s previous generation of filmmakers, which specialized in crime thrillers and martial arts action movies, these younger directors tend to work with much smaller budgets and focus on realistic characters and social issues relevant to their hometown of Hong Kong. Few of these filmmakers are aiming for mainland Chinese audiences, due to the high costs, cultural differences and censorship issues that complicate releasing films in that market.

For nearly two decades now, the Hong Kong Film Development Council (Hkfdc) has provided a range of funding programmes to support local filmmakers, including the Film Production Financing Scheme,...

Get ready for an exciting celebration of Asian cinema! Besides the awards ceremony, the 18th Asian Film Awards presents a series of special programmes, including Asian Cinerama, Masterclasses, and the In Conversation series.

A Palette of Cinematic Delights — Asian Cinerama

The Asian Film Cinerama will present a selection of nominated films and special screenings, with filmmakers and actors participating in post-screening Q&As to share their creative journeys. Last year, screenings were a full house, with prominent filmmakers including Japanese master Hirokazu Koreeda, Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanaga, and China’s award-winning actress Jiang Qinqin discussing their filmmaking experiences. This year, top international filmmakers will return, giving audiences the chance to enjoy the best of Asian cinema on the big screen.

Inspiration from the Legend — Masterclass

Film enthusiasts can attend masterclasses hosted by the biggest names in Asian cinema, diving into the art and philosophy of filmmaking. Last year, the...

Stars: Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah, Bai Ling, Lee Byung-hun, Kyōko Hasegawa | Directed by Fruit Chan, Park Chan-wook, Takashi Miike

In 2002, the horror anthology film Three was released, consisting of three horror tales from East Asian countries. The film received accolades and a sequel, which was released two-years-later in the form of Three… Extremes. The anthology follow-up collected three more horror tales from different directors, and was successful enough in the United States that its predecessor received a stateside release. Strangely enough, Three was repackaged to Western audiences as a sequel entitled Three… Extremes II.

Opening up this anthology is Dumplings, the Hong Kong entry from director Fruit Chan. Arriving at a house is Mrs. Li (Miriam Yeung Chin-Wah), a formerly well-known actress who wishes to get dumplings sold by Mei (Bai Ling). They are considered the most expensive for a good reason, as the dumplings miraculously make the eater look younger.

Mainland Chinese actor Max Zhang Jin is no stranger to martial arts movies. He started his film career in “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000) as a stunt double. Although Zhang later won the Best Supporting Actor award for his role in “The Grandmaster” (2014), he became best known as Zhang Tin Chi in “Master Z: The Ip Man Legacy” (2018), the Ip Man film series spin-off. More films followed, like the odd Hollywood production “Escape Plan: The Extractors”, Fruit Chan’s “The Invincible Dragon” and Mainland’s “Wolf Pack”, but they still failed to make him a major star.

Set in the Ming Dynasty in Chang’an city, “The Wild Blade of Strangers”, from the streaming service iQIYI sees Zhang having a go in a wuxia adventure and wielding a huge blade. The power hungry Prince of Qi has seized the throne after killing the Crown Prince. Since the deceased prince has a...

The star plays a middle-aged TV host who signs up for a drug to generate a replicant of her younger self in French director Coralie Fargeat’s blood-soaked satire

The female body is a horror movie waiting to happen. From puberty and the grisly onset of menstruation, in pictures such as Brian De Palma’s Carrie and John Fawcett’s Ginger Snaps, to pregnancy and childbirth – Rosemary’s Baby is the obvious example – women have provided a rich seam of inspiration for genre film-makers over the past half century. But look a little closer and two trends become apparent: the vast majority of female body-based horror deals with various aspects of the reproductive system, and it has largely been made by men. And this is part of what makes French director Coralie Fargeat’s gut-churningly visceral second feature so refreshing: The Substance not only offers a female perspective on women’s bodies,...

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...

mm2 Studios Hong Kong has picked up worldwide rights to Riley Yip’s directorial feature debut Blossoms Under Somewhere, a coming-of-age drama produced by acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Fruit Chan.

