NationStates Jolt Archive

Since the first British-manufactured television sets arrived in Hong Kong in the late 60s the city has become the cultural capital of the Dominion. Hong Kong drama series are broadcasted from Tibet to Taiwan to Singapore to Britai, and enjoy a strong following amongst overseas Chinese as well. Local actors and amateur film makers are rushing to the city at this time of the year for a once in a blue moon event.

The Hong Kong Film Festival takes place biannually. This year it will be held in the Wanchai district at the Hong Kong Convention Centre. Hotels and local accomodation are already packed, with some travellers resorting to long commutes from Shenzhen or Lantau Island.

A total of $15 million of prizes will be granted to the winners and runner-ups in the following :

Best drama
Best action film
Best romance
Best amateur film
Best historical film
Best sci-fi film
Best documentary

A selection of submissions are listed below. The judges recieved more than 400 submissions across all categories from Hong Kong alone - they are still evaluating more than 3000 submissions from the rest of the Dominion. Films in all languages are considered and international submissions have just opened.

The receding tide
Submitted by Miss Rachel Lee from Hainan.

A documentary showcasing the effects of the world economic crisis on local fishing villages in Hainan. Miss Lee interviews several hundred fisherman and discusses the effects of the economic downturn as well as other factors such as global warming. Where Miss Lee distinguishes herself is in the depth and delivery of her research - the film blurs the lines between the traditional documentary, reality television, and drama.

Quantum hearts
Submitted by renowned director Stanley Chong.

Written, directed, and produced by Stanley Chong, Quantum Hearts explores the omniscient and timeless nature of love as well as other themes such as environmentalism and personal discovery. During a research project to create safer nuclear plants in outer space, a technician and space pilot Clive is badly affected by a quantum time shift experiment and develops a rare disorder in which he randomly slips in and out of comas which last a random duration. His life is turned upside down - Eight months after the birth of his first son he slips into a coma and awakens when his son is 6 years old. He decides to spend as much time as possible with his wife and experiences a few years of happiness but suddenly slips into a coma on his son's 10th birthday. During this time he befriends an older gentleman with remarkable likeness to his father who has an amazing pool of knowledge about his condition and offers great assistance. When he awakens again 4 years later he discovers his wife is terminally ill and is heartbroken at this news. He spends a few weeks with her but the stress affects his body and he slips into a coma again for the next 8 years. When he comes to again she is gone, but his son is now involved in light-speed propulsion research and asks him to become a test pilot in an attempt to break the light barrier. He agrees and dedicates the journey to his wife.

The film ends with a comatose Clive at the controls of the Daelus IV holding his wife's picture, being rapidly sent back through time. Chong's film recieved 20 minutes of standing ovation at the premier screen in London earlier this year and has been the highest earner for a Hong Kong film for the last 3 years.

Spirits of romanza
Submitted by Jackson Li, amateur animation producer

A supernatural animated romance film set in the medieval era in a magical world where the Demon Lord launches an abduction attempt at a young girl in a farming village as a spirit vision has shown that she will grow up to become a powerful magic user for the Han Dynasty. Her boyfriend (Lai) vows to rescue her from the Demon Lord, and utilises a wide array of wushu and magic in his journey. The action is visually spectacular, scenes are brilliantly drawn and the film takes the audience through a wide range of landscapes from the underworld to the high mountains of Tibet. Critics have generally enjoyed it although Li Kang Mei from Singtao Daily has called the film "a copy of Keanu Reeve's Constantine".

Probability
Submitted by Director James Woo, winner of last year's "Best newcomer" award at the Shenzhen Film Society.

Li-Kuang, a mathematics student (played by Andy Lau) discovers a formula to predict the future. Initially he is delighted and proceeds to earn billions from the stock markets while becoming one of the most powerful politicians in the Dominion. However the formula can only look one year ahead, and he discovers that one of his close friends has an extremely high probability of dying in a horrible accident. He tries to influence the future and succeeds in saving her life, but inadvertently his actions has caused the probability of a severe accident happening to several more of his friends and family to skyrocket. This happens several times, with the repercussion of each event becoming more severe. Eventually he discovers that one of the people he has saved will set off an accident at a chemical plant which kills thousands. The film ends as the computer programme displays a mental institute as a certainty for Li-Kuang, who has murdered the person responsible for the accident.

Mercenaries 2: World In Flames
Submitted by Steven Scott, InterGlobal Studios and Recording Company

Ryan Le and his twin friends Erin and Derek Schmidt take the roles of Chris Jacobs, Jen Mui, and Mattias Nilsson respectively. An adaptation of the videogame, Le (a Chinese-Irish Delta Force operator); Schmidt, Erin (a German-American Delta Force agent); and Schmidt, Derek (a Force Recon Marine) return as mercenaries from their first movie in North Korea. Mercs 2 takes place in 2008 Venezuela after the Le-trained guerrilla army People's Liberation Army of Venezuela (PLAV) has assassinated Hugo Chavez. The mercs are hired by corrupt pro-Chavez billionaire Ramon Solano to rescue the head of the VZ, Carlos Carmona after a failed coup attempt. After rescuing Carmona, Solano refuses to pay the mercs and attempts to have them killed, only to have Derek shot in the ass. The mercs subsequently seek revenge and work for various factions in Venezuela: from the Universal Petroleum Corporation to the OAS-led Allied Nations. With the help of ExOps support agent Caroline Colbert and fellow mercs (and CIA Agents) KC Chang (the helo pilot), Cara Scott (mechanic), and Adam Silow (jet pilot), the crew will fight all over Venezuela for money, adventure, romance, and justice to Solano. With a soundtrack by Juanes, George Lam, and Cypress Hill, Mercs 2 uses almost all the elements from the game and puts it in the movie. Will Solano crush the mercs or suffer the consequences for not paying?

