Takita Yojiro’s Completed ‘Silence of Smoke’ Adorns Media Asia FilMart Slate

Patrick Frater
·2 min read

Now completed, “The Silence of Smoke” has been added to the FilMart sales lineup of Hong Kong studio Media Asia. The family drama film is directed by Takita Yojiro, who won the best foreign-language film Oscar in 2008/9 with “Departures.”

The film was first teased by Media Asia at an event at the market in 2019 with the film’s lead actors Han Geng, Zhang Guoli and actress Xu Qing in attendance.

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The story is a heart-wrenching tale of a young cake-maker’s growth and discovery following his father’s death.

Although the man is the heir to eight generations of bakers, his cakes lack standout quality. When his father refuses to divulge the family secret, he instead moves into mass catering for movie crews. The father dies before he is able to pass on the secret ingredient and the man only comes to understand his father, his methods and motivation when he searches through his father’s possessions and researches their genealogy.

Media Asia refreshed its sales slate ahead of Berlin’s European Film Market and its other FilMart offerings remain largely unchanged.

The lineup is headed by “Walled In” (previously called “Kowloon Walled City”), an action thriller by Soi Cheang (“Accident”) that is adapted from the cult manga series “City of Darkness” and is now in production. It stars Louis Koo (“Election”), Richie Jen (“Trivisa”), Jin Zhang (“The Grandmaster”). Production is by the veteran John Chong (Infernal Affairs) and Wilson Yip (“Ip Man”).

The company is also in production on “Septette: More Stories of Hong Kong,” a follow up to its well-received omnibus film from 2020. Seven up-and-coming directors look back on Hong Kong’s story with each focusing on a particular decade. The directors include: Nicole Hoi Ying Chu (“3 Generations 3 Days”), Frank Hui (“Trivisa”), Lee Cheuk-Pan (“G Affairs”), Jonathan Li (“The Brink”), Derek Tsang (“Better Days”), Chun Wong (“Mad World”) and Vicky Wong (“Trivisa”).

In post-production are three “Tales From The Occult” omnibus films with directors including Fruit Chan, Lee Chi-ngai (“Sleepless Town”) and Peter Lee (“Love is a Broadway Hit”).

Producer Ng Sze-yuen (“Once Upon a Time in China 2”) is in pre-production on “The Shaolin Temple 2,” a martial arts action film which is a follow-up to the Jet Li-starring “Shaolin Temple.” Set in 1892, the new picture sees a novice monk wannabe fight against Japanese ninjas to rescue Chinese students in Okinawa and become a Shaolin devotee.

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