The project is backed by the Hong Kong Film Development Council through the First Feature Film Initiative. It is the same fund that supported mm2’s previous acquisition, Nick Cheuk’s 2023 feature Time Still Turns The Pages, which won wide acclaim including best new director prizes at the Golden Horse Awards, Asian Film Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards.

Marf Yau from girl band Collar and newcomer Sheena Chan head...

You can never underestimate the power of hearsay. Sometimes, something sounding like it could be true is enough to convince people that it must be. And while this phenomenon can have disastrous real-world consequences when applied to science and politics, it’s also responsible for some memorable instances of collective storytelling.

From hook-handed murderers to gerbils becoming stuck inside famous actors, urban legends are the modern equivalent to ancient campfire stories about werewolves and vampires – which is why it makes sense that they’ve inspired some of most beloved genre films. And with so many of these allegedly “true” stories to choose from, we’ve decided to come up with a list highlighting six of the most underrated movies based on urban legends.

Naturally, we’ll be shying away from more popular films like Candyman and Jamie Blanks’ Urban Legend, but don’t forget to comment below with your own...

This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres.

Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

The closing film is the Asian premiere of “All the Long Nights,” directed by Miyake Sho and starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which also premiered in Berlin. Variety’s review of “Nights” called it “gently luminous.”

Chinese-language films selected for the Firebird competition include: “Borrowed Time,” “Brief History of a Family,” “Carefree Days,” Fresh off Markham,” “A Journey in Spring,” “Snow in Midsummer,” “Some Rain Must Fall” and “A Song Sung Blue.”

Foreign films for the Firebird competition’s other section include: “Arcadia,” “Arni,” “Ivo,” “Pepe,” “Sons,” “Sujo,” “The Tenants” and “Who Do I Belong to.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.

Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.

Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.

Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...

Ray Yeung’s All Shall Be Well has been set as the opening film of the 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which has unveiled its full lineup today.

It will mark the Asian premiere of the Hong Kong feature, which debuted in the Panorama strand of the Berlinale last month and won the Teddy Award. Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, it centres on a lesbian couple in their twilight years. After one of them dies, the other struggles to retain both her dignity and the home they shared for more than 30 years.

Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights,...

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will feature a masterclass and career retrospective of UK-Irish writer and director Martin McDonagh.

All of McDonagh’s films will be screened at the festival, including his two Venice film festival best screenplay winners: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri and The Banshees Of Inisherin.

Starting his career as a playwright, McDonagh later moved into cinema with short film Six Shooter, which won an Oscar and set the tone for his subsequent works, which are known for dark humour, witty dialogues and escalating absurdity. His debut feature, In Bruges, starring Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson as Irish hitmen, premiered at Sundance Film Festival.

After moving to Hollywood, McDonagh made crime drama Seven Psychopaths, in which a writer’s block is transformed into grim comedy; and Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which won Frances McDormand a Best Actress Oscar. His most recent film The Banshees Of Inisherin,...

Awards Jamboree

The Asian Film Awards Academy has revealed several events around the annual Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. Veteran filmmakers, jury president of this year’s awards, Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Hong Kong’s Fruit Chan, will share their filmmaking experiences and artistic concepts in a joint masterclass. Thai star Metawin Opas-Iamkajorn (“2gether” series and film) known as Win, will be honored with the Afa Rising Star Award and the event will host the world premiere of his new film “Under Parallel Skies.”

There will also be six themed panel discussions featuring actors Wan Fang (Taiwan), Rachel Leung and Yoyo Tse (both Hong Kong), Tergel Bold-Erdene (Mongolia), Awat Ratanapintha (Thailand) and Shirata Mihaya (Japan). The discussions will also include filmmakers Nick Cheuk, Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, Dominic Sangma, Oscar-winning production designer Tim Yip, production and costume designers Eric Lam, Man Lim Chung, Mitsumatsu Keiko, Elaine Ng, Zhang Menglun, editors Keith Chan Hiu Chun,...

Ripe Fruit

Fruit Chan has been named as the filmmaker in focus at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (March 28-April 8). The maverick director will be honored with a commemorative book, a face-to-face interview and the screening of ten of his movies. These include: 1997’s “Made in Hong Kong,” 1998’s “The Longest Summer,” 1999’s “Little Cheung,” 2000’s “Durian Durian,” 2001’s “Hollywood Hong Kong,” 2002’s “Public Toilet,” 2004 “Dumplings,” 2014’s “The Midnight After,” 2015’s “My City” and 2018’s “Three Husbands.”

