Taiwan's CMC EntertainmentGroup is to adapt Eileen Chang's classic 1940s novella Love In A Fallen City.The $6m production is set to shoot next July from a script by Ang Lee's CrouchingTiger collaborator, Wang Hui-ling.

CMC, currently midwaythrough shooting Su Chao-pin's $4.8m supernatural thriller Silk, hassigned Blue Gate Crossing's Yee Chih-yen to direct the classic tale byfamous Shanghai writer Chang. The story has already been filmed once before, byAnn Hui for Shaw Bros in 1984 with romantic leads Cora Miao and Chow Yun-fat asthe divorced woman approaching thirty and her younger sister's fiance on theeve of the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.

Other internationally knownadaptations of Chang's work include Stanley Kwan's Red Rose White Rose(1994) and Ann Hui's Eighteen Springs (1997).

CMC's chairman Bob Wongtoday confirmed that the company was the sole investor and production companyon Love In A Fallen City, which is scheduled for a Spring 2007 release.The screenplay has been commissioned from Wang, who also collaborated with AngLee on the Taiwan-set comedy Eat Drink Man Woman.

CMC has also announceddetails of its new talent management set up, which has already signed TonyYang, winner of the Taiwan's Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer in 2004.

This marks another steptowards CMC's complete vertical integration through its strategic alliance with20th Century Fox Taiwan for theatrical distribution and 30% stake in leadingtheatre chain Warner Village for exhibition. CMC is also active in homeentertainment distribution and rental through subsidiaries Deltamac and Asia1respectively.

CMC's faith in a globalmarket for big-budget Chinese productions is reflected in its line-up ofhigh-profile films by Chinese directors for local distribution, including SuChao-pin's Silk, Chen Kaige's The Promise, Ang Lee's BrokebackMountain and John Woo's The Battle Of Red Cliff.

Earlier this year, CMCdistributed Tsai Ming-liang's controversial Wayward Cloud (Berlin,2005), grossing $320,000 in Taipei.