Ol' Father Geek here with another collection of bits of Asian coolness for your Thursdays. Darius25 and AccSpy have sent in reports from India and Hong Kong filled with some interesting info and nice pics, buuuuut first there's a hefty tidbit of good news that was sent in straight to Father Geek's trusty PC here in the International Offices of World Geek Headquarters at the AICN Central Texas Compound by the wide eyed Gumbi...

Hey there, Father Geek....

Kurosawa's THE SEVEN SAMURAI will be re-released to theaters according to This Site... I have attached their article for your readers benefit, cut-and-paste style, after my signature...

justa fan,

GUMBI

HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - Cowboy Pictures partners Noah Cowan and John Vanco and Janus Films' Peter Becker announced that their recently formed alliance will continue this summer with the theatrical re-release of what is considered to be the most acclaimed of Akira Kurosawa's films, "The Seven Samurai" (1953).

The re-release will feature the first new prints of the full-length feature in decades, including completely new subtitles by renowned Japanese film authority and translator Linda Hoaglund. National rollout will follow through the fall and winter.

Cowboy will simultaneously tour a retrospective of eleven other Kurosawa titles, all featuring the great Toshiro Mifune, in major markets across North America over the next 18. All will feature new prints and new subtitle translations. The titles are: "Rashomon," High and Low, Throne of Blood, The Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, Sanjuro, Red Beard, I Live in Fear, Stray Dog, Drunken Angel," and "The Bad Sleep Well."

Akira Kurosawa is seen as one of the most important and influential directors in cinema's history. After Kurosawa's Rashomon won the Grand Prize at the Venice Film Festival in 1951 and launched him to the forefront of the world film scene, he went on to win three Academy Awards®, including a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award in 1990, recognizing his extraordinary body of work. "The term 'giant' is used too often to describe artists. But in the case of Akira Kurosawa, we have one of the rare instances where the term fits," said director Martin Scorsese.

The Seven Samurai is thought to be one of the most influential films ever made. Contemporary filmmakers George Lucas, Steven Spielberg , John Woo and countless others have acknowledged the film as a primary influence on their own work. Scores of critics have placed the film on their "Ten Best of All Time" lists. Its story of a band of seven fighters recruited to help save a town from attacking bandits has achieved the status of legend throughout the world. The film was adapted into a Western by Hollywood as "The Magnificent Seven" in 1960.

"A Kurowsawa retrospective with all-new prints has been a long time coming," said Peter Becker of Janus Films. "We're grateful to Film Forum for devoting so much calendar time to the series, and we're sure Cowboy will do a great job all across the country."

"We are honored to be entrusted with this incredible collection of Kurosawa's masterpieces," said John Vanco of Cowboy Pictures. "In this era of video and digital media, it's important that this filmmaker in particular is appreciated through celluloid, and that is now possible on a national scale due to these new and newly subtitled prints. We expect the re-release of "The Seven Samurai" and our tour of the other great Kurosawas to be the film event of the year." "Thanks to new perspectives regarding the translation of Kurosawa's scripts, we can finally appreciate his masterful grasp of language in relation to portraits of the passionate, humorous, and tragic characters who populate his films," said translator Linda Hoaglund. "Audiences who rely on English translation for Kurosawa's films will experience them all over again as if it were the first time."

Coooooool, Father Geek back... Here's Darius and the regular column for this week...

Asia-AICN

Hey all, I hope you’ve had a great week. There wasn’t much news this week, but AccSpy and I still have some interesting scoops for you, including info on “Yeh Hai Jalwa (This is Ecstacy)”, the “Astitva (Existence)” remake, “The Twins Effect”, and actor Andy Lau’s next collaboration with Johnnie To. We also have some pics from “Humraaz (The Confidante)” and “Pork Chop Union”.

INDIA

- Sanjay Dutt has replaced Akshay Kumar for I-Dream Films’ (“Monsoon Wedding”, “16th December”) next production. The thriller, which also stars Amitabh Bachchan, is titled “Chanakya”. There was no reason given for the last-minute casting shuffle. The film is scheduled to start shooting this fall.