Pyramid Scheme

Singapore-based VFX company Vividthree has signed a non-binding term sheet with China’s Metavision International, a company that specializes in location-based experiences, to explore a stock swap and an investment in the company’s Tmp Immersive Expedition Center in Chengdu, China.

The center, which opens to the public on Friday, will host exhibitions and virtual reality experiences that showcase the wonder of travel and exploration. The first exhibition...

The title of Fruit Chan’s Made in Hong Kong cheekily references a phrase you might have seen printed on the packaging for an action figure way back in 1997, the year of the film’s original release. But it also refers to the young, wannabe triad member with the unlikely name of Autumn Moon (Sam Lee), as well as to the production circumstances of the film itself. Its declarative label is somewhat excessive, though, as there’s no mistaking where and when Moon’s misadventures take place: Chan’s quirky, gangster-adjacent flick, so infused with washed-out and blue-filtered imagery, presents a portrait of Hong Kong that bears more than a passing resemblance to Wong Kar-wai and Christopher Doyle’s early collaborations.

From its handheld shots racing through open-air markets, to its use of expressionistic step-printed slow motion, to the way its perspectives on the city take inspiration from the cramped...

Singapore's Bugis Street was renown in the 1950s-1980s for its night gathering of transgender persons, making it one of Singapore's top tourist destinations during that period.In the mid 1980's, Bugis Street went under major urban redevelopment into a modern shopping complex, as well as the construction of a subway station, which ended the area's prior nightlife for transgender persons. Yonfan came up with a movie that celebrated this bygone era and colorful aspect of Singapore, which became a minor hit at the box office, despite the sexually explicit R(A)Rating due to male full frontal nudity. In 2015, the restored version of the film was presented at the 26th Singapore International Film Festival as Bugis Street Redux at 103 minutes while a new restoration is screening this year in Venice at 4K and at 98 minutes.

“Bugis Street” is screening in Venice International Film Festival

The movie sets the tone from the beginning,...

Ah Ying.On a recent flight back home to Hong Kong, I was browsing a playlist of “Hong Kong Classics” on the inflight entertainment. Expecting the same old Jackie Chan martial arts films or neon-drenched melancholia by Wong Kar-wai, I was surprised to see Ah Ying (1983) on the list; after all, it is not a popular film internationally, even though it did garner critical attention in Hong Kong for taking home the 1984 Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Editing. Unlike the regular commercially successful hot-blooded action films or postmodern and nostalgic arthouse films, Ah Ying is at the other end of the spectrum of Hong Kong cinema, quietly documenting facets of histories we very often omit to make space for more memorable, grand narratives of Hong Kong.Ah Ying revolves around the real-life story of its lead actress, Hui So-ying (playing Ah Ying), who divides...

Join Focus Hong Kong, the only UK film festival dedicated to celebra7ng the amazing cinema and filmmakers of Hong Kong, at The Garden Cinema in London on Saturday 24 June to experience two classics of contemporary Hong Kong cinema on the big screen. Going beyond the usual representations of Hong Kong productions via older genre cinema, the programme features two very different but equally fascina7ng and authentic looks at Hong Kong since the 1997 Handover, including Leung Ming-kai and Kate Reilly's Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down, an anthology mixing the personal and the political through four gently provocative stories of everyday people, and Fruit Chan's searing 1997 masterpiece Made in Hong Kong, a shocking, violent look at Handover-era Hong Kong youth.

Tickets are on sale now: https://focushongkong.uk/strand/june-2023/

Memories to Choke On, Drinks to Wash Them Down features four stories, which show how fiction and fact,...

Hong Kong’s Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) on Thursday unveiled a rich, 28-title selection for its forthcoming 21st edition, featuring promising projects in development from Singaporean Camera d’Or winner Anthony Chen, maverick Hong Kong director Fruit Chan, rising Thai talent Jakrawal Nilthamrong and veteran festival ringmaster Marco Mueller, among many others. Haf is returning in 2023 for its first in-person forum since 2019, following three consecutive online editions during the coronavirus pandemic.

