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Hong Kong cinema has suddenly found a keen liking for the sport of boxing. The tail-end of last year saw the release of Johnnie To’s “Chasing Dream”, whereas this year already we have had “The Grand Grandmaster” and “Knockout” both represent the sport. First-time writers and directors Kwok Ka-hae and Ambrose Kwok also try their hand at the sub-genre with their Hong Kong-China co-production “Unleashed”.

“Unleashed” is screening at New York Asian Film Festival

Fok Kit is the reigning champion of the underground boxing scene in Hong Kong, but his mentor and trainer Dubble is struggling to make ends meet for his boxing gym. There’s also the story arc of wannabe actress Effy Lam, a victim of casting couch offers and workplace prejucides, who joins the gym to learn a tricky routine for an audition and ends up falling for Kit. Meanwhile, the gym landlord’s offer to...

The Fantasia International Film Festival closed out its 2020 edition yesterday, having successfully transitioned to a cutting-edge digital event in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Canadian audiences proved dedicated to the long-running festival, and flocked to the digital edition, which saw over 85,000 spectators watch films and special events across the country and beyond. Of special interest to audiences were the fest’s twenty-five World Premiere features, including bows for Come True, The Block Island Sound, Hunted, Undergods, Tiny Tim: King For A Day, The Paper Tigers, The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw, Pvt Chat, Slaxx, The Oak Room, and Unearth.

The 24th edition of the festival also saw a record amount of media coverage, with 475 accredited journalists from around the world promoting Fantasia and its ground-breaking content. From Canadian and U.S. media to popular, top-tier outlets as far away as Japan and Portugal, Fantasia’s media presence has never been stronger.

In today’s Global Bulletin, Telepool finds its new CEO in Jan Frouman, Edinburgh TV Festival recognizes freelance advocate Adeel Amini, Fantasia announces its winners, Spain’s Weird Market goes hybrid and Noah Media Group provides a first look at its upcoming documentary “Finding Jack Charlton.”

Hiring

German licensing, distribution and production company Telepool has appointed Jan Frouman as the company’s new CEO and managing director effective immediately, replacing André Druskeit, who stepped down to pursue other opportunities.

Working out of the company’s Munich offices, Frouman will head development, financing and production activities for the company, as well as overseeing Telepool’s subsidiary companies including Global Screen, video game publisher Wild River Games, EuroVideo Medien and Netleih.

In 2018, Telepool was acquired by Will Smith and Swiss investor Elysian Fields. In 2019, Smith, his wife Jada Pinkett Smith and partners Miguel Melendez and Ko Yada launched Westbrook Studios, where Frouman...

The virtual edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival had a killer lineup that included feature-length and short genre films from around the world, and they have officially announced their award winners:

03 September 2020 - Montreal, Quebec - The Fantasia International Film Festival closed out its 2020 edition yesterday, having successfully transitioned to a cutting-edge digital event in the wake of the global Covid-19 pandemic. Canadian audiences proved dedicated to the long-running festival, and flocked to the digital edition, which saw over 85,000 spectators watch films and special events across the country and beyond. Of special interest to audiences were the fest’s twenty-five World Premiere features, including bows for Come True, The Block Island Sound, Hunted, Undergods, Tiny Tim: King For A Day, The Paper Tigers, The Curse Of Audrey Earnshaw, Pvt Chat, Slaxx, The Oak Room, and Unearth.

The 24th edition of the festival also saw a record amount of media coverage,...

John Carpenter recevied Cheval Noir Lifetime Achievement Award.

Daria Woszek’s Polish comedy Marygoround was a big winner at the 24th Fantasia International Film festival on Wednesday night (September 2), earning the Cheval Noir Award for best film, director and actress.

Grazyna Misiorowska stars in the story about a virgin approaching the menopause who undergoes hormone therapy and experiences an awakening when her free-spirited niece shows up.

’Marygoround’: review

Brea Grant’s US entry 12 Hour Shift won best screenplay, and Jacky Heung was awarded the best actor prize for Hong Kong’s Chasing Dream.

The festival reported more than...

A miracle happens about 35 minutes into Johnnie To’s new film, “Chasing Dream”: Having debased and humiliated herself washing cars and pole dancing, Cuckoo (Keru Wang) nails an audition for “Perfect Diva,” To’s take on “China Idol” and secures her spot in the competition. Her captor, Tiger (Jacky Heung), debt collector by day, Mma fighter by night, and surprisingly loveable goofball by nature, excitedly calls in a series of debts owed him by an assembly line of woebegone schmucks with empty pockets.

