Hong Kong to censor films 'endangering national security'

As it seeks to widen its reach across China and Asia Pacific, Endeavor subsidiary Endeavor China has appointed media and entertainment executive Sum Huang as CEO. Huang was most recently co-founder and partner of XG Entertainment, a leading premium content provider in Asia, and previously spent five years with Hony Capital.

Rebecca Davis editorEndeavor’s China subsidiary has appointed Sum Huang as its chief executive, the company said Tuesday.Huang was most recently the co-founder and partner of Shanghai-headquartered content provider XG Entertainment, which raised capital from Alibaba CICC and YF Capital during his tenure.  He helped the company build its content development and production business, produced live concerts, and established a branded content team that formed a TikTok-based multi-channel media

Rebecca Davis editorA senior journalist at Hong Kong’s recently shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily has been arrested at the airport attempting to leave the city, according to local reports.Editorial writer Fung Wai-kong was halted Sunday and arrested on suspicion of “conspiring to collude with foreign countries or foreign sources to endanger national security,” a crime punishable by up to life in prison via the city’s Beijing-imposed security law.

Boris Johnson think he is to think that we are going to accept that the case is closed.

Rebecca Davis editorChina struck back at the U.S. on Friday for President Joe Biden’s condemnation of its shutdown of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy Apple Daily newspaper.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBeijing- and Amsterdam-based sales agency Fortissimo Films has added to its Cannes slate feature-length Chinese documentary “Keep Running.” It will be first pitched to distributors during the Cannes Market.The picture tracks a team of teenagers form underprivileged backgrounds who live in Gen He, the coldest part of China, and run every day despite the harsh circumstances.It is the first full-length picture directed by Sun Getting, who previously made TV series

according to foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.The lifetime practitioner of the martial arts was featured on Chinese state network CCTV while serving as the chief referee at a local tournament, reported South China Morning Post.“I would practice boxing every day and do movements like chopping, pushing and thrusting. Although I am old, I still have the strength,” she told the broadcaster, gesticulating the movements with grace and precision as she spoke.

Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s most-read newspaper and the territory’s leading opposition voice, may end all its operations by the end of this week.Local authorities and the city’s new Security Bureau have arrested several of its top editors on national security grounds and ordered the freezing of HK$18 million ($2.3 million) of its affiliates’ financial assets.

Legolas or J.K. Rowling’s Dobby.

Rebecca Davis editorFive hundred Hong Kong police officers raided the offices of pro-democracy tabloid Apple Daily on Thursday.

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions have acquired North American rights to writer/director Evan Jackson Leong’s Snakehead.

It already saw off Donald Trump, now K-pop is threatening to cause the collapse of North Korea. Or so fears that nation’s leader Kim Jong-un, as South Korean pop music gains popularity in the country.Kim has called South Korean entertainment smuggled into North Korea via China a “vicious cancer”, according to the New York Times.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic“Wish Dragon” is well aware that “Aladdin” got there first. Making his spirited feature debut, dream-big animation director Chris Appelhans pretty much assumes you’ll be thinking of Disney’s blue genie when his humble Hong Kong hero rubs a jade teapot and produces a fluorescent flamingo-pink dragon, ready to grant his wildest dreams — or three of them at least.

Rebecca Davis editorHong Kong on Friday issued new amendments to its film classification rules, effectively injecting Beijing’s strict censorship standards on the previously liberal territory.Hong Kong censors previously screened content merely to rate it for typical metrics like violence or obscenity, classifying them into one of three categories to indicate age appropriateness.Now, they will have to actively intuit what will displease Beijing.

EXCLUSIVE: Just ahead of the North American and China releases of Sony’s Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway — and with World Food Day coming up in October — the film has joined forces with the United Nations, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the UN Foundation to enlist more food heroes who, like the eponymous bunny, see the value in fruits and vegetables for a balanced diet and a healthier planet. Check out the new PSA below.   

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentUnderscoring the rising global attraction of Chinese animation, Federation Kids & Family, the premium kids content distribution arm of Federation Ent., will partner with China’s Tencent Video and UYoung Media on the two companies’ kids animated action comedy series “Kung Fu Wa!”Federation Kids & Family will handle worldwide distribution outside China and Latin America on “Kung Fu Wa!” which it describes as a “fun, heart-warming action series