Hong Kong's Celestial Pictures has appointed respectedproducer Philip Lee as vice president, New Film Contents, as part of its driveto become more involved in production and content acquisition.

One of Hong Kong's leading production executives, Lee's credits include the role ofassociate producer on Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and line produceron Zhang Yimou's Hero. He was also a founding partner of Hong Kong-basedproduction company October Pictures and a lecturer at the City University ofHong Kong.

His recent credits asproducer include Chinese director Xie Dong's One Summer With You, whichis screening in the New Currents competition here at Pusan.

In his new role, Lee aims toincrease Celestial's involvement in Asian projects with international potential,working with the company's executive vice president, acquisitions &distribution, Gordon Cheung.

"Initially, we're focusing onChinese-language projects but will look at the possibility of collaboratingwith Japanese and Korean filmmakers and investors," said Lee.

Lee has strong links to boththe Korean and Japanese film industries. He executive produced Kwak Jae-yong's Windstruckand managed Salon Films' Tokyobranch for seven years in the 1980s.

Celestial owns anddistributes the 760-title Shaw Brothers library. But as most of the library hasnow been licensed globally for video and TV, the company is looking for newproduct to feed its distribution outlets and international sales operationheaded by Cheung.

Meanwhile, October Pictureswill continue to produce its own projects and function as a production servicescompany under Lee's former partners Rosa Pang and Charles Kim.