A Japanese-language remake of British drama “Still Life” could be the first film to flow from a fund created to support Chinese-Japanese joint productions.
The fund is operated by WeF Cultural Investment Media, a company founded earlier this year with the backing of government bodies in Beijing and Qingdao — the Chinese coastal city which boasts vast studios built by Wanda and now owned by Sunac.
Unveiled on the first day of the Tiffcom rights market, an adjunct to next week’s Tokyo International Film Festival, the WeFmedia fund is looking to back two films from long-standing production company Sedic International, according to WeFmedia executive Watanabe Masashiro.
The fund is intended to take advantage of and facilitate use of the China-Japan film co-production treaty that was signed last year. Masahiro listed factors including significant differences in production system, scale of market, and size of budget as obstacles that hinder...
The fund is operated by WeF Cultural Investment Media, a company founded earlier this year with the backing of government bodies in Beijing and Qingdao — the Chinese coastal city which boasts vast studios built by Wanda and now owned by Sunac.
Unveiled on the first day of the Tiffcom rights market, an adjunct to next week’s Tokyo International Film Festival, the WeFmedia fund is looking to back two films from long-standing production company Sedic International, according to WeFmedia executive Watanabe Masashiro.
The fund is intended to take advantage of and facilitate use of the China-Japan film co-production treaty that was signed last year. Masahiro listed factors including significant differences in production system, scale of market, and size of budget as obstacles that hinder...
- 10/22/2019
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Tiffcom’s China Day comprised a series of seminars and a networking event and follows the signing of a China-Japan co-production agreement last year.
Japan’s Sedic International is in talks to remake Uberto Pasolini’s Still Life as a Sino-Japan collaboration, one of many projects currently being discussed between Japan and China as the two Asian powers explore ways of working together.
The remake was flagged up during Tiffcom’s China Day, which comprised a series of seminars, presentations and a networking event, and follows the signing of an official co-production agreement between China and Japan in May 2018.
Sedic...
Japan’s Sedic International is in talks to remake Uberto Pasolini’s Still Life as a Sino-Japan collaboration, one of many projects currently being discussed between Japan and China as the two Asian powers explore ways of working together.
The remake was flagged up during Tiffcom’s China Day, which comprised a series of seminars, presentations and a networking event, and follows the signing of an official co-production agreement between China and Japan in May 2018.
Sedic...
- 10/22/2019
- by 89¦Liz Shackleton¦0¦
- ScreenDaily
The festival has assembled a strong programme for local audiences.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), proudly proclaiming its status as the world’s longest continually-running film festival (running since 1947) wrapped on Sunday with the world premiere of Adrian Noble’s Mrs Lowry & Son, starring Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave.
The festival opened 10 days earlier with the scrappily entertaining Boyz In The Wood by Scottish director Ninian Dorff, setting the tone for the fifth edition under artistic director Mark Adams.
An eclectic range of features was dotted with the UK premieres of significant homegrown films in 2019 so far – Joanna Hogg’s Sundance-winner The Souvenir,...
The Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff), proudly proclaiming its status as the world’s longest continually-running film festival (running since 1947) wrapped on Sunday with the world premiere of Adrian Noble’s Mrs Lowry & Son, starring Timothy Spall and Vanessa Redgrave.
The festival opened 10 days earlier with the scrappily entertaining Boyz In The Wood by Scottish director Ninian Dorff, setting the tone for the fifth edition under artistic director Mark Adams.
An eclectic range of features was dotted with the UK premieres of significant homegrown films in 2019 so far – Joanna Hogg’s Sundance-winner The Souvenir,...
- 7/1/2019
- by Fionnuala Halligan
- ScreenDaily
“Candyman” director Bernard Rose has helmed a new Japanese film, “Samurai Marathon,” which HanWay Films will introduce to buyers in Berlin. The picture has an original score by Philip Glass and is produced by HanWay’s Jeremy Thomas.
Thomas has a pedigree in Japanese cinema, making films including “13 Assassins” and “Hara-Kiri.” He has again teamed with Toshiaki Nakazawa, who produced the Academy Award-winning “Departures,” on “Samurai Marathon.”