Continue reading ‘Chasing Dream’: Johnnie To’s Latest Is A Heartfelt, Giddy Genre Mashup [Fantasia Fest Review] at The Playlist.

We live in an era where celebrity has become more about fame than talent as those wishing for adulation do what they can to mimic the greats that came before them without ever worrying about proving whether they possess an ounce of originality. You want to impress the judges on “American Idol”? Show them you can be Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna all at once. You want to be the talk of the fighting world by unleashing your strength in the Ultimate Fighting Championships’ octagon? Switch up styles from boxing to Krav Maga with everything in-between to keep your opponents off-balance and your viewers entertained. Be the carbon copy of everything the zeitgeist craves, make as much money as you can during your fifteen minutes, and fade away.

The formula works twofold: the public does eat it up and those who don’t will dunk on those who do. So...

The New York Asian Film Festival has been a major highlight of the movie calendar since it first launched in 2002, but celebrating this annual orgy of contemporary Asian cinema has always felt a bit like bragging about an experience that most people out there will never get to have. Not only is Nyaff the country’s best-curated and most fearless showcase of new films from Japan to Indonesia and all points in between, but most of these great films never find more permanent homes in the United States (though anyone willing to sift through the recesses of Amazon Prime or explore niche-driven streaming platforms like AsianCrush and Rakuten might find some titles that haven’t completely fallen through the cracks).

Miss a masterpiece like Li Wu’s “Buddha Mountain” or Clement Cheng and Derek Kwok’s “Gallants” and you may never have a chance to see it again; miss the...

Iconic Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To is back with his latest film, Chasing Dream, currently making the festival rounds. While To is probably most well known for his gangster sagas over the last two and a half decades, he's one of Southeast Asia's most prolific filmmakers, frequently darting between genres since he first hit the scene in the late '80s with a series of broad comedies and goofy horror films. Chasing Dream is no less than the latest evolution of that adventurous spirit, presenting a big hearted Mma themed musical for the modern age. Mma fighter Tiger (Jacky Heung) is an up and coming force in the octagon, but he's also a foodie with a dream. Nicknamed "The Gluttonous...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

There’s a bit of everything and most of it works in “Chasing Dream,” the first feature directed by Hong Kong ace Johnnie To since “Three” in 2016. Far from what fans of To’s hard-boiled crime dramas such as “Drug War” and “Election” might have expected, “Chasing Dream” invokes everything from gritty 1930s Warner Brothers musicals to fizzy screwball rom-coms and “Rocky” as it follows an Mma fighter and an aspiring singer who team up to take on the world and chase the Chinese Dream. Poking fun at blind ambition and celebrity culture while propelling viewers on a dizzy ride of heightened realism and unabashed melodrama,

A box-office disappointment in Mainland cinemas in November, this production from To’s Milkyway Image company could get a new lease of life following its international premiere at the Far East Film Festival in Udine. It’s not the type of film that made To famous internationally,...

Much has been speculated about Johnnie To since the release of “Three” in the summer of 2016. The ongoing urban legend about filming “Election 3” was one of the rumors, of course, as it was the releasing of an omnibus with other Hong Kong directors or – worst – his decision to retire from the scenes. Rumors didn’t stop, if anything intensified, when in November the first trailer of “Chasing Dream” was released a bit out of the blue. Said rumors turned then into conspiracy theories about his latest work but they will not be mention here; director To is old and wise enough to decide what to do. So, finally, the latest Milkyway production “Chasing Dream”, directed by Johnnie To and his frequent collaborator Wai Ka-fai is having its international premiere in Udine, a Festival very dear to To’s heart.

“Chasing Dream” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival 2020

A...

As if 2019 had not already been bad enough, it was looking like it was going to be the first year since 1995 in which neither Hong Sang-soo nor Johnnie To released a feature film. Hong, after putting out five movies in the previous two years, was taking a well-deserved break: his The Woman Who Ran wouldn’t premiere until the Berlin Film Festival in the early months of 2020. To, on the other hand, hadn’t released anything since Three in the summer of 2016. In the meantime, there were rumors of failed attempts to get his long-gestating Election 3 off the ground, the hold-up being its probable incompatibility with Mainland Chinese censorship requirements. There was also talk of an ambitious omnibus film To was producing in collaboration with a Mount Rushmore of Hong Kong directing legends called Eight and a Half. It was finally announced as one of the films that were slated...