World Lens
Xixi Pictures Sets Its Sights on Building a Global Brand for Chinese TV Drama
China’s Xixi Pictures has arrived at the 61st MIPTV buoyed by a slate of recent successes that have helped the Shanghai-based production house celebrate its fourth anniversary, but the company is nevertheless keen also to share with the international content community what’s on the immediate horizon. Over the past 12 months, Xixi’s development has been […]
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China Sets Sights on Global Expansion at Filmart
The China Pavilion has set up shop in the middle of this year’s Hong Kong Filmart for the third year running as it aims to share the story of the evolution of the country’s film industry. Organizers the China Film Co-production Corporation (CFCC) have brought data with them, they say reflects that there are more […]
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Why Ireland Is Thriving as a Film Hub
“You can literally film anything in Ireland that you want to — obviously desert scenes are a bit complicated, but we’ll have a go.” In this quick quip, veteran Irish producer Tristan Orpen Lynch sums up so much about his home country’s movie business right now. A fresh swell of opportunity and confidence may be […]
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AFM: Now Playing at the China Film Pavilion – A Tale of Revival and Global Ambitions
China has brought the figures, and it has brought the films to this year’s AFM as the country pushes the positive narrative of an industry in recovery from the woes of the past few years thanks to diverse content and a post-pandemic audience hungry for entertainment. All told, there have been 40 Chinese film companies […]
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Italy Returns to Its “Hollywood on the Tiber” Era
Fellini, Visconti, Loren, Heston, Hepburn, Peck, Taylor, Burton … a dream dinner party of talent graced the grounds of Rome’s renowned Cinecittà film studios during the so-called “Hollywood on the Tiber” period — named after the river that runs through the Italian capital. From the epic Quo Vadis in 1951 right through to Peter Sellers’ Pink Panther in 1963, […]
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How the Saudi Film Festival Played the Long Game to Success
“You wouldn’t know it existed unless you were told directly about it. You weren’t reading about it anywhere. There was nothing. It was a very closed-door experience.” There’s little that bonds people more than a shared secret. Saudi-born American producer Todd Nims underscores this as he recalls his earliest memory of the Saudi Film Festival, […]
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Bad Rabbit Pictures Looks to Elevate Chinese Art House Auteurs
Yao Chen and Cao Yu forged very different paths on their way to success in the Chinese film industry, but after 20 years of work each, they sat down for a chat about where their careers were headed, and they came to the same conclusion. “We’d reached a similar stage in life,” explains Yao. “We […]
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China Film Pavilion in Cannes Showcases Hits, Opens Door to Potential Partners
Chinese cinema makes its in-person return to Cannes this year, buoyed by a bounce-back in post-COVID box office revenue, and talking up its efforts to engage with the global film community. Taking center stage is the China Film Pavilion, set up by the China Film Co-Production Corporation (CFCC), under the guidance of and with the […]
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Filmart: China Film Pavilion Welcomes Visitors to “Tell the China Story”
The 2023 edition of the Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart) has re-established itself as the largest film trading market in the region, and the most influential, with organizers reporting that 700 exhibitors have taken residence inside the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition for the gathering that runs through Thursday. For the first […]
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Building a Better Backlot in the Baltics
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, the three nations that stretch along the Baltic Sea coast, jammed in between Poland to the south and Finland across the water to the north, are barely the size of Missouri and, with a combined citizenry of 6.2 million, rank up there with Denmark in terms of population. But since reclaiming […]
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What to Expect From Hong Kong Filmart’s First Post-Pandemic Edition
Once Asia’s largest annual gathering for film and television professionals in Asia, Hong Kong Filmart spent the last three years, like most events of its kind the world over, as a purely virtual event. It’s making a post-pandemic comeback a little later than its counterparts in the U.S. and Europe, but Filmart is throwing open its doors in 2023 […]
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With ‘Kandahar,‘ Saudi Arabia’s AlUla Is Ready for its Close-Up
Just a couple of years ago, few people in Hollywood would have heard of AlUla (or known the somewhat unique way to spell it). Located in Saudi Arabia’s northwestern region, in an area awash in sand dunes, desert oases and ancient ruins, some dating back to the Neolithic period of the Stone Age, it was […]
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