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Smuggler CAR takes US rights to Smuggler By Liz ShacKLEToN US-based Cinema Asia Releasing (CAR) has acquired North American rights to Japanese cult hit Smuggler, which premiered in the Midnight Madness section of last year’s Toronto film festival. The film, directed by Katsuhito Ishii (The Taste Of Tea), is based on a manga franchise of the same name created by Shohei Manabe. CAR’s recent acquisitions also include Korean titles Bedevilled, which played in Cannes’ Critics Week in 2010; Iris, starring Lee Byung-hung, and Rotterdam 2009 Tiger Award winner Breathless. The distribution outfit has also acquired Thai mystery thriller Mindfulness And Murder, directed by UK-Thai film-maker Tom Waller. CAR was launched at Filmart last year by Los Angeles-based distribution veteran Ko Mori of Eleven Arts and producer Tim Kwok of Convergence Entertainment. The company plans to release eight to 10 films a year theatrically in the North American market, while its other acquisitions will be positioned as VoD and DVD releases. all about M-Line’s Wife South Korean sales company M-Line Distribution is launching sales here at Filmart on romantic comedy All About My Wife. Directed by Min Kyu-dong (Antique, Memento Mori), the film stars Lee Sun-kyun from Oki’s Movie and Paju, and Lim Soo-jung from Come Rain, Come Shine. Tired of his wife’s nagging, Lee’s character schemes with a womanising neighbour to encourage her to have an affair so he can begin divorce proceedings. M-Line has also picked up Asian sales right for Yoo Ha’s wolf-hound thriller Howling starring Song Kang-ho (The Host) and Lee Na-young (Maundy Thursday). The company is also selling historical mystery melodrama Gabi and doing pre-sales on the Kim Jee-woon and Yim Pil-sung co-directed Doomsday Book. n 6 Screen International at Filmart March 19, 2012 Emperor fights fires with Derek Kwok, Nicholas Tse By Liz ShacKLEToN Hong Kong-based Emperor Motion Pictures (EMP) is launching a big-budget fire-fighting drama at Filmart, to be directed by up-and-coming film-maker Derek Kwok with Nicholas Tse heading the cast. The as-yet-untitled project is scheduled to start shooting in the third quarter of this year for release in 2013. Tse, who is famous for performing his own stunts, will play a firefighter in a series of dramatic set pieces. Kwok, who has spent half a year researching the story, previously co-directed mar- tial-arts parody Gallants, which won best film at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Hong Kong’s Universe Films is also planning a disaster film about fire-fighting, a subject that has not been tackled in Hong Kong cinema since Johnnie To’s Lifeline in 1997. EMP is also launching sales on The Bullet Vanishes, a suspense thriller directed by Law Chi-leung and produced by Derek Yee, which also stars Tse along with Lau Ching Wan. Produced by China’s Le Vision Pictures, the film revolves around a series of mysterious murders in China’s largest armoury during the Republic era. The film is in post-production. EMP, whose parent company Emperor Group is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year, is also selling new projects from Huang Lei, son of veteran Chinese filmmaker Huang Jianxin, and fastrising film-maker Daniel Chan. Huang Lei is making his directing debut with Angry Kid, on which his father serves as producer. EMP is also selling Heiward Mak’s Diva, starring Joey Yung and produced by Chapman To, which is tentatively scheduled for a summer release. Showbox sends Choi’s Thieves around Asia By JEaN Noh South Korean sales company Showbox has pre-sold Macau diamond heist film The Thieves to Dream Movie Entertainment for Singapore and Malaysia, Queen International Pictures for Indonesia and Catchplay for Taiwan. Directed by hit-maker Choi Dong-hoon (Tazza: The High Rollers and Woochi), The Thieves is expected to be released wide in each territory following its Korean release this summer. The film’s A-list ensemble cast includes Kim Yun-seok (The Yellow Sea), Kim Hye-soo (Tazza), Lee Jung-jae (The Housemaid), Gianna Jun “Howling has had good box office and this is its first Asian market so there’s a lot of interest, especially from Japan and China, and we expect to close deals on other territories as well,” said Nahie J Kim, manager at M-Line. “Gabi just opened in Korea and there’s a lot of interest from Asia and Europe. Since it stars Joo Jin-mo, it’s almost needless to say,” she said about the heart throb who stars as a Joseon Dynasty king in peril with a new-found taste for coffee. Doomsday Book is due for an April 12 local release. The film stars Kim Kang-woo (Marine Boy), Ryoo Seungbum (The Unjust) and Song Sae-byuk (Meet The In-laws) in a sci-fi film made up of three short stories about a robot, a zombie invasion and a meteor crash. Jean Noh The Thieves (Snow Flower And The Secret Fan), Simon Yam (Ip Man) and Derek Tsang (Dream Home). The company is also launching sales on Take Off and 200 Pounds Beauty director Kim Yong-hwa’s all about My Wife Mr Go 3D. Budgeted at more than $20m, the film is about a gorilla that is trained to play pro-baseball. In production, the film is being shot in stereoscopic 3D, aiming for a summer 2013 release locally. Showbox is also having the market premiere of music romance Love On Air and has From Seoul To Varanasi screening at both Filmart and the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Its slate also includes local boxoffice hit Nameless Gangster: Rules Of The Time and upcoming action thrillers Confession Of Murder and A Company