Having an English director on the Japanese-language project is an unusual twist for a samurai movie. Thomas told Variety that Rose gives a subtly adjusted take on the genre but remains true to the form.
“I suggested why don’t we try and make a samurai film with an English director, or one not so entrenched in the tradition of samurai, which is a very traditional form of Japanese cinema,” Thomas said, adding that Rose “was fascinated by the challenge.”
The story...
Thomas has a pedigree in Japanese cinema, making films including “13 Assassins” and “Hara-Kiri.” He has again teamed with Toshiaki Nakazawa, who produced the Academy Award-winning “Departures,” on “Samurai Marathon.”
Having an English director on the Japanese-language project is an unusual twist for a samurai movie. Thomas told Variety that Rose gives a subtly adjusted take on the genre but remains true to the form.
“I suggested why don’t we try and make a samurai film with an English director, or one not so entrenched in the tradition of samurai, which is a very traditional form of Japanese cinema,” Thomas said, adding that Rose “was fascinated by the challenge.”
The story...
- 2/6/2019
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Long low on the priority list for Japan’s notoriously insular film industry, co-productions between the second-largest film market in Asia and its overseas partners are now in the spotlight. That was the view of a industry executives, speaking at a seminar at Tiffcom, on the margins of the Tokyo International Film Festival.
A bilateral film co-production agreement between Japan and China was signed in May. That marked a thawing of political relations and may open the door to a new film-making era. Not surprisingly, co-productions between Japan, Europe and Asia was the subject of a seminar held at Tiffcom on Wednesday.
Sedic International producer Toshiaki Nakazawa, whose credits include the Oscar-winning drama “Departures” and the Takashi Miike samurai swashbuckler “13 Assassins,” which he made with veteran British counterpart Jeremy Thomas, noted that Japan needs to “expand the pie” of its film market. Given that Japan’s population of 130 million...
A bilateral film co-production agreement between Japan and China was signed in May. That marked a thawing of political relations and may open the door to a new film-making era. Not surprisingly, co-productions between Japan, Europe and Asia was the subject of a seminar held at Tiffcom on Wednesday.
Sedic International producer Toshiaki Nakazawa, whose credits include the Oscar-winning drama “Departures” and the Takashi Miike samurai swashbuckler “13 Assassins,” which he made with veteran British counterpart Jeremy Thomas, noted that Japan needs to “expand the pie” of its film market. Given that Japan’s population of 130 million...
- 10/25/2018
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
The great Takashi Miike is making his way back to the horror genre with an as of yet to be titled new film focusing on one of Japan's most famous ghost stories, Yotsuya Kaiden. Read on for the first details.
Miike directs from a screenplay by Kikumi Yamagishi (Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai, The Happiness of the Katakuris). Nobuyasu Kita (13 Assassins, Hara-kiri) rejoins Miike behind the camera as cinematographer with Toshiaki Nakazawa (13 Assassins, Departure) producing. Production designer Yuji Hayashida and composer Koji Endo are also join the crew. Celluloid Dreams/uConnect, the sales division of uMedia, has acquired the international rights for the project in Cannes.
Recognized in many contemporary representations including The Ring franchise, the evil spirit Oiwa appears in her white burial gown, straggled hair, and drooping eye from when she was maimed by poison. Originally presented on stage in the early 1800s, Yotsuya Kaiden has been remade and reconfigured many times,...
Miike directs from a screenplay by Kikumi Yamagishi (Hara-kiri: Death of a Samurai, The Happiness of the Katakuris). Nobuyasu Kita (13 Assassins, Hara-kiri) rejoins Miike behind the camera as cinematographer with Toshiaki Nakazawa (13 Assassins, Departure) producing. Production designer Yuji Hayashida and composer Koji Endo are also join the crew. Celluloid Dreams/uConnect, the sales division of uMedia, has acquired the international rights for the project in Cannes.
