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Contemporary Chinese Cinema is a column devoted to exploring contemporary Chinese-language cinema primarily as it is revealed to us at North American multiplexes.Over the last few years it has become increasingly easy to see mainstream Asian films in North America at the same time they are released in their home countries. Thanks to partnerships with small, international distributors, the major multiplex chains (AMC, Cinemark, Regal) have devoted a handful of screens in major markets to showing new releases from India, Korea, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Most of these titles fall under the radar of both critics and audiences outside the diasporic communities to which they are targeted. They play for a week or two and then disappear, outside of a handful of breakout titles. Last year Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid made headlines for its high per-screen averages in North America as it shattered domestic box office records in China.

The love story between Cherie and Jimmy, which started in Love In A Puff (2010) and continued in Love In The Buff (2012), now comes to a new chapter in Love Off The Cuff.   Hong Kong director Pang Ho Cheung reteams with stars Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue for the third part of this popular film series.    Thanks to Magnum Films, we have Five double passes for the film to give away to our readers.    For a chance to win, all you have to do is to follow these two steps:   1) Like the Magnum Film Facebook page, and   2) Email your name and postal address to me at: hugo[at]screenanarchy.com   Love Off The Cuff will open in Australian cinemas...

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Writer-director Pang Ho-cheung perhaps didn’t set out to make Hong Kong’s own version of Richard Linklater’s Before trilogy, but he’s done just that with the third and (soft maybe) last installment of his own film series, following two young professionals struggling with romance. Starting with the social reorganization brought on by the city’s smoking ban in 2010’s Love in a Puff, and then economic realignment in Love in the Buff (set in Beijing) in 2012, Love Off the Cuff picks up five years later, with a new set of hurdles for the central lovers to clear. Based on the enthusiastic...

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

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

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

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

Previously announced...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The Wisconsin Film Festival returns to Madison, running March 30 – April 6. Highlights of the program include James Gray’s “The Lost City of Z,” Terence Davies’ “A Quiet Passion,” Alex Ross Perry’s “Golden Exits,” Olivier Assayas’ “Personal Shopper,” Geremy Jasper’s “Patti Cake$” and a section dedicated to new women directors. Find out more information at their official site.

– The Denver Film Society has announced its full festival program and schedule for the 7th Women+Film Festival on International Women’s Day. The Festival will take place at the Sie FilmCenter April 4 – 9 and individual tickets and all-access passes are on sale now. The Women+Film Festival shines a spotlight on stories by and about women with a high profile, female-centric mix of documentaries, feature presentations and short films.

Pang Ho-cheung’s romantic comedy will have its world premiere at the event.

Pang Ho-cheung’s Love Off The Cuff, the third installment in the Hong Kong filmmaker’s romantic comedy series, will receive its world premiere as the opening film of this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff).

Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue are resuming their roles as star-crossed lovers Cherie and Jimmy in the film, which follows Love In A Puff (2010) and Love In The Buff (2012). In this third episode, set in Hong Kong and Taipei, the couple’s relationship is tested when Jimmy’s childhood friend asks him to donate sperm for her artificial insemination.

Hkiff also recently announced that it will screen all seven of late Taiwanese filmmaker Edward Yang’s films in a section entitled ‘Edward Yang, 10-year Commemoration’.

The festival will also present digitally restored versions of four classics directed by French auteur Robert Bresson and three from Filipino...

Love off the Cuff, the third installment of Media Asia's popular romantic comedy series directed by Pang Ho-cheung, will open the 41st Hong Kong International Film Festival (Hkiff) on April 11.

Love off the Cuff follows in the footsteps of Love in a Puff (2010), and Love in the Buff (2012), and tells the story about a couple who met when indoor smoking was banned in Hong Kong.

While the first film took place in Hong Kong, the second film relocated to Beijing, China, and now the third film is set in Taipei, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The second film of...

Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue star in third entry in Pang Ho-cheung’s film series.

Hong Kong stars Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue are reuniting for Love Off The Cuff, the third installment in Pang Ho-cheung’s hit series about a star-crossed couple.

