AT FILMART

NEWS
Assassins lands
home with
Well Go USA
By SEN-LuN yu
Arclight Films has sold its Chow
Yun-fat-starrer The Assassins to
Well Go USA for North America.
Directed by Chinese first-time
film-maker Zhao Linshan and
backed by China’s Enlight Pictures
and Changchun Film Group, The
Assassins stars Chow, Crystal Liu
Yifei and Alex Su and tells the
story of controversial hero/tyrant
general Cao Cao in the 3rd century
in China.
Arclight’s Asian label Easternlight
has also picked up the Chinese
remake of Dangerous
Liaisons, starring Zhang Ziyi,
Korean star Jang Dong-gun and
Hong Kong’s Cecilia Cheung.
Directed by Korea’s Hur Jin-ho,
Dangerous Liaisons is scripted by
well-known Chinese author Yan
Geling and is backed by Beijing’s
Zonbo Media.
Other Chinese
films handled
by Easternlight
are The Fo u r,
directed by Gordon
Chan and starring
Crystal
Liu Yifei and
Deng Chao,
and White
Vengeance
starring
Leon Lai
and William
Feng.
Chow Yun-fat in
The Assassins
n 4 Screen International at Filmart March 20, 2012
Malaysia to introduce
30% production rebate
By Liz ShackLEtoN
The Malaysian government is set
to introduce a rebate scheme for
local and international films
shooting in Malaysia.
Foreign films that spend $1.7m
or more while filming in the country
will be able to claim back 30%
of their spend. Local films that
spend $800,000 or more will also
be able to claim back 30%. The
expenses of the productions will
be audited by the relevant authorities
before the rebate is given.
The move is designed to boost
Malaysia’s production industry and
bring international films into the
country, which will open the Pinewood
Iskandar Studios in 2013.
“The incentive should bring
benefits including the transfer of
technological know-how, more
jobs for local talent and is also
good for tourism,” said Datuk MD
Afendi B Datuk Hamdan, chairman
of Malaysia’s National Film
Development Corp (FINAS).
Malaysia is also planning to
launch a contents market and
locations showcase, the Kuala
Lumpur Communications and
Content Industry Market
(KLCCIM), which has the tentative
dates of November 16-18. The
Kuala Lumpur International Film
Festival will be rebranded and
moved to the same time of year.
FINAS and promotional agency
GCMA are hosting a delegation of
more than 30 Malaysian content
sellers here at Filmart. GCMA also
announced Kuala Lumpur-based
Animasia Studio is planning to
release an animated feature based
on its popular television series Bola
Kampung by the end of the year.
Sonamu grabs Bunohan for Korea
By Liz ShackLEtoN
Korea’s Sonamu Pictures has
acquired action drama Bunohan
— directed by Malaysian filmmaker
Dain Iskandar Said —
from Easternlight Films.
The film, which premiered
at last year’s
Toronto International Film
Festival, was produced by
the US’s Convergence
Entertainment and
Malaysia’s Apparat. It
was previously sold to
Universal Pictures for a
slew of territories includ-
First time for Edko, irresistible
By Liz ShackLEtoN
Hong Kong’s Edko Films and Irresistible
Films are launching sales
on romantic love story First Time,
starring Angelababy (Hot Summer
Days) and Mark Chao (Monga),
here in Filmart.
The two stars previously
worked together on Taiwanese hit
Black And White. Their new collaboration,
directed by Han Yan
(The Tropic Of Cancer), is produced
by Ivy Ho and Bill Kong for a
budget of $3m. Edko Films’ sales
chief June Wu is handling international
sales.
Edko is also selling romantic
comedy Love Is Not Blind, produced
by Beijing-based Perfect
World, which was a huge sleeper
hit in China last year grossing
$52m (rmb330m).
The company’s Filmart slate
also includes Irresistible Films pro-
ductions Nightfall and Cold War.
