Hong Kong Film Festival Delays 2022 Edition Due To New Covid Wave

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe shares of China’s largest entertainment and tech companies plunged for a second day on Tuesday as Russia’s war in Ukraine, regulatory warnings and China’s slowing economy all combined to signal tougher times ahead.Alibaba shares crashed 11.7% to reach an all-time low of HK$71.2 in Hong Kong, where they have a secondary listing. Tencent shares plunged by 10.2% to HK$298, their lowest in several years. Both companies have in the past held the title of China’s largest enterprise and are major components of the Hang Seng Index of leading equities.The Hang Seng Index fell by more than 1,000 points and by nearly 6% on Tuesday to close at 18,415.

Mirror singer and actor Anson Lo has joined the cast of Bizhan Tong’s upcoming action thriller Chungking Mansions. Billed as Hong Kong’s biggest zombie film ever, the Phoenix Waters Productions pic, in co-production with AMM Global and Salon Films Japan, has also added Hong Kong-Canadian actresses Selena Lee and Jeannie Chan, Korea’s Choi Si-Hun and Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAnson Lo, part of Hong Kong pop sensation Mirror, has joined the cast of “Chungking Mansions,” an ambitious zombie film that is currently in advanced preparation.Alongside Lo, Hong Kong-Canadian actresses Selena Lee and Jeannie Chan, Korean star Choi Si-Hun, and Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung join the previously announced Japanese action star Rina Takeda and Singaporean actors Desmond Tan and Rebecca Lim.Davika Hoorne, who previously starred in “Pee Mak,” Thailand’s highest grossing film of all time, will also join. She takes over a role previously assigned to Angel Locsin as the assistant to the American protagonist’s pregnant wife.Directed by banker turned producer and director Bizhan Tong (“The Escort”), the film tracks a diverse group of people who, following a zombie attack, try to break into Chungking Mansions.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAsian sports streaming platform SPOTV has launched in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and The Philippines. The move was announced on the first day of the virtual FilMart rights market.The service is available as a subscription-based app that includes linear channels and on demand event coverage. The sports it covers include MotoGP World Championships and World Superbike Championships; World Badminton Federation Tour; the Korean Baseball League; V.League Japan and Formula E motor racing.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefOrganizers of Hong Kong FilMart, normally Asia’s biggest film and TV rights market, are putting on a brave face despite their prestige event being forced into an online-only format for the third time in a row.The city’s borders are closed to travelers from several key countries and its onerous quarantine on-arrival conditions show no sign of being lifted during the current fifth wave of COVID-19 infections.But, while many Asian industry executives have been unable to attend an in-person festival or market for some two years now, and are keenly awaiting the first opportunity, these days they are also vastly more experienced at dealing with virtual markets, video conferencing and online screenings. The number of companies participating as exhibitors at FilMart 2022 is set to reach 750, compared with 680 last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefNow completed, “The Silence of Smoke” has been added to the FilMart sales lineup of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The family drama film is directed by Takita Yojiro, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2008/9 with “Departures.”The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Indian filmmaker Rajesh S. Jala, winner of awards at the Montreal and Sao Paolo film festivals for 2008 documentary “Children of the Pyre,” has tackled a universally resonant subject with his latest film “The Spark” (“Chingari”).In the film, a filmmaker on assignment follows a crematorium worker and an old woman in the ancient city of Banaras with his camera. A victim of violence, the filmmaker is burning with anger and hatred and is determined to take revenge for his past trauma.

Nicole Kidman is skipping the annual Oscars Nominees Luncheon this year.

Nicole Kidman may be a nominated for her fifth Oscar for her work in “Being the Ricardos,” but she wasn’t at the annual nominees luncheon on Monday at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel.Variety can exclusively reveal that Kidman is at home in Nashville under doctors’ orders, recovering from a torn hamstring. She was filming the upcoming Amazon series “Expats” in Los Angeles when the pre-existing injury flared up.The show is continuing to shoot this week but will temporarily pause while producers figure out when they can resume and if they need to shoot around Kidman until her return, according to an Amazon rep.“Expats,” based on Janice Y.

