The upcoming Peter Chan directed drama-musical Perhaps Love has been selected as Hong Kong's entry to the 78th Annual Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language film category. After it's recent selection as the closing film at the Venice Film Festival, the movie will be released in Asian theaters beginning on December 8th.

"It's good but it also puts a lot of pressure on us, because in the old days nobody even knew who was nominated," said Chan after a press conference where Crucindo Hung, Chairman of the Federation of Motion Film Producers of Hong Kong announced the selection. "But now, it's on our shoulders to become one of the big five pictures. There are 60 to 80 films nominated a year, and you're facing a committee who may not even be familiar with films from this region," adds Chan.

At a cost of US$10 million, the film is the biggest production of a musical film in both mainland China and Hong Kong in 35 years, and boasts a cast that includes Jacky Cheung, Ji Jin Hee, Takeshi Kaneshi Kaneshiro and Zhou Xun. Andre Morgan, the recent award winning producer of Million Dollar Baby, has also produced this film.

While Perhaps Love is having a limited screening in Hong Kong this month to qualify for a possible nomination, Chan claims that he is still editing in advance of the film's general release. "I'm doing tiny trimming," he says. "It's still the same movie. I'm just pruning it down a  little bit without affecting the integrity of the movie."

He's also quick to clarify that the movie is not similar to Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge, though musical aspects of the film may invite comparisons. "When you see the movie you'll see it's not anything like Moulin Rouge. It's a heavy love story. " If you liked Comrades, this is Comrades with music on it. It's a love story about an obsession."

Chan adds that he intends to go back behind the camera next year, though declined to talk specifics. As for Perhaps Love, "European sales far exceeded our expectations," he says. "Who would have thought that a Chinese musical would be able to sell well in Europe? The film was really made for China." However, Celestial Pictures CEO William Pfeiffer adds, "Celestial has already struck distribution deals in key territories, and we are confident the film will prove to be a success both artistically and commercially." The film was funded by Astro Shaw, TVB and will be distributed worldwide by Celestial Pictures.- Scott Murphy

(hkfilmart October 4, 2005)