Roman Polanski, Stanley Kubrick, Ernst Lubitsch Restored Classics to Unspool at Hong Kong Film Festival – Global Bulletin

This year’s Filmart was definitely bigger and busier than last year, which was the first physical edition following the reopening of Hong Kong and mainland China’s borders after the pandemic. According to Filmart organizers, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC), more than 750 exhibitors and 7,500 visitors attended this year’s Filmart, compared to around 700 exhibitors and 7,300 visitors in 2023. But despite frenetic meeting activity, the market did little to dispel fears that international sales business in the region, already in decline before the pandemic, is not yet recovering. International sales agents under the IFTA and European Film Promotion (EFP) umbrellas had packed meeting schedules.

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.

Naman Ramachandran Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has acquired worldwide rights for Indonesian film “Crocodile Tears,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart. The film is a co-production between Indonesia’s Talamedia (producer Mandy Marahimin), Singapore’s Giraffe Pictures (producers Anthony Chen and Teoh Yi Peng), France’s Acrobates Films (producer Claire Lajoumard) and Poetik Film (producer Christophe Lafont) and Germany’s 2Pilots Filmproduction (producers Harry Flöter and Jörg Siepmann). The deal was negotiated by Sebastien Chesneau at Cercamon, Chen at Giraffe Pictures and Marahimin at Talamedia.

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.

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Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chan Tai-lee, the screenwriter of many of the Ip Man martial arts action films, has written and directed upcoming action film “Fight for Tomorrow.” Mandarin Motion Pictures, which backed the film and is handling international rights sales, is using this week’s FilMart to launch the picture to international buyers. The production was assisted with finance from the Hong Kong Film Development Fund.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading South Korean sales company Finecut has picked up international sales rights to action comedy film “Boss.” It will launch the title at next week’s FilMart in Hong Kong. Directed by Ra Hee-chan (“Going by the Book,” “Mr. Idol”), the film follows gang members embroiled in fierce competition.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films being represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market. In total 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres. Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF, March 28-April 8) will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A year after announcing the ambitious project, The Philippines ABS-CBN is now in production on new series “The Bagman.” Filming began in Manila on Feb. 25. “The Bagman” is a spin-off from the original, locally-produced digital series “Bagman” that was aimed at the Filipino audience.

After a successful return as a physical event last year, Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart, March 11-14) is taking place again this year against a complicated backdrop, both in terms of market realities and the shifting geopolitics of the region. 

Taking place alongside Filmart, the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) is one of Asia’s oldest and most established project markets, helping a string of award-winning films to get made. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Atlas Distribution Company, a U.S. indie distributor, has set Vietnamese-American co-production film “A Fragile Flower” on course for a theatrical release in the U.S. Produced by the duo Mai Thu Huyen and Jacqueline Thu Thao, the romantic musical drama, with a screenplay by Vietnamese singing sensation Nhat Ha, is set debut from Mar.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will feature a masterclass and career retrospective of UK-Irish writer and director Martin McDonagh.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Superstar Japanese auteur Hamaguchi Ryusuke will unveil “Gift,” a companion piece to his recent “Evil Does Not Exist” as a one-off live performance at next month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival. Following the success of his breakout “Drive My Car,” which won the Oscar for best international feature film, Hamaguchi initially made “Gift” as a silent film project to accompany the live performance of Ishibashi Eiko, the music composer of both “Drive” and later “Evil.” From the same project, Hamaguchi also derived “Evil Does Not Exist,” which then went on to win the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Venice International Film Festival.

Naman Ramachandran The Asian Film Awards Academy has revealed several events around the annual Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. Veteran filmmakers, jury president of this year’s awards, Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi and Hong Kong’s Fruit Chan, will share their filmmaking experiences and artistic concepts in a joint masterclass. Thai star Metawin Opas-Iamkajorn (“2gether” series and film) known as Win, will be honored with the AFA Rising Star Award and the event will host the world premiere of his new film “Under Parallel Skies.” There will also be six themed panel discussions featuring actors Wan Fang (Taiwan), Rachel Leung and Yoyo Tse (both Hong Kong), Tergel Bold-Erdene (Mongolia), Awat Ratanapintha (Thailand) and Shirata Mihaya (Japan).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Canal+ Group said that it has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian streaming platform Viu to 30%. “This additional investment underlines the confidence that Canal+ has in Viu and its teams. It also highlights the determination of Canal+ to make Asia its next growth vector, through its strategic partnership with PCCW, and through an acceleration of growth at Viu, a premium streaming service present in Asia, the Middle East and South Asfrica,” the French group said in a statement.

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Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako‘s lushly lensed romance drama set in China, has been bought by major distributors in key territories ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Gaumont, which co-produced the film, has sold it to Caramel (Spain), Academy two (Italy), Pandora Films (Germany, Austria), Cineart (Benelux), Films4you (Portugal), Provzglyad (CIS), Mozinet (Hungary), Another World Entertainment (Norway), Film Bazar (Denmark), MCF Megacom (Former Yugoslavia, Albania), Filmstop (Latvia, Estonia), MB Taip Toliau (Lithuania), Imovision (Brazil), AV Jet (Taiwan), Falcon (Indonesia), Pathé BC (Sub-Saharan Africa, Maghreb) and New Cinema (Israel).