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Feng back in limelight

Widely loved mainland director Feng Xiaogang's early comedies will tour theaters in 10 cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Nanjing, Chongqing, Dalian, Chengdu and Wuhan, until December 20, to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of "hesuipian", a film genre acknowledged to be created by Feng.

Hesuipian, or films for the new year holidays, is a word created to describe Feng's early films, that were traditionally screened during December and February, between New Year's Day and Spring Festival, when people often go to the theater. For many Chinese, watching Feng's comedies was a new year treat like eating dumplings and setting off fireworks. Ten years ago, Feng's first hesuipian, The Dream Factory (Jiafang Yifan), hit the big screen and was an instant success. From 1997-99, Feng's comedies topped the domestic box office.

Cinephiles who watch all the screened films during this period will get a chance to see Feng's latest war epic Assembly (Ji Jie Hao), for free, when it premieres on December 20.

Viva Northeast China

Vitalize Northeast (Zhenxing Dongbei), a documentary on China's northeastern area, will be shown on CCTV-4 and CCTV-6 soon.

It focuses on the development of the region from 2003, when the government decided to revitalize the old industrial base. It documents the great changes that have taken place in industry and society during this time.

Northeast China, which usually refers to Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces, is a land of legends. In the early 20th century it was the most prosperous region in China. However, the fertile land and rich natural resources made the area an attractive place in the eyes of Japan and Russia, too. The Japanese occupation, for over 20 years, from 1931, is detailed.

After the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the region became the most important industrial area in the country.

Munchkins are still stars

Almost 70 years after The Wizard of Oz premiered at Grauman's Chinese Theater, a few of the film's Munchkins made a grand entrance at the site in Los Angeles on Tuesday to receive a collective star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Seven of the surviving actors, who played the inhabitants of Munchkinland in the 1939 classic, attended the ceremony, arriving in a horse-drawn carriage and trailed by a marching band.

A yellow carpet, resembling the film's yellow brick road, led them to the stage. One tap-danced and another sang.

"We love you, you have touched our hearts," former Munchkin Mickey Carroll, 88, told the crowd.

Carroll was joined by former Munchkin colleagues Ruth Duccini, Jerry Maren, Margaret Pellegrini, Meinhardt Raabe, Karl Slover and Clarence Swensen.

"I'm as proud today as my mother would have been," said Joey Luft, the son of Judy Garland. Garland, who played the movie's wide-eyed orphan, Dorothy Gale, died of a drug overdose in 1969.

Carroll was one of more than 100 adults and children who were recruited for Oz to play the natives of what author L. Frank Baum called Munchkin Country in his 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

They only made $125 a week while filming, followed by decades of recognition, Carroll said.

"I'm not a Munchkin, I'm an entertainer," Carroll noted. "But the movie is great because we all grew up with it. ... It never dies."

China Daily-Agencies

(China Daily 11/23/2007 page18)