| China Selection | |
| China goes Hollywood
The China Film Co-Production Corporation (CFCC), China's official agency for international co-productions), has signed a letter of intent with Santa Monica Pictures and Beijing-based CPC to co-produce three feature films. The announcement was made jointly by Zheng Quan Gang, president of CFCC, and David Rose, chairman and CEO of Santa Monica Pictures. CFCC, Santa Monica and CPC will provide co-financing for the first three features, set to be filmed in China and Los Angeles. The first to be made through the agreement will be an adaptation of Frank Shi's bestseller, Faraway to Canaan, the story of a Chinese man in post-revolutionary China who emigrates to the US. Santa Monica Pictures has been exempted from China's co-production guidelines, allowing post-production on all three films to be done outside China. ***** Cop This It's bloody, it's dark, it's the latest action pic from Hong Kong's eminently bankable director Gordon Chan. Richard James Havis reports This year's Cannes sees the market premiere of Media Asia's character-driven actioner Beast Cops. Directed by Gordon Chan, one of Hong Kong's most bankable directors, and his one-time assistant director Dante Lam, the movie sees a return to the mix of action and drama Chan first brought to the screen in 1994's The Final Option. It was Hong Kong's shrinking budgets that forced Chan to return to a more character-driven story for Beast Cops. But he still managed to include a fair degree of action to keep the overseas market happy. "The market has deteriorated alarmingly, so I wanted to try to make a film a little cheaper," says Chan. "I hoped this would allow me to focus more on the characters than the action. Characters interest me most. I've wanted to shoot this kind of film for some time, but everyone else wanted me to do a big-budget film. To lower the budget, I only took half my normal fee. But it allowed me to do something I really wanted to do." The movie tells of three cops who are so close to the triads they are supposed to be policing, it's difficult to tell them apart. Although it's essentially a dramatic piece, there is a lot of humour. The laughs are naturally generated by conflicts between the characters, a trio of cops played by Anthony Wong, Michael Wong and loopy Made In Hong Kong star Sam Lee. "We had a lot of fun on the set," remembers Chan. "We improvised
a lot, talking about guy things, men's problems. We were very relaxed and
I think this shows up in the film: you see a bunch of guys really enjoying
themselves. That was the idea. I wanted to put some interesting people
together, and then give them some problems. The fun is seeing how they
face their problems and take care of each other."
"The early action scenes happen very fast, and this makes them very realistic," says Chan. "This is what I saw in the real world when I did my research. All violence starts and finishes quickly. There is no set-up like you see in most movies. This was meant to make people realise that they are looking at something very dark." The blood-drenched finale – a section directed by Dante Lam – is in a completely different style altogether. Its over-the-top cartoon carnage is reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs, although Chan says he hasn't seen Tarantino's effort. "The idea was to push the violence so far that the viewer would feel disgusted by it. It's a statement against violence," says Chan. Media Asia are handling foreign sales at Cannes. ***** The Fruits of Summer Hong Kong indie director Fruit Chan will be going ahead with his next feature, The Longest Summer, in May. The movie,which is produced by Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau, is being pre-sold in the Cannes market by Golden Network Ltd. Chan's previous Made In Hong Kong, a movie which deliciously upstaged the notion of the 'heroic' triad, saw a lot of exposure on the festival ciruit, and Network is hoping this should lead to strong interest in Summer. "There's some humour and some tragedy in Summer," said Golden Network's Director, Carrie Wong. "It's a story about the generation gap, and about how some people adapt to a changing society and others get left behind by it." The Chinese title is Last Year There Were Many Fireworks, something that refers to the number of firework displays in Hong Kong to celebrate the return to China. If Made in Hong Kong touched on the confusion of the handover, then Summer is more specific, focussing on a former Chinese member of the British army who finds himself at a loose end when the Brits go home. The former soldier is encouraged to join a triad gang by his affluent younger brother. All goes well until they stage a heist that goes amusingly wrong – something that leads to troubles with another gang. "Like Made In Hong Kong, it really shows the different way of thinking that exists between kids and older people in Hong Kong," said Wong. The film was