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Kungfu king to kick start green film fest

Kungfu star Jackie Chan has been invited to chair the organizing committee of the first China International Environment Film Week. Organizers from the China New Media Company say scores of feature films, documentaries and short films from China and abroad will be screened in Beijing's communities and campuses.

Chan says that environmental protection is not only a significant issue for the country's leaders but is also the responsibility of every civilian, including the filmmakers. He called for directors to shoot "green films" and contribute to environmental protection.

The event will also feature a forum on Environmental Protection and the Responsibility of Filmmakers. This forum would be attended by environmentalists, film stars, producers and directors. The general public is also encouraged to shoot DV footage relevant to environmental protection for an environmental DV competition staged during the film week. Established mainland director Feng Xiaogang will lead a jury of famous directors in judging submissions.

Festival fever hits Wuhan

The 8th China Arts Festival, the country's largest platform for local artists to showcase their creations, opened on Monday in Wuhan in Central China's Hubei Province.

The festival, held by the Ministry of Culture in conjunction with the local government, aims to display "the latest major achievements and fruits of the Chinese cultural and art sector over the past five years", a spokesman of the organizing committee said.

A total of 54 dramas from across the country will compete for the "Wenhua" prize, the highest performance art award in China.

The spokesman said more than 500 shows and 32 exhibitions will be on show during the two-week festival, including 10 overseas dramas.

The annual festival, which has run since 1987, will feature more than 8,000 artists and actors with an expected audience of 200,000.

Game puts players in combat boots of Warlords characters

The online game adapted from The Warlords (Tou Ming Zhuang), the latest opus of Hong Kong director Peter Chan, will hit shelves on December 13, the same day of the film's premiere.

The film is one of the most anticipated flicks of the coming Christmas season because of its stellar cast, which includes Jet Li, Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro, as well as Chan's promise to present a different Chinese costume epic made great by quality storytelling rather than special effects.

One of the main features of the game is that players can engage in combat intended to accurately replicate Jet Li's style. They will also experience the film's storyline, interwoven with themes of love and betrayal.

The film tells a story of how three close friends become fatal enemies during the chaos of a war in the late 19th century.

China Daily-Xinhua

(China Daily 11/07/2007 page18)