Zee End Is Nigh
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth. Pulling the Nclt application also makes it somewhat easier for Zee to pursue its arbitration and other legal actions against Sony.
The plan to merge the two mid-size film and TV businesses was on the table for over two years, but finally (acrimoniously) collapsed in January 2024. Sony is also seeking restitution from Zee, which it says failed to live up to the agreed merger terms. Since the wedding bells stopped ringing, Zee has also announced that it will slice its workforce by 15%.
Netflix Starts Filming Guillaume Canet’S ‘Taken’-Style Thriller
Guillaume Canet, whose latest directorial outing “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom...
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., the disappointed bride in the failed engagement between Zee and Sony India, has formally ended its quest for a merger. On Tuesday, it withdrew its application before the industry regulator National Company Law Tribunal and said that it will focus instead on internal growth. Pulling the Nclt application also makes it somewhat easier for Zee to pursue its arbitration and other legal actions against Sony.
The plan to merge the two mid-size film and TV businesses was on the table for over two years, but finally (acrimoniously) collapsed in January 2024. Sony is also seeking restitution from Zee, which it says failed to live up to the agreed merger terms. Since the wedding bells stopped ringing, Zee has also announced that it will slice its workforce by 15%.
Netflix Starts Filming Guillaume Canet’S ‘Taken’-Style Thriller
Guillaume Canet, whose latest directorial outing “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom...
- 4/17/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Cannes Critics’ Week, spotlighting first and second features, has unveiled the competition and special screenings selection for its 63rd edition running May 15-23.
Scroll down for full list of titles
Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.
The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...
Scroll down for full list of titles
Artistic director Ava Cahen, now in her third year in the position, announced the selection of 11 features chosen from 1,050 films screened. Seven films will vie for four top prizes in competition, chosen by a jury led by Spanish filmmaker Rodrigo Sorogoyen. Nine are first films that will vie for the Camera d’Or and three are directed or co-directed by women.
The sidebar will open with French director Jonathan Millet...
- 4/15/2024
- ScreenDaily
France’s Urban Distribution has shut its doors, the latest independent distributor to fold due to struggling ticket sales following the closure of Rezo Films’ distribution arm in March.
Urban Group’s thriving international sales and production divisions Urban Sales and Urban Factory will continue to operate, but its distribution arm, founded in 2011 by Frédéric Corvez and Mathieu Piazza, was officially liquidated on March 21.
Corvez confirmed the closure to Screen, explaining, “Over the years, we’ve seen our work come up against more and more obstacles” and citing the pandemic as an event that “undoubtedly transformed the industry”.
He described...
Urban Group’s thriving international sales and production divisions Urban Sales and Urban Factory will continue to operate, but its distribution arm, founded in 2011 by Frédéric Corvez and Mathieu Piazza, was officially liquidated on March 21.
Corvez confirmed the closure to Screen, explaining, “Over the years, we’ve seen our work come up against more and more obstacles” and citing the pandemic as an event that “undoubtedly transformed the industry”.
He described...
- 4/2/2024
- ScreenDaily
Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Christopher Nolan, Spike Lee, Chantal Akerman, Theo Angelopoulos, Lynne Ramsay, Tsai Ming-liang, Michael Haneke, Lee Chang-dong, Terence Davies, Shōhei Imamura, Bi Gan, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Zhangke, Wong Kar-wai, Yorgos Lanthimos, Denis Villleneuve, Céline Sciamma, Guillermo del Toro, Kelly Reichardt. Those are just a few of the filmmakers introduced to New York audiences at New Directors/New Films over the last half-century across over 1,100 premieres.
Now returning for its 53rd edition at Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art from April 3-14, this year’s lineup features 35 new films, presenting prizewinners from Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Sarajevo, and Sundance film festivals. Ahead of the festival kicking off next week, we’ve gathered fourteen films to see, and one can explore the full lineup and schedule here.
All, or Nothing at All (Jiajun “Oscar” Zhang)
In All, or Nothing at all, director Jiajun “Oscar” Zhang employs an experimental...
Now returning for its 53rd edition at Film at Lincoln Center and The Museum of Modern Art from April 3-14, this year’s lineup features 35 new films, presenting prizewinners from Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Sarajevo, and Sundance film festivals. Ahead of the festival kicking off next week, we’ve gathered fourteen films to see, and one can explore the full lineup and schedule here.
All, or Nothing at All (Jiajun “Oscar” Zhang)
In All, or Nothing at all, director Jiajun “Oscar” Zhang employs an experimental...
- 4/1/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
For 2024, Queer East Festival launches its fifth year milestone with a remarkable line up of film screenings, arts and performance events across London from 17 to 28 April 2024 and then across the UK later in the year. The programme includes contemporary feature films, documentaries and shorts as well as special anniversary and retrospective screenings that showcase a wide range of LGBTQ+ stories from East Asia, Southeast Asia and their diaspora communities.
Queer East Festival's ground-breaking film programme challenges conventions and stereotypes giving audiences an opportunity to explore the contemporary queer landscape across East and Southeast Asia. Amplifying the voices of Asian communities are the UK Premieres of features, documentaries and shorts exploring young queer love, gender nonconformity and asexual identity, as well as thought-provoking classics with the 20th Anniversary screening of Chinese-American romantic comedy Saving Face and 50th Anniversary screening of the once-considered-lost Japanese title Bye Bye Love. Furthermore, the festival's ‘Expanded'...
