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Director Nao Hing and Hong Kong mega-star Andy Lau Tak-wah reunite after 18 years (when Lau produced Hing's “Crazy Stone”) to bring to life a rather funny Hong Kong (and not only) film industry satire, with “The Movie Emperor”. Inappropriately labelled as a Chinese New Year movie and following its triumphant premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September and the Pingyao International Film Festival in October 2023, the film's theatrical release during Chinese New Year 2024 proved unexpectedly disappointing, grossing just 83 million yuan, probably obscured by more classical and joke-filled comedies, as expected in those festivities.

The Movie Emperor was screened at Udine Far East Film Festival

Dany Lau (Andy Lau) is a veteran megastar with a large fan base, who has been around long enough to start thinking he needs and/or deserves a lifetime achievement award, something like an Oscar. Shortlisted for the Best Actor prize at the Hong Kong Film Awards,...

Asian Cinema Celebration

Veteran Chinese director Zhang Yimou will be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the upcoming edition of the Festival of Far East Film in Italy’s Udine (April 24 – May 2). The lineup will include three films by Zhang: his 2023 political thriller “Under the Light” in its competition section; as well as “To Live” and “Raise the Red Lantern” in its restored classics section.

The festival’s total lineup includes 74 films in total – 47 in competition and 28 out of competition) from 11 countries. Events will kick off with a double bill of smash hit mainland Chinese movie “Yolo” and Korean action comedy “Citizen of a Kind.”

Other highlights include “13 Bombs” by Indonesia’s Angga Dwimas Sasongko; “The Goldfinger” by Hong Kong’s Felix Chong; investigative journalism drama “In Broad Daylight,” by Hong Kong’s Lawrence Kan; Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor”; a ten-strong Japanese selection that includes “(Ab)normal Desire,...

Let's begin by talking about the numbers of the Far East Film Festival 26. This year the Feff community will be able to watch 75 films from 11 countries. More precisely, 15 world premieres (including those of restored classics), 24 international premieres, 19 European premieres and 13 Italian premieres. Expected in Udine from 24 April to 2 May, in the historic headquarters of the Teatro Nuovo and in the spaces of the Visionario, the Far East Film Festival 26 will give life to a 9-day long full immersion and it will colour the heart of the city with Asia (there are over 100 thematic events scheduled). A real feast of cinema.

The Opening Night on Wednesday 24 April will travel between China and South Korea with two international premieres. The task of opening the curtain will fall to “Yolo”, the blockbuster that bears the signature of famous comedy star Jia Ling (here in the double role of director and protagonist). It is...

The China Pavilion has set up shop in the middle of this year’s Hong Kong Filmart for the third year running as it aims to share the story of the evolution of the country’s film industry.

Organizers the China Film Co-production Corporation (Cfcc) have brought data with them, they say reflects that there are more international hits coming out of China, while the demographics back home continue to expand in terms of content and of audience.

“We hope to fully present the latest performance of the Chinese film industry through the China Film Pavilion and promote exchanges and cooperation between Chinese and foreign film industries,” a Cfcc spokesperson said.

The past 12 months has seen several Chinese films go on wide international release, led by The Wandering Earth II, the sci-fi epic drawn from the world of acclaimed writer Liu Cixin. The Frant Gwo-directed film was released simultaneously in eight countries — the U.

Jack Neo’s Money No Enough 3 has collected a record-breaking $7m over Chinese New Year in Malaysia and Singapore.

The comedy drama, about post-Covid financial woes, stars a trio of Singapore’s most well-known actor-comedians – Neo, Mark Lee and Henry Thia – alongside an ensemble of local celebrities. It had led the box office in both territories since opening on February 1 in Singapore and February 9 in Malaysia as of yesterday (February 28).

With cumulative takings of $3.2m in Singapore, it has become the top performing Asian film since the Covid pandemic in 2020, overtaking Korean blockbuster Train To Busan: Peninsula and Japanese anime Demon Slayer.

The four strongest Chinese titles that launched over the Lunar New Year holidays continued to dominate the mainland China and global office charts for a third successive weekend, albeit with a change of order that put Zhang Yimou’s “Article 20” in top spot.

