Lau's First Cuts Returning With Another Six Features

Hong Kong actor-producer Andy Lau is planning to finance a second round of high-definition feature films by up-and-coming Asian filmmakers through his company Focus Films, the company's chief operating officer Daniel Yu said Monday.

The first round of projects, coming under the Focus: First Cuts banner, was launched in March as a joint venture with News Corp.'s Star Chinese Movies network. Focus: First Cuts Volume 2 is scheduled to kick off in October.

The second batch of six films is likely to include four Chinese, one Japanese and one Korean film and also will be shot in high-definition, Yu said. The search for directors to take part in the second slate of films is under way.

Budgets for the second slate of six films could be slightly higher than the average $500,000 per movie in the first round, Yu added.

Focus: First Cuts' first movie, "The Shoe Fairy," by Taiwanese director Robin Lee, won the award for best art direction at Taiwan's Golden Horse Film Festival earlier this month.

In addition to Lee, the directors involved in the first Focus: First Cuts are Kelvin Tong, whose film "Love Story" started shooting this week in Singapore; Ho Yuhang (Malaysia); Wong Ching Po and Lee Kung Lok (Hong Kong); Lam Tze Chung (Hong Kong) and Ning Hao (China).

Lam's "I'll Call You" and Ho's "Rain Dogs" are currently in postproduction. The first six films are scheduled to air on the Star Chinese Movie network in 2006.

Lau has taken cameo roles in all of the Focus: First Cuts films so far, including a voice-over in "The Shoe Fairy."

"These are little things that we can do to add value to the films. Andy Lau can get a lot of attention. It's a good marketing point," Yu said.