Tarsem Singh Dhandwar’s “Dear Jassi” and Arati Kadav’s “Mrs” will open and close this year’s New York Indian Film Festival.
Punjabi and English-language “Dear Jassi,” a tale of star-crossed lovers based on a true story, arrives in New York after a glittering festival run that began in 2023, at Toronto, where it won the Platform Prize. That was followed by outings in London, Goa, the Red Sea, Goteborg and Hong Kong festivals. The film is produced by powerhouse Indian studio T-Series alongside Wakaoo Films and Creative Strokes Group.
Hindi-language “Mrs,” a portrait of domestic hell based on acclaimed 2021 Malayalam-language film “The Great Indian Kitchen,” previously played at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. It is produced by Jio Studios and Baweja Studios.
The centerpiece of the festival is an event celebrating 50 years of thespian Shabana Azmi’s career where a screening of...
Punjabi and English-language “Dear Jassi,” a tale of star-crossed lovers based on a true story, arrives in New York after a glittering festival run that began in 2023, at Toronto, where it won the Platform Prize. That was followed by outings in London, Goa, the Red Sea, Goteborg and Hong Kong festivals. The film is produced by powerhouse Indian studio T-Series alongside Wakaoo Films and Creative Strokes Group.
Hindi-language “Mrs,” a portrait of domestic hell based on acclaimed 2021 Malayalam-language film “The Great Indian Kitchen,” previously played at the Palm Springs International Film Festival and Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival. It is produced by Jio Studios and Baweja Studios.
The centerpiece of the festival is an event celebrating 50 years of thespian Shabana Azmi’s career where a screening of...
- 5/30/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
To celebrate the release of Train to Busan & Train to Busan Presents: Peninsula both making their debut on 4K Uhd Blu-ray from 27th May, we have a both 4K UHDs to give away!
Experience a double bill of genre-defining South Korean horror this May with the critically acclaimed Train To Busan and its follow-up Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula, both making their long-awaited debut on 4K Uhd Blu-ray from 27th May.
Celebrated as a “genre-transcending masterpiece” by Kingsman writer Jane Goldman, Yeon Sang-ho’s horror about a zombie virus spreading aboard a high-speed train received critical acclaim due to its mix of intense action and emotional bite, with iconic filmmaker Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) naming Train To Busan the “best zombie movie I’ve seen in forever”. The film was a box office sensation, transforming break-out star Ma Dong-seok (also known as Don Lee) into one of South...
Experience a double bill of genre-defining South Korean horror this May with the critically acclaimed Train To Busan and its follow-up Train To Busan Presents: Peninsula, both making their long-awaited debut on 4K Uhd Blu-ray from 27th May.
Celebrated as a “genre-transcending masterpiece” by Kingsman writer Jane Goldman, Yeon Sang-ho’s horror about a zombie virus spreading aboard a high-speed train received critical acclaim due to its mix of intense action and emotional bite, with iconic filmmaker Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead) naming Train To Busan the “best zombie movie I’ve seen in forever”. The film was a box office sensation, transforming break-out star Ma Dong-seok (also known as Don Lee) into one of South...
- 5/21/2024
- by Competitions
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
“Please stop me if any of the terms don’t make sense.” A few days before his feature debut, Eephus, will premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight, Carson Lund is sitting on a rooftop terrace in Cannes and worrying I may not catch all the jargon. Understandably. A chronicle of the last baseball game played at Soldiers Field in Douglas, Ma before the grounds will be paved over and replaced by a middle school, the chat’s testing my—admittedly limited—knowledge of the sport. Yet how you’ll respond to Lund’s wistful film won’t depend on your level of inside baseball. It will depend on […]
The post “I’ve Always Been Interested in Making My Own Version of Goodbye Dragon Inn: Director Carson Lund on His Cannes-Premiering Eephus first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I’ve Always Been Interested in Making My Own Version of Goodbye Dragon Inn: Director Carson Lund on His Cannes-Premiering Eephus first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/19/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
“Please stop me if any of the terms don’t make sense.” A few days before his feature debut, Eephus, will premiere in the Directors’ Fortnight, Carson Lund is sitting on a rooftop terrace in Cannes and worrying I may not catch all the jargon. Understandably. A chronicle of the last baseball game played at Soldiers Field in Douglas, Ma before the grounds will be paved over and replaced by a middle school, the chat’s testing my—admittedly limited—knowledge of the sport. Yet how you’ll respond to Lund’s wistful film won’t depend on your level of inside baseball. It will depend on […]
The post “I’ve Always Been Interested in Making My Own Version of Goodbye Dragon Inn: Director Carson Lund on His Cannes-Premiering Eephus first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post “I’ve Always Been Interested in Making My Own Version of Goodbye Dragon Inn: Director Carson Lund on His Cannes-Premiering Eephus first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 5/19/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Fallout Review Out ( Photo Credit – IMDb )
Fallout Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins
Creator: Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Director: Jonathan Nolan
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video
Language: English (with subtitles)
Runtime: 8 episodes, around 1 hour each.
Fallout Review Out ( Photo Credit – IMDb ) Fallout Review: What’s It About
Amazon and other studios have set their eyes on the video game industry, an industry that is bigger than all other entertainment industries combined, as their following source material and one of those sources brings Fallout to the screen, a legendary franchise that deals with a post-apocalyptic world and the things that humanity will do to survive in it, as we follow several characters all with their own missions and motivations. Still, the world may need help to achieve them.
Fallout Review: Script Analysis
Fallout is one of the most respected...
Fallout Review: Star Rating:
Cast: Ella Purnell, Aaron Moten, Kyle MacLachlan, Moisés Arias, Xelia Mendes-Jones, and Walton Goggins
Creator: Graham Wagner and Geneva Robertson-Dworet
Director: Jonathan Nolan
Streaming On: Amazon Prime Video
Language: English (with subtitles)
Runtime: 8 episodes, around 1 hour each.
Fallout Review Out ( Photo Credit – IMDb ) Fallout Review: What’s It About
Amazon and other studios have set their eyes on the video game industry, an industry that is bigger than all other entertainment industries combined, as their following source material and one of those sources brings Fallout to the screen, a legendary franchise that deals with a post-apocalyptic world and the things that humanity will do to survive in it, as we follow several characters all with their own missions and motivations. Still, the world may need help to achieve them.
Fallout Review: Script Analysis
Fallout is one of the most respected...
- 4/12/2024
- by Nelson Acosta
- KoiMoi
Exclusive: The Hallyu march continues this week, as a major Korean content streaming service continues its global rollout.
K-entertainment subscription streamer Kocowa+ has launched in Europe and Oceania, offering 30,000 hours — what Kocowa claims is the “largest Korean content library outside of Korea” — and with English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese subtitles. In total, it will launch in 39 territories.
One notable facet of the service is that all new programs are made available within eight hours of their broadcast in Korea, all fully equipped with subtitles. A curated KocoCraves feature will comprise a mix of live viewing parties and selected content that encourages fan engagement and access to easy-access fan favorite content.
Kocowa is a joint venture company formed by Korean broadcasters Kbs, Mbc and Sbs, Sk Square Americas and Content Wavve. The service launched in 2017 and is already in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
The content mix includes K-dramas,...
K-entertainment subscription streamer Kocowa+ has launched in Europe and Oceania, offering 30,000 hours — what Kocowa claims is the “largest Korean content library outside of Korea” — and with English, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese subtitles. In total, it will launch in 39 territories.
