Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Asian premiere of Soi Cheang’s “Mad Fate” is just one of three locally-produced movies that have been set as the opening and closing titles of the upcoming Hong Kong International Film Festival. “Mad Fate” is joined in the festival opening slot on March 30 by “Elegies,” Ann Hui’s documentary portrayal of the topography of contemporary local poetry, which will have its world premiere. The closing film, another world premiere, is “Vital Sign,” an affecting drama directed by Cheuk Wan-chi and starring Louis Koo, Yau Hawk-sau, and Angela Yuen, which will wrap up proceedings on 10 April. In total, the festival has programmed some 200 films from 64 countries and territories. These include nine world premieres, six international premieres, and 67 Asian premieres.
Hong Kong’s Soi Cheang Says Murderous ‘Mad Fate’ Is his Most Inspirational Film to Date
18.02.2023 - 21:43 / variety.com
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Berlin Film Festival is once again finding house room for Hong Kong’s most commercially successful enfant terrible, Soi Cheang, aka Cheang Pou Soi, who previously brought film noir “Limbo” to the Berlinale. This time he attends with “Mad Fate,” a film about destiny that may be Cheang’s most bloodthirsty, but which the director says is intended to be inspirational. It plays in the Berlinale Special section. Born in Macau, Cheang developed his career at the feet of Ringo Lam, Andrew Lau, Joe Ma, Wilson Yip and Johnnie To, the great stylists of the crime and action film genre across the Pearl River estuary in Hong Kong. To, who is on the Berlin jury this year, is also a producer on “Mad Fate” through his Makerville label.
“Essentially the story is about a fortune teller who meets a young man who has this really strong desire to commit murder. So, whether it’s for his own redemption or to save the kid, he really wants to change the course of fate. And in that process, they end up sort of changing each other,” Cheang told Variety. The original pitch for the story came from Yau Nai-hoi, a veteran of Milky Way Image and To’s cluster of regular partners, and who here is credited as producer and screenwriter. “I had come up with the idea for this film back in 2008. I wanted to do a film about a murderer and the law of coincidences that lead to a murder. I looked different setups, but Milky Way has already done many crime films like that, touching on faith and coincidences. So, instead, I came up with this odd setting of a fortune teller or a Fung Shui master who uses all his wisdom and knowledge about Fung Shui and metaphysics to help this born psychopath,” Yau told Variety. Cheang says that
‘Mad Fate’, ‘Elegies’ To Open Hong Kong International Film Festival
This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) will open with two local films – Soi Cheang’s noir thriller Mad Fate and the world premiere of Ann Hui’s Elegies, a documentary about contemporary local poetry.
The Philippines’ ABS-CBN Launching Remake of ‘Bagman’ Series as Coproduction at FilMart
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Philippines media powerhouse ABS-CBN is launching “The Bagman” action drama series as a remake of its own “Bagman” digital production and will launch it at Hong Kong’s FilMart next week. The original “Bagman,” which ran to two seasons and sold to Netflix in The Philippines, follows a neighborhood barber who lands a job as the governor’s henchman and gets caught up in a dangerous web of crime, corruption, and political turmoil. That is a familiar story for ABS-CBN itself. The company was until 2020 The Philippines leading broadcaster. But it dared to criticize the policies of then president Rodrigo Duterte and found its TV licenses were not renewed. Since the loss of its TV broadcast operations, ABS-CBN has repositioned itself as a mass content company working as a producer with other producers and broadcasters and outputting news to its website, streaming service iWantTFC and YouTube channels. It also operates related businesses in talent management and events.
Mirror, Hong Kong Music Sensation, to Make English-Language Debut With ‘Rumours’
Vivienne Chow Hong Kong’s Canto-pop sensation Mirror will make its global debut with a first English-language single “Rumours.” The track is a mature EDM tune that aims at a wider global audience than the boy band’s previous Cantonese-language hits. The single, to be released on March 17, will be streamed across all digital platforms. It will be accompanied by a newly-shot music video that captures the beauty of the band’s Hong Kong hometown, the 12-piece act told Variety. “It’s been like a dream come true for us to release a song in English,” Mirror member Anson Lo (“Ossan’s Love Hong Kong”) told Variety in an exclusive English-language interview with the group.
