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Boutique international sales and distribution company Parallax Films has boarded world sales on Chinese title “A Dance in Vain,” the second feature from Lee Hong-chi following his 2023 Venice Lion of the Future Award-winning debut “Love is a Gun.”

The film has been selected for the Settimana Internazionale della Critica (Sic), the independent and parallel section of the Venice International Film Festival organized by the Union of Italian Film Critics (Sncci).

The deal marks Parallax’s second collaboration with Lee after handling international sales on “Love is a Gun.” Interestingly, “A Dance in Vain” was actually shot before Lee’s breakthrough success with “Love is a Gun,” but extended post-production delayed its completion, allowing the director’s debut to reach audiences first.

The drama stars Cici Wang as Monkey, a theater company worker struggling to make ends meet in an unnamed big city. The story follows her repetitive daily existence, haunted...

International co-productions have become an essential strategy for filmmakers seeking funding, wider distribution, and creative collaborations across borders. While these partnerships unlock new opportunities, they also present unique challenges, as discussed by a panel consisting of Sam Chua (Singapore), Will Manalang (Philippines), Yulia Evina Bhara (Indonesia), Justine O (Taiwan).

Diverse Paths into Film Production

The panelists shared their unique journeys into filmmaking, each shaped by distinct cultural and industry landscapes. Justine began her career in Algeria and mainland China, working alongside renowned directors before launching her own production company back home. Post-pandemic shifts in the Chinese film industry led her to explore collaborations across Brazil, Argentina, Germany, France, Cambodia, Nepal, and Japan.

Bhara recounted her transition from theater to film. With Indonesia’s limited financial infrastructure for independent cinema, she initially self-funded her debut feature, which premiered at Locarno in 2016. Her co-production experience expanded through projects with Malaysia, France, and Singapore.

Specialty sales and finance firm Rediance has picked up international sales rights to “Bound in Heaven,” the directorial debut feature of experienced Chinese screenwriter Huo Xin.

The tragic love story will have its world premiere this week in the Centerpiece section of the Toronto International Film Festival. It will subsequently travel to San Sebastian for its European debut.

Adapted from the novel of the same title by Li Xiuwen, the drama centers around a successful young woman who lives in the city with her abusive fiance and a lonely terminally ill man running a noodle shop in Wuhan. A chance encounter sparks an immediate attraction and their connection provides light and lightness in their emotional and dark journeys.

The film stars Ni Ni, who appeared in Zhang Yimou’s “The Flowers of War” and 2022 smash hit “Lost in the Stars.” Zhou You, who also appeared in Jia Zhangke’s Cannes...

China-based sales agent Rediance has picked up international rights to Chinese director Huo Xin’s feature debut Bound In Heaven, which is set to premiere at Toronto before heading to San Sebastian.

Director Huo is a veteran scriptwriter whose credits include acclaimed and hit films such as Shower, Kung Fu Hustle, Sunflower and The Monkey King.

She has assembled a strong cast for her feature debut including Ni Ni of box office hit Lost In The Stars and Zhang Yimou’s The Flowers of War; Zhou You of Jia Zhang-ke’s Caught By The Tides, which also plays at Toronto...

Sundance Asia has officially kicked off in Taipei, Taiwan.

Over the next five days, 15 feature films and six shorts will screen at the Sundance Film Festival Asian edition, with Taiwanese American filmmaker Sean Wang’s “Didi” as the opening night selection.

Before Wang’s film (which won the audience award and a special jury prize for its ensemble at the Park City festival) made its Taiwan premiere, the Legacy Taipei played host to the opening ceremony gala. Hollywood creatives mingled with local filmmakers and actors: “Fancy Dance” producer Nina Yang Bongiovi, “Joker 2” cinematographer Lawrence Sher, “Porcelain War” director Brendan Bellomo, “Your Monster” director Caroline Lindy and producer Kayla Foster, Wang and Esther Liu, Chen Yi-Wen, Hank Chen and Aviis Zhong were just some of those in attendance.

With many having flown in from Toronto or Los Angeles, attendees swapped tips on jetlag survival. Wang and “Little Death” director Jack Begert...

What did five of the most critically acclaimed Asian movies that premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival have in common? They all were edited by rising Taiwanese studio Cutting Edge Films.

Formally established only in 2022, the company comprises a small group of film professionals who have worked together for over a decade. They are co-led by French editor Matthieu Laclau (Touch of Sin), known for his long-running collaboration with Chinese auteur Jia Zhangke, and Taiwanese producer Justine O. (The Chinese Mayor, Black Dog), whose work has nabbed a succession of festival prizes in recent years. The company says its recent successes point to the maturity and expanding reach of Taipei’s post-production sector, which has been buoyed by steady government support and a growing reputation for high-quality work at globally competitive prices.

“Taipei’s post-production scene is definitely having a moment,” says Laclau. “For VFX, editing or color grading,...

Matthieu Laclau is a French editor who has been working in China and Taiwan since 2008. His collaboration with director Jia Zhangke in A Touch of Sin won him Best Film Editing at the Golden Horse Awards, Taiwan’s equivalent to the Oscars. This year he edited three films in Cannes: Caught by the Tides in Competition, Black Dog in Un Certain Regard, and Meeting with Pol Pot in Cannes Premiere. We sat down with him during the festival and discussed his work on all three films. This interview is originally commissioned by Directube 导筒. The Chinese version will be published on Directube later.

