All articles by Silvia Wong – Page 18
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MediaCorp Raintree embarks on Leap Of Love
MediaCorpRaintree Pictures started production this week on its long-gestating Leap Of Love, a romantic comedy that CEODaniel Yun has been developing for years with the aim of raising the profile ofSingapore film on the international stage. TheEnglish-language picture - which has a high $1.5m (S$2.5m) budget by localstandards - is ...
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Golden Screen Cinemas boosts Malaysian circuit
Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC)has opened Malaysia's first multiplex in the heart of downtown Kuala Lumpur:the nine-screen multiplex is located in Berjaya Times Square shopping mall. The $5.8m (RM22m) multiplexclocked up 1,000 ticket sales on its first day of business on Jan 27 whichcoincided with the opening of Elektra and local ...
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Sea Inside takes top Bangkok festival honours
AlejandroAmenabar's The Sea Inside won theGolden Kinnaree for best picture as well as best actor for Javier Bardem's roleas a quadriplegic at the third Bangkok International Film Festival. TheGolden Kinnaree for best director was shared by Park Chan Wook for Old Boy and Christophe Barratier for Les Choristes while Annette ...
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Singapore theatrical business soars in 2004
Singapore'stheatrical business saw a 9% year-on-year rise in box office revenues in 2004 to $73m(S$120m) thanks largely to the popularity of summer releases. Spider Man 2, which grossed $3.27m,finished on top to become not only Singapore's highest grossing film in 2004,but also the fourth biggest film of all time after ...
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Hong Kong box office surges in 2004
2004 was a greatyear for Hong Kong's theatrical business with strong box office revenues postedfor both local and foreign productions. The figurescompiled by the Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA) put total box officetaking at $118m (HK$917m) as of December 30 - almost returning to the high 2001level of $129m.HongKong-produced films ...
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Gay comedy scoops Indonesia's Citra awards
Arisan, controversial for featuring Indonesia's firston-screen gay kiss, swept several major Citra awards including best picture atthe Indonesian Film Festival. This year, the Indonesian equivalent to theOscars was held for the first time since 1992.Arisan's Tora Sudiro was named best actor for his role as agay man coming out of ...
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Indonesia's Oscars return after 12-year gap
TheCitra awards, Indonesia's equivalent of the Oscars, are back this year for thefirst time since 1992 as part of the Indonesian Film Festival (FFI), organisedby the National Film Supervisory Body (BP2N) with a funding of $66,000 (Rp600m).TheCitra awards are open to films produced from 2000 - 2004. Both Ada Apa ...
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BVITV renews Star Group feature film deal
BuenaVista International Television - Asia Pacific has renewed its existingmulti-year agreement with News Corp's Star Group for feature films. The dealwas announced during the three-day Asia Film Market/Asia Television Forum (AFM/ATM) inSingapore, which closes on Dec 3.The deal,announced by BVITV-AP vice president and general manager Steve Macallister andStar COO Steve ...
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Beautiful Boxer director readies martial arts epic
Thai director Ekachai Uekrongtham, whose debut Beautiful Boxer won the Grand Prix 2004Award at the Brussels International Film Festival, is readying two new projects for Thai studio GMM Grammy.First up is Swords andSpirits, a martial arts adventure set in both Thailand and Japan in thelate 16th century as well as ...
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Asia Film Market confirms growth trend
The Asia Film Market (AFMC) and Asia TelevisionForum (ATF) (Dec 1-3) kicks off next week with a 30% increase in participantnumbers.Buena Vista International Television, CBS/ParamountInternational Television, Lions Gate Entertainment, NBC Universal, SonyPictures, CABLEready and BKN New Media are among the companies that haveregistered for the first time.Interest in the event ...
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Media Asia shares begin trading in Singapore
Hong Kong's Media Asia,producer of the Infernal Affairs trilogy, began trading on the SESDAQ ofthe Stock Exchange of Singapore yesterday (Nov 3). The IPO attracted strong interest from both institutions and small private investors. The retail tranche was eventually 23 times subscribed.After the first day of trading the shares were ...
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Raintree rolls with Maid horror
Singapore's MediaCorpRaintree Pictures has started the camera rolling for The Maid, a horror flick co-produced by Hong Kong's Dream MovieEntertainment and MovPix International of the Philippines.The $830,000 (S$1.4m) filmis horror story viewed through the eyes of a Filipino domestic maid employed bya family in Singapore. Up-and-coming Filipino actress Alessandra de ...
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Multiplex building spree in Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore's leadingexhibitor Golden Village is set to build the country's largest entertainmentmultiplex occupying 90,000 sq feet with 15 screens and about 2,500 seats.GV Harbourfront, which costs$590,000 (S$1m) per screen, is located in VivoCity shopping mall, previouslyknown as HarbourFront Mall, and due to open in late 2006. It will be GoldenVillage's ...
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China moves to boost digital screen count
In its latest digital upgrade,state-owned China Film Group has ordered ten new screen projectors due fordelivery to Beijing in October. The deal is part of the group's ongoing effortsin having 161 digital cinemas up and running by the end of 2004.The 10 new digital projectors are 2KDSR servers supplied by ...
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Spider-Man 2 makes history in Indonesia
ColumbiaTriStar's Spider-Man 2 has become the first film in Indonesia's history tocross the Rp21bn ($2.3m) mark, beating theprevious record of Rp20,982,496,000 set by 20thFox's Titanic in 1998.Thesequel clung onto the top spot for three consecutive weeks after it opened onJune 30 on 42 prints.Brett Hogg, Buena Vista Columbia TriStar general ...
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Malaysian exhibitor launches digital cinemas
Malaysia's Golden ScreenCinemas (GSC) is launching the territory's first digital cinemas in conjunctionwith the release of Visits: Hungry GhostAnthology, the country's first local Chinese ghost feature in which GSC isa co-investor.GSC, a distributor and thelargest exhibitor in Malaysia, has installed two RM200,000 high-end LCD/DLPprojectors, one in GSC Mid Valley in ...
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Malaysian films aspire to international market
Following the local commercial success of Pontianak HarumSundal Malam, Malaysian writer/director Shuhaimi Babas is preparing a($526,000) RM2m sequel with her own company Pesona Pictures producing.Pontianak, which tells the story of a female banshee fromlocal folklore, was the first local film to break the taboo of the horror genrewhich was banned ...
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Vietnam appreciates Long Legged Girls
Nhung Co Gai Chan Dai (Long Legged Girls), Vietnam's first privately funded feature filmsince the government ended its state monopoly on film making in 2002, hasbecome a huge local hit, earning an estimated$320,000 (VND5 bn) since its opening on June 17.The Vietnamese tale aboutfashion models was made by first-time director ...
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Malaysia clears Passion - for Christians only
Mel Gibson's The Passion OfThe Christ has been cleared by Malaysia's Film Censorship Board for anuncensored release for all ages, albeit with one condition that is restrictedfor Christian eyes only.The approval came after theNational Evangelical Christian Fellowship lobbied the prime minister's officefor the release of the film. Screening will start ...
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Marcos documentary a hit in the Philippines
The controversialdocumentary film on former First Lady Imelda Marcos is doing good business inthe Philippines, raking in US$300,000 at the local box office after just twoweeks. The figure was very respectable for a documentary according toPhilippine distributor Unitel Productions.The 103-minute film, simplycalled Imelda, traces her rise from abeauty queen to ...