Guan Hu, Director of 2020’s Highest Grossing Film, Starts New Production as China Lines Up July Releases

Vivienne Chow Documentary feature “Inside the Red Brick Wall,” which chronicles one of the most dramatic chapters of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, bagged the best film at the 27th Hong Kong Film Critics Society Awards.The best director prize went to Peter Chan Ho-sun for “Leap,” a sports drama based on the trajectory of China’s national women volleyball team.

Politics and Covid-19 have been intertwined ever since the novel coronavirus emerged in Wuhan, China a year ago. But when director Hao Wu made 76 Days, his harrowing film documenting hospital workers and Covid patients in Wuhan as the city went through lockdown, he left political questions aside.

Andrei Konchalovsky’s acclaimed historical drama Dear Comrades! is inspired by the true story of a state-sponsored massacre in the Russian city of Novocherkassk in the early 1960s.

straight to your inbox every day for freeIt's Wednesday - derby day - and the streets around Old Trafford are all but deserted.In more normal times Sir Matt Busby Way would be thronged with thousands of expectant supporters making their way to the ground for one of the biggest games of the year.But since the pandemic struck and professional football was initially suspended, then allowed to continue without fans, it's been a different story.Matt Bonilla is the general manager of The Trafford, a

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBaidu, the tech giant that operates China’s leading web search engine and is majority owner of the iQIYI streaming platform, is reported to be seeking $3.5 billion through a secondary share listing in Hong Kong.The move has not been confirmed by the company itself, though Bloomberg identified CLSA and Goldman Sachs as the investment banks it had selected to manage the new listing and share sale.The possible development coincided with news that the New York Stock

Refresh for latest…: China was the big international box office winner this weekend with three local movies at the top of the chart and a New Year’s Day record set on Friday. That came just as it was confirmed the market led global box office for 2020, surpassing North America for the first time.

As 2021 dawned, China shot straight out of the box office gate with a new record. On Friday, the market hit a milestone for New Year’s Day.

China is looking to new, modern methods in its campaign of patriotic education, according to reports.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentSavaged by COVID-19, global box office plunged between 57% and 76% in major markets outside the U.S., with the U.K. and Ireland leading the rout, crashing 76% against 2019, according to a Comscore study, published Wednesday.Also hit hard were China (-70%), South Korea (-71%), and Italy and Spain (both down 72%).

Refresh for latest…: There was a bit more varied action at the international box office this weekend, including the continued rollout of Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman 1984, a sizable start for China’s Shock Wave 2, the debut of Disney/Pixar’s Soul, The Croods: A New Age nearing $100M global, and a brand new milestone for Japan’s Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train which, according to estimates, has overtaken Spirited Away to become the highest-grossing film ever in the market.

The Oscar-contending documentary 76 Days, set in hospitals in Wuhan, China as the city endured lockdown after the eruption of Covid-19, is cinéma vérité par excellence. No sit-down interviews, no TV news reports spliced in—just the pure visual drama of medical workers and patients ensnared in an unprecedented crisis.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFilm industry relations between China and Europe have been kept alive throughout the coronavirus outbreak by Bridging The Dragon, an informal trade organization now in its sixth year.After its regular event held during the Berlin film festival in February, further seminars, presentations and mixers should have taken place in Cannes in May and in Beijing in November.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese authorities have detained independent filmmaker and journalist Du Bin, who has recently worked on material critical of communism and the Chinese regime, according to his family, friends and human rights organizations.Du, 48, was detained by police in Beijing last Wednesday, says his sister Du Jirong, according to the New York Times.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Anthony Chen’s “Wet Season,” which represents Singapore in the Oscar race for best international feature film.The movie world premiered in the Platform section at the Toronto International Film Festival, and is being represented in international markets by Memento Films International.Penned and directed by Chen, “Wet Season” revolves around a Chinese language teacher whose marriage and school