Shadow by Zhang Yimou

[GeneChing]

Shanghai First Look: Zhang Yimou's Martial Arts Drama 'Shadow' (http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shanghai-first-look-zhang-yimous-martial-arts-drama-shadow-1014623)
12:51 AM PDT 6/19/2017 by Patrick Brzeski

http://cdn4.thr.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/landscape_928x523/2017/06/shadow_-_2.jpg
Courtesy of Village Roadshow Asia
'Shadow'

The Village Roadshow Asia and Le Vision Pictures' period film will be Zhang's first film since 'The Great Wall.'
After the costly, and ultimately disappointing, monster-packed Hollywood tentpole The Great Wall, Chinese cinema legend Zhang Yimou appears to be returning to more tried and tested material — beautifully crafted martial arts period drama.

Village Roadshow Pictures Asia offered Asian film fans a sneak peek of Zhang's much anticipated next project, Shadow, at the Shanghai International Film Festival on Monday.

http://cdn3.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/06/shadow_-_1.jpg
Courtesy of Village Roadshow Asia

The images released feature four of the film's stars, Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai, Guan Xiaotong, engaged in moments of poignant drama and artful combat (Qianyuan Wang, not pictured, is also attached to the project).

http://cdn1.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/06/shadow_-_4.jpg
Courtesy of Village Roadshow Asia

Little is officially known about the film's plot so far, but Chinese media has reported that the film is set during China's Three Kingdom's era (AD 220–280). Zhang and Wei Li share writing credits. Zhang's long-running collaborator is lensing the picture. Unlike The Great Wall, the film will be told entirely in Zhang's native Mandarin.

Shadow is co-produced by Village Roadshow Pictures Asia and Le Vision Pictures. Catherine Pang and Village Roadshow's Ellen Eliasoph produce.

http://cdn5.thr.com/sites/default/files/2017/06/shadow_-_3.jpg
Courtesy of Village Roadshow Asia


This looks promising. I hope Zhang is done with Taotie (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1341). :o

[GeneChing]

AFM: Bloom Poised to Pick up Zhang Yimou’s ‘Shadow’ (http://variety.com/2017/film/asia/afm-bloom-poised-for-zhang-yimous-shadow-1202604797/)
By Patrick Frater
Asia Bureau Chief

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/shadow-still-1-res.jpg?w=700&h=393&crop=1
CREDIT: COURTESY OF VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES ASIA

Alex Walton and Ken Kao’s Bloom is in advanced talks to pick up international sales rights to “Shadow,” the upcoming historical adventure from leading Chinese director Zhang Yimou (“Hero,” “The Great Wall”).

The film, set in the Three Kingdoms era, began filming in March and wrapped in July. It is the tentpole release for 2018 from Perfect Village Entertainment, the merged company set up in June by Perfect World Pictures, Village Roadshow Pictures Asia and Endeavor. It was co-produced by Le Vision Pictures.

Scripted by Zhang and Wei Li, the film stars Deng Chao, Sun Li, Zheng Kai, Guan Xiaotong, Wang Qianyuan, Wu Lei, Hu Jun and Wang Jingchu. Production is by Ellen Eliasoph and Catherine Pang.

Endeavor, previously known as WME | IMG, was a minority equity investor in Perfect Village. In August it bought a majority stake in Bloom.

This has got to get a U.S. release. It's Zhang Yimou.

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWcb36R83UM

[GeneChing]

Yimou's got bank. :cool:


Tencent backs Zhang Yimou's martial arts film (https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/tencent-backs-zhang-yimous-martial-arts-film)
PUBLISHEDJUN 19, 2018, 5:00 AM SGT

SHANGHAI • Chinese technology giant Tencent, which has hit the jackpot with video game Fortnite, is betting next on Zhang Yimou's martial arts flick Shadow.

It will co-finance and help market the film, it said at its annual movie presentation in Shanghai.

Trade publication Variety reported that Zhang's work, in post-production now, zooms in on an epic story from the Three Kingdoms period, with Chinese actor-director Deng Chao doing double duty on screen as an ailing general and his body double.

His wife, actress Sun Li, also stars in the film, which is slated for a China release later this year.

Tencent is moving beyond video gaming to expand its entertainment empire, with overseas forays too - including high-profile Hollywood movies such as Kong: Skull Island (2017) and Wonder Woman (2017).

Zhang, meanwhile, stood front and centre on stage - instead of being behind the cameras - last month at Boston University, which gave him an honorary degree.

The citation said his movies "offer not only a perspective on the people and culture of China, but also a window into the universal qualities of human nature and yearning".