Recognized in many contemporary representations including The Ring franchise, the evil spirit Oiwa appears in her white burial gown, straggled hair, and drooping eye from when she was maimed by poison. Originally presented on stage in the early 1800s, Yotsuya Kaiden has been remade and reconfigured many times,...
- 5/20/2013
- by Uncle Creepy
- DreadCentral.com
Back for its third year (see the 2010 edition) and bigger than ever, today kicks off the first in a fifteen-part look at the various cinematic releases hitting the U.S. in 2011. Each 'part' contains brief descriptions and editorial opinion/analysis of varying length covering twenty films. Expect the remaining ones to go up between now and the first major releases in mid-January.
Like all cinematic lists set within a timeframe, there's some overlap. Some films here have already opened worldwide but have yet to hit the U.S., some upcoming films you'd expect to be here aren't because they're either still in development or have already announced 2012 release dates, some were on last year's list but got delayed so have been included again (but with all new analysis).
I confined my list to films that have either set 2011 release dates or had begun/completed production, and only films that have...
Like all cinematic lists set within a timeframe, there's some overlap. Some films here have already opened worldwide but have yet to hit the U.S., some upcoming films you'd expect to be here aren't because they're either still in development or have already announced 2012 release dates, some were on last year's list but got delayed so have been included again (but with all new analysis).
I confined my list to films that have either set 2011 release dates or had begun/completed production, and only films that have...
- 12/13/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
Back for its third year (see the 2010 edition) and bigger than ever, today kicks off the first in a fifteen-part look at the various cinematic releases hitting the U.S. in 2011. Each 'part' contains brief descriptions and editorial opinion/analysis of varying length covering twenty films. Expect the remaining ones to go up between now and the first major releases in mid-January.
Like all cinematic lists set within a timeframe, there's some overlap. Some films here have already opened worldwide but have yet to hit the U.S., some upcoming films you'd expect to be here aren't because they're either still in development or have already announced 2012 release dates, some were on last year's list but got delayed so have been included again (but with all new analysis).
I confined my list to films that have either set 2011 release dates or had begun/completed production, and only films that have...
Like all cinematic lists set within a timeframe, there's some overlap. Some films here have already opened worldwide but have yet to hit the U.S., some upcoming films you'd expect to be here aren't because they're either still in development or have already announced 2012 release dates, some were on last year's list but got delayed so have been included again (but with all new analysis).
I confined my list to films that have either set 2011 release dates or had begun/completed production, and only films that have...
- 12/13/2010
- by Garth Franklin
- Dark Horizons
British producer Jeremy Thomas regaled a packed house with a lifetime's worth of cinematic experiences Monday at a UniJapan Entertainment Forum seminar titled "Co-production with Asian Countries."
"I was born in a cinema, my father made more than 50 films," Thomas began.
He went on to describe how his association with Asian cinema began with a chance dinner meeting with Japanese filmmaker Oshima, who sent him a script two years later. That script ended up becoming the film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.
"It was Takeshi Kitano's first role, he'd never been in a film before. He ended up making films himself as well as acting," said Thomas, who later produced Brother, which Kitano directed.
Thomas, who produced this year's Takeshi Miike-helmed hit 13 Assassins, said he had chosen to work with Miike because he had loved the director's Audition, which he said had shocked him.
"They wanted me as an outside perspective,...
"I was born in a cinema, my father made more than 50 films," Thomas began.
He went on to describe how his association with Asian cinema began with a chance dinner meeting with Japanese filmmaker Oshima, who sent him a script two years later. That script ended up becoming the film Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence.
"It was Takeshi Kitano's first role, he'd never been in a film before. He ended up making films himself as well as acting," said Thomas, who later produced Brother, which Kitano directed.
Thomas, who produced this year's Takeshi Miike-helmed hit 13 Assassins, said he had chosen to work with Miike because he had loved the director's Audition, which he said had shocked him.
"They wanted me as an outside perspective,...
- 10/26/2010
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Controversial Japanese director Takashi Miike is a very busy man these days.
13 Assassins
Two new projects for him this year, Zebraman 2 and something that’s already being described as “an epic samurai bloodbath” and the reason why we’re here today movie titled 13 Assassins.
