The first official trailer for Chinese movie Confucius, starring Chow Yun-Fat, Chen Jianbin and Zhou Xun etc. has been released…

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Trailer for Chinese movie The Founding of A Republic (建国大业), the biggest Chinese film ever produced in terms of star appearances, made in celebration for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

The video is a combo of various trailers, it gets repetitive after the 4th minute…

The story revolves around the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communists, which ended in 1949 when the People’s Republic of China was established by the victorious Communists.

Almost all notable A-list mainland Chinese stars are taking (at least a cameo) part in the movie; many without paid just to have their face in the symbolic film.

[video via schwaben18@Youtube]

Winners of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival. Not a bad outing for Asian films… Filipino director Brillante Mendoza won best director, Chinese director Lou Ye won best screenplay, while Korean director Park Chan-wook won a jury prize.

Feature films

Golden Palm – “The White Ribbon”, directed by Michael Haneke
Grand Prix – “A Prophet”, directed by Jacques Audiard
Best director – Brillante Mendoza, “Kinatay”
Best screenplay – Lou Ye, “Spring Fever”

Best actress – Charlotte Gainsbourg, “Antichrist”
Best actor – Christoph Waltz, “Inglorious Basterds”
Jury prize – “Fish Tank”, by Andrea Arnold / “Thirst”, by Park Chan-wook
Lifetime achievement award – “Wild Grass”, directed by Alain Resnais

Short films

Golden Palm – “Arena”, directed by João Salaviza
Special distinction – “The Six Dollar Fifty Man”, by Louis Sutherland, Mark Albiston

Other Cannes Film Festival 2009 articles: Photos [1] ~ Photos [2]

The 28th Hong Kong Film Awards, presented Sunday (Apr 19) at HKG Cultural Centre…

Best actor Nick Cheung at Hong Kong Film Awards 2009Best actress Paw Hee Ching at Hong Kong Film Awards 2009
Best actor and actress, Nick Cheung and Paw Hee Ching (Image from Baidu (Cn))

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Winners of the 3rd Asian Film Awards presented in Hong Kong on Monday (Mar 23)…

Best film – “Tokyo Sonata” (Hong Kong, Japan, Netherlands)
Best director – Hirokazu Kore-Eda, “Still Walking” (Japan)
Best actor – Masahiro Motoki, “Departures” (Japan)
Best actress – Zhou Xun, “The Equation of Love and Death” (China)

Best newcomer – Yu Shaoqun, “Forever Enthralled” (China)
Best supporting actor – Jung Woo-sung, “The Good, The Bad, The Weird” (Korea)
Best supporting actress – Gina Pareño, “Service” (Philippines)
Best screenwriter – Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Max Mannix, Sachiko Tanaka, “Tokyo Sonata”

Best cinematographer – Jola Dylewska, “Tulpan” (Kazakhstan and co.)
Best composer – Joe Hisaishi, “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” (Japan)
Best editor – Kim Sun-min, “The Chaser” (Korea)
Best special effect – Craig Hayes, “Red Cliff” (China)

Hayao Miyazaki’s animated film “Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea” is Japan’s highest grossing domestic movie in 2008, while “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” tops the international list.

Japanese movie poster of Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea
Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea (Image from Gibli Studio (Jp))

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The 45th Golden Horse Awards were presented at Zhongshan Hall in Taichung City, Taiwan, on Saturday (Dec 6). The Golden Horse is arguably the most prestigious award in the Chinese film industry.

Taiwanese movie “Cape No 7″ managed to scope 6 awards, albeit not the major ones… but there’s plenty to celebrate for the host considering how gloomy Taiwanese film industry was for the past decade or two.

Some of the major winners of the 45th Golden Horse Awards…

Best Feature Film – The Warlords
Best Director – Peter Chan (The Warlords)
Best Leading Actor – Zhang Hanyu (Assembly)
Best Leading Actress – Prudence Liew (True Women for Sale)
Best Supporting Actor – Ma Ju Long (Cape No 7)
Best Supporting Actress – Mei Fang (Orzboyz)

Refer to Golden Horse official website for complete list of winners. Check out some red carpet pics via Cfensi, Cri and Chinadaily.

The 21st Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) kicked off Saturday (Oct 18) with Japanese prime minister Taro Aso among the ~300 guests that graced the opening event at Roppongi Hills [via Japantoday]

The theme of TIFF 2008 is “Ecology = Preservation of Earth’s Environment”, and the organiser replaced the usual red carpet with a green carpet made from recycled plastic bottles to exemplify the theme, which I doubt could bring any meaningful effect.

A total of 315 films from around the world will be shown during the nine-day event. Chinese movie “Red Cliff”, directed by Hong Kong director John Woo, was selected to kick start the screening; would be cute if the stars wore some green outfit during the green carpet to echo the theme lol.

Picture of the cast of Chinese movie Red Cliff at Tokyo Film Festival 2008 in Japan
The main cast of Red Cliff at TIFF 2008… (L-R) Vicki Zhao, Chang Chen, Takeshi Kaneshiro, director John Woo, Tony Leung, Zhang Fengyi and Lin Chi Ling (Image from Udn)

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