The Film Stage: First, I want to congratulate you for having three films in the Official Selection at this year’s Cannes. How did you get involved with all three? Obviously, you worked with Jia Zhangke since A Touch of Sin but it’s your first time...

The feature “Tales of Taipei” is a tribute to the low-pressure, culturally rich city, which has been shaped by its regional neighbors, taken in diverse peoples and distilled the multiple competing influences into a messy, happy-go-lucky morass.

Produced by Bowie Tsang and Amy Ma, the film calls on 10 directors hailing from Malaysia, France, Bhutan and Hong Kong, and Taiwanese locals Yin Cheng-han and Remii Huang to contribute.

“Everything is possible in Taiwan, everything exits side by side,” says Tsang, who was born in Hong Kong. “We have old Chinese myths. We believe in the afterlife. Churches exist side by side with temples. We are still trying to figure out how to tell our stories.”

As in the film, juxtapositions exist throughout the Taiwan film industry. Theatrical B.O. improved last year, but from a low 2022 base. Last year, Taiwan productions increased market share from 10% to nearly 16%, helping to lift the...

Two Taiwan-based production companies with features in this week’s Berlin Film Festival have joined forces to launch new venture, Long Hu Bao × An Attitude.

Taiwan’s Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao International Entertainment, is one of eight co-producers on main competition film “Shambhala,” from Nepal’s Min Bahadur Bham.

Yi Tiao Long Hu Bao is also one of three co-producers on Brazilian title “Sleep With Your Eyes Open” (aka “Dormir de olhos abertos”) directed by Nele Wohlatz, which debuts in Berlin’s Encounters section.

While the two companies will remain legally separate, the collaboration also brings together Lee Lieh, Roger Huang, and Justine O., three of Taiwan’s most experienced producers. They aim to continue their expansion into international co-productions and span both film and TV.

“We see it as three generations of producers becoming a strong alliance that joins together the resources of Asia – Edward Yang’s Taiwanese new wave,...

Taiwan International Co-Funding Program (Ticp) from Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca) continues to make an impact at the 74th Berlinale. Black Tea and Shambhala enter the main competition, while Sleep With Your Eyes Open competes at Encounters. Festival veteran Tsai Ming-Liang scored two official selections with his latest documentary Abiding Nowhere in Berlinale Special and The Wayward Cloud at Berlinale Classics Special.

Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.

Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...

Nele Wohlatz’s “Sleep With Your Eyes Open,” which has its world premiere in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival, has debuted its trailer (below). Rediance has taken world sales rights.

Wohlatz’s fiction debut “El futuro perfecto” won Locarno’s Golden Leopard for the best first feature in 2016, and was invited to more than 70 international film festivals.

“Sleep With Your Eyes Open,” which is described as “a quiet comedy of misunderstandings,” is set in a coastal city in Brazil. Kai arrives from Taiwan for a holiday with a broken heart. She meets Fu Ang, who could become a friend, but then disappears.

While looking for him, Kai discovers the story of Xiaoxin and a group of Chinese workers living in a skyscraper. Kai finds her own experience strangely mirrors that of Xiaoxin’s story. Over the course of a hot, slow summer, delicate bonds grow between them.

Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever (“Banel & Adama”) has acquired international rights to “Shambhala,” the first Nepalese film to premiere in competition at the Berlinale or any other top film festival.

Directed by Min Bahadur Bham, “Shambhala” is also the first South Asian film to be selected in Berlinale’s competition lineup after three decades. Bham is best known for his feature debut, “Kalo Pothi,” which won a prize at Venice Critics’ Week in 2015. The helmer previously directed “Bansulli,” which was Nepal’s first selection at the Venice Film Festival in 2012.

“Shambhala” is set in a Himalayan polyandrous village in Nepal, where a newly married and pregnant woman, Pema, tries to make the best of her new life. But soon, her husband Tashi vanishes, prompting her to embark on a journey into the wilderness to find him, accompanied by her monk.

The film shot in the world’s highest settlement, located...

China-based sales agent Rediance has boarded Nele Wohlatz’s Sleep With Your Eyes Open and Huang Shuli’s short Goodbye First Love, ahead of their premieres at the Berlinale next month.

Sleep With Your Eyes Open will play in the festival’s competitive Encounters section, which was announced today. The comedy is set in a coastal city in Brazil over one hot summer, during which bonds grow between a heartbroken traveller from Taiwan, a man who runs an umbrella store and a woman who used to live in the city.

The cast combines newcomers with professional actors, including Wang Shin-Hong...

Paris-based sales outfit Totem Films has acquired “A Song Sung Blue,” by Chinese director Zihan Geng, and “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” from Georgian filmmaker Elene Naveriani. Both films will premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the Cannes Film Festival.

“A Song Sung Blue” is the feature debut of the Beijing-born Geng. The coming-of-age story follows 15-year-old Xian, who’s left in the care of her estranged father, a struggling photographer, after her mother is compelled to travel to Africa for work. Over the course of a restless summer, Xian befriends 18-year-old Mingmei, the daughter of his father’s assistant-turned-girlfriend, and soon finds herself looking up to the older girl.

Driven by the ignorance and impulse of youth, their friendship will leave an unforgettable mark on the young girl’s life, a journey that “we follow to retrieve the memories of that distant part of our own youth,” according to Geng.