Man, as well as erotic thriller The Scent. Blind Detective, Switch make Media Asia bow By Liz ShacKLEToN Hong Kong’s Media Asia is introducing two high-profile projects at Filmart: Johnnie To’s crime drama Blind Detective and Jay Sun’s action drama Switch. Starring Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, Blind Detective tells the story of a detective, forced to leave the service after turning blind, who tries to make a living by solving cold cases. It marks the first pairing of Lau and Cheng since Yesterday Once More in 2004. Media Asia has worldwide rights to Blind Detective, which is scheduled to start shooting in the next few weeks. Switch, formerly known as Dwelling In The Fuchun Mountains, is a $20m action adventure which is in post-production after shooting in several international locations including Dubai. Andy Lau, Zhang Jingchu and Lin Chiling head the cast. The story revolves around the famous Chinese landscape painting Dwelling In The Fuchun Mountains by Huang Gongwang, which was split in two 300 years ago. The film imagines the painting is to be put back together, and follows gangs of thieves as they scramble to steal it. Media Asia has South-East Asia rights to the film, with China Film Group holding rights in the rest of the world. Media Asia is also selling Pang Ho Cheung’s HKIFF opener Love In The Buff, To’s Romancing In Thin Air and Derek Tsang and Jimmy Wan’s Lacuna. Golden Sun hot for library deal By SEN-LuN yu Golden Sun Films had closed a package deal with Chinese stateowned TV giant CCTV-6 for IPTV- VoD rights to 500 titles worth an estimated $4.4m (rmb30m). Golden Sun Films has a library of more than 300 Chinese-language films featuring stars such as Jet Li, Jackie Chan, Donnie Yen and Andy Lau. China Central TV Corporation’s CCTV 6 is a specialist movie channel co-owned and managed by China’s state-owned studio China Film Group. Golden Sun is also looking to remaster its library titles into the HD format. “This is to ensure the quality of our films and also to take advantage of new distribution opportunities,” said Kathy Lan, chairwoman of Golden Sun Films.
New Pangs, Chan films headline Universe slate By Liz ShaCkLEtoN Hong Kong’s Universe Films Distribution is unveiling a slate of action films at Filmart, headed by new projects from the Pang brothers and Benny Chan. Chan’s as-yet-untitled project is a $16m police action film, revolving around the Narcotics Division of the Hong Kong Security Bureau. Pre-production is scheduled to start in August for delivery in the third quarter of 2013. Negotiations are underway for the cast, which will be revealed in the next few months. Oxide Pang, one half of the Pang brothers duo, is directing suspense action title Conspirators, starring Aaron Kwok and Nick Cheung. The story, which is a spinoff from Pang’s 2007 The Detective C+, follows Kwok’s character, a private detective based in Thailand, as he travels to Malaysia to unravel the truth behind his parents’ death. Cheung plays a Malay- Conspirators sian detective. The $5m picture is currently shooting in Thailand, Malaysia and mainland China, with delivery expected towards the end of the year. The Pang brothers are also gearing up to direct a big-budget fire-fighting disaster movie, Inferno, starring Louis Koo, Lau Ching-wan and Angelica Lee. Universe’s slate also includes James Yuen’s romantic comedy My Sassy Husband, starring Ekin Cheng and Charlene Choi, which is in pre-production for release towards the end of the year. Meanwhile Danny Pang’s police thriller Fairy Tale Killer, starring Lau Ching Wan, is scheduled for local release on May 10. By SEN-LUN yU China’s leading internet TV site Youku Inc has launched Beautiful 2012, its third annual original content campaign since 2010. The first titles in the campaign will be four ‘micro movies’ from award-winning Asian directors Gu Changwei, Tsai Ming-liang, Ann Hui and Kim Tae-yong, which have their world premieres at the Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) on March 22. NEWS Youku launches Beautiful programme By Liz ShaCkLEtoN Turkish cinema will have a presence for the first time at Filmart this year, through a booth organised by Turkey’s Izmir Cinema Association (ICA). ICA will be promoting new Turkish cinema which has been released or screened at film festivals over the past year, as well as films that are currently in production. Turkey’s regional cinema organisations have been increasing efforts to market Turkish films overseas following their recent success at the world’s The micro movies — a term coined in China for short films made for online viewing — will be released exclusively on Youku’s online platform over the next year. This is the first time HKIFF has showcased micro movies. The success of online-only movies, such as Xiao Yang’s Old Boys which was viewed 20 million times in two months on Youku, has seen increasing interest in the format from high-profile directors. turkey gets first Filmart push top film festivals. Notable titles being promoted on the Turkish Filmart stand include Nuri Bilge Ceylon’s Cannes favourite Once Upon A Time In Anatolia, Rasit Celikezer’s Sundance prize-winner Can and Reis Celik’s Night Of Silence, a Crystal Bear winner in Berlin. “Turkish cinema is promoted every year at Cannes and Berlin, but the large Far East market has not been included in this effort. Therefore it has become indispensable to represent Turkish cinema in Filmart,” said ICA’s Nesim Bencoya. March 19, 2012 Screen International at Filmart 7 n
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