Searching for Jackie Chan” is a new movie depicting adolescent dreams realistic or not. The movie held a screening for veteran artists earlier last week.

The hero of the 100-minute movie is Zhang Yishan, a 17-year-old TV star. Zhang became nationally famous for his role in the popular TV drama “Kids”.

The movie tells about a Chinese boy, Zhang, living in Indonesia with his parents. He is fond of kung-fu and attends a local training school. But he is often mocked there for his poor Chinese. Zhang then decides to go to Beijing in hopes of studying with his idol Jackie Chan. He suffers his share of difficulties before finally getting to meet Jackie Chan who tells him the importance of learning Chinese before kung-fu.

Jackie Chan himself makes a brief appearance in the movie. More than forty popular TV actors have got involved in the project, which is rare for a teen flick.

The movie is slated for release in China on July 3.

Source : CRI Online

Yesterday night, Jackie Chan held his concert <Jackie and friends> at Beijing’s National Stadium, the “Bird’s Next”. He invited South Korean superstar Rain, Jonathan Lee, Chris Li, Emil Chau, and other popular singers from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Rain didn’t get his approval until the last minute, but he successfully delivered his performance in the end.

Jackie Chan is the first to hold a concert at the Bird’s Nest. The set up was certainly impressive. There were seven hundred security guards and over a hundred fifty performing guests. From Hong Kong, there were Eric Tsang, Alan Tam, Hacken Lee, Joey Yung, Jaycee Fong, Charlene Choi, and more. Singers from Taiwan included Jonathan Lee, Emil Chau, Van Fan. From China, there were Sun Nan, Li Bing Bing, Yuan Quan, Chris Li, Liu Yuan Yuan, Zhao Ben Shan, Teacher Xiao Shen Yang and his disciple, and more.

Last night at 7:10PM, the Bird’s Nest was filled with approximately eighty-thousand people, without an empty seat. Jackie Chan wore white traditional clothes and appeared on stage. With more than a hundred singers spread across six smaller stages, they sang “Descendants of the Dragon” together. Standing on the stage, Jackie Chan asked the audience to be environmental friendly, “I hope that after everyone leaves here, there will be no plastic bottles or concert tickets left in the stadium, okay?!” Afterwards, he sang “Sincere Hero” with Jonathan Lee and Emil Chau, and pushed the concert to its height.

Hong Kong’s Oriental Daily reported that Rain’s approval was delayed, where he didn’t know whether he could go on stage or not. Thus, Rain did not appear on stage at the opening of the show. He got the approval at the last minute and he went on stage after Jackie Chan gave him an introduction. The crowd cheered loudly as Rain sang and danced. Fans went wild when Jackie Chan and Rain performed “Love in Autumn” together.

Rain expressed in an interview, “I immediately agreed to perform after receiving Jackie Chan’s invitation because for one, ‘Da Ge’ (big brother) is a really nice person and two, because this is for charity. Therefore, I must attend. I’m very happy to be able to perform at the Bird’s Nest again this time. It reminds me of the time I was performing here for the Olympics.”

Source : UDN
translated by fewfew @ http://asianfanatics.net

Jacky Chan:”Shinjuku Incident” made $6 million but no time to celebrate

Jacky Chan’s new film “Shinjuku Incident” shown in cinema since 2nd April, had already made over 6 million HKD. It was a very good start indeed for Jacky and he was very excited with the ticket sale. It was a shame that Jacky is filming in mainland and could not make it back to Hong Kong to celebrate with the casts. Daniel Wu (who acted in the film) told reporters that since he hasn’t made a movie for a long time, he spent a lot of time and efforts working on this film. He went on to say that he is very happy a lot of people like the role that he plays in the film and very pleased with the public respond.

Source:Wenweipo
Translator:Hokkien128 @ http://www.asianvn.com

 Western from the Republic of Korea is the top contender at the third Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong – a rare gathering of movie talent from China to Bollywood that will feature Oliver Stone and William Hurt as presenters.

Kim Jee-won’s “The Good, the Bad, the Weird” is up for eight awards in 13 categories, including best film and best director for Kim. Song Kang-ho, who won best actor at the 2007 awards, was nominated again, and co-stars Jung Woo-sung and Lee Byung-hun are contending for best supporting actor.

Kim and Jung are scheduled to attend today’s event, along with best director nominee John Woo, Japan’s Masahiro Motoki, star of the Oscar-winning “Departures,” and Chinese actresses Zhou Xun and Zhao Wei, both nominated as best actress.