Jackson Wang has unveiled his brand-new English-language mixtape, ‘LOST & FOUND’.Today (March 7), the Hong Kong-born K-pop idol surprise-released the new eight-track mixtape, comprising old songs he had previously recorded but left unreleased. Notably, Wang co-written the sixth track on the record, titled ‘In My Bed’.In a tweet from his label Team Wang announcing the release, it also teased that the singer is in the process of “cooking something bigger” for the future.

Big Bang member T.O.P is reportedly working on his debut solo album.The rapper reportedly spoke to lifestyle-luxury magazine Prestige Hong Kong about his hopes for the future, following his departure from long-time management agency YG Entertainment last month, as well as his plan to release a debut solo album soon.Further details on what his upcoming solo release might entail are expected to be detailed in the rapper’s cover story with the magazine, which is due out on March 7. According to the magazine, T.O.P will also “break his silence” on his disappearance from the public eye and speak about his “love for art and music”.A post shared by Prestige Hong Kong (@prestigehk)Last month, YG Entertainment announced that the rapper decided to part ways with the agency after 16 years.

Richard Kuipers Folklore, feminism and film noir come together in Pushpendra Singh’s meticulously crafted fourth feature “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs.” Set in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region in Northwest India, this moody fable about an unhappy young bride plotting her escape from tradition and patriarchy is a gripping character study that stutters slightly in the latter stages before producing a magical finale that no-one will forget in a hurry. Singh’s beautifully shot film has traveled extensively on the festival circuit and picked up awards at Hong Kong and Jeonju since debuting at Berlin in 2020.

Partner Content The ongoing pandemic has inevitably changed the workings of the global film industry in a variety of ways. Throughout these ups and downs, one thing has yet to waver, and that’s the demand for new content.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Hong Kong International Film Festival, scheduled to have taken place from the end of March, has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Organizers also canceled remaining screenings in the Cine Fan community outreach program.This decision follows the Hong Kong government’s moves earlier this week to extend social distancing measures until April 20, 2022.

Vivienne Chow Hong Kong protest films “Revolution of Our Times” and “May You Stay Forever Young” will have their British premiere in March at a new film festival organized by artists and culture sector workers who have relocated to the U.K. Ng Ka-leung, a producer and director of Hong Kong dystopian anthology “Ten Years,” and documentary filmmaker and writer Wong Ching, co-curators of Hong Kong Film Festival U.K. 2022, said the festival is more than just about screening films that can no longer be shown in their hometown due to political changes.It is organized by Hong Kong Umbrella Community, a U.K.-based body co-founded by Nathan Law, a former Hong Kong lawmaker who is now living in exile in Britain.

Bill Maher couldn’t hide his contempt for the country hosting the Winter Olympics on his Friday Real Time. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Osaka Asian Film Festival has unveiled its biggest ever program – a total of 76 films – to unspool next month (March 10-20, 2022).Its competition section includes the acclaimed Korean debut film “Aloners,” which offers an exacting critique of the alienating effects upon life of modern capitalist economies; Hong Kong biopic “Anita”; the world premiere of “Angry Son,” which combines LGBT and mixed race themes in a heartwarming comedy; Kong Dashan’s new take on “Journey to the West,” as a ragtag group of people on a UFO hunt; “Mama’s Affair,” the second film by Kearen Pang, whose 2017 debut “29+1” won Osaka’s audience award, “No Land’s Man” from Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and festival circuit hit “Barbarian Invasion.” The spotlight section includes ten titles. Among them are “The Ground Beneath her Feet” from Bangladesh’s Mohammad Rabby Mridha; “A Room of Her own” from China’s Xie Yiran; and Carlo Francisco Manatad’s “Whether the Weather is Fine.”The largest component section is the twenty-title Indie Forum, a platform for Japanese indie films that allow the winner to claim the Japan Cuts Award.