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The idea of fire-fighting on film has never had much competition beyond the spectacle-filled “Backdraft” from Ron Howard, who mixed together family melodrama with harrowing realism and top-notch effects work in its numerous action scenes. The result was a film that still stands up to this day as a fantastic action film and one of the most underrated Hollywood action films of the 90s. Director Tony Chan tries to accomplish this same feat in his latest disaster epic “The Bravest”, based on the real-life incidents in Tianjian, China in 2015 and hitting digital platforms January 14 from Sony Pictures.

After a disastrous incident, firefighter Li Wei (Xiaoming Huang) is booted from the group after the deaths of several team-members in a blazing inferno under his watch. Finding solace in a secondary unit, he turns over command to a hotshot rookie who wishes he were still in the regular Army Corps than stuck fighting fires.

No sooner does Berlin begin than the sales agents begin tipping their titles for Cannes. Fortiissimo is touting Taiwan director Tsai Ming-Liang's Face. Helen Loveridge, a founder of Fortissimo has set up her new company and has Cannes hopeful Altiplano directed by Peter Bosens and Jessica Woodworth and starring Jasmine Tabatabi, Olivier Gourmet and Magaly Solier. Her sales on Yes Madam, Sir are going well. TF1 has Love Reclaimed (Aka Starting Over, Tout Peut Recommencer) directed by CHAO Wang and produced by Sylvain Bursztein. A complete Tipped for Cannes Report is available to subscribing clients and will be updated until the final report comes out after the press announcemnt April 23.

CANNES -- Chinese director Wang Chao scooped the Prix Un Certain Regard here Sunday, the top prize in the Festival de Cannes' sidebar, for his film Luxury Car. The film follows the journey of an aging country teacher who goes to the city to find his missing son, and finds his daughter is working there as a prostitute. The Certain Regard special jury prize went to Rolf de Heer's ancient Aborigine tale Ten Canoes. Best actor honors in the sidebar were shared by Dorothea Petre for her performance in How I Celebrated the End of the World from Romanian helmer Catalin Mitulescu and Don Angel Tavira for his role in The Violin by Mexico's Francisco Vargas.