Asia’s biggest film festival, The 14th Pusan International Film Festival kicks off today, with the screening of director Jang Jin’s latest political comedy “Good Morning President” starring Jang Dong-gun as Korea’s youngest president-elect.

The film will be screened at the outdoor theater of the Suyoungman Yacht Marina later in the evening after the film’s red carpet event.

From today till Oct. 16, the regions’ most lavish film-fest will invite the world to the southeastern port city.

Not only will top Korean stars like Jang Dong-gun, Lee Byung-hun, Sul Kyoung-gu, So Ji-sub, Ha Ji-won, Ha Jung-woo, Kim Yoon-jin, Han Chae-young will be attending the nine-day film extravaganza, Hollywood stars like Josh Hartnett will also be stepping onto the red carpet when his film “I come with the rain” is screened later in the week along with his co-star in the film, Kimura Takuya.

For those wanting to get closer to their favorite stars, they will be given that chance throughout the event when visiting actors and actresses take part in meet-and-greet sessions set-up at the Nampodong outdoor stage of the Haeundae Beach PIFF Village.

Tomorrow at 9:30 p.m. the PIFF Center will host open talk forums that will give fans a chance to speak to actors from the films that are in competition.

This year’s PIFF has invited a record 355 films, with 144 world premieres, giving film junkies something to look forward to.

Outdoor performances have been lined-up to give visitors something to do between theater-hopping.

On Saturday at the Sooyoungman Marina, an event called “Cinematic Love” will go on until 4:00 a.m. with musical performances including Korean hip-hop star Tiger JK, continental pop superstar BoA, and J-Pop’s reigning queen Amuro Namie.

On Friday and Saturday, the “HITE Dynamite Festival” will invite visitors to the Warehouse Club on the Sooyoungman Yacht Marina, where top Korean boy band Big Bang, actor-cum-DJ Ryoo Seung-bum and Mondo Grosso will perform.

Shift in Focus

At this year’s PIFF, the selection of “Good Morning President” as the opening film came as a surprise. Last year’s opener was an obscure Kazakh film that organizers claimed would showcase films from the Southeast and Central Asian region.

This year, organizers of Korea’s biggest film festival have switched their focus to domestic films buoyed by the recent success of such local blockbusters like “Haeundae” and “Take-Off.”

Organizers expect more than two million visitors to the festival which will be held at six major theaters and art houses in Busan.

The list of VIP guests includes include Bryan Singer, who produced the “X-Men” series, Italian horror maestro Dario Argento and the previously mentioned Josh Hartnett.

Hartnett, the Hollywood star of “Black Hawk Down” (2001), is making his visit at the invitation of Korean actor Lee Byung-hun, according to organizers. The two, along with Japanese actor Takuya Kimura, starred in “I Come With the Rain,” directed by French-Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran. The movie is one of this year’s entries in the PIFF’s only competition category, the New Current Award.

Closing the event will be “The Message,” a much anticipated film about communists fighting against Japanese invaders.

source: korea herald

Jay Chou’s self-directed drama ‘Pandamen’ has already finished filming, and is currently in post-production. This drama not only stars Jay Chou, Jessie Chiang, Nan Quan Ma Ma, Tang Yan, Wang Jing, Will Liu, Guo Yao Zhong, even the guest stars are big names.

Earlier, Eric Tsang, Wilber Pan, Jerry Yan, Shawn Yue, Vincent Fang, Jiu Kong, Li Guo Xiu, Tian Jing Quan & An Ze Hao’s guest-star photos in ‘Pandaman’ were revealed. Not only did they display the drama’s big guest line-up, the cast photos looked amazing and exciting, bringing a strong impact to the audiences’ eyes.

Yesterday, Jay Chou accepted an interview, and expressed his thanks towards all the guest stars in ‘Pandamen’. He said: “Pandamen’s guest stars are actually all my good friends, they are very loyal and are willing to help me.” According to Jay’ introductions, these guest stars are not only ‘loyal’ to come and star in the drama, but during filming, every single one of them displayed their professionalism, and made him very touched.