Celebrity judges

Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra will receive The Nielsen Box Office Award presented by trade publication The Hollywood Reporter.

“Platoon” director Stone will present the best director prize. It wasn’t immediately clear which awards Hurt and “The Last Emperor” star Joan Chen will give away.

Retired Taiwanese actress Brigitte Lin will make a rare appearance to present the Outstanding Contribution to Asian Cinema Award to veteran Hong Kong director Tsui Hark and his wife, producer Nansun Shi.

The winners were chosen by a panel of 13 judges chaired by former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, who will also be at the event.

Also competing for best picture are Chen Kaige’s Peking Opera biopic “Forever Enthralled,” famed Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s “Ponyo on the Cliff,” Woo’s Chinese historical epic “Red Cliff,” the Japan-Netherlands-Hong Kong family drama “Tokyo Sonata” and Indonesia’s “The Rainbow Troops.”

Woo and Miyazaki were also nominated for best director. The other nominees are Chinese mainland’s Feng Xiaogang for the romance “If You Are the One,” Japan’s Hirokazu Koreeda for “Still Walking” and Brillante Mendoza for the Philippine movie “Service.”

In the best actor category, Song is competing against Ge You from China’s mainland, Bollywood star Akshay Kumar, South Korea’s Ha Jung-woo and Japanese actors Motoki and Kenichi Matsuyama for “Detroit Metal City.”

Kumar was nominated for “Singh is Kinng,” a comedy about an Indian villager who travels to Australia to persuade a fellow villager-turned-gangster to return. Ha was named for the action thriller “The Chaser,” about a serial killer on the run. 

Source: Crienglish

HONG KONG – JACKIE Chan returned to his hometown on Sunday to help kick off Hong Kong’s annual international film festival, lending his star power to an event that’s facing stiff competition in Asia.

Wearing a light blue Mandarin-collared top embroidered with floral patterns, the 54-year-old veteran action star attended the world premiere of his new Chinese-language gangster thriller, ‘Shinjuku Incident.’ Chan said he wanted to highlight ‘Hong Kong’s fighting spirit and local-style movies’ through the $25 million production that features him, playing a mainland Chinese tractor repairman who smuggles himself to Tokyo to search for his girlfriend, only to become a hit man for Japanese mobsters.

The role, which sees the ‘Rush Hour’ star kill and pay for sex, marks a sharp departure from his typical good-guy roles in the action comedies he is best known for.

‘I hope to try different types of roles,’ Chan told The Associated Press on the sidelines of the premiere.

Organizers of the 33rd Hong Kong International Film Festival chose ‘Shinjuku Incident’ and another Hong Kong production, the family drama ‘Night and Fog,’ as opening movies to showcase a local industry that’s become overshadowed by blockbusters from mainland China.

Hong Kong filmmakers and actors are also gravitating toward mainland productions, leading to a sharp decrease in movies set in this former British colony known for its mix of Chinese and Western cultural influences.

‘Night and Fog’ director Ann Hui said it has become increasingly difficult to tell local stories because the Hong Kong market is too small.

‘Just the Hong Kong market itself isn’t enough to recoup the investment,’ Hui said.

The Hong Kong film festival, whose current edition runs until April 13, has also struggled amid fresh competition, especially the Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea, which is now regarded by some as Asia’s top event.

This year’s Hong Kong event will feature 19 world premieres and a total of 279 movies. By contrast, the Pusan event last year had 85 world premieres and 315 films in total. — AP

Source: Straits Times

Hong Kong director Tung-Shing Yee’s latest motion picture “The Shinjuku Incident”, will be premiered as the opening for the upcoming annual Hong Kong International Film Festival.

It’s the first time Jackie Chan has dropped his characteristic choreographed martial art moves to play a role in a literary film, according to sina.com.

Starring action superstar Jackie Chan, mainland actress Fan Bingbing, and Japanese actor Masaya Kato, the film depicts a Chinese immigrant’s struggle to make a life for himself in the 90s, as part of the underclass of Japanese society. Much of the film was filmed in Tokyo, Kobe and Sendai.

Director Tung-Shing Yee – an actor-turned filmmaker versatile in producing, directing and screenplay writing- is a two-time prize winner of Hong Kong Film Awards, a top honor in Hong Kong’s film industry. He is known for his in-focus interpretations of reality and in-depth perspective on ordinary characters from different social circles.

