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The Rich Life of Tora-san and His Family

11/08/2018 by jazzhsu

I saw a touching documentary at a market screening in Tokyo Content Showcase: TORA-SAN OF GOTO 五島のトラさん. Director Masaru Oura kept a visual archive of the Tora family over a period of 22 years, documenting the family’s daily life, separation, reunification, marriage, birth and death – How was this big family led by Tora-san’s strict disciplines? How did the family business manage to raise 7 children, and then expand and pass onto the next generation? How did the siblings take the shared […]

Categories: filmmaker, interview

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Jason Zhao Goes to USC

09/25/2018 by jazzhsu

I had a talk with Jason about his off-and-on relationship with USC, right after he decided to suspend his 3-year MFA program for the second time to work once again in the film industry. Jason’s short film Illusion made in the 48 Independent Short Film Festival, Glendale International Film Festival, Burbank International Film Festival selection, The Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival and won the Best Student Sci-fi Short at the Hollywood International Moving Pictures Film Festival. He is now working for a […]

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Yang Cheng, the Connection

03/07/2017 by jazzhsu

I first met Yang Cheng at the 5th China Independent Film Festival in Nanjing, where we both were volunteers. It was the age of MSN, Olympics and global financial crisis. Over the years, Yang wrote film reviews, organized screenings, took film projects to pitches like HAF and Golden Horse and then attended a train of festivals with his steady productions. This time, he brings Berlinale an animation feature HAVE A NICE DAY directed by Liu Jian. This film won appreciation […]

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Has the Torch Been Passed to a New Generation?

12/09/2015 by jazzhsu

Chen Qiufan’s Parallel Universe Chen Qiufan, a.k.a. Stanley Chan, joined Noitom Technology Ltd. as its Vice President in 2015 after working for Google and Baidu in the past decade. He first published a sci-fi story in 1997 and has since published dozens more. His SF novel THE WASTE TIDE was crowned the Best Novel at the 2013 Xingyun Awards, China’s Nebula. His works were also translated and pulished on F&SF, CLARKESWORLD and LIGHTSPEED. Chen is currently adapting one of his […]

Categories: film market, industry

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China’s Animation Business

11/30/2015 by jazzhsu

This is a series of articles and interviews about China’s animators, ACG platform executives and voice actors, in the hope of presenting the general spectrum of China’s animation business. Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf Born in Hong Kong, animation film director and producer William Kan directed three of the seven popular Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf franchise films. Based on the wide distribution of its TV series over the decade, this whole film franchise has raked in over […]

Categories: film market, industry, report

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Stand by Me Doraemon, a case study

10/29/2015 by jazzhsu

Stand by Me Doraemon had premiered in Japan on August 8, 2014, so by the time it hit the Chinese cinema on May 28, 2015, a number of audience have already watched it in some theaters, or via BT Torrent. Also, the box office of Japanese animation films in China has been lukewarm for years: the highest grossing one used to be Detective Conan: Quarter of Silence 名探偵コナン: 沈黙の１５分クォーター, distributed in 2011 in China, earning 27.69 million RMB (4.36 million […]

Categories: film market, report

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Business Opportunities in the China Film Market

09/09/2015 by jazzhsu

Film Location Tourism Merchandising Literary Agency Talents and Talent Management I. Film Location Tourism Chinese films’ overseas location scout has repeatedly proved to be a continuous drive for Chinese tourists to visit those film locations. Director Feng Xiaogang’s IF YOU ARE THE ONE was one of the first such cases in recent years, making Japan’s Hokkaido a popular tourist destination among Chinese youth in 2008. In 2012, the local comic road movie LOST IN THAILAND (by Xu Zheng) saw […]

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Da Peng

08/27/2015 by jazzhsu

Web series director Dong Chengpeng wanted to make a feature film, but he only got a budget of 3.9 million USD that he tried hard to secure. He made the film anyway – a blinding troop of stars made a cameo appearance. Earning over 180 million USD in China, Dong’s first feature Jian Bing Man has crowned him the 6th member in the billion-yuan directors’ club. The other five are: Xu Zheng (Lost in Thailand), Stephen Chow (Journey to the […]

Categories: film market, filmmaker, industry, interview • Tags: comedy, film market, New Classics, Sohu, Wanda, web series

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China: The Young Market

05/25/2015 by jazzhsu

If there is only one word to describe the current China film market, that word should be YOUNG. Young audience The total cinema admissions in the China film market in 2014 is 830 million. Over 80% of the movie-goers are from 19 to 40 years old. More specifically, over half of them age from 19 to 30 years old. Most are college graduates. China’s box office revenue has surpassed 10 billion RMB within less than 100 days in 2015. Young […]

Categories: film market, industry, review

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