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CO N TIN UE D O N P A G E


New Macau Film Fest Goes Big

First announced inFebruary at theBerlinale, the inaugural

International Film Festival andAwards Macao (IFFA Macao)will kick off in the second weekof December this year. TheMacanese government hasrecruited former Venice andRome Film Festival head MarcoMueller to topline the upstartevent. Mueller and his partners

are betting that with the rightpositioning, IFFA Macao can

exploit a moment of uncertaintyin the regional film festival scene,while also riding a boom in thegreater Chinese moviebusiness, to become a pre-eminent industry platformin East Asia.

“Greater China needsa film festival and marketorganized in an internationallyconnected and welcoming envi-ronment — and Macau can fill

that gap,” says Mueller.On Tuesday, IFFA Macao

The gleaming casino enclave showed its hand on day two of Filmart, revealing an ambitiousbid to become a major hub on the global festival circuit By Patrick Brzeski

Emperor’s Slate Led byYuen Wo-ping

By Gavin J. Blair

Emperor MotionPictures slate for2016 will be led by

Hand Over Fist , a new featuredirected by kung fu legendYuen Wo-ping. Hand Over Fist is the tale of a 600-year longfeud between ancient rivalkung fu masters that drawsmodern Hong Kong protago-nists into the action.

Yuen is known around theglobe for his fight choreog-raphy on The Matrix trilogy,

Director Johnnie To isreadying Election 3 for a tentative 2018

production date. The Hong Kong auteur

told THR that he is almostfinishing the script of the thirdinstallment of his criticallyacclaimed Election series. Heis considering whether LouisKoo, will reprise his role in thethird film.

“The script is rather longright now, I haven’t decidedwhich section of the script tobe used,” said To. “If I use thelater section, Koo might notbe in it.”

Election (2005) and itssequel were both huge localhits in Hong Kong. Both filmshave become cult hits, becom-ing something akin to TheGodfather films thanks to theiroperatic look at the innner

workings of local organizedcrime figures.

JOHNNIE TO

READIES ELECTION By Karen Chu


Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa abandons his auteurist chores of late to returnto the classic horror that made him a cult figure

THE GOOD NEWS FOR FANS OF KIYOSHI Kurosawa’s early psychological J-horroris that the master is back with all his

signature tropes intact: the haunted houses andscary atmosphere; the hypnotic evil-doer whoforces others to do his unholy bidding; the gooddetective going insane over a case that hits tooclose to home; his mentally unstable wife; and a

disappointing ending. As a matter of fact,Creepy feels an awful lot like the director’s 1997cult horror piece Cure, with the caveat thatthere’s more smoke than fire in the mind-gamesfeatured here, and one can see the ending com-ing from a very long way off.

Still, this is prime real estate for midnight

Creepy

announced that Hong Kongindustry titans Johnny To and AnnHui have boarded the festival as

official ambassadors. Thefestival’s programmingplan is also beginningto come into greater

focus. For the first edition,Mueller has recruited ten

Asian genre filmmakers — whomhe says will be “big names” — tolend their star power by selecting

one film each to screen at the

Nishijima, center, is aformer detective with somevery troubling neighbors.

Mueller


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theREPORT

estival. To suit the interests othe local audience — as well asthe realities around film import

in Mainland China — Muellersays the estival will have a delib-erate slant towards genre filmsand popular cinema: “They willbe mainstream films, but thosewith interesting differences,”he explains, adding “it would bepointless to offer a new estivalin Greater China unless the filmshad some chance o entering the Chinese market.”

Meanwhile, other would-be regional leaders in theEast Asian scene are seen to be altering. The BusanInternational Film Festival, long artistically preemi-nent, has been battling brand-damaging politicalintererence since its 2014 edition, when city offi-cials lashed back at organizers or their decision toshow the activist documentary Diving Bell (aka TheTruth Shall Not Sink With Sewol ), which exploredthe Korean government’s response to the deadlySewol erry disaster. In mainland China, neitherthe Shanghai nor Beijing film estivals have carvedout much global influence. And the much hypedQingdao International Film Festival — which wasexpected to debut in 2017 at the $10 billion commer-cial real estate development-cum-movie productionacility being built by Dalian Wanda Group — iscurrently in jeopardy afer government regulatorsdenied it permission to hold an international jurycompetition.

Mueller and his team are also banking thatHollywood will be eager to participate in Macau, asthe event will provide an invaluable internationalPR opportunity in the ballooning Greater Chinesemarket — Mainland box office grew by 48 percentlast year and is on track to surpass North America

next year as the biggest box office on the planet —right in the middle o awards season.

“The key point would be to make Macau into themajor hub or press junkets or Hollywood awardsseason films,” Mueller says — “especially since[the types o mainstream, creative films we want toscreen] would be those campaigning or awards.”

“These films can have a premiere in Los Angelesor New York, and then they can come to us or inter-national premiere,” he adds.

Although IFFA Macao may add industry panelsand market activities, too, Filmart organizers saythey believe there is plenty o space in the GreaterChinese film sector or another major event. “TheAsian market now has the attention o consumersaround the world,” says Peggie Liu, senior servicepromotion manager o Filmart organizer HKTDC.“The demand or quality entertainment content inthe region is huge.”

IFFA Macao’s new ambassador To, who also

serves as the vice-chairman o the Hong KongInternational Film Festival, agrees that there is noneed or tension between the neighboring events. “Idon’t believe in such a thing as conflict between filmestivals. We all promote film culture multilaterally— I respect any estival that promotes cinema.”

Kill Bill and oreign languageOscar-winner Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, as well asdirecting this year’s sequelCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny. Hemade his name in Hong Kongin the late 1970s directingwhat would become kung uclassics like Drunken Master and Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow.

Rounding out the slate,Hong Kong actor, singer,songwriter, musician,entrepreneur, and martialartist Nicholas Tse will star inEmperors Cook Up A Storm,directed by Raymond Yip. Emperor regular Tse will playa Cantonese street cook whocompetes against a Michelin-starred che.

Meow, directed by Benny

Chan ( Shaolin) and starringLouis Koo and Ma Li, will be acomedy in which two pet own-ers find out that their cats areactually aliens come to earthto domesticate them.

MACAUCO N TIN UE D F RO M P A GE

Macau is often calledthe ‘Las Vegas of Asia’

thanks to it’s numerouscasinos and hotels

China’s Huace PartnersWith Korea’s Kakao inCartoon Adaptation Deal

By Patrick Brzeski

Korea’s dominant mobile chat app and socialmedia platorm Kakao has partnered withleading Chinese film and TV company

Huace Group to adapt five internet cartoon titlesinto eature films, TV shows and online dramas inChina.

Kakao’s first success in bringing its digitalcartoons to screen came with the local Korean adap-tations o Moss in 2010, Secretly, Greatly in 2013 andthe TV series Misaeng: Incomplete Life in 2014.

Four o the new titles that Huace will adaptinclude Help! Breakup Ghost, Just One Shot , Girl inthe Mirror and Casheoro. The fifh title is expectedto be My Boss Dies Once a Day, according to localsources.

KakaoTalk, the company’s chat app, is used by93% o smartphone owners in South Korea.

WOPINGCO N TIN UE D F RO M P A GE

Sean Lau, center, leads a group of villagers in a rebellion against a corrupt general during the Qing Dynasty in

director Benny Chan’s period adventure Call of Heroes. The film is repped at Filmart by Universe Films.

Call of Heroes

Exclusive First Look


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stopped accepting auditions. The story goes thatAssa climbed over walls, but without a pass to

perorm was lef waiting in the hall, singing to theother contestants. From there, it’s a classic eel-good trajectory: He was allowed to sing, made itto the finals in Beirut and was crowned the winner

as thousands o captivatedans watched rom TV sets incaes and courtyards in Gazaand the West Bank.

Since then, Assa hastoured relentlessly, beennamed a U.N. GoodwillAmbassador and becomea figure o hope and unityacross the occupied territo-ries and wider region.

