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In her 1987 “An Autumn’s Tale”, Second Wave Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung draws from her experience as a student in New York and revisits the American Dream, through the eyes of a female protagonist, Jenny (Cherie Chung), who is building her life and identity, juggling between societal expectations and individual desires. Her co-lead Samuel (Chow Yun-fat), is a young man with a rough-around-the-edges charm and survivalist instincts, most likely inspired by the resilient immigrant spirit Cheung encountered in New York’s Chinatown. Under a rom-com façade, the film discloses many thought-provoking layers about migration, cultural displacement, identity, and the fragility of human connections.

In a scene midway through the narrative, Samuel visits Jenny at an upscale Chinese restaurant in Chinatown called Big Panda, where she works. The restaurant’s owner is a sleazy figure, with his gaze lingering inappropriately on Jenny’s youthful, slender figure. Samuel, eager to impress Jenny,...

Cinephiles will have plenty to celebrate this April with the next slate of additions to the Criterion Channel. The boutique distributor, which recently announced its June 2024 Blu-ray releases, has unveiled its new streaming lineup highlighted by an eclectic mix of classic films and modern arthouse hits.

Students of Hollywood history will be treated to the “Peak Noir: 1950” collection, which features 17 noir films from the landmark film year from directors including Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, and John Huston.

New Hollywood maverick William Friedkin will also be celebrated when five of his most beloved movies, including “Sorcerer” and “The Exorcist,” come to the channel in April.

Criterion will offer the streaming premiere of Wim Wenders’ 3D art documentary “Anselm,” which will be accompanied by the “Wim Wenders’ Adventures in Moviegoing” collection, which sees the director curating a selection of films from around the world that have influenced his careers.

Contemporary cinema is also well represented,...

April’s an uncommonly strong auteurist month for the Criterion Channel, who will highlight a number of directors––many of whom aren’t often grouped together. Just after we screened House of Tolerance at the Roxy Cinema, Criterion are showing it and Nocturama for a two-film Bertrand Bonello retrospective, starting just four days before The Beast opens. Larger and rarer (but just as French) is the complete Jean Eustache series Janus toured last year. Meanwhile, five William Friedkin films and work from Makoto Shinkai, Lizzie Borden, and Rosine Mbakam are given a highlight.

One of my very favorite films, Comrades: Almost a Love Story plays in a series I’ve been trying to program for years: “Hong Kong in New York,” boasting the magnificent Full Moon in New York, Farewell China, and An Autumn’s Tale. Wim Wenders gets his “Adventures in Moviegoing”; After Hours, Personal Shopper, and Werckmeister Harmonies fill...

Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” was Sunday evening named as the best picture at the Asian Film Awards.

The 17th edition of the prizes was held at the Xiqu Centre, part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.

While “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” had dominated the nominations with six each, including those in the best film category, the prizes on Sunday were much more evenly distributed. No title collected more than two prizes.

Outside, crowds failed to be muted by the March drizzle, though VIP guests were given escorts with purple umbrellas.

Filmmaker and industry attendance was also robust. Those spotted on the red carpet and pre-event cocktails included: Lee Yong Kwan (former chair of the Busan film festival), Tom Yoda, Udine festival heads Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche, Anthony Chen, Stanley Kwan, Rina Damayanti, Hong Kong distributor Winnie Tsang,...

The Skip City International D-Cinema Festival 2024 will celebrate its 21st edition from July 13th (Sat) to 21st (Sun), 2024 for 9 days at Skip City, which is an integrated institution for digital cinema production.

(See: https://www.skipcity-dcf.jp/en/)

Submission period: January 31st, 2024 (Wed) – March 1st, 2024 (Fri)

Skip City International D-Cinema Festival remains committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, with the aim of helping these filmmakers seize new business opportunities that have arisen in the changing landscape of the film industry. Now calling for works (60 min. or longer) that have been shot digitally and must be the director's 1st, 2nd, or 3rd feature film from all over the world for the International Competition section.

Call for entries for the International Competition!!

Entry Deadline: Must be received by March 1st, 2024 (Fri)

Submit via FilmFreeway

https://filmfreeway.com/Skipcityinternationald-CinemaFESTIVAL (Online registration / Free)

All nominated films in competition categories are eligible for the Festival Organizers awards.

The Asian Film Awards Academy is proud to announce the launch of the International Film Camp (IFC), a groundbreaking initiative aims to nurtue and empower the next generation of Asian filmmakers. With patronages of Hong Kong Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and Instituto Cultural of Macau, and sponsored by Create Hong Kong, Film Development Fund and Sands China Ltd., the IFC will provide a unique platform for emerging filmmakers to interact with industry professionals, gain valuable insights into the creative and commercial aspects of cinema, and receive production funding and distribution opportunities through the Asian Film Awards Academy.

