Kunming, China (November 26, 2007) /China Newswire/ — From November 27th to December 1st the Chinese city of Kunming will host the 2007 BigScreen International Film Festival, featuring 94 films selected from more than 200 ones from about 30 countries. This year’s BigScreen festival will add momentum to Kunming’s emergence as one of China’s major movie centers.

This fifth installment of the BigScreen film festival series will last five days and will highlight films from around the globe, including feature-length films, short films, documentaries and video installations. Special guests include jurors Marco Ceresa (organizer, Venice Film Festival), Wang Yao (screenwriter, Baby in Love, Returning Home, Gourmet of Poison) and Chinese media expert Jeremy Goldkorn, founder of the highly influential website Danwei.org. Hong Kong director Yan Yan Mak (Butterfly, Big Brother) will also be a special guest of the festival and will introduce her new film, The Scarlet Robe. Special musical guests include songstress Tujiko Noriko, bilingual hiphop act Rap Republic and the Bai, Yi and Wa minority performers of Yuansheng Studio, one of the event’s co-sponsors.

BigScreen Festival is organized by CinaOggi.it and English-language portal GoKunming.com and is hosted by the Yunnan Experimental Film Base. The festival has the full support of the Kunming People’s Radio Station, Dushi Shibao newspaper and other relevant government organizations.

This year’s BigScreen Festival is the fifth festival in the BigScreen series, which was launched in Padua, Italy in March 2004. Over the last three and an half years, the BigScreen series has attracted filmmakers and film aficionados from around the world, especially from Asia and Europe. After three editions in Europe, BigScreen moved to China. Last year’s BigScreen Italia – also held in Kunming – served as an important component of the Year of Italy in China and featured prominent members of China’s ‘sixth generation’ of filmmakers such as Jia Zhangke and Wang Xiaoshuai, who served as jurors for the event. This year BigScreen returns to Kunming to serve as a cultural bridge between China and the world.

“Film is an ideal vehicle for communication and exchange between different cultures,” BigScreen founder Matteo Damiani said. “I believe that this year’s BigScreen Film Festival in Kunming will provide China with a very special cultural platform.

INTERNET LINKS

http://www.bigscreenfestival.com

CONTACT INFORMATION

• Leeney Zhou
  leeneymac@gmail.com
  (86) 158 0885 3011

Technorati Tags:
2007 Bigscreen International Film Festiual | Kunming

Shanghai, China (November 16, 2007) /China Newswire/ — Music and comedy improvisation troupe from Chicago to leave audiences in stitches in Shanghai

Chicago based improvisational comedy troupe the Chicago Improv All-Stars, presented by premiere musical improvisation theatre company Baby Wants Candy and ChopSchticks, will bring bust-your-guts hilarity to Henry’s Brewery & Grill on Sichuan Lu in Shanghai on Thursday Dec 6th and Friday Dec 7th.

Founded in Chicago in 1997, the Improv All-Stars have performed over 1,400 completely improvised shows, mostly centered around a musical element, to sold-out crowds from Singapore to Edinburgh.

The troupe has gotten FIVE OUT OF FIVE STARS at the Edinburgh Fringe festival and has become a talent pool of some of the nation's strongest musical and comedic talent and has featured performers like Stephanie Weir and Nicole Parker (MadTV), Rachel Dratch and Jack McBrayer (30 Rock), Al Samuels and Kevin Fleming (Sports Action Team) and Peter Gwinn (Colbert Report).

The Improv All-Stars' on-the-spot improvised comedic and musical sketches have won it critical praise from around the globe:

TimeOut New York has awarded the show the Best Visiting Comedy Show.

The Scotsman crooned: "They are an entertainment phenomenon and I am in awe of their talent."

The Chicago Sun times calls them "consistently funny and crowd pleasing"

Buzzfocus.com wrote: "This gathering of comedic geniuses is the one improv show you want to see before you die."

Improvisers Joshua Funk, Nyima Funk, Al Samuels and Niki Lindgren will perform in Beijing.

CAST BIOS

Joshua Funk is currently an actor on MTV's Wild n' Out with Nick Cannon and a member of improvisational super-group Baby Wants Candy, with whom he's toured all over the world – from Singapore to Edinburgh. He received his B.F.A. in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan and shortly after became one of the founding members of The Second City Detroit touring company. He won The Joseph Jefferson Awards for "Best Director" for Holy War Batman, and "Best Production" for Pants On Fire.

Nyima Funk is a performer on NBC's Thank God You're Here and MTV's Wild 'N Out with Nick Cannon. She regularly performs in Los Angeles with Baby Wants Candy's Los Angeles branch, and is an Alumnus of The Second City Chicago Mainstage.

