A gossipy breakup scandal became an internet-wide debate about the morality of surrogacy after it was revealed that a former celebrity couple secretly begat children through surrogacy in the United States. Producer Zhang Heng...
In partnership with the China Copyright and Media blog, CDT is adding the “Beijing Internet Instructions” series to the Censorship Vault. These directives were originally published on Canyu.org (Participate) and date from 2005...
China Real Time talks to Chen Kaige, the “Fifth Generation” director of Yellow Earth and Farewell My Concubine, about censorship, Hollywood, and his latest film, Sacrifice, which arrives in the US this month. I’m not...
A commentary from Guangming Daily about a scandal brewing, yet again, around big-wig filmmaker Chen Kaige. Translated by CDT: Chen Kaige, who got burned after his film crew polluted the environment, has just started shooting his new film, “Mei Lanfang (Ê¢ÖÂÖ∞Ëä≥).” (the Peking Opera equivalent of Pavarotti) for which he has been given unprecedented access […]
From The New York Times: Homegrown blockbusters were supposed to be China’s answer to Hollywood. And, to some extent, the extravagant budgets and eye-popping special effects of “Curse of the Golden Flower,” “The Promise” and “The Banquet” did their job. For the past two years Chinese films have shattered box-office records here, while outperforming Hollywood […]
From CRIEnglish via Xinhua: World famous Chinese actor Zhang Ziyi is expected to play a supporting role in a film about Peking Opera legend Mei Lanfang. Zhang Ziyi will play the role of Meng Xiaodong, a female friend and rumoured lover of Mei Lanfang. Whilst the films director Chen Kaige has met with the actress […]
From Chinaview via Xinhua News Agency: Chinese director Chen Kaige, whose movie “The Promise” allegedly caused environmental damage to a pristine Shangri-la lakeside during shooting, has been nominated for the country’s “Green Chinese” award. Many described it as an outrageous irony in China’s efforts to protect the environment. “How can Chen be nominated? If a […]
From The Hindu News: China has fined the producers of a hit movie for damaging a historic site in Shangrila in the northern part of Yunnan Province. The Ministry of Construction, which launched a probe into the environmental damage inflicted by the producers of the movie ‘The Promise’, during its production and imposed a fine […]
From Slate.com: China has one of the world’s most straightforward industrial policies: Identify successful foreign industries, determine what makes them successful, and clone them. This strategy has worked well in telecommunications, where China’s Huawei(Âçé‰∏∫) makes products so similar to Cisco‘s that Cisco has sued for patent and copyright infringement. Similarly, China Unicom just launched the […]
A new development in the Shangri-la Promise Pollution story from Reuters (link): China will fine the crew of the country’s most expensive movie, “The Promise” by Oscar-nominated director Chen Kaige, for damaging the environment in an area of outstanding natural beauty, state media said on Wednesday. The producers neglected to carry out an environmental impact […]
From Xinhua News Agency (link): Leading Chinese producers and directors are supporting a “green production code” and would make every effort to protect the environment during filming. The initiative was put forward Thursday after media reports and government officials criticized producers of “The Promise” over damage caused during filming. “China’s beautiful scenery must be preserved […]
From Shanghai Daily (link): CHINA’S top environmental authority will look into charges that the film production team of “The Promise” damaged the environment around Bigu Lake in Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province, during shooting of the motion picture. The State Environmental Protection Administration will order its Yunnan subordinate to investigate if the criticism is true, Zhu […]
From the New York Times (link): Set in an enchanted, fantastical China where the boundaries between the human and the supernatural are as blurred as some of the computer-generated imagery, “The Promise” occupies a curious landscape somewhere between opera and cartoon. Its director, Chen Kaige, is best known for historical epics like “The Emperor and […]
From Star Bulletin (link): CHEN KAIGE believes in second chances. Much like the character of Princess Qingcheng in his latest film, “The Promise,” Chen has shown that a person’s so-called destiny can be changed through thoughtful choices. Throughout much of his 24-year career in feature filmmaking, Chen has adeptly used allegory and metaphor to illustrate […]
From LA Times (link): A blogger’s video spoof of a big-budget film is swept up in the debate over censorship and the freedom to speak one’s mind on the Internet. After forking over a hard-earned $10 for a blockbuster he loathed, freelance video and sound engineer Hu Ge did something few in his country would […]
From the Christian Science Monitor (link): An underground video sweeping Chinese cyberspace has half the country cracking up. Titled “A Murder Caused by Mantou,” the video is a spoof of a new film, “The Promise,” by famed director Chen Kaige. Using satiric elements similar to Monty Python and the Simpsons, the spoof has flooded cyberspace […]
From Nanfengchuang (in Chinese), translated by EastSouthWestNorth: Upon understanding, when the film crew of The Promise led by Chen Kaige arrived, Shangri La county thought that they have a terrific promotional opportunity and they discussed if the sets from The Promise such as the Flowery Golden House could be left behind for the purpose of […]
From Xinhua: Chinese director Chen Kaige‘s high-profile martial arts film, “The Promise”, has received its final “license” to compete for Best Foreign Film in next year’s Academy Awards. The film’s publicist, Huang Bing, announced that they received the official notification from the Film Bureau yesterday.
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