Press conference of the International Film Camp was held on 29 Sep 2023 in an unprecedented way simultaneously Hong Kong and Macau. The event was a great success thanks to the presence of our honourable guests, including Afaa Chairman Dr. Wilfred Wong, the Vice President of Macau Cultural Affairs Bureau Mr. Cheang Kai Meng,...

Predicting the eventual five Oscar nominees for Best International Feature is made difficult by the three-step process that begins after the October 2, 2023 deadline for countries to submit entries. To be part of the selection process for this category, which was called Best Foreign Language Film before 2020, requires a great deal of dedication. (Scroll down for the most up-to-date 2024 Oscars Best International Feature predictions.)

In the days following the deadline for submissions, the academy determines each film’s eligibility. Then the several hundred academy members who serve on the International Feature screening committee are divided into groups and required to watch all their submissions over a six-week period that ends in early December. Their top 15 vote-getters will make it to the next round. That list of semi-finalists will be revealed on December 21, 2023.

These 15 films will be made available to the entire academy membership who can cast ballots for the final five...

The ceremony was held on Sunday evening.

Mabel Cheung’s controversial documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self was named best film at the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards (Hkfa), which also saw Wai Ka Fai’s Detective Vs. Sleuths walk away with best director.

Held on Sunday evening (April 16), the awards ceremony returned to the Hong Kong Cultural Centre for the first time since 2019. It was a star-studded event with a big presence of nominees and guests on the red carpet. Most notable was Michelle Yeoh who recently won the best actress Oscar.

As the first presenter of the night, Yeoh...

Mabel Cheung’s controversial documentary To My Nineteen-year-old Self scooped Best Picture at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday night (April 16), where the crowds also applauded an appearance by Best Actress Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh.

Malaysia-born Yeoh, who recently became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for Best Actress, started her career in the Hong Kong film industry and has been making a celebratory return trip to the city over the past week. At the Hong Kong Film Awards, she presented the award for Best New Performer, which went to 10-year-old Sahal Zaman for The Sunny Side Of The Street.

Cheung’s documentary, which follows six schoolgirls over a perod of ten years, won Best Picture despite being earlier pulled from the awards after some of the girls said they hadn’t consented to any public screenings.

The film was resubmitted by its co-director, William Kwok,...

The much-decorated Japanese drama “Drive My Car” was named the best film Sunday at the Asian Film Awards, defeating hot favorite “Decision to Leave.”

Other notable awards went to Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda whose “Broker” debuted at Cannes, but which was largely shunned in his home country.

“Decision to Leave,” which started the evening with ten nominations, was nevertheless rewarded with three awards, best screenplay, best production design and best actress for China’s Tang Wei.

While nominations were geographically diverse, the awards on Sunday skewed heavily towards North East Asia –Japan, Korea and Greater China – to the total exclusion of films from India, Indonesia and The Philippines. Snubs included the exclusion of Indonesia’s “Autobiography” and Happy Salma, both of which have been widely lauded on the festival circuit.

The awards ceremony returned to Hong Kong after detours to Macau and Busan and a Covid hiatus in previous years.

Consent, complexity and consistency defined Hong Kong cinema’s rather interesting start to 2023. First, the local box office continues to see impressive returns, which while still may not be the same as pre-pandemic levels, shows sustained interest from moviegoers. Box-office revenues reached over $50 million over the Lunar New Year, as Variety reported, with A Guilty Conscience, the courtroom drama directed by Wai Lun-Ng becoming the highest-grossing Hong Kong film of all time, earning over Hkd 82 million ($10 million). It’s also the awards season, with nominees to the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards announced in early February. One of those nominated for Best Film, the documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old-Self, withdrew from the race, however, though directors Mabel Cheung and William Kwok Wai-lun are still in the running for best director.…...

An unusual five films picked up ten or more nominations for the Hong Kong Film Awards, with court room drama, “The Sparring Partner” picking up 16. But the event was partially overshadowed by a row over “To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self,” a documentary feature.

“To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self” is a warm portrait of six girls at a Hong Kong school that was made over a period of ten years. It was co-directed by the veteran Mabel Cheung, who has tackled thorny historical subjects in “The Soong Sisters,” and was producer of 2010 hit “Echoes of the Rainbow,” a nostalgic elegy to old Hong Kong.

The film played at the Hong Kong International Film Festival in August last year and was released theatrically earlier this year. But it was withdrawn from the city’s cinemas this week after one of the youngsters featured in the film published a complaint in a newspaper, saying that...