Although Assa was at firstskeptical about the film, Abu-Assad persuaded him thatit was more about “positiveenergy” than simply his ownachievements. The singerwent on to record two tracksthat Abu-Assad says will “behuge” but stopped short oplaying himsel, a role thatwent to Gazan newcomerQais Atallah.

The Idol ’s shoot saw thecrew actually venture inside

Gaza, just months afer theIsraeli invasion last summer and the first time a filmhas been made there in 30 years.

Abu-Assad says the experience lef him in astate o shock. “You won’t believe the amount odestruction there,” he says. “I just can’t believe thathumanity is allowing these kinds o crimes.”

But rom this came The Idol . And unlike Abu-Assad’s other eatures, which went deep into theworld o suicide bombings and enemy inormantsand lef the director eeling disheartened and ques-tioning his choice o trade, Assa ’s story “was such apleasure” to make.

Nikkatsu Tests

Online Market

With Distance By Gavin J. Blair

Japan’s Nikkatsu releasedits Filmart market titleTheir Distance online on

Tuesday, making it availabledirectly to global audiencesthrough platorms includingiTunes, Google Play, YouTubeand VIMEO. An app eaturingstills, music and inormationabout the film will be availableree to download; users whoseinterest is piqued can thenopt to pay $5.99 to watch theull film.

“It’s a new approach todistribution or a title that isalso being theatrically released,essentially bypassing buyersand going straight to audiencesaround the world,” Taku Kato rom Nikkatsu’s internationalbusiness department told THR.

Distance stars Ren, Minhyun and JR rom Korean boy bandNU’EST in a romantic entan-glement ensemble drama.

Nikkatsu admits it is unsurehow the availability o thefilm online will affect interest

rom buyers. Online view-ing will be geo-blocked inGermany until it screens at theNippon Connection estivalthere in May.

T

he story o how Mohammed Assaf in 2013 wonthe second season o Arab Idol , the Middle

East version o the global talent show, almostseems as i it were written with a swooping musicalbiopic in mind. For Hany Abu-Assad, whose previoustwo eatures, Paradise Now and Omar , earned him

oreign language Oscar nominations, this tale otriumph over adversity gave him “goosebumps,”despite admitting to never having watched suchprograms.

Abu-Assad’s The Idol tells the story o a 22-year-old wedding singer rom a reugee camp in Gaza,Assa journeyed to Cairo with the hope o audition-ing or the show, no small eat given the somewhattight border restrictions around his war-tornhomeland. Having persuaded Egyptian security tolet him through, he then ound that the hotel wherethe trials were taking place had shut its doors and

Director Hany Abu-Assad turns dismay into delight with his poignant look at adetermined wedding singer from a refugee camp who wins Arab Idol By Alex Ritman

Gaza Biopic Offers Unlikely Musical Uplif H i d d

e n

G E M

CARINA LAU

The veteran actress and

singer can currently be seen

in From Vegas to Macau .

What is your “only in

Hong Kong” moment?

Enjoying dinner in a wooden

boat at Causeway Bay’s

typhoon shelter. Endless

boats offering fresh seafood

and fruit. Those were the

days.

Where is the best place to

unwind with a late drink

in Hong Kong?

At a friend’s home.

What do you consider

essentials to bring for

events like the Hong Kong

Film Awards?

Perfume.

Where’s the best place to

escape to on a short trip

from Hong Kong?

For me it would have to be

Japan.

What are the best places

to eat in Hong Kong?

Italian restaurant Da

Domenico ( Tung Lo Wan

Road, Causeway Bay) and

the contemporary Chinese

restaurant Howard’s

Gourmet (F, CCB Tower,

Connaught Road Central).

THE CTRES S ...

“For me, this movie is about how people can create beauty from ugliness,” Abu-Assad says of The Idol.

NEWS

Kevin [email protected]

Patrick [email protected]

Karen [email protected]

Gavin J. [email protected]

REVIEWERS

Elizabeth [email protected]

Clarence [email protected]

Piera [email protected]

ART & PRODUCTION

Peter B. [email protected]

SALES

Ivy [email protected]

THR IN HONG KONG


6/20


Q&A DIRECTOR

film about Hong Kong issues. Forcommercial projects, we don’thave a chance to discuss thesekinds of topics. We wanted tomake a film we wanted to make,we really didn’t expect properscreenings at all.

How do you feel about the positive

reaction to the film in Hong Kong?

It was a total surprise to us. Wewent to the Hong Kong Asianfilm festival and we had a singlecinema, then more and more cin-emas joined in. Then we went tooverseas film festivals. We neverplanned any of that, we didn’texpect this kind of reaction. TenYears’ success made me feel thatmany people in Hong Kong lovetheir city and are interested andconcerned with its future. The

suffering. I think it all stems fromthat CEPA policy.

Despite glowing local reviews, the

Chinese press savaged Ten Years,and the government banned the live

telecast of the th Hong Kong Film

Awards since the film was up for best

film. What are your thoughts on the

Chinese response to the film?

I haven’t really consideredthat as that’s politics. We hadfour script writers work on Ten Years and one of them was fromMainland China. She gave us somany ideas as she had experi-enced a lot of the issues in thefilm but [in] her province inChina. She comes from Wuhanwhere they have their own dialectand the government has forcedthem to speak Mandarin, margin-alizing their language.

Speaking of language, that’s the

topic of your segment in Ten Years,

calld Dialect . Could you explain the

inspiration behind it and what you

were trying to achieve?

For Ten Years the other fourdirectors working on it looked atit in a way of “what will happenin 10 years,” whereas I looked

back at the last ten years in HongKong and what has changed andtouched me specifically. So forme language, both written andspoken, has changed hugely.Mandarin and simplified Chinesetext have become more importantin Hong Kong. I’m a scriptwriter,that is my job. At the beginning, Iwrote in Cantonese but as there’smore and more Hong Kong-Chinaco-productions, we have to writein Mandarin and that’s not mymother tongue. It may seem simi-lar but it is totally different, and Idon’t have the same confidence toarticulate my feelings or ideas andthat was a big impact on me as it’smy career.

Also education is changingrapidly. As kids we used to learnCantonese then Mandarin andnow its Mandarin a lot earlier.I have a friend whose kid is inprimary school and he can’tspeak to his son as the motherwon’t allow the boy to speakCantonese as learning Mandarinis so important. That’s what I’m

afraid of: how will we talk to thenext generation?

“The issues in the five short films are thingspeople are conerned about,” Jevons says.

THE PARABLE OF DAVID AND Goliath tends to be overusedand misapplied these days,but in the case of the small

independent Hong Kong filmTen Years and its critics in theChinese government the analogyis most fitting.

Made for less than $80,000with a cast and crew of volun-teers, enthusiastic amateurs andfilm school students, Ten Years is a collection of five short filmsthat present a Hong Kong of thefuture, asking “what if” ques-tions on a number of local issues.A segment called Extras dealswith the harassment faced bypro-democratic protestors; Seasonof the End touches on the loss ofidentity wrought by the bulldoz-ers of development; Dialect dealswith the creeping dominanceof Mandarin over Cantonese; Self-Immolator considers whetherhard core believers in Hong Kongindependence would adopt theextreme act of self-immolationfor their cause; and Local Egg tackles censorship.

The five directors, NgKa-leung, Jevons Au, ChowKwun-Wai, Fei-Pang Wong and

Kwok Zune never expected thefilm to make it to theaters andTen Years quietly made its debutat the Hong Kong Asian FilmFestival in November last year.From there, through rapid word-of-mouth, the film began to sellout its limited screenings, movingto bigger theaters due to demandand eventually going on to grossten times its budget.

One of the film’s directorsJevons Au, who directed the seg-ment Dialect, spoke to THR aboutwhy Ten Years needed to be madeand why it has struck a chordwith the local population.

How did Ten Years come to be made?