Pang and Subi Liang’s Making Film Productions is again producing for Media Asia, which is launching sales on the film here at Afm.

The first two films in the series won awards and were hits across Asia. Love In A Puff (2010) introduced the couple Cherie and Jimmy who meet over a cigarette in the street after Hong Kong has banned indoor smoking. The follow-up, Love In The Buff (2012, pictured), sees the couple break up and reunite in Beijing.

The third installment follows the couple to Taiwan and sees their relationship tested when Jimmy’s childhood friend asks him to donate sperm for her artificial insemination. Paul Chun Pui also stars as Cherie’s estranged...

After dipping his toe into China with his 2012 sequel Love In The Buff, Hong Kong auteur Pang Ho Cheung embraces the inevitable and presents his first full-blown mainland production, Women Who Flirt. Zhou Xun and Huang Xiaoming play the longtime friends and colleagues whose til-now platonic relationship is jeopardised by Taiwanese dolly bird Sui Tang, forcing Zhou to step up and show she's got what it takes to win the guy she's always loved.Based on the dating "toolbook" Everyone Loves Tender Women by Loverman, Women Who Flirt is hardly venturing into uncharted territory. Angie (Zhou Xun) and Marco (Huang Xiaoming) have been friends so long he no longer sees her as dating material, even going so far as to refer to her as a...

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The Weinstein Company’s The Imitation Game is the big kid on the block among this holiday weekend’s batch of newcomers. The title is following in the footsteps of past TWC heavyweights The King’s Speech and The Artist, both of which opened to solid box office numbers and eventually scored Oscars for Best Picture. The distributor is expecting good numbers for Imitation Game over the Thanksgiving frame. IFC Films’ horror pic The Babadook has some good buzz heading into the weekend, though it might show its biggest heft via VOD with its day-and-date rollout. Remote Area Medical is one of those films one hopes everyone will see. Timed perfectly for this time of the year’s focus on thanks and giving, the documentary shows the underbelly of America’s healthcare crisis by way of people who provide free medical services to needy people in pop-up clinics around the country.

As the Toronto International Film Festival gets underway with North American and World debuts of films that will hit Awards Season and beyond,a good number of seasoned films that have traveled the festival circuit are finally making their way into the Specialty Box Office. Drafthouse Films will open Cannes ’13 title The Congress starring Robin Wright and Harvey Keitel in a dozen locations this weekend, while SXSW’s Juliette Lewis starrer Kelly & Cal will open exclusively in NYC. Sundance’s Last Days In Vietnam will have a theatrical run before heading to PBS next fall and the Guadalajara Film Festival’s Frontera is taking advantage of a timely topic in the U.S. Venice financed its 2013 premiere Memphis, opening exclusively this weekend in NYC. And China Lion hopes to take a successful template for romantic dramas and apply that to But Always.

The Congress

Director-writer: Ari Folman

Writer: Stanislaw Lem (novel)

Cast: Robin Wright,...

Pang Ho Cheung is easily one of Hong Kong's most interesting directors. His recent films Love In A Puff, Love In The Buff and Vulgaria have all been critical and commercial successes. His latest film, Aberdeen, was one of the two opening films at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, and on-line tickets for its screening were sold out within 8 minutes! Starring Louis Koo, Miriam Yeung, Gigi Leung, Eric Tsang, Ng Man Tat and Carrie Ng, this is one of the must-see Hong Kong films of 2014. Now thanks to Magnum Films, we have Five double passes for Aberdeen to give away to our Australian readers. For a chance to win, all you have to do is to follow these two steps:1) Like the Magnum...

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Milt Barlow’s Asia Releasing (Ar) will handle the theatrical release of Pang Ho Cheung’s Aberdeen in North America.

Ar is handling the film on behalf of Australian/New Zealand distributor and rights holder Magnum Films. The North America release is scheduled for May 8. Magnum will handle the Australia/Nz release.

“I am delighted that Jason Lau, CEO of Magnum, has entrusted this wonderful picture to Asia Releasing,” said Barlow.