‘My Nineteen-Year-Old Self’ withdrawn over public screening consent issues.

Courtroom drama The Sparring Partner has received 16 nominations for the 41st Hong Kong Film Awards, which saw the last-minute withdrawal of Mabel Cheung’s documentary To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self.

The Sparring Partner, which marks the feature directorial debut of Ho Cheuk Tin, leads the pack with nominations in all but three categories. Based on the true story of a gruesome double murder case, its nods include best film, best director and five nominations for performers including lead actors Mak Pui Tung and Yeung Wai Lun. The film has become Hong Kong...

Most of the movies we’ve enjoyed over the last hundred years consist of 24 frames per second, but we’ve seen directors experiment with a high-frame-rate more and more. One director who has pushed Hfr to its limits is Ang Lee, who shot his last two movies, Billy Lynn’s Halftime Walk and Gemini Man, at 120fps. When it was announced that Ang Lee would be directing a Bruce Lee movie, many expected that he would once again shoot the film at 120fps; after all, Bruce Lee was known for his lightning-fast moves, which a traditional camera could barely pick up. Our own Chris Bumbray recently spoke with Ang Lee about the upcoming re-release of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, where the director revealed that he will not be shooting the Bruce Lee movie in Hfr.

“Bruce Lee, because he’s so fast, he was laughed at when he shot the Green Hornet in the beginning,...

Local film ‘Everything Under Control’ also performed strongly.

Box office in Hong Kong continued to show signs of recovery over Chinese New Year, with local films A Guilty Conscience and Everything Under Control leading the charge.

From January 21-24, total box office in Hong Kong reached 6.5m (HK50.86m), up 18.6 on the same Chinese New Year period in 2020 but still down 17.3 on pre-pandemic 2019.

Courtroom drama A Guilty Conscience was comfortably out front, accounting for almost half the total box office, taking 3.13m (HK24.47m) from its first four days of release. Its cumulative box office as of January 25 stood at...

Cinema box office in Hong Kong rebounded over the recent Chinese New Year holiday period. They failed to recover to pre-pandemic levels, but local titles performed strongly.

Data from Hong Kong Box Office Limited showed gross revenues between Saturday and Tuesday amounted to HK50.89 million (6.52 million). That is a 19 improvement on the equivalent four-day period in 2020, when Covid was just starting to arrive in the city and revenues fell to HK42.89 million (5.50 million). But the number was still 17 below the 2019 figure of HK61.47 million (7.88 million).

Cinemas in the territory were closed during Lunar New Year holidays in both 2021 and 2022 due to the government’s anti-covid measures.

Unlike mainland China, Hong Kong has no film import quotas and does not operate blackout periods when foreign films cannot be released. The holiday period chart for Hong Kong contains a mix of local, U.S. and Japanese and none of the films that...

We are happy to announce that the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival 2023 will celebrate its 20th anniversary edition from July 15th (Sat) to 23th (Sun), 2023 for 9 days at Skip City, which is an integrated institution for digital cinema production

(See: https://www.skipcity-dcf.jp/en/)

Submission period: January 25th, 2023 (Wed) – March 1st, 2023 (Wed)

We remain committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, with the aim of helping these filmmakers seize new business opportunities that have arisen in the changing landscape of the film industry. Now we call for works (60 min. or longer) that have been shot digitally and must be the director’s 1st, 2nd, or 3rd feature film from all over the world for the International Competition section.

Call for entries for the International Competition!!

Entry Deadline: Must be received by March 1st, 2023 (Wed)

Submit via FilmFreeway

https://filmfreeway.com/Skipcityinternationald-CinemaFESTIVAL (Online registration / Free)

Our International Competition welcomes you!

Oscar-winning director Ang Lee, known for helming ‘Life of Pi’ and ‘Brokeback Mountain’, is set to direct a film about Chinese American martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

Ang Lee’s son Mason Lee will star in the film, which is in development at Sony’s 3000 Pictures.

Dan Futterman, who wrote ‘Capote’ and ‘Foxcatcher’, is adapting the script. Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and Wells Tower wrote earlier versions of the screenplay, reports ‘Variety’.

Bruce Lee, who died in 1973 at the age of 32, had a brief but lasting presence in Hollywood as an actor, director and martial arts expert.

His films, including ‘Fist of Fury’, ‘Enter the Dragon’ and ‘The Way of the Dragon’, as well as the TV series ‘The Green Hornet’, popularised martial arts across the globe in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a...