Nightfall is a crime thriller,
directed by Roy Hin-yeung Chow
and starring Nick Cheung and
Simon Yam, which opened in
Hong Kong last weekend and
grossed $850,000 (hk$6.58m) in
four days. Cold War, directed by
Longman Leung and Sunny Luk,
is a police action film starring
Aaron Kwok and Tony Leung Kafai.
Currently in post-production,
Cold War is scheduled for a summer
2012 release.
Nightfall
Datuk MD afendi B Datuk hamdan
ing the UK, Germany, France,
Australia and New Zealand.
Oscilloscope Pictures recently
picked up North American rights
to the film, which were handled
jointly by Easternlight and Los
Angeles-based sales agent Traction
Media.
Convergence also announced
that Hong Kong actress Kara Hui
will star in supernatural horror
feature Nuptials Of The Dead,
written and to be directed by
Maya Lim. Hui won best actress at
the 2009 Golden Horse Awards
and the 2010 Hong Kong Film
Louis Fan at
yesterday’s
Filmart press
conference
for Patrick Leung’s
Wu Dang, in which
Fan stars with
Vincent Chiu,
Dennis To and Mini
Yang. Mei Ah
Entertainment is
selling here.
Awards for her role in At The End
Of Daybreak.
Nuptials Of The Dead, which will
also star Collin Chou, is scheduled
to start shooting in Kuala Lumpur
in August. Based on a short Lim
wrote and directed, the Chineselanguage
feature revolves around
the concept of the ancient Chinese
practice of ‘ghost marriages’.
Convergence is co-producing
Nuptials with Apparat, and Lee
Tae-hun of Korea’s Opus Pictures
serves as executive producer. Distribution
Workshop is handling
international sales.
AFCNet prepares for board meeting
By JEaN Noh
The Asian Film Commissions Network
(AFCNet) is holding this
year’s first board meeting today
here at Filmart. The agenda will
feature issues such as new membership
approval, awards, establishing
an AFCNet ASEAN committee,
PR and marketing strategies, and
an ASEAN-ROK Cooperation
Project. The film commissions and
locations support organisation has
46 members from 17 countries
including the Busan Film Commission,
Japan Film Commission, Australia’s
Film Gold Coast, and the
Bali Film Center where Oliver
Stone recently wrapped Savages.
Dark Flight 3D
Buyers take
Five Star’s
Dark Flight
Thailand’s Five Star Production
has closed a slew of deals on
horror picture Dark Flight 3D
including a sale to KSM for the
UK and German-speaking
territories and to Color
Entertainment for Japan.
The film has also been sold to
Encore Films for Hong Kong,
Deepjoy Picture Corporation for
Taiwan, Clover Films for
Singapore and Malaysia, PT Inter
Solusindo Film for Indonesia and
Filmworks for Cambodia.
Hong Kong’s Digital Magic
handled the 3D on the film, which
is the first major 3D horror
picture from Thailand.
Directed by Issara Nadee from
a story by Kongkiat Komesiri, it
revolves around a flight
attendant who survives a plane
crash but later finds herself
working on the same plane.
The film opens in Thailand on
March 22.
Five Star is also selling Tai —
a Muay Thai action film also
written by Kongkiat and directed
by well-known Thai producer
Sirisak Koshpasharin (Fireball) —
and romantic drama First Kiss.
Liz Shackleton
PiFan’s it
Project sets
May 1 deadline
By JEaN Noh
The Puchon International Fantastic
Film Festival (PiFan) has made
a call for submissions to its genre
projects market, It Project.
Covering genres including horror,
thriller, action and sci-fi, It
Project’s previous selections
include Korean director Yeon
Sang-ho’s animation King Of Pigs
(formerly King Of Swine) which
premiered at Busan and had an
acclaimed theatrical release in
Korea. Singaporean director Li Lin
Wee’s Forever had a successful
release in Singapore and Malaysia
after a double world premiere at
Cairo and Jakarta. PiFan offers
cash and post-production support.
The submission deadline is May 1.