Queer East Festival's ground-breaking film programme challenges conventions and stereotypes giving audiences an opportunity to explore the contemporary queer landscape across East and Southeast Asia. Amplifying the voices of Asian communities are the UK Premieres of features, documentaries and shorts exploring young queer love, gender nonconformity and asexual identity, as well as thought-provoking classics with the 20th Anniversary screening of Chinese-American romantic comedy Saving Face and 50th Anniversary screening of the once-considered-lost Japanese title Bye Bye Love. Furthermore, the festival's ‘Expanded'...
- 3/20/2024
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Even though we associate bad memories with certain places, it is with a mixture of sadness and perhaps sorrow when we see them suddenly disappear. The cinema of directors such as Tsai Ming-liang revolves around the concept of lost and forgotten places, the memories they hold and what they can tell us about our present. In their collaborative effort “Magic Mountain” directors Mariam Chachia and Nik Voigt visit Abastumani, a building set in the isolation of the Georgian mountains, which almost became the permanent home of Chachia when she was younger and suffering from tuberculosis.
Magic Mountain is screening at Museum of the Moving Image, as part of the First Look 2024 program
The documentary focuses on two aspects. The first consists of Chachia's memories, narrated in an off-camera commentary. She talks about how she became sick when she was younger and ultimately ended up in the sanatorium, which, if she hadn't eventually recovered,...
Magic Mountain is screening at Museum of the Moving Image, as part of the First Look 2024 program
The documentary focuses on two aspects. The first consists of Chachia's memories, narrated in an off-camera commentary. She talks about how she became sick when she was younger and ultimately ended up in the sanatorium, which, if she hadn't eventually recovered,...
- 3/11/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
Starring Patra Au and Maggie Li, the film tells the story of an older lesbian couple and how the surviving partner struggles to retain her home and her dignity when one of them passes away. The film premiered in the Panorama section at the Berlinale.
Japanese filmmaker Miyake Sho’s All The Long Nights, starring Matsumura Hokuto and Kamishiraishi Mone, which premiered in the Forum section of Berlin, will close the festival on April 8.
Gala screenings also include the world premiere of Hong Kong filmmaker Ho Miu-ki’s Love Lies, starring Sandra Ng, Cheung Tin-fu and Stephy Tang; Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s Gift, a collaboration with composer Eiko Ishibashi, which will be...
- 3/8/2024
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Much is open-ended about this realist yet dreamlike exploration of midlife crisis and regret set in Vietnam
The question of what the title means, or what the movie means, remain open; even so, this is a quietly amazing feature debut from 34-year-old Thien An Pham, born in Vietnam and based in Houston, Texas. It’s a jewel of slow cinema set initially in Saigon and then the mountainous, lush central highlands far from the city; it is a zero-gravity epic quest, floating towards its strange narrative destiny and then maybe floating up over that to something else. It’s compassionate, intimate, spiritual and mysterious in ways that reminded me of Tsai Ming-liang or Edward Yang.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is presented in a calm, unforced realist style with many long, unbroken middle-distance shots, with closeups a rarity. There is a flashback and a dream-sequence presented in exactly the same way,...
The question of what the title means, or what the movie means, remain open; even so, this is a quietly amazing feature debut from 34-year-old Thien An Pham, born in Vietnam and based in Houston, Texas. It’s a jewel of slow cinema set initially in Saigon and then the mountainous, lush central highlands far from the city; it is a zero-gravity epic quest, floating towards its strange narrative destiny and then maybe floating up over that to something else. It’s compassionate, intimate, spiritual and mysterious in ways that reminded me of Tsai Ming-liang or Edward Yang.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is presented in a calm, unforced realist style with many long, unbroken middle-distance shots, with closeups a rarity. There is a flashback and a dream-sequence presented in exactly the same way,...
- 3/5/2024
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For regular updates, sign up for our weekly email newsletter and follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSGoodbye, Dragon Inn.It’s getting harder to go to the movies. IndieWire surveys the state of cinemagoing in the US region by region as multiplexes continue to shutter. From downtown Detroit, the closest first-run theater is now in Canada.More than 500 pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a sit-in at MoMA on Saturday, protesting the museum trustees’ alleged investments in weapons used by the Israeli military in Gaza. The museum closed its doors to the public and rescheduled planned programming.After confirming that three sitting representatives of the far-right AfD party had been invited to tomorrow night’s Berlinale opening ceremony, amid public outcry, the festival has now disinvited them.REMEMBERINGRocky II.The tributes to Carl Weathers continue to roll in after his death last week at the...
- 2/28/2024
- MUBI
A shot of an empty sidewalk with graffiti on the wall. The sounds of cars and people dominate the moment. Slowly, a man dressed in a red robe enters the scene. He is barefoot and has a shaved head. For those familiar with Tsai Ming-liang's works, he is recognisable as Walker, the central figure of a series of meditative experiments which started in 2011. In the latest entry, which marks the character’s tenth appearance, the quiet monk navigates the streets of Washington DC, allowing the hectic American society to unfold before his presence. The Taiwanese director remains consistent in his determination to experiment with time, testing the audience's patience once again and rewarding those who seek tranquillity amid the rush of frantic life.
Played by Lee Kang-Sheng, a frequent collaborator of Tsai, the walker wanders through vast parks, train stations and around the imposing Washington Monument. The static camera...
Played by Lee Kang-Sheng, a frequent collaborator of Tsai, the walker wanders through vast parks, train stations and around the imposing Washington Monument. The static camera...
- 2/24/2024
- by Sergiu Inizian
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
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
Taiwan-based auteur Tsai Ming-liang, who has two films in the Berlinale this year, is a contrarian who would be almost at home working with art-galleries and museums as cinemas and film festivals. Indeed, his new “Abiding Nowhere” is part financed by the Smithsonian Institute.
“Abiding Nowhere,” which premieres on Monday in the Encounters section and consists of lonely wanderings through Washington DC by a barefoot monk, is, by Tsai’s own admission, “not a normal film.”