Niki Lindgren is of Chinese descent and is a member of Baby Wants Candy and the e.t.c. Stage at The Second City. Niki has appeared on ER and co-stars on the NBC Comedy Sports Action Team with Albert Samuels.

Albert Samuels is returning to Asia for his fifth comedy tour. He is a founding member of Baby Wants Candy, and currently stars on the NBC comedy Sports Action Team, which he co-created. After business school, Samuels founded Spark Creative to bring creative skills and entertainment to corporations around the world. He performed with the Second City Touring Company and Second City Mainstage, where he co-wrote and performed in the revues Thank Heaven it Wasn't 7/11 and No, Seriously, We're All Gonna Die. He also appeared in the Will Ferrell film Stranger than Fiction.

When: Two great shows–each show is unique!
Thu, Dec 6th at 8:00pm
Fri, Dec 7th at 8:00pm

Where: Henry's Brewery & Grill
No.33 Middle SiChuan Rd. 1/F

How: Tickets 220RMB in advance (up to Tue, Dec 4th), 280RMB at the door

INTERNET LINKS

http://www.henrysbrew.com

CONTACT INFORMATION

• Richard Robinson
  +86 1391 021 9777
  richard@thecomedytour.com

Technorati Tags:
Henry's Brewery & Grill | Music and Comedy | Chicago Improv All-Stars |

London, United Kingdom (August 02, 2007) /China Newswire/ — For theatre lovers, now is the time to visit Shakespeare's Stratford. Experience the Royal Shakespeare Company's spectacular 1030 seat Courtyard Theatre, specially designed as a prototype for the thrust-stage auditorium which the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) will house. The Courtyard Theatre, which opened in July 2006, has already been described by the Financial Times as 'one of the finest theatrical spaces of recent years'.

With work due to be completed on the new RST in 2010, The Courtyard Theatre will only be in existence for around three years, so ensure you visit this remarkable theatre which has already won a place in the hearts of many patrons. In June 2007, The Courtyard Theatre won an award from the Royal Institute of British Architects and is a contender in this year's Stirling Prize. As well as watching a number of breath-taking performances, visitors to the Courtyard Theatre can also enjoy free tours, revealing a fascinating insight into the backstage world of the RSC.

The RSC's repertoire in 2007 continues with Artistic Director, Michael Boyd's acclaimed staging of all of Shakespeare's History plays in The Courtyard Theatre. Henry VI, Parts I, II and III and Richard III have already opened. In July Richard II and Henry IV Parts I and II open, the latter featuring stage and screen actor David Warner as Falstaff, and in November Henry V will join the repertoire. In February and March 2008 audiences will have the chance to see all eight plays in the History Cycle - more than 24 hours of drama over a period of four days, charting 100 years of English history.

In between the History plays is Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night, directed by Neil Bartlett with John Lithgow as Malvolio, who many people will know from hit American TV sitcom Third Rock From The Sun. It plays in The Courtyard Theatre August – October 2007.

Saturdays and Sundays in August will see the return of the RSC's ‘Shakespeare on Film', a free open air film festival taking place on the Recreation Ground. Films include Shakespeare in Love, West Side Story and My Own Private Idaho.

Over the Christmas period the RSC will also be performing at Stratford Civic Hall. Ideal for younger audiences, the RSC will present a delightful puppet version The Little Angel Theatre's production of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox, adapted by Sarah Woods. The Civic Hall will also present a new adaptation of Malorie Blackman's novel Noughts and Crosses. One of the most popular books read by teenagers, the story is inspired by Romeo and Juliet, dealing with the themes of bigotry, terrorism and injustice.

For theatre and attraction tickets, accommodation, brochures, special offers and more information visit the official website: www.shakespeare-country.co.uk or call South Warwickshire Tourism on 0870 160 7930.

INTERNET LINKS

http://www.shakespeare-country.co.uk

South Warwickshire Tourism is a private/public tourism partnership, with a membership of over 400 tourism businesses, responsible for marketing and visitor services within “Shakespeare Country”, one of the leading tourist destinations in England, which spans the administrative districts of Stratford-upon-Avon and Warwick.

CONTACT INFORMATION

• For more information, interviews and photo opportunities please contact:
  Tanya Lavin at Marketing Aloud on 01926 620028 or tanya@marketingaloud.co.uk
  Or Andy Woodward at SWT on 01926 621786or marketing3@shakespeare-country.co.uk
  For RSC press enquiries and images, please contact Dean Asker on 01789 412660 or dean.asker@rsc.org.uk.
  The public can find out more about the RSC, its shows and backstage tours of The Courtyard Theatre via www.rsc.org.uk or by calling the Box Office on 0844 800 1110.

Technorati Tags:
Shakespeare | London