Global box office tracking service ComScore showed “Article 20,” “Pegasus 2,” “Yolo” and “Boonie Bears: Time Twist” as ranking first, second, fifth and sixth, respectively, in the world over the latest weekend.

Within mainland China, the quartet’s numbers were sufficiently solid that the year-to-date aggregate is now closely comparable to 2023’s. And, even in their third week, the four were many miles ahead of the top newcomer, “Argylle.”

China data, provided by consultancy Artisan Gateway, showed “Article 20” earned $40.1 million (RMB285 million) between Friday and Sunday. Having placed fourth on opening and third in its second weekend, the latest weekend win means that the gaps between the cumulative...

Three rising Japanese directors have revealed details of fresh projects they pitched to potential partners at the EFM in Berlin.

Akio Fujimoto, Masaaki Kudo and Yurina Kaneko and were selected from more than 20 candidates to take part in New Directors from Japan, an initiative to promote upcoming talent on the world stage commissioned by the government’s Agency for Cultural Affairs that is now in its third year.

Fujimoto is known for family drama Passage Of Life, which won two awards at Tokyo International Film Festival in 2017, followed by Along The Sea, which premiered at San Sebastian in 2020 and went on to win numerous awards.

Andy Lau starrer The Movie Emperor and romantic drama Viva La Vida have had their releases cut short in China amid stiff competition, while Yolo and Pegasus 2 are among four local breakout hits that contributed to a record-breaking $1.1bn box office over Chinese New Year.

Satirical comedy The Movie Emperor earned just $11.1m (RMB80m) after one week following its release on the first day of Chinese New Year (February 10), which also saw the opening of a string of hot local titles.

Chinese producer Huanxi Media issued a statement on social media to say it would be pulled from...

Four Chinese films dominated the mainland China and global box office charts over the latest weekend. “Yolo,” a comedy drama about weight loss and self-discovery, was crowned as the top earning film worldwide for a second weekend running.

“Yolo” took $86.5 million (RMB614 million) between Friday and Sunday, giving it a 9-day cumulative total of $402 million (RMB2.85 million), according to data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway.

The second film by Jia Ling, who previously directed 2021 Lunar New Year smash hit “Hi, Mom”, “Yolo” released on Saturday, Feb. 10 and has retained the number one position since the second day of the Chinese New Year holidays, staying narrowly ahead of racing comedy “Pegasus 2.”

Over the latest weekend “Pegasus 2” earned $80.6 million, giving it a running total of $356 million.

“Article 20,” the Zhang Yimou-directed legal comedy, improved significantly. It climbed up one place to third in the Chinese and global weekend charts and earned $70.2 million over the weekend.

Worldwide box office February 2-4 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Yolo (various) $110.4m $110.4m $110.4m $110.4m 1 2. Pegasus 2 (various) $104.6m $104.6m $104.6m $104.6m 3 3. Boonie Bears: Time Twist (various) $60.8m $60.8m $60.8m $60.8m 1 4. Article 20 (various)

$46.6m $46.6m $46.6m $46.6m 1 5. Argylle (Universal) $15.9m $60.1m $9.4m $31.3m 82 6. Anyone But You (Sony) $12.4m $170.1m $9.7m $90m 51 7. Wonka (Warner Bros) 11.6m $587.5m $8.5m $382.3m 75 8. Migration (Universal) $9.7m $235.2m $6.7m $125.0m 80 9. The Movie Emperor (various) $7.9m $7.9m $7.9m $7.9m 6 10. Poor Things (Disney) $7.7m $81.2m $6.6m $50.9m 44

Credit: Comscore. All figures are estimates.

China wins top four spots in...

Four Chinese films dominated the global box office charts over the weekend, with combined takings of $350 million earned over just two days.

And, as North America watched the Super Bowl instead, the weekend’s top Hollywood title, “Argylle” earned just $15.9 million worldwide.

Chinese titles eschewed their usual Friday release pattern and opened on Saturday, the first official day of the Lunar New Year holiday period in China and much of Asia.

