Nanjing Massacre Film PURPLE MOUNTAIN Now in Production (...)

July 31, 2007

Today is the first production day of Purple Mountain, formerly known as the project inspired by Iris Chang's The Rape of Nanking, the Chinese press reports. The story is focused on, during the the early few months of Japanese occupation of Chinese capital city of Nanking (now translated as Nanjing), from December 1937 to spring of 1938, how the live of tens thousands of Chinese were saved by a safe haven voluntarily established by a group of foreigners, including German businessman and Nazi member John Rabe and American missionary Minnie Vautrin. The story is largely based on news reports, witnesses' memoirs and survivors' personal stories. Purple Mountain, in short for Purple-Golden Mountain, is located just outside of the city.

The scene, done at Pukou Train Station in the north of Nanjing, is about  a group of Japanese soldiers setting up a blockade on the city rail line. These shots, reportedly would be used for the trailer. The cast list has not been released.

Jeffrey Caine (The Constant Gardener, Golden Eye) penned the final script, which was probably based on an early draft by William J. MacDonald (Rome the TV series). Simon West  (Con Air, Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, When a Stranger Calls) serves as the director and Robert Fraisse (Hotel Rwanda, The Notebook, Enemy at the Gates, L' Amant) is the cinematographer. This project is produced by China's Jiangsu Cultural Industry Group and US-based Viridian Entertainment, with partial funding from the UK. This $US53 million film is scheduled for a worldwide release next year. The original plan was to released it by December this year, to mark the 70th anniversary of the massacre.

There several other movie projects featuring the massacre are in various stage of preparation, including Lu chuan's Nanking! Nanking!, Stanley Tong's The Diary (literal) and Yim Ho's Christmas, 1937, Nanking.

Nanjing massacre anniversary marked in new film, July 31, 2007, Reuters (Thanks to "Da :-)".)

There Is another Nanjing/Nanking Massacre Project CHRISTMAS, 1937, NANKING (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) March 13, 2007

Cast Choice for Lu Chuan's NANJING! NANJING! (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) February 15, 2007

Three Nanjing Massacre Projects Running in Parallel (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) December 14, 2006

RAPE OF NANKING Adaptation Reassumed (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) August 15, 2006

Hollywood to Tell a Rape of Nanking Story (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) April 1, 2006

Stanley Tong Wants to Tell His Nanjing Massacre Story with THE DIARY (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) May 21, 2006

In Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION, Leung Chiu-Wai Is a Very Very Very Bad Man (Sina.com)

July 30, 2007

(Image: Focus Features, Shanghai Film Group Corp.)

Click here for two more images.

More about Lust, Caution.

WAR Clips (...)

July 29, 2007

Click here and  here. (Thanks to Jet Liang.)

More Shots of Jet Li in WAR (IGN) July 7, 2007

More Shots of Jet Li in WAR (BlackFilm.com) July 5, 2007

WAR's New Poster (Comingsoon.net) June 30, 2007

WAR Poster with Jet Li and Jason Statham (IGN) May 31, 2007

THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC GOURD's After-Credit Bloopers (Sina.com) June 21, 2007

More Stuffs from THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC GOURD (...) May 26, 2007

THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC GOURD Full Trailer (Sina.com) May 17, 2007

THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC GOURD Official Website (MagicGourd.cn) May 9, 2007

Trailer: THE SECRET OF THE MAGIC GOURD (Sina.com) April 28, 2007 

NIGHT ATTACK Trailer (...)

July 28, 2007

Opening This Week: July 21 - 27 (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive)

July 27, 2007

Official Site of Jiang Wen's THE SUN ALSO RISES, with a Brand New Trailer (Sohu.com)

July 26, 2007

(Images: Buyilehu Films, Emperor Motion Pictures, Taihe Films)

Click here.

Menu (left to right):

Trailer - Embedded. Better turn the site music off.

Synopsis - Chinese only.

Words of the Director -

Characters

Stills

Downloads - Wallpapers and posters

Crew

News - by Sohu.com

More posters: A B C

Actor Director Jiang Wen Plans His Third Directorial Effort - THE SUN RISES AGAIN (MonkeyPeaches Exclusive) June 30, 2005

Venezia 64 Lineup (LaBiennale.org)

July 26, 2007

The full lineup of the 64th Venice International Film Festival has been announced today.

In Competition:

The Sun Also Rises (China / Hong Kong) - by director JIANG Wen

Help Me Eros (Taiwan) - by director LEE Kang-sheng

Lust, Caution (China / USA) - by director Ang LEE

Sukiyaki Western Django (Japan) - by director MIIKE Takashi

Out of Competition:

Beyond the Years (South Korea) - by director IM Kwon-Taek
Glory to the Filmmaker! (Japan) - by director KITANO Takeshi
Blood Brothers (Taiwan / China / Hong Kong) - by director Alexi TAN

Orizzonti:
Sad Vacation (Japan) - by director AOYAMA Shinji
With the Girl of Black Soil (South Korea / France) - by director JEON Soo-il
The Obscure (China) - by director L?Yue

Orizzonti Doc:
Umbrella (China) - by director DU Haibin
Useless (China) - by director JIA Zhangke

Corto Cortissimo - In Competition:
Fish (South Korea) - by director JUHN Jaihong
Guo dao (China) - by director ZHANG Yue

The complete lineup.

BLOOD BROTHERS Theme Song by Shu Qi (Sina.com)

July 25, 2007

Click here for the video.

Characters Posters:

A B C D E F G H I

First Trailer of Ang Lee's LUST, CAUTION Released Officially (Focus Features)

July 24, 2007

It is the same trailer, showed up on Focus Features' website almost a month ago and was removed shortly after.

QuickTime: High   Low
Windows Media: High   Low

(Thanks to Focus Features and Mighty Ganesha.)

More about Lust, Caution.

Magnolia Got Johnnie To's EXILED in America (...)

July 24, 2007

Hong Kong director Johnnie To's stylish and exiting actioner Exiled is ready for a limited release in America, presented by Magnolia Pictures. Released last year in some areas of Asia, the story of this Hong Kong film is set in 1998 in Macao. Two hitmen quietly arrived at this little Portuguese colony, soon to be returned to China, to kill a man in exile. Then two other men shows up to stop their job. It turns out, a few years ago, they worked together once, of which the story is told in Johnnie To's The Mission.

Schedules:

8/31/2007 New York, NY: Angelika Film Center (6)
9/7/2007 Chicago, IL: Music Box
11/27/2007 Boulder, CO: International Film Series