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

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 […]

Categories: filmmaker, interview

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 […]

Categories: filmmaker, interview

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a professional producer in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a great director. In current China, there is no lack of fortune, but it takes time to locate professional producers and really good directors. In the THE CHINESE FILM MARKET 2014 AFM issue, we present 13 young and talented filmmakers who might bring the next new wave of Chinese cinema or drive the Chinese-American co-production to the next stage. […]

Categories: filmmaker, interview

Ning Hao has become a household name since his third feature Crazy Stone released in 2006. A three million investment winning over seven times more at the box office made quite a few headlines at the time. He has since been compared to Guy Ritchie and Quentin Tarantino. His black humor is unconventional and his ability to mingle several storylines almost unprecedented in Chinese cinema. Anybody who has seen his early work Incense would see Ning’s fatalistic inclination: a penniless […]

Categories: filmmaker, interview