Peter Loehr
Encyclopedia
Peter Loehr, born 1967.
Peter Loehr established Imar Film Co., Ltd., China's first independent film company in 1997. Imar was China's first true, multi-faceted independent, producing, distributing and marketing all of their films entirely in-house. Loehr was selected as one of Variety's "10 Producers to Watch" in 1999.
To date, Loehr has produced nine feature films in Asia: "Spicy Love Soup," which swept the 1998 domestic Chinese awards, "A Beautiful New World," (1999) which was shown at the Forum at the Berlin International Film Festival; "Shower" (1999), which won 11 awards at nine different film festivals, including Toronto, San Sebastian, Thessaloniki, Rotterdam, Udine and Seattle, and "Quitting" (2001), which won awards at the Bangkok, Singapore and Stockholm Film Festivals and screened at the Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Rotterdam Film Festivals. All five Imar produced films were among the top domestic releases in China the year they were released.
In early 2002, Loehr began work on a new venture, Ming Productions, focusing on larger scale Asian-themed pictures for a world audience. His sixth film, "Sunflower" (directed by Zhang Yang, starring Sun Haiying and Joan Chen) won Best Director and Best Cinematography awards at the 2005 San Sebastian Film Festival. Loehr's seventh film, "One Last Dance" (Directed by Max Makowski, starring Francis Ng, Ti Lung and Harvey Keitel) wrapped in Singapore on December 29, 2004 and attended the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in the World Dramatic Competition. In 2005, Loehr was a producer on "Jade Warrior" a Finland/Dutch/Estonian Co-Production that premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and had number one opening weekends at both the Chinese and Finnish box offices. In 2007, Loehr was a producer on "The Children of Huangshi", a German/Australia/China Co-Production directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh. The film was released world-wide in 2008.
In January 2005, Peter Loehr became Managing Director of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in China, China's largest and most successful literary and talent agency. During Loehr's five year tenure leading CAA in Asia, the agency has grown from the ground up to represent over seventy artists in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. In this short five years, CAA was involved with three of the largest co-productions in Asian history, John Woo's "Red Cliff", Rob Minkoff's "Forbidden Kingdom", "Mission Impossible 3" and Will Smith Produced "The Karate Kid". In 2009, CAA directors directed 5 of the top 8 films at the Chinese box office (John Woo, Ning Hao, Lu Chuan, Jin Yimeng, Gao Qunshu) . In the past few years, CAA directors and actors have won countless awards, including the Golden horse for Best Actor (Huang Bo) and the Golden Bear at the Berlin international Film Festival (Wang Quanan). CAA talent, including Yang Lan, Daniel Wu and Karen Mok, have served as spokespeople for many of Asia's largest brands.
Loehr arrived in Beijing in 1996. He was bankrolled by a Taiwanese media company to form independent studio Imar Film Company
with the goal of nurturing local talent. First produced Spicy Love Soup
,which was made for $362,000 and grossed 10 times that, making it the top domestic release at the box office in 1998. Loehr later broke with his Taiwanese backers and set up his own company, Ming Productions.
Loehr is widely considered to have been the first of a new generation of moviemakers in China to recognize the importance of distribution in a country where provincial exhibitors tend to run their turf like personal fiefdoms. China's few national distributors declined to handle Spicy Love Soup. In order to secure showings for the film, Loehr toured 28 cities by train bringing along the two steel boxes containing a 35mm print of the film. He spent many nights socializing with the local distributors in all-night drinking and karaoke sessions, and was thus able to personally broker 40 deals.
In 1997 Loehr became the first in China to advertise a film on Chinese television, on radio and bus billboards.
Loehr next founded Dragon Studios, a joint venture to handle the needs of foreign filmmakers who want to use China as a shooting location.
Loehr is currently managing director of Creative Artists Agency – Beijing.
Peter Loehr established Imar Film Co., Ltd., China's first independent film company in 1997. Imar was China's first true, multi-faceted independent, producing, distributing and marketing all of their films entirely in-house. Loehr was selected as one of Variety's "10 Producers to Watch" in 1999.