Female-directed comedy drama “Yolo,” earned $113 million (RMB802 million), according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That was narrowly ahead of car-racing comedy “Pegasus 2,” which earned RMB758 million or $107 million and was the bigger title on Saturday. “Yolo” is poised to release in international markets in the future, having recently been acquired by Sony.

In third place, both in China and worldwide, Chinese animation film “Boonie Bears: Time Twist” earned a stunning RMB443 million or $62.4 million. “Article 20,” a Zhang Yimou...

The international box office was generally muted this weekend, save for in China which ushered in the Year of the Dragon on Saturday, and with it the lucrative Chinese New Year moviegoing period. According to early figures from Maoyan, the first two days of Spring Festival 2024 amassed Rmb 2.44B ($339M), just a touch below the comparable days in 2023.

Although Maoyan’s Pegasus 2 was tops on Saturday, the first day of the holiday, ultimately it was the Jia Ling Cfg/Alibaba inspirational film Yolo that won the weekend with an estimated Rmb 804M ($112M/comScore has it slightly lower at $110.4M) across the two-day stretch. IMAX accounted for $3.6M of that. It often happens that the day-one winner is overtaken on day two.

An adaptation of the 2014 Japanese movie 100 Yen Love, Yolo (aka You Only Live Once) centers on Le Ying (Jia), an unemployed woman in her 30s who still...

Eight Chinese-language films release simultaneously this weekend in mainland China and will vie for a slice of the Lunar New Year holiday box office business.

The week-long nationwide holiday period has in recent years become the most lucrative season for cinemas, and key films stake out their slot in the release calendar months or years in advance.

The new Chinese films all debut on Saturday (Friday is the normal day for releases in China) and should have an unchallenged two weeks on screen. But if the new Chinese films don’t perform well, there is already a string of new Hollywood releases queuing up for screen time, starting with “Argylle” on Feb. 23.

The week-long holiday this year officially runs Feb. 10-17, but employers are encouraged to give workers time off on Friday, Feb. 9 as well, ostensibly giving city dwellers time to return to their native villages and family seats in...

Lau Wai-Chi (Andy Lau) is a Hong Kong movie star with legions of devoted fans and a constant eye on his competition. His fame has drawn him inside an ever-tighter circle, where all he can do is keep his body perfect and worry what other star is snagging an award or a big role that should be his. Vulnerable and sensing the need for a new image, Lau is persuaded to take the starring role in a humble indie drama where the protagonist is a village pig farmer. Lau and the director – played by Ning Hao himself – agree this foray into miserabilist cinema will be just what foreign film festivals crave. [Source: 2023 Toronto International Film Festival]

Andy Lau continues his streak as a box-office drawcard with his third consecutive movie release since December 2023 – this time a Ning Hao industry comedy satire, “The Movie Emperor”, set for an exclusive Chinese New Year release in China on...

“I don’t find the definition of Chinese filmmakers by generation to be a useful tool,” said Marco Mueller, introducing dark satire “The Movie Emperor” as the opening film of the first edition of his Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau on Friday. “Much more interesting is the concept of exchange between new and old and between East and West.”

“The new forces of Chinese cinema are present and participating. More than 100 young filmmakers will have the opportunity to meet and interact with names including Amir Naderi, Aleksei German Jr and Yonfan,” Mueller continued. While Macau is these days best known for its high-tech casinos, the former Portuguese colony has long been a venue for international cultural exchange and retains ambitions to restore some of that diversity.

Along with screenings of 27 films and 17 works in progress, masterclasses and on-stage dialogs are a key educational tool on offer at the...

Some 15 projects will be featured at the festival’s first works in progress lab.

Upcoming projects by Chinese filmmaker Li Dongmei and Taiwan’s Lee Hong-chi are among 15 work-in-progress titles selected for the inaugural Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau, which will open with Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor.

The WiP Lab will comprise 11 projects from mainland Chinese filmmakers and four international Chinese-language projects and will be screened in Macau and nearby Zhuhai from January 8-10.

A five-strong jury, who will grant awards in post-production services, include producers Jeremy Chua and Wang Yang, Mumbai Film Festival artistic director Deepti Dcunha,...

Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor will screen as the opening film of Macau’s Asia-Europe Young Cinema Film Festival, which is holding its inaugural edition from January 5-11. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail, recently a hit in India, will screen as the closing film.

The event has two major sections – a programme of masterclasses and screenings aimed at young directors, film students and local audiences, and a Works-in-Progress (WiP) Lab, which will be attended by international sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.

The masterclasses will be held by leading international filmmakers including several from the Chinese-speaking world – Ning Hao, Li Dongmei, Johnnie To, Yon Fan and Lee Hong-chi – along with Japanese filmmakers Ryosuke Hamaguchi and Shinya Tsukamoto, Russia’s Aleksey German Jr, Italy’s Gabriel Menetti, India’s Anurag Kashyap, Lav Diaz from the Philippines and Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi.

China Film Directors Association is actively involved in...

The crime drama will be released on December 30.

Trinity CineAsia has acquired Hong Kong tentpole The Goldfinger for the UK and Ireland after striking a deal with Emperor Motion Pictures.

The crime drama will reunite Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung with writer/director Felix Chong for the first time since 2002’s Infernal Affairs. That film, co-written by Chong and directed by Lau and Alan Mak, spawned a trilogy of films and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed.

UK-based Trinity CineAsia will theatrically release The Goldfinger in UK and Irish cinemas on December 30, co-ordinated with...

In America, doing what Andy Lau does in Hong Kong film industry satire “The Movie Emperor” would likely net him an Oscar nomination. Or at least an MTV Movie Award. Or maybe just the admiration of his peers, considering how few stars are willing to poke fun at their own image, much less entertain the question of what might happen if their fans were to turn on them tomorrow.

Reteaming with “Crazy Stone” director Ning Hao for an ultra-polished, good-sport parody of A-list vanity, Lau plays Dany Lau — not quite himself, but a megastar of roughly his own stature. The movie is loaded with inside jokes, but like French series “Call My Agent,” it should have no trouble translating around the globe. Between Lau’s international standing — bolstered by roles in everything from “Infernal Affairs” to “A Simple Life,” plus a Cantopop singing career — and the script’s deft way...

Presenting a total of 269 films, including 80 world premieres, the 28th edition of the Busan International Film Festival concluded earlier this month, closing out with Andy Lau’s comedy The Movie Emperor. In addition to screenings, the festival hosted talks and master classes, with over 250 guests participating, notably Chow Yun Fat, Luc Besson, Fan Bingbing, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. Over 40 countries and more than 900 companies took part in the festival’s adjoining Asian Contents & Film Market section, while special programs addressed the Korean Diaspora and the Renaissance of Indonesian Cinema.

Along with international favorites like Poor Things, The Beast, and Anatomy of a Fall, Biff offered films from Korea, mainland China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, spotlighting emerging filmmakers like Iqbal H. Chowdhury, Chia Chee Sum (Oasis of Now), and Mirlan Abdykalykov (Jiseok award-winner Bride Kidnapping).

Here are five standouts from the crowded schedule:

Work to Do (Park Hong-jun)

With Work to Do,...

Chinese director Ning Hao has flown directly from Busan film festival in South Korea to China’s Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff) with his latest film, The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau.

After premiering in Toronto, the satirical comedy played as the closing film in Busan; one of two ‘Pingyao Surprise’ films at Pyiff, and will next screen at Tokyo International Film Festival. It will receive a wide theatrical release in China and international territories, including North America, on November 17.

In a thinly veiled satire of China’s film industry, Lau plays an old school movie star trying to regain relevance in the TikTok era by playing a pig farmer in a ‘serious’ Chinese drama aiming for film festival exposure. In order to get into character, he immerses himself in rural life, while still madly schmoozing to bring in investment, and insists on doing all his own stunts. Ning also...

Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows was presented with Best Film in the Fei Mu Awards at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival (Pyiff), while Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, directed by Vietnam’s Pham Thien An, won Best Film in the festival’s Roberto Rossellini Awards.

The Fei Mu Awards recognise up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers selected in the festival’s Hidden Dragons section. The Roberto Rossellini Awards are presented to films in the Crouching Tigers section for emerging international filmmakers.

