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Chinese-language films make waves in Cannes
Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Three Times" is the latest local film to be reviewed at Cannes, but China's Chen Kaige stole the spotlight with a party to announce his soon-to-be-released "Promise"
By Yu Sen-lun
CONTRIBUTING REPORTER, Cannes, France
Saturday, May 21, 2005, Page 16
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Respire by Ho Wei-ting, was shown at the International Critic's Week section, in Cannes, France. Inset, Ho enjoys coffee with his crew.
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FILMMAKERS
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More than a week into the 58th Cannes Film Festival and the excitement seems to be growing.
Directors David Cronenburg and Michael Heneke have received more favorable remarks from film critics than have others in competition, and other heavy-weight directors, such as Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders, have also received much praise.
The only film yet to be shown is Three Times by Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien's (侯孝賢). The film will be the last to be reviewed in the arena of the French Reviera.
The biggest news in the world of Chinese film at Cannes has been the party and the press announcement of Chen Kaige's (陳凱歌) US$30 million fantasy epic Promise (無極). Hong Kong director Johnnie To (杜琪鋒) and Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai(王小帥) have both
appeared on the red carpet to show their new films in competition, but neither has won as much applause as Chen from critics and journalist here in Cannes.
The party for Chen Kaige's Promise was held at the lavish Chateau de la Napoule on the hills of nearby Cannes, in which a 12-minute preview was shown to guests. Chen is best known for his Palm d'Or winner Farewell My Concubine (霸王別姬) and will release Promise in Asia at the end of the year.
Promise touts the biggest budget ever for a Chinese film and stars Hong Kong actors Cecilia Cheung (張柏芝) and Nicolas Tse (謝霆鋒), South Korea's Jang Dong-kun and Japan's Hiroyuki Sanada.
The story is about fate and looks like another big-budget martial-arts saga similar to Hero (英雄) and House of Flying Daggers (十面埋伏). Cecilia Cheung plays a little girl who sells her happiness to a sorceress in order to become a princess, while a general (Sanada), a duke (Tse) and a third man (Jang) all fall for her and have their destinies manipulated by the sorceress.
Harvey Weinstein, film tycoon and former head of Miramax, has bought the film's distribution rights. The Weinstein company will be in charge of distributing the film in North America, the UK and Australia, while the film's European rights have also been sold.
While Promise caused media hype in the chateau, young Taiwanese director Ho Wei-ting (何蔚庭) attracted attention at one of the festival's side events, International Critic's Week, with his 15-minute film Respire (呼吸).
In this short, Ho presents a futuristic world in which wearing a mask is mandatory at all times, even when drinking, sleeping, smoking and kissing. Dream-like imagery and background music are key in the film, and the intimacy between mask-wearing characters becomes bizarre. The story was inspired during the time when SARS hit Taiwan and wearing masks became a daily habit.
"I am fascinated by the scene when everyone wears a mask, and I was curious about how human beings could communicate when one only sees half a face of the others," Ho said after the screening.
This year, Cannes has been a reunion of sorts for heavyweight filmmakers from Hong Kong and Taiwan. John Woo (吳宇森) is a jury member for the films competition, and has reviewed works of his friends Hou Hsiao-hsien and Johnnie To.
Meanwhile, another well-known director from Taiwan, Edward Yang (楊德昌), is serving in Cannes this year as the chairman of Cinefondation, a competition program for student films.
On Thursday the directors Woo, Yang and Hou met each other at Taiwan Night, a party held by the Government Information Office (GIO) to promote Taiwanese cinema.
Edward Yang, having been quiet for some time in the film circle, was surrounded by media and asked about the reason of his seclusion. He said he's been busy working on the animation film The Wind (追風少年), budgeted at US$25 million and co-produced with Jackie Chan (成龍).
The lead character, a young man with extraordinary kungfu abilities, will be designed based on Jackie Chan's facial characteristics, which is one of the major selling points of the movie. All the characters will be drawn up by Edward Yang and his team of animators, while action in the film will be done by Jackie Chan's crew.
"I want the film to be entirely created and produced by Taiwanese talents," Yang said. The film is scheduled to be finished in 2007.
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