Wilber Pan injured but still continues to film

When Will received an invitation to star in ‘Pandamen’, it actually clashed with his album promotion schedule. And earlier, because he was intensely practising dancing for his album, he accidentally injured his right hand. When he came to film ‘Pandamen’, his hand was even bandaged, but when filming officially started, the professional Will removed his bandages, and everyone could not help but give him a thumbs-up in praise. Jay was very worried about his injury, and during break times, he would often touch his hand in concern, asking him: “Is it okay?” But Will joked back: “I realized you really love touching my hand!” Everyone looked suspiciously at Jay, and Nan Quan Mama’s Devon (Dan Tou) joked: “Actually, Will is Jay Chou’s other ‘J-Girl’!” making everyone burst into laughter.

Shawn Yue plays baddie

From the photos of Shawn Yue, his golden hair makes him look extremely ‘bad boy’; his cool image looks very different from the previous sunny, handsome Shawn. Shawn plays a capable follower – Luo Han, of the great villain Tiger Brother. Towards being able to play such a character, Shawn exclaimed: “Very exciting!”

Eric Tsang supports ‘junior brother’ Jay Chou

Previously in ‘Kung Fu Dunk’, Eric Tsang & Jay Chou had extremely exciting fight scenes, and from then on, the 2 established a very good friendship. Whenever Jay mentions Eric in any public event, he always affectionately calls him ‘Eric Big Brother’. Jay said: “Eric coming to guest in ‘Pandamen’, I know it’s because he wants to support me, so I want to specially thank his loyalty.” Apparantly, Eric has quite a few scenes in the drama.

Jerry Yan & Jay Chou become ‘colleagues

In ‘Pandamen’, Jay Chou plays Detective Leo, and Jerry Yan plays his colleague Detective Chen. In order to crack the villain gang ‘Violent Group’, the 2 detectives share weal and woe, and they both even get injured, and suffer quite a lot. Not only are they good ‘brothers’ outside of the drama, but even in the drama, they are quite close.

Refined lyricist Vincent Fang transforms into an arms dealer

Even Vincent Fang is beginning to film television series, and we can only imagine ‘Pandamen’ and Jay’s charm. Over the years, Vincent has always collaborated with Jay, writing lyrics for him, and the 2 have together created a unique musical world. And Vincent, whose own personality is similar to his refined lyrics, actually transforms into an arms dealer who is surrounded by beautiful women in the drama. His character is very ‘explosive’ and is definitely a strong breakthrough for Vincent.

Li Guo Xiu – dean of Taiwanese theatre joins ‘Pandamen’

Liu Guo Xiu is dubbed the dean of Taiwanese theatre. From 1976, he has produced almost 40 stage dramas, and is currently an associate professor at Taipei’s University of Arts. But the reason for him coming to star in ‘Pandamen’ is quite amusing. Apparantly, Li Guo Xiu’s family are all fans of Jay, and in order to fulfil his family’s ‘star’ wish, he went to find Jay, and hence he is also a guest star in ‘Pandamen’.

Jiu Kong appears as villain

Taiwan’s famous comedian Jiu Kong also guests in this drama. Whenever he appears at any event, there will be constant laughter following. Earlier, in Ning Hao’s ‘Crazy Racer’, Jiu Kong made everyone laugh non-stop. In ‘Pandamen’, he plays a big villain ‘Mole’ and will try live up to his comedian status.

Mainland actor An Ze Hao will play ‘strict father’

An Ze Hao, whose appearance is rather unique is a mainland actor, who always plays ‘baddies’. He was the lead for many television series such as ‘True Confession’, ‘Tomorrow I Am Not A Lamb’, and ‘Around The Home’. However, this time in ‘Pandamen’, he won’t play a baddie but has actually got quite a good role. He will be playing Jessie Chiang’s character Xiao Yu’s dad, who is also the principal of the music school. An Ze Hao expressed: “Pandamen consists of a young team, and I have actually learnt quite a lot filming with these young people.”

