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Aftershock - ( Feng Xiaogang ); UPCOMING 7-22 2010 RELEASE
Topic Started: Oct 11 2009, 01:39 PM (2,530 Views)
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Emotional premier for Aftershock at site of Tangshan earthquake
Director Feng Xiaogang is known as a comedy master, but his latest disaster film proves that he is also a master of tragedy.

Feng is a frequent box office champion with his comedies on urban life, but his latest movie Aftershock features the Tangshan earthquake that claimed around 240,000 lives in 1976.

The film, which will hit cinemas nationwide on July 22, had a premiere ceremony on Monday in Tangshan in North China's Hebei province where the 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck 34 years ago.

About 10,000 locals watched the IMAX version of the film in Tangshan Stadium, with many in tears.

Heavy rain fell soon after the ceremony ended at the midnight and it rained during the rehearsal on Sunday night, but during the four-hour ceremony there was no rain at all.

"It was like the 240,000 spirits were blessing us," Feng told a press conference on Tuesday in Beijing. "The ceremony would have been a mess if it rained."

However, the rain did destroy the screen, claimed to be the biggest in the world by the production company. The 33-meter-long and 15-meter-high screen was supposed to be divided into four parts and re-used in theaters later.

After the screening, Feng proposed two toasts. The first was to those who lost their lives in the disaster, the second to the survivors and rescuers.

Feng said he was nervous presenting the work to Tangshan people and asked the audience if it was good enough. The viewers all stood up and gave him a warm "Yes!"

On Monday afternoon, Feng led his cast in laying flowers in front of the Tangshan Earthquake Memorial Wall, which bears the names of those who died in the disaster.

The film, which costs about 100 million yuan ($15 million), focuses on the psychological aftershock the disaster imposes on a mother who has to choose between saving her son or daughter.

"Many directors hope their films are epics, but I would rather capture the fate of ordinary people," Feng says.

Many extras in the film were survivors of the earthquake. In one scene of locals burning mock paper money for the dead on the streets 10 years after the earthquake, Feng told them to talk about anything they liked to their dead loved ones. It proved very emotional and many could not stop talking and crying even after the shooting ended.

"The film moves many, because the earthquake was real and more importantly, the feeling inside is real," Feng says.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
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World's largest screen for "Aftershock" premiere
The largest silver screen in the world will be used for the premiere of Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's IMAX disaster film "Aftershock" Monday evening (July 12) in Tangshan, Sina.com.cn reports.

A 33-meter-wide, 15-meter-high silver screen has been set up in Tangshan city, Hebei Province, where the main event of the film - the 7.8-magnitude earthquake in 1976 - occurred.

Huayi Brothers, the film's production company, used two Barco Series II DP2K-32B digital projection machines with the latest model lenses and optics designed to support showings on massive screens. They are upgraded models of the projector used for the premiere of "Avatar", the report says.

The 40-meter-wide and 20-meter-deep stage set with two 25-meter-wide and 17-meter-high LED screens have also been set up along with the huge screen.

The entire cast of the movie will attend the premiere ceremony, including Xu Fan, Zhang Jingchu, Li Chen, Zhang Guoqiang and Chen Daoming.

"The preview in other cities proved the film is very touching," Feng was quoted as saying. "I'm a bit nervous today since the film will be shown to the people of Tangshan. I hope they can recognize it."

The event organizer expects about 15,000 people to attend the premiere and has prepared 20,000 raincoats in case of inclement weather. A team of nearly 1,500 people of policemen, security guards, medical staff, firefighters, volunteers and engineers will be on site at the premiere.

"The premiere ceremony is a salute to the Tangshan people and a remembrance of the 240,000 victims by the 1.3 billion Chinese," said Wang Zhonglei, president of Huayi Brothers. "It also shows respect to the stricken city by its country."

