RIPE FRUIT
Fruit Chan has been named as the filmmaker in focus at this year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (March 28-April 8). The maverick director will be honored with a commemorative book, a face-to-face interview and the screening of ten of his movies. These include: 1997’s“Made in Hong Kong,” 1998’s “The Longest Summer,” 1999’s “Little Cheung,” 2000’s “Durian Durian,” 2001’s “Hollywood Hong Kong,” 2002’s“Public Toilet,” 2004“Dumplings,” 2014’s “The Midnight After,” 2015’s “My City” and 2018’s“Three Husbands.”
PYRAMID SCHEME
Singapore-based VFX company Vividthree has signed a non-binding term sheet withChina’s metavision International, a company that specializes in location-based experiences, to explore a stock swap and an investment in the company’sTMP Immersive Expedition Centerin Chengdu, China.
The center, which opens to the public on Friday, will host exhibitions and virtual reality experiences that showcase the wonder of travel and exploration. The first exhibition “The Horizon of Khufu – Immersive Expedition,” is a 45-minute VR recreation of the interior and surroundings of the Pyramid of Khufu in Egypt.
OPEN AND CLOSE
The Osaka Asian Film Festival (March 1-10) will open with a screening of Hong Kong crime drama film “The Moon Thieves,” which stars members of the massively popular Cantopop boy band Mirror. Directed by Steve Yuen Kim-wai, it tells a fact-based tale of a daring watch theft perpetrated by a Hong Kong gang in 2010 Tokyo.
The festival will close with “Tokyo Cowboy,” the debut feature film of U.S. director Marc Marriott and set in Japan. It is a fish-out-of-water and journey of self-discovery story based on a screenplay co-written by Dave Boyle and lead actress Fujitani Ayako. It stars Iura Arata, Kunimura Jun, Fujitani, Robin Weigert and Goya Robles.
FIRE SALE
Australian independent cinema chain Majestic Cinemas has entered voluntary administration. The company, which operates nine venues in northern New South Wales and Queensland, reported reduced box office which it said was due to the multiple effects of COVID-19, last year’s twin strikes in Hollywood, rising operating costs and natural disasters that have included floods and fires. While under administration, the cinemas will remain open for business.
CELEBRITY CRICKET
Billionaire Mukesh Ambani‘s streaming platform JioCinema will exclusively live-stream Celebrity Cricket League Season 10 from Feb. 24. The tournament blends India’s twin obsessions, cricket and cinema, with each team populated with film personalities from India’s major language film industries including Hindi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
Salman Khan is the brand ambassador of the Sohail Khan-owned Mumbai Heroes team with Riteish Deshmukh as captain. Venkatesh is the brand ambassador of Telugu Warriors with Akhil Akkineni as captain. Arya is the captain of Chennai Rhinos and Sudeep the captain of Karnataka Bulldozers. Mohanlal is the co-owner of Kerala Strikers with Indrajith as captain. Manoj Tiwari is the captain of Bhojpuri Dabbangs and Sonu Sood the captain of Punjab De Sher. Boney Kapoor is the owner of Bengal Tigers along with its team’s captain Jissu Sengupta.
The previous season of Celebrity Cricket League reached over 250 million viewers across India.
