Collaborating pair celebrate 20 years

Feng Xiaogang and Ge You, the most popular director-actor duo in China, celebrate their 20-year friendship with a new film called Personal Tailor, to be released on Dec 19. The two cooperated for the first time on a TV drama called The Story of an Editorial Office in 1991 and have worked on 10 films together, most of which were comedies and box office champions of the year. The new film stars Ge and some young actors like Bai Baihe and Li Xiaolu. Veteran comedian Fan Wei and Song Dandan also join the cast.

Variety of films at German film fest

German film maestro Volker Schlondorff has had his autobiography Light, Shadow and Movement published in Chinese. Schlondorff launched the book, a record of his cinematic career highlighted by classics such as The Tin Drum and The Ogre, during the first Festival of German Cinema in China that continues through Oct 26. The festival is screening more than 10 films including Schlondorff's The Tin Drum, Death of a Salesman, The Ogre and La mer al'Aube in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and Shenyang. Festival-goers can also enjoy a variety of other German films, such as Margarethe von Trontta's Hanna Arendt and Andreas Dresen's Stopped on Track.

Detective Dee may return for third film

Hong Kong director Tsui Hark's 3-D thriller Detective Dee: Rise of the Sea Dragon has grossed 500 million yuan ($81 million) since its premiere on Sept 28. Hark says he is considering a third Detective Dee film. In 2010 Hark directed his original film, set in the Tang Dynasty (618-907) when a young detective explores political schemes behind criminal cases. The popular and critical accolades encouraged Hark to make Rise of the Sea Dragon, featuring lavish imaginative scenes such as horseback riding shot underwater in 3-D. Hark unveiled 23 drafts of conceptual design for future Detective Dee films at a celebration party recently, saying it is possible that Andy Lau, who starred in the first film, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, will be back onboard again.

Students perform Rent for charity

An adaptation of Rent, a Broadway rock musical that tells the story of a group of impoverished young artists and musicians struggling to survive and create in New York City, was staged in Meng Weimin Concert Hall, Tsinghua University on Oct 15, to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. The musical was performed by senior students attending the University of International Relations. All performers are students who are majored in computer science, journalism, English and other humanities. The show was sponsored by China Red Ribbon Foundation, a charity that helps people with HIV/AIDS, and condom maker Durex.

1,000 kitchens offer meals for rural kids

A ceremony was held in Shanghai to celebrate the use of the 1,000th Hope Kitchen by the co-founder Mondelez China (formerly Kraft Foods China) and the China Youth Development Foundation. The program was initiated in 2009 to address the shortage of hot meals for students in poor rural areas in China, and has benefited 450,000 students in 1,000 schools in 28 provinces. At the ceremony, Mondelez China also donated 30,000 boxes of biscuits to Shanghai Young Volunteers Association to help disadvantaged families in Shanghai.

China Daily

(China Daily USA 10/24/2013 page9)