An Ze Hao has quite a few scenes with Jessie in the drama. From the cast photos, his outfits follow the luxurious European clothing style, but he still looks very humorous. According to sources, after ‘Pandamen’ finished filming, An Ze Hao earlier returned to China, and is currently preparing for his new drama.

‘Pandamen’ investor transforms into ‘Chief Villain’

Amongst ‘Pandamen’s guest stars, the most important character is Tiger Brother. And this character is definitely even more lengendary.

Tiger Brother is the chief villain in ‘Pandamen’. His followers include Wolf (played by Will Liu), Mole (played by Jiu Kong), Luo Han (played by Shawn Yue) etc, and ‘Tiger Brother’ is the central figure in criminal gang ‘Violent Group. And he is the character which Panda Superman (played by Yuhao), Panda Heroic (played by Devon), Detective Leo (played by Jay) and Detective Chen (played by Jerry) are all hunting for. And just when everyone was wondering who is most suitable to play such an important character, ‘Pandamen’ investor Tian Jing Quan entered Jay’s ‘visual field’.

According to Jay’s introduction, Tian Jing Quan ‘President Tian’ is one of ‘Pandamen’s investors. He is the general manager of Beijing Jiu Zhou Culture Communication Co., Ltd, and is also Jay’s old friend. During casting of ‘Pandamen’, Jay coincidentally bumped into President Tian while he was on a business trip, and that day, he was dressed in a black suit, with big black sunglasses, and his rather rebellious temperament caught Jay’s eyes. Hence, Jay immediately decided that President Tian would be the perfect choice for Tiger Brother! Because whether it’s posture or his imposing manner, President Tian is very suitable for this role.

During the filming process, besides Tiger Brother, he had another name called ‘Tian One Take’ and when Jay was asked about this, he laughed and explained: “Because during filming, President Tian always just requires one take and its perfect, his acting is very good! And sometimes, it’s already good, but he himself is not satisfied and would say that if he filmed another take, it would be better!” So why is the investor’s acting even better than professional actors? After careful studying, it was found that President Tian actually graduated from China University of Opera. The drama crew expressed that actually, Tiger Brother can be considered as a main lead in ‘Pandamen’ but because of President Tian is also one of the investors, he felt that it’s not convenient to be too exposed, so he attributed himself to the ‘guest’ list. In the drama, mainland actress Liao Jian Ling also specially guests, and plays Tiger Brother’s girlfriend.

Jay Chou’s ‘little brother’ also guests in ‘Pandamen’

Compared with the other famous guest stars, Huai Chen is probably the most unfamiliar face in ‘Pandamen’. According to Jay’s personal introduction, Huai Chen is actually his ‘little brother’: “He was my classmate in primary school. When we were little, I thought that he looked like a cartoon character, and unexpectedly now that we’re older, we actually have the chance to collaborate in ‘Pandamen’. Jay said that Huai Chen plays another baddie, and earlier, he also guested in the MV of his song ‘Hair Like Snow’.

Other than this, the most interesting thing is that ‘Pandamen’s scriptwriter Fa Tiao – Taiwan’s famous online writer will also guest in the drama as a piano teacher.

Source: Sina
Translation: Sarah @ http://asianfanatics.net

The “Nodame Cantabile” movie is going to come out in December this year and now there has been a flood of new details concerning the locations, cast and other stuff.

One of the biggest new locations in the movie is going to be the “capital of music”, Vienna. Actor Tamaki Hiroshi (29) about the location, “I can feel the weight of all the history this city holds and I’m becomming really tense.” Actress Ueno Juri (23) too, “There’s no better place to concentrate than here.” Celebrated musicians like Mozart, Beethoven or Brahms have been active in Vienna and you can find statues of them in the local park.

It’s the first time ever that a Japanese movie is going to be filmed in the historic “Wiener Musikverein” and its golden hall, the same hall where even famous Japanese conductor Ozawa Seiji (73) once made an amazing performance. Now it’s Tamaki who gets the honor to conduct “Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony” for the filming of Nodame. Ueno admired his performance, “He looked so cool. You can feel the power of Chiaki’s (Tamaki) personal growth up he went through up until now.”

