MANLY FRIDAYS

Who are Friday's metaphorical macho men and women of Asian film?

The Industry aid group Women in Film and Television has set up a Hong Kong branch, with director Barbara Wong and former Celestial exec Patty Keung as founding members. What makes these women macho men? The first thing they did was set up a fund-raising screening of the 1971 Shaw Brothers flick 14 AMAZONS. With action by Ching Siu-tung, it's a female action flick starring pretty much every major female Shaw star of the era and these women have big muscles and nerves of steel for kicking off their organization with this flick. (click on the poster for a bigger look)

The Bangkok International Film Festival has grown a little hair on its chest what with getting to screen Pen -Ek Ratanaruang's much-anticipated INVISIBLE WAVES in February, right after the flick has its world premiere in Berlin. Now that it's getting chest hair maybe its voice will change once it announces the rest of its line-up.

Ahn Sung-Ki (THE DUELIST), Lee Yong-Ae (SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE), and Lee Byung-Heon (A BITTERSWEET LIFE) are three of Korea's hottest stars right now and they've just delivered a letter to the Hong Kong Police and HKSAR Government asking for the swift release of the Korean farmers arrested in Hong Kong during the recent WTO clashes. There's been a lot of controversy over these arrests, and the local media have been accused of trying to hype up the violence at the protests. These three actors are macho studs, in my opinion, for sticking up for these farmers who have been held in Hong Kong since at least December 18.

And although it's not movies, Deepak Chopra, Richard Branson (of Virgin fame) and director Shekhar Kapur (ELIZABETH) have teamed up to start a comic book and animation company. They plan on introducing their comics to the India and Asian markets first and then bringing them to the West. These are some of the same guys who brought Spider-Man to India, and they are a burly bunch of bright-eyed optimists.