From the very beginning, we justwanted to make a film together.We are five guys, coming fromdifferent universities but we allwanted to know what the futureof Hong Kong will be for ourgeneration. We are of a similarage, but it’s five different points ofview, so there’s more perspectiveto see how Hong Kong will be. We

had a very limited budget, so wewanted to make an independent

Jevons AuThe young helmer discusses capturing the political zetgeistin Hong Kong with the controversial omnibus film Ten Years

By Abid Rahman

K Total gross for

Ten Years from a

-week run thatnever exceeded

screens

Nomination

for the Hong Kong

Film Awardsin the best film

category.

Number of filmsin the Hong Kong

International FilmFest this year (the

other being Trivisa)

BY THE

NUMBERS

five issues in the five shorts filmsare things people are concernedabout, I think that’s why it wassuch a huge success.

Ten Years was a rare local Cantonese

film made for a local Hong Kong

audience, why aren’t there more

films like that?

There are more and more HongKong-China co-productionsdue to the Closer EconomicPartnership Arrangement(CEPA) policy. It seems like abenefit to the Hong Kong filmindustry as there’s investmentand we can make films for alarger audience, the big Chinamarket. But, this kind of sys-tem induces behaviour to make“Chinese” productions andso local film is declining and


7/20


The Hanart TZ gallery’s Kung Fu in Africa exhibition unveils a rare collection of lively, hand painted film art fromthe s and s depicting everyone from Bruce Lee to Jean-Claude Van Damme By Patrick Brzeski

HONG KONG’S FILM HER ITAGE IS COMING FULL CIRCLE BY

way of West Africa.Currently showing at Hanart TZ, one of the city’s finest galler-

ies dealing in Chinese contemporary art, is “Kung Fu in Africa,”an exhibition of 32 colorful, hand-painted martial arts movie

posters, which were produced by enterprising artists in Ghana duringthe 1980s and 1990s. Painted on huge canvas flour sacks, the imagesare as delightful as they are unlikely. As the exhibi-tion’s curator Ernie Wolfe puts it: “These works are aproduct of globalization in the best possible way.”

Wolfe, a long-time dealer in African art via hisnamesake gallery in Los Angeles, collected theworks over dozens of trips to Ghana during the pasttwo decades. A personal friendship with Hanartfounder Johnson Chang — the two went to college

together — lead to the galleries’ collaboration on thecurrent show.

“This is about returning to Hong Kong images that came from HongKong but were never filtered through Chinese or Western eyes,” saysWolfe. “There is an independent reality to their being that anyone canimmediately appreciate.”

Sadly, the works on view at Hanart TZ already represent a lost form.By the late 1990s, import laws were relaxed in Ghana and a “tsunami”of technology swept into the country, including printing technology,

cheap TVs and chalk boards, which artists use tomake quicker and cheaper temporary signage.“Home viewing and the import of chalk boardsended this tradition,” says Wolfe.

“What’s important about this show,” he adds, “isthat these posters were made during a time whenquite literally the best and brightest of Ghana’s art-ists kept technology at bay and created images that

were utterly organic in their creation and in theirinvention.”

Meet Ghana’s Kick Ass Movie Posters

Ghana artists painted elaborate movieposters on canvas flour sacks. Most artists

never saw the movies first.


8/20


After few days of frenetic negotiations you’ll need a few days of rest and relaxation, here’s five destinations

close to Hong Kong that will take your mind off work in no time By Abid Rahman

FOUR DAYS OF INTENSE DEALMAKING AT FILMART CAN TAKE IT OUT OF THE

best o us, so what better way to unwind afer the market than a quick trip some-where to recharge the batteries. We’ve picked five very different places to suit alltastes where you can lose yoursel or a ew days. And best o all, they are all onlya ew short hours on a plane rom Hong Kong.

The AdventureWHERE Six Senses Ninh Van

Bay, Vietnam

WHY Situated in a sandy bay

overlooked by mountains, the

Six Senses Ninh Van Bay resort

is a feast for the eyes but itsalso a place to explore. Hop on

a bicycle and visit the interior

with its lush paddy fields, gor-

geous scenery and delicious

local food.

HOW Vietnam Airlines flies the

hour route to Nha Trang via

Ho Chi Minh City once daily.

The SpaWHERE Mandarin Oriental

Sanya, China

WHY A trip to the Mainland

might seem counterintuitive

after the hustle and bustle of

Hong Kong, but Sanya is an

island paradise a million miles

away from the hectic China

of popular imagination. The

Mandarin Oriental has created

a resort that’s sole focus is

making you feel completely

relaxed. There’s yoga, the

beach and an award-winning

spa that uses both traditional

Chinese medicine and more

modern techniques and

treatments.

HOW Less than a -hour flightfrom Hong Kong, Cathay

Making A Quick Getaway

Pacific, Hong Kong Airlines

and Hainan Airlines all fly to

Sanya several times daily.

The BeachWHERE Nezima Beach House,

Boracay, PhilippinesWHY This one is a no-brainer.

Boracay is simply stunning

with crystal clear waters,

sun and white sand aplenty.

Inspired by Balinese architec-

ture, Nezima is located right

on the beach so you don’t even

have to move too far and it has

all the other amenities and

facilities you’d expect of a top

class resort.

HOW Both Philippines Air

and Cebu Pacific fly the

hour trip to Boracay’s Caticlan

airport via Manilla several

times daily.

The FoodWHERE Bangkok, Thailand

WHY Up until recently, the Thai

capital was better known for

its rowdy nightlife and glitter-

ing array of Buddhist temples

rather than world class dining.

Sure, the best Thai food

anywhere is found in Bangkok,

but now the city boasts the

best restaurant in all of Asia

according to Restaurant

magazine and tenth best in the

world. Gaggan, the contempo-

rary Indian restaurant is simply

a must for anyone who takes

food tourism seriously. Other

gems include Nahm, Issaya

Siamese Club and Eat Me.

HOW Despite its outwardly

chaotic nature, Bangkok is

one of the most accessible big

cities in Asia with excellent air

links. Several airlines fly the

-hour route daily from Hong

Kong, including Cathay Pacific,

Thai and Bangkok Airways.

The ExperienceWHERE Yangon, Myanmar

WHY A formerly closed coun-

try, Myanmar has begun to

open itself to visitors looking

to sample one of the most

intriguing cultures in Asia.

Yangon is a wonderful city

to explore steeped as it is in

history and cultural influence

from the British, the Chinese,

the Indian and of course

Burmese cultures. Yangon is

also youthful and vibrant too.

Make sure to check out art

space TS and the incredibly

hip Port Autonomy restaurant.

HOW At just over hours,

Yangon is worth the extra time

flying. Thai Airways flies viaBangkok once a day.

Six Senses NinhVan Bay, Vietnam

Nezima BeachHouse, Boracay,

Philippines

MandarinOriental Sanya,

China


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10/20


IN 2005, YING YE FOUNDED EASTERNL IGHT Films, the Asian offshoot o influential filmsales outfit Arclight Films, established byher husband, Gary Hamilton. The timing

o the company’s eastward push would proveortuitous. Initially based in Los Angeles andSydney, Easternlight grew to acquire one othe most ormidable Asian film libraries oany indie label not stationed in the region.At the same time, Ying’s work in her nativeChina helped the company build the rela-tionships that would make the banner’s firstmajor production success possible. In 2012,relatively early in China’s recent ascendanceas the world’s astest growing major film mar-ket, Arclight produced horror thriller Bait 3D via its budding genre label Darclight Films.Crucially, Ying’s contacts in China contrib-uted a sizable chunk o the film’s financingand helped arrange or portions o the pictureto be shot there. Although the movie wasofficially a Singapore-Australia co-produc-tion, Chinese authorities deemed that it hadenough Chinese cast and story elements to

qualiy as a Chinese co-production, grantingit permission to access the theatrical marketwithout going through the country’s notori-ous import quota. The film grossed some $25million, an unheard o perormance or anAustralian genre film in China at the time.The company’s next release, on which Yingis a producer, will be the monster picture Nest , starring Chinese superstar Li Bingbing,Kellan Lutz and Kelsey Grammer. Ying, whodivides her time between offices in LA, Sydneyand Beijing — and airplanes — sat down withTHR to talk about the censorship challengesbut huge market potential o the horror genrein China and whether Hollywood can expectsome o the barriers to the booming Chinesetheatrical market to be lifed anytime soon.

