Hong Kong Horror Comedy ‘The Vampire of Sheung Shui,’ With Indian Protagonist, Sets HAF Debut

Hong Kong’s lawmakers have unanimously passed a national security legislation, which will come into effect on March 23.

Faye Bradley Actor Louis Koo is a household name in Hong Kong but off-screen, he’s an influential entertainment industry investor, producer and entrepreneur. Rising to prominence during the “golden age” of Hong Kong cinema, Koo built a respected career over the decades but less flashy are his businesses and investments. One Cool Group is one such revenue stream.

Variety Lounge at the 2024 Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (FILMART) emerged as a dynamic hub of creativity and insight. The studio played host to a series of illuminating interviews featuring prominent figures in the global film industry including European filmmaker Cristiano Bortone, producer and co-founder of boutique studio S11 Partners Ltd.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Linmon Pictures, one of the most outward-looking mainland Chinese entertainment firms, is preparing premium series “Hate Coin.” The show is being produced in association with Jonathan Wong and Justina Shih’s production company Octagon Metatainment, a Hong Kong-based multimedia studio. “Hate Coin” is based on international best-selling novel “Second Sister,” by successful Hong Kong novelist Chan Ho Kei, whose previous book “The Borrowed” was a crime story that panned five-decades. The story follows the activities of a young woman whose school-age sister appeared to have committed suicide. Suspecting foul play, the woman trams up with a manipulative hacker and cybersecurity expert to try to dig deeper. “What follows is a cat and mouse game through the city of Hong Kong and its digital underground, especially an online gossip platform, where someone has been slandering Siu-Man.

EXCLUSIVE: Actress Kat Graham (The Vampire Diaries) has signed with Untitled Entertainment for management, with partner Evan Hainey to run point on her behalf.

The fact that both Asia and Europe are finding it more difficult to finance movies following the pandemic may drive the two regions to start working together more closely, despite the huge differences in their funding systems, said a group of leading producers on a two-session Filmart panel.

HCG AwardPresented by CAA ChinaTwo cash awards of $20,000 value each. CAA China may board the winning projects later by entering into script development agreements. “Call of Lobster” (Taiwan) Dir.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong’s Film Development Council has unveiled the first shortlisted projects under its new scheme to develop content for streaming platforms. The Content Development Scheme for Streaming Platforms was announced last year. It aims to nurture cross-sectoral production teams and expand new distribution market and takes the form of a competition to recruit participating teams that develop a mini-series for streaming platforms.

Faye Bradley Faye Bradley Hong Kong Design Institute has announced the opening of a new virtual production studio at Shaw Studios, one of the biggest and most comprehensive film facilities in the Greater Bay Area. It is intended to support professional education in the sector and enhance filming facilities in the city.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Escaping Man,” a Chinese drama feature about a man dragged into a kidnap plot, heads the FilMart slate of Hong Kong-based sales agency Autumn Sun Company. The protagonist is a man who spent 20 years in jail after being falsely accused of rape. After his release, he intends to confront the woman, but instead falls for her again — to the point that she is able to manipulate him into kidnapping the child for which she is the nanny.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed filmmaker Hong Khaou‘s “Walled City” has been selected for the 22nd Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart. Khaou’s debut, “Lilting” (2014), starring Ben Whishaw and Cheng Pei-pei, premiered in the world cinema dramatic competition at Sundance, winning best cinematography. “Monsoon” (2019), his second feature, starred Henry Golding and premiered in competition at Karlovy Vary.

Chinese tech and media giant Alibaba is investing $640M (HK$5BN) into Hong Kong’s creative industries over the next five years.

The move was announced on the first day of FilMart, the annual rights market for the Asian industries, at an event attended by Fan Luyuan, chairman and CEO of Alibaba’s digital media and entertainment unit, and Kevin Yeung, the Hong Kong government’s secretary for culture, sports and tourism. Alibaba’s Hong Kong Cultural and Art Industry Revitalization Program “will focus on film production and distribution, rights acquisitions, TV series production, investments in concerts, collaboration with performance venues and talent development, etc.

After stints heading local-language production at Disney APAC and HBO Asia, Hong Kong-based Jessica Kam-Engle is now heading CreAsia Studio, a new Banijay Asia venture in Southeast Asia, in the role of EVP & Business Head.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cora Yim and Benjamin Lin, both established indie producers of Chinese-language content, have joined forces to launch S11 Partners. It is partially backed by Medialink Group, an IP, distribution and brand licensing mini-conglomerate that is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The pair, who previously worked on TV series “Taiwan Crime Stories,” are launching their venture at FilMart in Hong Kong with a slate of three feature films in development.

Seoul-based sales company Finecut has boarded international sales on the action-comedy Boss and will launch sales at this week’s Filmart in Hong Kong. 

As Filmart gets underway, Hong Kong’s major production companies, including Edko Films, Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP), Media Asia, One Cool Group and Universe Entertainment, will be unveiling their new titles in enormous booths at the front of the trade show floor, some of which will be as elaborate as film sets.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief COVID, changing money flows and a new superpower Cold War of sorts may have, over the past few years, helped to reduce the connections between the film and TV industries of China and the rest of the world — so, will the 2024 edition of FilMart, whose organizers continue to claim bridgehead status, be the market to increase those connections? Candas Yeung, the Trade Development Council associate director who takes over as head of FilMart this year, says that visitor and exhibitor numbers have crept up again this year — to an anticipated 7,500 and 715, respectively — and that fully 40% of market participants hail from mainland China. “That’s a pretty significant proportion and they are very active in the market, both buying and selling, and making some announcements,” Yeung says.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taipei-based Screenworks Asia has picked up innovative anthology series “Urban Horror” for international sales ahead of this week’s FilMart in Hong Kong. Directed by Lee Chun-Hong (“Mom, Don’t Do That!”), Chen Bao-Zhong and Huang Dan-Chi, a group of young and upcoming filmmakers, “Urban Horror” comprises 34 short episodes revolving around the mysterious, the unexplained and the disturbed. They make use of six modern city settings, such as night clubs, office buildings, youth hostels and other places where ghosts and monsters are not normally found. The deliberately limited number of locations also enables the 34 short films to be re-packaged as six longer episodes. In each episode, the audience will see a familiar face that could be an award-winning actor, a pop star, or an internet celebrity.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic How distraught is Annette, the severely troubled British mother of two played by Daisy Ridley in “Magpie?” She has gotten a short angular haircut, one that might, in another context, be the height of chic (very Isabella Rossellini). Except that the movie uses it as a symbolic expression of her trauma, like Mia Farrow’s iconic Vidal Sassoon cut in “Rosemary’s Baby.” Annette, who’s on some serious medication, looks at a mirror until it breaks. Does she have telekinetic powers? No, she broke it with her hand (which bleeds into the sink), but the force of her repressed rage is palpable.