Through its subsidiaryGolden Screen, Hong Kong's Golden Harvest has filed a petition to wind upDartina Development, the holding company of Singapore's largest exhibitor chainGolden Village.

Golden Harvest managingdirector CK Phoon said "We're not pulling out from Singapore. We just want tobreak up the joint venture with Village Roadshow, [like a] divorce."

Golden Village was formed in1992 as a 50:50 joint venture between Golden Harvest and Australia's VillageRoadshow. The latter serves as the managing partner of Golden Village, whichnow operates 58 screens on eight sites.

According to Golden Villagemanaging director Kenneth Tan, Village Roadshow believes the petition will notbe successful, as it has no foundation. "The business of Golden Village isdoing very well. This year is the best in terms of revenues and earnings in the13 years of our history in Singapore."

The petition has reportedlysingled out a series of corporate governance failures involving Tan. A courthearing is expected in Hong Kong in July.

Despite the petition,business is as usual at Golden Village. "We're going ahead with the 15-screenGV Harbour Front multiplex [due to open in October next year]. We're alsotalking to developers to seek additional sites," says Tan who turned up onThursday on the first day of shooting of One More Chance, a S$800,000local comedy drama directed by Jack Neo.

Golden Village will handlethe distribution of One More Chance, which is set for September 2. Itwill also release Kelvin Tong's The Maid, a horror produced by MediaCorpRaintree as a Singapore/Hong Kong/Philippines co-production, on August 18.