The State Administration of Radio, Film and Television (SARFT) has
given director Zhang Yimou's martial-arts epic
House of Flying
Daggers the nod to seek a nomination for Best Foreign Language
Film in next year's Academy Awards.
Starring Zhang Ziyi and Andy Lau, Flying Daggers topped
135 million yuan (US$16.3 million) at the Chinese box office
recently, and has won acclaim in Japan, South Korea and the US.
Tian Zhuangzhuang's spectacular documentary Delamu,
although a popular favorite at home and widely rumored to have been
approved to head for Hollywood for the prestigious competition, was
knocked out.
The film was originally shot as a TV documentary and it wasn't
until later that Tian decided to
turn it into a film. Because the original form has been broadcast
on Japan's national station, NHK, US Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences rules disqualify it, according to SARFT.
Fifty-two-year-old Tian -- who, like Zhang, is one of China's
"fifth-generation" directors -- shot his documentary in a tiny,
remote village in Yunnan
Province. The title, Delamu, means "the Goddess of
Safe and Sound" in the Tibetan language. It was also the name of
Tian's mule.
Director Johnnie To Kei-Fung received approval from the
Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong to field his
Running on Karma, another Andy Lau action adventure.
(China.org.cn September 17, 2004)