Mason Lee, the son of famed filmmaker Ang Lee, will play Bruce Lee in a forthcoming film of the same name for Sony’s 3000 Pictures. Ang will direct the project from a script written by Dan Futterman. Futterman is taking over scripting duties after Jean Castelli, Alex Law, Mabel Cheung, and Wells Tower penned previous versions of the story.

It’s challenging to overestimate Lee’s astronomical impact on the martial arts film genre. Already a star in Asia, Bruce Lee’s Enter the Dragon catapulted his star into the stratosphere in the West. Had he lived beyond the age of 32, Lee would have achieved the success of actors like Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen, and more. Still, Lee is a household name despite his early passing, and few martial artists have risen to his level of notoriety since. Lee’s death was labeled “death by misadventure” by authorities,...

Oscar-winning filmmaker Ang Lee has cast his son Mason to play Bruce Lee in a biopic about the legendary martial artist for Sony’s 3000 Pictures.

The “Brokeback Mountain” director will helm a script by Dan Futterman, building on previous versions by Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and, most recently Wells Tower.

Bruce Lee’s daughter Shannon Lee will produce the film, which is untitled for now, along with Ang Lee, Lawrence Grey of Grey Matter Productions, Ben Everard and Brian Bell. 3000 Pictures’ Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva will oversee the project on behalf of the studio. They previously collaborated on Lee’s 2012 film “Life Of Pi.”

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Scarlett Johansson to Star In, Executive Produce ‘Just Cause’ TV Adaptation for Amazon

Said Ang Lee, “Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Gung Fu to the world,...

Three Lees are better than one. Legendary director Ang Lee will direct his son Mason Lee in “Bruce Lee,” a biopic about the life and career of the iconic martial artist and movie star, IndieWire has confirmed.

Lee is set to direct the film for Sony’s 3000 Pictures banner, with a script written by Dan Futterman, best known for his work on the Oscar-nominated films “Capote” and “Foxcatcher.” Futterman’s script is the latest in a long line of scripts written for a potential biopic on the “Enter the Dragon” star. Past versions were written by Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung, and Wells Tower.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge between East and West who introduced Chinese Gung Fu to the world, a scientist of combat and an iconic performing artist who revolutionized both the martial arts and action cinema,...

Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning director of “Life of Pi” and “Brokeback Mountain,” is set to direct a film about Chinese American martial arts legend Bruce Lee.

Ang Lee’s son Mason Lee is attached to star in the film, which is in development at Sony’s 3000 Pictures. Dan Futterman, who wrote “Capote” and “Foxcatcher,” is adapting the script. Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and Wells Tower wrote earlier versions of the screenplay.

Bruce Lee, who died in 1973 at the age of 32, had a brief but lasting presence in Hollywood as an actor, director and martial arts expert. His films, including “Fist of Fury,” “Enter the Dragon” and “The Way of the Dragon,” as well as the TV series “The Green Hornet,” popularized martial arts across the globe in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

“Accepted as neither fully American nor Fully Chinese, Bruce Lee was a bridge...

The filmmaker’s son Mason Lee is attached to star.

Ang Lee, the Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain and Life Of Pi, is developing a biopic of martial arts icon Bruce Lee with the filmmaker’s son Mason Lee attached to star.

The project has been in development all year with Sony Pictures division 3000 Pictures. Dan Futterman is adapting the script, which has seen versions by Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung and, most recently, Wells Tower.

Lawrence Grey, Shannon Lee, Ang Lee, Ben Everard, and Brian Bell are producing.

Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing the...

Exclusive: Sony’s 3000 Pictures has finalized a deal that will see Oscar winner Ang Lee direct Bruce Lee, a film that will star the filmmaker’s son Mason Lee in the role of the iconic martial artist. Dan Futterman, whose work includes Capote and Foxcatcher, is working on a script that has seen previous versions by Jean Castelli, Alex Law and Mabel Cheung, and, most recently, Wells Tower.

Lawrence Grey, Shannon Lee, Ang Lee, Ben Everard and Brian Bell are producing, and Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing the project for the studio. The project will see Gabler, Paiva and Tom Rothman reunited with the director after they worked together previously on Life of Pi.

Ang Lee

The director, who left his stamp on the martial arts genre with Best Foreign Film Oscar winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000 (it remains the highest-grossing international film in the U.

Lau Kok Rui’s feature debut is competing for six Golden Horse Awards.

Hong Kong sales and distribution company Golden Scene has acquired the worldwide rights to multiple Golden Horse Awards nominee The Sunny Side Of the Street, starring renowned actor Anthony Wong.

Malaysia-born Hong Kong-based writer-director Lau Kok Rui is vying for six Golden Horse Awards for his feature debut The Sunny Side Of the Street. Shot in Hong Kong, the film is up for best film, best director, best original screenplay and best cinematography for Leung Ming Kai.