Both Only The River Flows and Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell premiered at this year’s Cannes film festival, the former in Un Certain Regard and the latter in Directors Fortnight where it won the Camera d’Or.

Geng Zihan won Best Director in the Fei Mu Awards for A Song Sung Blue, which also premiered in Cannes Directors Fortnight. Luc Besson, who was in Pingyao with Dogman,...

The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13.

Chowdhury’s film tells the story of an eccentric fisherman who learns a traditional form of wrestling to take on the village champion, while September 1923, the debut fiction film of documentary filmmaker Mori, revolves around the massacre that took place after the Great Kanto earthquake 100 years ago.

The Kim Jiseok Award, presented to films in Busan’s Jiseok section, went to Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise, about an Indian couple facing problems in their marriage during a trip to Sri Lanka, and Mirlan Abdykalykov’s Bride Kidnapping, about the widespread practice of forcing women into marriage in Kyrgyzstan.

Busan also launched two new awards, the LG Oled New Currents & Vision Awards, presented to films...

Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s “The Wrestler” and Mori Tatsutya’s “September 1923” were announced joint winners of the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival.

“The Wrester” “was like a single round match, magically depicting an exciting narrative,” the jury said. “We support the bravery to face the history that had been forgotten,” the jury said of “September 1923.”

In the separate Jiseok competition, open to more experienced Asian filmmakers, the joint winners were Prasanna Vithanage’s “Paradise” and Mirlan Abdykalykov’s “Bride Kidnapping.”

“Vithanage exposes how a corrupt regime ruins this beautiful country by obstructing peace, depriving its citizens of humanity as they corner them into oppression,” said the separate Jiseok jury. Calling “Bride Kidnapping” a “powerful film,” the Jiseok jury said, “This film vividly depicts the prevalent shocking customs in Kyrgyzstan with unforgettable characters and a straightforward narrative.”

The prizes were presented on Friday at a closing...

Features overviews of the 2023 festival and Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), competition profiles and an interview with filmmaker Ning Hao.

Screen’s latest special edition covers the 2023 Busan International Film Festival (Biff), which runs October 4-13, and the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), taking place from October 7-10.

As well as overviews of the festival and industry market, the special includes a look at Biff’s Indonesia focus, profiles five titles at the Asian Project Market, offers details on the New Currents and Jiseok competition films, and features an interview with Ning Hao, director of closing film The Movie Emperor.

“I hope we can communicate and reconcile again,” said Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon on the opening night of the South Korean city’s film festival.

With so much of the dialogue in opening drama “Because I Hate Korea” discussing Korean societal rigidities, group loyalties, long working hours and poor pay (which cause the protagonist to emigrate to laid-back New Zealand), it is easy to forget that many of these characteristics are what may have saved this year’s Busan International FIlm Festival from going off the rails.

Mid-year, the festival’s aging senior management had a self-inflicted meltdown (a senior moment?) when chairman and co-founder Lee Yong-kwan set off a chain of events that caused multiple resignations, highlighting the old city-versus-festival political divide and alienating local sponsors and industry guilds.

This was dirty laundry that Busan should have washed out of its system in the years-long aftermath of the 2014 “The...

It’s no exaggeration to say that Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has been through a fair amount of drama this year.

The turmoil started in May when Biff chairman Lee Yong-kwan appointed a close associate, Cho Jongkook, as managing director alongside artistic director Huh Moonyung, a decision that proved highly unpopular with some sectors of the local Korean film industry.

Huh resigned, and in an apparently unrelated development, was accused of sexual harassment by a festival employee around the same time. Lee also resigned, Cho was dismissed by the Biff board, and Oh Seok-geun, director of Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), who had supported Lee’s decision to hire Cho, also stepped down. By early July, four of the festival’s top management were out of the door.

Fortunately, the festival has a strong layer of middle management with many years experience. When the top brass departed,...

The Tokyo International Film Festival undertook a series of bold changes in 2020 to enhance its international reach, including a location change and major shakeups across staffing and programming. For the global film community, however, much of the overhaul went unfelt due to the travel restrictions of the pandemic. The Tokyo festival’s chairman, Hiroyasu Ando, emphasized at a press conference in the Japanese capital Wednesday that the event “aims to take a bigger leap” this year with its upcoming 36th edition, making good on its ambitions for a transformation.