“It does not have a story or a plot. There are no performances and no language. It shares similarities with my other films, but pushed to extremes. Perhaps it is incomprehensible,” said Tsai, Friday, at a Berlin masterclass. “I’m not trying to tell you anything through script or performance. It could be perfect for a gallery or museum, but I still hope it plays in theaters.”
It is the second time that Tsai...
“Abiding Nowhere,” which premieres on Monday in the Encounters section and consists of lonely wanderings through Washington DC by a barefoot monk, is, by Tsai’s own admission, “not a normal film.”
“It does not have a story or a plot. There are no performances and no language. It shares similarities with my other films, but pushed to extremes. Perhaps it is incomprehensible,” said Tsai, Friday, at a Berlin masterclass. “I’m not trying to tell you anything through script or performance. It could be perfect for a gallery or museum, but I still hope it plays in theaters.”
It is the second time that Tsai...
- 2/16/2024
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
As we experience the ongoing rise of the cities around us, a rise defined by such aspects like gentrification and real-estate deals, we also witness the creation of a new hierarchy within our society. The process is one which sometimes escapes the eye since it has been subtle and accepted in the perception of many, but considering our lives have become so fast these days, perhaps this should not come as a surprise. Director Tsai Ming-liang, among few filmmakers in the world, has apparently decided to take the time necessary to observe this process in all of its consequences, creating a kind of cinema often referred to as “slow cinema”. His eleventh feature “Stray Dogs” is another example of his approach to filmmaking which observes the aforementioned process and also its repercussions for the people living in the city.
on Amazon by clicking on the image below...
on Amazon by clicking on the image below...
- 2/15/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Beware, spoilers! You may witness the most astonishingly beautiful allegory of death in a movie. The kind of long takes that flashed your mind and remains diffused long after the details of the plot are forgotten. But Shh… these few words should be enough to convince you to watch “Tomorrow is a long time”, the first feature-length film of Singapore's brilliant new formalist, Jow Zhi Wei.
Tomorrow is a Long Time is screening at Black Movie
In a fantasized Singapore, as an archetype of any tropical Asian modern city, the 17 years old Meng is raised alone by an austere hard-working father after his mother has left home, seemingly without an address. Meng's narrative has been clearly devised upon two distinct movements. The first part immerses us in the day-to-day life of this dysfunctional family surviving in a cold and harsh society. While the silent Meng is struggling to exist among...
Tomorrow is a Long Time is screening at Black Movie
In a fantasized Singapore, as an archetype of any tropical Asian modern city, the 17 years old Meng is raised alone by an austere hard-working father after his mother has left home, seemingly without an address. Meng's narrative has been clearly devised upon two distinct movements. The first part immerses us in the day-to-day life of this dysfunctional family surviving in a cold and harsh society. While the silent Meng is struggling to exist among...
- 2/6/2024
- by Jean Claude
- AsianMoviePulse
The international jury at the 74th Berlin Film Festival, led by Lupita Nyong’o, will include filmmakers Christian Petzold (Germany) and Ann Hui.
The international jury members also include actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.), filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain), actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy) and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine). They will decide who will win the festival’s Golden and the Silver Bears.
The three-member jury that chooses the winners for best film, director and the special jury award at the Berlinale’s Encounters strand is made up of filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
Director and screenwriter Ilker Çatak (Germany), sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia (Spain) and director, screenwriter, video artist and lecturer Jennifer Reeder (U.S.) are the international short film jury for the 2024 Berlinale Shorts competition. They will be choosing the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film, the winner of the...
The international jury members also include actor-producer-director Brady Corbet (U.S.), filmmaker Albert Serra (Spain), actor-director Jasmine Trinca (Italy) and writer Oksana Zabuzhko (Ukraine). They will decide who will win the festival’s Golden and the Silver Bears.
The three-member jury that chooses the winners for best film, director and the special jury award at the Berlinale’s Encounters strand is made up of filmmakers Lisandro Alonso (Argentina), Denis Côté (Canada) and Tizza Covi (Italy).
Director and screenwriter Ilker Çatak (Germany), sound artist and researcher Xabier Erkizia (Spain) and director, screenwriter, video artist and lecturer Jennifer Reeder (U.S.) are the international short film jury for the 2024 Berlinale Shorts competition. They will be choosing the winner of the Golden Bear for best short film, the winner of the...
- 2/1/2024
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
Acclaimed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf will serve as jury president at the 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (Viffac), which runs from February 6-13.
Held in France, this year’s edition will spotlight Taiwanese cinema and Malayalam-language films from India. A total of 92 films from 29 countries will be screened.
Makhmalbaf’s works include A Moment of Innocence (1996), which won a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival, as well as Kandahar (2001), which won the Ecumenical Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other jury members at Viffac this year include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2007, Iranian actress Fatemed Motamed-Arya and Japanese actor Shogen.
There are 17 films across the fiction and documentary competitions, which come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. There are two world premieres, five international premieres, six European premieres and four French premieres.
Held in France, this year’s edition will spotlight Taiwanese cinema and Malayalam-language films from India. A total of 92 films from 29 countries will be screened.
Makhmalbaf’s works include A Moment of Innocence (1996), which won a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival, as well as Kandahar (2001), which won the Ecumenical Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Other jury members at Viffac this year include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2007, Iranian actress Fatemed Motamed-Arya and Japanese actor Shogen.
There are 17 films across the fiction and documentary competitions, which come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. There are two world premieres, five international premieres, six European premieres and four French premieres.