When you’re that busy, then you definitely deserve to have a movie playing In Competition at the Venice Film Festival 2010.
The film is a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 black-and-white Japanese movie of the same name, and the story follows:
“Esteemed samurai Shinzaemon Shimada is secretly commissioned to terminate the evil Lord Naritsugu after his bloody rise to power. Assembling an elite group of samurai, Shinzaemon plots to ambush the Lord on his annual journey home from Edo.
The courageous samurai know it’s a suicide mission because the Lord is closely protected by a deadly entourage led by Shinzaemon’s nemesis, the ruthless Hanbei.
13 Assassins
Two new projects for him this year, Zebraman 2 and something that’s already being described as “an epic samurai bloodbath” and the reason why we’re here today movie titled 13 Assassins.
When you’re that busy, then you definitely deserve to have a movie playing In Competition at the Venice Film Festival 2010.
The film is a remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 black-and-white Japanese movie of the same name, and the story follows:
“Esteemed samurai Shinzaemon Shimada is secretly commissioned to terminate the evil Lord Naritsugu after his bloody rise to power. Assembling an elite group of samurai, Shinzaemon plots to ambush the Lord on his annual journey home from Edo.
The courageous samurai know it’s a suicide mission because the Lord is closely protected by a deadly entourage led by Shinzaemon’s nemesis, the ruthless Hanbei.
- 8/4/2010
- by Fiona
- Filmofilia
I guess the remake virus created in Hollywood’s laboratory has finally caught up with Asia’s producers and directors. At least that’s the way it looks judging from the news reported in the last few days.
First, Japan’s exceptional director Takashi Miike has announced his remake of Eiichi Kudo’s classic Thirteen Assassins (Juusan-nin no Shikaku). The film tells the story of a group of assassins (I’ll let you guess how many…) on a suicide mission to kill the younger brother of a shogun who brutally raped and murdered a girl. Joined by producer Toshiaki Nakazawa (Departures, Sukiyaki Western Django), the shooting is supposed to start in July.
Here’s the trailer for the 1963 original [via Wildgrounds & Screen Daily]:
According to KFC Cinema, Dante Lam has also chosen a film from his home country and plans to remake the Shaw Bros. wuxia classic The Flying Guillotine for a summer 2010 release.
First, Japan’s exceptional director Takashi Miike has announced his remake of Eiichi Kudo’s classic Thirteen Assassins (Juusan-nin no Shikaku). The film tells the story of a group of assassins (I’ll let you guess how many…) on a suicide mission to kill the younger brother of a shogun who brutally raped and murdered a girl. Joined by producer Toshiaki Nakazawa (Departures, Sukiyaki Western Django), the shooting is supposed to start in July.
Here’s the trailer for the 1963 original [via Wildgrounds & Screen Daily]:
According to KFC Cinema, Dante Lam has also chosen a film from his home country and plans to remake the Shaw Bros. wuxia classic The Flying Guillotine for a summer 2010 release.
- 5/13/2009
- by Ulrik
- Affenheimtheater
The ever diligent Japanese director is lacing up his sandals and brandishing a katana sword for an upcoming remake of Eiichi Kudo’s 1963 film Thirteen Assassins
The two producers behind this project are based in Japan and the UK. Japan’s Toshiaki Nakazawa picked up this year’s foreign-language Oscar for Departures, you might have heard of it, and has worked with Miike on Sukiyaki Western Django and The Bird People in China. The UK’s Jeremy Thomas has a extensive experience with Asian cinema. He made Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and brought Takeshi Kitano’s Brother to the international marketplace. Having a western based producer behind the production should mean a greater chance of Miike’s film traveling outside of Japan. Toho Studios has already bought the rights for the Japanese theatrical release.
Receiving a confidential order from a senior executive of the Tokugawa Sshogunate, 13 samurai...