One notable facet of the service is that all new programs are made available within eight hours of their broadcast in Korea, all fully equipped with subtitles. A curated KocoCraves feature will comprise a mix of live viewing parties and selected content that encourages fan engagement and access to easy-access fan favorite content.
Kocowa is a joint venture company formed by Korean broadcasters Kbs, Mbc and Sbs, Sk Square Americas and Content Wavve. The service launched in 2017 and is already in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Brazil.
The content mix includes K-dramas,...
- 4/2/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Thai production and sales outfit Neramitnung Film is introducing Filmart buyers to Wai Noom 2001, the latest film by 4 Kings director Phutthipong Nakthong, and Happy Monday! starring Oabnithi Wiwattanawarang.
Wai Noom 2001 is a prison drama loosely based on a true story about a group of teen criminals kept in the most notorious prison in Bangkok. The original cast from box-office hits 4 Kings and its sequel will reunite with director Phutthipong, including Nat Kitcharit, Arak Amornsupasiri, Itkron Pungkiatrussamee, Benjamin Joseph Varney and Aelm Thavornsiri.
Happy Monday! is a time-loop drama about a loser who is happily stuck in a repeated Monday because...
Wai Noom 2001 is a prison drama loosely based on a true story about a group of teen criminals kept in the most notorious prison in Bangkok. The original cast from box-office hits 4 Kings and its sequel will reunite with director Phutthipong, including Nat Kitcharit, Arak Amornsupasiri, Itkron Pungkiatrussamee, Benjamin Joseph Varney and Aelm Thavornsiri.
Happy Monday! is a time-loop drama about a loser who is happily stuck in a repeated Monday because...
- 3/12/2024
- ScreenDaily
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has secured international sales rights to upcoming drama Promised Land and is launching the feature at Hong Kong Filmart.
It marks the feature directorial debut of Masashi Iijima and is based on a novel of the same name written by Kazuichi Iijima.
Set in a mountainous region of northern Japan in 1983, the story is centred on traditional hunters known as the Matagi, who track and kill wildlife every winter. The film follows two young men with opposing views who venture out in search of a bear, despite the introduction of a hunting ban by Japan’s environmental agency.
It marks the feature directorial debut of Masashi Iijima and is based on a novel of the same name written by Kazuichi Iijima.
Set in a mountainous region of northern Japan in 1983, the story is centred on traditional hunters known as the Matagi, who track and kill wildlife every winter. The film follows two young men with opposing views who venture out in search of a bear, despite the introduction of a hunting ban by Japan’s environmental agency.
- 3/11/2024
- ScreenDaily
Taiwan International Co-Funding Program (Ticp) from Taiwan Creative Content Agency (Taicca) continues to make an impact at the 74th Berlinale. Black Tea and Shambhala enter the main competition, while Sleep With Your Eyes Open competes at Encounters. Festival veteran Tsai Ming-Liang scored two official selections with his latest documentary Abiding Nowhere in Berlinale Special and The Wayward Cloud at Berlinale Classics Special.
Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...
Black Tea is Abderrahmane Sissako's follow up feature after Timbuktu with Taiwan as a key location and two Taiwanese actors Chang Han from A Brighter Summer Day and Wu Ke-Xi of Nina Wu playing alongside Nina Mélo in this cross-cultural romance. The film also received investment from Kaohsiung Film Fund.
Also in the main competition is Shambhala, the second feature from Nepal's Min Bahadur Bham, which sees a woman journey across the Himalayas to prove her innocence. Liao Ching-Sung and Roger Huang are two executive producers from...
- 2/16/2024
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
The late Pema Tseden’s “Snow Leopard” (China) won the top prize, the Golden Cyclo, at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema on Tuesday.
The film, which previously won awards at the Tokyo and Hainan festivals, also won Vesoul’s National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) jury prize and actor Tseten Tashi scored a jury special mention. Pema Tseden (aka Wanmacaidan) died in May last year, age 53.
The grand jury award went to Kenzhebek Shaikakov’s “Scream” (Kazakhstan), which also won the Netpac award and the Mark Haaz award. “Scream” actors Orynbek Shaimaganbetov and Arnur Akram were accorded a jury prize special mention. The film shared the Mark Haaz award with Rajesh Jala’s “The Spark” (India), which also had a special mention at the film critics’ award.
“Solids by The Seashore” by Patiparn Boontarig (Thailand) won the jury prize and also the Inalco favorite award.
The film, which previously won awards at the Tokyo and Hainan festivals, also won Vesoul’s National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Inalco) jury prize and actor Tseten Tashi scored a jury special mention. Pema Tseden (aka Wanmacaidan) died in May last year, age 53.
The grand jury award went to Kenzhebek Shaikakov’s “Scream” (Kazakhstan), which also won the Netpac award and the Mark Haaz award. “Scream” actors Orynbek Shaimaganbetov and Arnur Akram were accorded a jury prize special mention. The film shared the Mark Haaz award with Rajesh Jala’s “The Spark” (India), which also had a special mention at the film critics’ award.
“Solids by The Seashore” by Patiparn Boontarig (Thailand) won the jury prize and also the Inalco favorite award.
- 2/14/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Grittiness and intense social critique hidden in an art house package is not exactly an easy feat to accomplish, although Korean cinema has Kim Ki-duk as champion of that approach, at least in his first movies. Jeon Kyu-hwan seems to have accomplished something very similar with “Animal Town” , a movie that was awarded in Vesoul, Black Movie and Busan.
Animal Town is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
Oh Sung-Chul has been released on parole. He wears an ankle bracelet that monitors his movements as well as reminding himself of his horrifying past deeds. He lives in an rundown apartment complex which is about to be demolished and works construction, although, as the movie begins, he is fired and his last paycheck is cut in half. If that was not enough, he also has to take medications to suppress his mental issues. Kim Hyung-do is a religious...
Animal Town is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema
Oh Sung-Chul has been released on parole. He wears an ankle bracelet that monitors his movements as well as reminding himself of his horrifying past deeds. He lives in an rundown apartment complex which is about to be demolished and works construction, although, as the movie begins, he is fired and his last paycheck is cut in half. If that was not enough, he also has to take medications to suppress his mental issues. Kim Hyung-do is a religious...
- 2/10/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Netflix has unveiled a bumper slate of Korean films and series for the year ahead including a historical feature from Park Chan-wook and the return of the streamer’s biggest ever series, Squid Game.
Fresh details on more than 30 titles were revealed as part of Netflix’s ongoing showcase of what is to come in 2024, which has included upcoming slates from the US and Southeast Asia among others over the past week.
Leading the shows from South Korea is season two of Squid Game, the highly-anticipated follow up to the 2021 series that remains the platform’s most popular series of...
Fresh details on more than 30 titles were revealed as part of Netflix’s ongoing showcase of what is to come in 2024, which has included upcoming slates from the US and Southeast Asia among others over the past week.
Leading the shows from South Korea is season two of Squid Game, the highly-anticipated follow up to the 2021 series that remains the platform’s most popular series of...
- 2/6/2024
- ScreenDaily
Top Indonesian star Laura Basuki headlines auteur Razka Robby Ertanto’s “Yohanna,” which has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam.
