All Asia articles – Page 522
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News
Japanese director Kon Ichikawa dies aged 92
Famed Japanese director Kon Ichikawa has died of pneumonia at a Tokyo hospital, according to family members. He was 92-years-old.Born in 1915 in Mie Prefecture, Ichikawa began his career as an animator in the 30s, moving into feature directing with puppet play A Girl At Dojo Temple in 1946 at ...
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Asterix tops Screen international chart
Asterix At The Olympic Games won the gold medal again this weekend, generating a dynamite $24.5m after expanding in six territories. The top-40 films generated $192.4m across 43,382 screens from the period of February 8-10.For the full international chart, compiled by Len Klady, click here.Pathe's latest instalment of the Asterix ...
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As Berlin winds down, attention turns to potential Cannes selections
A clearer picture is emerging of what films will be ready for this year's Cannes Film Festival in May and the lineup looks like it will be filled with its usual blend of veteran auteur films, new discoveries and US studio fare.Official selection berths already seem set for Ari Folman's ...
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David Lee steps down as EVP at Weinstein Company in Asia
DavidLee has stepped down as executive vice president of Asian Operations atThe Weinstein Company, where he was responsible for overseeing creativeaspects of the company's Asian Film Fund. He will be partially replaced by Steve Squillante who has come on board as a consultant for the fund. Squillantewill work alongside TWC's ...
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Rain to return to Berlin for Wachowski Brothers
Pan-Asian mega star Rain (aka Jung Ji-hoon) is set to star in the Wachowski Brothers' next film Ninja Assassin which is set to shoot in Berlin this year. Joel Silver is attached as producer on the Warner Brothers film. CEO Cho Dong-won of Rain's Korean agency J.Tune Entertainment announced the ...
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L: Change The World has biggest opening of the year in Japan
Death Note series sequel L: Change The World opened at the top of the Japanese box office, achieving the biggest single weekend earnings of the year so far. Released by Warner Brothers on 398 screens on February 9, the film grossed $5.29m (Y567.5m) on 444,076 admissions for a strong per ...
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UTV plans epic release for Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar
UTV Motion Pictures is planning to release Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodhaa Akbar in 26 countries and 1,500 screens on Feb 15, which it claims is the biggest ever release for an Indian film. A co-production between UTV and Ashutosh Gowariker Productions, the film stars Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan and ...
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CJ7 has record-breaking opening in Singapore, Malaysia
Stephen Chow's CJ7 had huge opening weekends in Malaysia and Singapore during Chinese New Year after scoring a mega opening across China, Hong Kong and Taiwan the previous week. In Malaysia, Chow's boy-meets-alien comedy set a new record with $1.91m (RM6.2m) on a massive 90 prints over four days. It ...
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Seven Days director Won to tackle Robot Taekwon V
Fresh off the success of kidnap thriller Seven Days - to which Summit Entertainment recently acquired remake rights - Korean director Won Shin-yeon is gearing up to work on a live-action version of iconic Korean animation Robot Taekwon V. ShinCine Communications, which produced watershed pan-Asian hit My Sassy Girl and ...
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News
Seven Days director Won to tackle Robot Taekwon V
Fresh off the success of kidnap thriller Seven Days - to which Summit Entertainment recently acquired remake rights - Korean director Won Shin-yeon is gearing up to work on a live-action version of iconic Korean animation Robot Taekwon V. ShinCine Communications, which produced watershed pan-Asian hit My Sassy Girl and ...
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News
Hong Sang-soo's Woman goes to France with Umedia
Korea's Mirovision has sealed a French deal on Hong Sang-soo's previous film, Woman On The Beach, which has been sold to Umedia. Hong's current film, Night And Day, is screening in competition here at Berlin and is being sold directly by the producers, Bom Film Productions.Woman On The Beach, which ...
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Host co-producer Jang prepares Pepper in London
Korean female producer Junyoung Jang, who was one of the producers on The Host, has relocated to London where she is setting up a $10m time travel adventure film, entitled Charlie Pepper. The film is being set up as a co-production between Jang's London-based February Films and Hungarian producer Ildiko ...
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Reviews
Night and Day (Bam gua Nat)
Dir: Hong Sangsoo, S. Korea, 2008. 147mins.Light, charming but not terribly engaging, and as French as any Korean film is ever going to get, Hong Sangsoo's full-on tribute to the New Wave follows Korean expatriates around the City Of Lights. While brevity has never been one of Hong's particular talents, ...
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Reviews
Cherry Blossoms (Kirschblüten - Hanami)
Dir: Doris Dorrie, Germany, 2008, 127minsDoris Dorrie's bittersweet film is a story of mourning and the futility of trying to recover something lost. A Bavarian husband who is nearing retirement loses his wife suddenly, and flies to Japan to visit sites that she never had a chance to see while ...
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Reviews
Sparrow (Man Jeuk)
Dir: Johnnie To. Hong Kong. 2008. 87 mins.The spirit of Jacques Demy lives on in Hong Kong in prolific genre auteur Johnnie To's latest offering. Some of the scenes in this gentle romantic pickpocketing yarn are pure cinematic pleasure, but in the end the plot and the characters are too ...
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News
Paramount Home Entertainment switches to SPI in New Zealand
Paramount Home Entertainment (PHE) has assigned its New Zealand license for Paramount and DreamWorks titles to SPI Entertainment NZ with effect from Feb 1.PHE previously distributed its titles in New Zealand through Roadshow.Paramount's 2008 international releases include No Country For Old Men, Iron Man, Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of ...
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Thailand's Major Cineplex expands into film production
Thailand's largest exhibitor Major Cineplex is set to expand into film production following the completion of a share swap between its subsidiary M Pictures and media and content provider Traffic Corner Holdings. Through a new subsidiary, Traffic Corner now holds 99.99% in M Pictures, the distribution arm of Major Cineplex. ...
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Reviews
Good Man Dog
Dir: Singing Chen. Taiwan, 2007. 118 mins.Singing Chen's bleak but richly-detailed portrait of contemporary Taiwan has elicited praise for its artistic ambitions but will do well to move past the festival world and into art-house release.Her second feature boast four separate stories, each playing out separately with occasional overlap until ...
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Reviews
Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger (2007)
Dir: Cathy Randall. Australia, 2008. 103minsThis charming, highly-accomplished first feature will gladden the hearts of parents everywhere looking for a film to watch with their pre-teens, especially girls. Directed by 35-year-old South-African-born newcomer Cathy Randall, who has been working in Australia for some years, this coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old ...
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Reviews
Son of a Lion
Dir: Benjamin Gilmour. Australia/Pakistan. 2007. 92mins.Childrens' exposure to gun culture is fast becoming one of the fail-safe themes of world cinema, but we haven't yet seen it in quite the context presented by the inventive Pakistan-set drama Son Of A Lion.Benjamin Gilmour's no-frills DV feature, co-written with collaborators from the ...