Of Venice and Toronto, and a weird offering from Edmond Pang

Next to Cannes and Berlin, the two other big film festivals everybody wants to get into are Venice and Toronto, both of which are soon. The screenings at Venice Lido runs from August 29 to September 8, while Toronto's run is September 6 to 15. Of course, both fests are recognised for their interests in Asian cinema and this year is no exception with numerous local productions being feted there.

Alexi Tan's Blood Brothers - a remake of John Woo's Bullet In The Head which is being released here next Thursday - is going to both showcases in a major spotlight position. Also heading to Venice and Toronto is Jiang Wen's HK co-production The Sun Also Rises with Joan Chen, Jaycee Chan Cho-ming and Anthony Wong Chau-sang. It will actually be in competition at Venice.

Another big deal is Ang Lee's Lust, Caution starring Tony Leung Chi-wai. It is showing in Venice as a world premiere, before continuing to Canada. However, Johnny To and Wai Ka-fai's thriller Mad Detective starring Lau Ching-wan will skip Italy and go straight to a world premiere in Toronto. Also slated for a premiere there is Edmond Pang Ho-cheung's (above) latest, The Exodus, which is slotted in the Vanguard programme, meaning it's probably kind of weird. The synopsis certainly sounds so: 'Beat cop Jim [Simon Yam] uncovers a secret worldwide network of women conspiring to exterminate men.' Interesting.