The film follows young nun Yohanna, whose encounter with the underworld of child labor in the eastern island of Sumba, one of the poorest places in Indonesia, restores her sense of purpose in life.
For Ertanto, whose “Cross the Line” (2022) looked at migrant workers and “Ave Maryam” (2018) that examined aspects of the Christian faith, the idea for “Yohanna” was born after a visit to Sumba, where he was saddened to see eight-year-old laborers who looked like worn out elders. He resolved to tell their story and present the case for their freedom.
“Child labor in Indonesia is a very important topic that we need to raise awareness about in my country and abroad. Many people fight for good causes whether it’s for the country or...
The film follows young nun Yohanna, whose encounter with the underworld of child labor in the eastern island of Sumba, one of the poorest places in Indonesia, restores her sense of purpose in life.
For Ertanto, whose “Cross the Line” (2022) looked at migrant workers and “Ave Maryam” (2018) that examined aspects of the Christian faith, the idea for “Yohanna” was born after a visit to Sumba, where he was saddened to see eight-year-old laborers who looked like worn out elders. He resolved to tell their story and present the case for their freedom.
“Child labor in Indonesia is a very important topic that we need to raise awareness about in my country and abroad. Many people fight for good causes whether it’s for the country or...
- 1/24/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.
South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.
Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...
South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.
Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.
Scroll down for full list of nominations
The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...
- 1/12/2024
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Each winter, we invite Notebook contributors to take part in our unique twist on the year-end poll. Rather than tally their favorite new releases from the year, they’re asked to creatively pair a new release with an older film they watched for the first time that year: a “fantasy double feature.” We’re delighted by the range of responses this year; this year’s doubles offer up inspired combinations of moving-image art that might otherwise slip through the cracks.We invite you to plunge into this collective viewing scrapbook, which captures our writers at their most imaginative, adventurous, and thoughtful—maybe it'll motivate you to test some of these out (or come up with your own) over the holidays.We hope you enjoy the read, and find our sixteenth year appropriately sweet!{{notebook_form}}Paul AttardNEW: Skinamarink + Old: Room Film 1973Homebound horror films shrouded in darkness, ones that transform...
- 12/23/2023
- MUBI
Shortlists announced in 10 categories for 96th Academy Awards.
The Academy has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Oscars in March 2024, with The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Zone Of Interest (UK), Totem (Mexico), and for the first time Armenia (Amerikatsi) among those making the cut in the international feature film category.
The international contest also sees Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Bhutanese drama The Monk And The Gun become the country’s second film to make the shortlist after his Oscar nominee from two seasons ago.
A strong showing by European films besides the aforementioned comprises J.A. Bayona...
The Academy has announced shortlists in 10 categories for the 96th Oscars in March 2024, with The Taste Of Things (France), Fallen Leaves (Finland), The Zone Of Interest (UK), Totem (Mexico), and for the first time Armenia (Amerikatsi) among those making the cut in the international feature film category.
The international contest also sees Pawo Choyning Dorji’s Bhutanese drama The Monk And The Gun become the country’s second film to make the shortlist after his Oscar nominee from two seasons ago.
A strong showing by European films besides the aforementioned comprises J.A. Bayona...
- 12/21/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Netflix seems to follow a very specific recipe for his Korean content, movie-wise at least, with the majority of the titles being action-oriented, featuring impressive visuals and at least one star in the cast. “Ballerina”, which premiered in this year's Busan before beginning its rather successful streaming path, definitely ticks all the boxes, being a rather stylish, revenge actioner featuring Jeon Jong-seo of “Burning” and “Money Heist: Korea” in the protagonist role, and Park Yu-rim of “Drive My Car” as the reason behind the revenge.
Click on the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix
After an intense introductory action scene, as seems to be the rule nowadays, the actual story behind Ok-joo, a former bodyguard and Min-hee, her ex best friend who was found murdered one day, is revealed through flashbacks, as much as the reason for the former's relentless pursuit for revenge. Another friend eventually emerges, but...
Click on the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix
After an intense introductory action scene, as seems to be the rule nowadays, the actual story behind Ok-joo, a former bodyguard and Min-hee, her ex best friend who was found murdered one day, is revealed through flashbacks, as much as the reason for the former's relentless pursuit for revenge. Another friend eventually emerges, but...
- 12/15/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
A first trailer has been unveiled for Pakistani-u.S. director Iram Parveen Bilal’s Pakistan-set “Wakhri: One of a Kind,” which will have its world premiere at the upcoming Red Sea Film Festival.
Bilal was named one of the directors to watch by the Alliance of Women Directors in 2020. Her previous film, “I’ll Meet You There,” was in the Grand Jury competition at SXSW in 2020 and was banned on its release in Pakistan.
“Wakhri” follows a widowed school teacher in Pakistan who becomes a viral sensation overnight when she accidentally unleashes her unabashed opinions on social media. This newfound fame as an unlikely influencer comes with its own challenges as she has to navigate archaic mindsets and secret identities while raising her 10-year-old son in a world where women’s rights to having a voice and owning space, physical or online, are a constant challenge.
The film is inspired...
Bilal was named one of the directors to watch by the Alliance of Women Directors in 2020. Her previous film, “I’ll Meet You There,” was in the Grand Jury competition at SXSW in 2020 and was banned on its release in Pakistan.
“Wakhri” follows a widowed school teacher in Pakistan who becomes a viral sensation overnight when she accidentally unleashes her unabashed opinions on social media. This newfound fame as an unlikely influencer comes with its own challenges as she has to navigate archaic mindsets and secret identities while raising her 10-year-old son in a world where women’s rights to having a voice and owning space, physical or online, are a constant challenge.
The film is inspired...
- 11/6/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The crime drama will be released on December 30.
Trinity CineAsia has acquired Hong Kong tentpole The Goldfinger for the UK and Ireland after striking a deal with Emperor Motion Pictures.
The crime drama will reunite Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung with writer/director Felix Chong for the first time since 2002’s Infernal Affairs. That film, co-written by Chong and directed by Lau and Alan Mak, spawned a trilogy of films and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed.
UK-based Trinity CineAsia will theatrically release The Goldfinger in UK and Irish cinemas on December 30, co-ordinated with...
Trinity CineAsia has acquired Hong Kong tentpole The Goldfinger for the UK and Ireland after striking a deal with Emperor Motion Pictures.
The crime drama will reunite Hong Kong superstars Andy Lau and Tony Leung with writer/director Felix Chong for the first time since 2002’s Infernal Affairs. That film, co-written by Chong and directed by Lau and Alan Mak, spawned a trilogy of films and inspired Martin Scorsese’s 2006 Oscar-winning crime thriller The Departed.
UK-based Trinity CineAsia will theatrically release The Goldfinger in UK and Irish cinemas on December 30, co-ordinated with...
- 10/31/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
This year's Special Screenings section features two classics directed by the masters of Taiwanese cinema – Tsai Ming-liang and Hou Hsiao-hsien. The screenings of films, restored in 4K, will be a nostalgic trip down the memory lane to the magic tales that have already earned an indisputable cult status and entered the canon of Asian cinema.
The process of digital restoration allows festivals to return to classic titles and bring them back to audiences to revisit and reevaluate through the lens of time passed. The feeling that the world is changing and that cinema follows in its steps will be one of the key emotions accompanying the screenings.
