HK to throw Asian Film Awards

How many film awards do we need? Well, here's a worthy one, I think. HKIFF will be throwing the first Asian Film Awards in March. What's great is that it's Pan-Asian and the list of nominees is pretty amazing. Here are some of the nominees:
~ BEST FILM ~
1. Curse of the Golden Flower Hong Kong / Chinese mainland
2. Exiled Hong Kong
3. The Host South Korea
4. Love and Honor Japan
5. Opera Jawa Indonesia / Austria
6. Still Life Chinese mainland
~ BEST DIRECTOR ~
1. HONG Sang-soo Woman on the Beach (South Korea)
2. JIA Zhangke Still Life (Chinese mainland)
3. Jafar PANAHI Offside (Iran)
4. Johnnie TO Exiled (Hong Kong)
5. TSAI Ming-liang I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (Taiwan / France / Austria)
6. Apichatpong WEERASETHAKUL Syndromes and a Century (Thailand / Austria / France)
~ BEST ACTOR ~
1. CHANG Chen The Go Master (Chinese mainland)
2. JUNG Ji-hoon (RAIN) I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK (South Korea)
3. Shahrukh KHAN DON (India)
4. Andy LAU A Battle of Wits (Japan / Hong Kong / Chinese mainland / South Korea)
5. SONG Kang-ho The Host (South Korea)
6. WATANABE Ken Memories of Tomorrow (Japan)
~ BEST ACTRESS ~
1. GONG Li Curse of the Golden Flower (Hong Kong / Chinese mainland)
2. KIM Hye-soo Tazza: The High Rollers (South Korea)
3. LIM Soo-jung I'm a Cyborg, but That's OK (South Korea)
4. MIYAZAWA Rie Hana (Japan)
5. NAKATANI Miki Memories of Matsuko (Japan)
6. ZHANG Ziyi The Banquet (Hong Kong / Chinese mainland)
You can read more at Twitch.

Yunjin Kim collaborates with Margaret Cho

In-between her busy schedule shooting LOST on Oahu, Yunjin Kim recently acted in an indie film directed by comedian Margaret Cho. Apparently, it's about two, dueling Asian-American sisters in the competitive world of belly-dancing. Tamlyn Tomita plays her sister-rival. Sounds pretty funny! Read more at Asian Popcorn.

Hero Biopic shown to Japan Royalty

ANATA WA WASURENAI (We Will Not Forget You), is based on the life of a South Korean man who sacrificed his life in an attempt to save a drunken man from falling into the tracks of an incoming train in Tokyo. That was almost 6 years ago. This new film, which is significant because it is a South Korean/Japanese co-production, was recently shown in a private screening that had Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, as well as the hero's parents, in attendance. You can read more at the Japan Times.

Nia Dinata's latest explores Islamic terrorism

Nia Dinata's LOVE FOR SHARE won the Halekulani Golden Orchid for Best Feature at the last LVHIFF. Highly controversial for its portrayal of women living in Indonesia, Dinata's latest (just producing duties on this one) continues the trend. According to the BBC LONG ROAD TO HEAVEN, a retelling of the terrorist bombings in Bali five years ago that killed over 200, with most of the casualties being western tourists,has divided Indonesians on the treatment and perspective of this tragic event. Thanks to Matt Dentler for passing this along.

Alain Delon set to star in Johnnie To film

Alain Delon, one of the most revered French actors ever, for his seminal roles in PURPLE NOON, ROCCO AND HIS BROTHERS, and one of my favorite films of all time, LE SAMOURAI, has agreed to star in Hong Kong auteur Johnnie To's next film. To what the role will be for the now 72 year old legend, there are no details yet. Shooting commences at the end of the year. I'm salivating already! Thanks to Twitch for the update!

Hand Wars

Wow, this is pretty ingenious. Cinematical has discovered an old STAR WARS fan film that recreates the famous Battle of Yavin sequence from the original film. You know it, don't you? It's the final battle that takes place on the Death Star with Luke Skywalker piloting his X-wing into the trenches with Darth Vader close behind him. Anyway, what's brilliant about this fan film is that it is recreated with hands over a black background! You can check it out here.

Johnnie To Double Whammy

Johnnie To, the hardest working man in the Hong Kong film industry, won two awards at the recently held Hong Kong Film Critics Society awards. ELECTION 2, or TRIAD ELECTION, as it is called in the U.S., won best feature and EXILED, his pseudo-sequel to the great THE MISSION, garnered him the best director prize. Spring Showcase Update:We'll be showing both titles in April!

SAKURAN to debut in Berlin

Man, I really want to see this film! I'll catch it in Berlin in a couple of weeks, where I'll try to have daily reports from my favorite film festival! Read more about the film at Variety. Check out the amazing trailer here!