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsNx0HrFZSQ

[GeneChing]

Way to go Well Go USA! Thanks again.


Zhang Yimou’s ‘Shadow’ Sells To Well Go USA For North America, UK, Oz/NZ (https://deadline.com/2018/09/zhang-yimou-shadow-well-go-usa-venice-film-festival-toronto-1202457428/)
by Andreas Wiseman
September 5, 2018 7:12am

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/shadow-still-1.jpg?w=446&h=299&crop=1
Well Go USA

EXCLUSIVE: Well Go USA has nabbed North America, UK, and Australia/New Zealand rights to Zhang Yimou’s action-epic Shadow ahead of its world premiere in Venice and its North American premiere at Toronto.

RelatedVenice Film Festival Adds HFPA Prize For Three Filmmakers From Horizons Section
The deal was negotiated by Dylan Marchetti for Well Go USA. Endeavor Content and Bloom handled the deal. Pic will get a theatrical release in 2019, according to the distributor.

Mandarin-language film Shadow is set in Pei, a kingdom ruled by a young and unpredictable king, where the military commander faces peril both inside and outside the palace walls. But he has a secret weapon: a ‘shadow’, a look-alike who can fool both Pei’s enemies and the King himself. In his obsessive quest for a long-sought victory over a rival kingdom, the commander must execute an intricate plan involving his wife, the Shadow, and the kings of both kingdoms, leading up to a major invasion.

Cast includes Chao Deng, Li Sun, Ryan Zheng, Qianuyan Wang and Jingchun Wang. Pic is produced by Perfect Village Entertainment, Le Vision Pictures and Shanghai Tencent Pictures. It was written by Zhang and Li Wei and produced by Ellen Eliasoph, Zhang Zhao, Pang Liwei, Liu Jun, and Wang Xiaozhu.

Perfect Village was established last year as a partnership between Perfect World Pictures, Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, and WME | IMG China.

Chinese master Zhang, known for wuxia classics such as Hero and House of Flying Daggers, dramas Raise The Red Lantern and Ju Dou and big-budget titles The Great Wall and The Flowers Of War, was inspired by the tradition of Chinese ink-wash painting when coming up with the palette for Shadow.

“We’re delighted to be working with Well Go on the release of Shadow in the English-speaking territories” said Ellen Eliasoph, President and CEO of Perfect Village Entertainment Group. “Well Go’s experience with contemporary Asian films runs deep, and their warm embrace of Shadow gives us confidence that director Zhang’s stunning new work will find its widest possible audience.”

“Several of us here at Well Go can draw a straight line from the first time seeing Zhang Yimou’s films to our roles in the industry today,” added Dylan Marchetti, SVP of Acquisitions and Theatrical Releasing at Well Go. “It’s impossible to explain how excited and honored we are to have the privilege of working with him, especially on a film as stunning and innovative as Shadow, and how much we look forward to giving it one of the largest releases we’ve done to date.”

[GeneChing]

Shadow by Zhang Yimou (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70319-Shadow-by-Zhang-Yimou) is picking up buzz. It impressed at the Venice (technically not among the Asian Film Festivals and Awards (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?48392-Asian-Film-Festivals-and-Awards) but I'm copying this there anyway). Eager to see how it does at TIFF (https://www.tiff.net/tiff/shadow/).


SEPTEMBER 6, 2018 / 2:28 PM / UPDATED 15 HOURS AGO
Zhang Yimou unleashes Shakespearean martial arts epic in Venice (https://www.reuters.com/article/us-filmfestival-venice-zhang-yimou/zhang-yimou-unleashes-shakespearean-martial-arts-epic-in-venice-idUSKCN1LM361)
Hanna Rantala
2 MIN READ

VENICE, Italy (Reuters) - Zhang Yimou, the Chinese director of “The Great Wall”, “The House of Flying Daggers” and “Raise the Red Lantern”, brought a Shakespearean martial arts epic to Venice on Thursday where he was awarded for his contributions to filmmaking.

Set in a royal court of ancient China, “Ying” (“Shadow”) is the story of a man who acts as a body double for the king’s military commander as he must choose whether to keep the peace or declare war on a rival city state.

“In Chinese culture there must have been numerous cases where body doubles were used but their stories have not been told, certainly not in Chinese cinema, so I have wanted to do that for many years,” said Zhang, who also directed the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

http://s3.reutersmedia.net/resources/r/?m=02&d=20180906&t=2&i=1301597344&r=LYNXNPEE85245&w=940
The 75th Venice International Film Festival - Photocall for the out of competition film "Ying" (Shadow) and for Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award - Venice, Italy, September 6, 2018 - Director Zhang Yimou receives Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award. REUTERS/Tony Gentile

Actor Zheng Kai, who plays the king in “Shadow” as a man at the center of court intrigue in the mould of Macbeth or King Lear, described the role as a step up from his appearance in “The Great Wall”, Zhang’s 2016 film that starred Matt Damon.