- Principal photography for David Dhawan’s “Yeh Hai Jalwa (This is Ecstacy)” is now complete and the film is now in midst of the dubbing process (it’s not sync-sound). The film is pretty much assembled in complete form and is all set to release very shortly (sometime in June). It stars Salman Khan, Amisha Patel, Rishi Kapoor and Anupam Kher.

- Actress Madhuri Dixit has been replaced by Sushmita Sen for Mahesh Manjrekhar’s upcoming English-language remake of his own film “Astitva (Existence)”. There was no reason given for Dixit’s exit from the film. “Astitva” was a critically acclaimed film (from 1999), about a middle-aged woman who suddenly realizes her potential after receiving news on her lover’s death. She then evaluates her meaningless life as a housewife, and decides to let go of all the convictions and take charge of her own life. The film’s original star, Tabu, also appears in this new version.

- A major schedule for Aishwarya Rai’s home-production, “Dil Ka Rishta (Relationships of the Heart)” is now complete. The production team has just come back from South Africa (where the shooting took place) and only a few key scenes remain to be filmed. The film, directed by Naresh Malhotra, stars Ash along with Arjun Rampal, Priyanshu Malik, Rakhee, and Paresh Rawal.

- Some news photos have emerged from the recent audio-release for director duo Abbas-Mustan’s new film, “Humraaz (The Confidante)”. The thriller looks very slick and stylish much like the makers’ last film, “Ajnabee (The Stranger)” and is sure to be an extremely entertaining film. It stars Bobby Deol, Akshaye Khanna, and Amisha Patel, and is set to release this June. Here’s the pics.

You KNOW I’ll put up any picture of Amisha: Coolness

Bobby, Amisha, and Akshaye: They're All Here

Here’s a pic of the trio along with the twin directors, Abbas-Mustan (I can’t tell them apart): See Them Here

HK / CHINA

Here’s the latest report from “AccSpy”:

- Taiwanese actor Lung Sihung died of liver cirrhosis at the age of 72 last Tuesday. The two-time Golden Horse winner ("Pushing Hands", "The Wedding Banquet") was last seen in Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". His final film is Michelle Yeoh's "The Touch" which is opening in Asia this summer and is happens to be Lung's first English-speaking role in during a nearly-100 film career. Lung's next film was supposed to be Michelle Yeoh's new project, "Mulan".

- EMG studio will start a few productions this summer, including the action fantasy "The Twins Effect" starring the hottest pop group in HK - The Twins (Chaylene Choi and Gillian Chung), and "Dream Team", a loose remake of John Woo's "Once a Thief", starring Eason Chan, Edison Chan and Joey Yung.

- Andy Lau and director Andrew Lau pushed the production of their next film "Kung Fu Man Woman(lit. title)" to the winter due to its big budget. In the meanwhile, the actor Lau will collaborate with Johnnie To once again for a "Running out of Time"-like action thriller production this summer.

- Because of the time zone, HK was officially the first city to premiere "Spider-man" on last Friday. The film easily grossed $8.7 mil HKD over three days and debuted at top of the box office. Miriam Yeung and Louis Koo's "Dry Wood Fierce Fire" was still doing extremely well in the second place with total grossing of $12 mil so far. "The Scorpian King" was at no.3 while "The Royal Tenenbaums" finished at no.4 in its 2nd weekend.

A controversial horror film, “The Eye” will open this week. The film, which stars Angelina Lee and Candy Lo, has been generating great business during advanced screenings. Here's the link to its official site: Click to Go Visit

Here's the poster: Just Click

Any Michelle Reis' fans don't peek inside this next link. Here's an image from her latest comedy "Pork Chop Union". I mean it (GROSS IMAGE ALERT!): See the Wierdness Right Here

We have now reached the end of this week's column. Remember, if you have information regarding any film industry in Asia, please contact our Asia-AICN offices at The Most Colorful Booth In The BAZAAR, or in this case should that be BIZARRE. See you all next week.

Darius25