Tsai Ming-liang's “Goodbye, Dragon Inn” is not just a tribute to King Hu, whose retrospective is one of this year's Festival highlights, but also a symbolic goodbye to the golden era of the classic wuxia films that have been kindling the emotions of Asian audiences for many decades.
The process of digital restoration allows festivals to return to classic titles and bring them back to audiences to revisit and reevaluate through the lens of time passed. The feeling that the world is changing and that cinema follows in its steps will be one of the key emotions accompanying the screenings.
Tsai Ming-liang's “Goodbye, Dragon Inn” is not just a tribute to King Hu, whose retrospective is one of this year's Festival highlights, but also a symbolic goodbye to the golden era of the classic wuxia films that have been kindling the emotions of Asian audiences for many decades.
- 10/30/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Film currently in post. Well Go USA to distribute in US.
In the run-up to AFM Red Sea Media has come on board to handle international sales on the samurai action thriller Lone led by Japanese rising star Shogen from Brillante Ma Mendoza’s Busan selection Gensan Punch.
Josh Waller (Raze), a co-founder of Spectrevision with Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah, directed from his screenplay about a Japanese samurai and assassin who loses his family and finds himself stranded on an island where he gets kidnapped by a tribe of cannibals.
The warrior soon escapes and enacts revenge on his captors and their leader.
In the run-up to AFM Red Sea Media has come on board to handle international sales on the samurai action thriller Lone led by Japanese rising star Shogen from Brillante Ma Mendoza’s Busan selection Gensan Punch.
Josh Waller (Raze), a co-founder of Spectrevision with Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah, directed from his screenplay about a Japanese samurai and assassin who loses his family and finds himself stranded on an island where he gets kidnapped by a tribe of cannibals.
The warrior soon escapes and enacts revenge on his captors and their leader.
- 10/26/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
As meta as it gets, The Movie Emperor (Hong Tan Xian Sheng) stars Hong Kong superstar Andy Lau as superstar Dany Lau, a box-office hero desperate to validate his career with critics. When “Jackie Chen” wins a Hong Kong film award for portraying a peasant farmer, Lau decides to put together his own epic about rural poverty and “fatherly love” as his ticket to film-festival success. Yes, Lau is essentially playing himself in this complex comedy, the closing title at this year’s Busan International Film Festival. What’s more, Lin Hao, the director of the project, is played by the actual Movie Emperor director Ning Hao, whose Crazy Stone helped set a new direction for mainland Chinese comedies back in 2006.
Real-life celebrities (e.g. Tony Leung Ka-fai and Wong Jing) are sprinkled throughout. It’s one of the ways Ning Hao erases boundaries between the real and fake Lau.
Real-life celebrities (e.g. Tony Leung Ka-fai and Wong Jing) are sprinkled throughout. It’s one of the ways Ning Hao erases boundaries between the real and fake Lau.
- 10/18/2023
- by Daniel Eagan
- The Film Stage
After shooting a number of excellent documentaries, Tatsuya Mori decided to shoot a feature film, about a little known incident that took place just after the Great Kanto Earthquake in 1923. The movie left Busan with the New Currents Award.
September 1923 screened at Busan International Film Festival
From the film’s production notes: On September 1, 1923, at 11:58 Am, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo, the capital of Japan. On September 6, just five days after the disaster, nine peddlers, including a pregnant woman and small children, were slain near Tone River by more than 100 villagers, vigilantes among them, in Fukuda Village, Higashi-Katsushika in Chiba Prefecture. The victims were part of a group of 15 people, itinerant medicine vendors from Kagawa Prefecture. The villagers killed them, mistaking them for Koreans when they heard them speaking in their dialect. Eight vigilantes were arrested and sentenced to prison. However, they were granted an amnesty concerning the...
September 1923 screened at Busan International Film Festival
From the film’s production notes: On September 1, 1923, at 11:58 Am, the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo, the capital of Japan. On September 6, just five days after the disaster, nine peddlers, including a pregnant woman and small children, were slain near Tone River by more than 100 villagers, vigilantes among them, in Fukuda Village, Higashi-Katsushika in Chiba Prefecture. The victims were part of a group of 15 people, itinerant medicine vendors from Kagawa Prefecture. The villagers killed them, mistaking them for Koreans when they heard them speaking in their dialect. Eight vigilantes were arrested and sentenced to prison. However, they were granted an amnesty concerning the...
- 10/15/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Wrestler, directed by Bangladeshi-Canadian filmmaker Iqbal H. Chowdhury, and September 1923, from Japan’s Tatsuya Mori, picked up the New Currents Awards as Busan International Film Festival wrapped a busy 28th edition on October 13.
Chowdhury’s film tells the story of an eccentric fisherman who learns a traditional form of wrestling to take on the village champion, while September 1923, the debut fiction film of documentary filmmaker Mori, revolves around the massacre that took place after the Great Kanto earthquake 100 years ago.
The Kim Jiseok Award, presented to films in Busan’s Jiseok section, went to Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise, about an Indian couple facing problems in their marriage during a trip to Sri Lanka, and Mirlan Abdykalykov’s Bride Kidnapping, about the widespread practice of forcing women into marriage in Kyrgyzstan.
Busan also launched two new awards, the LG Oled New Currents & Vision Awards, presented to films...
Chowdhury’s film tells the story of an eccentric fisherman who learns a traditional form of wrestling to take on the village champion, while September 1923, the debut fiction film of documentary filmmaker Mori, revolves around the massacre that took place after the Great Kanto earthquake 100 years ago.
The Kim Jiseok Award, presented to films in Busan’s Jiseok section, went to Sri Lankan director Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise, about an Indian couple facing problems in their marriage during a trip to Sri Lanka, and Mirlan Abdykalykov’s Bride Kidnapping, about the widespread practice of forcing women into marriage in Kyrgyzstan.
Busan also launched two new awards, the LG Oled New Currents & Vision Awards, presented to films...
- 10/14/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
‘The Berefts’ also picked up multiple prizes.
Thailand’s Solids By The Seashore and Korean family drama House Of The Seasons have won the first tranche of prizes at Busan International Film Festival.
The Busan Vision Awards, which recognises rising independent filmmakers, saw Patiparn Boontarig’s Solids By The Seashore win the Netpac Award and LG Oled New Currents Award. The latter prize includes a cash grant of $22,300 (KRW30m).
The film, which plays in Biff’s main New Currents competition, is the feature directorial debut of Thai filmmaker Patiparn, who previously worked as first assistant director on Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s Manta Ray,...
Thailand’s Solids By The Seashore and Korean family drama House Of The Seasons have won the first tranche of prizes at Busan International Film Festival.
The Busan Vision Awards, which recognises rising independent filmmakers, saw Patiparn Boontarig’s Solids By The Seashore win the Netpac Award and LG Oled New Currents Award. The latter prize includes a cash grant of $22,300 (KRW30m).
The film, which plays in Biff’s main New Currents competition, is the feature directorial debut of Thai filmmaker Patiparn, who previously worked as first assistant director on Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s Manta Ray,...
- 10/12/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Est N8 is joint venture launched by LA’s Est Studios, Bangkok’s N8 in Cannes.
International finance, production and sales company Est N8 has has boarded worldwide sales rights to Asian horror titles Dead Boys Club (Geng Kubur) and The Scarecrow for upcoming fall festivals and markets and has commenced talks at Busan.