LINDA LINDA LINDA U.S. DVD Release!

One of my favorite films from last year was Nobuhiro Yamashita's fantastic LINDA LINDA LINDA, which HIFF showed at the last spring showcase. Anyway, Viz is releasing the DVD on April 24th and it's now available for pre-order at Amazon! Awesome!! "Linda, Liiiindaaah! Linda, Linda, Liiiindaaaaah!"

Yasmin Ahmad's latest film MUKSHIN

Yasmin Ahmad is one of the most dynamic filmmakers in Malaysia. With GUBRA winning acclaim at festivals around the world, as well as ringing up major controversy in her homeland for its frank portrayal of women bucking stringent, Muslim conventions, who wouldn't be interested to see what she has next? Well, her latest film MUKSHIN, is opening in Malaysia in March and will also have its European premiere at the Berlinale, in competition no less. We're keeping an eye out for it too. Meanwhile, the trailer is now online!

Mahalo, Kaiju Shakedown!

One of the best blogs on Asian cinema, KAIJU SHAKEDOWN, a Variety blog run by Grady Hendrix of Subway Cinema and the great New York Asian Film Festival, is closing shop today! I'm completely shocked and stunned by this development. From their second-to-final entry, it looks like Grady's editor is moving on from Variety and he's decided to do the same. Cryptic. Let's hope they have a big announcement soon and launch a new blog!

Korean Starlets = Box Office Poison?

Korean actresses have been associated with the popularity of the Korean Wave: they're beautiful, easy-on-the-eyes and are great spokespeople for various products, raking in millions of dollars. Their visage is everywhere in not only South Korea, but all over Asia. But, are they suffering Anna Kournikova syndrome?
Well, The Korea Times has an article chronicling this very syndrome on four starlets who are gorgeous and successful in the advertising world, but have failed miserably at the box-office, going as far to say that they are bad actresses! I think this is kind of harsh, IMHO. JUN Ji-hyun (WINDSTRUCK, MY SASSY GIRL) and MOON Geun-young (great in INNOCENT STEPS and MY LITTLE BRIDE), especially, are charismatic and very skillful actors.

Bollywood Battle on Colbert Report

Here's a hilarious segment from THE COLBERT REPORT, discussing the very public tiff between Bollywood stars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan. Stephen Colbert does a good job of dropping names like Preity Zinta! Bollywood is becoming quite prominent in the western media this month, especially with the whole controversy over at BIG BROTHER UK. Poor Shilpa Shetty!

Jack Bauer's daughter is MY SASSY GIRL

Ugh, more remakes! MY SASSY GIRL, one of the most successful Korean films of all time, is finally getting the Hollywood makeover, which is usually a bad thing. For a time, the remake was going to be directed by BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM'S Gurinder Chadha, but now the reigns have been given to newcomer Yann Samuel. Anyway, starlet Elisha Cuthbert, she of 24 and cougar trap fame, plays the titular character that made Jun Ji-hyun into a household name in Asia. Here are some onset pics. Thanks to Grady at Kaiju Shakedown!

New Genghis Khan biopic in the works

One of my favorite Japanese actors, Tadanobu Asano, is starring in a Russian funded biopic of Mongol warlord Genghis Khan. Entitled THE MONGOL, the pic is directed by Sergei Bodrov, who last directed Hawaii's own Jason Scott Lee in the Kazakh film NOMAD, and produced by Bill Kong (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON). The film will be distributed in the U.S. by Picturehouse. Check out some cool set photos here. Thanks to Twitchfilm.

Louis Koo is a blogwhore

Louis Koo, hot, young Hong Kong talent that he is, has not one, but two blogs! What's cool is that he gives insight on the films that he is acting in, like THE IRON TRIANGLE among many others. You can read more about his web presence at Kaiju Shakedown.
This reminds me of other cool, young actors who are blogging as well. Aside from getting cool little peeks into their day-to-day world, it makes them more accessible to the "people":
BAE Doona (THE HOST, LINDA LINDA LINDA, TAKE CARE OF MY CAT)
Daniel Wu (THE BANQUET, GEN-X COPS)
Kevin Smith (CLERKS II, DOGMA)
Tadanobu Asano (LAST LIFE IN THE UNIVERSE, ICHI THE KILLER)

iTunes to sell Sundance Shorts

Cinematical has a report on the short films from this year's Sundance Film Festival, which will be made available to download on Apple's iTunes. With the new iPhone coming out in June, and multiple mobile carriers providing video content, these are truly interesting times for the film industry.

Roger Ebert Update

Our friend and America's most famous film critic, Roger Ebert, released a statement today via ABC7 Chicago's website. Overall, his recovery is progressing, but slower than expected. He most likely won't be able to work the Oscar red carpet this year, and his syndicated television show, Ebert & Roeper, may undergo a format change in the next few months. Cinematical has a report on Roger's update as well. Roger, good to hear from ya!