To date, Loehr has produced nine feature films in Asia: "Spicy Love Soup," which swept the 1998 domestic Chinese awards, "A Beautiful New World," (1999) which was shown at the Forum at the Berlin International Film Festival; "Shower" (1999), which won 11 awards at nine different film festivals, including Toronto, San Sebastian, Thessaloniki, Rotterdam, Udine and Seattle, and "Quitting" (2001), which won awards at the Bangkok, Singapore and Stockholm Film Festivals and screened at the Venice, Toronto, Sundance and Rotterdam Film Festivals. All five Imar produced films were among the top domestic releases in China the year they were released.
In early 2002, Loehr began work on a new venture, Ming Productions, focusing on larger scale Asian-themed pictures for a world audience. His sixth film, "Sunflower" (directed by Zhang Yang, starring Sun Haiying and Joan Chen) won Best Director and Best Cinematography awards at the 2005 San Sebastian Film Festival. Loehr's seventh film, "One Last Dance" (Directed by Max Makowski, starring Francis Ng, Ti Lung and Harvey Keitel) wrapped in Singapore on December 29, 2004 and attended the 2006 Sundance Film Festival in the World Dramatic Competition. In 2005, Loehr was a producer on "Jade Warrior" a Finland/Dutch/Estonian Co-Production that premiered at the 2006 Toronto Film Festival and had number one opening weekends at both the Chinese and Finnish box offices. In 2007, Loehr was a producer on "The Children of Huangshi", a German/Australia/China Co-Production directed by Roger Spottiswoode and starring Jonathan Rhys-Myers, Radha Mitchell, Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh. The film was released world-wide in 2008.
In January 2005, Peter Loehr became Managing Director of Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in China, China's largest and most successful literary and talent agency. During Loehr's five year tenure leading CAA in Asia, the agency has grown from the ground up to represent over seventy artists in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Korea. In this short five years, CAA was involved with three of the largest co-productions in Asian history, John Woo's "Red Cliff", Rob Minkoff's "Forbidden Kingdom", "Mission Impossible 3" and Will Smith Produced "The Karate Kid". In 2009, CAA directors directed 5 of the top 8 films at the Chinese box office (John Woo, Ning Hao, Lu Chuan, Jin Yimeng, Gao Qunshu) . In the past few years, CAA directors and actors have won countless awards, including the Golden horse for Best Actor (Huang Bo) and the Golden Bear at the Berlin international Film Festival (Wang Quanan). CAA talent, including Yang Lan, Daniel Wu and Karen Mok, have served as spokespeople for many of Asia's largest brands.
Loehr arrived in Beijing in 1996. He was bankrolled by a Taiwanese media company to form independent studio Imar Film Company
Imar Film Company
Imar Film Company is an independent film production company in China. Imar was established in 1997 by American producer Peter Loehr.Imar It was the first legal independent film company in the PRC. Imar handles production, distribution and marketing of films in partnership with Xin Film Studio...
with the goal of nurturing local talent. First produced Spicy Love Soup
Spicy Love Soup
Spicy Love Soup is a 1997 Chinese film directed by Zhang Yang and written by Zhang, Liu Fendou, Cai Shangjun, and Diao Yi'nan based on a story by Zhang and Peter Loehr...
,which was made for $362,000 and grossed 10 times that, making it the top domestic release at the box office in 1998. Loehr later broke with his Taiwanese backers and set up his own company, Ming Productions.
Loehr is widely considered to have been the first of a new generation of moviemakers in China to recognize the importance of distribution in a country where provincial exhibitors tend to run their turf like personal fiefdoms. China's few national distributors declined to handle Spicy Love Soup. In order to secure showings for the film, Loehr toured 28 cities by train bringing along the two steel boxes containing a 35mm print of the film. He spent many nights socializing with the local distributors in all-night drinking and karaoke sessions, and was thus able to personally broker 40 deals.
In 1997 Loehr became the first in China to advertise a film on Chinese television, on radio and bus billboards.
Loehr next founded Dragon Studios, a joint venture to handle the needs of foreign filmmakers who want to use China as a shooting location.
Loehr is currently managing director of Creative Artists Agency – Beijing.
Partial Filmography (as producer)
- The Children of Huang Shi (producer) 2007
- Getting Home (producer) 2006
- Jade Warrior (co-producer, executive producer) 2006
- One Last Dance (producer) 2005
- Sunflower (producer) 2001
- Quitting (producer) 2001
- Zou dao di (producer) 1999
- Shower (producer) 1999
- A Beautiful New World (producer) 1997
- Spicy Love Soup (executive producer, producer)