Market In Focus: Hong Kong Film Industry Stages Post-Pandemic Comeback

increasing censorship in the city.Film distributor VII Pillars Entertainment announced on Facebook that the release of “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” on Thursday had been canceled with “great regret” in Hong Kong and neighboring Macao.In an email reply to The Associated Press, the distributor said it was notified by cinemas that they could not show the film as scheduled, but it didn’t know why. The cinema chains involved did not immediately reply to a request for comment.For many residents, the Winnie the Pooh character is a playful taunt of China’s President Xi Jinping and Chinese censors in the past had briefly banned social media searches for the bear in the country.

Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey was due to take place in the special administrative region of China this week. However, it would seem that the horror film‘s release has now been cancelled without a reason being provided.VII Pillars Entertainment said on its Meta socials (both Facebook and Instagram) that it was with “great regret” that the scheduled release of the film on 23 March had been cancelled.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The theatrical release of low-budget slasher movie “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” in Hong Kong has been abruptly canceled just two days before its scheduled outing. No explanation has been offered, but suspicions that the film may have crossed one of Hong Kong’s increasingly complicated political red lines are certain to be raised. That is because the Winnie the Pooh character is unflatteringly perceived to have a physical resemblance to China’s president, Xi Jinping. Online search for Winnie the Pooh is heavily censored within mainland China and Winnie the Pooh products are not distributed. China did not permit the import and release of Disney’s 2018 Winnie the Pooh film “Christopher Robin.”

Vivienne Chow To the 12 members of Mirror, forming a boy band and becoming Hong Kong’s Canto-pop singing sensation upon winning a reality show in 2018 was a dream come true. Five years on, the boys are dreaming bigger than ever. “Some of us really want to join Marvel,” Mirror member Edan Lui tells Variety in an interview. The statement may come across as a joke. But no, it is not, as fellow member Anson Lo, Lui’s co-star in the 2021 hit ViuTV BL drama “Ossan’s Love Hong Kong,” echoes: “We want to get on some talk shows in the U.S. as well, or any Hollywood movies, TV, live performances. Yes, please invite us.” The band’s Hollywood wishlist did not emerge just out of the blue. It came after the recording of their English debut single “Rumours,” a catchy EDM-influenced tune that has just been released worldwide Friday (March 17), along with a storied music video that follows the 12 members — Frankie Chan, Alton Wong, Lokman Yeung, Stanley Yau, Anson Kong, Jer Lau, Ian Chan, Jeremy Lee, Keung To, Tiger Yau, Lui and Lo — on a secret mission after a mysterious girl, jammed with dance sequences set in the Hong Kong streetscape.

Although Filmart felt quiet on its first morning, with many attendees glued to their phones watching the Oscars, it soon turned into a reasonably vibrant market, with sales companies locked in back-to-back meetings, new project announcements and a few star appearances to liven up proceedings. 

Naman Ramachandran The future is Web3 was the consensus at a high-powered panel discussing the subject at Hong Kong’s FilMart on Wednesday. Weighing in with their knowledge and experience were Evan Auyang, group president, Animoca Brands; Jenefer Brown, executive VP and head of global products and experiences, Lionsgate; Lucas Cheungmanaging partner, Hong Kong, Gusto Collective and Jaeson Ma co-founder, 88rising, OP3N and EST Media. For the benefit of the lay people in the audience, Ma provided a handy definition of what exactly Web3 is. Ma explained that web1 was a phase where people could search for and read content, web2 is where companies were able to publish content and web3 is all about ownership.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Fly Me to the Moon,” a work-in-progress from Hong Kong, dominated the prizes presented at the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum project market. It collected five awards and was invited to continue its journey at Cannes in May. Directed by first-time feature maker Sasha Chuk and produced by the veteran Stanley Kwan, the film tells the tale of a pair of sisters moving from Hunan to Hong Kong in the 1990s. They are faced with an identity crisis, poverty and their father’s drug addiction. It entered the market with $640,000 of its intended $705,000 production budget in place, and more than filled the gap with the prizes announced on Wednesday.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Kowloon Walled City — one of Hong Kong’s most famous landmarks, or infamous trouble spots, depending on your point of view — fell prey to the developers’ bulldozer 30 years ago. But it remains an icon of the territory’s gritty spirit and is being painstakingly re-created for action thriller feature “Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.” The film is a beacon for how Hong Kong cinema is now evolving. Directed by hot-shot Soi Cheang, whose “Mad Fate” recently played in Berlin and is set for imminent local release, “Twilight” boasts leading stars Louis Koo, Sammo Hung and Richie Jen, plus emerging talents Philip Ng, Raymond Lau and Terrance Lau.