The are various models that international film

companies have been pursuing to access

China. Smaller film companies can sell their titles

to Chinese distributors for a one-time flat fee,

while the studio’s compete fiercely for the

import slots allocated for releases that get to

share box office revenue. What are some of

the advantages and disadvantages of each model

in the current climate?

There is a large burden or Chinese distribu-tors who want to import films. It’s hard, but

many are also very motivated.Partnering with Chinese companies is the

ghost story or a slasher. Not too much blood,nothing supernatural. Supernatural storieswill only be accepted i they are based ona classic Chinese story. The horror in Nest comes rom a spider. We’re going to do awhole slate o these types o films or China.We have three movies that have already gottencensorship approval. In our pipeline, we havea dozen movies that are very solid. We havescripts and amous Chinese actors and gooddirectors in negotiation. Hopeully, we’ll maketwo or three this year. Also, we’re going to dothe sequel to Bait.

You mean Deep Water , the film that was

put on hold after the flight MH went missing?

Did you have to retool the story?

Yes, that’s the one. We’ve actually had somany investors chasing us and asking us whenwe’re going to make it. These are people whoinvested in Bait 3D and they’re very eager orus to move orward with the sequel. But wehad to wait a while, because in that instant, itwas just so… you know. We’re thinking proba-bly next year will be okay.

A lot of industry players are speculating that at the

, when the U.S.-China film trade agreement

expires, that the import quota of films might be

lifted. Do you think that will happen?

That’s a question that everyone in the Chineseindustry is discussing, on both the govern-ment and private sector sides. I honestlycannot see that happening — them droppingthe quota altogether. In some way, theywill open up, but they will keep some otherrestrictions and control, too. Maybe they willremove the specific number, but there will stillbe hurdles. You could optimistically beginto prepare or the quota to lif, but ocusingon doing films or the ull Chinese audienceis the key. Making movies that can excite the

mainstream audience is a requirement thatwon’t change.

new trend or those that have the scale andresources to do that. The advantage is thatthe movies you produce in China through aChina-based joint venture will be categorizedas Chinese, so the import difficulties are notan issue. The challenge is finding the rightlocal parter, and this takes a lot o time andtrust. For co-productions, you need to meeta lot o criteria to qualiy as a co-productionwith the government: the film needs to haveenough Chinese story elements, cast andlocations, and then you need to get the localgovernment approval and the central govern-

ment approval and the co-production SARFTpermit. So there are a lot o processes to gothrough.

You made the co-production system work very

well for Bait D back in . What did you learn

from the process?

First o all, it was a different genre than themarket had seen. It was a light horror film.There’s an appetite or these kinds o mov-ies, because there haven’t been many horrorfilms made and released in China because ocensorship issues. But so many Chinese youngpeople have ound a way to watch these typeso films online and they love them. They hav-en’t seen them on the big screen yet. That’swhat made Bait 3D successul. So with Nest ,we’re coming back with the same directorand the same team and one o China’s biggeststars, Li Bingbing.

How do you develop horror films like Nest that the

Chinese censors can tolerate?

Well, we spoke with the censorship commit-tee early on and they read the script andthey really love the concept. The censorshipcommittee is a little more open-minded now.There have been a lot o Hong Kong-Chineseco-productions with quite a lot o violence

and action. The whole story is set in China,the lead actress is Chinese. And it’s not a

The L.A. and Beijing-based exec onChina’s appetite for horror movies,

dealing with censors and the future ofthe quota system By Patrick Brzeski

FOUNDER, EASTERNLIGHT FILMS

Ying Ye

EXECUTIVE SUITE

“I think importing smallerfilms [in China] is gettingtougher and tougher,” saysYing, who was photographedby Scott Witter on March at her office in Beverly Hills.


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R E V I E W S

Teruyuki Kagawa), probably thefilm’s title character, and cer-tainly its best. Though he makesit abundantly clear he doesn’twant company, Yasuko insists —rather hilariously — on bringingover her home cooking in anattempt to overcome his “lack osocial skills.” The audience knowsbetter. Not only does Nishinohave a schoolgirl daughter whoproclaims, “He’s not my ather,he’s a total stranger” to Koichi,he also has an invalid wie who isseen about as oen as NormanBates’ mother.

All o these ingredients shouldcome together in a mouth-wa-tering finale, but such is not thecase; in act, the film becomesmore obvious and less psycholog-ical as it goes on. Kurosawa is nota gore lover, and there is noth-ing to cringe over when thingsheat up. On the other hand, thelast-reel revelations, awkwardly

doled out as the victims mul-tiply uncontrollably, are more

madness sidebars, and the taleholds viewers in its grip or mucho its 130-minute running time.An ace cast adds almost toomuch depth, and one can sensethe actors shimmying into theirgenre roles with difficulty. Addin the director’s ollowing, andthe Shochiku release should havelittle trouble raising the tempera-ture o the horror market.

Dapper and broodingly cool,police detective Koichi Takakura(Hidetoshi Nishijima) is calledin to interview a brash youngserial killer at headquarters. Heis excited to talk to “the perectpsychopath.” But the youthescapes and sows panic in thebuilding, leading to a promisingand dynamic opening sequence.

A year later the action resumes:Koichi has retired rom the orceand is teaching his specialty,criminal psychology, to collegestudents. He and his wie, Yasuko(Yuko Takeuchi, an early victim

in the classic Ring ), are movinginto a new house in the suburbs tostart a new lie. The only problemis the neighbors.

The screenplay, whichKurosawa co-wrote withChihiro Ikeda, based on YutakaMaekawa’s novel, is quite intri-cate and laden with intriguingtwists. Not quite satisfied withacademic lie, Koichi becomescurious about an unsolvedmissing-persons case in a nearbytown. Rather surprisingly, his or-mer assistant Nogami (MasahiroHigashide) turns up, requestinghim to inormally investigate.

A ather, mother and sonmysteriously disappeared romtheir house six years ago, leavingtheir junior high daughter Sakibehind. Like so many charactersin Kurosawa films, Saki has someserious memory problems andhas blanked out on what exactlyhappened. But Koichi is ready tobrowbeat her to find out.

Meanwhile, back home, haus-rau Yasuko patiently tries to

break the ice with the weirdo nextdoor, Mr. Nishino (Tokyo Sonata’s

repulsive than scary.Koichi’s status as a reliable

hero is never totally cast in doubt,as happens to the detective-heroin Cure, but there are momentswhen he loses control. Nishijima,who starred in Kurosawa’s Licenseto Live and played the torturedcineaste in Amir Naderi’s Cut ,continually hints at a deeperdimension to the detective whohas thrown in the towel. He seemsto be heading or an identity crisisin a Kafaesque scene where he ishauled into police headquarters.Admittedly, his story about thebad things happening to his wieand neighbor is too wild to makesense, but the film chooses not togo there.

A saving grace is the tongue-in-cheek humor that keeps poppingup at unexpected moments.When Koichi instructs his classon the three types o psycho-kill-ers — organized, disorganized

and mixed characteristics — onecan hear the college-pro director

CREEPY

CO N TIN UE D F RO M P A GE

having a laugh.Ambience also plays a major

role, and Akiko Ashizawa’slighting keeps a cloud o gloomhanging over every shot. Thecluttered, claustrophobic houseswith their narrow entrancewaysand low ceilings suggest thecharacters’ repressed desires,in much the same way their junky backyards pockmarkedwith abandoned appliances andovergrown chain ences remindus o some unresolved issues inthe attic. But the nearest the filmcomes to identiying the source oall this psycho-cinema is Yasuko’sinvoluntary conession o dissat-isaction with her marriage — toolittle, too late.