Wong (Still Human) and child actor Sahal Zaman have nods...

London East Asia Film Festival (Leaff) is back with a diverse programme from East and Southeast Asia, including international and UK premieres. Seven strands runs throughout the festival: Official Selection, Competition, Documentary Competition, Actor Focus: Lee Jung-Jae, Filmmaker Focus: Cinematographer Mark Lee, Classics Restored and Halloween Horror Special.

The festival screenings and events will take place at five venues around London. Following the Opening Gala at the Odeon Luxe Leicester Square on 19th October, Leaff will continue for 11 days at Odeon Luxe West End, the Cinema at Selfridges, Chiswick Cinema and the Cinema Museum in London! Squid Game star, Lee Jung-Jae will be attending Leaff for the Opening Gala screening of “Hunt”.

Leaff aims to champion the growing collaboration in East Asian filmmaking with a philosophy that marks a shift in the cinematic landscape of East Asia, and moves away from cultural and cinematic borders. The Festival vision is to bring a much wider,...

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...

Filmmaker wrote nearly 20 features over a 30-year career.

Alex Law, the award-winning Hong Kong director and screenwriter of Echoes Of The Rainbow and An Autumn’s Tale, has died aged 69.

The South China Morning Post reported that Law died on Saturday (July 2) with his long-time partner and collaborator Mabel Cheung by his side. No cause of death was given.

Born Alex Law Kai-Yui in 1952, he met Cheung while studying at New York University, beginning a life-long collaboration. This began with the Migration Trilogy of films that comprised Illegal Immigrant in 1985, An Autumn’s Tale in 1987 and Eight Taels Of Gold...

Filmmaker wrote nearly 20 features over a 30-year career.

Alex Law, the award-winning Hong Kong director and screenwriter of Echoes Of The Rainbow and An Autumn’s Tale, has died aged 69.

The South China Morning Post reported that Law died on Saturday (July 2) with his long-time partner and collaborator Mabel Cheung by his side. No cause of death was given.

Born Alex Law Kai-Yui in 1952, he met Cheung while studying at New York University, beginning a life-long collaboration. This began with the Migration Trilogy of films that comprised Illegal Immigrant in 1985, An Autumn’s Tale in 1987 and Eight Taels Of Gold...

Alex Law, one of Hong Kong’s most accomplished filmmakers died on Saturday. He was 69.

Law (aka Law Kai-yui) died in hospital with his life partner and long-time filmmaking partner Mabel Cheung by his side. The cause of death was not disclosed.

The pair often swapped roles in order to support each other’s efforts. A writer, director and producer, Law took directing credits on “Echoes of the Rainbow,” a nostalgic reminiscence about 1960s Hong Kong. Produced by Cheung, it was the first film from the city to win the Crystal Bear award at the Berlin film festival’s Generation Kplus section.

Law was writer and producer of Cheung’s best-known film, the 1997 historical biopic “The Soong Sisters” and writer of her “An Autumn’s Tale.”

Born in 1952, Law graduated from the University of Hong Kong with a degree in Chinese and English studies and comparative literature in 1976. He met...

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Alex Law, the famed Hong Kong director and screenwriter behind Echoes of the Rainbow, Painted Faces and An Autumn’s Tale, has died. He was 69.

The South China Morning Post reported that Law died Sunday with director Mabel Cheung, his long-time partner and collaborator, by his side. In a double blow to Hong Kong’s cultural landscape, Law died on the same day as the influential novelist and prolific screenwriter Ni Kuang.

Along with Cheung, Law was responsible for creating some of the most enduring classics of Hong Kong cinema, including the Cheung-directed Migration Trilogy. The duo’s films were known for their realistic, and somewhat romantic, portrayals of their fellow Hongkongers, offering nuanced views of society as well as the diaspora and tapping into nostalgia for the time before the 1997 handover.

Born Alex Law Kai-yui in 1952, in what was then British Hong Kong,...

Mike Goodridge, who was appointed artistic director of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) in 2017, is stepping down after four editions. The festival will not take place in 2021, as Covid-19 restrictions remain tight in Macau.

In 2020, like many festivals, IFFAM went online. Last year, it featured a film screening section and masterclasses with Hirokazu Koreeda, Hur Jin-ho, Nina Hoss and Viggo Mortensen.

Goodridge is busy in production and management through his Good Chaos label and will continue to work in festival programming and curation. He was a consultant with the Chicago International Film Festival this year.

