Who's in

It's not strictly a laughing matter, says Feng

Having finished the production of Assembly (Jijie Hao), his first war epic to screen at the end of this year, director Feng Xiaogang (pictured) is now preparing for Aristocracy (working title), a film about the lives of rich people in Beijing. The story, Feng says, is serious but it will still feature his sense of humor.

The filming will start at the end of this year, when the script is due to be completed. Hong Kong director Pang Ho-Cheung is now working with Feng on the screenplay. Feng invited Pang to join in the project after seeing the young director's comedy Men Suddenly in Black (Da Zhangfu).

Crowds 'won't rush to Jackie'

Jackie Chan's (pictured left) Rush Hour 3 will not have a theatrical release in Chinese mainland.

China's Film Bureau says it withheld permission because of low expectation of the picture's box office.

However, some believe that the scene featuring a Chinese organized crime family that Chan and Chris Tucker's characters take on during a visit to Paris is part of the reason.

But China's film group in charge of importing international films to release in China's cinemas denied this claim. Xiao Ping, a VP at China Film Group's import and export arm, said last Thursday that they just didn't think the film would be popular.

Liu wants to make you cry

Taiwan director Liu Sonbai (pictured) is back on the Chinese mainland to find investors for his new tear jerker Goodbye, Star Shower (Zaijian Liuxingyu), after his last film Mom, Love Me Again (Mama Zai Ai Wo Yici) caused a boom of handkerchief sales in China two decades ago. The new film, now a completed script, will be even more moving than Mom, Liu says. The story centers on a boy who seeks his father who was lost in the chaos before the Nanjing Massacre in 1937.

Out of directorial work for almost 20 years, Liu devoted himself to adapting ancient poems into songs and promoting them in Taiwan's primary schools. Liu says he gave up finding investment in Taiwan due to the industry's decline on the island, which used to produce some 200 pictures a year but now only around ten.

China Daily

(China Daily 08/07/2007 page18)