By APA Staff

Arundhati Roy writing again, John Woo splits his film in two, and the Chinese Music Awards went to the usual people. All this and more in the latest edition of News from Abroad.

Li Yu's third film, Lost in Beijing, starring Tony Leung and Fan Bingbing, had been officially banned from the Berlin Film Festival by China's Film Bureau. However, after lobbying, the censors reversed the decision and came to a rare compromise -- that they could world premiere the film in Berlin on Friday, February 16th as scheduled, as long as they cut 15 minutes out of the film. Li Yu went on to screen the uncut version anyway, claiming that there was not enough to strike a new version. Lost in Beijing brings together a rich family and a poor family that are thrust together though circumstance, the story highlighting class conflict, parenting, and social reality in contemporary China. The censors objected to the film's depiction of gambling and modern sexuality; however, the producers say that the cuts would destroy the film. Displaying the uncut work puts her in jeopardy of being blacklisted in China -- something that recently happened to fellow Chinese filmmaker Lou Ye when he submitted his film Summer Palace (which shares the same producer, Fang Li) to the Cannes competition without government permission. --Ada Tseng

Films from China, Korea, Taiwan awarded at Berlin

Meanwhile, another Chinese film, Wang Quan-an's Tuya's Marriage, picked up the Golden Bear, the top prize at the Berlin Film Festival. The film depicts the tribulations of a displaced woman in inner Mongolia, and was not a favorite among critics to win the Golden Bear. Wang's acclolades didn't stop there. Tuya's Marriage won best film in the competition from the Ecumencial Jury, which also awarded Chinese film Getting Home by Zhang Yang the top prize for the Panorama category. Other Asian films did well too. Park Chan-wook's cooky I'm a Cyborg, but that's OK won the Alfred Bauer Prize, while Zero Chou's Spider Lilies won the Teddy Award for best gay film. Chou continues a tradition of recent success at Berlin by Taiwanese filmmakers -- Hou Hsiao-hsien picked up a FIPRESCI prize in Berlin in 1986 for A Time to Live and a Time to Die, Tsai Ming-liang picked up an award there in 1997 for The River and three more in 2005 for The Wayward Cloud, Ho Ping won the Don Quixote Prize in 2002 for The Rules of the Game, Lin Cheng-sheng won best director in 2001 for Betelnut Beauty, while Ang Lee scored the prestigious Golden Bear twice, with The Wedding Banquet in 1993 and Sense and Sensibility in 1995. China too is no stranger in Berlin. Tuya's Marriage makes it eight straight years with China winning some kind of award there: Little Red Flowers (2006), Peacock (2005), South of the Clouds (2004), Blind Shaft (2003), Chen Mo and Meiting (2002), Fish and Elephant (2002), Beijing Bicycle (2001), I Love Beijing (2001), The Road Home (2000). --Brian Hu

Studio Canal becomes Studio Chinoise

One of the world's foremost fans of maverick Jean-Pierre Melville, John Woo was long slated to remake the French director's crime classic Le Cercle Rouge. But now it seems like Woo is off the project, which is now in the lap of Hong Kong maestro Johnnie To, who many see as Hong Kong's most accomplished successor to John Woo. The remake, The Red Circle, will be To's anticipated English-language debut -- a project far more impressive than Woo's first Hollywood film, the notoriously butchered Jean-Claude Van Damme spectacle Hard Target. The Red Circle is a project of the French powerhouse Studio Canal, who is also helping to finance Woo's Beijing Story, Wong Kar-wai's own English-language debut My Blueberry Nights, and Hou Hsiao-hsien's French-language debut Ballon Rouge, itself a remake of another French classic. --Brian Hu

Arundhati Roy Turns Back to Fiction

In 1997, Arundhati Roy won the Booker Prize for her first and only novel The God of Small Things, a semi-autobiographical, politically charged story centering around fraternal twins in Kerala, India. In the years since then, she has been immersed in grassroots activism and non-fiction writing, speaking out about political issues ranging from globalization to the Iraq war to India's 1998 nuclear tests -- much of it documented in her collection of essays, including "The Algebra of Infinite Justice" and "An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire." A decade later, bit disillusioned and embittered by the government and court system in India, Roy maintains that she, as a writer, needs to step away from activism for a bit, take what she's learned, and apply it to her writing process. While she's not revealing the topic of her next book, she hints that the story may take place in Kashmir, where she has been spending a lot of her time.  --Ada Tseng

Woo becomes two

Speaking of John Woo, the godfather of contemporary action is making his return to Chinese cinema in a big way. Big times two, in fact. His Romance of the Three Kingdoms adaptation The Battle of Red Cliff has gone from its $50 million budget to a proposed $75 million, while the running length has exploded to four hours, set to be released as a pair of two hour releases. The rationale is that Chinese audiences are so familiar with the stories from this landmark work of literature that it'd be impossible to leave anything out. (International audiences won't know the difference, so they're getting a 2 1/2 hour version.) Shooting hasn't even started yet, so who knows how much bigger it's going to get. The talent sure indicates it's not going out quietly; Chow Yun-fat, Tony Leung Chiu-wai, Hu Jun, and supermodel Lin Chiling make it the biggest Chinese film since, well, the last big-budget Chinese costume epic. --Brian Hu

[V] powers its way into the Chinese Music Awards in Shanghai

Cable giant Channel [V] helped present the 13th annual Chinese Music Awards ceremony, along with China Central Television (CCTV) and the Shanghai Media Group. This enabled [V] to hawk their new [V] Wireless Original Music service, which allows users to upload Chinese songs for mobile phones. To do this, the awards show included the first-ever [V] Wireless Original Music Award, given to Xiao Fei for his song "Instant Noodle." Oh, and music awards were given too. Taiwanese singer A-mei Chang won best female artist and Hong Kong star Eason Chen won best male. Meanwhile, Angela Zhang was named most popular female artist, while Leehom Wang was named most popular male. Taiwanese trio S.H.E. was named best group, and countryman Tank won best newcomer. --Brian Hu

28 year-old Taiwanese actress Xu Wei-lun passes away

Hospital-ridden in a coma for two days, Golden Bell-nominated actress Xu Wei-lun died on January 28, 2007 from injuries sustained in a car accident. Also known as Beatrice Xu, the young actress was known for her roles in Taiwanese television dramas like Nine Ball, Express Boy, and Scent of Love. Since breaking onto the entertainment scene in 2000, Xu  appeared in television commercials and music videos, including those for such stars as Sammi Cheng, Mayday, and Leehom Wang. Xu also had cameos in the film Turn Left, Turn Right and the popular television serial Meteor Garden. --Brian Hu

Published: Saturday, February 17, 2007