HKIFF Section Closing Film Cast Hidetoshi Nishijima,Yuko Takeuchi, Teruyuki Kagawa, Haruna Kawaguchi, Masahiro Higashide

Director Kiyoshi Kurosawa 130 minutes

Director Kurosawa

sets the righttone but the filmfails to pay off.


13/20

THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 11THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 11

DIRECTORIAL DEBUT OF SOUND DESIGNER AND

composer Krishna Ashu Bhati, Bittersweet is an ambi-tiously crafed drama that makes revealing statements

about affluent capitalist societies and the clash o old and new val-ues, but ails to deliver due to sketchy characterization and weakacting — though Lisa Brand is certainly a talent to watch out or.

Mina (Brand), a would-be German med school student, decidesto move out o her conservative parents’ sumptuous home to livewith her sister, Mandy, a prostitute. Almost immediately, Minameets and alls in love with Tony (Manuel Armando Cortez), a DJ,at a riend’s party. She soon finds out about Tony’s financial prob-lems when debt collectors coerce both o them into repayment.Failing to get help rom amily and riends, she takes up her sister’sproposition o selling her virginity.

The film makes an interesting point about the limited options

available to people who opt or a non-mainstream path and young-sters trying to gain independence. Everyone has a ‘dream’ — eventhe gangster has his swingers club — but everyone gets sucked intoone thing or another. Drugs, sex, money, the Internet are theirvices and the fillers o their vapid lives.

Above all this, Mina stands like Venus on a seashell. She hasa propensity or spacing out, which doesn’t just happen at herparents’ middle-class home, but even when she’s with Tony at hersister’s boudoir. This sets her apart rom the other characters whoall try but ail to rise above themselves. She becomes disillusionedand her decision at the very end o the film paints a terribly bleakpicture o the uture or dropouts rom the mainstream. Brandshines as a 19-year-old who demonstrates equal parts vulnerabilityand confidence. Behind her pensive gullibility lurks a razor-sharpintelligence that evokes Emma Stone.

Tony and his LSD-dropping hippie riends rave about healingand mindulness in 70s garb but none o the talk ever gets aboveclichés. Tony is a potentially interesting character, but sometimesleaves you scratching your head. He’s superficial, narcissistic,and seems to like Mina. Yet the superficiality, the narcissism, theondness or her, none o it convinces. There’s a nagging insincerityabout him thanks as much to the writing as the acting, that under-mines even the superficiality. This makes his reactions at pivotalmoments in the film, like when in bed with Mina and at the endwhen the debtors knock, downright baffling.

The music and insights into European psyculture will beeye-opening to audiences unamiliar with the scene.

Sales Wide

Cast Lisa Brand, Manuel Cortez, Steffen C. Jurgens, Milton Welsh, Stefan Lampadius// Director Krishna Ashu Bhati // 95 min

Y

OU FOREIGNERS HAVE

stolen Kyoto rom the

Japanese!” so says acharacter in Kazushige Togo’s2057-set drama in which thecity is basically taken over byexpatriates. But The Navel of the Earth doesn’t take its cue rom,say, Blade Runner . Rather, thelow-budget indie production ismore a eel-good utopian com-edy in which cultural differencesare played up merely or gentlelaughs.

Shot on digital video in 2008and finally making its interna-tional premiere at Filmart this year, The Navel of the Earth isadmittedly ar rom a cinematictreat. Somehow surprisingly,however, the film hasn’t datedthat much, and the many morselso wit still play well. While notexactly fit or a theatrical release,the title could still work on theancillary markets – especially orin-flight entertainment on planesbound or Japan.

The film’s title stems rom abelie harbored by a characterin the film about Kyoto being

the “center o the world.” In away, the ancient Japanese cityhas become a hub as such, asdecades-long passport-ree accesshave led to the city becoming acosmopolitan nirvana. Somehow,the Japanese-speaking oreignershave become the locals, as theyman police stations, own restau-rants and teach traditional arts.

Against this backdrop, thetacky tourists coming into townare actually Japanese, as shownin a running gag o an over-ex-cited couple (Takashi Taniguchi

and Kappa Kunikida) strugglingto adhere to stringent daily

rituals and having their languagecorrected (by oreigners, ocourse).

But the main cultural clashhere takes place between Nin(J.A.T.D. Nishantha), a SouthAsian taxi driver, and Mei (MeibiYamanouchi), a ditzy Japanesetourist. Afer ailing to stop athie rom nicking Mei’s suit-case, Nin is orced to take her in.The pair’s interaction subvertsexpectations one might haveabout their cultural identities:while Nin abides strictly to hishost country’s traditions — romdemeanor to diet — Mei is brash,preers bread to rice, and isunabashed in dismissing Kyoto’scultural merits.

Somehow, it will be Nin whohelps Mei rediscover the beautyo her country and culture, as heshows her around Kyoto’s touristhotspots. This is perhaps partlyan excuse or Togo and his DPRou Makiitsu (who passed awayin 2009) to showcase the city’scultural and culinary splendor;

the director himsel was givingout Kyoto postcards to people atthe Filmart screening. But some-how the film also transcends thistravel-brochure component witha simple narrative brimming withhumor and on-screen relation-ships oozing humanity.

Sales Genki ProductionCast Meibi Yamanouchi, J.A.T.D. Nishantha, Takahi Taniguchi, Kappa KunikidaDirector Kazushige Togo74 minutes

Brand is a privileged youngGerman woman who decidesto take a road less traveled.

BitterwseetSound designer Krishna Ashu Bhati steps

behind the camera for this gritty, yet uneven dramawith a stellar turn by newcomer Lisa Brand

The Navel of the EarthKazushige Togo’s understated comedy unfolds in a

futuristic Kyoto where localized foreigners help Japaneseunderstand their own culture

Nishantha, left, and

Yamanouchi have littlein common.


14/20

RE V I EW S


PRETTY U PSTARTS, BEWARE: PLEA SE MAKE WAY FOR

the grand dame. Already into the fifh decade o her career,veteran thespian Youn Yuh-jung shows her younger coun-

terparts how the job should be done in The Bacchus Lady, a grittydrama about an elderly sex worker conronting not just the reper-cussions o her own spiraling mortality but that o her past andpresent clients.

Reteaming with helmer E J-yong (Untold Scandal, Dasepo Naughty Girls) — with whom she flourished playing a version ohersel in the documentary-drama mash-ups o Actresses (2009)and Behind the Camera (2013) — Youn has delivered a nuanced,

dignified turn worthy o attention and awards aplenty. Youn playsSo-young, a woman who peddles sexual services to retirees in apark in Seoul. The title reers to her way o soliciting business, asshe codes her offer through an invitation o opening a bottle oBacchus energy drink or interested men.

Despite having contacted gonorrhea, she persists in her job soas to pay or her son’s university studies in the U.S., with her usingwhat’s lef to pay or her very modest lie in a run-down apartmentnext to a young disabled figurine maker (Yoon Kye-sang) and atransgender nightclub singer (An A-zu).

So-young’s predicaments begin afer she takes in a boy (ChoiHyun-jun), whose Filipino mother is arrested afer a violent run-inwith her ex-partner. As she attends to the needs o the child,problems rom her pension-aged acquaintances begin to seep in,ranging rom the awkward needs o current customers and alsoobservations o the deteriorating health o patrons who once paidor her services.

In what is perhaps a nod to her career-defining murderousemme atale roles in the 1960s, Youn again gets to play the angelo death here — but an unwilling one, perhaps, as she is somehowpushed into helping old men end their sorry, conused lives. It’sperhaps air to describe Youn as having outdone her younger selhere with a perormance banking not on histrionics but delicaterepresentations o guilt and despondency.

Given the obsession with beauty and youth in South Koreanscreen entertainment, The Bacchus Lady is an audacious remindero how lives could be lived once the youthul vigor is gone.