“I was heavily involved in Pang Ho-cheung’s previous films Vulgaria and Love In The Buff with China Lion so it is a great personal delight to have been given the honour again. We will release day-and-date with China, Hong Kong and Australia & New Zealand.”

Magnum Films CEO Jason Lau said: “Milt has a terrific depth of knowledge and relationships in North America with Chinese films and we are delighted to be partnering with Asia Releasing for this important release. Milt will also...

Milt Barlow’s Asia Releasing (Ar) will handle the theatrical release of Pang Ho Cheung’s Aberdeen in North America.

Ar is handling the film on behalf of Australian/New Zealand distributor and rights holder Magnum Films. The North America release is scheduled for May 8. Magnum will handle the Australia/Nz release.

“I am delighted that Jason Lau, CEO of Magnum, has entrusted this wonderful picture to Asia Releasing. I was heavily involved in Pang Ho-cheung’s previous films Vulgaria and Love In The Buff with China Lion so it is a great personal delight to have been given the honour again. We will release day-and-date with China, Hong Kong and Australia & New Zealand,” said Barlow.

Magnum Films CEO Jason Lau said: “Milt has a terrific depth of knowledge and relationships in North America with Chinese films and we are delighted to be partnering with Asia Releasing for this important release. Milt will also...

Hong Kong – Director Pang Ho-cheung's Aberdeen and director Fruit Chan's The Midnight After will open the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival. Aberdeen, starring Louis Koo (The White Storm), Gigi Leung (The Monkey King), Eric Tsang (Infernal Affairs), and Miriam Yeung (Love in the Buff), will hold its world premiere at 8pm on the festival's opening night on March 24. The film sees Pang (Vulgaria) explore the difficulties faced by three generations of a Hong Kong family. Photos: China Box Office 2013: The Top 10 Movies "We choose Aberdeen because it's a film by Pang Ho-cheung, whom we

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After a dalliance on the mainland in his hugely successful sequel Love In The Buff, Hong Kong's Pang Ho Cheung has returned home for his latest directorial endeavour, Aberdeen - a comedy-drama focusing on three generations of one family as they deal with heartbreak and hardship.Pang regular Miriam Yeung stars alongside Eric Tsang, Louis Koo and Gigi Leung, and the film is slated for a May release in Hong Kong. While the official line-up has yet to be announced, it's very likely that Aberdeen will debut at the 38th Hong Kong International Film Festival, which is to be held from 24 March - 7 April.Here's the official synopsis:Life starts and ends with a breath of air. And between each breath, one goes through life's ups...

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Last year, Coventry University East Asian Film Society (Cueafs) founder Spencer Murphy had the pleasure of interviewing acclaimed Hong Kong auteur Pang Ho-cheung, alongside producer Subi Liang and scriptwriter Jody Luk. All three were in attendance at the 14th Udine Far East Film Festival to support the screening of their films Love in a Puff (2010), Love in the Buff (2012) and the Category III shock comedy Vulgaria (2012), which is released in the UK this week on DVD and Blu-ray, courtesy of Third Window Films. The seedy-sounding premise of Ho-cheung's Vulgaria (2012) may put-off some viewers with a sensitive disposition, but this Hong Kong sex comedy errs more on the side of fun than filth.

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Its claim to fame is in the numbers: Two months after its release, Lost in Thailand has broken every box-office record in China, with over 40 million admissions and domestic grosses exceeding $215 million. Not bad for a wacky $2-million comedy about a Chinese businessman-inventor (played straight by the film's director-writer-producer-actor Xu Zheng, one of the leads in the witty Hong Kong rom-com Love in the Buff) who rushes to Thailand on a not very well-defined mission in the company of his arch-enemy and a humble pancake-maker. While the exact

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Comic actor Xu Zheng's directorial debut broke a slew of box office records to become the most successful Chinese language film of all-time on home soil. But despite slick production values and a strong cast, Lost in Thailand is a private joke, funny only to a 1.3 billion-strong home crowd. Xu Zheng made a name for himself as part of director Ning Hao's comedy ensemble, appearing in the smash hit caper movies Crazy Stone (2006) and Crazy Racer (2009), as well as Ning's still unreleased Western Sunshine (aka No Man's Land). Last year, Xu appeared in Pang Ho Cheung's Hong Kong hit Love in the Buff as Miriam Yeung's rich new boyfriend, but all of that is now firmly in his past, and he is likely to...