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Huge self storage unit opposite Apollo could be turned into snooker hall and bar to appeal to recent Hong Kong arrivals
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China Box Office: Hong Kong’s ‘Cyber Heist’ Takes Top Spot in Mainland Chinese Cinemas
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Chris Rock TKOs Will Smith’s Oscar Slap & “Selective Outrage” In Netflix Live Special; “Don’t Fight In Front Of White People.” Comic Says His Parents Taught Him
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Hong Kong Box Office Sees Lofty Drama ‘A Guilty Conscience’ Reach Same Flight Level as ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ – Global Bulletin
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Already the highest grossing local film in its home market, courtroom drama, “A Guilty Conscience” has broken into Hong Kong’s all-time top ten box office ranking with a cumulative of HK$107 million ($13.7 million). Data from Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. shows the film achieving the feat after just 41 days in cinemas and coming within HK$1 million ($150,000) of overtaking “Top Gun: Maverick.” The data firm noted that the last time a Hong Kong film got this far was with fantasy-action-comedy “Kung Fu Hustle” in 2004. Since then, it has been overtaken by a fleet of Hollywood titles. Hong Hong’s current top ten is headed by “Avengers: Endgame” and includes six Marvel movies, the two “Avatar” titles and “Titanic.”
Market In Focus: Hong Kong Filmart Returns To In-Person Event As China Market Starts To Re-Open
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Market In Focus: Hong Kong Film Industry Stages Post-Pandemic Comeback
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‘Absence’ Director Wu Lang on What Chinese Filmmakers Have Been Doing While the World Was Not Watching
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Sculptor turned director Wu Lang made a splash at the Berlin Film Festival with his debut feature “Absence” playing in the festival’s showcase Encounters section. With a high-profile cast headed by Lee Kang-sheng (“What Time Is It There?” “The Wayward Cloud”) and Li Meng (“The Bad Kids,” “The Guillotines”) “Absence” is an art-house romance that uses skyscapes and urban landscapes as metaphors for inner feelings. The seduction starts with a man’s return to Hainan Island after ten years in jail and ends with a flock of sheep in an abandoned construction site. Wu: Shooting the first short film for me had two purposes. First, making a film is not easy in terms of financing and finding coproducers. So, first I wanted to make a short in order to get myself started.
Sammo Hung to Receive Lifetime Achievement Honor at Asian Film Awards – Global Bulletin
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Martial arts veteran Sammo Hung is to be presented with a lifetime achievement honor at the upcoming Asian Film Awards. The ceremony is back as an in-person event after a two-year absence and shifts back to Hong Kong after previously being held in Hong Kong, Macau and Busan. Hung is expected to accept the award on Sunday March 12 at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. “I’m so happy and surprised that I can still win awards these days, especially an award that affirms my entire performing career,” said Hung in a forwarded statement. He has a career as actor, action choreographer, director and producer that stretches some 60 years.
Asian Streamer Viu Approaches Profitability, Divulges Subscriber and Revenue Data
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Multi-territory Asian streaming service Viu has publicly disclosed key performance metrics for the first time and said that it was cash flow positive on an annual basis in 2022. The company, which operates in 16 Asian and Middle East markets and is seen as a rare success story in regional streaming, counts Hong Kong conglomerate PCCW as its principal shareholder, which also unveiled its own profits and loss figures for the 2022 calendar year. Viu which operates both ad-supported and paying tiers, said that it had 66.4 monthly active users in 2022, an increase of 13% year-on-year. Paying subscribers increased by 45% to 12.2 million over the same period.
China Box Office: Hong Kong Courtroom Drama ‘A Guilty Conscience’ on Top in Mainland Cinemas
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Hailey Bieber Opens Up to Justin Bieber About the Best Part of Their Relationship, Her Favorite Song (Did She Pick One of His?), Most Inspiring Friends & More in 'Vogue Australia'
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Alibaba’s Third Quarter Profits Rebound as Entertainment Losses Contract
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Profits at Alibaba, the Chinese e-commerce and media conglomerate, more than doubled in the three months to December 2022 to reach $6.63 billion (RMB45.7 billion), on revenues that increased by 2% to $35.9 billion (RMB248 billion). The figures, which constitute the third quarter of Alibaba’s current financial year to end March 2023, represent a significant rebound after two difficult quarters. Alibaba’s aggregate net profits between April and December are still down by 32% at just $6.32 billion, compared with the equivalent nine-month period in 2021. The group portrayed the results as “solid [..] despite softer demand, supply chain and logistics disruptions due to impact of changes in COVID-19 measures,” and said that China’s improving macro-economic outlook will help it recover further.
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