HKIFF Section Gala Premiere

Cast Youn Yuh-jung, Chon Moo-song, Yoon Kye-sang, An A-zu,Choi Hyun-jun // Director E J-yong // 110 minutesw

INDIAN CINEMA F INALLY

catches up with the moc-kumentary genre with

Rohit Mittal’s s debut about afilm crew’s spiraling shoot o apsychotic cabbie’s increasinglydeadly deeds. A cross o RémyBelvaux’s legendary 1992 film Man Bites Dog and Taxi Driver , Autohead is admittedly late incoming but better than never.This well-designed title actuallyreveals a lot about the multitudeo schisms within Indian societytoday, while also taking a jab atthe country’s inatuation withcinema and celebrities.

Autohead ’s protagonist isNarayan (Deepak Sambat), amoto-tricycle driver being filmedby a three-person crew (led byMittal, playing a director him-sel) as he whizzes around town.From the outset, Narayan alsoappears to be a bit off-kilter.He muses about how he’s got

talents nobody cares about, andthat the documentary will make“everybody know about me.” Hedelights in talking on cameraabout his sexual skills, whiledismissing all women as merelygold-diggers who have orgottenthe “social revolutionary” poten-tials o love.

His misogyny stems romhis troubled relationship withRupa (Ronjini Chakroborty),

who appears to be at once hisgirlriend and an escort whomhe transports to her clients.But she is not the only sourceo Narayan’s snowballing rus-

trations: a lowly-educated manhailing rom a village in theIndian-Nepalese borderlands, heis shown — via ootage shot roma pursuing vehicle or a Go-Procamera installed within hisauto-rickshaw — bullied by otherdrivers, chastised by passengersand constantly nagged at byhis mother who has arrived inMumbai to check on him.

A mess o contradictions,Narayan will soon turn increas-ingly homicidal and thedocumentary crew themselveseventually become willingaccomplices to all this mayhem.But just like in the 1996 Japanesefilm Focus — in which a seeminglymeek interviewee turns the tableson the manipulative TV produc-ers tailing him – Autohead seesthe crew ending up in a much,much worse place than at thebeginning. While mild whencompared to the myriad ea-tures which have been producedworldwide about the exploitativenature o modern mass media

Autohead is still an audaciousattempt to shine a light on asociety where the moving imagereigns supreme.

HKIFF Section Indie PowerSales Salker Filmsand Amit Verma FilmsCast Deepak Sambat, Ronjini Chakroborty, Rohit MittalDirector Rohit Mittal 97 minutes

Youn, center, takes in a young boy after his mother is arrested.

The Bacchus LadyVeteran Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung delivers a powerful

performance as a sex worker confronting her andher ex-patron’s problems in old age

AutoheadRohit Mittal’s debut

revolves around a film crewfollowing a Mumbai cabbie’s

decent into madness

Sambat is the Travis Bickle of moto-tricycle drivers.


15/20


but rigorously executed drama should pleaseinternational estival audiences brought up onCharlie Kauman screenplays while at homeit should solidiy the reputation o operaand theater director Johannes Schmid, here

directing his third eature film, and strikingleads Odine Johne and Stephan Kampwirth.

The film opens in media res to suggestsomething very dramatic will happen downthe line beore flashing back to the first timeAgnes (Johne) runs into Walter (Kampwirth),as the novel’s nameless narrator has beencalled here. He’s a non-fiction writer research-ing a vague book idea and she’s a youngphysicist. Schmid, who co-wrote the adapta-tion with Nora Laemmermann, manages toclearly convey that it’s Walter who is immedi-ately attracted to Agnes. Indeed, her ethereal,slightly otherworldly qualities — imagine a young Mia Farrow and you’re halway there— immediately stand out in the otherwiseentirely unremarkable university library inDusseldor (changed rom Chicago in thenovel) where they first meet.

Agnes is a striking but also somewhatunusual presence. She ofen looks like she’sliving in her own world rather than the phys-ical world shared by everyone else and it is

A SOMEWHAT STUFF Y NONFICTION writer in his early orties is ascinatedby an icy blonde at least a decade his junior in the high-minded yet structurally jocular German drama Agnes. Based on thebestseller by Swiss-German author PeterStamm, this is the kind o relationship dramain which the stunning emale lead pushes themale protagonist to write a romance novelabout their relationship, allowing him toeffectively look past the present and into thepast and the uture and rewrite or actuallyinvent parts o their courtship. This low-key

Johne, right, asks Kampwirth to write anovel about their relationship.

never clear i she’s very absent-minded or per-haps just extremely guarded or standoffish.This only urther adds to both her beguilingair o mystery and the sense that she’s a blankcanvas that people like Walter can project

their own desires on. And this is exactly whathappens when she suggests he pen a romancenovel about their slowly deepening bond.

At first, the story has un contrasting thedifferences between the duo’s real and fic-tional selves, with Agnes questioning Walter’sdecision to highlight or omit certain detailsrom their courtship. Editor Henk Drees’sprecision cutting, which keeps togglingbetween the real and fictional worlds, is keyin making sure audiences can always ollowthe story. Schmid’s firm handle on the mate-rial is equally important, even i it graduallyslips in the film’s second latter reels, whichstart to eel a bit repetitive and drawn-outbeore closing in on the finale, which under-lines how lie is different rom most stories inthat lie doesn’t have to end unless someoneactually dies.

Sales Pluto Film Distribution NetworkCast Odine Johne, Stephan Kampwirth,Director Johannes Schmid // 102 minutes

may still be alive. Beore that however, Sori

details a satellite, S19, allingrom orbit and quickly gettinghunted by both (hilariously stiff)American NSA types, its creatorNASA and their South Koreanintelligence and scientific counter-parts: Agent Shin (Lee Hee-Jun)and engineer Ji-Yun (Lee Honey).The threads come together whenthe government discovers Hae-Kwan has the tech he’s dubbedSori, and Ji-Yun empathizes withHae-Kwan’s plight.

Sori is at its strongest when

it ocuses on Hae-Kwan andthe surprising onion layer style

discoveries he makes about thedaughter he was sure he knew(played by Chae Soo-Bin inflashback). Lee balances regretand disbelie effortlessly, andmakes the man’s sadness realwithout tipping into histrionics.As his partner in quasi-crime,Lee Honey brings a smart,no-nonsense attitude to the role,underwritten as it is. Tech specsare polished across the board.

Sales Lotte EntertainmentDirector Lee Ho-JaeCast Lee Sung-Min, Lee Hee-Jun,

Lee Honey, Shim Eun-Kyoung 117 minutes

at the end o January the filmgot trounced at the box office by Kung Fu Panda 3. Not surprising,considering Sori may look like

a heartwarming amily, sci-fidrama on the surace but is, inreality, a sensitive, mostly suc-cessul meditation on grie andreconciling the people we thinkwe know with who they reallyare. Though nearly indefinable, Sori ’s brand o bittersweet accep-tance o loss — without being anoutright weepie — could receivea warm reception regionally andalso find a place on Asia-ocusedestivals globally.

Sori starts with a flashbackto 1990, with customs workerHae-Kwan (Lee Sung-Min, The Attorney) and his wie ranticallylooking or their missing, clearlystubborn daughter Yoo-Ju. Allends well with ather and daugh-ter making a pact stating thatshould this happen again, they’dmeet at their avorite ice creamshop. In 2013 Yoo-Ju is missingagain, this time tragically pre-sumed dead in the disastrous fire(by arson) that ripped throughthe Daegu subway in 2003.Presumed dead by everyone,

that is, except her ather, who isunable to give up on the idea she

LIKE THE MUTANT offspring o Short Circuit and Robot & Frank , Lee

Ho-Jae’s Sori: Voice from the Heart is that peculiarly engagingand engagingly peculiar genremash-up with a semi-tragicundercurrent the Korean indus-try does so well. Chronicling theodd bond between the grievingather o a murdered child andthe sentient AI-loaded com-munications satellite he findswashed up on a beach on theirmutual quests to find “her,”Sori hangs a very conventionalstory on a gooy structure butsomehow manages to pull it offthanks to a pair o strong centralperormances and a premise soridiculous it can be orgiven it

trespasses.When it was released in Korea

Sori:Voice FromThe HeartJourneyman supporting

player Lee Sung-Min venturesinto a starring role

in a touching sci-fi drama

AgnesA rigorous, well-acted adaptation

of Peter Stamm’s bestselling novel of thesame name

Lee teams upwith an A.I. to

find his missingdaughter.


