News Links - 3/20/08

[dleedlee]

Hong Kong Film Festival kicks off with Soul of a Demon
http://www.cctv.com/program/cultureexpr ... 2091.shtml

Review "The Killing of a Chinese Cookie" (U.S.)
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5732/1/

Entertainer Zhao Wei Turns Star Blogger
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/03/20/1261@336132.htm

Storm Riders 2 to be unleashed in 2009
http://coolsmurf.wordpress.com/2008/03/ ... d-in-2009/


Trailer for Scare 2 Die/Scare You To Death (Sam Lee)
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/c/2008-0 ... 2177.shtml
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/p/2008-03-19 ... 3240.shtml

Jet Li's red carpet arrival
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/2008-03- ... 2096.shtml
Vivian Hsu with Japanese playwright
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/2008-03- ... 2095.shtml
Lau Ching Wan
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/2008-03- ... 2094.shtml
Stefanie Sun
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/2008-03- ... 2097.shtml
Shawn Yue and Jaycee Chan
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/2008-03- ... 2092.shtml
Irene Wen, Teresa Mo and ?
http://video.sina.com.cn/ent/m/2008-03- ... 2101.shtml



http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2008-03-18/07481951606.shtml
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2008-03-18/07201951586.shtml
http://ent.sina.com.cn/m/c/2008-03-18/07171951585.shtml

Korean silent Crossroads of Youth restored
http://joongangdaily.joins.com/article/ ... id=2887565


Mainland Films Promoted in Macao
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/03/20/1261@336077.htm

On the big screen - upcoming films
http://www.star-ecentral.com/news/story ... sec=movies

Japan urged to take film abroad
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... f1551f97b0

Animated Cartoon Series "The Flooding of Jinshan Temple"
http://english.cri.cn/3086/2008/03/19/195@335861.htm

New Asian films win cash at HAF
The 6th Hong Kong-Asia Financing Forum (HAF) closed Wednesday giving out U.S. $75,000 in cash and prizes and choosing Hong Kong director Pang Ho-cheung and China's Ning Hao for its top awards.

Pang's direction and production of "The Bus" won him his HAF award, while Ning won for "7 Dreams," organizers announced at a press conference.

The HAF Rome Film Festival Award was given to director Tang Xiru's "Fugitive Club," which was produced by Daniel Yu, Rosa Pang and Tang Xiru, and the Technicolor Thailand Awards were given to Hong Kong director Carol Lai Mui Suet's project "Shuffle," and to Thai director Nonzee Nimibutr's "Secret of the Butterfly."

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... 1a2a539b38
Hong Kong Forum give five prizes
http://www.varietyasiaonline.com/content/view/5734/1/

Hunt for other killer intensifies as alibi holds up for husband
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... con_type=1

ICAC commissioner pledges to keep HK business clean
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_deta ... 80320&fc=7

Sit-down protests trigger Beijing bathroom renovation
"But nowadays more and more people are demanding seated toilets."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080319/lf ... P02Hys0NUE
On the other hand, Beijing could become an Olympic skiing training site
http://www.benross.net/wordpress/?p=155

Happy Spring !

[Brian Thibodeau]

Japan urged to take film abroad
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/con ... f1551f97b0

Bey Logan again. Does he honestly think the Japanese entertainment industry will face a "bust" like the one suffered by the seat-of-the-pants Hong Kong industry many moons ago? The Japanese industry isn't afloat on some kind of temporary bubble, right now, despite his prophecy of doom. It's popular at home. There's a humongous audience at home. And there's modest recognition abroad (fests and fan circles). And it didn't just suddenly happen like the gold mine so many speculators (shady or non) saw in Hong Kong in the run-up to 1997. Perhaps it's wishful thinking of a guy who's hoping to get his company's fingers into something else now that his company has cherry-picked the usual old high-profile Hong Kong movies for their catalogue, and that catalogue isn't exactly setting cash registers on fire.

The Japanese and Hong Kong entertainment industries were entirely different beasts then, and still are. I wouldn't be surprised if any Japanese creatives and financiers in attendance (were there any?) didn't shrug him off over the buffet later on. Have the Japanese ever really cared how far "outside" Japan their popular entertainments travel, with the obvious exception of Anime/Manga makers, the endless parade of derivative horror directors, a few festival darlings, and the occasional Shusuke Kaneko-type?

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