Hong Kong’s Soi Cheang Is Ready to Go Into Film ‘Limbo’

There are still idealistic young writers out there aiming to transform the world, at least in China, and the newsroom drama The Best Is Yet to Come (Bu zhi bu xiu) catches the viewer up in the fast-paced story of an untutored youth from the provinces who breaks a scoop on hepatitis B.

By Hanna RantalaVENICE (Reuters) - "Nomadland", a U.S.

Guy Lodge Film CriticOne day after premiering and receiving the most rapturous reviews of any film in competition, U.S.-based Chinese director Chloé Zhao has won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for her film “Nomadland,” a documentary-influenced road movie starring Frances McDormand as an itinerant widow traveling across America.

Rebecca Davis editorThough China was among the first in the world to restart film shoots in the wake of COVID-19, the number of projects going into production has been drastically reduced by the pandemic and its accompanying economic uncertainty. Recent financial reports and public comments from China’s major studios reveal some trends in what to expect from those productions still in the pipeline.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefIt is going to be tough acting like things have gone back to normal, and operating an in-person festival, complete with foreign guests. But given plentiful resources and a can-do spirit, the Hainan Intl.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAlready tracking poorly in the Middle Kingdom, Disney’s “Mulan” is now the subject of a media blackout in mainland China, where it is set for a theatrical release on Friday. The move appears related to foreign reactions to the film having shot partially in Xinjiang.Three sources told the Reuters news agency that mainland media outlets had received a notice asking them not to cover the film.

Ben Croll At a panel hosted by the Venice Production Bridge – the industry section of the Venice Film Festival – earlier this week, delegates from the Italian, American, and Chinese industries shared the virtual stage with European regulators as they enumerated the challenges facing the global film business in the post-pandemic era.Jointly organized by Italy’s cultural heritage ministry (MiBACT) and motion picture association (ANICA) for the second year in a row, the panel brought together

Vivienne Chow Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning “Parasite” leads the race of this year’s Asian Film Awards, which will be hosted in his home country South Korea for the first time since the prize ceremony’s inception in 2007. The acclaimed drama picked up 10 nominations, including best film, best director and best screenplay.“Parasite” was closely followed by Wang Xiaoshuai’s drama “So Long, My Son” from mainland China, and Taiwan drama “A Sun” by Chung Mong-hong.

Taking Soviet films from the past as its model, Russian veteran Andrei Konchalovsky’s Dear Comrades! (Dorogie Tovarischi!) pinpoints a moment inhistory when people’s unquestioning belief in the high-minded principles of the Communist party wavered as evidence to the contrary mounted and personally impacted their lives. Although at first sight this dramatization of a 1962 strike at a factory in the U.S.S.R.

Mulan” is facing renewed boycott calls from Asian activists.Thai and Taiwanese activists have joined Hong Kong protestors fighting for democratic reform who first raised the call for boycotts of the film last year, after its Chinese-born star sided with the Hong Kong police and their crackdown of pro-democracy militants.“I support the Hong Kong Police,” said Liu Yifei, who is also an American citizen, sharing a post from the Beijing People’s Daily on Weibo, a Chinese blog site in August 2019.

Disney film’s online release yesterday (September 4).After the film’s initial March release date in cinemas, which was curtailed due to the coronavirus outbreak, the film finally arrived on the Disney+ streaming service this week.Fans have been calling for a boycott of the film due to star Liu Yifei’s reported support of Hong Kong police during ongoing clashes in the country.Posting on Chinese social media site Weibo (via The Los Angeles Times) last year, Liu shared a statement from reporter Fu

Eli Countryman The live-action remake of Disney’s “Mulan” is a story rooted in Chinese culture and a tale of forging one’s own path, said the film’s director and stars during the #GoldOpen Premium Access panel moderated by Variety‘s Audrey Cleo Yap on Friday evening, one of three panels with cast members airing throughout the weekend.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentDaniele Luchetti’s “The Ties” (“Lacci”), the first Italian film to open the Venice Film Festival in 11 years, garnered warm reviews on its world premiere on Wednesday evening, and has been sold by MK2 Films in a raft of territories around the world.MK2 Films has been able to lure major distributors in key markets, notably France (Pyramide), Spain (Caramel), Latin America (Synapse), China (Huanxi), Portugal (Midas), Greece (Weirdwave), Austria (Thim),

When the Japanese Imperial Army laid siege to an innocuous warehouse in 1937’s Battle of Shanghai, the skirmish ultimately became a flashpoint that galvanized a nation. China lost that battle but won the war, and the resistance of the Eight Hundred Heroes earned the legendary status it retains to this day.

Believe it or not, we are just mere days away from the release of “Mulan” and perhaps the biggest studio gamble since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down theaters in March. And though the discussion surrounding “Mulan” has revolved around the release strategy (going straight to Disney+ at a premium price), the release of the film also marks yet another milestone for diversity in Hollywood, with the film’s primarily Asian cast.

Influential Chinese video platform Bilibili has taken a 9.9 percent stake in Huanxi Media, the rising film and TV studio that counts blockbuster directors Xu Zheng, Zhang Yimou and Ning Hao as major shareholders. Bilibili agreed to invest $513 million Hong Kong dollars ($66 million) in Huanxi in exchange for almost 347 million shares in the studio, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentRussian World War II drama “Saving Leningrad” has sold to several major territories, including the U.S., the U.K., Germany, France, Japan, South Korea and China.The film was sold to Capelight for Germany and the U.S., Signature Entertainment for the U.K., Kinovista in France, New Select in Japan, iQIYI in China, Super Vision Trading in Taiwan, W&W Investments Holding in Poland, Eagle Pictures in Italy, Studio Show Entertainment in Sweden, and

Janet W. Lee James Hong is everywhere.No, really — at the spry age of 91, he is one of the most prolific actors in Hollywood history, with 672 credits to his name.

The second film by Chinese art-world star Ai Weiwei to debut in 2020, Coronationlooks at the first chapter of the COVID-19 story: the Wuhan lockdown. Directed from afar by the now Europe-based artist, who had volunteers and employees send him hundreds of hours of footage, it's a very different work from 2017's epic-scaled, tightly focused refugee-crisis doc Human Flow.

At a time when American moviegoers’ concerns are firmly focused on domestic issues, or on international players like Russia and China, it may seem odd to have two documentaries come out in the same week about events that happened decades ago in Iran. But Taghi Amirani’s “Coup 53” and Barbara Kopple’s “Desert One,” which open in select markets and in virtual cinemas on Aug.