Head of sales and distribution Tenten Wei is engaging with buyers in South Korea and will continue talks at Tokyo International Film Festival (October 23-November 1) and the American Film Market (October 31-November 5).
Est N8 is the joint venture launched by Los Angeles-based Est Studios and Bangkok...
International finance, production and sales company Est N8 has has boarded worldwide sales rights to Asian horror titles Dead Boys Club (Geng Kubur) and The Scarecrow for upcoming fall festivals and markets and has commenced talks at Busan.
Head of sales and distribution Tenten Wei is engaging with buyers in South Korea and will continue talks at Tokyo International Film Festival (October 23-November 1) and the American Film Market (October 31-November 5).
Est N8 is the joint venture launched by Los Angeles-based Est Studios and Bangkok...
- 10/9/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
Hansal Mehta’s Netflix series “Scoop” on Sunday won the prizes for best Asian TV series and best lead actress for Karishma Tanna at the Busan International Film Festival’s 2023 Asia Content Awards and Global Ott Awards.
The hard hitting crime drama series is based on journalist Jigna Vora’s 2019 memoir “Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison.” Tanna plays the lead role of Jagruti Pathak, a scoop-hunting journalist who is caught in the nexus of the police, the underworld and the media.
Mehta (“Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story”) cast Tanna in the role because in her audition she had “the X factor” and that she “lights up a room.” “It’s an author backed role, it’s a dream come true role,” Tanna told Variety in Busan.
“The entire show is on this character Jagruti Pathak and the director has seen so much potential in you and you feel a responsibility,...
The hard hitting crime drama series is based on journalist Jigna Vora’s 2019 memoir “Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison.” Tanna plays the lead role of Jagruti Pathak, a scoop-hunting journalist who is caught in the nexus of the police, the underworld and the media.
Mehta (“Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story”) cast Tanna in the role because in her audition she had “the X factor” and that she “lights up a room.” “It’s an author backed role, it’s a dream come true role,” Tanna told Variety in Busan.
“The entire show is on this character Jagruti Pathak and the director has seen so much potential in you and you feel a responsibility,...
- 10/9/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Bradley Liew of Epicmedia Productions (Philippines), Stefano Centini of Volos Films (Taiwan/Italy) and Singapore’s Huang Junxiang have reunited to launch two genre projects at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents and Film Market.
The trio previously teamed on Sundance Midnight hit, “In My Mother’s Skin” by Kenneth Dagatan, which was recently ranked number six on Variety’s Best Horror Movies of 2023. The film was acquired by Amazon Studios and will stream on Prime Video from Oct. 12.
The producers are backing Dagatan’s “Molder,” a body-horror supernatural thriller set in a sleepy Italian town where an elderly Filipino immigrant struggling with signs of early onset dementia, grapples with the sudden disappearance of his wife and the mysterious young man who claims to have placed a curse upon them. The film aims to blend both Filipino folklore based supernatural horror with the experiences of the Filipino diaspora in Italy.
The trio previously teamed on Sundance Midnight hit, “In My Mother’s Skin” by Kenneth Dagatan, which was recently ranked number six on Variety’s Best Horror Movies of 2023. The film was acquired by Amazon Studios and will stream on Prime Video from Oct. 12.
The producers are backing Dagatan’s “Molder,” a body-horror supernatural thriller set in a sleepy Italian town where an elderly Filipino immigrant struggling with signs of early onset dementia, grapples with the sudden disappearance of his wife and the mysterious young man who claims to have placed a curse upon them. The film aims to blend both Filipino folklore based supernatural horror with the experiences of the Filipino diaspora in Italy.
- 10/8/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran and Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Actors and filmmakers Steven Yeun, John Cho, Justin Chon and Lee Isaac Chung shared their thoughts on the appeal of Korean Diaspora cinema – as well as how they see the current wave of content coming out of Korea – in a philosophical but relaxed press conference at Busan International Film Festival.
Lee, who directed Oscar-winning Korean immigrant story Minari, said he was amazed by the reaction to the film whenever it was screened as “people from all walks of life would want to talk about their own experiences, people who’d never emigrated, but they’d moved to some place new and found it stressful. I wonder if the immigrant story just speaks to many experiences.”
Chon, an actor-director whose Jamojaya is screening at the festival, said: “It’s just an interesting dramatic situation – being in transition and also an underdog story. It was right there for the taking, to tell immigrant stories,...
Lee, who directed Oscar-winning Korean immigrant story Minari, said he was amazed by the reaction to the film whenever it was screened as “people from all walks of life would want to talk about their own experiences, people who’d never emigrated, but they’d moved to some place new and found it stressful. I wonder if the immigrant story just speaks to many experiences.”
Chon, an actor-director whose Jamojaya is screening at the festival, said: “It’s just an interesting dramatic situation – being in transition and also an underdog story. It was right there for the taking, to tell immigrant stories,...
- 10/6/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
This month’s issue explores the UK’s indie producer crisis.
Screen’s October 2023 edition features an in-depth exploration of the UK’s indie producer crisis as well as a preview of Busan, an interview with new Lff director Kristy Matheson and a look at the post-peak-tv era.
Click here to read the digital edition
Read Screen’s other digital editions...
Screen’s October 2023 edition features an in-depth exploration of the UK’s indie producer crisis as well as a preview of Busan, an interview with new Lff director Kristy Matheson and a look at the post-peak-tv era.
Click here to read the digital edition
Read Screen’s other digital editions...
- 10/5/2023
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Exclusive: Est N8, the international finance, production and sales company launched by Est Studios and Bangkok-based N8 Studios, has acquired world sales rights, excluding South Korea, to April Tragedy (The Daughters Of That Day), directed by Koh Hoon.
Produced by Junghoon Song, the film will receive its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival (October 4-13), where it is playing in competition in the Wide Angle section.
The documentary looks at the aftermath and healing journey following two important but often overlooked events in world history – the Jeju 4.3 Uprising and Rwandan genocide tragedies.
Koh Hoon previously directed feature films Eomung (2019) and Paper Flower (2020), with the latter film winning Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor at the Houston Film Festival. He holds a doctoral degree in Theatre and Film Studies from Hanyang University and his short film, Maheun (2018), was invited to Cannes.
The deal for world rights was brokered by...
Produced by Junghoon Song, the film will receive its world premiere at Busan International Film Festival (October 4-13), where it is playing in competition in the Wide Angle section.
The documentary looks at the aftermath and healing journey following two important but often overlooked events in world history – the Jeju 4.3 Uprising and Rwandan genocide tragedies.
Koh Hoon previously directed feature films Eomung (2019) and Paper Flower (2020), with the latter film winning Best Foreign Language Film and Best Actor at the Houston Film Festival. He holds a doctoral degree in Theatre and Film Studies from Hanyang University and his short film, Maheun (2018), was invited to Cannes.
The deal for world rights was brokered by...
- 10/4/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
It’s the final week of September, and you better believe the new horror releases are going to ramp up big time in the coming weeks. But first we’ve got Seven new movies this week!
Here’s all the new horror releasing September 25 – October 1, 2023.
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
The ultra-violent horror movie Megalomaniac (read Meagan’s review) was released in select theaters earlier this month, and the film hit VOD outlets on Tuesday, September 26.
Winner of the top Jury Prize (Best Feature) at the Fantasia Film Festival, this brutal and dark serial killer film utilizes the backdrop of an unsolved true crime.