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Writer / director / star / producer Xu Zheng has just set the bar phenomenally high for himself, absolutely shattering a literal handful of Chinese box office records with his debut directorial effort Lost In Thailand. Best known to fans in the west for his roles in Ning Hao's Crazy Stone and Crazy Racer and Pang Ho Cheung's Love In The Buff the wild success of Lost In Thailand has easily eclipsed any of those films and established Xu as a legitimate force in his own right.Lost in Thailand is the story of two rival business managers, Xu (Xu Zheng) and Bo (Huang Bo), who are fighting over a revolutionary new in-house technology for control of their company. If Xu wins, his future will be...

Director: Pang Ho-cheung. Review: Stan Glick. Vulgaria, a fabulous Hong Kong comedy by Pang Ho-cheung (Love in a Puff, 2010, Love in the Buff, 2012, and others), will be released at select theaters in North America on Friday, September 28, 2012. (The list of cities and theaters where Vulgaria is to be shown can be found at this post on my blog AsianCineFest.) The film had its North American premiere as the opening night presentation at the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival this past June. I had previously watched and reviewed a screener of it, but I wanted to attend that showing just to see what the audience response would be. Well, the audience roared with laughter, over-and-over-and-over again, and there were empathetic responses to some of the tender and touching scenes involving the main character's young daughter. These scenes served as beautifully measured counterpoints to the raunchy vulgarity that dominates the film. On...

Love in The Buff

Directed by Pang Ho-Cheung

Written by Pang Ho-Cheung, Luk Yee-sum. Jody Luk

Hong Kong, 2012

One of the few films to be presented in 35mm at this year’s festival, Love in the Buff (which, in the film’s title card, really really looks like Love in the Butt) is a sequel which reunites the two main lovers of the first instalment, Jimmy (Shaun Yue) and Cherrie (Merriam Yeung), whose relationship is on the rocks. Early on the in the film Cherrie, who finds Jimmy’s slow maturation process into adulthood insufferable, decides to call it quits. A new job takes her from Hong Kong to Beijing, where new opportunities of love await. Things get sticky, after having met someone, when Jimmy is also relocated to Beijing for employment. Even though each has found a new companion, fate sees that they stumble upon each other, and old feelings rear their heads…...

[After bagging the Netpac Award at PiFan last week, and enjoying weekend previews in Hong Kong ahead of its theatrical release next Thursday, now seems the perfect time to revisit my review from Hkiff back in March] Not content with having secured the opening night slot and a probable box office hit with his new rom-com sequel, Love In The Buff, writer-director Pang Ho Cheung has completed another uproarious comedy that will also debut at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival. Vulgaria stars Chapman To as a frustrated local movie producer, struggling not only with financing his next project but also with the collapse of his marriage. During a staged interview before an audiatorium of film students, second tier producer To Wai Cheung (Chapman To)...

Hong Kong writer director Carol Lai returns with “The Second Woman”, a suspense drama revolving around the ever popular theme of sinister twins. The film receives a real boost from having popular and award winning actress Shu Qi (“Love”) in the two lead roles, with Shawn Yue (“Love in the Buff”) on hand as her understandably confused beau, plus support from Chen Shu, Zhang Nai Tian and Niu Meng Meng. Shu Qi plays Huibao, an understudy actress rehearsing for a new performance of the play “The Legend of Lady Plum Blossom” with her boyfriend Nan (Shawn Yue). When she is struck down by illness, her twin sister Huixiang (also Shu Qi) takes over in her place, delivering a superb performance and surprising everyone. This puts a great deal of tension on the relationship between the sisters, not least since Huibao starts to suspect that Huixiang might be making eyes at Nan behind her back.

