Tag: distributors

  • Asia Pacific Screen Nominations 2010

    Never have followed the Asian Pacific nominations… mainly because it’s hard to, you know~~~ watch films from that part of the world for me. However, distribution is getting better – dvds are being launched so much faster, and many of them come with subtitles in English (when needed), and there’s a lot more people willing to fansub when needed.

    And YAY! Aftershocks has landed 6 nominations – including Best Film, Best Directing, Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay PLUS! Best Actor and Best Actress. Now, I’m trying not to be biased, I don’t think actor Chen Daoming was THAT good in Aftershocks, but actress Xu Fan completely deserves it.

    The other big nominee of the night is South Korea’s Poetry (Shi) – crap! I’m really that good at film recommendations for distributors, someone hire me ASAP! – which received 4 nominations for Best Film, Best Directing, Best Screenplay and Best Actress. While Taiwan’s Monga – see, I’m good – was nominated for 3 awards for Best Film, Best Directing and Best Cinematography.

    The APSA(wards) will be handed out December 2nd on a live webcast at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards site.

    All nominations below the break~

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  • Jonsi’s Live Stream from Los Angeles

    Did you see it?

    It was amazing – LOL, the closest thing to it since I doubt he will ever perform here. I think it’s becoming a fixture… watching Sigur Ros, Bjork, Jonsi on live streams. xD

    Anyway, in case you missed it – they will be re-running the nearly-hour show pretty much all of today. Just go to the NPR website, and check if the live stream is ready for re-viewing.

  • Distribution: Chinese Films to Open on Same Day in North America as in China

    Film Business Asia is reporting that China Lion Film Distribution has made a deal with AMC to release Chinese films in the cities with most Chinese demographics in the United States and Canada the same day as the films open in China.

    Now, that’s how you do distribution.

    Sure, Hollywood’s kinda getting good in World Premiere business, but only the big-studio stuff. We actually have to wait a ton for a theater release, or the release of the DVD to catch a film that’s not mainstream. The Chinese film industry lacks distribution — only films that get distributed in the US, get distributed in Latin America. The last Chinese film I saw at the cinema was Curse of the Golden Flower~~~

    So with this deal, China expands that ever-expanding Chinese film market with hopefully more than just Martial Arts Films and/or Arthouse Films. And HOPEFULLY, this will mean more Chinese films down here as well.

    So guys! Get ready for Aftershocks (aka. After Shock) kicking off this new deal on October 29th in the cities of  New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Washington D.C., Houston, Boston, Seattle, Toronto and Ottawa.

  • SF Yu Aoi and Animation fans: Redline Opens this Week in your City

    I wish I had known sooner, but I just found out today.

    REDLINE will be opening in San Francisco this Friday 8th at 7.15pm at VIZ Cinema – at the same time as in Japan! And will continue showing the film throughout the week. I already added them to the Yu Aoi Events calendar.

    Friday 8th – 7.15pm
    Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th – 12.30pm , 2.45pm , 5pm , 7.15pm
    Monday 11th – Thursday 14th – 5pm , 7.15pm

    Admission is $10

    If you catch the show, let me know. Would love to hear your thoughts.

  • What I Like about Hollywood Movies

    Following AM’s advise on better blogging, I thought it’d be cool to follow through with my post on “What I Like about Japanese Cinema” which I wrote for the J-Film blog-a-thon last year.

    So now I’m going to be talking about Hollywood movies! And by “Hollywood” I mean American films. Since I’m more familiar with commercial Hollywood stuff, while I’ve only begun catching indie flicks online (or when I was in Canada) for the past few years.

    My current Facebook Flixster movie count says that I’ve rated 2431 films. Of course, that’s only counting the films that I’ve been able to find in their database (american, foreign, commercial, or indie), and I’m far too lazy to send them stuff now. My MUBI account states I’ve rated 1450, so that should give you a proper average… I think.

    So what do I like about Hollywood Movies?

    1. Ah… the Hollywood Golden Era.
    I’m familiar enough with Garbo and Crawford to know that I loved their films. And it’s fact, LOL, Hollywood created movie stars, and actors went to Hollywood to become movie stars… and I love movie stars. I always complain now that they don’t make them like that anymore.

    Sure, sure… people who aren’t into “old films” keep telling me that films in the era didn’t look as great as they do now, or that acting was weird, and that subject matter in films have improved since then. To them I tell them… well, 1986 is not that old. Try a film from 1929. ;P

    2. No matter how Indie they are, they still look sharp and clear.
    There’s something my mom always tells me when we, for some odd reason, end up catching a clip of any local – hint: non-American – film, “Why do films here look like they’re stuck in the 70s?”. It isn’t that the local cinema shows the great quality of films in the 70s, here they just look like they’re stuck with the technology.

    It happens in American film, but not as often… and if it does, it’s because they’re really REALLY low-budget. But even really-low-budget filmmakers manage to bring a great DP on board. I mean, have you seen some of the stuff posted online? It’s amazing what people are doing with “I shot this with my Canon” LOL

    3. You guys have mastered the art of pseudo-indie.
    Right? I mean, you have also begun to call these films Hipster… in a mocking kinda way, but alright – I admit it, I tend to like them because well, to me, these films can only be American. I cannot imagine an Asian hipster film, I cannot imagine a European hipster film. Little Miss Sunshine, Juno – people say Juno reminded them of me, LOL – they can only be American.