Last month on the 16th, they already started filming in Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. They continued in Brno, the Czech Republic and after that they arrived in Vienna, Austria. After Vienna, they went back to Brno also filmed a few scenes Prague. Right now they are in France and about to start filming in Paris. In September they are going to start filming the 2nd part (movie comes in 2 parts). In Vienna they had a team consisting of 60 Japanese, plus a mix of 64 Austrians and Czechs working on the movie. A total of 110 extras came from Japan to appear in several (big) scenes like in the hall.

New cast members are going to be actor Tanihara Shosuke (36), comedian and actor Nadagi Takeshi (38) and comedian Chad Mullane (29).

Click here to view the embedded video.

Source: kawaii-joyuu

Huayi Brothers, China’s largest movie production company, has released six new posters for its upcoming WWII espionage film, “The Message”.

The thriller tells about the factional infighting in the Japanese-controlled Chinese puppet government in the 1940s.

A-list actresses Zhou Xun and Li Bingbing are featured as two code-breakers.

Zhou Xun, best known for her highly emotional roles, puts on an impassive and thoughtful face. Li Bingbing, who plays the senior of Zhou Xun, appears in the poster with a questioning, sober and intellectual look.

Zhang Hanyu, Ying Da and Wang Zhiwen are cast as three senior military officials, all deeply ambitious politicians. A fake scar on Zhang Hanyu’s chin is the only unexpected element in the posters.

Alec Su, who plays the assistant to the commander in chief, may be making the biggest career shift with the new film. Donning military uniforms and affecting an almost vicious gaze, he looks completely different from his sunshine-boy image.

Source: CRI.English<

HONG KONG – JOHN Woo’s Chinese historical epic, a biopic of Bruce Lee’s kung fu master and a documentary-like look at a working-class neighborhood are the top contenders at the Hong Kong Film Awards on Sunday.

The nominees reflect the past and present of Hong Kong’s movie industry – once a major Asian filmmaking hub known for its local stories, but now increasingly geared toward the mainland Chinese market with historical and kung fu blockbusters.

Woo’s US$80 million (S$120 million) two-part epic ‘Red Cliff,’ based on an ancient Chinese battle by the same name, is a prime example of the recent trend of films made with an eye toward mainland viewers.

Wilson Yip’s action-filled biography of Bruce Lee’s teacher Ip Man is another example, portraying the late martial arts master as a patriot who resists the Japanese occupation of his southern Chinese hometown.

The first installment of ‘Red Cliff’ is up for 15 prizes and ‘Ip Man’ is competing for 12 at the Hong Kong Film Awards. Both movies are nominated for best picture.

But another top contender harkens back to the locally flavored fare made in the former British colony known for its mix of Chinese and Western cultures.

Veteran filmmaker Ann Hui’s ‘The Way We Are,’ which follows the life of a single mother in Hong Kong’s Tin Shui Wai district, is a contender for best film, best director, best screenplay and best actress.

The other best picture nominees are Hong Kong comedian Stephen Chow’s sci-fi movie ‘CJ7′ and Gordon Chan’s ghost thriller ‘Painted Skin.’ Woo and Yip are also up for best director, competing against Benny Chan for ‘Connected’ and Johnnie To, who was nominated for ‘Sparrow,’ a playful look at a pickpocket gang.

Former Cannes winner Tony Leung Chiu-wai received a nod for best actor for playing a Chinese general in ‘Red Cliff.’

He faces off with action star Donnie Yen, who played Ip Man; Simon Yam in ‘Sparrow;’ Nick Cheung from the police thriller ‘The Beast Stalker;’ and heartthrob Louis Koo, who portrayed a gangster who struggles to give up a life of crime in ‘Run Papa Run.’

Source: Straitstimes

Ever since Tony Leung Chiu Wai and Carina Lau got married, allegation(s) of Carina is pregnant had been spreading. Recently when Carina appeared in good friend Eric Tsang’s birthday party, she had a scraf wrapped round her stomach and she did not take any alcoholic drink, this makes the media guess if she’s pregnant. Carina’s manager told reporters: “She’s not pregnant.”