“The last time I was the man standing beside the king ... and this time I am the king. So it’s kind of a promotion for me,” Zheng said.

Director Zhang has worked female stars such as Gong Li and Zhang Ziyi, and in “Shadow”, he cast Guan Xiaotong as the king’s sister who refuses to be treated as his property.

“Guan’s character represents a type of a role of a younger woman, a young woman of today (a) character who calls the shots. Her fate is not decided by the games played by men, she follows her own interests to assert her dignity,” Zhang said in an interview.

Zhang, who has won two Golden Lions at the festival in the past, was given the Jaeger-LeCoultre Glory to the Filmmaker Award whose previous recipients include Al Pacino, Spike Lee and Sylvester Stallone.

“Every time I come back to Venice it’s like coming home,” he said in his acceptance speech.

“Shadow” screened out-of-competition at the Venice Film Festival which ends on Saturday.

Writing by Hanna Rantala and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by Richard Chang

[GeneChing]

I'm rooting for Shadow. ;)


China’s golden week: which movie will win big at the box office, Shadow, Project Gutenberg or Hello, Mrs Money? (https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/arts-music/article/2166033/chinas-golden-week-which-movie-will-win-big-box)
A small-time film production company may have found the formula for big-screen success with its comedy of manners starring Celina Jade
BY CLARENCE TSUI
28 SEP 2018

https://cdn2.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/landscape/public/images/methode/2018/09/28/9920ff7e-bd57-11e8-8bc4-fc59ff6846aa_1280x720_114841.JPG?itok=x68bGxqs

As China’s National Day “golden week” begins, so does the latest battle for box-office supremacy. The holiday is, traditionally, a lucrative period for the Chinese film indus*try and many observers predict a race between Zhang Yimou’s epic Shadow and Felix Chong Man-keung’s action movie Project Gutenberg.

The former, a period piece in the same vein as Zhang’s international breakthrough Hero (2002), received criti*cal acclaim at the Venice and Toronto film festivals while the latter is by a director who counts the Overheard and Infernal Affairs (as screenwriter) trilogies among his works and boasts a stellar cast including Chow Yun-fat and Aaron Kwok Fu-shing.

Both films are bound to generate brisk business but the real deal lurks elsewhere. The winner, we predict, will be the feel-good film starring Hong Kong-born Celina Jade that is set in an exotic location, driven by an over-the-top narrative and filled with sensation*alist gags and one-dimensional characters.

No, we are not talking about Wolf Warrior 2 (2017), China’s highest-grossing film of all time, in which Jade stars as a United Nations doctor and which is taking a second stab at the box office after being re-released on September 19. Instead, the winner-in-waiting is a movie called Hello, Mrs Money, which, like Shadow and Project Gutenberg, hits mainland screens on September 30.

Set in a luxury resort in Malaysia, this comedy of manners involves a group of men who go to farcical lengths – including an extended gag in which one of them dresses up as a woman – in an attempt to swindle a rich widow (Jade) out of her fortune.

Before you brush it off as a crass mash up of Some Like It Hot (1959) and Tootsie (1982), it is worth noting the commercial pedigree of those behind Hello, Mrs Money. Originally a theatrical troupe specialising in comical plays aimed at festive audiences during the New Year holidays, Mahua FunAge has diversified into filmmaking with remarkable success.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS7GTv1EaeE

Since 2015, the company has scored three major hits. Goodbye, Mr Loser (2015), Mahua FunAge’s debut film, about an unemployed musician who travels back in time to his teenage years, raked in 1.4 billion yuan. Its next film,Mr Donkey (2016) – a social satire about rural teachers securing state subsi*dies for their school by registering a donkey as a member of the staff – earned just 172 million yuan (US$25 million), but last year Mahua FunAge regained its touch with the comedy Never Say Die, which out*perform*ed its debut by earning 2.2 billion yuan.

Its latest comedy, this summer’s Hello Mr Billionaire, has grossed 2.5 billion yuan and counting. The film – about a failed footballer’s struggle to inherit a wealthy uncle’s fortunes – is still showing at a handful of cinemas in the mainland, more than two months after its release.