- 2/1/2024
- by Sara Merican
- Deadline Film + TV
Taiwan and India in the spotlight at the 30th Vesoul Iff of Asian Cinema
The 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema will feature 92 films, including 52 never-before-seen films from 29 countries, under the banner of commitment!
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian director with 60 international awards to his credit, is President of the Jury. Other members include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin 2007, Fatemed Motamed-Arya, the most awarded Iranian actress in the history of Iranian cinema, and Japanese actor Shogen, cinema ambassador at the Sea-Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.
The 17 films in the fiction and documentary competitions come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. Four are French premieres, six European premieres, five international premieres and two world premieres.
Feature Film Competition :
China: All Ears by Liu Jiayin – China (Tibet): The Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Korea: Work to...
The 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema will feature 92 films, including 52 never-before-seen films from 29 countries, under the banner of commitment!
Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian director with 60 international awards to his credit, is President of the Jury. Other members include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin 2007, Fatemed Motamed-Arya, the most awarded Iranian actress in the history of Iranian cinema, and Japanese actor Shogen, cinema ambassador at the Sea-Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.
The 17 films in the fiction and documentary competitions come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. Four are French premieres, six European premieres, five international premieres and two world premieres.
Feature Film Competition :
China: All Ears by Liu Jiayin – China (Tibet): The Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Korea: Work to...
- 2/1/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell.All too frequently, the reception of recent Asian arthouse films at international festivals showcases an ambiguous predicament. When encountering new films—usually in the sidebars of Cannes, Venice, or the Berlinale—Western critics tend to resort to a repetitious discourse, conveniently labeling the films and making easy comparisons to the canon of the 1990s and 2000s. The pattern goes like this: meditative sonic sequences or notions of reincarnation become instant echoes of Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s work, any neon extravaganza immediately points to Wong Kar Wai, and Tsai Ming-liang is a recurring reference whenever a film abounds in still long shots. In a sense, these touchstones and comparisons are all valid—these older filmmakers conceived cinematic miracles and attempted to redefine the boundaries of film art, and therefore have influenced many artists of the next generation.However, it isn’t difficult to find this labeling tendency to be ectypal Orientalization.
- 1/30/2024
- MUBI
As we have mentioned many times recently, Korea's Weird Wave is definitely having a moment right now, with titles that can only be described with the particular word coming one after the other. Slow-burning, road movie of sorts, family drama of sorts, winner of the Cgv Arthouse Award at the latest Busan International Film Festival “Chorokbam” also falls under the “category”.
“Chorokbam” is available from Echelon Studios
Starting during a night when everything seems to be painted in green, the Dad of a three-membered family who works as a night security guard discovers a cat hanging by its neck on a rope. The image shocks him, but still continues his routine, of returning to their cramped apartment just as Mom leaves to dry peppers in the sun in the morning, with the red color dominating the images this time. As soon as she returns, a rather dysfunctional relationship is revealed,...
“Chorokbam” is available from Echelon Studios
Starting during a night when everything seems to be painted in green, the Dad of a three-membered family who works as a night security guard discovers a cat hanging by its neck on a rope. The image shocks him, but still continues his routine, of returning to their cramped apartment just as Mom leaves to dry peppers in the sun in the morning, with the red color dominating the images this time. As soon as she returns, a rather dysfunctional relationship is revealed,...
- 1/29/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
A Different Man.The Berlinale have begun to announce the first few titles selected for the 74th edition of their festival, set to take place from February 15 through 21, 2024. This page will be updated as further sections are announced.COMPETITIONAnother End (Piero Messina)Architecton (Victor Kossakovsky)Black Tea (Abderrahmane Sissako)La Cocina (Alonso Ruiz Palacios) Dahomey (Mati Diop)A Different Man (Aaron Schimberg)The Empire (Bruno Dumont)Gloria! (Margherita Vicario)Suspended Time (Olivier Assayas)From Hilde, With Love (Andreas Dresen)My Favourite CakeLangue Etrangère (Claire Berger)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)Who Do I Belong To (Meryam Joobeur)Pepe (Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias)Shambhala (Min Bahadur Bham)Sterben (Matthias Glasner)Small Things Like These (Tim Mielants)A Traveler’s Needs (Hong Sang-soo)Sleep With Your Eyes Open. ENCOUNTERSArcadia (Yorgos Zois)Cidade; Campo (Juliana Rojas)Demba (Mamadou Dia)Direct ActionSleep With Your Eyes Open (Nele Wohlatz)The Fable (Raam Reddy...
- 1/23/2024
- MUBI
As we get older the question of what will remain of ourselves becomes more pressing. To some, the idea of having children fulfills this need to be remembered, while others search for something else, the creation of art, for example. In a way, it is also the images people have which will linger on for quite some time, perhaps even captured on film. Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang has shot many features and documentaries which can serve as a record of moments, places and people, what they leave behind and should be remembered for. His 2021 short documentary “The Moon and the Tree” is no exception, as it showcases how what makes a person special still remains and is just as beautiful, even though age has left its mark on our bodies.
The Moon and the Tree is screening at Black Movie
The feature follows singer Lee Beijing, who has been paralyzed...
The Moon and the Tree is screening at Black Movie
The feature follows singer Lee Beijing, who has been paralyzed...
- 1/19/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Early into Pham Thien An’s sprawling, stupefying Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, there’s a shot that manifests Caravaggio inside a shack in rural Vietnam. Having traveled from Saigon to his home village to attend the funeral of his sister-in-law, Thien (Le Phong Vu) is visiting a local elder who sowed a shroud for the departed. The twenty-something wants to pay for the service; the old man doesn’t take money from neighbors. He does accept the company, though, and very generously spills a whole cascade of memories from the Vietnam War, laying bare an old bullet scar on his ribcage. And as Thien bends to graze the bruised skin under the warm, caliginous light, Pham frames the moment as one of reverential awe, an image modeled off of Caravaggio’s “The Incredulity of Saint Thomas.” It’s a beautiful shot in a film full of them. That it...