As per usual, the event will be held March 13–15 in tandem with the 27th Hong Kong Film & TV Market (aka Filmart), which runs March 13-16.

Of the 28 titles picked from 244 submissions spanning 38 countries and territories, Haf says half are from first-time filmmakers and eight are Chinese-language projects developed at recent editions of the Haf Film Lab mentorship program. The selection spans a broad range of genres, including arthouse drama, horror, fantasy, romance, animation and family films.

Chen, director...

Film projects involving Anthony Chen, Fruit Chan, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Marco Mueller and Zhang Lu adorn the lineup of the upcoming Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum project market.

The 21st edition of the market will be held as an in-person event for the first time after a hiatus that forced Haf into a digital-only format for the past three years. It will operate March 13 – 15 alongside the 27th Hong Kong Film & TV Market (FilMart), March 13-16.

From 244 submissions, Haf organizers selected 28 in-development projects for this year’s market. Of these, half are by prospective first-time directors. Eight of the 28 are Chinese-language projects developed by young filmmakers at recent editions of the Haf Film Lab coaching program.

Organizers will announce a further list of work-in-progress projects, after the Chinese New Year holidays later this month.

Chen, director of “Ilo Ilo” and “Wet Season,” is attached as producer of two Haf entries. With Xie Meng,...

The selection will be showcased at the first physical Haf since 2019.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs) has announced 28 in-development projects for the 21st Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf), which is set to return as an in-person event for the first time since 2019.

The projects span horror, fantasy, romance, family drama and animation, and include seven from Hong Kong, eight from Haf Film Lab and 14 directorial debuts. There are also projects from acclaimed filmmakers and producers such as Arsalan Amiri, Anthony Chen, Fruit Chan, Jakrawal Nilthamrong, Lin Yu-Hsien, Nai An, Nader Saeivar, Teddy Robin and Tian Zhuangzhuang.

While other parts of Asia have been making horror movies for decades, Vietnam had a late start. Tales of non-war horror didn’t really begin to crop up until after the 20th century. Since then, Vietnam has been trying to catch up. There is indeed a learning curve to consider when watching V-horror; it’s a fairly new genre for many filmmakers. But as someone watches Screambox‘s latest acquisition, the aptly titled and now streaming Vietnamese Horror Story, it’s evident that Vietnam has a lot to offer in terms of unique cultural frights and thrills. Vietnamese Horror Story (Chuyện Ma Gần Nhà) uses not only a familiar format, but also a digestible one; Trần Hữu Tấn‘s movie is an anthology. The first of its kind in Vietnam.

In Vietnamese Horror Story, a group of friends shares ghost stories when the power goes out during a rainy night.

Funding schemes will support co-productions and streaming content.

Hong Kong has launched two film funding schemes to support co-productions with Asia and develop streaming content in a bid to take the local film industry to new heights.

The Hong Kong Film Development Council (Hkfdc) announced the measures today at a press event titled New Power of Hong Kong Cinema, during which the winners of the ongoing First Feature Film Initiative (Fffi) were also announced (see below for full list).

Combined, the two new schemes are worth up to 15m (HK117.6m) and come under the city’s Film Development Fund...

Initial slate of five series set to be unveiled in Busan.

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-Sun Chan has launched production company Changin’ Pictures with an initial slate of five titles that includes stars Donnie Yen and Zhang Ziyi.

The company will focus on content for streaming services and plans to roll out 20 limited series across various genres in its first four years across the Asia Pacific region.

It aims to sign up leading filmmakers and fresh talent from throughout the region to create drama projects for a pan-Asian audience and aims to work with platforms and co-production partners looking to...

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-sun Chan has launched a production company to focus on streaming content, Changin’ Pictures, with a debut slate of five projects and talent including action star Donnie Yen and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

The new outfit aims to “revolutionize the streaming multiverse in Asia” by signing up leading filmmakers and fresh talent from across the region to create drama series for a pan-Asian audience and beyond. Chan also intends to collaborate with platforms and potential co-production partners who want to jump into Asia’s expanding streaming market.

