Today in Shanghai, one duo hopes to bring back the genuine hard-hitting action that made the genre so compelling to watch and so popular in Hong Kong during the 70s and 80s. Richard Chung is a Chinese-American screenwriter and director who grew up on the Hong Kong kung fu films that inspire his work today. Starring in these films is Christian Bachini, a rising action star from Italy who grew up on the very same films and has come to China to make his mark on today’s martial arts film industry with his unique style, charisma and years of training in martial arts and acting. Richard and Christian join us today to talk about their upcoming films and some of their big plans in 2010.

They have recently teamed up to produce a series of martial arts films, starting with their first collaboration Deficit, a look into a deaf man who must fight against his disability as well as the odds against him. Their current project, Kang: The New Legend Begins, is the opposite of Deficit, light on the story and heavy on the action.

Richard attended the film program with emphasis in screenwriting and directing at San Francisco State University, a renowned film school funded by August Coppola, where he discovered his desire and passion for filmmaking. In his sophomore year, Richard wrote and produced “College Days” a narrative that tells the ups and downs of two freshmen in college through humor and satire. “College Days” had a running time of 12 minutes, and a public screening was held at the school winning the Most Inspirational Film Award and the film was later used as course material for Intro to Filmmaking class for its inspiration for filmmaking.

Christian Bachini, an emerging Italian martial artist/actor from Prato, Tuscany, arrived in Shanghai just 9 months ago in 2009, has been on a quest for cinema glory. Growing up watching Hong Kong martial arts films and inspired by his childhood idols such as Jackie Chan and the late great Bruce Lee, Christian is determined to one day make an impact in the martial arts genre. As a professional actor combined with over 14 years of training in traditional kung fu, modern wushu, extreme martial arts, Tae Kwon Do, Capoeira, and many other combat styles, Christian has his heart set on writing his own legacy as the first martial arts action superstar from Italy.