James Wen and Hong Huifang as the 2023 RisingStories Story Pitching Competition’s judges for the first time, delightedly agree to work on a romance.
Hosted by Studio 76, co-organised by Blintn of South Korea, GroupM, Mission Entertainment, Fengdu FilmsRising Films, Southern Flame Ltd, TDI (Taiwan Dream Institute), and Singapore Weiyu Films. The call for 2023 RisingStories International Story Pitching Competition applications will be opened on February 1, 2023, and a press conference will be held today on 12/22. Its first competition in 2021 attracted more than 550 entries from China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, the United States and other parts of the world. This year's event will be expanded, both Chinese and English scripts are eligible for registration. The host and this year's professional judging team were invited to attend this event, and two actor judges James Wen and Hong Huifang also shared their thoughts about being judges this time.
The event hotst Dennis Yang, CEO and Managing Partner of Studio76, said: "In the first competition, we received more than 550 entries, not only from Taiwan, but more than one-third of the entries came from Overseas, we have also seen many excellent works that are both creative and worth developing. Therefore, we will expand the call for entries for this year's event, and open entries, events, and judges teams are both in Chinese and English. No matter where you are from, as long as you have creativity and excellent stories, all creators are more than welcome to participate."
2023 RisingStories International Story Pitching Competition gathers professionals in the film and television industry, and invites actor James Wen Shenghao and actress Hong Huifang, producers includingAngie Chai, Alain Hao.Lester Hsi as director , Lyra Fu and Chihchi Fan as screenwritersto establish a professional jury team. James Wen, who won the Golden Bell Award for Best Supporting Actor in The World Between Us and has also starred in Tears on Fire and Gold Leaf and many other masterpieces, said that he is looking forward to participating. "In fact, the workload of judging the solicitation category is huge, because there will be hundreds or even thousands of works to be judged at the same time. The finalist will be selected from hundreds of works." He expressed his expectation that he can use his experience as an actor to locate a good work that can lock the core of the character and the prototype of the story, and to execute.
Hong Huifang, Best Actress at the 8th Asian International Film Festival in Los Angeles, was nominated for Best Actress at the 2nd Golden Horse Awards this year with Ajoomma. As a judge this time, Hong Huifang said that she is not from a professional background, but in her nearly 40-year career as an actress, she has been fortunate to have seen various works. "It makes me very excited and happy to see many stories outside my identity as an actor. But being a judge can't be based on personal preferences alone. It is actually quite challenging to treat all works equally." The two actors' impressions of each other, Hong Huifang said that she knew James Wen from The World Between Us, and at that time she fell into the drama and couldn't extricate herself. "At that time, everyone recommended me, I clicked on it with my husband one day, but I chased it all the way until the next morning, and I couldn't stop at all." Hong Huifang also praised James Wen's acting skills in the play, James Wen immediately responded modestly that the script was well written, and said that this is the importance of the script and the story.
When asked if there will be opportunities for cooperation in the future, both of them expressed their great anticipation. James Wen even said that maybe this time as a judge, he will loof for works he likes. As for what kind of story the two would like to work on together, James Wen said that he rarely tried love themes, and asked Hong Huifang if he had this opportunity and jokingly gave examples such as the theme of teacher-student romance. James Wen said, "I have always felt that love stories should not be limited to young people. I like Sleepless in Seattle very much. If I have the opportunity, I would like to try it.".
2023 RisingStories International Story Pitching Competition
will open for submissions from 2023/2/1 to 2023/4/14. The entries are locked in feature films and mini/TV series, whether you are a Chinese or English creator from all over the world, all are welcome to sign up, and three winners will be selected for each Chinese and English projects, and there will be a series of events such as master class and pitching workshops. For more information, please contact the official website and Facebook fan page of 2023 RisingStories International Story Pitching Competition.