All the films are adaptations of Mahua FunAge’s own stage productions and were made with mainland audiences in mind. And unlike some of its comical peers – for example, Xu Zheng and his wanderlust-driven gag fests Lost in Thailand (2012) and Lost in Hong Kong (2015) – Mahua is not exactly clamouring for global exposure.

A wise move, that, because it won’t be long before someone discovers that Good*bye, Mr Loser is a copy of 1986 Hollywood comedy drama Peggy Sue Got Married. (Mahua FunAge was at least honest when it came to Hello, Mr Billionaire, which was credited as a remake of Walter Hill’s 1985 film Brewster’s Millions.)

https://cdn3.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/images/methode/2018/09/28/998604dc-bd57-11e8-8bc4-fc59ff6846aa_1320x770_114841.JPG
Chow Yun-fat (right) and Aaron Kwok in Project Gutenberg.

Mahua FunAge – whose Chinese name, Kaixin Mahua, translates as “Happy Doughnut” – is just the latest in a long line of canny operators cashing in on mass appeal. Its success is bizarre only in the fact that its silly and at times tasteless comedies have reigned supreme during a period of po-faced patriotism in public discourse.

Then again, maybe Mahua FunAge’s output fits rather than undermines the dominant national narrative: it’s worth remembering that Chinese authorities dialled down the rhetoric earlier this year by yanking propaganda film Amazing China from mainland screens before putting a halt to the film industry’s feeding frenzy for nationalistic war-drum movies in the wake of the success of Wolf Warrior 2 and Operation Red Sea. Even the masses seem to be experiencing patriotism fatigue, as shown by the withering online response to the re-release of Wolf Warrior 2.

Amid the China-United States trade war, as fears of an economic downturn deepen, comedies might be just what Beijing needs to appease public anxiety – and Mahua is dishing them out in spades. While its output can hardly be called ground**breaking, its conquest of Chinese hearts and minds – with the films bolstered by stage performances in nearly every provincial capital in the country – says much about the state of China today.

THREADS (COPIED):
Chollywood rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)
Shadow by Zhang Yimou (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70319-Shadow-by-Zhang-Yimou)

Films mentioned (for reference):
Wolf Warrior 2 (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70311-Wolf-Warrior-2)
Operation Red Sea (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70858-Operation-Red-Sea)
Goodbye, Mr Loser (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69015-Goodbye-Mr-Loser-%26%2322799%3B%26%2327931%3B%26%2329305%3B%26%2329 033%3B%26%2324817%3B)
Hero (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=531)

[GeneChing]

While I'm bummed that Shadow didn't out-perform Mrs. Money, take note of my comment on the Wolf Warrrior 2 thread (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70311-Wolf-Warrior-2&p=1305093#post1305093):

Celina Jade has tremendous potential to play to both sides of the Pacific. She's poised and one to watch.



SEPTEMBER 30, 2018 6:01PM PT
China Box Office: Celina Jade’s ‘Mrs. Money’ Wins Pre-Holiday Weekend (https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/china-box-office-celina-jade-mrs-money-pre-holiday-weekend-1202962729/)
By PATRICK FRATER
Asia Bureau Chief

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2018/09/money-03-cr.jpg?w=991&h=558&crop=1
CREDIT: COURTESY OF MAHUA FUNAGE

On a pre-holiday weekend, in which new films unusually were released Sunday instead of the normal Friday, “Hello Mrs. Money” starring Celina Jade topped the Chinese box office. Zhang Yimou’s “Shadow” took the second spot.

Their first day of release gave “Mrs. Money” $16.8 million, and “Shadow” $10.4 million, according to data from Ent Group. They were followed by Hong Kong crime thriller “Project Gutenberg,” with $8.17 million.

China’s week-long National Day holiday begins Monday. For many people, Saturday was treated as an additional working day. Once the holiday period gets underway for more people, box office numbers are likely to swell.

“Money” was produced by Mahua FunAge, a company that is China’s market leader in live comedy and that made a successful transition into film with 2015’s “Goodbye Mr. Loser,” which made $218 million, 2016’s “Mr. Donkey” and last year’s sports comedy “Never Say Die.” “Never Say Die” was released at this time last year and grossed $340 million.

Starring Jade, the female lead in Chinese blockbuster “Wolf Warriors II,” “Money” is a story involving mistaken identities, wedding plans and the surprise participation of a man’s wealthy aunt (Jade) at his engagement party.

“Shadow” is a big-budget, period action drama, directed by Zhang Yimou (“Hero,” “Curse of the Golden Flower”). It had prestige launches at the Venice and Toronto film festivals.

