Bizhan Tong
| Bizhan Tong | |
|---|---|
| Born | London, England |
| 🏫 Education | Highgate School |
| 🎓 Alma mater | University of Manchester University of Liverpool |
| 💼 Occupation | |
| Twitter= | |
Bizhan Tong (born 5 June 1987) is a British producer, screenwriter, and film director. He is the founder and CEO of Phoenix Waters Productions, former Executive Producer of Asia Television and Executive Director of its sister company AMM Global.
Early life[edit]
Tong was born in London to Chinese and Persian parents. He went to Highgate School and went on to earn a degree in Mathematics from University of Manchester before doing an MBA at the age of 21 at the University of Liverpool.[1] During this time he wrote, produced, and directed several short films beginning with the film 'Ticket' about toxic masculinity, as well as associate producing the movie Fix (film) starring Olivia Wilde.[2]
Career[edit]
As a teenager Tong formed an online DVD franchise in order to fund his filmmaking equipment.[3] Upon graduating with an MBA, Tong led a career in finance working for Barclays across multiple divisions including Barclays Premier, Barclays Wealth, and Barclays Private Bank, where he operated in areas including fund management and impact investment. He also spearheaded various gender equality initiatives including the United Nations's HeForShe campaign founded by actress Emma Watson where he acted as co-chair for the Barclays Group in the UK, co-chaired the gender diversity pillar of Barclays Wealth, and was part of the Women on Boards committee for Barclays in New York.[4]
In 2015 Tong founded his own production company, Phoenix Waters Productions, to develop high concept stories starting with romantic drama The Escort. The film, which was an exploration of society's role in the marginalization of women, premiered in 2018 at the height of the #Me Too Movement and Weinstein scandal, winning several awards in its festival run across the globe including Best Director at the Festival of Cinema NYC.[5] This led to him being mentored by film distributor Trevor Green, head of Entertainment Film Distributors at the time alongside his brother Nigel. Tong expanded to the US, working with actors such as Robert Picardo, Jack Betts, and John Savage, before expanding further into Asia and setting an Asian hub in Hong Kong in order to develop Asian stories for global audiences.[6]
In 2020 Tong partnered with Hong Kong broadcaster Asia Television, acting as its Executive Producer to spearhead the creative direction of the studio, relaunch the drama department which had shut down in 2016, and develop a slate of Films, Series, and Variety shows.[7] As a fan of Hong Kong cinema he wanted to create new entertainment to support the resurgence of the industry.[8] The first film he put into production was international thriller Lockdown (2021), a pandemic thriller shot around the world and starring a global cast including Xander Berkeley and John Savage that was inspired by the passing of Tong's mentor and the George Floyd protests that took place soon after.[9] In January 2021 amid a corporate restructuring, AMM Global Media was formed as part of the ATV Group in order to devote itself entirely to creative entertainment with international appeal, with all 19 of Tong's creative projects including Lockdown (2021) shifting there, and Tong's remit expanding to act as its Executive Director.[9] It was revealed that some of his projects include a singing show, a dating show, and a zombie movie.[10]
On September 20th 2021, Lockdown (2021) became Asia's 1st NFT feature film and the world's 1st hybrid NFT feature film with 5 copies minted as NFTs prior to its theatrical release.[11][12]
In August 2021, it was announced via multiple outlets that Bizhan Tong had created and was the showrunner of Forensic Psychologist, a psychological crime drama series shot in Hong Kong with award-winning actress Jennifer Yu leading "an all-star cast"[13] "The story is said to explore the topic of mental health and criminal behavior"[14] and "revolves around a forensic psychologist who must assess the mental state of various criminals to determine whether they are mentally fit to stand trial."[15] Soon after, Oriental Daily News reported the production of the show, exploring the contrast between actress Nicole Kidman who was exempted from quarantine while filming Expats (TV SERIES) and Tong who was not.[16]
Tong is currently developing an Asian remake of Richard Linklater's Sundance hit Tape (film) with the movie's original writer, playwright Stephen Belber.[17] He is also developing both a Cantonese and a British version of an original crime drama series, Forensic Psychologist, the latter in partnership with Debbie Mason, co-founder of Kudos (production company) behind hit shows Life on Mars (British TV series) and Humans (TV series); drama series Crypto Keepers about Hongkongers competing with Americans to create the next Bitcoin; and a miniseries involving Triads.[18]
On July 4th 2021, it was announced that Crypto Keepers would be Asia's 1st NFT drama series, which Tong would be the creator and showrunner for[19] while Tong's next feature film was announced in September as Chungking Mansions, a major Hong Kong zombie film featuring an international cast including Japanese action star Rina Takeda, Korean actress Go Joon-hee, Singaporean actors Desmond Tan and Rebecca Lim, and Hong Kong actress Wiyona Yeung.[20][21]
References[edit]
- ↑ Lavallee, Jules (November 1, 2018). "Writer and Director Bizhan Tong: How Writing is like Oxygen". Instinct Culture. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "5 Problems A Filmmaker Faces When Making Their First Feature Film by Bizhan Tong". filmcourage.com. 27 July 2018.
- ↑ Palmer, Jason (September 17, 2018). "Bizhan Tong Interview by Jason Palmer". Becky Beach. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Streets, Julia (July 11, 2018). "Intersectionality between Banking and Entrepreneurship". BrightTalk. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Awards". IMDb. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Star Studded Ambitions". InvestHK. March 10, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Sun, Andrew (March 7, 2021). "Asia Television gets reboot with new content production arm AMM, and dreams of rivalling Netflix, Viu TV and TVB". South China Morning Post. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Case Study: Phoenix Water Productions". YouTube. March 10, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 9.0 9.1 Frater, Patrick (March 15, 2021). "'Lockdown' Pandemic Thriller Unlocks Studio Era for Asia Television's AMM Global (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Chief Executive Officer of Phoenix Waters joins Asia Heartbeat Entertainment". China Press. March 18, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Frater, Patrick (September 20, 2021). "'Lockdown' Thriller to Be Offered as NFT Film Ahead of Theatrical Release". Variety. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Grater, Tom (September 20, 2021). "Italian Influencers Chiara Ferragni & Fedez To Star In Amazon Series; Australian Racial Injustice Doc; Mike Downey Prague FF Award; Asia's First NFT Feature – Global Briefs". Deadline Hollywood. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Jennifer Yu Heads Cast of Hong Kong Crime Drama 'Forensic Psychologist'". Variety. August 31, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Jennifer Yu to Star in Hong Kong Crime Series 'Forensic Psychologist'". The Hollywood Reporter. August 30, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Shackleton, Liz (August 31, 2021). "Jennifer Yu to head cast of AMM Global's 'Forensic Psychologist'". Screen International. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Nicole exempt from quarantine". Oriental Daily News. September 4, 2021. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Shackleton, Liz (February 25, 2021). "Hong Kong TV Production Looks to Reinvent Itself for the Streaming Era". Hong Kong Trade Development Council. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Shackleton, Liz (December 23, 2020). "Hong Kong broadcaster ATV returns to production with UK's Phoenix Waters". Screen International. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Frater, Patrick (July 4, 2021). "'Crypto Keepers' NFT-Backed Drama Series Hatched by Hong Kong's AMM Global". Variety. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Wiseman, Andreas (September 6, 2021). "Japanese Action Star Rina Takeda Among Cast In Talks For Hong Kong Zombie Movie 'Chungking Mansions'". Deadline Hollywood. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Miska, Brad (September 6, 2021). "Zombie Outbreak Forces Survivors to Climb Iconic 'Chungking Mansions' in Hong Kong!". Bloody Disgusting. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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