Cinema and television studio based in Hong Kong Salt signed a first overview of the Chinese entertainment power Damai Entertainment (Formerly Alibaba Pictures) to develop a list of films rooted in China with a global appeal.
The partnership starts with “Not friends», An adaptation in the Mandarin language of the Thai passing comedy drama which served as an official submission of Thailand for the best international feature film at the 96th Academy Awards.
Multi-hyphenate Gao Xiaosong will supervise the slate under the first agreement and executive products will produce “non-friends”. The creative veteran, who launched his career as a singer-songwriter with folk successes in the 1990s, including “My Old Class Camate, has since extended to the cinema (” My Kingdom “), television accommodation (” U Can You BB “) and production. Its recent credits include serving as an executive producer on the “3 body problem” nominated for EMMY during prime hours and the “my old classmate” functionality. Gao previously held the position of content director at Alibaba Media and Entertainment Group from 2019 to 2021.
“Bad Genius” and “One For the Road”, Helmer Baz Ponpiya, will also be on board as a producer on the project.
Damai Entertainment will provide financial support to the film, which should start production in Hangzhou later this year. UTA packs the project, with the cast currently underway.
The original “Not Friends”, produced by GDH and winner of the best film to the Thai National Thai Film Association Awards, follows a high school student who is transferred to a new school and sees an opportunity to make a commemorative film on a deceased classmate despite his real relationship with the boy. The Chinese adaptation will transplant history to a university framework in a fictitious Chinese city while retaining the same narrative arch.
“This agreement with Damai Entertainment is an important step for savory images and underlines the value of our concentration on the rooted stories of PAN with the world attraction,” said Salty Pictures Jonah Greenberg, former CAA China chief. “It is not friends” is based on a story that has already resonated deeply with the public – the one who, in our opinion, will continue to connect through cultures. Our acquisition of remakes’ rights through relationships of trust in Thai industry is a testimony to Salty’s identity as a Pana -Asian studio – the one that actively works through languages, borders and traditions to live powerful stories. “”
Salty Pictures, led by seasoned producer Greenberg, whose credits include “Cave Rescue” and “Shadow”, works as a movie and television studio based in Hong Kong.
Damai Entertainment describes itself as a company focused on immersive entertainment technology. Its operations extend the production of films, live performance, IP marketing, television series, artists’ management and ticket platforms. The newly launched mobile application of the company offers ticketing services and content discovery capacities.
GDH, the producer of the original film, is a fully integrated Thai studio that has enjoyed notable international success with titles such as “Bad Genius” (2017), the first Thai film to open the New York Asian Film Festival; “The Paradise of Thorns” (2024), which won prizes at the LGBT + film festival in Poland and was selected for the Toronto International Film Festival; And “how to make millions before grandmother dies” (2024), the first Thai film to make the limited list of 15 films for the category of international Oscars.