Celestial Pictures announced the launch of a programme to cultivate new Chinese filmmakers. Entitled the ‘New Directors Workshop’, the project aims to discover and nurture the next generation of Chinese filmmakers through mentorships and production opportunities. Phase one of the program,e is a screenplay competition to remake selected Shaw Brothers classics. The competition is a collaboration between Celestial Pictures, Beijing Film Academy (BFA) and Youth Film Studio (YFS) and is open to the 2011 graduating class as well as past graduates of BFA’s directors programme. Entrants of the competition are asked to submit a 6-to-8 page story treatment based on any one of ten selected films from Celestial’s Shaw Brothers Film Library. Five of the story treatments will then be short-listed by a panel of judges to be further developed into full-length screenplays and the five filmmakers will each be given a cash development fund of RMB20,000. The five completed screenplays will then be reviewed by the judging panel with the aim of producing the top three screenplays. Joining the panel of five judges is award-winning actress and filmmaker, Sylvia Chang (Run Papa Run, 20/30/40, Tempting Heart). The remaining judges will comprise of two executives from Celestial Pictures and two executives from BFA and YFS, respectively. In addition to judging the competition, Chang will also mentor one of the winners and in cooperation with Celestial Pictures, help produce his or her script. Concurrently, Celestial Pictures, BFA and YFS plan to select two additional winners and jointly produce their screenplays. Included among the ten Shaw Brothers classics selected for this competition are: the martial arts film Brothers Five, starring Cheng Pei-pei; the 1984 romantic drama Behind the Yellow Line starring Maggie Cheung with Hong Kong legends Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui; the gangland action drama The Bloody Escape starring Chen Kuan-tai; and the Wong Jing comedy hit Girl with the Diamond Slipper. The competition is now open and more information can be found on Celestial Pictures’ website www.celestialpictures.com. Submissions of the story treatments will start 1 March 2011 and end 30 April 2011. The five shortlisted story treatments will be announced in June 2011, while the winning projects will be announced in November 2011.