“I have had an incredible experience working with my friends and colleagues in Macau,” said Goodridge. “We built the audience for different kinds of cinema in the city and created an event that resonated across the region and the world. The team we assembled was second to none, and we were all dedicated...

A proposed new law that will inject national security elements into Hong Kong’s censorship system has the city’s filmmakers worried. The law allows government officials retrospective power to change previously-issued exhibition approvals and provides for three year jail terms in case of breach.

“We are very worried,” Tenky Tin, chair of the Federation of Hong Kong Filmmakers’ executive committee, told Variety. “Our greatest concern is whether we would be breaking the law.”

“The trade has a lot of questions. We have had meetings with officials, mainly to ask them what’s allowed and what’s not…. But the government hasn’t been able to give any concrete answer,” Mabel Cheung, a prominent director and producer of the quintessential Hong Kong feel-good movie “Echoes of the Rainbow,” told broadcaster Rthk on Wednesday.

Cheung also expressed worries over the proposal that filmmakers have no appeal mechanism if the censors invoke national security objections.

During the last few days, and on the occasion of our tribute to Hong Kong New Wave, there have been a number of discussions on Facebook regarding what is, and more intently, how long the particular wave lasted. Our interpretation of the wave was based on Pak Tong Cheuk’s Hong Kong New Wave Cinema (1978-2000) , the definition Wikipedia gives, and two articles from movementsinfilm.com. However, a number of experts disagree with this opinion. We asked a number of them to share their opinion.

Arnaud Lanuque

For me, the Hk New Wave starts in 1978 with the Extra and ends up around 1984 (with most of the filmmakers from the movement being absorbed by big studios). But, as you said yourself, it’s certainly open to debate and I know some have a more restrictive time frame of 1979/1982. To answer your question about the second wave, I would date it from...

Since premiering at last year’s Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival, the “Chinese Oscars”, Norris Wong‘s debut dramedy “My Prince Edward” (2019) will reach North american theatres through Cheng Cheng Films starting September 4th. The film will also arrive at VOD and DVD on December 15th.

Distributor Cheng Cheng Films states: “Before “My Prince Edward,” Norris Wong had won wide admiration for her writing in some of most groundbreaking Cantonese TV series recent years. Challenging macroscale gender and social economic pressures her worldwide peers face with this directorial debut, she poured real individual experience into a microscale story set in her neighborhood in her home city. Her humane and multidimensional filmmaking soothes the disorientation and anger we consume from sensational headlines on related issues. It’s a notable cinematic contribution from a Hong Kong’s homegrown woman to the city’s global discourse. Witnessing legendary veterans William Chang, Paw Hee-ching...

New York-based distributor Cheng Cheng releases a new poster of “My Prince Edward“, the directorial debut from Hong Kong’s acclaimed scriptwriter Norris Wong. Since premiering at last year’s Taiwan Golden Horse Film Festival, the “Chinese Oscars”, the dramedy about a newly engaged Hong Kong woman trying to nullify her secret sham marriage with a mainlander has been bagging awards from the most reputed film festivals in Chinese-speaking world, including Hong Kong Film Awards, China’s Cinephile Prize and Hong Kong Film Critics Society Award. “My Prince Edward” is now one of the highest grossing and best reviewed films of the year in Hong Kong where theatrical exhibition has resumed. Cheng Cheng is planning to show this brand new title to North American audience in reopening cinemas and via virtual formats through the rest of 2020.

Norris Wong is one of the just-announced recipients of the Hong Kong Film Revival Plan Development Fund.

New York-based distributor Cheng Cheng Films has bought the North American rights to “My Prince Edward,” the first feature written and directed by Hong Kong screenwriter Norris Wong Yee-Lam, from Hong Kong sales agent Golden Scene.

The news come as Wong announced Monday that filmmaking duo Mabel Cheung and Alex Law, the husband and wife behind films such as “An Autumn’s Tale,” will executive produce her second feature. Wong will make that film with assistance from a new $12.9 million local government fund intended to boost Hong Kong’s film industry.

Wong said on Facebook that she took Cheung’s class during her sophomore year at Hong Kong Baptist University in 2010, and was “so happy” the director still remembered her early work. Cheung said that Wong “has been looking to work with me throughout the years, but our availabilities never matched.” She praised Wong’s “potential,” saying, “I remember among...

Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai is among the leading filmmakers to boost the region’s movie industry with a five-tier plan that totals $33.5 million U.S. dollars in funds. He’s joined by Derek Yee (“Drink-Drank-Drunk”) and Peter Chan Ho-sun (“The Warlords”) and more who support a government-funded revival initiative in response to political unrest, as well as the Hong Kong film industry’s erosion due to coronavirus and the shuttering of theaters.

