All articles by Silvia Wong – Page 10
-
News
Apichatpong withdraws Syndromes from Thai cinemas after censors row
Acclaimed Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul is withdrawing his latest film Syndromes and a Century from theaters in response to local censors' demand for four cuts in the film.The film, which premiered at Venice last year and recently won best editing at the inaugural Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong, was ...
-
News
Media Asia set to go private with eSun takeover
Media Asia, the Singapore-listed Hong Kong producer of Infernal Affairs, is set to go private through a buyout led by Hong Kong-listed media conglomerate eSun Holdings. eSun, which already owns 37.33% of the company, is offering to acquire all outstanding shares to make Media Asia its wholly owned subsidiary. The ...
-
News
Thai horror Alone opens at top of local box office
Thai horror Alone, the hugely anticipated follow-up to smash hit Shutter, lived up to expectations with a strong opening weekend in Thailand, earning approximately $1m. The film beat Mr Bean's Holiday which debuted in second place and edged out last week's number one Ghost Rider which dropped to third place. ...
-
News
Singapore's Scorpio East to distribute Shaw Bros titles
Hong Kong-based Celestial Pictures has licensed Singapore video distribution rights to over 500 titles from its Shaw Brothers' film library to Singapore 's Scorpio East under a long-term agreement. Scorpio East will distribute titles ranging from comedies and martial arts to period dramas and action movies. Key titles include films ...
-
News
Thailand: inward production
Thanks to its lush settings, Thailand has long been a prime location. Despite the devastating tsunami in 2004, last year's military coup and the more recent Bangkok bombings, the territory is still attracting production.Recent high-profile shoots include the remake of Bangkok Dangerous starring Nicolas Cage, and Ridley Scott's American Gangster, ...
-
News
RGM to co-finance Winged Creatures starring Forest Whitaker
Singapore-based media financing company RGM Entertainment is co-funding and executive producing Winged Creatures, its third international project under the Loan Guarantee Facility (LGF) in collaboration with the Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA). Directed by Rowan Woods, the ensemble drama is about survivors of a random restaurant shooting. The cast ...
-
News
Pang Ho Cheung's Now Showing is coming soon
The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) announced today at its award ceremony that Pang Ho Cheung's Now Showing has secured finance from Hong Kong 's Sundream Motion Pictures and Beijing-based Huayi Brothers. Huayi Brothers' Chen Kuo-fu, the Taiwanese director of Double Vision, is producing the film. Shooting is expected ...
-
News
Messenger, Night-fragrant Flower among winners at HAF
Hong Kong-born director Clara Law's The Messenger clinched the HAF award for a Hong Kong project at the awards ceremony of the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum on Thursday (March 22). Part-love story and part-mystery drama, the project also won the Technicolor Thailand's post-production service award. Kore-eda Hirokazu's Night-fragrant Flower ...
-
News
Two Thai films to get Korean remake treatment
Korea's production and distribution company K&Entertainment has bought the Korean remake rights to two Thai films: romantic drama Me Myself from Mono Film and RS Film's horror hit The Victim. This marks the first time that a Korean remake deal has been struck on Thai films.Pongpat Wachirabunjong's Me Myself features ...
-
News
Local Filipino films see 40% box-office surge
After making its market debut at Hong Kong Filmart last year, the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) has announced that the box office for local films jumped by 40% to $29.7m (PHP1.44bn) in 2006. It was the first increase in box office revenues for seven years.The biggest hit ...
-
News
Workpoint Entertainment opens new studios in Thailand
Thailand's status as an international shooting hub was given a further boost with the opening of a new 500m baht ($15m) studio by Workpoint Entertainment. The purpose-built studio consists of five NC 30-approved soundstages, one of which is the largest in Asia with 1,760 sq in size. The fully air-conditioned ...
-
News
Grand Brilliance buys two from GreeneStreet
Malaysia's Grand Brilliance, which is making its Hong Kong Filmart market debut as a buyer, has picked up Gary the Tennis Coach starring Sean William Scott and Barry Munday starring Luke Wilson and Emily Mortimer from GreeneStreet Films International on the first day of the market. The company has also ...
-
News
Hong Kong's Filmko unveils five to be financed
Hong Kong's Filmko Entertainment will put aside up to HK$70 mn this year for five productions including Pang Ho Cheung's Exodus and Law Chi Leung's Kidnap, both currently in post-production, according to president Dominic Yip.Exodus, featuring Simon Yam and Annie Liu as husband and wife, revolves around how men stumble ...
-
News
Singapore/US financier Upside Down commits to Exodus
New Singapore-US film financing venture Upside Down Entertainment (UDE) is to back Daniel Chan's $12.8m Exodus, the first installment of the Battle of Hong Kong trilogy, as its first project. The new entity, a joint venture between Singapore's production house Upside Down Concepts and Mark Byers' Quixotic Media Group of ...
-
News
Singapore's I Not Stupid franchise goes to China
Following the phenomenal success of I Not Stupid and I Not Stupid Too, which is nominated for best Asian film at this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival, MediaCorp Raintree Pictures is set to extend the franchise to the vast China market with a follow-up to be shot entirely in ...
-
News
Fortissimo boards Pen-ek's Ploy as co-producer, sales agent
Fortissimo Films has come onboard as co-producer on Pen-ek Ratanaruang's latest film Ploy, an erotic psychological drama about jealousy produced by the Thai writer-director's longtime producer Thailand's Five Star Production. Fortissimo is also selling the film, which is currently in post-production in Thailand.The story, written by Pen-ek, is an exploration ...
-
News
Three Dots backs first-time directors on 2007 slate
Continuing its support for developing new talent, Taiwan's Three Dots Entertainment is to back two feature films by young first-time directors in their twenties. Gavin Lin will start filming his feature debut Tears (working title) this June. The low budget production is a warm-hearted animal film about a young woman ...
-
News
Hong Kong's Hippopotamus signs up Wang for Wushu
Hong Kong production outfit Hippopotamus Films has signed China's Wang Wenjie to play the lead role in Antony Szeto's Wushu. Golden Network Asia is handling international sales on the $1.5m contemporary coming-of-age martial arts drama which is expected to shoot in China later this year. The story follows a teen ...
-
News
Malaysia, MPA unleash sniffer dogs on DVD pirates
Malaysia 's Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) and the Motion Picture Association (MPA) have jointly launched Operation Double Trouble, the latest anti-piracy effort which engages a pair of the world's first dogs trained with DVD-sniffing abilities. A demonstration was held today at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport ...
-
News
Asian locations: Taiwan
Just a 90-minute flight from Hong Kong, Taiwan has world-class DoPs and sound designers. It is cheaper than Hong Kong, but is not as wellIn 2004, the government introduced tax credits to boost local production and attract international shoots, which offered a 20% tax deduction on capital investment in new ...