Some 15 projects will be featured at the festival’s first works in progress lab.
Upcoming projects by Chinese filmmaker Li Dongmei and Taiwan’s Lee Hong-chi are among 15 work-in-progress titles selected for the inaugural Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau, which will open with Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor.
The WiP Lab will comprise 11 projects from mainland Chinese filmmakers and four international Chinese-language projects and will be screened in Macau and nearby Zhuhai from January 8-10.
A five-strong jury, who will grant awards in post-production services, include producers Jeremy Chua and Wang Yang, Mumbai Film Festival artistic director Deepti Dcunha,...
Upcoming projects by Chinese filmmaker Li Dongmei and Taiwan’s Lee Hong-chi are among 15 work-in-progress titles selected for the inaugural Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe) in Macau, which will open with Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor.
The WiP Lab will comprise 11 projects from mainland Chinese filmmakers and four international Chinese-language projects and will be screened in Macau and nearby Zhuhai from January 8-10.
A five-strong jury, who will grant awards in post-production services, include producers Jeremy Chua and Wang Yang, Mumbai Film Festival artistic director Deepti Dcunha,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Chinese director Huo Meng, Taiwanese actor Lee Hong-chi and Macau-based Maxim Bessmertny are among a dozen emerging East Asian talent who will present feature film projects and works in progress at the Festival of Young Cinema (Asia-Europe).
The inaugural edition of the festival, running Jan. 5-11, 2024, will operate as a bridge between the mainland China markets and audiences on one hand and the production and sales industries behind art-house cinema from Europe and other parts of Asia.
The festival opens Friday with a gala screening of Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor” and a later showing of the restored version of Yonfan’s “Bugis Street.”
The festival initiative is spearheaded by Marco Mueller, whose track record includes leading creative positions at festivals in Locarno, Rome, Venice and Beijing. He was also previously among the founders of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) that debuted in 2016.
The project market jury includes: Singapore-based producer Jeremy Chua,...
The inaugural edition of the festival, running Jan. 5-11, 2024, will operate as a bridge between the mainland China markets and audiences on one hand and the production and sales industries behind art-house cinema from Europe and other parts of Asia.
The festival opens Friday with a gala screening of Ning Hao’s “The Movie Emperor” and a later showing of the restored version of Yonfan’s “Bugis Street.”
The festival initiative is spearheaded by Marco Mueller, whose track record includes leading creative positions at festivals in Locarno, Rome, Venice and Beijing. He was also previously among the founders of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao (IFFAM) that debuted in 2016.
The project market jury includes: Singapore-based producer Jeremy Chua,...
- 1/4/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor will screen as the opening film of Macau’s Asia-Europe Young Cinema Film Festival, which is holding its inaugural edition from January 5-11. Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 12th Fail, recently a hit in India, will screen as the closing film.
The event has two major sections – a programme of masterclasses and screenings aimed at young directors, film students and local audiences, and a Works-in-Progress (WiP) Lab, which will be attended by international sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.
The masterclasses will be held by leading international filmmakers including several from the Chinese-speaking world – Ning Hao, Li Dongmei, Johnnie To, Yon Fan and Lee Hong-chi – along with Japanese filmmakers Ryosuke Hamaguchi and Shinya Tsukamoto, Russia’s Aleksey German Jr, Italy’s Gabriel Menetti, India’s Anurag Kashyap, Lav Diaz from the Philippines and Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi.
China Film Directors Association is actively involved in...
The event has two major sections – a programme of masterclasses and screenings aimed at young directors, film students and local audiences, and a Works-in-Progress (WiP) Lab, which will be attended by international sales agents, distributors and festival programmers.
The masterclasses will be held by leading international filmmakers including several from the Chinese-speaking world – Ning Hao, Li Dongmei, Johnnie To, Yon Fan and Lee Hong-chi – along with Japanese filmmakers Ryosuke Hamaguchi and Shinya Tsukamoto, Russia’s Aleksey German Jr, Italy’s Gabriel Menetti, India’s Anurag Kashyap, Lav Diaz from the Philippines and Iranian filmmaker Amir Naderi.
China Film Directors Association is actively involved in...
- 1/4/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Proclaimed in accompanying media materials as "the first
English-language film set in contemporary Beijing and the first-ever U.S.-China film co-production," "Restless" was filmed in 1997, when Hollywood-Beijing tensions were quite stormy. Produced by Peter Shiao of Venice, Calif.-based Celestial Pictures and an official co-production with the Beijing Youth Film Studio, the groundbreaking project is considered a Chinese film for import-export purposes, designed to reach Asian and American audiences.
Still awaiting release in China, "Restless" faces an uncompromisingly restless U.S. market, and screenwriter-director Jule Gilfillan's labor of love is getting a lowball theatrical release by Arrow Entertainment. But then, that's probably the best the filmmakers could expect. While there is an impressive amount of contemporary Beijing on view, and the portrayal of everyday life in the city has a TV-sitcom comfortableness that shows few signs of tampering for political reasons, "Restless" is primarily yet another low-budget indie that could have used a rewrite and more attention to character development than to its increasingly busy plot.
The relaxant tactics include a brief scene with a character riding his skateboard in the Forbidden City (another first!) and a young American woman lead who speaks Mandarin and dates her way adventurously around the world. A University of Southern California film school graduate and visiting student in 1990-91 at the Beijing Film Academy, where she was the first foreigner to make a short, Gilfillan has a good nose for story elements and details that say much about cultural differences, but her scheme in "Restless" is too pedestrian to command attention.