    But you guys have also mastered the art of making big budget films, and call them independent. I mean how on earth do you call Inglourious Basterds an independent film but spend $70M USD in making it. To me, that’s a big Hollywood movie – and I like it. LOL

    4. Don Bluth, Disney, and Pixar
    I grew up with Don Bluth’s and Disney animation. Now, I’m growing old with Pixar (oh, gawd… I’m growing old). I mean, anyone my generation who hasn’t grown up with Disney animation and Don Bluth’s work, they might not have had a childhood – unless, of course you’ve grown up with Studio Ghibli… in which case, hate you.

    5. I love when you support World Premiere… even if it’s for sucky huge blockbuster films.
    I’m an impatient gal, if I want to watch a new film over the weekend, it needs to open locally over the weekend, otherwise my enthusiasm for the film will wane, and I’ll just end up catching it on dvd – or worse, on cable.

    Most major studios have offices in most major cities in countries, so now it’s easier to get a film to open on the same weekend as in the States. It just happened with that new Drew Barrymore rom-com, which opened one week after the US, and I’m pretty sure we’re getting Narnia and Harry Potter (not that HP is American, but it’s being distributed by Warner so…) the same day, or one day ahead. Now, if that could also happen with flicks like Black Swan, and other Award season flicks, I’d be a happy gal.

    So… how about you guys? What do you guys like about Hollywood Movies/American Cinema? Or why do you hate it? I know some of you hate anything American with a passion. Such a tiring task. LOL

  • Top10 Recent East Asian Films that Should Be Released in Peru

    Bam! I’m into making lists now. xD

    To push distributors, and tickle their curiosity, as well as showing them it can also be good business to bring Asian flicks. Plus, cinephiles would love a little more variety in their local theaters, and I bet regular moviegoers wouldn’t mind one or two non-Hollywood blockbusters… after all, we already watch everything subtitled! We don’t have an issue with them like some… other… people.

    If Americans (and Canadians) complain about the little variety of Asian films outside martial arts, or auteur cinema – well, really. Stop complaining. It’s even worse down here. If you got 5 releases a year (just an assumption), then we get one… if we’re lucky. Sorry, I’m not so campy with J-horror… I’m a little tired. I must be too old for it now. LOL

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  • Almost YAM – YAMMIES or YAMMERS. Plus! Music!!

    Hi, guys!

    YAM011 is almost done. The Lima Film Fest ends tonight, so I’ll be closing the issue — hopefully on time, for a release on the 15th at 00.00hr. My timezone, not yours. GMT -5, FYI.

    While I was writing the editor’s note — and addressing everyone on the Facebook group — I wondered what to call YAM readers. I thought YAMMIES would be nice, but then the Urban Dictionary told me those are tits/knockers. But then again, Penn & Teller said that pretty much any noun in plural can mean knockers. LOL Watermelons, lemons, air bags. There you go, wouldn’t be much of a difference.

    So… then I thought about YAMMERS, but that can’t be good, right? So maybe YAMMIES is fine. Sounds a bit like “jammies” because you know… I’m a Spanish speaker. To me, the sound of a Y with a vowel, and the sound of a J with a vowel is the same. When I first moved to Canada, Yellow and Jello were the same to me. Well, I still can’t get it right. Frak.

    Anyway, it’s getting late. I just wanted to post the streams to some of the albums we are reviewing and rating in the new edition of YAM. Not all, but most of them~ Thank you, Xiami ;P

    * denotes that they have a written review.

    Anyway, happy listening! Off to zzzz. Busy day today.

  • Asami Mizukawa’s BeeTV Onna-tachi wa Nido Asobu

    Turns out BeeTV has a YouTube Channel.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfRHK4SEoLU

    And they have the first episode (lasting nearly 5min.), but it was uploaded in March – possibly right after mobile broadcast – but other episodes haven’t been uploaded since then.
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  • Frak You, Sony BMG

    I’m tired of you, and your region restriction.

    It’s not only in your channel, but also any channel with artists you signed on? Or any video that has music of your artists? And then you fraking wonder why I get my stuff somewhere else…

    Well, FRAK YOU.

    It’s not only that you monopolize Michael Jackson… Christina Aguilera, and even Pink, I think and all the other pop acts because… let’s face it, all the record companies have merged into one big butt family with the likes of Arista, LaFace, Jive, J Records, etc etc. You also monopolize Wang Lee Hom’s videos. So Sony BMG, YOU SUCK.

  • Libertas Film Fest on MUBI

    Ugh, still can’t get used to MUBI.

    Anyway~ The guys at the site formerly known as The Auteurs are letting you watch some of the films screening at the Libertas Film Fest in Croatia.

    My personal favorite was the animated short Guliver, which sorta reminded me of Tim Burton’s style… but you know, about Guliver, in a much more grim setting.

    All I know is that you can only watch it through MUBI with an account, which is FREE. You can join, and watch it. They always have a bunch of free stuff, and free stuff is always good. xD

    If you’re still not sure, here’s the trailer~
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