Silent STAR WARS

I'm usually not a big fan of STAR WARS fan films. They tend to be well-edited with some fairly passable special FX, until you see the main actors, who tend to be overweight and very wooden. Ironically, one of the most popular fan films tend to be spoofs, like TROOPS, which was a major milestone for not only fan films, but also the internet and streaming video (way back in 1997).
Well, here's another successful spoof and it's a good one: A mashup of STAR WARS... oops, I mean STAR WARS EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (damn you Lucas!) and a silent film. Thanks to Laughing Squid!

Za Simpusonzu

Remember that cool fan art of BATTLESTAR GALACTICA meets THE SIMPSONS that tickled the geek world last year? No? Err... okay. Anyway, here's a cool anime inspired rendition of THE SIMPSONS! The same artist also did a FUTURAMA version too.

Rolling Stone China

ROLLING STONE recently launched its China edition in March of last year with major fanfare. Could the premier rock publication be viable in censorship heavy China? The first issue had the ubiquitous mag's logo emblazoned on the front cover, but soon after was switched out with a Mandarin logo. Well, the latest edition has brought back the original logo, albeit in a smaller font size and sharing space with the Mandarin logo. Danwei has a scan of the latest issue, with a chronicle of this whole logo controversy. Also, on the front cover, the Chinese punk band, SUBS. I gotta check out their music!

Korea & Vietnam to co-produce horror film

Vietnam, one of the first countries to embrace hallyu (Korean Wave) will embrace it even more with the first Korean-Vietnam co-production, a horror flick called MUOI. Shooting started in late December. Read more at Asianpopcorn.

Zatoichi: The Musical?

No, no, but a stage adaptation is in the works! And it's going to be directed by enfant terrible and overall badass director Takashi Miike! Aside from his upcoming, SUKIYAKI WESTERN: DJANGO, Miike says the Zatoichi stage play will be his next project. He is famous for his prolific work, usually shooting 6 films a year. Read more on Jason Gray's blog.

Thai films in 2007

Wise Kwai's Thailand Journal has a complete rundown of Thai film releases in 2007. It's pretty comprehensive! Expect new films from Pen-ek Ratanuruang (INVISIBLE WAVES, 6IXTNIN9) and horror duo directors Banjong Pisantanakul and Pakpoom Wongpoom (SHUTTER). One film that looks very cool is the female martial arts film, CHOCOLATE.

Song Kang Ho is a Vampire, but that's Okay

Popular Korean actor SONG Kang-ho, has a strong following worldwide, appearing in some of the best Korean films over the last 10 years. His quirky filmography includes modern classics, THE QUIET FAMILY, SHIRI, THE FOUL KING, and pretty much all of PARK Chan-wook's (who's recent release, I'M A CYBORG, BUT THAT'S OKAY tanked at the Korean box-office, but will be in competition at the upcoming Berlinale) films including JSA, SYMPATHY FOR MR. VENGEANCE and BONG Joon-ho's MEMORIES OF MURDER and THE HOST. We've shown all of these films at HIFF, and had the honor of hosting SONG during the Korean centennial.
The actor has committed to director PARK's latest project, a vampire flick! According to Kung-Fu Cult Cinema, SONG is set to play a priest that has been "infected". Sounds gnarly!

Spicy Bruce

In some circles, Bruce Campbell is God. When he attended HIFF, way back in 1998, the fans came out of the woodwork. Anyway, here's a commercial that solidifies his status. I'm chucking that Axe for the Old Spice, baby, the gold standard... Watch the chicks swarm on my next outing at Rumours.
Thanks to Twitchfilm.

No YouTube in Brazil

Here's an interesting story over a Brazilian court's order to block the ubiquitous site, because of an infamous sex video of an MTV Brasilia VJ, Daniella Cicarelli, ex-wife of soccer star Ronaldo. Of course, this caused a public uproar over government censorship, and the site was temporarily back online recently. Apparently, this isn't the first time Google, which owns YouTube, has run into problems with the Tribunal de Justica, with the shutting down of various online communities on Orkut, a social networking site that preceded MySpace, but is apparently only huge in Brazil (Trivia tidbit: Remember Friendster? Well, it's huge in the Philippines).
Thanks to Michael Gibbon's Indiewire blog.

ZYZZYX ROAD: Biggest Box Office Bomb Ever

A little known film called ZYZZYX ROAD is gaining lots of notoriety online this past week. First reported in CHUD, the film earned a mere $30 at the U.S. box office, which came out to 6 tickets sold at $5 each during its week-long stint in one Dallas theater. This is, by far, the lowest gross since modern record keeping started in the 1980s. Variety has a follow-up to this story and the filmmaker has chimed in for the reason why his film only earned $30. It was intentional! BTW, the film stars Tom Sizemore and Katherine Heigl.
I have a theory on why it grossed next to nothing: Who can pronounce that lame title? Can you imagine the Moviefone inquiry?