Today, Huayi Brothers announced that Carina is not pregnant and she would join the cast for Tsui Hark’s Di Renjie, taking up the role of Empress Wu and this would be her first film after her marriage. She joined other heavyweights like Andy Lau, Li Bingbing and Tony Leung Kar Fai in the film.

It’s earlier alleged that Tsui Hark and wife Shi Nan Sun dine with Lin Ching-hsia in order to invite her to take up the role of Empress Wu. Lin Ching-hsia also expressed that she had read the script and has intention of returning to showbiz but it is not known if the Empress Wu role is not heavy and not enough space to give her confidence of exceeding her previous outstanding ‘Dong Fang Bu Bai’. With Lin Ching-hsia hoping to make a grand return, the Empress Wu role in turns changed to Carina whom is eager to make a return after her marriage.

Huayi Brothers had announced in their website that Carina will be Empress Wu, Li Bingbing as Shanguan Wan Er, this will be their first collaboration on the silver screen. One quiet and another martial arts skilled, they would battle emotion and martial art with Detective Dee Andy.

It is understand that the new Chinese title ‘Tong Tian Di Guo’ had not been passed, thus the film will still title as Di Renjie.

News from: ent.qq.com, sina.com
Credits: http://andylausounds.com

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

The North American distributor Funimation has announced that it acquired Ichi, Fumihiko Sori’s live-action re-imagining of the famous blind swordmaster character Zatoichi. In this 2008 retelling of the Japanese classic, Ichi is a female fighter played by Haruka Ayase. Sori previously directed the live-action manga-based Ping Pong film and worked on the first computer-animated Appleseed film. He then wrote and directed the computer-animated Vexille – 2077 Isolation of Japan film.

The Ichi film will run at the Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) on April 3 and April 6. HIFF will also screen Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone, The Sky Crawlers, and 20th Century Boys: Part I and II. Ichi will then run at next month’s Japan Film Festival Los Angeles with The Sky Crawlers, ALWAYS: Sunset on Third Street 2, Mushishi, and Evangelion: 1.0 You Are (Not) Alone.

Source: Anime News Network

On Sunday, Katsuhide Motoki’s latest film, “Kamogawa Horumo,” took the grand prize at the Okinawa International Movie Festival. A total of eight films competed for the Golden Shisa, but it was Motoki’s adaptation of the Manabu Makime novel that emerged victorious, winning 5 million yen in prize money.

“Kamogawa Horumo” stars Takayuki Yamada and Chiaki Kuriyama in a coming-of-age comedy in which university students battle against each other using spirits known as shikigami. The film is scheduled to open in theaters on April 18.

The comedy-focused festival, organized by Yoshimoto Kogyo, also awarded the Uminchusho, chosen by audience voting. The prize went to the Korean film “Unstoppable Marriage,” directed by Kim Sung Wook.

Source: tokyograph

Subaru is finally released!

Finally, on Friday March 20th, Subaru the movie was finally on the big screen.
We’re praying that it would be a hit film when it’s released on the 2nd day to the public
Meisa Kuroki who star in this movie [Subaru],
had receieved lots of greets and THSK who sung the main theme of the movie, too stood on the stage with her.
The movie and press conference was held in Shinjuku Milan 1, the biggest movie theater in Japan.

The movie had made us recalled lots of things, making us think

“We had dreamed a dream and in order to get to that dream, we had continuously worked hard towards it”
this was the very message of this movie was about; giving a very positive view to the audience

Ladies who were in the theater earlier would too feel the same, wanting to press on the dreams we had dreamt of
Ladies would feel what Subaru was feeling and thinking, bringing you and her together as one.

The boys who had been appearing on TVs shows etc these days, it still didn’t feel sufficient
The album was a total sold out despite it’s released date was still a long way to go, this gives me the feeling of the album is going to be a hit finally!

Today, 22nd, they’ll appeared in a talk show!

source: tvxqfever
credit: DNBN
translated by: mel@oneTVXQ