produced by Hong Kong's singing and dancing megastar Andy Lau, who also produced Made In Hong Kong. The film's budget is around HK$2.2 million. Furthermore, Lau will this time also be playing the lead role – something that will certainly help the movie in Asian markets. According to Wong, Lau's decision to appear has a lot to do with a desire to break the typecasting trap: "Usually he plays heroic roles. But in this movie he plays a loser," she said. "Andy feels like he has been stereotyped for to long. He really wants to show that he can play some different characters – and maybe win an acting prize, too." Wong has Asian territories trained in her sights, although she says that Made In Hong Kong's critical kudos should help the film go wider. "Andy Lau will help us sell easily to Asia," said Wong. "But we really believe that this movie will be able to travel further. It's more than a stereotypical crime movie – it's a drama." The Longest Summer is expected to be completed by September. Richard James Havis ***** New Territory The recent convulsions on the Far Eastern money markets has meant that substandard movies go to the wall a lot more quickly in Hong Kong. Richard James Havis spoke to local buyers to find out which films are still making the grade. Nowadays, what Hong Kong distributors are after is quality, be it action, romance, comedy or drama. "I'm not looking for any particular genres," says Panasia Films' Winnie Tsang. "If it's a quality movie, I'm interested." What's more, good films are becoming so few and far between, distributors are prepared to stretch their quotas if the right one comes along. "We don't have a set amount of films to buy each year," says Edko Films' head of sales and acquisitions Audrey Lee. "If I see a film that I like and I think will work, I'll consider it." The Hong Kong box office is in a state of flux. Hollywood blockbusters dominate the higher reaches of the charts, although local Cantonese-language films can still perform, if they have the right cast – that is, either Jackie Chan or comedian Stephen Chiao. Last year, imported films outgrossed local films: Hong Kong films took HK$547,645,758 while imports took HK$608,196,882. Only 94 local movies were released, compared to 373 imports. But before sales agents start jumping for joy, it's mostly the big American blockbusters that are romping home. Smaller indies (for example, Trainspotting) typically only open on around two screens, and if they are particularly specialised (non-English-language, like Unagi, for instance) they'll probably only open at one screen. But non-studio movies with a name cast (such as The Long Kiss Goodnight) can open much bigger (around 6 to 8 screens or more) for the first week. "Obviously people are more aware of the Hollywood films because of all the hype," says Panasia's Tsang. "We have to work a lot harder to raise awareness of the non-studio films." Quality movies have become more difficult to find. "All the big productions have gone to the majors," says Tsang. "The ones that are left are not usually as good as the majors." "There is less and less good product around," agrees Edko's Lee. "The economic storm has affected things. Some Asian markets are damaged. As the indies often part-finance their films through pre-sales, they are finding it difficult. They can't plan so effectively, and they have no guarantee of sales now." Hong Kong distributors, worried by an economic downturn in the territory, are now more careful about their purchases. Tsang says she has been buying slightly fewer films since the financial markets dipped. "We can't take so many risks nowadays. We have to be sure, with the market being what it is. The stars aren't so important. But the story is important. A bad movie with a big star won't work." "I've noticed that films flop faster," adds Edko's Lee. "They can have a good opening weekend and yet still lack staying power. The legs don't seem to be that strong anymore. This could be down to the release of pirate VCDs long before the film is released." "Event movies still do well in Hong Kong, although they are expensive. We will be looking for event movies, as well as for more specialised fare. Also we want quality movies with good word of mouth," says Lee. One new Hong Kong player in the market is Fred Tsui, who handles acquisitions for iTV, Hong Kong Telecom's Video-On-Demand service. VOD rights come after video but before all television. "We buy all genres, basically, any movies that our subscribers might be interested in, be they mass or niche titles," says Tsui, who also attends Berlin, MipTV, and Mipcom. So far, iTV's programming has been both diverse and impressive, featuring everything from Kieslowski's The Dekalog to Japanese soft porn. MAJOR THEATRICAL BUYERS * AUDREY LEE, general manager, sales and acquisitions,
* WINNIE TSANG, general manager,
*INTERCONTINENTAL FILM DISTRIBUTORS,
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