- 1/17/2024
- by Leonardo Goi
- The Film Stage
We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2023, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2024. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles we’ve enjoyed on the festival circuit this last year that either have confirmed 2024 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
As an additional note, a number of 2023 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2023, including Origin (Jan. 19), Tótem (Jan. 26), Perfect Days (Feb. 7), The Taste of Things (Feb. 9), About Dry Grasses (Feb. 23), Shayda (March 1), La Chimera (March 29), and Robot Dreams.
The Settlers (Felipe Gálvez; Jan. 12)
The barbaric, bloody sins of the past come to define what entities govern certain land today,...
- 1/3/2024
- by The Film Stage
- The Film Stage
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
by Vedant Srinivas
Epic in both length and scope, “Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell”, Vietnamese writer-director Thien An Pham's debut feature, and the winner of this year's Camera d'Or prize at Cannes, offers a striking meditation on faith, love, and the beguiling nature of earthly existence.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is screening at Qcinema
The very first scene in “Yellow Cocoon”' sets up the encounter between spiritual and corporeal existence: sandwiched between a believer and an atheist, Thien voices his agnostic thoughts about the existence of a higher power (“I want to believe but I can't”). As if on cue, a sudden gust of wind blows across, and their discussion is interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle collision. Later, it will turn out that the person who died in the freak accident was none other than Thien's sister-in-law Hanh, while his five-old nephew, Dhao, remained miraculously unharmed.
Epic in both length and scope, “Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell”, Vietnamese writer-director Thien An Pham's debut feature, and the winner of this year's Camera d'Or prize at Cannes, offers a striking meditation on faith, love, and the beguiling nature of earthly existence.
Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell is screening at Qcinema
The very first scene in “Yellow Cocoon”' sets up the encounter between spiritual and corporeal existence: sandwiched between a believer and an atheist, Thien voices his agnostic thoughts about the existence of a higher power (“I want to believe but I can't”). As if on cue, a sudden gust of wind blows across, and their discussion is interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle collision. Later, it will turn out that the person who died in the freak accident was none other than Thien's sister-in-law Hanh, while his five-old nephew, Dhao, remained miraculously unharmed.
- 12/23/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
New films featuring Carey Mulligan, Adam Sandler, Amanda Seyfried, Jesse Eisenberg and Riley Keough are among 2024 Berlinale Specials lineup, the out-of-competition gala presentations at next year’s Berlin International Film Festival.
Spaceman, a Netflix sci-fi drama from Chernobyl director Johan Renck, starring Sandler, Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano, will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special gala sidebar. Sasquatch Sunset, an adventure comedy from the Zellner brothers which stars Keough, Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, and Christophe Zajac-Denek, will screen in Berlin after its Sundance debut. Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, which had its world premiere in Toronto, and stars Seyfried alongside Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, will also have its international premiere in the Berlinale Specials gala section.
Treasure (aka Iron Box), the 90-set English-language feature from German director Julia von Heinz (And Tomorrow The Entire World), which stars Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry...
Spaceman, a Netflix sci-fi drama from Chernobyl director Johan Renck, starring Sandler, Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano, will have its world premiere in the Berlinale Special gala sidebar. Sasquatch Sunset, an adventure comedy from the Zellner brothers which stars Keough, Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner, and Christophe Zajac-Denek, will screen in Berlin after its Sundance debut. Atom Egoyan’s Seven Veils, which had its world premiere in Toronto, and stars Seyfried alongside Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, and Michael Kupfer-Radecky, will also have its international premiere in the Berlinale Specials gala section.
Treasure (aka Iron Box), the 90-set English-language feature from German director Julia von Heinz (And Tomorrow The Entire World), which stars Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry...
- 12/20/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The festival has revealed titles set to play in Berlinale Special, Generation and Forum Expanded.
Johan Renck’s Spaceman starring Adam Sandler and Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer are to receive their world premieres at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival (February 15-25).
The festival has revealed a raft of titles set to premiere in its Berlinale Special strand as well as in its Generation competition and Forum Expanded sections.
The seven newly announced titles in Berlinale Special also includes Jula von Heinz’s Treasure, starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry; David and Nathan Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset...
Johan Renck’s Spaceman starring Adam Sandler and Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer are to receive their world premieres at the upcoming Berlin International Film Festival (February 15-25).
The festival has revealed a raft of titles set to premiere in its Berlinale Special strand as well as in its Generation competition and Forum Expanded sections.
The seven newly announced titles in Berlinale Special also includes Jula von Heinz’s Treasure, starring Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry; David and Nathan Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset...
- 12/20/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
The Berlinale has announced the first seven productions, including one series, to be invited to the Berlinale Specials strand of its 74th edition running from February 15 to 25, 2024.
The line-up will include the world premiere of Johan Renck’s sci-fi drama Spaceman starring Adam Sandler as an astronaut on a lone space mission.
The drama, also featuring Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano in the cast, goes on worldwide release on Netflix on March 1, 2024
The Sandler sci-fi drama is due to go on worldwide release on Netflix on March 1, 2024.
There will also be international premieres for David and Nathan Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset, with Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner and Christophe Zajac-Denek, which is due to world premiere at Sundance.
Atom Egoyan’s TIFF-selected Seven Veils, featuring Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, Michael Kupfer-Radecky in the cast, is also in the line-up.
“We are...
The line-up will include the world premiere of Johan Renck’s sci-fi drama Spaceman starring Adam Sandler as an astronaut on a lone space mission.