An adolescent’s sixteenth birthday marks a turning point in life when maturation occurs at a much more rapid pace and the teenager begins to be faced with difficult and important decisions that will shape their future. The same can be said of Montreal’s Fantasia International Film Festival, set to kick off its sixteenth edition tomorrow: its Super Sweet Sixteen promises to be nothing if not interesting. That’s not to say that the main focus of North America’s largest genre film festival is changing; in fact, between prolific director Takashi Miike’s festival opener For Love’s Sake – fresh from Cannes and having its North American premiere – and the Canadian premiere of animation studio Laika’s Paranorman, which closes the fest three weeks later, filmgoers will have a whopping 160 films from around the world to choose from. Sitges eat your heart out.

Where Fantasia seems to be...

Director Pang Ho-Cheung has over the years established himself as one of the most interesting directors working in the Hong Kong film industry today. His varied filmography is a testament to his amazing talent, and comedy is clearly one of his favorite genres. From his directorial debut You Shoot, I Shoot to his first box office hit Men Suddenly In Black to his most recent and successful Love in a Puff and the sequel Love in the Buff, he has never stopped impressing audiences with his unique and often dark sense of humor. But his latest, Vulgaria, which as you can see from the trailer, is filled with dirty dialogue and sexual references, and may just be the funniest of them all. Check it out...

A near full five days into the madness that is the 2012 New York Asian Film Festival and we've got an interview for you. It comes from our correspondent The Lady Miz Diva. She was fortunate enough to sit down with Pang Ho-Cheung, the director of the uproarious, head-turning Hk comedy Vulgaria, which had its North American premiere last Friday to a packed house. His sequel to the smash hit Love in a Puff, Love in the Buff also screened this past Sunday at Nyaff. This interview is being cross-published on Diva's own website, The Diva Review. The Lady Miz Diva:  How did you get away with Vulgaria?  It's so raunchy and outrageous.  Did you have any trouble getting it through censorship boards?   Pang...

Thanks to our friends at Dream Movie Australia, we have Five double passes for the new Hong Kong film Motorway to give away to our Australian readers! This is the much anticipated new film from producer Johnnie To and director Soi Cheang (Accident, Dog Bite Dog, Shamo) that stars Shawn Yue (Love in the Buff, Reign of Assassins) and Anthony Wong (Infernal Affairs trilogy, The Mission). How to win: It's really simple. All you have to do is to tell us the title of the other film Soi Cheang is directing that is due for cinema release in 2012/13. (Hint: It stars Donnie Yen.) You can email your answer, together with your name and postal address (in case you win!) to me at: hugo@twitchfilm.net. The competition...

The 11th annual New York Asian Film Festival (June 29 through July 15) has announced its full schedule, which will showcase over 50 feature films and three programs of short films from Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the USA, and Vietnam.

Presented in partnership between Subway Cinema and the Film Society of Lincoln Center with programming support from Japan Society, America’s biggest festival of popular Asian film is opening with Vulgaria: Described as “astonishingly filthy,” “outrageous,” and “displaying a reckless abandon in mentioning genitals” Pang Ho-cheung’s show business satire pushes good taste as far as it can go, and then it keeps on going. What’s most astonishing about this lewd, crude, and hilariously dirty film is that it achieves all its shocking effects with nothing more than dialogue.

In addition, Doomsday Book and Guns And Roses make their North American premieres as the Centerpiece Selections.

As local director Pang Ho Cheung is gearing up to premiere two new films at this month's Hong Kong International Film Festival, international distributor China Lion has announced that it already has one of them scheduled for release in North America at the end of the month. Love In The Buff, which is the official opening film of the 36th Hkiff on 21 March, will open in selected North American cities on 30 March. A sequel to Pang's incredibly well-received romantic comedy Love In A Puff, this second helping sees Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue reconnect in Beijing, after the economic downturn sends them north of the border looking for work.China Lion is also expanding its release of Dante Lam's The Viral Factor into 10...