The premiere ceremony will run from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. and be aired on China Central Television's movie channel (CCTV-6) and Phoenix Satellite TV.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/
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Aftershock
By Maggie Lee

The desire to impart Confucian values of parental love and filial duty overrides the need to make a spectacle of death and destruction in "Aftershock," Feng Xiaogang's $25 million film about the psychological scars of survivors of the 1976 Tangshan Earthquake that claimed about 242,400 lives. While the state-of-the-art effects of the brief earthquake scenes lend the film an epic feel, and the story arc clearly harbors ambitions of encapsulating China's strenuous road to prosperity through one family's saga over 32 years, "Aftershock" is ultimately a small family melodrama revolving around perennial themes of love, forgiveness and coming-of-age. Feng ditches his usual sharp-tongued humor and feisty characters to concentrate on stimulating the tear ducts through traditional but polished storytelling technique.

A seismic impact on the domestic boxoffice is to be expected, as the film is opening Thursday on more than 3,500 screens across China, the widest release ever in that country. It will also be the first Chinese-language film to be shown on Imax nationwide. At least, Feng would have no problem breaking his own record of $53.7 million for "If You Are the One." Audiences should welcome the catharsis it provides for the national trauma suffered during the Sichuan Earthquake in 2008 from the way it links the 1976 and 2008 catastrophes in the plot. The film's heavy slant on drama rather than action means smaller tremors in the international market. Asian territories, especially earthquake-prone Japan, would be more responsive.

The story commences on July 28, 1976, the day of the earthquake, in Tangshan, an industrial city 140 kilometers from Beijing. The heroine Yuan'ni (Xu Fan, Feng's wife and muse of his early works) is happily married to truck driver Fang Daqiang. They have twins: elder daughter, Deng and younger son, Da.

Feng's treatment of the proverbial calm before a storm is nothing if not economical. Two short scenes define the Fangs absolute bliss against compromised economic conditions of the period -- Yuan'ni huddles up with her children to enjoy the luxury of their newly purchased electric fan; Yuan'ni and Daqiang, who have no room of their own, have a romp inside his truck. One scene suffices to reveal the family dynamic that leads up to the pivotal plot point -- when the twins fight for a tomato, Yuan'ni gives it to Da. Tomatoes would play a role in the heart-tugging coda that occurs 32 years later.

Unlike another Asian disaster mega-film "Haeunde" there is no wading through a string of subplots and a motley crew of characters (a common excuse for star cameos) for nearly an hour before getting to the disaster. In less than 20 minutes, the money shots come tumbling down like the walls of Jericho.

For overseas viewers, the quality of CGI and special effects (partly handled by a Korean team) are secondary in novelty to seeing the toppling of vintage Stalinist- Chinese architecture rather than the skyscrapers and dams that make regular appearances in Hollywood disaster flicks. Nevertheless, one can sense Feng's eagerness to get the blockbuster elements quickly out of the way so that he can get on with what he does best -- personal human drama.

Soon after Daqiang dies saving Yuan'ni from repercussions of an aftershock, she is plunged into a dilemma similar to that in "Sophie's Choice." The twins lives are endangered but only one can be saved by the rescue team (spoiler alert). She chooses her son Da. Miraculously, Deng survives, but by then Yuan'ni and Da have already been evacuated. The image of the puny, dust-covered girl rising Lazarus-like from a sea of corpses is a stark tableau of human resilience.

Feng's treatment of how Yuan'ni lives with her guilt and how Deng overcomes the lifelong trauma of hearing her mother choose her brother's life over hers is not too heavy-handed. At best, Yuan'ni's acts of remorse are made to look like amusing stubbornness, even providing comic relief. The measured build-up and restraint allows Feng to pull off several all-out tear-jerking scenarios towards the end, when dramatizing the mother-daughter reunion through the Sichuan Earthquake.

The parallel lives of Deng and Da, going through the same stages of teenage rebellion, career building and marriage without knowing of each others' existence, comprises the most over-stretched section in the film, at well over an hour. In contrast to the tempestuous first act, the experiences described are so typical of ordinary Chinese that it naturally leads to a dip in tension. However, the universal nature of the parent-child relationships, interspersed with historical events like Chairman Mao's death and social transformations like the flourishing of "Ge Ti Hu"(self-employed households) is what connects most deeply to his target mainland audience.