Via the Directors’ Succession Scheme with funds from the Hong Kong Film Development Fund, the directors will pair up with one or two promising filmmakers to make a movie using $1.2 million. The filmmakers will also be joined by directors Gordon Chan, Mabel Cheung, and Alex Law, with the goal of turning out between 10 and 12 projects altogether.

The plan arrives just as the region was forced to close its theaters once again in the wake of a new...

Renowned filmmakers Wong Kar-wai, Peter Chan Ho-sun and Derek Yee are among the top directors who have pledged to pass on their skills and experience to the young generation. They are part of a $12.9 million (Hk$100 million) government-funded initiative to boost Hong Kong’s film industry, following damage from the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing political turmoil.

Under the new Directors’ Succession Scheme funded by the Hong Kong Film Development Fund, each of the directors, together with Gordan Chan and duo Mabel Cheung and Alex Law, will team up with one or two young filmmakers to produce a film that uses a $1.2 million (Hk$9 million) government subsidy. Around 10 to 12 projects are expected to be realized this way.

The program is among the five measures totalling $33.5 million (Hk$260 million) rolled out on Monday. Commerce secretary, Edward Yau said local film production and investment have shrunk over the past year, hit by the...

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society (Hkiffs) announced today that renowned local filmmaker Mabel Cheung had joined its board as vice-chairperson.

Ms Cheung succeeds fellow filmmaker Johnnie To who has stepped down after holding the position since 2014.

Internationally acclaimed for films such as An Autumn’s Tale (1987), Eight Taels of Gold (1989), The Soong Sisters (1997), and City of Glass (1998), the multi-talented Cheung is one of Hong Kong’s most distinguished directors, writers and producers. In a career that spans more than three decades, she has won numerous accolades, including the Hong Kong Film Awards, the Golden Horse Awards, Chicago International Film Festival and, most notably, the 60th Berlin International Film Festival’s Crystal Bear for Echoes of the Rainbow (2010).

Cheung is the incumbent President of the Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild and a guest lecturer of the Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy of Film. She has also served as...

Distinguished film writer and director, Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting has joined the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society as its vice chairperson. She takes over from Johnnie To, who had held the post for the five years since 2014.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for me to become further engaged in the promotion of film culture and, specifically, the appreciation of Asian and Chinese language cinema,” said Cheung in a prepared statement.

Cheung has directed films including An Autumn’s Tale (1987), Eight Taels of Gold (1989), The Soong Sisters (1997), and City of Glass (1998). She also produced the 2010 smash hit portrait of Hong Kong, “Echoes of the Rainbow,” which was directed by her husband Alex Law.

She is currently also president of the Hong Kong Film Directors’ Guild and a guest lecturer of the Hong Kong Baptist University’s Academy of Film. Previously, Cheung also served as a member of the Hong Kong Film Development Council.

The FarewellWhen released over 25 years ago in 1993, Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club was considered a triumph, the first film to realize the dream of Asian and Asian-American representation in Hollywood. Rather than predict a change in course, however, it remained an anomaly. Virtually no American films comparably invested in the sorts of cross-cultural divides chronicled in Wang’s saga of mother-daughter rifts and continuities saw the light of day, until last year’s romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians, and more significantly, Lulu Wang’s Sundance breakout, The Farewell. Not that world cinema lacked insights on the growing pains of the immigrant experience, and the East-West, tradition versus modernity conflicts that comprise the thematic meat of similarly charted family dramas. The United States saw a “70 percent increase in the population [of Asians] from 1980 to 1988,” according to a New York Times report, and Chinese immigrants made up a significant portion. The success...

Ringo Lam’s death this past December 29 at the age of 63 sparked outpourings of appreciation from across the world, with attention in America focused mostly on his two most famous films, City on Fire (1987) and Full Contact (1992), each of which were elevated to the canon in the days when Hong Kong movies could be found here for the most part only on cheap, imported, usually dubbed VHS tapes in the country’s more adventurous video stores. City on Fire was famous more as the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) than on its own merits, while Full Contact delivered all the gory nihilistic charms of a grindhouse cinema that was vastly more alive than anything Hollywood ever bothered to produce. But there’s much more to Lam’s work than cheap thrills and story material for directorial magpies. Ringo Lam was part of a remarkable generation of filmmakers, working...

Korean drama movie, “Clean Up” took the best film prize on Friday night at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival and Awards Macao.

The jury, which comprised Chen Kaige, Danis Tanovic, Mabel Cheung, Paul Currie, and Tillotama Shome, said: “’Clean Up’ is a powerful, visceral film which is symbolic and naturalistic at the same time… The director unfolds a psychological drama with simmering intensity, and humanists the criminal without condoning the heinous crime in any way.”