The two producers behind this project are based in Japan and the UK. Japan’s Toshiaki Nakazawa picked up this year’s foreign-language Oscar for Departures, you might have heard of it, and has worked with Miike on Sukiyaki Western Django and The Bird People in China. The UK’s Jeremy Thomas has a extensive experience with Asian cinema. He made Nagisa Oshima’s Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence and brought Takeshi Kitano’s Brother to the international marketplace. Having a western based producer behind the production should mean a greater chance of Miike’s film traveling outside of Japan. Toho Studios has already bought the rights for the Japanese theatrical release.
Receiving a confidential order from a senior executive of the Tokugawa Sshogunate, 13 samurai...
- 5/12/2009
- by Mack
- Screen Anarchy
Oscar winning producers Toshiaki Nakazawa and Jeremy Thomas have teamed up to produce a remake of the 1963 classic martial arts film Thirteen Assassins.
Director Takashi Miike will be helming the picture, due to begin shooting in Japan in July this year.
I've never seen the original movie it has to be said, but I'm liking the sound of it without a doubt. The Hollywood Reporter had more to say on the picture, stating:
The Japanese director is sharpening up plans to helm the shogun-era tale about 13 assassins, an evil lord and their secret mission to take him out. But unbeknownst to them, the assassins are outnumbered 10 to one by the lord's team of crack bodyguards. Swords, sandals and blood fly.
Thomas' sales and finance arm HanWay Films is handling international sales here in Cannes. Toho has prebought rights for a theatrical rollout in Japan. The slash fest will be produced...
Director Takashi Miike will be helming the picture, due to begin shooting in Japan in July this year.
I've never seen the original movie it has to be said, but I'm liking the sound of it without a doubt. The Hollywood Reporter had more to say on the picture, stating:
The Japanese director is sharpening up plans to helm the shogun-era tale about 13 assassins, an evil lord and their secret mission to take him out. But unbeknownst to them, the assassins are outnumbered 10 to one by the lord's team of crack bodyguards. Swords, sandals and blood fly.
Thomas' sales and finance arm HanWay Films is handling international sales here in Cannes. Toho has prebought rights for a theatrical rollout in Japan. The slash fest will be produced...
- 5/12/2009
- by info@originalsharpsays.com (Craig Sharp)
- FilmShaft.com
Beloved cult Japanese director Takashi Miike has gotten the funding and producers needed to finally make Thirteen Assassins, his samurai film. Based on Eiichi Kudo's 1963 film of the same name, the film is set in the shogun era and follows 13 assassins who come together for a suicide mission to kill an evil lord. Producers Jeremy Thomas and Toshiaki Nakazawa are teaming up to fund and produce the project, both of whom have a glowing background. Nakazawa produced this year's foreign language film Oscar winner Departures, Thomas produced Bernardo Bertolucci's The Last Emperor, which also won Best Picture. For those unfamiliar with Miike, the filmmaker broke into the cult side of things here in the Us with crazy films like Audition, Dead or Alive, Ichi the Killer, and the original One Missed Call. He most recently directed the spaghetti western Sukiyaki Western Django, that Quentin Tarantino had a cameo in,...
- 5/12/2009
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
Locarno International Film Festival
LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Robots are threatening the world in Fumihiko Sori's enjoyable Japanese anime romp Vexille, and they're even more dangerous when they become useless piles of junk mashed up in swirling twisters of scything metal teeth called Jags.
Digital Domain veteran Sori, whose first directing job was Ping Pong, and Haruka Handa (Appleseed) have scripted a CG animation film full of furious action as a team of uncommonly well-equipped soldiers goes to war with the androids. Anime is an acquired taste but fans will surely respond to the picture's dynamite energy. Those not already in the fold will find this one very easy to take.
It's 2077, and Japan has become a renegade nation closed to the rest of the world. Shielded from penetration by air, sea and space for 10 years, the island nation has become a dangerous mystery to the United Nations. The country's isolation resulted when it fell out with other countries over the development of robotics and its determination to continue creating them even when they were banned everywhere else.
The fear is that Daiwa Heavy Industries in Tokyo has taken its creation of human androids to extremes so the only answer is to send in a crack team of fighters to hook up with Japanese underground rebels and find out what's going on. Enter Vexille, a GI Jane and then some, whose squad uses ultra-high-tech uniforms, weapons and vehicles to rocket into battle.
