Hong Kong Film Critics' Association has announced the nominations for the annual Golden Bauhinia Awards. INFERNAL AFFAIRS got 9 nominations, followed by HERO with 5.

Based on various reports, MASKED CRUSADER, a super-hero type action flick with Michelle Yeoh and director Jingle Ma, will be some sort of comedy. Jingle Ma said he was hoping the Masked Crusader would be somewhat "Spider-Woman"-like. To prepare for her role, Michelle Yeoh is currently practicing a "hawk" style martial-art. Last month, Michelle Yeoh, Jingle Ma and producer Thomas Chung, went to Shanghai to do the casting. They were looking for: an 8 - 10 year old girl who has learned martial-art to play the young Masked Crusader (not yet a crusader), 10 men to play cops, 4 girls to play flight attendants, and another 50 to play minor roles. Shooting will start no later than early April and locations will include Shanghai, Beijing and Japan.

Michelle Yeoh and Jingle Ma in Shanghai

Photo: THE TOUCH Official Site

Review: CRADLE 2 THE GRAVE (Negative, Major Spoilers) by "Mr. T"

Review: BULLETPROOF MONK (Positive, Minor Spoilers) by "BTH"

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Hong Kong's Sing Pao reports MiramAxe just pushed the released date of SHAOLIN SOCCER back again, for the fourth time, and shifted the effect onto HERO. MiramAxe's bid for the Oscar's Best Foreign Language Film category was CITY OF GOD. But after HERO was "unexpectedly" nominated for the award which was missed by CITY OF GOD, HERO has suddenly become very bankable. It is still up to MiramAxe to decide whether and how to bank it. If Sing Pao's report was true, HERO would probably be released in April in North America which was originally reserved for SHAOLIN SOCCER. According to Greg's Previews, the new release date for SHAOLIN SOCCER is August 8, 2003. I just checked MiramAxe's official site. HERO is still not in and SHAOLIN SOCCER remains at the "Upcoming Films" section.

Chris Hyde from Box Office Prophets has written an "hostile letter" to Harvey Weinstein, who run a cinematic empire called MiramAxe. The issue is about MiramAxe's treatment of Asian films, like HERO. Good read!

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Thanks to Ross Cheung

A teaser poster of WARRIORS OF HEAVEN AND EARTH has been released. A preview poster has already been released in July of 2001 and there will be another poster when the film is released in theater. Its original name is HEROES OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. "Heroes" was replaced by "warriors" is probably because there is another "HERO" even though both films were shot at the same time. The time is set in the Tang Dynasty and the story is about a former army officer in exile, a Japanese cop loyal to the Chinese ruler and is chasing the army officer, a general's daughter, leader of a group of desert bandits and a caravan just passing by. Co-produced and distributed by Columbia's Asian branch, the film is aiming at an October release.

Go to the film's special page

BLIND SHAFT / MANG JING (Mainland China / Hong Kong / Germany)

(The Silver Berlin Bear for An Artistic Contribution)

Two men are living on killing people. Each time they recommended someone to be a miner. Then kill their victim under the cover of a mining accident and claim compensation from the mine owner as the victim's relatives. They feel completely senseless about human life, but when a young boy is about to become the next victim, one of the killers starts to feel uneasy. He struggled between pity and greed. Finally he was killed in the mine while trying to save the boy's life.

Based on award winning novel Shen Mu (Sacred Wood) by Liu Qingbang, the film was created and directed by Li Yang, a Chinese student now studying in Germany.

2002, directed by Li Yang, staring Li Yixiang, Wang Shuangbao, Wang Baoqiang, 92 minutes.

Related picture: Director Li Yang   Actor Li Yixiang   Another still

KALA, MY DOG! / KA LA SHI TIAO GOU (China)

In Beijing, factory worker Lao Er (Ge You) lives in a screened life. His laid-off wife (Ding Jiali) and teenager son (Li Bin) are not giving him any easy time. Only a little mixed-breed dog called Kala is offering him some relief. One day a cop shows up and takes away Kala, who is unlicensed. Lao Er tries to bring Kala back through his friend of friend of friend, but each time he only gets the wrong dog. Only one option left - licensing Kala with 5000 yuans, otherwise he will never see Kala again...

2003, written and directed by Lu Xuechang, staring Ge You, Xia Yu, Ding Jiali, Li Bin, 110 minutes

Link: Sina.com

ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BRIDGE / AM ANDEREN ENDE DER BRÜCKE / FEN NI DE WEI XIAO

(China / Austria)

1931, a young Vienna girl Fanny Ebner (Nina Proll) met Ma Yunlong (Ma Yunlong), one of 18 police cadets from China. Soon they passionately fell in love but their relationship was rejected by their family, especially Fanny's father (Erwin Steinhauer) a teacher of the police academy. After Ma Yunlong returned to China, Fanny still could not forget her true love. One day, she received a letter containing a ship ticket to Shanghai. Against the will of her parents and advice from her best friend Annie (Muriel Baumeister), who just ended her short-lived marriage with another Chinese cadet Hua (James Pax), Fanny left Vienna and headed to China at the age of 18. They got married at M's little village and started a over half century long unbroken love through culture barrier, hardship, poverty, war and political unrest...

The film is based on the true story of Gertrude Wagner and Du Chengrong. Du Chengrong has passed away in 1990 and Gertrude Wagner die last Wednesday at the age of 86, just two days before the film's Shanghai premiere she had promised to attend.

2002, written by Wang Zhebin, directed by Hu Mei, staring Nina Proll, Wang Zhiwen, Susi Nicoletti, Song Xiaoying, Muriel Baumeister, Erwin Steinhauer, Julia Stemberger, Wang Yuchang, Karl Merkatz.