Changin’ Pictures plans to roll out 20 limited series across various genres from across the Asia Pacific region in its first four years.

The first two projects on the slate are Korean series, both adapted from popular webtoons: One: High School Heroes, produced by Covenant Pictures (Desperate Mr. X), about a bullied high school kid who transforms himself into a...

Projects starring Donnie Yen and Zhang Ziyi are among the independently produced TV series to be launched on the sidelines of this week’s Busan International Film Festival. The company responsible is Changin’ Pictures, a would-be studio being hatched by Hong Kong-based film director and producer Peter Chan Ho-sun.

Propelled by the growing recognition of Asian talent and the worldwide distribution potential of multinational SVOD platforms, Changin’ Pictures aims to be a powerhouse production hub suppling premium drama content to streaming players.

The company has raised very substantial finance from Asian sources and aims to develop and produce series which it will pitch and license to the platforms, without recourse to the Ott companies’ production funding, greenlighting and editorial constraints.

The company expects to sign up a mix of Asia’s top-billing established filmmakers and fresh talents “to create innovative drama series for Pan-Asian netizens, with an eye to cross-cultural global assimilation.

The two titles are star-studded and long-postponed.

Two long-postponed and star-studded films – Philip Yung’s Where The Wind Blows and Ng Yuen Fai’s Warriors Of Future – will open the 46th Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) in August. It was announced today (July 27) at a media event in Hong Kong.

Where The Wind Blows was selected as one of Hkiff’s opening films last year, but it pulled out just a few days before its world premiere due to “technical reasons”.

The crime drama features two of Asia’s biggest stars, Tony Leung Chiu-wai and Aaron Kwok as two...

Some narratives can have resonance much beyond their original release. Take in point “Dream Home” from 2010. A blackly comic horror that satirizes the property market in Hong Kong. Fast forward a decade and there are housing crises across the globe and the prices of properties are on the increase. People struggle to get on the property ladder, something that “Dream Home” takes a darker look at as its “heroine” Cheng resorts to drastic measures to get hers. Pang Ho-cheung alongside producer and star Josie Ho create an alternative way to make a killing on the property market. One that might entertain and offend in equal measure.

Dream Home is screening on New York Asian Film Festival

Cheng Lai (Josie Ho) works two jobs in an effort to earn enough money to procure an apartment with a view of the Victoria Harbour. Her actions stem from a childhood in poverty that...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSJafar Panahi.Having been detained last week for protesting the arrest of fellow Iranian filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Mostafa Aleahmad, Jafar Panahi has now been ordered to serve six years in prison. Ahead of this development Eric Kohn reported on the broader situation in Indiewire. “Maybe they will come for all of us one by one,” says one anonymous filmmaker who is quoted in the article.Martine Marignac, a producer of vital films by Jacques Rivette, Chantal Akerman, Leos Carax, Jeanne Balibar, Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet, and others, has died aged 75.The juries have been announced for the 79th edition of the Venice Film Festival. Julianne Moore will head up the main jury, supported by filmmakers Audrey Diwan, Leonardo di Costanzo, Rodrigo Sorogoyen, and Mariano Cohn, plus actor Leila Hatami and author Kazuo Ishiguro.

In the original incarnation of the anthology format, the idea was for various filmmakers to come together to try new tactics and experimentations in a format that won’t impact their normal careers that badly. With more examples than could be mentioned here gathering together several prominent creators into one package for viewers’ consumption, the gathering of Fruit Chan, Fung Chi-keung, and Wesley Hoi Ip Sang into the first installment is an intended upcoming franchise that’s screening at the Making Waves Film Festival.

Tales from the Occult is screening at Making Waves Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema Showcase

Starting with Wesley Hoi Ip Sang’s “The Chink,” Yoyi (Cheery Ngan) and her friend Alice (Ng Wing Sze) move into a new apartment and try to use their newfound freedom to their advantage to reconnect and build their relationship following a traumatic incident in their childhood. Once it becomes obvious...

