Latest – Page 396
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PIFF receives public funding boost to offset downturn
The Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) is set to receive an increase in government funding to offset the effects of the economic downturn anddiminishing corporate sponsorship.
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SPHE appoints Meade to oversee China operations
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (SPHE) has appointed Tim Meade as vice president, SPHE China. He was previously vice president, Asia Emerging Markets for the studio. Based in Hong Kong, Meade will oversee the expansion of SPHE's operations in China wherethe studiohas recently begun the manufacture and distribution of Blu-ray discs. ...
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Breathless wins big at Deauville Asian festival
South Korea's Breathless was the big winner at the 11th Deauville Festival of Asian Film which wrapped on Sunday evening. Yang Ik-June's film, a feature directorial debut in which he also stars, is a brutal look into domestic violence in South Korea. The film also took the International Critics Prize.In ...
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KOFIC hands out p&a funding to three companies
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has announced that it will award p&a funds to LA-based Eleven Arts, Belgium's Cineart and Taiwan's Infinity International in its first p&a funding round of 2009. Eleven Arts will receive $10,211 (KW15m) to support the US theatrical release of Noh Young-seok's low-budget road movie Daytime ...
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Opinion: taking superheroes seriously
The global opening of Watchmen last weekend - $55.7m in North America through Warner Bros and $27.5m in 45 territories through PPI - was strong, but considered by many commentators to be disappointing.This, after all, was the most-hyped superhero movie since Iron Man and The Dark Knight last summer and ...
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South Korea's new sexual revolution
When Sponge Entertainment CEO David Cho picked up John Cameron Mitchell's sexually explicit US indie Shortbus for South Korea back in 2006, he knew he was in for a fight. Now, after more than two years battling the Korea Media Ratings Board (KMRB), Sponge finally opened the film commercially on ...
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NewsPusan appoints new executives and programmers
The 14th Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF) has appointed new executives to the Asian FilmMarket and programmers for the World Cinema and Asian Cinema sections.
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Mobile sector, Asia, Middle East trumpeted as new finance sources
With the hedge funds gone and banks fleeing the scene like rats from a sinking ship, the next wave of capital for a largely cash-strapped film industry will come from the mobile telephony sector, according to a leading Hollywood executive.'A lot of it will be tied to technology and the ...
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Shochiku unveils new studio facilities in Kyoto
Japanese major Shochiku has officially opened its upgraded and expanded Shochiku Kyoto Studios, which the company describes as a 'one stop total film management package'. In addition to improvements made to the original six studios and outside set, first opened in 1946, two new high-ceiling 500 square-metre (5,381 square-foot) studio ...
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Sutherland, Hurt, Stone to attend 33rd HKIFF
The Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) has announced that Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt and Oliver Stone will be attending the33rd edition of the festival which kicks off later this month (March 22-April 13). Sutherland and DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg will be on hand to present Monsters Vs. Aliens ...
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Hong Kong's Celestial strikes Canadian licensing deal
Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures has signed a licensing deal with Canada's Rogers Cable Communications under which select titles from its Shaw Brothers library will be available on Rogers' On Demand digital cable platform. Initially, over 20 titles of different genres - kung-fu, thriller, action and musical - will be offered ...
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Mason appointed chief executive of NZ Film Commission
Former PolyGram, Universal Pictures and Channel 4 executive Graeme Mason has been appointed chief executive of the New Zealand Film Commission (NZFC), replacing Ruth Harley who moved to head new Australian super agency Screen Australia last year. The appointment was announced early this morning (March 11)by NZFC chair David Cullwick. ...
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KOFIC cuts funding, overhauls investment strategy
The Korean Film Council (KOFIC) has slashed its overall programme budget by 25% from last year's $42.48m (KW65.8bn) to $32.73m for 2009. However, it has also overhauled its investment strategy in an attempt to counter falling profits and investment in the Korean film industry and piracy in ancillary markets. The ...
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Chow Yun-fat to star in Dadi Century's Confucius biopic
Beijing-based Dadi Century Film has confirmed that Chow Yun-fat will star in its upcoming biopic Confucius, in which he will portray the great Chinese philosopher and sage. Chen Daoming (Hero) will portray Lao Zi, another Chinese philosopher and the founder of Taoism, who gave Confucius advice on history and the ...
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Indian multiplexes lower ticket prices to counter downturn
Indian multiplex operators are slashing ticket prices in an attempt to keep admissions steady during these delicate economic times. Several leading chains are reducing prices from 20%-50% with a variety of reduced rates based on location, day of the week and the timing of shows. Most of the reductions are ...
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Opinion: Eastern promisesin the long term
At the recent FICCI Frames conference in Mumbai, Anand Mahindra, a leading industrialist and recent entrant to the film business, said he was convinced India's economy would recover more quickly than other major economies for two reasons.First, he believes India has a great strength in its agricultural sector, which is ...
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Technology's transformation of the film business
A dance floor in Indonesia is not the most likely place for a US seller and a German buyer to negotiate an acquisition deal. Yet with the transformation of the film business due to cellphones, PDAs (personal digital assistant) and other mobile devices, anywhere is valid as a place to ...
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The secrets to Japanese box-office success
Japanese cinema-goers paying $18 for a ticket tend to make conservative choices when they reach the front of the queue. This goes some way to explain the 59.5% market share garnered by local films at last year's box office. Audiences know what they will get from the new animation from ...
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Chinese film boom - market manipulation or audience shift'
In Olympic year in 2008, the Chinese government placed subtle restrictions on the number and nature of foreign films that could be released in the territory. This year, the 60th anniversary of the creation of the People's Republic of China, a similar mood of patriotic fervour is gripping the authorities. ...
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Back to the mainland: China opens up to co-productions
Shooting permits are being issued again in China after a difficult 2008. Between October 2008 and January 2009, the Film Bureau approved 17 projects to shoot in China. Only eight received permits between June and September last year.Among the Asian projects are Cinema Popular's Dark October, which will start shooting ...