Links: Official Site   Sina.com   Filmab.de   Trailer (QuickTime)

ZHOU YU'S TRAIN / ZHOU YU DE HUO CHE (China)

Zhou Yu (Gong Li) works as a painter at a china factory. Twice a week, she takes train to the other city to meet her boyfriend Chen Qing (Tony Leung), a poet and a librarian who always looks a bit depressed. While on the train, she meet another man, Zhang Qing (Sun Honglei), a vet who is always filled with energy. Zhou Yu's relationship with these two man just like she takes every week, always on the move and never stop...

Based on Bei Cun's novel Zhou Yu De Na Han (Zhou Yu's Crying Out)

Written by Sun Zhou, Bei Cun, Zhang Mei, directed by Sun Zhou, Staring Gong Li, Tony Leung, Sun Honglei.

Official Site   Trailer

I am hoping this information can answer some questions many readers has asked.

From left to right: DVD box, DVD disc, VCD box, VCD disc. (Click on the images to see the large version)

Photo: Southern City

 

DVD
Disc type: DVD-5 (single-side and single-layer)	Disc type: DVD-9 (single-side and double-layer)
Number of disc: 1	Number of disc: 1 (?)
Video format: NTSC Color	Video format: NTSC Color (?)
Sound system: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound	Sound system: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (?)
Screen ratio: 1 : 2.35	Screen ratio: 1 : 2.35 (?)
Length: 98 minutes	Length: 120 minutes (?)
Language: Mandarin Chinese	Language: Mandarin Chinese
Subtitle: Simplified Chinese / Traditional Chinese / English (US)	Subtitle: Simplified Chinese / Traditional Chinese / English (US)
Feature: HERO (Theatrical Version)	Feature: HERO (Extended Version) (?)
Documentary of Making of the Film	Documentary of Making of the Film (?)
Release date: February 20, 2002	Release date: February 27, 2002 (?)
Released by:	Released by:
Guangdong Face Audio and Video Production Co. Lt.	Guangdong Face Audio and Video Production Co. Lt.
Guangdong WeiKai Audio and Video Production Co.	Guangdong WeiKai Audio and Video Production Co.
Distributed by: Guangzhou Audio and Video Publishing House	Distributed by: Guangzhou Audio and Video Publishing House
VCD
Number of disc: 1
Video format: Pal Color (?)
Sound system: Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound (?)
Screen ratio: 1 : 2.35 (?)
Length: 98 minutes
Language: Mandarin Chinese
Subtitle: Simplified Chinese
Feature: HERO (Theatrical Version)
Release date: February 20, 2002
Released by:
Guangdong Face Audio and Video Production Co. Lt.
Guangdong WeiKai Audio and Video Production Co.
Distributed by: Guangzhou Audio and Video Publishing House

According to Hong Kong's The Sun, MGM is planning a Jackie Chan flick called THE HIDDEN KINGDOM. It will be made as a Tomb Raider type adventure, which should be somewhat similar to Jackie Chan's OPERATION CONDOR series. The story will involve the fictional Shangri-La and shooting will be done in India and some other Asian countries. No word on when the shooting will start.

There are at least two Jackie Chan movies in preproduction - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS and TITANIUM RAIN. HIGHBINDERS is basically in the can and THE TWINS EFFECT, in which Jackie Chan takes a supporting role, is under production in Hong Kong.

Related Story: Hyde Park Attaches Jackie Chan to High-Octane Slate (Screen Daily)

Southern Daily reports production of 2046 will soon be wrapped up in Hong Kong and will restart in Shanghai next month. Kimura Takuya and Lau Kar-ling will not be involved in the Shanghai shoot and, in fact, no one has seen them on the set in Hong Kong either. According to Sina.com, young actress Kong Yishan has been added to the cast list.

Art Director Tim Yip has revealed a few things about Michelle Yeoh's HUA MULAN to Yangtze Evening Post. He said there were big war scenes in this movie and three to four thousand set of costumes would be made. Shooting will start in June in China. Michelle Yeoh will soon start working on MASKED CRUSADER, a super-hero, or more accurately, super-heroine type of movie by Hong Kong director Jingle Ma. Director Stanley Tong is planning another HUA MULAN, an English language movie staring a Chinese girl from the States. A third HUA MULAN, initiated by a Korean studio, has reserved the main spot for Zhang Ziyi but she has not said anything yet. All three project are not directly related to the Disney animation MULAN, although they are all based on the same Chinese folklore.

I am receiving tons of e-mails asking me all kinds of the HERO DVD and VCD everyday. Here are some answers based on what I know:

The DVDs and VCDs, released or will be released, have more than one origins. So far, there are distributors from the mainland China and Hong Kong selling official discs, which are becoming available today or in the near future.

In the mainland China, the discs are released by Face and WeiKai, and the distributor is Guangdong Audio and Video Publisher. DVD and VCD from them have been promised to be released today and there is no evidence to suggest the release has been delayed.

In Hong Kong, the discs are released by Edko and are possibly distributed by Joy Sales. So far, only VCD is released and DVD

 has been pushed back. A reader of this site, cliff r, has e-mailed SensAsian.com, one of the online disc sellers only offering Hong Kong version of VCD, concerning this matter. The answer he got confirmed such delay. Looks like Edko will not released the DVD until the film has been released globally. I suspect this is yet another influence from MiramAxe, which does not want DVD from Asia to "spoil" the theatrical release in North America. But, what if MiramAxe just kept pushing the theatrical release back again and again, would the DVD be held forever? I hope not.

There is also another version of VCD originated from Thailand currently available on the web, which I could not verify its authenticity. Many discs offered on Ebay are pirated products.