The drama, also featuring Carey Mulligan, Kunal Nayyar, Isabella Rossellini and Paul Dano in the cast, goes on worldwide release on Netflix on March 1, 2024
The Sandler sci-fi drama is due to go on worldwide release on Netflix on March 1, 2024.
There will also be international premieres for David and Nathan Zellner’s Sasquatch Sunset, with Riley Keough, Jesse Eisenberg, Nathan Zellner and Christophe Zajac-Denek, which is due to world premiere at Sundance.
Atom Egoyan’s TIFF-selected Seven Veils, featuring Amanda Seyfried, Rebecca Liddiard, Douglas Smith, Ambur Braid, Michael Kupfer-Radecky in the cast, is also in the line-up.
“We are...
- 12/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
Johan Renck’s Netflix sci-fi drama “Spaceman,” starring Adam Sandler, Carey Mulligan and Paul Dano, and German filmmaker Julia von Heinz’s “Treasure” – formerly titled “Iron Box” – with Lena Dunham and Stephen Fry, are among high-profile titles set to launch from the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.
The 74th Berlinale – which will unveil its competition lineup on Jan. 22 – has announced its star-studded Berlinale Special titles which also comprise German director Tilman Singer’s horror movie “Cuckoo,” toplining Euphoria star Hunter Shafer, John Malkovich, and Gemma Chan (“Crazy Rich Asians”) from Neon.
Also set for Berlinale Special screenings are directing duo David and Nathan Zellner’s latest film “Sasquatch Sunset” starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, which will world premiere at Sundance, and Atom Egoyan’s “Seven Veils” starring Amanda Seyfried which premiered in Toronto sans talent in tow.
“It is with special pleasure and pride that we welcome back directors who...
The 74th Berlinale – which will unveil its competition lineup on Jan. 22 – has announced its star-studded Berlinale Special titles which also comprise German director Tilman Singer’s horror movie “Cuckoo,” toplining Euphoria star Hunter Shafer, John Malkovich, and Gemma Chan (“Crazy Rich Asians”) from Neon.
Also set for Berlinale Special screenings are directing duo David and Nathan Zellner’s latest film “Sasquatch Sunset” starring Riley Keough and Jesse Eisenberg, which will world premiere at Sundance, and Atom Egoyan’s “Seven Veils” starring Amanda Seyfried which premiered in Toronto sans talent in tow.
“It is with special pleasure and pride that we welcome back directors who...
- 12/20/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
For movie and television lovers operating on a tight budget, the monthly hit you take when your subscriptions to *deep breath* Prime Video, Netflix, Max, Disney+, Hulu, Apple TV+, Paramount+, Peacock, The Criterion Channel, Shudder, and others sure does, to quote M. Emmett Walsh's machine shop ear-bender from "Raising Arizona," take a bite. It's especially frustrating because each streaming service boasts at least a handful of excellent series that, once they get their hooks in, keep you clamoring for more. And if you're any kind of sports fan, you're probably still a cable/satellite subscriber or forking over $80 a month for a service like Fubo or YouTube TV.
And when you see Netflix and Disney+ hiking their prices by up to three dollars a month, you might have some hard decisions to make.
Streaming companies have been hearing your gripes about rising subscription prices, and over the last year or so,...
And when you see Netflix and Disney+ hiking their prices by up to three dollars a month, you might have some hard decisions to make.
Streaming companies have been hearing your gripes about rising subscription prices, and over the last year or so,...
- 12/5/2023
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
The looming threat of the extraordinarily rapid urbanization and development of China at the expense of its people has been one of the favorite themes in Chinese independent films and documentaries. Director Wu Lang adds a poetic and esthetic element to the discourse with his film “Absence”, that premiered at Berlinale in the festival's Encounters section, following a previous short film with the same title, a similar plot and the same high-profile cast including Lee Kang-Sheng (best-known for his frequent collaborations with Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang) and Li Meng.
Absence is screening at Five Flavours
Han Jiangyu (Lee Kang-Sheng) is back in town after serving 10 years in prison, due to his connection with a local real estate crook and he timidly tries to reconnect with his past and figure out what happened during his absence. His first move towards his past life is a haircut and the reason is that...
Absence is screening at Five Flavours
Han Jiangyu (Lee Kang-Sheng) is back in town after serving 10 years in prison, due to his connection with a local real estate crook and he timidly tries to reconnect with his past and figure out what happened during his absence. His first move towards his past life is a haircut and the reason is that...
- 11/22/2023
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
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
This year’s Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) has three Japanese filmmakers playing in competition — a haul that TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo told Deadline is a welcome high for the fest.
One of this year’s set is filmmaker Kotsuji Yohei, who screens his debut feature, A Foggy Paradise, an enigmatic pic shaped around two unrelated narratives that advance parallel to each other without specifying a setting, time, or destination. The two loose stories depict ideas of life and death with a distinct sci-fi twist.
On the ground here in Tokyo, the pic has been compared to the work of slow cinema masters like Ming-liang Tsai. Kotsuji crafted the project over five years, during which he also worked as a teacher at a school for children with special needs. He had no producer and only a government subsidy. Below, Kotsuji speaks with Deadline about his debut feature, working in Japan as an independent filmmaker,...
One of this year’s set is filmmaker Kotsuji Yohei, who screens his debut feature, A Foggy Paradise, an enigmatic pic shaped around two unrelated narratives that advance parallel to each other without specifying a setting, time, or destination. The two loose stories depict ideas of life and death with a distinct sci-fi twist.
