A good portion of titles were unveiled for Sitges Fantastic Film Festival which will take place between the 7th of October until the 17th. The inaugural film of this year´s official ceremony and out of competition will be “Los Ojos de Julia”, the Guillermo del Toro produced film in collaboration with director Guillém Morales and actress Belén Rueda (“The Orphanage”). “Agnosia” the second film from Eugenio Mira after his debut with “The Birthday” and “14 Days with Víctor” by Román Parrado will be Spain´s representation at the competitive official section.
Korea’s Mother won the top honor at the 4th Asian Film Awards, picking up Best Picture, while Chinese and Hong Kong films sweeped the other major award categories. After the grand opening of HKIFF on Sunday night, the ceremony has been held on the following day, adding an extra kick to the film festival. Bong Joon-ho’s murder mystery predictably won in a category that has previously been dominated by Korean films.
John Woo’s much hyped return to the HK film industry the historical epic Red Cliff has pulled in north of $25 million from six East Asian territories including South Korea, Thailand, Taiwan, and Hong Kong since Thursday. According to Variety Asia the film even set an opening day record for a Chinese release in South Korea with 139,000 admissions, a stunning 57% increase from the previous record of 60,000 admissions set by Zhang Yimou’s The House of Flying Daggers.