A new teaser trailer is released for the film THE LEGEND OF THE CONDOR HEROES: GREAT HERO and China Film - the film commission of Chinese Government - has announced a new release date for the film.

Please read our web page dedicated to news and information on this film.

A short teaser trailer has been released, please view it here: Teaser Trailer

China Film has confirmed the film is scheduled to be released for Chinese New Year 2025

Hong Kong's CineFan club released its November and December programs, which are both focusing on Japanese cinema. Japanese cinema had grown by leaps and bounds since the 1930s, when pictures began to 'talk'. With a strong demand for good scripts, studios and directors looked to the works of literature for their realistic portrayal of contemporary lives and popularity among people, paving way for bungei-eiga (literary films) to become a trend. From the early 1950s when the second Golden Age of Japanese cinema flourished, modern Japanese literature offered a wealth of choices for filmmakers anxious to explore and reflect on themes consonant with the rapid political, economic, social and cultural transformations underway in Japan during the postwar recovery.

While both are powerful forms of storytelling and embodiments of imagination, literature and film are different artistic mediums with distinctive form, language, technique and effect. In translating a literary work into sound and image, a filmmaker has much to take into consideration – its characters, themes, narratives and visualisation, among others. Whether to remain faithful to the original, to reinterpret, to use it as a pretext, or to make one's statement, it's a director's call – for good or bad, or both.

Taking up the Meiji-era tales – I Am a Cat and The Heart – from Natsume Soseki, the father of modern Japanese literature, master filmmaker Ichikawa Kon crafted his contemporary cinema with the novel's profound sense of desolation and loneliness, while capturing the interplay between the self-reflecting spirit of the alienated intellectuals and the postwar collapse of the traditional values. Nomura Yoshitaro, in putting the acclaimed detective stories Stakeout and The Castle of Sand on screen, accentuates writer Matsumoto Seicho's themes of social corruption and human darkness through escalating tension in narrative structure and brilliant mise-en-scene.

Morita Yoshimitsu's poetic evocation of Natsume Soseki's And Then and Ichikawa Jun's minimalistic contemplation of Murakami Haruki's idiosyncratic alienation and solitude in Tony Takitani garnered approval from readers and cinephiles alike. Among the countless cinematic adaptations of Tanizaki Junishiro's novels of erotic obsessions, Mizoguchi Kenji's Miss Oyu – a heart-wrenching tale of love and sacrifice – is hailed as a cinematic masterpiece for its lyrical long takes and enchanting imagery, taking the original novel to an elevated artistic level. Widely acclaimed as a towering fiction of the century, Mishima Yukio's The Temple of the Golden Pavilion, is re-interpreted under the lens of Ichikawa Kon, who turned the author's scrutiny of destructive passion and agonies into an exploration of the social and cultural forces at work in the young monk's life in Conflagration. It draws readers' scorn, and film critics' nods all at once.

Following our programme featuring Kawabata Yasunari in 2019, we continue our theme of adaptation from book to screen, showcasing 16 films adapted from the literary works by five celebrated Japanese novelists. We hope this selection brings an awareness of the insights that Japanese literature has brought to a cinematic tradition.

Visit the Official Website for the full schedule, times and location of films viewed

Warner Bros. Motion Pictures Group and S. Korea's CJ ENM have unveiled a deal to jointly develop, finance and distribute English-language and Korean-language feature remakes of each studio's films. The new agreement will see Warner Bros. become the lead studio on English language remakes originating from CJ ENM's library, while Miky Lee's CJ ENM will take the lead on Korean language movies drawn from the extensive Warner Bros. Pictures library.

"Miky Lee, CJ vice chairwoman, and the team at CJ ENM have built an enviable slate of films over its history to become a powerhouse producer of Korean cinema, with films that resonate with audiences across the globe. We are excited to have the opportunity to work with CJ ENM as we look to expand Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group's movies offerings around the world," Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group's co-chairs and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy said in a statement on Tuesday.

Event opening: 8 November 2024

Launching on Friday, November 8, The Grounds invites film enthusiasts and food lovers alike to indulge in "Fork Lore Presents", a curated selection of films that showcase the passion, creativity and culture in the world of restaurants and bars, from heartwarming dramas to comedies.
Moviegoers can also expect movie marathons that transport them to fantastical realms with fan favourites like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Dune. In fact, experience the complete saga of Arrakis in one epic night. On November 16, The Grounds will play both Dune movies back to back. The Grounds will also spotlight local classics, providing a nostalgic journey through Hong Kong's rich cinematic history.

After the box office success of 'Still Human', a film that sheds light on domestic workers in Hong Kong, director Oliver Chan is back with a new movie about the challenges of motherhood in Asia, which is slated for Hong Kong release in early 2025.

"I named myself after the titular character in Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist, which I studied at school, because I had always asked for more," says Hong Kong film director Oliver Chan Siu-kuen. She wasn't referring to gruel. Even as a child, she was eager for opportunities beyond what was obvious and available. "I felt that if I named myself after a boy, it would open doors for me." So has that helped her as an adult? "Not really."

