Category: International

MUMBAI: The recently held 4th Asian Film Festival had a good turnout of film fans. The festival that was organized by the Asian Consuls General Club saw the participation of fourteen nations.

The festival opened with the Filipino film Fidel, Indonesia had two films The Alienation and The Dreamer. Korea ran a documentary and a feature film Duratta (The Alienation). While China featured Desert Family, India made its presence felt with the Aamir Khan starrer Three Idiots. Thailand and Japan got the spotlight with their respective films Best of Times and Love Letter. 

Akin to international film festivals, a day was given to each country to show its films. Among the documentaries that were shown were Indonesia‘s Ultimate in Diversity, China‘s Tea Culture, Bangladesh‘s Discover Bangladesh South Korea‘s A Bright Day in Korea, Thailand‘s Phuket, India‘s Incredible India, Malaysia‘s Sabah, Land of Borneo, Japan‘s Visit Japan, Singapore‘s Miracle of Asia Singapore Success Story, Pakistan‘s Story of Pakistan and Sri Lanka‘s Locations in Sri Lanka.

Saudi Arabia featured documentaries including Jeddah Meeting of Cultures and Civilizations, Ayesh and Shadow of Silence.

MUMBAI: M Night Shyamalan‘s The Last Airbender and comedy Sex and the City 2 were the top two films that earned the wrath of Razzie voters in the annual Oscar spoof that spotlights Hollywood`s worst performances.

Meanwhile stars of Valentine`s Day Ashton Kutcher and Jessica Alba picked up Golden Raspberry Awards for worst actor and actress respectively. 

But it was a bad night for the Shyamalan film that won five Razzies to eclipse all other films of last year. The director was named the worst director for his film and to his discredit, the film was proclaimed as the “worst eye-gouging misuse of 3-D.”

Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Cynthia Nixon and Kristen Davis, the four principle stars of Sex and the City 2 were collectively named worst actress at the Razzies. The so-called “winners” were determined by ballots from some 657 voters in the United States and 17 foreign countries.

Others who won the Razzies were Jessica Alba, worst supporting actress for The Killer Inside Me, Little Fockers, Machete and Valentine`s Day, Jackson Rathbone, worst supporting actor for The Last Airbender and The Twilight Saga: Eclipse, worse screen couple/worst screen ensemble, The entire cast of Sex and the City 2, worst screenplay, The Last Airbender and Sex and the City 2, worst prequel, remake, rip-off or sequel.
 

MUMBAI: The Hong Kong International Film festival 2011 has unveiled its lineup. The 35th edition of the festival will be held from 20 March to 3 April.

Don‘t Go Breaking My Heart directed by John Johnnie To and Quattro Hong Kong 2 directed by Brillante Mendoza, Ho Yu-hang, Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Stanley Kwan will be screened as the opening films of the festival.

Kim Longinotto‘s documentary Pink Saris, based on the gang of Sampat Pal Devi of Uttar Pradesh will be presented in Humanitarian Documentary Competition.

The festival will screen 335 films from 56 countries. Wai Ka-fai of Hong Kong is the Filmmaker in Focus this year while retrospectives of Abbas Kiarostami, Shibuya Minoru and Kuei Chih-hung will be presented. The festival presented a mini-retrospective of Guru Dutt last year.

Indian director Dev Benegal‘s film Samurai, a US-India co-production with Ross Katz was selected but ultimately didn‘t find place in the final lineup.

MUMBAI: The growth of film markets in Asia has helped lift total worldwide box-office revenues to $31.8 billion in 2010, a 13 per cent increase on that recorded 2009, according to a report from the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Rising occupancy in China, where the box-office soared by 40 per cent, has mainly caused the box-office to soar. 

On the other hand, North American box-office revenues were flat at $10.6bn that accounts to about a third of the global total. It is noted that fewer people in North America are going to cinemas, with admissions falling 5 per cent in 2010 to 1.3bn. Revenues have been sustained by higher ticket prices, with cinema chains able to charge a premium for 3D movies.

It is being said that without the revenues from 3D films that doubled there in 2010 to $2.2bn, China‘s share would have fallen. There were 25 3D films released in 2010, up from 20 released last year.

This year, the number is likely to increase, with studios hoping to offset declining admissions in North America with movies that cost more to watch.

MUMBAI: Things Fall Apart will have its world premiere at the Miami International Film Festival next week.

The film stars 50 as Deon Barnes, a Michigan football player with NFL dreams, whose plans get derailed when he is diagnosed with Cancer. According to Barnes, the story is based on the life of one of his friends. “I had to discipline myself not to actually have myself be in the physical state to convey the energy I felt.”

