By APA Staff

The Warlords leads the list of Golden Horse nominations, Rain is banned for language, and mainland director Xie Jin passes away. All this and more in the latest edition of News from Abroad.

Director Xie Jin passes away

Xie Jin, the most important Maoist-era mainland filmmaker, has died. Once beloved, later denounced, then redeemed as a legend of world cinema, Xie made 18 films between 1957 and 2001. Taken together, his films reflect the breath of mainland cinema (Xie proved as proficient in comedy and opera film as he was in the melodramas and epics that made him famous), as well the political and social changes of those years. His 1960s classics The Red Detachment of Women and Two Stage Sisters gave him the reputation as a great director of women, as well as an innovative articulator of socialist themes. Though there were the detractors, critics at home (and soon, abroad as well) noticed his skill at staging, using color, and directing acting. Audiences too found his dramas spectacular, and never abandoned Xie even in the 1980s, when his films The Legend of Tianyun Mountain and Hibiscus Town became major cultural touchstones and paved the way for younger directors like Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.  --Brian Hu


Golden Horse Awards love warlords and musicians

Taiwan's 45th Golden Horse Award nominations were announced Thursday, Oct 30th, and it looks like Peter Chan's The Warlords dominated the competition with 12 nominations. These include a nod for director Chan and one for actor Jet Li. Just six months ago, The Warlords was also the big winner at the Hong Kong Film Awards, taking home the Best Film and Best Director awards. Also receiving great news were Wei Te-sheng (nine nominations for his current hit, Cape No.7, which is up for both Best Feature Film and Oustanding Taiwanese Film of the Year) and Feng Xiaogang (six nominations for The Assembly). The other two films in competition for the Best Film category are Yang Ya-che's Orz Boyz and Liu Fendou's Ocean Flame. John Woo's Red Cliff picked up a few nominations in the visual effects and costume design categories, but failed to pick up nominations in any of the major award categories. The ceremony will be held in Taizhong on December 6th. --Ada Tseng


CJ7's Xu Jiao get another sci-fi gig

Looks like CJ7's child prodigy Xu Jiao is going to have a new superstar "Dad" after Stephen Chow. The eleven-year-old actress was chosen to star in Wong Jing's new sci-fi movie Future Cop, opposite Andy Lau and Taiwanese beauty icon Barbie Hsu. Wong hinted that the film will be along the lines of X-Men and will employ the special effects crew from The Dark Knight. The film follows a policeman (Andy Lau) from year 2085, who is time traveling back to 2008 to save his kidnapped daughter (Xu Jiao). Finally playing a girl again, I hope Xu gets to keep her hair this time. Future Cop is slated for release at the end of 2009. --Winghei Kwok


Watch BoA Perform Live Online!

On November 23rd from 9am-8:30pm (Korea standard time) on Youtube, fans of BoA will be able to see a live performance from San Francisco's Port Main Center, as well as other renowned musicians such as Akon, Will.I.AM, Esmee Denters,. In this special event of "YouTube Live," BoA will open the show as the MC and perform her U.S. debut song "Eat You Up." "YouTube Live" will be shown live in real-time to those in the United States and will have a show broadcast delay of 15-30 minutes in Japan. To find out more about BoA's performance visit here (U.S.) or here (Japan). --Kristie Hong

 
Dirty Rain

SBS, a Korean television broadcaster, has banned Rain's newest track, "You," because of the song's overly-suggestive lyrics. This type of censorship, of course, just makes people talk about the song more and discuss/highlight/analyze the lyrics that were banned in the first place. Translations: "I am stuck in your lumps, hide your rump. Because of you, I am going crazy. Wet my body so I can feel it whenever, your sexy lips are touching me all over." Parents, beware. Children, to listen to the song, click here. --Ada Tseng

Bond Breaks into China

Known for its strict standards and guidelines, the Chinese government limits the release of foreign films to twelve reels per year, eight from Hollywood. The suave British spy James Bond finally made it through Chinese censors, a feat which had previously been very difficult due to the common 007 theme of espionage in other jurisdictions or developing countries. They have recently passed the latest Bond film Quantum of Solace, which is slated to come out on November 5th, debuting on at least 1,000 screens. Sony executives say the film will most likely be the last big picture of the year in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Recent trends suggest China is opening up their theatrical market to the huge demand from foreign distributors itching to invest in China's lucrative economy and huge audience. --Ellen Ho


Le Visage of Taiwan at the Louvre

Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang is shooting his new film Le Visage (The Face) at the Louvre in Paris. A French-Taiwanese production, the film will star French actress Laetitia Casta and Taiwanese actor Lee Kang-sheng.  Based on the biblical story of Salome, Le Visage will be a film within a film made in the style of French "New Wave" cinema in the 60s. While the producers of Da Vinci Code paid the Louvre 40,000 euros per day to shoot there, Le Visage's NT$200 million budget did not have to include rental fees for the museum. Henri Loyrett, the museum's director told Tsai at a press conference that not only does he not have to pay to shoot there, but he can even borrow Da Vinci's "Visage" for display in Taiwan during its local release. It seems like Hollywood doesn't always get preferential treatment, at least not in France. The film will have its debut screening at Cannes Film Festival in spring. --Winghei Kwok


Tulpan Takes Tokyo

Sergey Dvortsevoy's Tulpan took home the Sakura Grand Prix prize for best film at the Tokyo International Film Festival this year. Tulpan is on a roll, as the film had previously earned the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes as well as the top feature film honors at the Zurich Film Festival in Munich. Also in Tokyo, director Jerzy Skolimowski took home the Grand Jury Prize for his film 4 Nights with Anna, Tetsu Maeda won the Audience Award for School Days With a Pig, and Francois Dupeyron got the best artistic contribution prize for With a Little Help From Myself. In addition, Nikita Mikhalkov and Chen Kaige received lifetime achievement awards for their contribution to the industry. The Tokyo International Film Festival took place from October 17th to 26th. For more awards announcements, click here. --Ada Tseng


Must Watch Couple in Romantic Comedy

Malaysian actor Christopher Lee and Singaporean actress Fann Wong have collaborated eight times in previous films and will be featured in yet another project:  Singaporean romantic comedy The Wedding of the Year. The collaboration is very much anticipated. It is yet another chance to dig into the couple's much-followed real-life relationship. The $1.5 million film is produced by Media Corp Raintree and Scorpio East, will star Ekachai Uekrongtham, and will be released before Chinese New Year in January. --Christie Liu

Song Hye-kyo back on the small screen

Busy working on back-to-back films, actress Song Hye-kyo had taken a four year break from acting in Korean television dramas. But she's back, starring in a new series called Worlds Within. She plays a television producer who's trying to survive in a male-dominated industry. So, Song is not only transtioning back to the television world in her real life, but playing a person who is working in the television world in her fictitious life.  Her costar will be Hyun Bin, who plays a character who eventually becomes her mentor. Song is most known for her role in Full House, opposite Rain, but recently she's been working on films, such as the American independent feature, Make Yourself at Home, and John Woo's 1949, opposite Chang Chen. --Ada Tseng

Published: Friday, October 31, 2008