“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.

The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...

The full lineup has been unveiled for the festival’s 36th edition.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today revealed the lineup for its 36th edition, including 20 world premieres across its two competition strands.

The festival, set to run October 23 to November 1, will feature 15 titles in its main Competition section led by Japan and China, which each have three films in the selection.

Scroll down for full list

From China are crime drama A Long Shot from debut feature director Gao Peng; Snow Leopard by late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, which premiered at Venice; and Dwelling By The West Lake by Gu Xiaogang,...

Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each.

Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award.

The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, includes the world premiere of Russian director Alexei German Jr.’s “Air” and Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s “The Gospel of the Beast.”

The trio from Japan are: “(Ab)Normal Desire,” by Kishi Yoshiyuki; “A Foggy Paradise,” by Kotsijui Yohei; and “Who Were We,” by Tomina Tetsuya.

The festival’s gala selection appears designed for entertainment pleasure. In addition to the previously-announced “Perfect Days” and “Godzilla Minus One,” set as the festival’s opening and closing films,...

Ning Hao's latest satire, The Movie Emperor, is a perfect showcase for Andy Lau's talent and makes for a strong satire of the film industry and its superficiality. Lau's portrayal of a has-been actor whose fame has gone to his head highlights the struggles of engaging realistically with one's career and relationships. The film explores the importance of communication and the dangers of being locked into one's own comfort zone, while also tackling issues of classism and the challenges of the internet era.

Ning Hao's latest satire, The Movie Emperor, makes perfect use of Hong Kong screen legend Andy Lau. The movie is perfectly suited for the Toronto International Film Festival, where it just premiered, thanks to its skillful skewering of the film industry and the superficiality of some of its stars. Lau in particular gets to have fun playing a has-been actor whose (now passé) fame has...

Hong Kong multihyphenate Andy Lau may just be ready to star in a Hollywood movie after long being a box office king and pop star in Asia. But only if the major studios will meet him on his terms.

“I’m ready for Hollywood, as long as Hollywood is ready for me,” Lau said during an informal conversation at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday after a more than four-decade career stopping short of following his contemporaries and heading to Hollywood.

In Toronto to receive a special tribute award ahead of the Sept. 15 world premiere of Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, Lau said he always enjoyed playing the bad guy in movies as a change of pace early in his career. “I don’t know why in the beginning, everyone saw me as the good guy,” he insisted.

Lau, who sits near the top of China’s A-list...

That the Toronto world premiere of “The Movie Emperor” is sponsored by high-end home appliance manufacturer Dyson is deliciously and understatedly ironic. In the movie, innocuous-seeming domestic equipment — from the humble suitcase to floor sweeping robots — run quietly amok.

So, too, do other forms of supposedly convenient technology, from dashboard cameras to smartphone apps, which seem to conspire to crush the ego of the film’s protagonist, a major movie star trying to get into his role as an angry pig farmer.

That the analog pigs and their distracted human owners are just as much of a handful makes the film an inky, black-humored pastiche on modern high-tech society, our obsessions with self-image and the arrogance of the movie industry.

Chinese director Ning Hao, previously the purveyor of arty satire “Mongolian Ping Pong” and the more scattershot (and commercially successful) “Crazy Racer” and “Crazy Alien,” has always had a cruelly funny streak.

“No More Bets,” the smash hit Chinese crime thriller that has earned more than half a billion dollars in its home market, is hurriedly adding new territories to release.

It will release in the U.K. and Ireland from Friday through distributor Trinity Cine Asia. It will release in Hong Kong, on Sept. 21, through Haven Productions, Mandarin Entertainment and Intercontinental. It was given a limited release in the U.S. on Sept. 1.

Said to be based on actual events, the story involves a computer programmer and a model who are lured abroad by a job offer that turns out to be a scam. Instead, they are prevented from leaving and are obliged to work as online scammers, ripping off other unknowing victims.

The film was released in China in early August and spent three weeks at the top of the box office chart. It has amassed $547 million in 31 days of release,...

