BEIJING
May 01, 2006 -
Steven Spielberg, Oliver Stone and representatives of
eight US film distributors have been invited to the set
of The City of Golden Armor at Beijing Film
Studios. Photos and videos of Zhang Yimou meeting
with Spielberg and Stone have been distributed to the
media. According to Shanghai newspaper Jiefang Daily,
Zhang Yimou's partner producer Zhang Weiping said they
were trying to make a sale to the Americans. Since Ang
Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, action movies set
in the ancient China have become quite popular. Zhang
Yimou quickly made Hero and House of Flying Daggers, to
bank on such trend. Then came Chen Kaige's The Promise.
The movie was exhibited at a lavish party last May in
Cannes and the Weinstein brothers picked up the
distribution rights after they watched an 11 minute
promo reel. In December, while concluded the movie was
not strong enough to desire a full nationwide release in
North America, which was insisted by Chen Kaige, the
brothers returned their purchase to Chen. The movie was
later picked up by Warner Independent Picture, which has
arranged a limited release of it in North America. The
incident has suddenly made the sales of other Chinese
period actioners somewhat difficult and Zhang Yimou has
to try a lot harder to sell his new movie to an American
distributor for a good price.
Spielberg and Yimou
join for Beijing Olympics
(Credits to BBC News)
BEIJING
Apr. 18, 2006 -
Film-makers Steven Spielberg and Zhang
Yimou are to join the team designing the opening and
closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Zhang will lead the team, largely comprised of other
Chinese impresarios, while Spielberg will be a
consultant. Zhang's best-known films include Raise The
Red Lantern and costume epic Hero. Zhang, 54, said: "I'm
very honored. I make a solemn promise to the Chinese
people I will complete the task beautifully and
successfully." Spielberg, whose last film,
Munich, concentrated on the killing of 11 Israeli
athletes at the 1972 Olympics, said: "Our one goal is to
give the world a taste of peace, friendship and
understanding. "Through the visual arts, the art of
celebration of life, we are dedicated to making this the
most emotional opening ceremony ever."
The opening ceremony is scheduled to take place in the
Chinese capital on 8 August 2008.
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