A Hong Kong distributor has withdrawn a Chinese-made film from Taiwan's annual Golden Horse Film Festival, a Taiwanese official said on Tuesday, apparently under pressure from mainland officials.
A festival official said he was informed by the Hong Kong office of film distributor Fortissimo that Chinese authorities did not want the film The Go Master (吳清源) to be shown at the event.
Chang Chen (張震), who plays the strategy game master in the film, was nominated last month for best actor at the festival and was considered a front-runner for the award.
PHOTOS: AP
Beijing routinely bans Chinese films from the Taiwan-hosted Mandarin-language movie festival because of its long-standing political feud with the island.
Organizers and government officials officially launched Tuesday in Taipei the final 10-day countdown to the 2006 Taipei TV and Film Festival (TTF), the largest TV and film festival in Asia.
The annual festival, which will be from Thursday through next Saturday, includes three major events — the Taipei International TV, Film and Digital Contents Exhibition (TFCOM), the Taipei International Digital TV, Broadcasting and Film Forum and the Taiwan Film and TV Project Promotion.
"In only its third year, the festival has surpassed three major TV festivals in China and established a leading position in Asia, " said Lai Kuo-chou (賴國洲), chairman and CEO of Taiwan Television Enterprise (TTV), the main organizer.
There will be more than 650 booths set up by 75 companies from 10 countries at the TFCOM, to be held at the Taipei World Trade Center, Lai said.
Licensing deals signed this year are expected to surpass NT$157.5 million, up from last year's US$3.5 million, according to Government Information Office Minister Cheng Wen-tsang (鄭文燦).
The festival has been integrated by the GIO with the Golden Horse Awards and the Golden Bell Awards, into the Taiwan International Film and TV Expo, which runs Nov. 8 through Nov. 25.
Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie said she accepted a role in the movie, A Mighty Heart, now shooting in western Indian city Mumbai, because she felt there should be dialogue between different cultures and faiths, news reports said.
"We are all from different backgrounds, even people on the panel and characters in the film," which is based on the life of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Jolie told news agency IANS.
Jolie, who is playing Mariane Pearl, Daniel's wife in the film, flew into the city last week after over a month of shooting in Pune city, about 150km south-east of western Maharashtra state's capital Mumbai, where her bodyguards hogged the limelight by allegedly threatening and manhandling press photographers.
The actress and her partner Hollywood actor Brad Pitt and their three children have been under intense media scrutiny ever since they landed in India early last month.
The film A Mighty Heart is based on the book written by Mariane, deals with her husband who worked as a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and was abducted and killed in Pakistan four years ago.
Oscar-winning actor-director Warren Beatty will be honored with a lifetime achievement award at next year's Golden Globes, organizers announced Wednesday.
Beatty, 69, will receive the Cecil B. DeMille Award in recognition of a glittering movie career that has seen him direct or star in several classics including Bonnie and Clyde, Shampoo, Reds and Heaven Can Wait.
Previous winners of the award, which is decided by a vote of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), include Anthony Hopkins, Al Pacino and Jack Nicholson.
Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson has agreed to .a deal to make a film about his life, the movie industry daily Variety reported Wednesday.
Wilson, the lead songwriter of the legendary California-based 1960s supergroup, has signed an agreement with producer Mark Gordon for a biopic, according to Variety.
"I love the idea of there being a movie on my life, and I can't wait to see the script," Wilson was quoted by Variety as saying.
Wilson was responsible for some of the seminal songs of American rock music in the 1960s, including Surfin' USA, Good Vibrations and Help Me Rhonda. The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds is regularly cited as one of the most influential American albums ever.
Wilson had a turbulent life. Deaf in one ear and bullied by an abusive father, he eventually suffered from depression, drug addiction and a nervous breakdown.
That US assistance was a model for Taiwan’s spectacular development success was early recognized by policymakers and analysts. In a report to the US Congress for the fiscal year 1962, former President John F. Kennedy noted Taiwan’s “rapid economic growth,” was “producing a substantial net gain in living.” Kennedy had a stake in Taiwan’s achievements and the US’ official development assistance (ODA) in general: In September 1961, his entreaty to make the 1960s a “decade of development,” and an accompanying proposal for dedicated legislation to this end, had been formalized by congressional passage of the Foreign Assistance Act. Two
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