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FEATURE FOCUS The big surprise at the Hong Kong box offi ce over the past year has been the success of Taiwanese romantic comedy You Are The Apple Of My Eye, which grossed nearly $8m to become the biggest ever Chinese-language release in Hong Kong. A huge hit in Taiwan, where it was also released by Fox, the fi lm fl ourished on wordof-mouth and repeat viewings. Based on the director’s own experiences, it features a young man on his way to a wedding, reminiscing about his days at high school. “It had a unique way of capturing young moviegoers as well as older ones,” says Fox’s senior vicepresident, Asia Pacific, Sunder Kimatrai, when asked to explain the fi lm’s success. “Those experiences of fi rst love, fi rst heartbreak, are so universal they translate to any culture, but they hadn’t been told in this way in this part of the world before.” With its combination of romance and gross-out humour, the fi lm also appealed to both sexes. But on the whole Hollywood fi lms, particularly effectsladen 3D spectaculars, continue to rule the roost in Hong Kong — Apple ranked third in the 2011 top 10 behind the latest instalments in the Transformers and Harry Potter series. You Are The Apple Of My Eye JACOB WONG, PAGE 16 Imports get to the core of local tastes Taiwanese, US and even Indian titles overshadowed Hong Kong fare in 2011. Liz Shackleton reports on a territory which is looking abroad for its latest blockbuster ‘You Are The Apple Of My Eye had a unique way of capturing young moviegoers as well as older ones’ Sunder Kimatrai, Fox Likewise, last Christmas, Hong Kong audiences favoured Mission: Impossible — Ghost Protocol and Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows over the big Chinese end-of-year release, Tsui Hark’s The Flying Swords Of Dragon Gate, despite that fi lm’s highquality 3D. And during the recent Chinese New Year holiday (January 23-25), Journey 2: The Mysterious Island streaked ahead of the local Chinese New Year comedies and Dante Lam’s globe-trotting adventure The Viral Factor. As elsewhere around the world, this trend towards premium fare is resulting in an overall upwards trend in ticket sales. According to the Hong Kong Motion Picture Industry Association (MPIA), box offi ce grew by almost 4% to $177.8m (HK$1.38bn) in 2011, despite a decrease in the number of releases from 286 in 2010 to 276 last year. Hong Kong movies had only a 20.2% market share compared to 22.6% in 2010. Local producers are making fewer films specifically for the local market and Hong Kong audiences tend to reject the bigger budget Hong Kong-China co-productions, which anyway make most of their returns on the mainland. Tellingly, the two Hong Kong fi lms to rank in the top 10 — 3D erotic drama Sex And Zen: Extreme Ecstasy and I Love Hong Kong (2011) — were not co-productions with China. Hong Kong audiences also seem to have turned their backs on Korean and Japanese films — no Korean releases and only two Japanese fi lms (The Borrower Arrietty and Umizaru 3) ranked in the top 100. However, another surprise was the success of Bollywood title 3 Idiots, which grossed $3m to rank number 14 in Rentrak’s year-end chart. Edko Films released it nearly two years after its Indian release, as it was waiting for the fi lm to pass censorship in mainland China. Edko’s Audrey Lee says its was the fi lm’s humour and subject matter, especially the storyline about the pressures of the education system, that struck a chord with local audiences, and that it remains difficult to release most Bollywood films in Hong Kong. “We polished the subtitles to help Hong Kong people understand the references,” explains Lee. “It catered to a wide audience — professionals, parents and retirees — and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen people in the cinema laugh so frequently.” »
NEW EOF TITLES SELECTED 2012 Regulations and entry form for submitting fi lms are available on www.eyeonfi lms.org EYE ON FILMS • WIDE • 40 RUE SAINTE-ANNE 75002 PARIS • FRANCE • T +33 1 53 95 04 62 • F +33 1 53 95 04 65 • EOF@EYEONFILMS.ORG • WWW.EYEONFILMS.ORG • WWW.DAILYMOTION.COM/EYEONFILMS COORDINATOR EOF IS SUPPORTED BY MEDIA PARTNER – WWW.SCREENDAILY.COM MAIN PARTNER ASSOCIATED PARTNER PATRONAGE M U N D U S A NEW BUSINESS MODEL FOR THE PROMOTION CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION OF FIRST FEATURE FILMS A UNIQUE, GLOBAL NETWORK OF FILM PROFESSIONALS ALREADY 70 PARTNERS 40 FESTIVALS 30 DISTRIBUTORS MORE THAN 30 COUNTRIES ALREADY 12 TITLES CONFIRMED “GLOBAL VISION SELECTION” POLICEMAN Director: Nadav LAPID Country: France Cast: Yiftach Klein, Yaara Pelzig Locarno, Special Jury Prize 3 Continents Nantes, Audience Award BFI London Film Festival New York Film Festival OFFICIAL SCREENINGS: 23/03 3:40 PM @ HONG KONG SPACE MUSEUM LECTURE HALL 25/03 7:45 PM @ UA LANGHAM PLACE 29/03 3:00 PM @ UA CITYPLAZA MARKET SCREENING: 19/03 2:00 PM @ HKCEC MEETING ROOM N204-N205 HKIFF OFFICIAL SELECTION MARKET SCREENINGS @ FILMART NIGHT #1 Director: Anne EMOND Country: Canada Cast: Catherine De Léan, Dimitri Storoge Toronto IFF Busan IFF, Offi cial Selection Rotterdam IFF 2012, Bright Future Section Göteborg IFF 2012 ATTENDING FILMART: CLÉMENTINE HUGOT CELL: +33 7 61 57 96 86 STAND: UNIFRANCE BOOTH # 1C-F14. CONTACTS EOF IN PARIS LOÏC MAGNERON PRESIDENT C+33 6 60 43 96 86 LM@EYEONFILMS.ORG NAWID SAREM EOF COORDINATOR C+33 6 25 83 00 50 NS@EYEONFILMS.ORG MICHELLE PALANT EOF COORDINATOR C +33 6 98 30 67 60 MP@EYEONFILMS.ORG OFFICIAL SCREENINGS: 26/03 5:15 PM UA ISQUARE 30/03 7:15 PM UA ISQUARE “POLAND IN CLOSE-UP” FEAR OF FALLING Director: Bartosz KONOPKA Country: Poland Cast: Marcin Dorocinski, Krzysztof Stroinski, Magdalena Poplawska Gdynia Film Festival, Offi cial Selection Montreal World Cinema FF, First Films World Competition CLIP Director: Maja MILOS Country: Serbia Cast: Isidora Simijonović Vukašin Jasnić, Sanja Mikitišin Jovo Makisć Monja Savić Rotterdam IFF 2012, Tiger Award MARKET SCREENING: 19/03 4:00 PM @ HKCEC MEETING ROOM N204-N205 BEAST PARADISE NOOR CLIP
Page 3 and 4: DAY 3 www.ScreenDaily.com Editorial
Page 6: REVIEWS Reviews edited by Mark Adam
Page 9 and 10: The Fourth Direction Dir Gurvinder
Page 11: elephant soldiers Dirs Vardan Hovha
Page 16 and 17: The place to fi nd an international
Page 18 and 19: scReenings edited by paul lindsell
Page 20 and 21: Meeting Room N111-N112, HKCEC PEtal
Page 22 and 23: EvEnts SeminarS and eventS WedneSda

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