The delayed new releases meant that holdover titles enjoyed two extra days of release before losing their screens. Romantic drama “Cry Me a River” headed the chart Friday and Sunday and earned $6.14 million, for a 10-day cumulative gross of $31.9 million. Fifth place belonged to new release “Fat Buddies.”

Holdover actioner “Golden Job” earned $4.71 over the weekend, for a 10-day cumulative of $43.9 million. Previous chart-topper “L Storm” earned $2.38 million for seventh place and a 17-day cumulative of $63.3 million. “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” edged its cumulative to $181 million after 31 days.

THREADS (COPIED):
Chollywood rising (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?57225-Chollywood-rising)
Shadow by Zhang Yimou (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70319-Shadow-by-Zhang-Yimou)

[GeneChing]

OCTOBER 1, 2018 4:34AM PT
Zhang Yimou’s ‘Shadow’ Leads Golden Horse Nominations (https://variety.com/2018/film/asia/zhang-yimous-shadow-golden-horse-nominations-1202962908/)
By PATRICK FRATER
Asia Bureau Chief

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2018/10/shadow-zheng-kai-cr-res.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: BAIXIAOYAN, COURTESY OF PERFECT VILLAGE ENT.

Zhang Yimou’s moody, monochromatic action drama “Shadow” is the strong favorite in the annual Golden Horse Awards race. The awards, operated from Taiwan, celebrate the best films in Chinese-language variants.

“Shadow,” which premiered in prestigious slots in the Venice and Toronto film festivals last month, collected 12 nominations. These included nominations for best film and for best director.

Taiwanese drama “Dear Ex,” about the manipulations revealed by a man’s altered will, collected the second-most nominations, with eight. The film premiered at the Udine festival in April and won several prizes at the Taipei festival in June. It is next set for festival play in Busan, and heads for commercial release next month. “Dying to Survive” collected seven nominations.

The five contenders for the best film prize are “Shadow,” “Dear Ex,” mainland Chinese hit “Dying to Survive,” “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” and “An Elephant Sitting Still,” which premiered in Berlin after the suicide of its director, Hu Bo.

The best director nominees – all mainlanders – are Zhang (“Shadow”), Bi Gan (“Long Day’s Journey Into Night”), Jiang Wen (“Hidden Man”), Pema Tseden (“Jinpa”), and Lou Ye (“The Shadow Play”).

Films with six nominations each included “The Looming Storm,” “Hidden Man,” and “Elephant Sitting Still.”

Debate will inevitably rage about high-profile titles that received less recognition. Jia Zhangke’s Cannes competition film, “Ash Is Purest White,” received only one (for best actress). Chen Kaige’s “The Legend of the Demon Cat” earned three, all in technical categories. “Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings” earned only one, for best visual effects. Neither of the year’s two top-grossing Chinese films, “Operation Red Sea” and “Detective Chinatown 2,” received any nominations.

THREADS (copied):
Golden Horse Film Festival (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?46108-Golden-Horse-Film-Festival)
Shadow by Zhang Yimou (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70319-Shadow-by-Zhang-Yimou)

Threads referenced (other noms):
The Legend of the Demon Cat (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?69825-Legend-of-the-Cat-Demon)
Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70263-Detective-Dee-The-Four-Heavenly-Kings)
Hidden Man (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?68590-Hidden-Man-(%26%2337034%3B%26%2319981%3B%26%2321387%3B%26%232 7491%3B))

[GeneChing]

Zhang Yimou's film accused of stealing music (http://www.china.org.cn/arts/2018-11/19/content_73701512.htm)
By Zhang Rui

http://images.china.cn/site1007/2018-11/19/612d5ea6-8258-474e-84d2-6376ab1474f3_watermark.jpg
Zhang Yimou poses for a photo with his best director award backstage of Taipei Golden Horse Awards ceremony, in Taipei, Taiwan, China on Nov. 17. [Photo/ VCG]

Chinese director Zhang Yimou's recent historical drama "Shadow" has encountered fresh trouble, with a music college teacher and her team filing a lawsuit on Nov. 16 accusing the film's production studio of music theft.

Dong Yingda, a composer and teacher of the Central Conservatory of Music, participated in the composition and performance of the film's music score with her team, most of whom are her students. In a long post on her Weibo microblog account, she said Zhang Yimou had commissioned her in February 2017 to create the score.

On this basis, she assembled a team consisting of the nation's top musicians, performers and ancient Chinese music experts as well as her best music students to create the music for "Shadow". They finished their work at the end of October 2018 and signed contract with the producers.

However, Dong Yingda said she was told they could not be credited in the final cut of the film as the studio had hired another musician, Wu Liqun, to create the score. However, Dong said part of their music was used in promotional materials, and even as an alternative version in the final cut of the film. The composer and her team became very angry after watching the film, which debuted in China on Sept. 30.