But Chan is not someone who waits for those opportunities to knock at her door. When there isn't an existing way, she carves a path for herself. Her latest feature film, The Montages of a Modern Motherhood, is a prime example. "There aren't any films presenting motherhood in Hong Kong. For sure, there are movies that have a mother figure, but she is only a side character, or is portrayed as naggy, bossy or demanding. But there are so many untold facets of being a mother," she says. "Most of the directors who have made films involving mothers are men, or women who haven't experienced motherhood. If I don't tell these stories, who will?"

Chan herself is a mother, to a five-year-old. While her experiences of motherhood are nothing like her protagonist's tragic story, she is obviously affected by news reports of mothers abusing their infants. "I couldn't understand what they were going through, because there is no way a mother would bear a child for ten months just to bring it to the world and harm it," she says.

The film follows the story of Suk-jing, a 30-something new mother who becomes gradually disenchanted with the lack of understanding from her husband, conflicts with her traditional in-laws, struggles to juggle family and work, coping with her inexperience of childcare, and her own declining mental and physical health.

In August, it was selected as the only Hong Kong film to screen at the prestigious Busan International Film Festival; in September, it entered Tokyo International Film Festival's inaugural Women's Empowerment section. The film premiered in Busan in October and is slated for release in Hong Kong in early 2025.

The Official Trailer for Director Chan's film STILL HUMAN.

European Film Awards
Current: 37th European Film Awards

Awarded for   Excellence in European cinematic achievements
Location   Europe
Presented by   European Film Academy
First awarded   1988
Last awarded   2023

The European Film Awards (or European Film Academy Awards) have been presented annually since 1988 by the European Film Academy to recognize excellence in European cinematic achievements. The awards are given in 19 categories, of which the most important is the Best Film. They are restricted to European cinema and European producers, directors and actors. The awards were officially also called the "Felix Awards" until 1997, in reference to the former award's trophy statuette, which was replaced by a feminine statuette.

Since 1997, the European Film Awards have been held in early- to mid-December. Hosting duties have alternated between Berlin, Germany in odd-numbered years and other European cities in even-numbered years. The 33rd European Film Awards were held on 12 December 2020 as a virtual ceremony. In reaction to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian films were excluded from the 2022 European Film Awards.

Also visit the Official Website for more information

Netflix came under investigation for tax fraud and its offices in France and the Netherland has been raided by officials, searching for documents. Netflix stated it is cooperating with authorities as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud and concealed employment.

"We are co-operating with the authorities in France, where Netflix is a significant contributor to the local economy — and we comply with the tax laws and regulations in all the countries in which we operate," stated a spokesperson.

The aim of the investigation was to discover how the alleged tax fraud had been implemented internally. Liberation reported that a raid was also being conducted simultaneously in Netflix's European HQ in the Netherlands, following months-long cooperation between French and Dutch investigators.

Paris and Los Angeles-based Other Angle Pictures has scored further sales on its Jean Claude Van Damme-powered action comedy The Gardener (Le Jardinier) and released a first-look image.

The film has sold to Falcon for the Middle East, Films4U in Portugal, Spentzos in Greece, and Amazon Prime Video for Italy and Spain, joining previous sales to North America (Bluefox), France (Amazon), German-speaking territories (Plaion) and eastern Europe (Mediasquad).

Van Damme and Michaël Youn star in the film about a man who lands on the government's blacklist and hatches an elaborate plan with his odd gardener to avoid being killed and protect his family.

Other Angle will hold a market premiere for David Charhon's film at AFM in Las Vegas. The Gardener is produced by Sébastien Fechner at Rose Prods.

As the use of Artificial intelligence (AI) in some form is becoming commonplace across the creative industries, filmmakers and content creators have described approaching its application with a mix of necessary caution and growing optimism.

AI is mostly being used to increase efficiencies in content creation – whether that be subject matter research, pre and post-production workflow fixes or generating subtitles and dubbing voices – said practitioners at the Geneva Digital Market this week.

"We use AI for the pre-production phase or the post production phase of our projects," explained Margot Wilwertz, who is the lead innovation project manager at France's TFI-owned Newen Studios.

She added: "We have been using AI in production extremely rarely, and only in cases which have been discussed with our legal teams. We're really, really careful with that."

One exception was taken during the Covid pandemic when two actresses in TF1's long-running soap opera Plus Belle La Vie (More Beautiful Life) became unwell and were unable to work.

"We either had to reshoot everything we had already shot with the actresses, or ask for permission to use their faces for deep fakes and use another actress to do this," Wilwertz told the gathered delegates. The actors were asked and signed legal agreements approving the move.

Wilwertz described using AI in production in a TFI documentary about a choreographer for TF1. As part of the film, the choreographer wanted to have a dancer in front of a murmuration of birds. But when it came to the shoot, no flock appeared.  "Our solution was to generate the birds and the unique movement using AI," she said.