“The Shinjuku Incident” is set for screening in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia regions on April 2.

Source: Crienglish

Action star Jackie Chan has been in New Mexico lately filming his latest film, The Spy Next Door. But he took time off last week to do some charity work back in China.

The star flew to Hong Kong last weekend to launch a new Hermes scarf, the sales of which will raise money for the Jackie Chan Charitable Foundation. The idea for the scarf first came when Chan was making Rush Hour 3 in Paris and met the CEO of Hermes.

“It took almost two years from the time we had that conversation until now when it’s all ready,“ said Chan. “I always thought it was so easy to make a scarf, but then I realized that there are so many steps involved; finally this year it was finished. It was supposed to be released in time for the Olympics, but it was delayed. Hermes only made 400 of these Les Tigreaux scarves.“

Following the launch he visited Guangzhou and Beijing in China to perform two charity shows and raise money for victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

“I want to tell you about a very special young girl that I met,“ he said. “This girl was caught in the Sichuan earthquake and when the building she was in collapsed, her leg became trapped. To save her life, she cut off her own leg. First she used a rock and then she when the firemen came to save her, they couldn’t get to her, so she told them to hand her a saw. She used the saw to cut her leg off and free herself. I think she is the bravest girl I ever met in my whole life. Afterwards, the bone in her leg became infected and she had to have more of her leg removed. But now she is finally getting better. I brought her to Beijing to have a prosthetic leg put on. She was very happy, but she kept worrying about the cost and I told her that it was okay….not to worry; we would take care of her.“

After a series of press conferences and the filming of a commercial, Chan jumped back on a plane to America to continue filming his new movie.

Source: asianbite
credit: Look to the Stars

Hong Kong action star Jackie Chan will be high-kicking his way around Albuquerque soon.

Gov. Bill Richardson announced Chan’s new flick, “The Spy Next Door,” will film in and around the city in November and December. The production expects to hire about 150 local crew members and more than 600 actors, including principals and extras.

Chan plays a man who is asked to baby-sit for his neighbor’s children and winds up having to protect them from secret agents after one of them accidentally downloads a code.

The film will be produced by Relativity Media and directed by Brian Levant, who directed “Are We There Yet?” “Snow Dogs,” “The Flintstones,” and “Beethoven.”

Mayor Martin Chávez recently announced that over the past five years, film productions in the city have produced a direct economic impact of about $300 million. In June, he said the industry was on track to bring in $150 million this year alone.

The film industry has exploded in New Mexico over the last several years, due in large part to the state tax incentives that encourage film production and were put in place by the Legislature and Richardson in 2003. Since that time, more than 100 major film and television projects have shot in the state with an economic impact of more than $2 billion.

Source: Asianbite

Name : Jackie Chan

| Birth Date :  April 7, 1954  
| Birth Place :  Hong Kong, China 
| Birth Name :  Kong-Sang Chang also known as Jackie Chan Sing Lung
| Height :  5′8 
| Education :  Nan Hua Elementary Academy, Chinese Opera Research Institute (1961-1971), Peking Opera School
| Nationality :  Hong Kong/Chinese  
| Profession :  Actor, director, producer 
| Wife :  Lin Feng Jiao (aka Lin Feng Chow; Taiwanese; actress; married in 1983; separated)  
| Relationship :  Elaine Ng (Miss Asia, 1 daughter) 
| Claim to fame :  as Ah Keung in Rumble in the Bronx (1995)  
| Fan Mail :  Willie Chan Golden Harvest Ltd. Hong Kong, China

Jackie Chan, SBS, MBE (born Chan Kong Sang, 陳港生, on 7 April 1954) is an actor, action choreographer, film director, producer, martial artist, comedian, screenwriter, entrepreneur, singer and stunt performer from Hong Kong.

Chan is one of the best-known names worldwide in the areas of kung fu and action films. In his films, he is known for his acrobatic fighting style, comic timing, use of improvised weapons and innovative stunts. Jackie Chan has been acting since the 1970s and has appeared in over 100 films. Chan has received stars on the Hong Kong Avenue of Stars and the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As a cultural icon, Chan has been referenced in various pop songs, cartoons and video games. Besides acting, Chan is a Cantopop and Mandopop star, having released a number of albums and sung many of the theme songs for the films in which he has starred. In 2008, Chan sang at the 2008 Summer Olympics closing ceremony.