PiFan Announces 2010 It Project Titles. New Pang Ho Cheung And Gareth Evans!

The fifteen projects selected to take part in the 2010 It Project co-production market at PiFan 2010 have been announced and while - as is the case with any co-production market - a good number of these will never actually get made, the list is an intriguing chance to see what's in the works and what the next couple of years may look like.

Big names in the list this year? Pang Ho-Cheung, in with a project titled Demonstrate Loyalty and Gareth Huw Evans with a new Indonesian martial arts project, Berandal.

The only information given at this stage are the titles but knowing that these are all genre projects, my money is on the Pang being somehow triad related. Berandal, however, I'm directly involved in so I can be a bit more specific.

The film once again will pair writer-director Evans with stars Iko Uwais (Yayan in Merantau) and Yayan Ruhian (Eric) but this time out the domestic drama angle of the first film is going completely out the window in favor of something much harder edged and action oriented. It's a gang movie that beings with Uwais' character in prison, where he is adopted into an organized crime family who use him as a collector and enforcer on his release. And how is the baby faced Uwais going to be believable in the part? Well, he aint so baby faced any more. He's been working hard in the gym to bulk up his upper body and has shaved his head. The difference is dramatic enough that I had to look a couple time to recognize him when Evans sent me some recent training videos. And Ruhian is getting some good featured moments as well, playing a ragged, long haired assassin whose weapon of choice is a machete. We're going to have a treat from this one for you soon - just a quick little taste - so keep your eyes open for it.

Here's the complete list of titles:

AM11:00 dir. Shinterra (신태라, South Korea)
Berandal dir. Gareth Huw Evans (Indonesia)
Camera dir. James Leong (梁思眾, Singapore)
Criminal Sin dir. Wang Guangli (王光利, China)
Dark Bridge dir. Marcelo Von Schwartz (Thailand)
Demonstrate Loyalty dir. Pang Ho-cheung (彭浩翔, Hong Kong)
Fragments dir. Toyoshima Keisuke (豊島圭介, Japan)
M45 dir. Zhang Ming (章明, Korea/Japan)
No Excuse dir. Kim Guang Tae (South Korea)
Playground dir. Kim Kyaung Bok (South Korea)
School Girl Apocalypse dir. John Cairns (Japan)
Smile For Me dir. Daniel Chan (陳翊恆, Hong Kong)
Soulmate dir. Kim Ji-hwan (김지환, South Korea)
The King of the Swine dir. Yeon Sang-ho (연상호, South Korea)
Weight dir. Jeon Kyu-hwan (전규환, South Korea)