Following some struggles behind the scenes earlier this year, which resulted in a staffing reshuffle, the Busan International Film Festival (Biff) will return next month with a sparkling program for its 28th edition. The festival will open on October 4th with Because I Hate Korea from director Jang Kun-jae, who previously featured at Biff with A Midsummer's Fantasia, Vestige and June from 5 to 7. Ko A-sung (Snowpiercer) leads this adaptation of the novel of the same namer penned by Chang Kang-myoung. Closing the festival on the 13th will be the Chinese film The Movie Emperor from No Man's Land director Ning Hao. Andy Lau leads this satire about the film industry. Biff will welcome 209 films from 69 countries in its official selection. Despite...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The festival will open with ‘Because I Hate Korea’ and close with ‘The Movie Emperor’.

The Busan International Film Festival has revealed the full line-up for its 2023 edition and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat will receive the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award.

The festival in South Korea will open with the world premiere of Jang Kun-jae’s Because I Hate Korea and close with Ning Hao’s Chinese film industry satire The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau, following its debut at Toronto.

At an online press conference today, organisers also revealed that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat...

Busan International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year.

Chow will be feted through the screening of two of his most iconic films – Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow – as well as recent release Once More Chance, directed by Anthony Pun.

In addition to Chow, international guests expected at the festival include Luc Besson, Japanese filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Korean-American filmmakers Lee Isaac Chung and Justin Chon, and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

The festival will open with the world premiere of Jang Kun-jae’s Because I Hate Korea, adapted from the popular novel by Chang Kang-myoung, and close with Chinese filmmaker Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau, which is receiving its world premiere in Toronto.

The Busan International Film Festival put aside many of its recent internal and local political problems to Tuesday unveil a large selection ranging from bleeding edge art titles to international festival favorites.

“The difficult times are not behind us, but hard work has made this year’s festival better than ever,” said programmer and interim festival chief Nam Dong-chul, speaking at an online press conference.

International guests expected to attend the festival include Luc Besson, Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing, Japanese directors Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Kore-Eda Hirokazu, Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, and Korean Americans Justin Chon (“Gook”) and Lee Isaac Chung (“Minari”).

Hong Kong-based superstar Chow Yun-fat has been named as Busan’s Asian Filmmaker of the Year and will be in person to receive the award. The Korean Cinema Award will presented to the late Yun Jung-hee, the actress who starred in “The General’s Mustache” and Lee Chang-dong’s 2010 drama “Poetry.

Fest runs September 7-17.

TIFF has announced additional TIFF Tribute Award recipients, with Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz, Polish cinematographer Lukasz Zal, and Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau joining the roster.

Markowicz will receive the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM Studios. The award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists.

Markowicz will present the world premiere of her second feature Toll on September 9. The film centres on a Brazilian mother who falls in with a gang of thieves in an attempt to keep her family afloat. Her first film...

Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau, Brazilian director Carolina Markowicz and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Lukasz Zal will be honored at the Toronto Film Festival, including as part of the fifth annual TIFF Tribute Awards on Sept. 10, organizers said on Tuesday.

On Sept. 15, Lau, who sits atop China’s A-list as both an actor and a pop performer, will receive a special tribute award ahead of the world premiere of Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, where he plays a movie star seeking relevance via a film festival–baiting art-house role.

And during the TIFF Tribute Awards, Markowicz will be honored with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award, while Poland’s Zal will be feted with a TIFF Artisan Award. Markowicz is headed to Toronto for the world premiere of her second feature, Toll, on Sept. 9.

Zal is best known for his cinematography in Pawel Pawlikowski’s Cold War and Ida and returns to...

On Tuesday, TIFF announced additional honorees who will be receiving a TIFF Tribute Award at this year’s Festival. Recipients include award-winning Brazilian filmmaker Carolina Markowicz who will be honoured with the TIFF Emerging Talent Award presented by MGM. This award is in the spirit of Torontonian Mary Pickford, the groundbreaking actor, producer, and co-founder of United Artists, whose impact continues today. Two-time Academy Award–nominated Polish cinematographer Łukasz Żal will receive the TIFF Variety Artisan Award, which recognizes a distinguished creative who has excelled at their craft and made an outstanding contribution to cinema and entertainment. Both Markowicz and Żal will be honoured on Sept. 10 at the fifth annual TIFF Tribute Awards gala fundraiser at Fairmont Royal York Hotel, presented by Bulgari.