12 – 17 July 2022, Louis Koo Cinema

New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival is back with three screenings and a masterclass! The moving image programme is presented by the Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac), financially supported by the Film Development Fund, Create Hong Kong, and in festival partnership with the Busan International Film Festival (Biff). Through an integrated series of screenings, talks, workshops and a masterclass, the programme aims to introduce the cross currents in Hong Kong and Korean cinema, as well as the importance of Biff as one of the leading film festivals in Asia. The screenings comprise a Hong Kong showcase curated by Maggie Lee, and a Korean showcase co-curated by Lee and Nam Dong-chul.

Previously brought to a halt by the pandemic, the programme now brings back screenings of Too Many Ways to Be No. 1, Dumplings and Thirst, and Masterclass on Screen Adaptation: A Conversation Between Chung Seo-kyung and Fruit Chan,...

Making Waves – Navigators of Hong Kong Cinema, a touring programme to mark the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Hksar), comes to London 8-10 July, bringing an exciting selection of new films and restored classics to the big screen. Also featuring a live holo-presence and an online virtual exhibition, the event is an evocative multimedia experience that takes audiences on a journey through contemporary Hong Kong cinema through a diverse range of genres and forms.

This celebration of Hong Kong cinema is presented by Create Hong Kong in partnership with Focus Hong Kong, and supported by the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, London, with a programme of 7 films at Soho Hotel and The Garden Cinema, including a very special live holo-presence event featuring legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Chan in conversation and a gala screening of his beloved classic Comrades, Almost A Love Story in a restored version.

Restored versions of Chinese language cinema classics Wong Kar-wai’s “Days of Being Wild” (1990) and Jia Zhangke’s first full-length feature “Pickpocket” (“Xiao Wu”) 1998) will lead the inaugural program of Hong Kong’s M+ Cinema, which will be opened to the public on June 8.

The opening program also features the Hong Kong premiere of one of the films from Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy’s epic project series “Dau,” making the M+ Museum notable for not canceling Russian culture following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.

The cinema, comprising three theaters with seating capacity of 180, 60, and 40 seats, is a core facility of the Moving Image Centre at M+, the visual culture museum that opened in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District in November last year. Moving images, including artist-made audio-visual works, artist films, and traditional feature films, are considered among one of the three key disciplines of the mega institution...

Hong Kong’s Entertaining Power reporting sales prices have returned to pre-Covid levels.

Hong Kong’s Entertaining Power has sold four anticipated star-led features to Taiwan’s Sky Films in a package deal closed during the Cannes market - where prices are understood to be returning to pre-Covid levels.

The titles include Lee Po Cheung’s As It Burns, a suspense thriller involving two fatal explosions that take place 15 years apart but are linked by two women that look alike. The cast is led by Taiwanese actor Jasper Liu, who shot to fame after 2018’s pan-Asian box office hit More Than Blue,...

Soi Cheang’s “Twilight of The Warriors: Walled In” has been licensed to WellGo USA for North American release. The deal with Hong Kong’s Media Asia marks a rare advanced-sale of a commercial Cantonese-language movie in a market that has recently been marked by uncertainty.

The action thriller is a live-action adaptation of the cult manga series “City of Darkness” that is set in the 1980s inside the almost lawless Kowloon Walled City.

With a stellar cast headlined by Louis Koo (“Election”), Sammo Hung (“Ip Man”) and Richie Jen (“Trivisa”), the film recently completed production and is now in post-production. Media Asia is now planning a release at an unspecified date in 2023.

“This is our first physical international market since the pandemic. And we are thrilled that things are getting back on track again,” said Frederick Tsui, Media Asia’s Gm, head of sales and international co-productions. “The teaser...

Thanks to the lead protagonist who reinforces what seems like a trio of unrelated stories together in this satire about the housing problems facing Hong Kong residents, this turns out to be an unexpected heartwarming experience by the time the end credits roll. Accordingly, some poorer Hong Kong residents live with each other in small subdivided apartments within an apartment known as “coffin homes” because this little island’s real estate is just too expensive for them.

The first narrative concerns Mother Leung (Susan Shaw), a rich old lady who lives in a mansion and her money-hungry daughters who are only interested in her assets by pretending to be nice to her. Saddened and angered by the state of affairs, she suddenly turns into a demon and a bloodbath soon begins. However, filmed with humor in mind, the nature of the knockabout violence pretty much sets the tone for what is to follow.