"We are stunned that the whole film's music, from melody, harmony to style and use of instruments, is extremely similar, and even exactly the same as our version. They just changed performers to play based on our music, so, how can they claim they are original? This is a big joke!" Dong angrily pointed out.

After several communications with the film's major producer Le Chuang Entertainment, Dong failed to produce any result as she and her team were still not listed in the film credits. The composer filed a lawsuit against the studio, seeking the deserved credit, damages and compensation.

"Our collective voice is due to the fact the film industry doesn't care too much about the originality of music and has no sense of intellectual property protection. We hope our lawsuit and efforts can help more Chinese musicians to gain more interests and protection," Dong said.

Le Chuang Entertainment released a statement on Sunday stating it had parted ways with Dong and her team due to creative differences. However, the company said it had credited Dong's team as "early phase composers" in the film, which Dong said had not noticed. Dong is also credited in promotional materials and a documentary about the film.

Le Chuang said it understood and respected the demands of Dong regarding intellectual property rights, and would actively deal with the lawsuit and cooperate in any investigation launched by appropriate parties.

"Shadow" won the best director award for Zhang Yimou, along with three other awards out of 12 nominations at the Taipei Golden Horse Awards of China's Taiwan province on Nov. 17. At least it did well at the Golden Horses

[GeneChing]

Been trying to find a straight-up list of the winners of the Golden Horse (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?46108-Golden-Horse-Film-Festival) this year to see exactly what Shadow (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?70319-Shadow-by-Zhang-Yimou) won, but it's too overshadowed by the political speech.


Zhang Yimou finally bags Golden Horse director award (http://www.asiaone.com/entertainment/zhang-yimou-finally-bags-golden-horse-director-award)

http://www.asiaone.com/sites/default/files/styles/700x500/public/original_images/Nov2018/zhangyimougoldenhorsebestdirector_reuters.jpg?itok =Ewf0DLd_
PHOTO: Reuters
JAN LEE
THE STRAITS TIMES Nov 18, 2018

Acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou finally took home the Golden Horse Award for Best Director - the first in his decades-long career - for his almost entirely black-and-white period piece Shadow, rendered in the style of a Chinese ink painting.

He picked up the award at the ceremony held in Taipei yesterday. The Golden Horse Awards are often dubbed the Oscars of Chinese-language film and, while Zhang is renowned, this was, remarkably, his first nomination for Best Director.

Speaking to reporters backstage, he said he did not prepare any speech as other directors who were nominated were "all very outstanding". "Although this was my first nomination, I thought maybe I would have other chances in future," he quipped.

Shadow, which was up for 12 awards, took home three other technical prizes.

Best Feature Film was won by An Elephant Sitting Still, which also won Best Adapted Screenplay. The movie's director, Hu Bo, who wrote the novel the film is based on, tragically committed suicide at the age of 29 last year.

Stars gather in Taiwan for 55th Golden Horse film awards

Hsieh Ying-xuan of Taiwan walked home with the Best Leading Actress honour for her portrayal of a widow fighting for her late husband's inheritance with his male lover in Dear EX. She edged out popular Chinese actresses Sun Li and Zhou Xun, among others.

Chinese actor Xu Zheng won Best Leading Actor for Dying To Survive, where he plays a man who becomes an exclusive agent of a pirated drug.

The 55th edition of the annual awards was one of the more star-studded ones in recent years.

Led by Oscar-winning Taiwanese-American director Lee Ang, who is chairman of the award's executive committee, this year saw the return of superstar Gong Li, who famously had an ugly feud with the awards in 2014 after she failed to win the Best Actress honour.

Gong chaired this year's jury, seemingly burying the hatchet with the awards show.

[GeneChing]

We beat Variety to the post. :cool:


NOVEMBER 22, 2018 3:29AM PT
Zhang Yimou’s ‘Shadow’ Hit With Music Copyright Lawsuit (https://variety.com/2018/film/news/zhang-yimou-shadow-music-copyright-lawsuit-1203033347/)
By BECKY DAVIS

https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2017/06/shadow-still-1-res.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1
CREDIT: COURTESY OF VILLAGE ROADSHOW PICTURES ASIA

A lawsuit has cast a shadow over director Zhang Yimou’s stylish martial-arts epic “Shadow,” which won four prestigious Golden Horse Awards in Taipei last weekend, the most of any title.