With Megalomaniac, prolific filmmaker Karim Ouelhaj, Méliès d’Or winner for The Frozen Eye (2016), brings us his fourth feature and by far his most savage.
In the film, “Martha and Félix are the children of the Butcher of Mons,...
Here’s all the new horror releasing September 25 – October 1, 2023.
For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.
The ultra-violent horror movie Megalomaniac (read Meagan’s review) was released in select theaters earlier this month, and the film hit VOD outlets on Tuesday, September 26.
Winner of the top Jury Prize (Best Feature) at the Fantasia Film Festival, this brutal and dark serial killer film utilizes the backdrop of an unsolved true crime.
With Megalomaniac, prolific filmmaker Karim Ouelhaj, Méliès d’Or winner for The Frozen Eye (2016), brings us his fourth feature and by far his most savage.
In the film, “Martha and Félix are the children of the Butcher of Mons,...
- 9/27/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Japan’s Dean Fujioka and the U.K.’s Callum Woodhouse are set to star in “Orang Ikan,” a WWII-set creature horror film. The picture is scripted by Singapore and Indonesia-based Mike Wiluan who will also direct the picture from next month.
International rights to “Orang Ikan” have been picked up by London-based Sc Films International, which will give the project its sales launch at the Busan festival and accompanying market next month.
Set in the Pacific, 1942, a Japanese ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories as slave labor. After being torpedoed by allied submarines, a Japanese soldier and a British Pow are stranded on a deserted island, but soon discover they are not alone. They are being hunted by a ferocious mythological creature, the Orang Ikan, a human-fish hybrid. Unable to communicate in each other’s language, the two mortal enemies must come together to survive the unknown.
International rights to “Orang Ikan” have been picked up by London-based Sc Films International, which will give the project its sales launch at the Busan festival and accompanying market next month.
Set in the Pacific, 1942, a Japanese ship transports prisoners of war to occupied territories as slave labor. After being torpedoed by allied submarines, a Japanese soldier and a British Pow are stranded on a deserted island, but soon discover they are not alone. They are being hunted by a ferocious mythological creature, the Orang Ikan, a human-fish hybrid. Unable to communicate in each other’s language, the two mortal enemies must come together to survive the unknown.
- 9/19/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has announced the ten films in this year’s New Currents competition line-up, along with ten films selected for its Jiseok Section. Both competition sections feature titles from Bangladesh’s vibrant young industry as well as from Japan.
New Currents, a section for first and second films by up-and-coming Asian filmmakers, features two films from Bangladesh – Biplob Sarkar’s The Stranger and Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s The Wrestler – which the festival noted showcase “the momentum of Bangladeshi cinema”.
The Stranger is described as a coming-of-age story navigating the journey of a family in which the young son grapples with questions about his gender identity. The Wrestler, a co-production between Bangladesh and Canada, tells the story of an elderly man from a fishing village who challenges a wrestling champion to combat.
Two Japanese titles have also been selected for New Currents – September 1923, about the Great...
New Currents, a section for first and second films by up-and-coming Asian filmmakers, features two films from Bangladesh – Biplob Sarkar’s The Stranger and Iqbal H. Chowdhury’s The Wrestler – which the festival noted showcase “the momentum of Bangladeshi cinema”.
The Stranger is described as a coming-of-age story navigating the journey of a family in which the young son grapples with questions about his gender identity. The Wrestler, a co-production between Bangladesh and Canada, tells the story of an elderly man from a fishing village who challenges a wrestling champion to combat.
Two Japanese titles have also been selected for New Currents – September 1923, about the Great...
- 8/30/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Fans of Train to Busan probably won’t want to miss the upcoming Gangnam Zombie, a South Korean horror movie that’s headed home in the United States this September.
From Well Go USA Entertainment, Gangnam Zombie bites into Digital & Blu-ray on September 26. Watch the bloody trailer below, while you wait for the undead mayhem.
“In the wealthy Gangnam district in the heart of Seoul, mass chaos ensues when previously normal people suddenly begin viciously attacking other citizens, leading an elite former taekwondo athlete to take on one final match against the walking dead.”
Gangnam Zombie is directed by Lee Su-seong and stars Ji Il-ju (Blades of Blood), Park Ji-yeon (Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp) from the chart-topping girl group T-Ara, and Cho Kyung-hoon (North Korean Guys).
The film has a runtime of approximately 82 minutes and is not rated.
The post ‘Gangnam Zombie’ Trailer – South Korean Horror Movie Channels the...
From Well Go USA Entertainment, Gangnam Zombie bites into Digital & Blu-ray on September 26. Watch the bloody trailer below, while you wait for the undead mayhem.
“In the wealthy Gangnam district in the heart of Seoul, mass chaos ensues when previously normal people suddenly begin viciously attacking other citizens, leading an elite former taekwondo athlete to take on one final match against the walking dead.”
Gangnam Zombie is directed by Lee Su-seong and stars Ji Il-ju (Blades of Blood), Park Ji-yeon (Death Bell 2: Bloody Camp) from the chart-topping girl group T-Ara, and Cho Kyung-hoon (North Korean Guys).
The film has a runtime of approximately 82 minutes and is not rated.
The post ‘Gangnam Zombie’ Trailer – South Korean Horror Movie Channels the...
- 8/24/2023
- by John Squires
- bloody-disgusting.com
Celebrated Malaysian-Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang sat down with Variety on the eve of receiving the Locarno Film Festival Career Award. The award is only the latest in a series of prizes from major European festivals the art-house maverick has received – from the 1994 Golden Lion from Venice for “Vive L’Amour” to the Silver Bear that “The River” won in Berlin in 1997.
So how does he feel to have received this latest sign of esteem from the film community?
“This is very special for me,” Tsai says. “I’m very happy, especially for my films which are not easy to see. Coming here and receiving a reward is a very big encouragement for me. Especially these festivals. They saw that I had embarked on a different way of creation. So here they gave me a space to show my short films.”
Since the 2010s, this “different way of creation” has seen Tsai...
So how does he feel to have received this latest sign of esteem from the film community?
“This is very special for me,” Tsai says. “I’m very happy, especially for my films which are not easy to see. Coming here and receiving a reward is a very big encouragement for me. Especially these festivals. They saw that I had embarked on a different way of creation. So here they gave me a space to show my short films.”
Since the 2010s, this “different way of creation” has seen Tsai...
- 8/7/2023
- by John Bleasdale
- Variety Film + TV
Projects by Rima Das and Emma Kawawada also among 30 titles set to be pitched.
South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has unveiled the 30 titles selected for the 2023 Asian Project Market (Apm), including new works by Makbul Mubarak, Koji Fukada, Rima Das and Emma Kawawada.
The film financing event, which runs as part of Biff’s Asian Contents and Film Market, will take place from October 7-10 and comprises projects by directors who have made at least one short or full-length feature as well as producers who have been involved with at least one feature. They will conduct four...
South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has unveiled the 30 titles selected for the 2023 Asian Project Market (Apm), including new works by Makbul Mubarak, Koji Fukada, Rima Das and Emma Kawawada.
The film financing event, which runs as part of Biff’s Asian Contents and Film Market, will take place from October 7-10 and comprises projects by directors who have made at least one short or full-length feature as well as producers who have been involved with at least one feature. They will conduct four...
- 8/3/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Sony’s “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” swung back to pole position atop the U.K. and Ireland box office, dethroning Warner Bros.’ “The Flash” in the process.