On the ground here in Tokyo, the pic has been compared to the work of slow cinema masters like Ming-liang Tsai. Kotsuji crafted the project over five years, during which he also worked as a teacher at a school for children with special needs. He had no producer and only a government subsidy. Below, Kotsuji speaks with Deadline about his debut feature, working in Japan as an independent filmmaker,...
- 10/28/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Kevin B. Lee (left) in conversation with Tsai Ming-liang.Even though he didn't have a new film to premiere, Tsai Ming-liang was the guest of honor at this year's Locarno Film Festival. Tsai received the Pardo alla carriera achievement award at the Piazza Grande; was the subject of Moving Portraits, an exhibition at the Il Rivellino gallery; presented a screening of his 2020 film Days; and delivered several talks and masterclasses. One such talk was “On the Future of Cinema”: the centerpiece of a Locarno Film Festival initiative exploring the medium’s technological and cultural transformations. The face of Locarno’s Future of Cinema programming is the scholar, media artist, and critic Kevin B. Lee. A prolific video essayist, Lee has produced over 350 works of audiovisual criticism, and with his award-winning Transformers: The Premake (2014), he introduced and popularized the “desktop documentary” format. Unfolding as a real-time screen recording of Lee’s MacBook,...
- 10/26/2023
- MUBI
Ichiyama Shozo assumed control of the program of the Tokyo International Film Festival after a long programming career that included Tokyo and the slightly more indie Tokyo Filmex events. He is also a regular producing partner of Chinese art-house darling Jai Zhangke. These influences have shaped his approach to this year’s Tokyo Iff lineup, he told Variety.
The 2023 autumn festivals all seem to have strong line-ups. And Tokyo is no exception. What is your understanding of the reasons for that?
This year we received many more entries than previous years. I don’t know the reason, but I feel the film production situation worldwide has come back to the level before the pandemic.
What were your guidelines and criteria for selection this time around?
I feel many talented filmmakers are struggling with various social problems surrounding their countries. Most of the competition films are dealing with such subjects.
Which...
The 2023 autumn festivals all seem to have strong line-ups. And Tokyo is no exception. What is your understanding of the reasons for that?
This year we received many more entries than previous years. I don’t know the reason, but I feel the film production situation worldwide has come back to the level before the pandemic.
What were your guidelines and criteria for selection this time around?
I feel many talented filmmakers are struggling with various social problems surrounding their countries. Most of the competition films are dealing with such subjects.
Which...
- 10/25/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Having recently shifted away from their one-film-a-day approach, Mubi has now unveiled their October lineup, which is headlined by Ira Sachs’ stellar drama Passages following its theatrical run this summer. The slate also features handpicked selections by Sachs, with work by Maurice Pialat, Luchino Visconti, Jack Hazan, Shirley Clarke, and Tsai Ming-liang.
Also arriving in October is “Watch If You Dare: Horror Halloween,” a series featuring a trio of giallo classics, with The Fifth Cord, The Possessed, and Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, alongside Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone and more. The service will also spotlight the work of underseen Japanese director Yasuzô Masumura, including his aching melodrama Red Angel, his biting workplace satire Giants and Toys, his thrilling noir Black Test Car, and more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
October 1
The Infiltrators, directed by Alex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra | National Hispanic Heritage Month
The Vanished Elephant,...
Also arriving in October is “Watch If You Dare: Horror Halloween,” a series featuring a trio of giallo classics, with The Fifth Cord, The Possessed, and Forbidden Photos of a Lady Above Suspicion, alongside Guillermo del Toro’s The Devil’s Backbone and more. The service will also spotlight the work of underseen Japanese director Yasuzô Masumura, including his aching melodrama Red Angel, his biting workplace satire Giants and Toys, his thrilling noir Black Test Car, and more.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
October 1
The Infiltrators, directed by Alex Rivera, Cristina Ibarra | National Hispanic Heritage Month
The Vanished Elephant,...
- 9/28/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSNext week, we are holding a launch event for Issue 3 of Notebook in London. Join us at the Ica London on September 28 for a screening of a new 4K restoration of Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt, followed by a conversation between issue contributor Erika Balsom and critic Simran Hans. We are sorry to say that the event is now sold out, but you can still enter our competition to win a pair of tickets. Lee Kang-sheng’s Instagram seems to indicate that he and Tsai Ming-liang shot another installment of their ongoing Walker series in Washington, DC: a few images are posted here.REMEMBERINGPressure.Horace Ové has died aged 86: His debut Pressure (1975) is considered the first full-length feature by a Black British filmmaker; it centers on a Trinidadian teenager living with his family in West London,...
- 9/20/2023
- MUBI
This writer is not necessarily fond of Quebecois director Denis Côté’s experiments, which oscillate between slow-cinema, documentary, and deeply unfunny deadpan comedies. Yet his newest film Mademoiselle Kenopsia, though highly self-conscious, is strangely effective, connecting for once his formal and thematic concerns––if simply because the experiment in “boredom” is put to a more pointed use than the easy festival requirements.
At only 77 minutes, Mademoiselle Kenopsia doesn’t wear out its welcome, other than maybe a few sequences that ring tedious or suggest the film is filling time. We find our recognizable figure of the times, and modern Jeanne Dielman figure-of-sorts (Larissa Corriveau), working a job somewhere between janitor and watchwoman (like if you wanted a whole movie of that time in The Simpsons where Milhouse was a night watchman at the cracker factory Bart bought). Her job takes place in a rotting figure of the past: an abandoned...
At only 77 minutes, Mademoiselle Kenopsia doesn’t wear out its welcome, other than maybe a few sequences that ring tedious or suggest the film is filling time. We find our recognizable figure of the times, and modern Jeanne Dielman figure-of-sorts (Larissa Corriveau), working a job somewhere between janitor and watchwoman (like if you wanted a whole movie of that time in The Simpsons where Milhouse was a night watchman at the cracker factory Bart bought). Her job takes place in a rotting figure of the past: an abandoned...
