China’s Huace Pictures’ New Slate Includes Bi Gan Film, ‘Writer’s Odyssey’ Sequels

Rebecca Davis editorChinese director Jia Zhangke has formally launched his new venture: a filmmaking school in his native Shanxi staffed by some of China’s top industry talent, including helmers Ning Hao and Bi Gan.The Shanxi Film Academy was inaugurated in a ceremony presided over by Communist party officials and attended by major firms seeking synergies between the school’s future crop of filmmakers and their own thirst for new talent and content.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefChinese streaming firm iQIYI is making moves to start operating in Australia and New Zealand.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMainland China youth drama “The Day is Over” was named the best Chinese-language film in the Firebird Young Cinema competition at the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

SEVENTEEN member The8 has dropped the first teaser image for his upcoming solo single album.On April 8, Pledis Entertainment announced that The8 would be returning with a new single next week. Slated to release on April 13, the company released the first image teaser for ‘Side by Side’.The stylish new teaser features the Chinese K-pop idol dressed in an oversized navy blue suit, casually leaning against a sports car.

Daniel D'Addario Chief TV CriticGreg Berlanti’s domination of the CW continues with “Kung Fu” — and the new drama he executive produces is proof positive that the super-producer is using his powers for good. The show is a revival of a drama starring David Carradine that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1975.

Jon Burlingame Not content merely to conquer the film-music world, composer Hans Zimmer has now turned his attention to cell-phone ringtones.Chinese smartphone maker Oppo has unveiled its latest, the Find X3 Pro, which offers two Zimmer-created ringtones and “an orchestra of system sounds,” according to an announcement by the company.The new sounds include two warm ringtones, a gentle alarm and a phone activation sound as well as “a range of energizing text and notification alerts.” The intent,

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefGlobal streaming service Netflix has acquired multi-territory streaming rights to upcoming Chinese fantasy film “Super Me.” The story is an aspirational tale, combining lucid dreaming and a rags to riches plot about a struggling screenwriter.It was directed by Chong Zhang (“Fourth Wall”) and has a cast that is headed by Taiwan’s Darren Wang, along with Cao Bingkun, Song Jia and Wu Gang.The film had its world premiere in the panorama section of the 2019 edition of

Fucked Up have shared a mammoth new song featuring Matt Berninger of The National – listen to ‘Year of the Horse – Act Three’ below.The 22-minute track appears on ‘Year of the Horse’, the latest edition of the band’s zodiac series of albums. The album was announced last month with the first act, an equally huge 19-minute offering.The band’s Zodiac series have been released periodically to coincide with the Chinese new year for nearly a decade now.

Rebecca Davis editorEvery cinema in China must schedule and actively promote at least two screenings of propaganda films per week beginning this week until the end of the year, Chinese authorities have declared, announcing the first batch of eligible titles Friday.Theaters that are part of the National Alliance of Arthouse Cinemas or the “People’s Cinema” circuit — a group of more than 5,000 venues with special halls dedicated to propaganda films or that employ specific strategies like

TheHong Kong International Film Festivalhas scrapped its opening-night world premiere of Where the Wind Blows, a widely anticipated crime thriller directed by local industry veteran Philip Yung.

Ubisoft has announced that the second DLC for Immortals Fenyx Rising, Myths of the Eastern Realm, is currently available to download.Three post-launch DLC‘s (downloadable content) was confirmed for Immortals Fenyx Rising in November last year. The first being A New God, which is already available to play.The latest Myths of the Eastern Realm DLC follows a new hero named Ku who embarks on a journey inspired by a popular Chinese myth, Nuwa Mends The Heavens.

Rebecca Davis editorDespite extensive news reporting about China’s secretive “re-education” camps in the Xinjiang region, it is difficult to imagine what it’s like for more than a million Uyghur, Kazakh and other minorities detained inside.

New Zealand at the beginning of the pandemic.Jaye Tremble has only spent two months in lockdown since the coronavirus outbreak last year.The 22-year-old, from Irvine, spent 2020 going to four festivals, nightclubs every weekend, and travelled the country in a campervan before getting a job at a kiwi farm on the other side of the world.But despite her freedom Jaye admitted she is really missing her family and getting a chinese takeaway.Now she has lifted the lid on what her life has been like

The Beijing International Film Festival, which typically takes place in mid-April but has yet to announce its plans for 2021, is considering a postponement to August. Organizers are hoping that by late summer the pandemic will have subsided to an extent that international filmmakers and guests are able to travel to China to participate in the event, sources in contact with organizers of the government-backed festival told The Hollywood Reporteron Friday.

Rebecca Davis editorTop Chinese director Feng Xiaogang will step in front of the camera alongside Chinese-American actor-director Joan Chen in a local adaptation of the 2009 Hollywood tearjerker “Hachi: A Dog’s Tale,” which began shooting Thursday.It is currently set to premiere on New Year’s Eve.Feng is best known for his work as a director on films such as “Youth,” “I Am Not Madame Bovary” and “Cellphone,” but he has also frequently taken on acting roles, with his most recent starring role in

Hong Kong protests was nominated for an award, according to a new report. The Communist Party’s propaganda department issued the order to all media outlets, Bloomberg reported, citing anonymous sources.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese helmer Xu Lei will return to the subject of rural life in northern China for his second feature “The Peacemaker,” one of the 20 narrative film projects selected to participate in the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum this year.Xu’s suspenseful and darkly humorous first film “Summer Detective,” which he wrote and directed, was nominated for best feature and won the prize for best script at the 2019 FIRST International Film Festival, which focuses on emerging talent.