In its fourth weekend, “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” collected £1.99 million ($2.5 million) for a total of £23.4 million, according to numbers from Comscore. In its second weekend, “The Flash” took £1.3 million for a total of £6.7 million.
Sony’s “No Hard Feelings” bowed in third place with £1.18 million, while Universal’s “Asteroid City” debuted close behind in fourth position with £1.17 million.
Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which earned £1.08 million in its fifth weekend for a total of £23.7 million.
The big release this week is “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford back for one last crack of the whip. Disney is releasing the film, which also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, wide across more than 300 locations.
In its fourth weekend, “Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse” collected £1.99 million ($2.5 million) for a total of £23.4 million, according to numbers from Comscore. In its second weekend, “The Flash” took £1.3 million for a total of £6.7 million.
Sony’s “No Hard Feelings” bowed in third place with £1.18 million, while Universal’s “Asteroid City” debuted close behind in fourth position with £1.17 million.
Rounding off the top five was Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” which earned £1.08 million in its fifth weekend for a total of £23.7 million.
The big release this week is “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” with Harrison Ford back for one last crack of the whip. Disney is releasing the film, which also stars Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Mads Mikkelsen, wide across more than 300 locations.
- 6/27/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Anthony Chen’s well-regarded Mainland China-set “The Breaking Ice” has found favor with multiple European and Asian buyers in the few days since its Sunday premiere as part of the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard.
The film narrates a love triangle story among China’s lost youth generation and is set in the middle of winter in Yanji, a town that is heavily populated by ethnic Koreans. It is headlined by a star-studded Chinese cast of Zhou Dongyu (“Better Days”), Liu Haoran (“Detective Chinatown” franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (“The Wandering Earth”).
“The Breaking Ice” has been newly licensed to Challan for release in South Korea, Trigon-Film for Switzerland, One From the Heart for Greece, Tucker Film for Italy and Edko Films for Hong Kong.
Rights sales are handled by Rediance, Mainland China’s leading indie sales company, which reports that addition territory deals are currently being negotiated.
The film narrates a love triangle story among China’s lost youth generation and is set in the middle of winter in Yanji, a town that is heavily populated by ethnic Koreans. It is headlined by a star-studded Chinese cast of Zhou Dongyu (“Better Days”), Liu Haoran (“Detective Chinatown” franchise) and Qu Chuxiao (“The Wandering Earth”).
“The Breaking Ice” has been newly licensed to Challan for release in South Korea, Trigon-Film for Switzerland, One From the Heart for Greece, Tucker Film for Italy and Edko Films for Hong Kong.
Rights sales are handled by Rediance, Mainland China’s leading indie sales company, which reports that addition territory deals are currently being negotiated.
- 5/26/2023
- by Patrick Frater and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Further sales made of Hong’s Berlinale title ‘in water’ and others.
South Korea’s Finecut has closed deals on several titles led by auteur Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, which is set to close Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, and his recent Berlinale title in water.
In Our Day sold to France (Capricci), Spain (L’Atalante Cinema) and Greece (Ama Films) ahead of its premiere on May 25. The feature follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The prolific filmmaker’s first feature of this year was in water,...
South Korea’s Finecut has closed deals on several titles led by auteur Hong Sangsoo’s In Our Day, which is set to close Directors’ Fortnight in Cannes, and his recent Berlinale title in water.
In Our Day sold to France (Capricci), Spain (L’Atalante Cinema) and Greece (Ama Films) ahead of its premiere on May 25. The feature follows an actress and old poet who each host a visitor and dodge questions posed by their guests using food, drink and games.
The prolific filmmaker’s first feature of this year was in water,...
- 5/22/2023
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has acquired the international rights of Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir’s debut feature “City of Wind.” The film is in post-production and will be ready for a world premiere in fall 2023.
Purev-Ochir is known for several high-profile short films, including “Mountain Cat,” which was in Cannes Competition in 2020, and won best short in Busan in 2020, and “Snow in September,” which was awarded the Golden Lion for best short in Venice, and best short in Toronto last year.
Ze is a timid 17-year-old shaman. He studies hard at school to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia, while communing with his ancestral spirit to help those in his community. But when Ze encounters Maralaa, his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
The film stars young Mongolian actors such as Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba together with veterans Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren.
Purev-Ochir is known for several high-profile short films, including “Mountain Cat,” which was in Cannes Competition in 2020, and won best short in Busan in 2020, and “Snow in September,” which was awarded the Golden Lion for best short in Venice, and best short in Toronto last year.
Ze is a timid 17-year-old shaman. He studies hard at school to succeed in the cold, callous society of modern Mongolia, while communing with his ancestral spirit to help those in his community. But when Ze encounters Maralaa, his senses are awakened and another reality seems possible.
The film stars young Mongolian actors such as Tergel Bold-Erdene and Nomin-Erdene Ariunbyamba together with veterans Bulgan Chuluunbat, Ganzorig Tsetsgee and Tsend-Ayush Nyamsuren.
- 5/21/2023
- by Leo Barraclough
- Variety Film + TV
Glasgow Film Festival ran from March 1-12, screening 123 features.
A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.
Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...
A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.
Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...
- 3/13/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Glasgow Film Festival ran from March 1-12, screening 123 features.
A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.
Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...
A joy-filled Glasgow Film Festival (Gff) drew to a close last night (March 12) with the UK premiere of Nida Manzoor’s Polite Society, while Riceboy Sleeps scooped the festival’s only prize, the audience award, in what co-director Allan Hunter described as the “tightest” voting race in Gff’s audience award history.
Riceboy Sleeps is directed by Anthony Shim, and premiered at Toronto last year. It follows a South Korean family’s attempts to adapt to a new life in Canada, produced by Shim, Rebecca Steele and Bryan Demore. The family...
- 3/13/2023
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Saurav Rai’s 2019 film ”Invitation” featured a child protagonist and once again the filmmaker centers a film on a young person.
Rai’s “Guras,” a Nepali and Hindi-language film, is a work-in-progress selection at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf). It follows 9-year-old Guras, who lives in a mountain village in India’s Darjeeling district. Her pet dog goes missing and she embarks on a journey that soon turns mystical as she meets otherworldly beings along the way.
“I always had this fascination with my grandma’s real-life incident during her childhood when she stole someone’s vegetables from their garden. She ended up having chest pain after that and when her mother figured it out, she took her to the owner of the farmland. The owner immediately knew what had happened, so she smiled and prayed to her ancestors and relieved my grandma of the pain,” Rai says.
Rai’s “Guras,” a Nepali and Hindi-language film, is a work-in-progress selection at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf). It follows 9-year-old Guras, who lives in a mountain village in India’s Darjeeling district. Her pet dog goes missing and she embarks on a journey that soon turns mystical as she meets otherworldly beings along the way.
“I always had this fascination with my grandma’s real-life incident during her childhood when she stole someone’s vegetables from their garden. She ended up having chest pain after that and when her mother figured it out, she took her to the owner of the farmland. The owner immediately knew what had happened, so she smiled and prayed to her ancestors and relieved my grandma of the pain,” Rai says.
- 3/12/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Singaporean filmmaker Anthony Chen wears his producers hat at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) shepherding two projects from debut directors.