It's silly fun, simplistic in its heroes and villains and sentimental in its message. British mixer Paul Oakenfold's pounding original music and tracks from such as Basement Jaxx, MIA and the Prodigy help muster the proceedings, blending well with Koji Kasamatsu's industrial sound design.
Using Japanese voices for the American characters is a bit disorienting for non-Japanese, especially as the sub-titles fairly zip along and sometimes it's hard to tell which bits of death-dealing weaponry are working for the good guys or the bad guys.
But the weapons are terrific and the CG action, which is almost constant, is inventive and cleverly thought through. In close-up, the characters are bland and washed out but once the bullets start whizzing the frame is filled with live-wire entertainment. And those vicious tornadoes of crunching jagged edges are something to see.
VEXILLE
Shochiku presents an Oxybot production
Credits:
Director: Fumihiko Sori
Writers: Haruka Handa, Fumihiko Sori
Producers: Toshiaki Nakazawa, Yumiko Yoshihara, Ichiro Takese
Production designer: Toru Hishiyama
Music: Paul Oakenfold
Editor: Fumihiko Sori
Cast:
Vexille: Meisa Kuroki
Leon: Shosuke Tanhiara
Maria: Yasuko Matsuyuki
Ryo: Takahiro Sakurai
Takashi: Tetsua Kakihara
Mr. Saito: Akio Otsuka
Mr. Kisaragi: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Robots are threatening the world in Fumihiko Sori's enjoyable Japanese anime romp Vexille, and they're even more dangerous when they become useless piles of junk mashed up in swirling twisters of scything metal teeth called Jags.
Digital Domain veteran Sori, whose first directing job was Ping Pong, and Haruka Handa (Appleseed) have scripted a CG animation film full of furious action as a team of uncommonly well-equipped soldiers goes to war with the androids. Anime is an acquired taste but fans will surely respond to the picture's dynamite energy. Those not already in the fold will find this one very easy to take.
It's 2077, and Japan has become a renegade nation closed to the rest of the world. Shielded from penetration by air, sea and space for 10 years, the island nation has become a dangerous mystery to the United Nations. The country's isolation resulted when it fell out with other countries over the development of robotics and its determination to continue creating them even when they were banned everywhere else.
The fear is that Daiwa Heavy Industries in Tokyo has taken its creation of human androids to extremes so the only answer is to send in a crack team of fighters to hook up with Japanese underground rebels and find out what's going on. Enter Vexille, a GI Jane and then some, whose squad uses ultra-high-tech uniforms, weapons and vehicles to rocket into battle.
It's silly fun, simplistic in its heroes and villains and sentimental in its message. British mixer Paul Oakenfold's pounding original music and tracks from such as Basement Jaxx, MIA and the Prodigy help muster the proceedings, blending well with Koji Kasamatsu's industrial sound design.
Using Japanese voices for the American characters is a bit disorienting for non-Japanese, especially as the sub-titles fairly zip along and sometimes it's hard to tell which bits of death-dealing weaponry are working for the good guys or the bad guys.
But the weapons are terrific and the CG action, which is almost constant, is inventive and cleverly thought through. In close-up, the characters are bland and washed out but once the bullets start whizzing the frame is filled with live-wire entertainment. And those vicious tornadoes of crunching jagged edges are something to see.
VEXILLE
Shochiku presents an Oxybot production
Credits:
Director: Fumihiko Sori
Writers: Haruka Handa, Fumihiko Sori
Producers: Toshiaki Nakazawa, Yumiko Yoshihara, Ichiro Takese
Production designer: Toru Hishiyama
Music: Paul Oakenfold
Editor: Fumihiko Sori
Cast:
Vexille: Meisa Kuroki
Leon: Shosuke Tanhiara
Maria: Yasuko Matsuyuki
Ryo: Takahiro Sakurai
Takashi: Tetsua Kakihara
Mr. Saito: Akio Otsuka
Mr. Kisaragi: Toshiyuki Morikawa
Running time -- 109 minutes
No MPAA rating...
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