Entrusted with such a demanding role, Xu Fan sometimes tips over to exaggeration. Her demonstrative gestures and tendency for her voice to gets squeaky at dramatically charged moments are dents to an otherwise powerhouse performance. Bringing composure and intelligence into the balance is Zhang Jingchu as the teenage and adult Deng. As Deng's adoptive father, veteran actor Chen Daoming gives a degree of credibility to an idealized character by projecting an earthy, slightly naive image.

The extravagant production design, utilizing period paraphernalia gathered from nationwide donations, evokes rosy nostalgia for a period that was in reality far from cozy. Complemented by a muddy brown and ashen gray color texture in the 1976 section, cinematography by Lv Yue (DP of Feng's "Assembly" and John Woo's "Red Cliff") is solid, achieving an apocalyptic sense of doom in shots of the ruins and panoramic views of the city before and after the devastation. Visuals set in the '80s til 2008 are less stylized.

Presented by Tang Shan Tele-broadcast Media Co. Ltd, China Film Group, Huayi Brothers Media Corp.; co-presented by Shanghai Film Group, Zhejiang Audio-visual Co. Ltd., Media Asia Film Co Ltd, Emperor Motion Pictures.
Production Company: Huayi Brothers Media Corp.
Director: Feng Xiaogang
Screenwriter: Su Xiaorui
Based on the novel "Aftershock" by Zhang Li
Producer: Chen Kuofu
Executive producer: Wang Zhonglei
Cinematography: Lv Yue
Production designer: Huo Tingxiao
Editor: Xiao Yang
Music: Wang Liguang
No MPAA rating
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/
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'Aftershock' to rattle China exhibitors, filmgoers
Drama opens Thursday in record number of theaters


Aftershock," a drama about one of the deadliest earthquakes ever, is due to shake more movie theaters across China than any film in history, opening Thursday on more than 3,500 screens.

The first non-English Imax film, "Aftershock," by perennial hitmaker Feng Xiaogang, is already making waves in China. Test audiences were reported to have come out of theaters in tears as the movie -- about the July 1976 Tangshan quake whose official death toll was 255,000 -- is topical for many Chinese who were witness to a 2008 temblor that killed more than 80,000 in Sichuan, including more than 5,000 schoolchildren.

"Aftershock" follows a mother (Xu Fan) widowed by the Tangshan quake to the school where her two children are buried alive. She can only save one and chooses her son, but her daughter overhears her decision through the rubble.

Surviving, the daughter (Zhang Jingchu) is adopted and moves to America, where she joins the medical profession. Decades later, when another major quake hits China, the daughter returns to help the rescue and seeks resolution with her mom.

Known as a master of contemporary comedy, Feng has been criticized but those who say "Aftershock" is too laden with product placements.

The 135-minute film, made for 100 million yuan ($14.76 million), contains at least six obviously placed products, including alcohol, a bank, insurance, a cell phone, a car and sportswear, reports said.

"Like it or not, product placement is and will be an important part of the Chinese film industry," Feng said last week.

Though earlier reports said distributor Huayi Brothers Media and Imax would release the film in select international theaters on July 28, there are no foreign openings scheduled.

"Time will tell," said Greg Foster, chairman and president of Imax filmed entertainment. "It's a very powerful film, and we are as committed as ever to our relationship with China."

"Aftershock" is the first film in a three-picture deal that Huayi and Imax signed in June 2009.

"It's not a coincidence that our first non-English-language film is a Chinese film," Foster said. "We take our relationship with China very seriously. It's a way to amp up and turbo-charge the region."

"Aftershock" will arrive on 11 Imax digital screens in China and on the UA Lark digital Imax screen in Hong Kong.

Imax this year grossed $24 million off of 14 first-run releases of "Avatar" in China.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/

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INTERVIEWS/BEHIND THE SCENES
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this is playing in sydney i might check it out
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