Hong Kong's ApplausePictures unveiled its mouthwatering contribution to the second instalment ofhorror omnibus Three at Filmart on Thursday. Entitled Dumplings,the horror-thriller brings together some of the territory's top creative talentincluding director Fruit Chan, producer Peter Ho-sun Chan and award-winningcinematographer Christopher Doyle.

Scripted by Lilian Lee (FarewellMy Concubine), the film is a cautionary tale about the lengths women go toin order to preserve their looks. Hong Kong's Miriam Yeung stars as amiddle-aged woman who finds a beauty-preserving dumpling - with some disturbingingredients. US-based Chinese star Bai Ling and Tony Leung Ka-fai also star.

According to producer PeterChan, the film is currently being shot as both a full-length feature and a45-minute short, to comprise one third of Three'Extremes, the sequel tosuccessful horror omnibus Three. The other two segments - Boxfrom Japanese gore meister Takeshi Miike and Cut from Cannesprize-winning Korean director Park Chan-wook (Old Boy) - are already inpost-production.

"We knew right from scriptstage that this had the potential to be a full-length feature as well as ashort," Chan explained. "We're not just trimming it down for the shorterversion - there'll be a different story with a different tempo - althoughobviously some shots will make it into both films."

The full-length version of Dumplingswill be released ahead of the omnibus in Hong Kong this August while Japan andKorea will release the omnibus only. Fortissimo Films is handling internationalsales of Three'Extremes and has already pre-sold the film to Wild Sidein France.

The first instalment of Three- with segments directed by Peter Chan, Korea's Kim Jee-woon and Thai directorNonzee Nimibutr - was a hit across Asia, justifying Applause's pioneeringefforts to set up pan-Asian co-productions.

Meanwhile, Chan is alsodeveloping his next directing project, a $5.8m (HK$45m) musical, tentativelytitled Perhaps Love, about a Chinese director staging a musical inShanghai. Chris Doyle is attached to shoot the film which will flip betweenShanghai in the roaring 1920s and modern-day China. Production is expected tostart at the end of the year.

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