Marcus Lim Chinese TV producer Linmon Media struck a decidedly international tone during the presentation of its 2023-24 slate at FilMart, with presenters speaking about their Chinese-language projects in only English and Korean, and handing out sleek project literature in multiple languages. Apart from a slate of romance, medical and crime dramas targeted at domestic audiences, the studio is actively remaking its hit female-led contemporary drama “Nothing but Thirty” in Thailand, Indonesia and Hong Kong, having previously licensed the remake rights to Korean pay TV network JTBC. The drama, which follows the lives of three women as they transition from their 20s into their 30s, is emblematic of the Linmon slate, which is heavy on female-centric contemporary romance dramas.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.K.- and Hong Kong-based company Phoenix Waters Prods. has formally partnered with Hong Kong’s Agog Films to create Phoenix Waters Asia, a new venture aimed at increasing content production in Asia. The venture was announced on the sidelines of a film investment conference held Tuesday in Hong Kong at the FilMart rights market, where Phoenix Waters Prods. CEO Bizhan Tong was a speaker. The two companies previously collaborated on “Chungking Mansions,” an ambitious pan-Asian action film on which Tong is director, and where production was previously scheduled for last year. Tong told Variety that lensing will start later this year, “after address any issues that could hinder filming in Hong Kong.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, is back in full force in 2023, celebrating its 25th anniversary edition from April 21–29. A key component of the celebrations will be a focus on the Asian films of the 1980s. “We have never programmed these films, nor put together this kind of program before,” says Thomas Bertacche, the FEFF’s co-head. “But these were the films and directors that inspired us to shape Udine into the festival that it is today.” Pitching the historical lineup as “hidden treasures,” the selection is expected to include early works by Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, Thailand’s Nonzee Nimibutr and South Korea’s Jan Sung-woo.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “We need more love stories, even if they have their ups and downs,” says Hong Kong-based producer Cora Yim, who is behind the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) in-development project “The Marriage Drive.” HAF runs takes place alongside the FilMart rights market.  The film is a simple-to-describe idea that writer-director Lawrence Kan has been kicking around and developing for some six years. The story involves a middle-class professional couple — he’s in the legal sector, she’s in finance — and tracks their childless, but not loveless, marriage over a period of 10 years from marriage to divorce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Work-in-progress film project “The Remnant” is both a spotlight on those who feel powerless and also a very Hong Kong example of elements of the city pulling themselves up. “The Remnant” is one of the projects in the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) unspooling March 13-15 alongside Hong Kong’s Filmart market. It tells the story of a former gangster who, upon his release from prison, sets up a laundry in an anonymous district and lives a quiet life. After property developers try to grab a rundown building, young gangsters try to throw people out of the building, drug addicts cause trouble and the old-timer heeds his neighbors’ calls and fights back.

Roberto Stabile, head of special projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Ministry of Culture at Cinecittà, told Variety. “This support will increase the presence of Italian audiovisual content not only in cinemas, but also on streaming platforms, online distribution, television, everything,” he added.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Despite a barnstorming address celebrating the re-opening of Hong Kong and China by Bona Film Group COO Jiang De Fu, it is clear that the film industry in China is still suffering its own version of long-COVID, with box office tracking at around half of 2018 levels. “The Chinese box office was RMB60.7 billion ($8.89 billion at current rates of exchange) in 2018. And 83 films made over RMB100 million. 16 films that made over RMB1 billion. Post-pandemic, in 2022, China’s box office was RMB29.9 billion. [Just] 41 films made over RMB100 million. [And] 8 films made over RMB1 billion. We are now only at 50% of the level in 2018,” said Jiang aty a presentation on the first day of Hong Kong’s FilMart.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief After three editions that were canceled due to a combination of COVID and bad timing, Hong Kong’s FilMart film rights market may have finally had some things go its way. It opens March 13 with many factors now moving in its favor. Not least of these are the moves by the Hong Kong government to end its previously harsh and persistent disease-control measures. The city wound down its disruptive quarantine and tracking measures at the end of 2022, opened its borders in January and finally dropped its mask mandate in the last 10 days. “We saw an immediate jump in interest from buyers and sellers after Chinese New Year’s border opening and there were no more restrictions on the food and beverage sector,” says Gloria Chan, section head for the entertainment industry at FilMart organizer, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The much-decorated Japanese drama “Drive My Car” was named the best film Sunday at the Asian Film Awards, defeating hot favorite “Decision to Leave.” Other notable awards went to Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda whose “Broker” debuted at Cannes, but which was largely shunned in his home country. “Decision to Leave,” which started the evening with ten nominations, was nevertheless rewarded with three awards, best screenplay, best production design and best actress for China’s Tang Wei.

Sammo Hung will be presented with a lifetime achievement honor at the Asian Film Awards. The ceremony was back as an in-person event after a two-year absence and has shifted back to Hong Kong after previously being held in Hong Kong, Macau and Busan. Hung will accept the award on Sunday at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Hung’s career as an actor, action choreographer, director and producer spans some 60 years. His acting credits include action comedies “Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog” and “Odd Couple,” paranormal horror comedies “Encounters of the Spooky Kind” and “The Dead and the Deadly,” comedy film series “Lucky Stars” and gangster action film “Shanghai, Shanghai.” In 1982, Hung won the best actor prize at the second Hong Kong Film Awards for his directorial effort “Carry on Pickpocket,” as well as best action choreography for “The Prodigal Son,” which he also directed and starred in.

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.

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.