16/20

RE V I EW S


PUZZLING YET THOROUGHLY ENTERTAINING, MANI Haghighi’s A Dragon Arrives! lands somewhere between amockumentary, a ghost story and a hard-boiled detective

yarn, with a pinch o Indiana Jones tossed in. Set on the surre-al-looking desert island o Qeshm in the Persian Gul, it playullythrows a handul o characters into a search or some incredibletruth that supposedly lies buried in a haunted cemetery.

It’s 1964 and detective Hafizi (suave newcomer Amir Jadidi) isin trouble. He has been drugged and abducted by his own agency,and is being interrogated by his implacable boss, Major Jahangiri(Kamran Saamanesh), about what exactly transpired on theisland o Qeshm. Things are not as they seem, however, becausewe are soon told that Babak and Jahangiri are actually coun-terspies who have infiltrated the agency, a stand-in or SAVAK,the Shah’s dread secret police network. They are good guys whodistribute inormation indiscriminately to all the country’s opposi-tion parties.

In any case, Hafizi looks extremely hot in a Blues Brothers suitand hat and an amazing orange Chevy when he turns up to investi-gate the suicide o a political prisoner sent into exile on the island.Call it a flashback, described by a range o unreliable off-screennarrators. Accompanied by local gumshoe Charaki (Ali Bagheri),he finds the dead man still hanging rom a rope aboard the rustyship he has made his home. Oddly, the ship is nowhere near waterbut is in the middle o a sandy cemetery, but that’s another story.

During the night, afer the corpse is buried in the ancientcemetery, an earthquake knocks Hafizi out o bed. Qeshm hashad major quakes beore, but how can they be limited to just onecemetery?

O the many questions the film gives rise to, the most difficultone to answer is whether all this has a hidden meaning. Politics?Oil? The rise o Islam? The language o allegory being as veiled asit is in Iran, it’s probably best to just sit back and enjoy the ride indetective Babak Hafizi’s bright-orange Impala.

HKIFF Section Global Vision

Cast Amir Jadidi, Homayoun Ghanizadeh,Director-screenwriter-producer Mani Haghighi // 108 minutes

WHILE ALL EYES

remain set on the waveso reugees landing

on European shores, Chinesedocumentary-maker Wang Bing’slatest offers a stark reminderthat similarly tragic dislocationsare happening elsewhere as well.A two-and-a-hal-hour treatiseabout an ethnic minority movingbetween their war-torn homelandin Myanmar and the Chineseborder towns in which they tryto seek shelter, Ta’ang is slightlyprotracted but still visually andthematically engrossing.

Wang — whose previouswork was mostly ocused on themarginalized in Chinese societyor history — has somehow alleninto step with the zeigeist, both interms o its depiction o a reugeecrisis and also the internationalocus on the uture o a post-dic-tatorship Myanmar.

Ta’ang begins with a scenewhich is amiliar to many doc-umentaries about reugees: a

uniormed man, presumably aChinese reugee camp guard,abuses and kicks a tradition-ally-attired and seeminglyuncommunicative tribeswomanrom the titular ethnic minority.But onscreen state violenceand cultural exotica ends here.Afer this brie scene, officialsand soldiers have become nearlyabsent; orced by the Chineseauthorities to return home toKokang in Myanmar — thebattleground o Myanmar’s armyand anti-government rebels — theTa’ang individuals seen onscreenare thoroughly assimilated to

their host cultures, complete withT-shirts and cellphones.

But they are outsiders, nev-ertheless, and Wang chroniclestheir slow trek home. Thoughthere’s not much trekking, actu-ally. Much o the film is devotedto depicting the reugees beingstranded in an alien land withminimal support and resources.

When Wang cuts away romthis first group, he then ollows yet another band o returneeswho stopped moving in the mid-dle o a muddy road afer hearingexplosions and shooting in thedistance. Again, Wang managesto reflect the complex social andpsychological make-up o thesereugees: a woman is wearing afloral hat, jeans and sneakers,while a man walks on, carryinga quaint yellow umbrella in onehand and a machete in the other.

In Ta’ang , Wang’s eye orintriguing visual juxtapositionscomes alongside intriguingraming and lighting: using only

natural light, the fireside scenesbring out the weary reugees’rugged acial contours. Addingto that is a soundtrack capturingthe distinct ambience surround-ing the individuals — EmmanuelSoland’s sound-work providinga texture vital to the viewer’sunderstanding and empathy opeople whose lives are shapedby looming circumstances arbeyond their control.

HKIFF Section Mastersand AuteursDirector Wang Bing

148 minutes

Jadidi is a suave detective in Iran in .

A Dragon Arrives!Director Mani Haghighi’s noirish ghost story questions

Iranian history

Ta’ang Documentarian Wang Bing examines the lives

of refugees living on the war-torn borderlands betweenMyanmar and China

Refugees fromMyanmar

attempt toassimilate in

China.


17/20


MIDDLEAGE MALAISE AND THE SEARCH FOR SOMETHING greater is at heart o The Storm Inside, a quietly affecting psy-chodrama rom debuting filmmaker Fabrice Camoin, adapted

rom Marguerite Duras’s novel, Ten-Thirty on a Summer Night . The Storm Inside reers not only to the event that sets the action in motionbut to the conflicting desires and ears o the central characters as theysearch or redemption o sorts rom their own lives. Economical withits words as well as its images and loaded with themes ranging romcasual racism, collapsing marriage and bourgeois activism, The Storm Inside is likely to find the most exposure on the esitval circuit, in lim-ited release in Europe where much o subject matter will be amiliar,and in art house markets overseas.

Sel-destructive alcoholic Maria (Marina Fois, Polisse), her husbandPierre (Louis-Do De Lencquesaing, Looking for Her ), their daughterJudith (Jeanne Jestin) and amily riend Louise (Valerie Donzelli)have their summer vacation interrupted when a violent thunderstormcloses the roads between France and Spain and strands them on theborder. Afer checking into an overcrowded hotel or the night, Mariawanders into a local pub and proceeds to drink away her unhappi-ness. At the same time, a manhunt is on or Nabil (Sami Bouajila, TheCrew), an Arab man who just killed his wie and her lover, by both thepolice and some angry locals. When Maria and Nabil encounter each

other on the hotel roo, she impulsively offers to help sneak him acrossthe border, and ultimately onto a ship to Morocco. Having ew options,Nabil finds himsel going along with her plan.

From the opening minutes o painterly, otherworldly landscapesand oreboding skies, The Storm Inside suggests the roiling emotionso its characters and the baffling, reckless choices they make in adelicate balancing act that maintains empathy and dispenses with judgment. Maria’s reckless decisions ofen strain credulity, but thenCamoin, co-writer Ariane Fert and Fois wrestle her back to reality withan understated dose o sel-awareness. She reers to hersel as “anaes-thetized” to her own lie, making her requent flashes o lucidity morepainul than inuriating, especially with regards to Judith. Similarly,Bouajila makes Nabil, who could easily tip over into the abyss o sym-bolic archetype (he calls Maria out on her “middle-class alcoholism”and desire to “save” the Arab), shades the remorseul cuckold withequal parts ury, shame and emotional hurt as he toggles betweenrunning away and turning himsel in.

Camoin’s debut is an assured, i occasionally on-the-nose, explora-tion o individuals on the verge o imploding.

Sales Reel Suspects // Cast Marina Fois, Sami Bouajila, Valerie DonzelliDirector Fabrice Camoin // 84 minutes

THERE A RE NO SIDES FOR US,” SAYS one o The Island Funeral ’s characters,discussing how she will define her-

sel on Thailand’s ragmented ideologicalspectrum. This could easily have been thefilm’s director, Pimpaka Towira, talking.With her first fictional eature in 12 years,the Thai indie cinema stalwart delivers anatmospheric, intriguing piece transcendingconventional aesthetical and political norms.