2022 brings Far East Film back to its historical dimension. The Feff is once again what it has always been since 1999, but it also carries the imprint of all the latest changes: it is an augmented festival, more inclusive, and even more curious. If in the last two years Far East Film was forced to reinventing itself and review its formula with different parameters, these last few months have generated a sudden and wonderful acceleration: a wave of new energy, a vital frenzy which has shaped the twenty-fourth edition.

The Teatro Nuovo “Giovanni da Udine” with its 1200 seats will firmly resume its role as headquarters and it will be joined by the Visionary, an outpost of the special sections and retrospectives. The 2022 selection will include a total of 72 titles of which 42 in competition. 15 countries will be represented (including an Italy-China co-production), the number of female directors rises to 12 (of which 8 in...

After “Parasite” and “Squid Game” struck planet-wide notes with their critique of elitism, Trevor Choi’s “Smashing Frank” is a timely Hong Kong twist on the revenge-against-the-rich theme.

It is being pitched at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) that this week runs alongside the FilMart rights market.

“This is a comedy-drama about four millennials who form a squad to rob the rich. During the course of the crime, they are outraged as they gradually realize that the older generation will never change their ways. This motivates them to use stealing as their way of fighting back against the rich and the unkind,” says Choi of the project that is presented this week as part of the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf).

Hong Kong has long had a massive gulf between the super-rich and the poor and other films, including Josie Ho’s “Dream Home” and Fruit Chan’s more recent “Coffin Homes,...

Now completed, “The Silence of Smoke” has been added to the FilMart sales lineup of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The family drama film is directed by Takita Yojiro, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2008/9 with “Departures.”

The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.

The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.

Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality. When his father refuses to divulge the family secret, he instead moves into mass catering for movie crews. The father dies before he is able to pass on the secret ingredient and the man only comes to understand his father, his methods and motivation when...

Hong Kong protest films “Revolution of Our Times” and “May You Stay Forever Young” will have their British premiere in March at a new film festival organized by artists and culture sector workers who have relocated to the U.K.

Ng Ka-leung, a producer and director of Hong Kong dystopian anthology “Ten Years,” and documentary filmmaker and writer Wong Ching, co-curators of Hong Kong Film Festival U.K. 2022, said the festival is more than just about screening films that can no longer be shown in their hometown due to political changes.

It is organized by Hong Kong Umbrella Community, a U.K.-based body co-founded by Nathan Law, a former Hong Kong lawmaker who is now living in exile in Britain. The inaugural edition of the festival is funded by private donors, but event organizers hoped to raise funds from other sources for future editions.

The U.K., Hong Kong’s former colonial master,...

Leading indie film project market, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum has revealed a selection of 28 titles for its twentieth edition and confirmed that it will be held online for the third time in a row.

“Unfortunately, we won’t have the opportunity to celebrate our 20th anniversary by hosting our usual in-person event due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and travel restrictions,” Hkiff industry director Jacob Wong said. “Nevertheless, based on experience gained from the last two years, we will strive to improve our online booking and meeting system to make it a breeze for all participants.”

The market will operate March 14-16, 2022, alongside the 26th edition of rights market Hong Kong FilMart (March 14-17.)

The market contains a familiar mix of experienced hands and newcomers. Among the well-established producers and directors with projects selected are: Huang Ji (2021 Rotterdam festival winner “Egg and Stone”); Hong Kong’s Jun Li...

The selection includes eight Hong Kong projects and the first-ever Thai-Muslim horror

The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has announced 28 in-development projects for its 20th anniversary edition.

All are fiction projects, including eight from Hong Kong, 12 debut features and projects spearheaded by renowned filmmakers and producers including Huang Ji, Jun Li, Tetsuya Mariko, Ida Panahandeh, Michael J. Werner, Fruit Chan, Nonzee Nimibutr, Yang Chao and Jane Zheng.

For the third year in a row, Haf will run online from March 14-16 alongside the 26th edition of Hong Kong Filmart.

“Unfortunately, we won’t have the opportunity to celebrate our...