Grand Theft Auto IV
Submitted by Steven Scott, Interglobal Studios and Recording Company

A film adaptation of the popular video game by Rockstar Games, Ryan Le returns to the U.S. to Liberty City, New York with his immigrant friend and ex-comrade Niko Bellic, coming from Serbia. There, they meet up with their cousins, LCPD officer Kenny Wu Li and taxi business owner Roman Bellic. There, they go deep into the Liberty City underworld of the Russian Mafia, African-American street gangs, and Jamaican drug hustlers. Through a journey of working for the crime bosses and being betrayed by Russian mobster Dmitri Rascalov, Ryan and Niko must scramble to survive in the concrete jungle by assassinating high-value targets, collecting money, and as the title suggest, hijacking vehicles. As Le climbs up the LCPD ranks, he is initiated into NOOSE along with his girlfriend Erin Schmidt and joins his other cousin Huang Li in the fight against Chinese Triad and Italian Mafia organized crime in NYC's little sister. Through working undercover for the Triads and Italian Commission, the NOOSE and their allies in the Mafia and Triads manage to eliminate organized crime from Liberty City. Meanwhile, Niko must work for the badder side of the Italian Mafia (the Pegorino Family) and Ryan's corrupt cousins in the Irish Mob. As Niko and Ryan learn of the underlying evil in their new home, they must seek revenge and bring justice to Liberty City once and for all. With a huge soundtrack and variety of vehicles, GTA IV was one of the biggest hits in the USGA and possibly, in AMW China.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Submitted by Steven Scott, InterGlobal Films and Recording Company

The sequel to GTA IV, Ryan Le and his friends return to their native California. Ryan goes to Los Santos in the Santa Cruz area to check up on his friends from the Grove Street Families. Unfortunately, the gang has been down in the dumps since his absence and his friend CJ's mom is dead from a drive-by shooting by rival Ballas. Ryan immediately joins LSPD to clean up the streets once again, only to learn that corrupt CRASH officers Frank Tenpenny and Eddie Pulaski have framed CJ for murder and refuse to acknowledge Ryan's contributions to the community. After a week of doing gang and police activities, CJ and Ryan lose CJ's brother Sweet and are forced to Ryan's hometown of San Fierro (in the San Francisco Area), where they quickly regain their status and money through business with Ryan's family in the Triads. Ryan is recruited into the SF NOOSE and destroys the Triads' competition in San Fierro. During Christmas break in Las Venturas, Ryan and his Uncle Wu must succeed in their casino venture, make thousands off blackjack, and ultimately, stop a terrorist attack by mercenaries hired by Tenpenny. Once he returns to Los Santos with CJ, Le is caught in between huge riots caused by Tenpenny's mistrial. Le takes the law into his own hands and leads NOOSE troops to kill Tenpenny and the Ballas, leading an end to the riot. The film ends with Ryan his girlfriend Erin getting married, with "Wake Me Up When September Ends" by Green Day playing. Like its prequel, GTA SA includes the game's [edited] soundtrack and wide array of vehicles. Filmed on location in California and Nevada, GTA SA is possibly one of the most authentic GTA movies up to date.

Gibberish: This is a closed RP, as is anything tagged with [AMW].

China: Are we supposed to submit films from our respective countries or something?

Gibberish: This is a closed RP, as is anything tagged with [AMW].

China: Are we supposed to submit films from our respective countries or something?

OOC: Well yeah, I perhaps should have made it more explicit, we want you to enter some British films. Will Little Britain or Coronation street be entered? ;)

OOC2: Usually AMW RPs are AMW only, but as this RP will have little to do with international affairs, I suppose we can include Gibberish's entries in the submission pile.

IC:

International entries are now open. Please send your submission to the following address

Hong Kong Film Festival Committee
PO Box 2590
Wanchai
Hong Kong
Dominion of China

Igovian Soviet Commonwealth of Tamil Eelam

Run Run Run

Submitted by writer-director Mahilan.

Singan (Muttiah Ramanathan) is a Ceylonese Indian Tamil in his mid teens afflicted with twin obsessions for Dravidian revolutionary brotherhood and the Velvet Underground. At home in the Ceylonese highlands, Singan is something of a recluse, spending his days tapping rubber while listening endlessly on a battered old Walkman to music for which his peers have no taste. The film progresses slowly over the first half hour, lingering on the drudgery of Singan's daily work against the landscapes of the central highlands and his often ill-fitting soundtrack, until a seemingly innocuous verbal clash with a would-be friend sends the young man storming off. Singan attempts to join the Tamil Tigers in the north, and ends up making passage with them to Tamil Nadu, in India, only to leave the guerrillas and set-off on a one-man campaign to create a united revolutionary Dravidistan. Singan's once-again lonely journeying in a sometimes hostile India descends -or elevates- into a sort of happy insanity before the film ends in anti-climax, the lone figure of the lead character sitting down to fix his damaged Walkman, dropped during a fleeting earth tremour, as daylight fades over the Tamil Nadu-Kerala borderlands.

Differing significantly in style and content from most Tigerwood cinema the film has received wildly varying reviews so far, and though far from being the highest grossing film from the small studio this year the fact that it has turned a slight profit is somewhat groundbreaking given that, from a Tamil perspective, its style is quite unorthodox. It is expected to be released in the BDR early in the new year, and its entry in the Hong Kong festival is an effort by the producers to advertise the fact that Tamil Soviet cinema is not just Bollywood with a lower budget and revolutionary slogans.

Gibberish: This is a closed RP, as is anything tagged with [AMW].

China: Are we supposed to submit films from our respective countries or something?

OOC: sorry, wouldnt have known