The movie’s soundtrack earned a nomination for best original score for composer Loudboy (it did not win). But another composer has now accused “Shadow” producer Le Chuang Entertainment of stealing her work, alleging that it had been plagiarized in the film and used without credit in trailers.

Dong Yingda, a professor of film music at China’s Central Conservatory, wrote in a long statement on Weibo, China’s Twitter, that Zhang had commissioned her to develop the movie’s soundtrack in February of last year. She assembled a team of music history experts and top performers of classical Chinese instruments, such as the zither and pipa (a four-stringed lute), to create a score befitting the third-century Three Kingdoms period, during which the film is set.

After eight months of effort, the team was told its work wouldn’t be used in the final version of the movie and so would not be credited. But Dong said she and other team members were surprised to find upon its release that the final soundtrack sounded very familiar and that parts of their original score appeared in promotional videos.

“We were shocked to find that, throughout the entire film, the melodies, harmonies, musical style, use of instruments and so on were very similar to or even the same as those in our version! They just plugged in different musicians to play our music, and can pretentiously call it original? This is really an enormous joke!” Dong said, who is now seeking credit and compensation.

She posted a photo of an official document stating that a Beijing court last Friday accepted her suit against Le Chuang.

For its part, Le Chuang said Sunday that it had parted ways with Dong and her team over creative differences. It had already expressed “thanks and respect” for her help and credited her team for what it called “early phase composition” work. The company said it would cooperate with any investigation.

Dong angrily called Le Chuang’s explanation a made-up “excuse.” She added: “The choice to collectively speak up comes from the fact that the industry doesn’t value original music and has no awareness of intellectual property protection. We hope that [our] efforts will provide basic intellectual property protection for more musicians, including ourselves.”

Musicians from her team chimed in, commenting: “I refuse to be a shadow of ‘Shadow’!” – a reference to how one of the main characters in the movie secretly assumes the identity of another, acting as an uncredited stand-in.

Dong said she was fed up with frequently losing credit for her work.

“The first time it happened, I wanted to treat it like a ‘normal’ thing, the way my colleagues did. I didn’t dare offend the producer, and was afraid that I’d be blacklisted and unable to stay in the industry,” she wrote. “But when such a disappointing thing keeps occurring, we need to create a model that helps more people understand how we might solve the problem.”

[GeneChing]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSmbFD8PGqE

[GeneChing]

Zhang Yimou's return to the Wuxia genre is really beautiful although a little long-winded with the intrigues. All the sets, locations and costumes are black, white and shades of grey - it's a yin yang parable of it all, both visually and dramatically - which works as a symbolic device. Flesh tones and candle light appear especially bright and warm in contrast - so does the blood. It's sort of a sideways spin on Kurosawa's Kagemusha. Kage means Shadow, which is Ying in Chinese, and here, the meaning is the same. The fights were imaginative - Zhang is working those slow-mo rain fights, somewhat in the wake of Wong Kar-wai's The Grandmaster (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?53227-The-Grandmaster), but to good effect. Not one of Zhang’s greatest films but solid and somewhat redemption for The Great Wall (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/index.php?p=article&article=1341). Zhang's best works weren't really Wuxia - there was Hero (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/magazine/article.php?article=531), which was awesome, but I've always felt House of Flying Daggers (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/forum/showthread.php?61982-House-of-Flying-Daggers) was overrated. His early dramas were groundbreaking and heartrending.

[Taste of Death]

Raise the Red Lantern is my favorite film of his but Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, The Story of Qiu Ju and To Live are all examples of the best that cinema has to offer.

[GeneChing]

Man, the critics are fawning over this. 95% on the tomatometer? Wow.

Maybe I need to see it again. :o


SHADOW (https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shadow_2018)
Critics Consensus
Beautifully filmed and inventively choreographed, Shadow is a thrilling and visually sumptuous wuxia epic that finds director Zhang Yimou near peak form.

95%
TOMATOMETER
Reviews Counted: 38

84%
liked it
AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 31


Raise the Red Lantern is my favorite film of his but Red Sorghum, Ju Dou, The Story of Qiu Ju and To Live are all examples of the best that cinema has to offer.
I agree ToD. Those were some of Zhang's first films, and they were masterpieces. If you don't know them, you don't know Chinese cinema, or even as you say, cinema in general.