On Sept. 15, TIFF will be honouring Andy Lau, the multi-hyphenate Hong Kong artist with a Special Tribute Award at the World Premiere Gala presentation of Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor,...

Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi, 2023).The lineup is being unveiled for the 2023 edition of the Toronto International Film Festival, starting with 60 selections from the Gala and Special Presentations programs. The festival takes place from September 7–17, 2023.Gala PRESENTATIONSConcrete Utopia (Um Tae-Hwa)Dumb Money (Craig Gillespie)Fair Play (Chloe Domont)Flora and Son (John Carney)Hate to Love: Nickelback (Leigh Brooks)Lee (Ellen Kuras)Next Goal Wins (Taika Waititi)Nyad (Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)Punjab ’95 (Honey Trehan)Solo (Sophie Dupuis)The End We Start From (Mahalia Belo)The Movie Emperor (Ning Hao)The New Boy (Warwick Thornton) The Royal Hotel (Kitty Green)The Holdovers.Special Presentationsa Difficult Year (Éric Toledano, Olivier Nakache)A Normal Family (Hur Jin-ho)American Fiction (Cord Jefferson)Anatomy of a Fall (Justine Triet)Close to You (Dominic Savage)Days of Happiness (Chloé Robichaud)The Rescue (Daniela Goggi)Ezra (Tony Goldwyn)Fingernails (Christos Nikou)Four Daughters (Kaouther Ben Hania...

Toronto International Film Festival has announced the participants for this year’s “In Conversation With…” series, including headliners Pedro Almodóvar, Andy Lau and Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-jun.

“TIFF’s 2023 In Conversation With… series exemplifies our belief that film can ignite perspectives and fuel transformation,” said TIFF Chief Programming Officer Anita Lee. “We are delighted to welcome a powerhouse lineup of international iconoclasts from Spain, South Korea, and Hong Kong for film lovers of all genres.”

The 2023 lineup represents a global and diverse gathering which will weave together unique perspectives that contribute to shaping the global entertainment landscape.

Almodóvar will receive this year’s Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media at the TIFF Tribute Awards. The Oscar-winning director of “All About My Mother,” “Talk to Her” and “Pain and Glory” will present the North American premiere of his short feature “Strange Way of Life.” The western romance, starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal,...

TIFF has begun announcing their Conversation With… (Icw) series for this year’s fest with Oscar winner Pedro Almodóvar, Hong Kong actor Andy Lau and Concrete Utopia Korean stars Lee Byung-hun and Park

Seo-jun set to sit down for chats.

“TIFF’s 2023 In Conversation With… series exemplifies our belief that film can ignite perspectives and fuel

transformation,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “We are delighted to welcome a powerhouse lineup of international iconoclasts from Spain, South Korea, and Hong Kong for film lovers of all genres.”

Almodóvar is already set to receive TIFF’s Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media this year at the fest’s Tribute Awards. His short, Strange Way of Life, which played at Cannes, will also make its North American premiere at TIFF. Short follows the relationship between a sheriff (Ethan Hawke) and a rancher

(Pedro Pascal) and their shared past.

Concrete Utopia stars...

The Toronto Film Festival has tapped Spanish auteur Pedro Almodóvar, Hong Kong multihyphenate Andy Lau and Korean superstars Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-jun to topline its In Conversation With… series next month.

Almodóvar, earlier announced to receive the Jeff Skoll Award in Impact Media from Participant at TIFF, has been among the most successful European directors since his 1988 melodrama Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, winning two Oscars for All About My Mother in 1999 and Talk to Her in 2002.

Lau ranks near the top of China’s A-list as both an actor and a pop performer and will also be in Toronto for the world premiere of Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, where he plays a movie star seeking relevance via a film festival–baiting art-house role.

And Lee Byung-hun and Park Seo-jun, co-stars of the disaster epic Concrete Utopia, will also be in Toronto to discuss...