The festival, completing its third edition, wrapped up with another breezy and efficient closing ceremony, kept largely on schedule thanks to its local live broadcast.

Celebrities on the red carpet included Phillip Noyce, Aaron Kwok and Ben Wheatley. Industry executives in attendance included Ellen Eliasoph, Michael J. Werner and Shekhar Kapur.

The closing ceremony was also the occasion for Variety and the festival to present awards to Asia’s next wave of talent.

Peter Farrelly's awards contender Green Book will open the third edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (Iffam). 

Set to run Dec. 8-14 in the former Portuguese colony, Iffam has announced its full competition lineup as well as a host of gala and genre screenings, special presentations, a retrospective on Chinese actress Yao Chen and a new competitive section titled New Chinese Cinema. 

Farewell My Concubine director Chen Kaige was previously announced as head of the international competition jury.  The Chinese auteur will be joined on the panel by writer-director-producer Mabel Cheung, director-producer Paul Currie, actress ...

Peter Farrelly's awards contender Green Book will open the third edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (Iffam). 

Set to run Dec. 8-14 in the former Portuguese colony, Iffam has announced its full competition lineup as well as a host of gala and genre screenings, special presentations, a retrospective on Chinese actress Yao Chen and a new competitive section titled New Chinese Cinema. 

Farewell My Concubine director Chen Kaige was previously announced as head of the international competition jury.  The Chinese auteur will be joined on the panel by writer-director-producer Mabel Cheung, director-producer Paul Currie, actress ...

Vasan Bala’s “The Man Who Feels No Pain,” and Qiu Sheng’s “Suburban Birds” are among 11 films set for competition at the third edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao. Peter Farrelly’s “Green Book” will open the festival in an out of competition slot.

Other films in competition include: “Aga” by Milko Lazarov (Bulgaria); “All Good,” by Eva Trobisch (Germany); “Clean Up,” by Kwon Man-ki (South Korea); “Jesus,” by Hiroshi Okuyama (Japan); “Scarborough,” by Barnaby Southcombe (U.K.) “School’s Out” by Sebastien Marnier (France); “The Good Girls,” by Alejandra Marquez (Mexico); “The Guilty,” by Gustav Moller (Denmark); and “White Blood” by Barbara Sarasola – Day (Argentina). The competition is only open to first or second time feature directors.

The lineup was announced Thursday in Macau by artistic director Mike Goodridge. The jury which will select the prize-winners includes Chen Kaige as president, alongside Mabel Cheung (Hong Kong...

The Macau International Film Festival has filled out the ranks of the international jury for its upcoming third edition, running Dec. 8-14 in the southern Chinese casino enclave.

Joining the previously announced jury president Chen Kaige will be veteran U.S. screenwriter and director Paul Schrader, along with Hong Kong filmmaker Mabel Cheung, Indian actress Tillotama Shome and Australian producer Paul Currie.

The international strand is the Macau festival's main competition section. It is dedicated exclusively to films by first- and second-time filmmakers and awards a prize of $60,000 for best feature.

Schrader's lengthy and now legendary ...

The Macau International Film Festival has filled out the ranks of the international jury for its upcoming third edition, running Dec. 8-14 in the southern Chinese casino enclave.

Joining the previously announced jury president Chen Kaige will be veteran U.S. screenwriter and director Paul Schrader, along with Hong Kong filmmaker Mabel Cheung, Indian actress Tillotama Shome and Australian producer Paul Currie.

The international strand is the Macau festival's main competition section. It is dedicated exclusively to films by first- and second-time filmmakers and awards a prize of $60,000 for best feature.

Schrader's lengthy and now legendary ...

If you wanted a crash course in Chinese language cinema of the past 40 years, you could do a lot worse than the series playing at the Metrograph from May 18 - 27 built around the career of Sylvia Chang. An actress, writer and director of tremendous accomplishment (as well as popular singer and playwright), Chang has been a major figure since the mid-1970s, playing important roles in both the Hong Kong New Wave and New Taiwanese Cinema, working with key directors King Hu, Ann Hui, Tsui Hark, Edward Yang, Stanley Kwan, Johnnie To, Mabel Cheung, and Ang Lee. She’s played waifish ingenues and hard-nosed career women, exasperated mothers, bohemian artists, bourgeois matrons and ass-kicking cops. As a director, she’s brought special focus to women’s changing roles in domestic and family melodramas, creating sophisticated works that straddle the line between mainstream and art house. The Metrograph is playing 15 of her films,...