Things Fall Apart is a true collaboration between 50 Cent and director Mario Van Peebles,” revealed Miami International Film Festival Executive Director Jaie Laplante.

“50 Cent‘s physical transformation combined with Mario‘s vision for the film kept the story fresh, gritty and powerful. Fans in Miami will have a unique opportunity to see the film well before the rest of the world does,” he said.

The film, starring Ray Liotta and Lynn Whitfield, will premiere on 5 March.

MUMBAI: Monica Bellucci, who is known for her films like The Sorcerer‘s Apprentice, is set to star in a new political film called Rhinos Season. The film directed by Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi is the follow-up to No One Knows About Persian Cats.

Belluci described the film, set before and after the revolution in Iran, as a ‘political film‘. But she added that it is primarily “a great love story in which I will play an Iranian woman.”

Rhinos Season is set to start shooting in Turkey in March.

MUMBAI: In its want to remake its 1992 hit The Bodyguard, Warner Bros. has hired Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer to write the script.

The original entered on a former Secret Service agent hired to protect a world famous pop singer. While initially uncomfortable in her glitzy world, the man eventually falls for her, compromising his ability to protect her.

The film starring Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston, had the biggest ballads of all time, I Will Always Love You. It was written by Lawrence Kasdan, the first script written by him. best known for penning Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Big Chill. It was meant as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross.

In the remake, the story would be updated so that the man would be a former Iraqi war vet.

Friedman and Palmer had written the action-comedy script Family Getaway, set up at the studio and made the 2010 Black List.
 

MUMBAI: Tyler Perry will receive the CinemaCon Visionary Award at the next month‘s theatre owners convention in Las Vegas. To be held between 28 to 31 March.

“I am so pleased to be recognized with this award from CinemaCon,” Perry said in a statement. “The success of the industry depends on whether exhibitors can see movies through fans eyes, and anticipate what they want. I‘m honored to be receiving this honor from the exhibitors who have helped me provide a great movie-going experience to my fans from the beginning,” Perry is quoted to have said.

Added Lionsgate Motion Picture Division president Joe Drake, “Tyler is the very definition of a visionary. He has literally created everything he has based on a vision that was uniquely his, and one that he worked tirelessly to bring to life despite all kinds of barriers. We are so proud to be in business with Mr. Perry, who couldn‘t be more deserving of this honor.”

Perry is an African-American actor, director, playwright, screenwriter, producer, author and songwriter. Already a successful artiste in Southern theatre, Perry began to make national celebrity status in 2005 with the release of his first film, Diary of a Mad Black Woman.

MUMBAI: Reaction to sudden increases in tax, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has withdrawn Hollywood films from the Indonesian market. Indonesia‘s president has directed his culture and tourism minister to act.

It is said that in the past, the MPAA paid only $20 per meter of film as against the increase to $43 a meter. Added was 24 per cent import duty tax and an income tax of 10-15 per cent of profits.

Said Indonesian Minister of Culture and Tourism Jero Wacik, “There‘s a complaint from the film industry, asking why the tax was so high… they ask me how the high tax can encourage the local film industry.”

However the minister adds by saying, “If necessary I will reduce the tax, but the owners of movie theaters or the film importer has a moral responsibility to build more cinemas. If we subtract the tax they should build more cinemas and add more screens. So there are more jobs for locals.”

However, some Indonesians are unhappy with the changes.

MUMBAI: Distribution rights of Martin Scorsese‘s 3D adventure, Hugo Cabret has changed hands.It has passed on from Sony to Paramount and its release date has been preponed by two weeks to 23 November. Sony had originally scheduled the film for a 9 December release.

The director seems genuinely fired up about the possibilities of the 3D format. “Every shot is rethinking cinema,” he enthuses, “rethinking narrative – how to tell a story with a picture. Now, I‘m not saying we have to keep throwing javelins at the camera, I‘m not saying we use it as a gimmick, but it‘s liberating. It‘s literally a Rubik‘s Cube every time you go out to design a shot, and work out a camera move, or a crane move. But it has a beauty to it also. People look like… like moving statues. They move like sculpture, as if sculpture is moving in a way. Like dancers,” Scorsese gas been quoted as saying.

When Sony couldn‘t provide the requested Thanksgiving date release, it agreed to let GK Films move the film into the hands of Paramount. The studio, that didn‘t have a big Thanksgiving release, jumped at the chance to be part of Scorsese‘s first 3D film.