Tracking three young city-dwellers as theysearch or a missing relative in the heavily

militarized south o Thailand, The Island Funeral incorporates and reinvents generic

tropes rom road movies, paranormal thrillersand documentaries. Meanwhile, charactersare also allowed to move beyond the clichedsocial binaries tearing the southeast Asian

country apart in recent years, with their jour-ney eventually ending at a haven where class,ethnicity and religion no longer matter.

The Island Funeral begins with its threeprotagonists traveling through the conflict-rid-den Thai province o Pattani, where Muslimsiblings Laila (Heen Sasithorn) and Zugood(Aukrit Pornsumpunsuk) — accompanied bythe latter’s riend (Yossawat Sittiwong) — planto visit their hometown and an aunt whomthey haven’t seen since childhood. Penned byPimpaka and well-known Thai film critic KongRithdee— who, like the siblings, is a Muslimliving in Bangkok — the screenplay introducesthese pretty young things with a succinct air-ing o their petty cosmopolitan traits. Throughcocky and barbed exchanges, they reveal theirworldview in which maps are archaic, mobilephones are essential and the countryside astrange land lurking with menace.

The acerbic humor shaping their initial con-versations quickly gives way as the trio growincreasingly anxious about their surround-ings. The headstrong and sassy Laila, dressedin a sleeveless top and skinny-fit jeans, visiblyflinches when the two young men taunt herby saying she should “blend in” with the localpopulation by wearing a veil. Zugood and hisriend, in turn, all silent as they watch online

news clips or listen to radio news bulletinsabout political violence spreading across the

country, as shopping arcades go up in flames,anti-government protests rock Bangkok andshoot-outs erupt in the south between thearmy and separatist insurgents.

Terror finally catches up with them duringtheir first night on the road, as Laila stopsthe car to search or a chained, naked womanshe insists she had seen sprinting across theroad. While she returns unscathed, havingound nothing, the Pandora’s box o ear andsel-loathing is already open. The siblings’bubbly riend’s lively demeanor disintegratesas he blurts out that Laila and Zugood areputting him at risk in a land o menacingMuslims — a comment that reveals his sup-pressed prejudices, something that suracesagain the next day as he and Zugood offer di-erent takes on the history o a local mosque.

The riend, who remains unnamed through-out the film, is only a cipher. Just like inPimpaka’s previous films The Island Funeralplaces its emphasis on women struggling inand overcoming uncertain and unorgivingcircumstances.

Just like her ellow Thai New Wave auteurs,Pimpaka reworks rather than rejects popularculture, and The Island Funeral is a thoughtulallegory about the importance o being ableto make inormed choices out o the socialand creative options on offer.

HKIFF Section Young CinemaCast Heen Sasithorn, Aukrit Pornsumpunsuk,

Yossawat SittiwongDirector: Pimpaka Towira // 105 minutes

Fois is analcoholic whodecides tohelp a murderer.

The search for a missing relativedrives much of the plot in Island.

The IslandFuneral

Pimpaka Towira’s second feature

charts three young urbanites’ journeyinto rural Thailand

The Storm InsideFabrice Camoin makes his feature debut with an

adaptation of Marguerite Duras’ novel Ten-Thirty ona Summer Night


18/20


Decades of The Hollyood ReporterThe most glamorous and memorable moments from a storied history

C O U R T E S Y O F H K I F F

AS PART OF A SHOWCASE

trio o film interpreta-tions o Macbeth to markthe 400th anniversary

o Shakespeare’s death, the HongKong International Film Festivalis screening Akira Kurosawa’sThrone of Blood . The 1957 produc-tion substituted the 16th centurySengoku (Warring States)era o Japan or 11th centuryScotland, reworked much o thestoryline and made no attempt totranslate the original dialogue.Lord Macbeth became samuraiGeneral Washizu, played byKurosawa’s avorite leading manToshiro Miune in a memorablyintense perormance.

The central themes o loyalty,betrayal, tragedy and superstition

that define the original playremained intact in what hasbeen latterly hailed as one o thefinest celluloid renderings o theBard’s work. However, much othe praise lavished on Throne of Blood came in recent decades.In Japan, Kurosawa was accusedat the time o being stuck inthe past or his heavy use otechniques rom Noh, a the-atrical tradition that predatesShakespeare by a ew centuries.Meanwhile, a 1961 New YorkTimes review dismissed the filmas “serio-comic” and “a pictorialextravagance that provides aconclusive howl.”

Titled Kumonosu Jo, literally

Castle of the Spider’s Web, inJapan, it was one o a trilogy o

Kurosawa films loosely based onShakespeare plays: The Bad SleepWell (1965) was a reimagining o Hamlet and also starred Miune,while 1985’s Ran borrowed heavilyrom King Lear .

As in a number o Kurosawafilms, the elements becomealmost a protagonist in the storyo Throne of Blood . Miune’sWashizu and General Odagura— played by the prolific TakashiShimura, who appeared in 21Kurosawa films — get lost whileriding in thick og back to theircastle. The og then clears toreveals the castle, an allegoricalreerence to the clarity o visionWashizu acquires afer meet-

ing the witch who oretells hisdestiny. Where most directors

would have simply used artificialsmoke or the scene, the amouslyperectionist Kurosawa waitedor days with his crew high onMt. Fuji, where the castle set wasbuilt, or og to envelop the slopesand then lif.

Kurosawa’s insistence on real-ism was demonstrated even moredramatically in the climacticscene o Washizu’s betrayal. Thevolley o arrows that rain down onthe samurai included real shafsshot by expert archers. Miune’srantic arm waves at the arrowsstuck in the wood around himalso signaled to the archers whichway he would move next: a saetymeasure concocted to reduce the

probability o him being skeweredor real. GAVIN J. BLAIR

Kurosa wa regular

Toshiro Mifune pla yed aMacBeth-like general

in th centur y Japan.

Kurosawa’s Throne of Blood Was Ahead of Its Time


19/20

S T A Y

U P - T O - T H

E - M IN U T E

W IT H

CONTACT: UNITED STATES | Debra Fink | [email protected] | Alison Smith | [email protected] • Tommaso Campione | [email protected]

Frederic Fenucci | [email protected] | +44 7985 251 814ASIA | Ivy Lam | [email protected] • AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND | Lisa Cruse | [email protected]

NEWSLETTERSGET FILMART NEWS IN YOUR INBOX.

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FILMARTHONG KONG INTERNATIONAL

F I L M & TV MARKE T


20/20

IN POSTPRODUCTION

IN PRODUCTION

PREPRODUCTION

CURRENTLY IN PRODUCTION (2016)

CAST: Paz de la Huerta

US DISTRIBUTOR: Alchemy

GENRE: Thriller. "She’s Not Alone"PAZ DE LAHUERTA

CURRENTLY IN PRE-PRODUCTION (2016)

CAST: Tara Reid

DIRECTOR: Robert reed Altman


GENRE: Horror (Ghosts) "Hunger Is Not Solely For The Living"

TARA REID


CAST: Ana CotoUS DISTRIBUTOR: Alchemy

GENRE: Thriller. "Down There, No One Can Hear You Scream"ANA COTO


CAST: Rachel Leigh Cook , Natasha Henstridge

GENRE: Sci-Fi Erotic Drama

There Are No Limits To What We Can Experience

NATASHAHENSTRIDGE

RACHEL LEIGHCOOK

REBEL MOVIES FIlmart 1E-F31 Hall 1, Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre

Telephone: 310.458.6700 xt 323 [email protected] - www.rebelmovies.eu

CURRENTLY IN POSTPRODUCTION (2016)

CAST: Mischa Barton


GENRE: Paranormal horror. "Sometimes Evil Has A Pretty Face"MISCHABARTON

CURRENTLY IN PREPRODUCTION (2017)

CAST: Mischa Barton

GENRE: Paranormal horror. "Sometimes Evil Has A Pretty Face"

MISCHA

BARTON

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