Hong Kong Drive-In

Hong Kong gets its first drive-in ever! It opened last month with the premiere of THE GRUDGE 2. For all the "public transpo" folks, there's also 40 fixed seats in stationary, classic American cars for seating. And coming soon: an outdoor BBQ restaurant! Thanks to Grady at Kaiju Shakedown and Kung Fu Fridays for reporting on this cool, new venue. I wish we had a venue like this in Hawaii, because I would so use it for HIFF!

Corey Haim, where art thou?

This week's blog is all about the '80s for some reason and why not cap the week with the epitome of synthesizers, teen beat and cheesy talking robots, than the one and only Corey Haim? Here's his long, lost fan club video from 1988. Watch his former, bad ole self pontificating on love, kissing, his music and his anti-drug stance. It's way too hilarious and sometimes, painful to watch. Now if we can get the other Corey (Feldman) fan club video here too, then the circle would be complete. Thanks again to Matt Dentler for sharing this!

Check out liveplasma

Here's a great way to waste through your work day! You guys should check out this nifty search engine called liveplasma. This cool site maps and displays music and movie search results with linkages and groupings, making a good use of Amazon.com's API. After the search term is submitted, it's immediately surrounded by other artists; the closer they are, the more similar they are in style to the target. The user can search, map, discover new movies or artists then save and share their maps.
Basically type in any movie title, music band's name, and it'll find similar titles or names as recommendations. Now what is cool is the graphical interface, which resembles a solar system chart with your initial title in the center. It works most of the time, just make sure to click the correct button when doing your searches. I typed in "Harry Potter" and didn't bother to click the movie button, and instead got bizarre recommendations like Branford Marsalis and Chris Potter, who are both jazz musicians.

History according to Hollywood

With way too much time on our hands, the internet is a black hole of inane, random trivia. Well, the geekiest of binary black holes is something I was just recently turned on to, The Movie Timeline. This site retells history through the lens of Hollywood. So you can easily see on the timeline that Austin Powers was frozen in time (AUSTIN POWERS) during the same year when Lt. Dan lost his legs in Vietnam (FORREST GUMP). Or that Godzilla destroyed Tokyo the same year that the members of Spinal Tap met for the first time (1954). I personally like 1863: the same year Bill the Butcher was killed (GANGS OF NEW YORK) and Abe Lincoln was kidnapped to the future in BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE. Ah, kiss your workday goodbye! Submit your timeline entry now! I, for one, love time travel movies, but I have friends who are sticklers of time anomalies and plot holes (my friends are dorks). So, if you, too, are a party pooper, then check out this site that outlines various temporal anomalies in time travel movies. Nothing a good tachyon pulse can't cure!

Bill S. Preston, Esq.

According to Matt Dentler's blog, the venerable Alex Winter, he of BILL & TED series, THE LOST BOYS and director of the cult classic FREAKED, has a MySpace page. It's pretty modest, but you should check it out and add him to your friend's list.

Osama/Obama/Oh Geez...

I'm dismayed from reading Matt Dentler's blog today (thanks, Matt). He has a link to a CNN screen capture of Osama Bin Laden footage, with the heading "Where's Obama?"
There's no quality control anymore? The liberals will most likely scream, "Conspiracy!". Whatever the case, it's pretty sad, the state of news nowadays.

Top 20 Chinese Films of '06

Here's yet another "best of" list: This time, it's from the venerable and wacky one stop resource for Sino-cinema, Monkey Peaches! Check out their top 20 best Chinese films of 2006. As a point of pride, we've screened many of these titles over the past two years at HIFF and will be screening a couple of them in 2007 as well.

Japanese film festivals feel the hurt

There's an in-depth report at Asahi.com on regional film festivals in Japan and how they are trying to keep their doors open after major funding cuts from municipal entities. Festivals such as Yubari Fantastic and Yamagata Documentary, which once flourished, have either shut down or are at the brink. Working at a film festival myself, I totally empathize. Film festivals are never moneymakers, and it takes the right formula of government, corporate and community funding to operate a festival successfully. We've rode through the ebb and flow of diminished funding over the years, and 2007 is no different.

Malaysian Cinema: Year in Review

Over at Twitchfilm, is a great overview of the Malaysian film industry in 2006. There are mentions of two HIFF films, RAIN DOGS from director HO Yuhang and Yasmin Amhad's GUBRA. Overall, the report, which was also compiled by our pal Amir Muhammad, states that mainstream, Malay cinema tanked while the few gems came out of the indie, arthouse scene.