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The Embroiderer
Forgive Me
Dust
Country of origin Philippines
Country of origin China
Country of origin China
Dir Brillante Mendoza
Dir Lina Yang
Dir Zhao Liang
Brillante Mendoza, who won best director prize at Cannes 2009 for Kinatay, has two projects in HAF this year: documentary Gay Messiah and fiction feature The Embroiderer. The latter is about an old woman whose embroidery work has reflected the story of her love for two men throughout the chequered history of the Philippines. “The Embroiderer is not only about a love story, but also the history of the craft,” says Mendoza. “It’s a period film that happens mostly in 1945 during the Japanese occupation, which also makes it different. It has an old couple, whose scenes will be set maybe in 2000, but the rest is in the 1940s.” He continues: “This is really very exciting for me. I had always been offered period films in the past, but because I’m a production designer, I’m very critical. If I don’t have enough budget, I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to do those kinds of period films that have to make do with cheap production design.” Mendoza explains that he started out by discussing the project with Filipina senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares, who is working on a bill to promote shooting by local and international film-makers in the Philippines. “I proposed this project to her, which actually originated in a region of the Philippines where embroidery is a dying industry. She wants to look for private funds outside the government, so we submitted the project to HAF to look for co-production,” he explains. The film is being produced by Mendoza’s own Center Stage Productions. Mendoza says the script is in its first draft and he hopes to have it finished by the end of the year. Jean Noh
“We’ve always known that China follows a one-child policy. In reality, however, a man can have many wives and many children, not unlike polygamy under the feudal system 2,000 years ago,” says Chinese director Lina Yang. Her latest project, Forgive Me, is about a successful film producer who, as a lingering soul after being killed in a car accident, looks back at his life and tries to make amends with his three ex-wives and children. “Although marriage and love are not fresh subject matters, this story hasn’t been told in any Chinese films and I’ll tell it with a new perspective,” says Yang. While she is currently developing the script by herself, Yang may hire a co-writer at a later stage. Filming locations will range from Tibet to the US. Sodium is a new production outfit founded by Yang in 2013 for her first feature, Longing For The Rain. The erotic drama, about a married woman finding sexual pleasure with a mysterious young man who appears in her dreams, received a special mention at last year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival. Liao Ching Sung, who edited Longing For The Rain, will reunite with Yang on Forgive Me as her producer. The renowned Taiwanese editor has cut all Hou Hsiao Hsien’s films and subsequently become his producer. Yang was a dancer for 10 years before turning to filmmaking. She started off as a documentary director with her debut Old Men, which grabbed multiple awards, including the award of excellence at Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 1999 and the Golden Dove award at DOK Leipzig in 2000. She was also one of the lead actors in Jia Zhangke’s Platform. WY Wong
After spending two years conducting nationwide research about the subject matter, Chinese director Zhao Liang started filming his latest documentary, Dust, last June. Set on the grasslands of Inner Mongolia, the documentary follows four individuals brought together by a coalmine. They include a young girl whose family lives in a traditional yurt near the mine; a man working as a miner for four years without a protective face-mask; the old boss who has been running the mine for decades; and a former miner now suffering from black-lung disease. “The film will reflect the imminent, severe environmental issue created by the over-exploitation of the mining industry, which remains largely unregulated. The issue is not unrelated to the thick haze shrouding us every day,” says Zhao. The film-maker, who also works as a contemporary artist in photography, video installations and video arts, has earned a reputation as a social activist. Most notable is his documentary Petition, about China’s justice system, which was filmed over 12 years. After premiering in Cannes, it received a humanitarian award at Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2010. While Petition was banned in China, his last film Together (2010), on the subject of HIV and Aids, became his first documentary to be shown in his own country. Commissioned by China’s Ministry of Heath, it was produced as a ‘making of ’ for Chinese director Gu Changwei’s narrative feature Til Death Do Us Part. Zhao is working for the first time with Hong Kong’s Jet Tone Films on Dust. Producers on the project include Jet Tone’s Jacky Pang and Sylvie Blum from France’s Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA), who previously produced Petition. WY Wong
The Embroiderer
Forgive Me
Dust
Finance Producer Teeda Pascual Production company Center Stage Productions (CSP) Budget $1.5m Finance raised to date $100,000 (CSP) Contact Brillante Mendoza brillante_ma@yahoo.com
Producers Liao Ching Sung, Yang Lina Production company Sodium Budget $3.35m Finance raised to date: $850,000 Contact Yang Lina na.sodium.
Producers Jacky Pang, Sylvie Blum Production company Jet Tone Films Budget $380,000 Finance raised to date $200,000 Contact Charlotte
films@gmail.com
Yu
charlotte@jettone.net
March 26, 2014 Screen International at Filmart 9 n