Chen’s feature directorial debut “Ilo Ilo” (2013) won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. His most recent film as director, “Drift,” bowed at Sundance earlier this year. As a producer, Chen’s recent credits include Locarno selection “Arnold Is a Model Student” and Busan selection and Red Sea winner “Ajoomma.”
First up is the English-language animated feature “Skin Coat,” directed by Singapore’s Tan Wei Keong. Set in the 16th century, it will follow a son who returns to his village to see his aging parents, and his male lover has to put on a woman’s skin coat to accompany him back home.
“‘Skin Coat’ is a story that explores identity, alter egos, and love that endures against all odds. As a gay person who grew...
Chen’s feature directorial debut “Ilo Ilo” (2013) won the Caméra d’Or at Cannes. His most recent film as director, “Drift,” bowed at Sundance earlier this year. As a producer, Chen’s recent credits include Locarno selection “Arnold Is a Model Student” and Busan selection and Red Sea winner “Ajoomma.”
First up is the English-language animated feature “Skin Coat,” directed by Singapore’s Tan Wei Keong. Set in the 16th century, it will follow a son who returns to his village to see his aging parents, and his male lover has to put on a woman’s skin coat to accompany him back home.
“‘Skin Coat’ is a story that explores identity, alter egos, and love that endures against all odds. As a gay person who grew...
- 3/12/2023
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
While we’ve known the results of Jeanne Dielman Tops Sight and Sound‘s 2022 Greatest Films of All-Time List”>Sight & Sound’s once-in-a-decade greatest films of all-time poll for a few months now, the recent release of the individual ballots has given data-crunching cinephiles a new opportunity to dive deeper. We have Letterboxd lists detailing all 4,400+ films that received at least one vote and another expanding the directors poll, spreadsheets calculating every entry, and now a list ranking how many votes individual directors received for their films.
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
Tabulated by Genjuro, the list of 35 directors, with two pairs, puts Alfred Hitchcock back on top, while Chantal Akerman is at number two. Elsewhere in the top ten are David Lynch, Francis Ford Coppola, Jean-Luc Godard, Agnès Varda, Orson Welles, Yasujirō Ozu, and Stanley Kubrick, and tied for the tenth spot is Wong Kar Wai and Ingmar Bergman.
Check out the list below,...
- 3/5/2023
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
Jow Zhi Wei’s feature debut “Tomorrow is a Long Time” which screens in the Generation 14plus program of the Berlinale, is a personal portrait of the working class milieu, and the preassure the hard-labour puts on people who maintain the industry. A large part of inspiration comes from the director’s upbringing, but as he would underline later, only in terms of understanding how fragile the lives of those who struggle to survive is. Just like in his shorts, the topic of family relationships and closeness to death play a significant role in the script.
Jow Zhi Wei studied at Le Fresnoy (France) and Lasalle College of the Arts (Singapore), and was the alumni of the Golden Horse Film Academy in 2010, under the mentorship of Hou Hsiao-hsien who is one of his biggest influences. Before venturing into the world of features, he has made three short films:...
Jow Zhi Wei studied at Le Fresnoy (France) and Lasalle College of the Arts (Singapore), and was the alumni of the Golden Horse Film Academy in 2010, under the mentorship of Hou Hsiao-hsien who is one of his biggest influences. Before venturing into the world of features, he has made three short films:...
- 2/23/2023
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Canadian sales agents licenses Viking, Into The Weeds to US.
Sphere Films International has reported key territory deals here on Anthony Shim’s TIFF Platform Prize and Busan audience award winner Riceboy Sleeps.
1091 Pictures has acquired the family drama for the US and rights have gone for Australia and New Zealand (Icon), South Korea (Pancinema), Spain (Yoda Films), Benelux (September Films), Taiwan (Creative Century), Singapore (Lighthouse Film), and Israel (Lev Films).
Theatrical releases are planned for spring in South Korea and Singapore with other releases expected to follow shortly after. Anthony Shim’s 1990’s-set film follows a Korean single...
Sphere Films International has reported key territory deals here on Anthony Shim’s TIFF Platform Prize and Busan audience award winner Riceboy Sleeps.
1091 Pictures has acquired the family drama for the US and rights have gone for Australia and New Zealand (Icon), South Korea (Pancinema), Spain (Yoda Films), Benelux (September Films), Taiwan (Creative Century), Singapore (Lighthouse Film), and Israel (Lev Films).
Theatrical releases are planned for spring in South Korea and Singapore with other releases expected to follow shortly after. Anthony Shim’s 1990’s-set film follows a Korean single...
- 2/20/2023
- by Jeremy Kay
- ScreenDaily
MetFilm Distribution has acquired the U.K. and Ireland rights to Vinay Shukla’s multi-award-winning documentary ‘While We Watched’, reports ‘Variety’.
Produced by the UK’s Lono Studio and BritDoc Films, the documentary is a newsroom drama chronicling the working days of former popular Ndtv journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation, ‘Variety’ adds.
A Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Kumar resigned after controversial billionaire Gautam Adani took over the company.
‘While We Watched’ debuted at Toronto in 2022 where it won the Amplify Voices award, followed by Busan, where it picked up the Cinephile award, according to ‘Variety’. Most recently, the film won the international competition at Helsinki’s DocPoint Festival.
Shukla had previously co-directed the 2016 political documentary ‘An Insignificant Man’ on the rise of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. ‘While We Watched’, Shukla told ‘Variety’, is “my love letter to journalism”.
He...
Produced by the UK’s Lono Studio and BritDoc Films, the documentary is a newsroom drama chronicling the working days of former popular Ndtv journalist Ravish Kumar as he navigates a spiralling world of truth and disinformation, ‘Variety’ adds.
A Ramon Magsaysay Award winner, Kumar resigned after controversial billionaire Gautam Adani took over the company.
‘While We Watched’ debuted at Toronto in 2022 where it won the Amplify Voices award, followed by Busan, where it picked up the Cinephile award, according to ‘Variety’. Most recently, the film won the international competition at Helsinki’s DocPoint Festival.
Shukla had previously co-directed the 2016 political documentary ‘An Insignificant Man’ on the rise of Arvind Kejriwal and the Aam Aadmi Party. ‘While We Watched’, Shukla told ‘Variety’, is “my love letter to journalism”.
He...
- 2/14/2023
- by News Bureau
- GlamSham
The name Lee Dongwoo might not ring a bell for non-Koreans, but the documentary filmmaker has certainly been turning heads in Seoul and beyond. His debut documentary, ‘No Money, No Future’ (2016) received the Grand Prize at the Seoul Independent Film Festival as well as an award for Best New Director from the Busan Film Critics Association. His second feature-length film ‘Self Portrait’ (2020) won the Busan International Film Festival Mecenat Award and was selected for the Harbour section at International Film Festival of Rotterdam in 2021. His latest full-length documentary ‘Sagal: Snake and Scorpion’ (2023) is a great commentary on the dark underbelly of South Korean capitalism, but the director might be losing some of the momentum he’s been gathering over the past decade.
Sagal: Snake and Scorpion screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam
‘Sagal: Snake and Scorpion’ begins with the filmmaker explaining how he discovered that his former classmate from film...
Sagal: Snake and Scorpion screened at International Film Festival Rotterdam
‘Sagal: Snake and Scorpion’ begins with the filmmaker explaining how he discovered that his former classmate from film...
- 2/10/2023
- by Spencer Nafekh-Blanchette
- AsianMoviePulse
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