American Leah Quinn (Catherine Kellner) works as a translator in Beijing and has a rocky relationship with Jeff (Josh Lucas) and a sympathetic friend in Jane (Sarita Choudhury). One time while watching TV, Leah shows an interest in Weiqi, a popular version of Chinese chess. Soon, at the Bright Future bar, she fatefully meets the handsome Sun Zhan (Geng Le), a master of the game who is also datable.
In a parallel story with little spillover, Chinese-American Richard (David Wu) is a California surfer dude chosen reluctantly by his family to return his grandfather's ashes to China. In a disastrous arrival and awkwardly slapstick moment, the urn of ashes and a pile of cash are swept away on the windy runway by the bumbling Richard. He slowly realizes the awkward situation into which he has walked when the persistent, likable Lin Qingqing (Chen Shiang-chyi) reveals shocking family secrets. Not too bummed, he develops a crush on her.
Two city-touring romances gain speed then run aground, followed by multiply forced resolutions arrived at by abrupt jumps in storytelling. Not helping matters are the predictable performances of Kellner ("Rosewood") and Wu ("Farewell, My Concubine").
"Restless" suffers from a split personality, making it hard to stay involved beyond its curiosity factor as a footnote in cinematic history.
RESTLESS
Arrow Entertainment
Scitech Culture Co.
A Celestial Pictures production
Screenwriter-director: Jule Gilfillan
Producer: Peter Shiao
Executive producers: Lulu, Wang Yang Jun
Director of photography: Yang Shu
Production designer: Cao Jiu Ping
Editor: Folmer Wiesinger
Music: Laura Karpman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Leah Quinn: Catherine Kellner
Richard Kao: David Wu
Jane Talwani: Sarita Choudhury
Master Sun Zhan: Geng Le
Jeff Hollingsworth: Josh Lucas
Lin Qingqing: Chen Shiang-chyi
Ben Gold: Matthew Faber
Running time - 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
English-language film set in contemporary Beijing and the first-ever U.S.-China film co-production," "Restless" was filmed in 1997, when Hollywood-Beijing tensions were quite stormy. Produced by Peter Shiao of Venice, Calif.-based Celestial Pictures and an official co-production with the Beijing Youth Film Studio, the groundbreaking project is considered a Chinese film for import-export purposes, designed to reach Asian and American audiences.
Still awaiting release in China, "Restless" faces an uncompromisingly restless U.S. market, and screenwriter-director Jule Gilfillan's labor of love is getting a lowball theatrical release by Arrow Entertainment. But then, that's probably the best the filmmakers could expect. While there is an impressive amount of contemporary Beijing on view, and the portrayal of everyday life in the city has a TV-sitcom comfortableness that shows few signs of tampering for political reasons, "Restless" is primarily yet another low-budget indie that could have used a rewrite and more attention to character development than to its increasingly busy plot.
The relaxant tactics include a brief scene with a character riding his skateboard in the Forbidden City (another first!) and a young American woman lead who speaks Mandarin and dates her way adventurously around the world. A University of Southern California film school graduate and visiting student in 1990-91 at the Beijing Film Academy, where she was the first foreigner to make a short, Gilfillan has a good nose for story elements and details that say much about cultural differences, but her scheme in "Restless" is too pedestrian to command attention.
American Leah Quinn (Catherine Kellner) works as a translator in Beijing and has a rocky relationship with Jeff (Josh Lucas) and a sympathetic friend in Jane (Sarita Choudhury). One time while watching TV, Leah shows an interest in Weiqi, a popular version of Chinese chess. Soon, at the Bright Future bar, she fatefully meets the handsome Sun Zhan (Geng Le), a master of the game who is also datable.
In a parallel story with little spillover, Chinese-American Richard (David Wu) is a California surfer dude chosen reluctantly by his family to return his grandfather's ashes to China. In a disastrous arrival and awkwardly slapstick moment, the urn of ashes and a pile of cash are swept away on the windy runway by the bumbling Richard. He slowly realizes the awkward situation into which he has walked when the persistent, likable Lin Qingqing (Chen Shiang-chyi) reveals shocking family secrets. Not too bummed, he develops a crush on her.
Two city-touring romances gain speed then run aground, followed by multiply forced resolutions arrived at by abrupt jumps in storytelling. Not helping matters are the predictable performances of Kellner ("Rosewood") and Wu ("Farewell, My Concubine").
"Restless" suffers from a split personality, making it hard to stay involved beyond its curiosity factor as a footnote in cinematic history.
RESTLESS
Arrow Entertainment
Scitech Culture Co.
A Celestial Pictures production
Screenwriter-director: Jule Gilfillan
Producer: Peter Shiao
Executive producers: Lulu, Wang Yang Jun
Director of photography: Yang Shu
Production designer: Cao Jiu Ping
Editor: Folmer Wiesinger
Music: Laura Karpman
Color/stereo
Cast:
Leah Quinn: Catherine Kellner
Richard Kao: David Wu
Jane Talwani: Sarita Choudhury
Master Sun Zhan: Geng Le
Jeff Hollingsworth: Josh Lucas
Lin Qingqing: Chen Shiang-chyi
Ben Gold: Matthew Faber
Running time - 98 minutes
No MPAA rating...
- 11/8/2000
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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