Production is underway in Taiwan on multi-national art house film “Tomorrow Is a Long Time” that stars acclaimed Leon Dai.

The confinement and claustrophobia of urban life have long been recurring themes in Asian cinema from Wong Kar-wai and Fruit Chan in Hong Kong to Taiwan-based Ho Wi Ding. Another Taiwan director Chung Mong Hong most recently gave the theme a Covid-era touch in his award-winning “The Falls.”

Though not specifically a pandemic era production, the story of “Tomorrow” is that of a middle-aged widower whose relationship with his sensitive teenage son slowly becomes unbearable in the densely-packed spaces of contemporary Singapore.

The English- and Mandarin-language drama film is the feature debut of Singaporean filmmaker Jow Zhi Wei (“After the Winter”). Production started in November in Singapore and has now relocated to Taiwan. Filming is expected to wrap by the end of the month, with the completed picture hitting the...

The Hong Kong Arts Centre (Hkac) presents Masterclass on Screen Adaptation: A Conversation Between Chung Seo-kyung and Fruit Chan as part of New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival, a moving image programme financially supported by the Film Development Fund, Create Hong Kong, in festival partnership with the Busan International Film Festival (Biff), at 5:15pm on 16 January 2022, at Louis Koo Cinema, Hkac.

Chung Seo-kyung, Korean screenwriter known for her frequent collaboration with Park Chan-wook, and Fruit Chan, award-winning Hong Kong writer-director, will be in conversation about their experience on cinematic adaptation of literature. The masterclass will be preceded by screenings of the guests’ acclaimed literary film adaptations – Dumplings directed by Fruit Chan, and Thirst penned by Chung Seo-kyung and Park Chan-wook. Tickets are going fast. Don’t miss the rare opportunity!

About New Waves, New Shores: Busan International Film Festival

Through an integrated series of screenings, talks, workshops...

Hong Kong drama “Drifting” leads Taiwan’s Golden Horse Film Awards race with 12 nominations including best narrative feature and best adapted screenplay, organizers announced on Tuesday.

The film that revolves around the tragedy of homeless people in Hong Kong also earned a nomination for Jun Li in the best director category. Veteran actor Francis Ng, who plays a homeless drug addict battling for justice, was also nominated for best leading actor.

Since 2019, Beijing has operated a mainland Chinese boycott of the awards that for many years were seen as the highest accoladed for Chinese-language filmmaking. And in 2019 and 2020 most Hong Kong films and filmmakers also stayed away. This year’s list sees an uptick in the Hong Kong participation, but only in the cases of films that are unlikely ever to receive a release in mainland China.

The domination of “Drifting” in the race, however, is closely challenged by “The Falls,...

The second of three blocks of the Asian Cinema Education International Journalism and Film Criticism Course focused on journalistic skills which are essential for film festivals organisers.

There are two ways to take part in the course:

in the full version, with registration, the participant gets the possibility of direct contact with tutors and consultation of own written work (registration ended on September 28);the webinars can also be watched without registration.

Participation in the course is free of charge. All webinars are conducted in English only – this is the working language of the whole course.

You can find the whole course here Festival skills – course info

Festivals play an important role in the life cycle of a film but are equally important for film critics. New talents find an audience there, like-minded people from different places meet. Not only is it a place for film critics and journalists to broaden their horizons,...

Chan Kin-long is a Hong Kong actor known for his roles in Fruit Chan’s “The Midnight After”, Derek Chiu’s “No. 1 Chung Ying Street” as well as the upcoming “The Vintage” by Donna Chu. With “Hand Rolled Cigarette” he gives his directorial debut, which opened the 17th Hong Kong Asian Film Festival. It was also the closing film of the 57th Golden Horse Film Festival, where it was nominated for seven awards, including Best Feature Film.

On the occasion of “Hand Rolled Cigarette” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we talk with the actor and director about what inspired the story, the collaboration with experienced actor Gordon Lam and newcomer Bipin Karma as well as the noirish world of the movie.

As the story of “Hand Rolled Cigarette” seems to deal with the idea of loyalty and camaraderie, especially among the soldiers we see in the beginning, why...