[GeneChing]

‘Shadow’ Cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding on Zhang Yimou’s Style and the Principle for Great Action Filmmaking (https://thefilmstage.com/features/shadow-cinematographer-zhao-xiaoding-on-zhang-yimous-style-and-the-principle-for-great-action-filmmaking/)
Written by Nick Newman on November 18, 2019

http://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Shadow-2.jpg

It could be said the Chinese historical drama is marked before Zhang Yimou and after Zhang Yimou. Transporting foreign audiences to his country’s long, often violent history in the most lush of compositions and stunning of action sequences–that is to say, sequences built on action as a concept of movement, shifting light, rustling fabric–and the tradition continues with Shadow, which premiered last year to largely awed reviews. Key is his collaboration with cinematographer Zhao Xiaoding, with whom Zhang has worked since 2002’s monumental Hero.

I had the fortune to interview Zhao at this year’s EnergaCAMERIMAGE, during our time gathering information on their philosophies of action filmmaking, quality control in an increasingly poor climate, and, of course, Shadow‘s wealth of silver.

Thanks to Shadow producer Ellen Eliasoph, who provided on-site translation.

The Film Stage: Do you and Zhang work with a certain philosophy, a set of principles, when shooting action sequences?

Zhao Xiaoding: A cardinal rule for Zhang as a director is to never repeat himself. For each movie, we sit together and think about the story and types of action possibilities that story gives—different types of fights—and we work with the action director to develop the specific style of action for each movie. For Shadow, the style of action was reflecting the principle of the soft-conquers-hard—yin-conquers-yang, water is more powerful than fire—and that’s why the movements are sort of feminine. As opposed to the guy they’re trying to kill, who’s using a big sword and has a hard, masculine style of fighting. But that was required by the story, so it’s pretty much the same for every movie, that we try to do something different for each one.

Most contemporary action sequences, no matter their national origin, are quite bad. As this happens while you maintain a fantastic collaboration with Zhang, do you see your work as the maintaining of a tradition, even a pushing-against bad tendencies.

We’re not trying to “make a point.” It’s just that the way we conceive action, from both a directing and cinematography point of view, and with the action directors we work with—who are some of Hong Kong’s greatest action directors; the one who worked on Shadow trained under Yuen Woo-ping—are classic action. The principle we have is very simple, but it elevates everything: as long as the actor can perform the action, do not cut in other scenes from body doubles or anything like that; don’t try to chop it all up and put it together. Let the actor complete the action, film it, and put it on the screen. That’s a very simple principle, but it elevates everything to avoid what you’re talking about, which is stuff that is just pieces of different people moving different things, and you don’t know who it is in the end.

http://thefilmstage.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Shadow-1.jpeg

Shadow’s color palette is an intense silver saturation. It has this effect on actors’ skin and their spewed blood—almost a yin-yang approach to color. I’d like to know about working with other departments—production design, costume design, perhaps color-graders in post—to emphasize skin and blood.

During pre-production, there was quite a bit of discussion, because we had a good script, as to what the color palette should be. Once Zhang decided he was going to make a motion-picture version of a Chinese ink-brush painting, every department worked on every detail from it—to design of the sets to costumes to props. They were all what you saw on the screen, and there were screens and screens in the palace that were calligraphy on silk—like, waves and waves of them—and the interiors were all black, gray, and white, and so were the costumes, so that what you saw on the screen was actually what we shot in that regard.

Of course, we filmed in color, but that was the color of what we were filming, and with the skin and blood, there was some color-grading to make it all feel like it was of a piece. Basically, the departments, including FX, worked together to make sure what we built and what people were wearing was what we saw on the monitor and what we got in the movie. We had very little green-screen, so it was all a work of, “How do we create a Chinese ink-brush painting movie?”

Your first collaboration with Zhang was Hero, where you worked as a camera operator. How was that experience, as opposed to your subsequent collaborations as director and DP?

We were really just getting to know each other; Chris Doyle was the DP. On Hero, I was shooting a lot of plate shots—the beautiful scenery and open spaces, with no characters and close-ups of people—but Zhang really responded well to my way of capturing those types of images and scenery, and we felt that, aesthetically, we had a lot in common. After Hero, we just ended up working together and we’ve made 11 movies. Our sensibilities were very similar in terms of composition, use of color, all that stuff.

You recently made a feature directing debut. How might taking up these duties have changed your philosophy and work process as a DP?

The use of my brain and everything, how I think about what I’m doing as a DP, is completely different from how it works as a director, and it was a very interesting experience to have to simultaneously balance the visuals, storytelling, acting, sound, music—everything—and just focus more on using all elements to tell a story, as opposed to creating the visual presentation, which is much more focused on one thing. So when I made that movie and came back to working as a DP, I felt I had a much better understanding of how the director’s mind was working and some decisions I was making. Previously, I might not have been as sensitive to that.

Shadow is now streaming on Netflix and available on 4K/Blu-ray/DVD.
Stunning cinematography.