- 9/13/2023
- by Ethan Vestby
- The Film Stage
Yeo Siew Hua, the Singaporean director whose “A Land Imagined” won the Locarno Film Festival’s top prize in 2018, has cast acclaimed Taiwanese actors Lee Kang-Sheng and Wu Chien-Ho (“A Sun”) in his new “Stranger Eyes.”
The film, a thriller with domestic surveillance at its core, is currently shooting. It is set to wrap post-production by early 2024 and start a festival run thereafter. International sales are handled by France’s Playtime.
The Golden Horse-nominated Wu plays Darren, a struggling young father whose baby daughter has gone missing. When mysterious footage appears of his private and intimate life, Darren suspects that his neighbor Goh, a supermarket supervisor, is the voyeur linked to his daughter’s disappearance. Goh is portrayed by Lee, who is best-known for his three-decade-plus collaboration with Golden Lion-winning director Tsai Ming-liang. Increasingly frantic, Darren takes it upon himself to stalk Goh, meaning that the hunted becomes hunter.
“It...
The film, a thriller with domestic surveillance at its core, is currently shooting. It is set to wrap post-production by early 2024 and start a festival run thereafter. International sales are handled by France’s Playtime.
The Golden Horse-nominated Wu plays Darren, a struggling young father whose baby daughter has gone missing. When mysterious footage appears of his private and intimate life, Darren suspects that his neighbor Goh, a supermarket supervisor, is the voyeur linked to his daughter’s disappearance. Goh is portrayed by Lee, who is best-known for his three-decade-plus collaboration with Golden Lion-winning director Tsai Ming-liang. Increasingly frantic, Darren takes it upon himself to stalk Goh, meaning that the hunted becomes hunter.
“It...
- 8/18/2023
- by Patrick Frater and Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The Malaysian-Taiwanese helmerTsai Ming-Liang is a name that does not need a big introduction. Although he signs 46 cinematographic projects as a director, he has so far shot only 11 feature length films that brought him the total of 66 awards and many more nominations. The most recent – Locarno Film Festival Career Award – made it possible for us to meet him for an interview and discuss his fruitful career, his approach to moviemaking, ageing and plans for future projects.
We have been impressed by the way you deal with the imagery since “Rebels Of The Neon God”, but even more striking is how you handle the sound. How do you structure your movies, and what do you search philosophically and poetically when you think about the role of sound in your movies?
Unlike music scores specifically created for movies, my films are actually filled with sounds from everyday life that replace scores the...
We have been impressed by the way you deal with the imagery since “Rebels Of The Neon God”, but even more striking is how you handle the sound. How do you structure your movies, and what do you search philosophically and poetically when you think about the role of sound in your movies?
Unlike music scores specifically created for movies, my films are actually filled with sounds from everyday life that replace scores the...
- 8/15/2023
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
One film we’ve been waiting to see pop up on the fall festival circuit is Mothers’ Instinct, the directorial debut of acclaimed cinematographer Benoît Delhomme, who has worked with Tsai Ming-liang, Anton Corbijn, John Hillcoat, Julian Schnabel, Anthony Minghella, Tran Anh Hung, and more. Led by Jessica Chastain and Anne Hathaway, the Greek distributor Spentzos Film has now unveiled the first trailer though the U.S. release from Neon has yet to be announced.
A remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s 2018 French-language psychological thriller, the Sarah Conradt-scripted film follows the friendship of two 1960s housewives that rapidly deteriorates after a tragedy. Also starring Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie, and Caroline Lagerfelt, cinematography comes from, of course, Delhomme himself.
“Annie and I, we have a lot of fun in that movie. And it’s a throwback to another… I like to think of it like a little bit of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...
A remake of Olivier Masset-Depasse’s 2018 French-language psychological thriller, the Sarah Conradt-scripted film follows the friendship of two 1960s housewives that rapidly deteriorates after a tragedy. Also starring Josh Charles, Anders Danielsen Lie, and Caroline Lagerfelt, cinematography comes from, of course, Delhomme himself.
“Annie and I, we have a lot of fun in that movie. And it’s a throwback to another… I like to think of it like a little bit of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?...
- 8/9/2023
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
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
by Paweł Mizgalewicz
If you are interested in the boundaries of cinema, then Korean “Empty” can definitely serve as an example of what you can do with the artform, or perhaps: how little can you do. How few shots, how little movement, how little editing – you know, things that often are mentioned as the definition of what a film even is. This one could almost be called… photos. “Empty” will make it into some film textbooks, even if it won't make it into your local cinema. “Honestly, I think that if I showed this movie in Korea, most of the people would walk out during the screening”, said director Kil Min-hyeong in Wrocław, at the site of his film's public debut. “Korean viewers prefer intensive films, with a lot of stimuli, like ‘Parasite'”. It might seem funny that Bong Joon-ho's instant classic can be given as the first example of an action bonanza,...
If you are interested in the boundaries of cinema, then Korean “Empty” can definitely serve as an example of what you can do with the artform, or perhaps: how little can you do. How few shots, how little movement, how little editing – you know, things that often are mentioned as the definition of what a film even is. This one could almost be called… photos. “Empty” will make it into some film textbooks, even if it won't make it into your local cinema. “Honestly, I think that if I showed this movie in Korea, most of the people would walk out during the screening”, said director Kil Min-hyeong in Wrocław, at the site of his film's public debut. “Korean viewers prefer intensive films, with a lot of stimuli, like ‘Parasite'”. It might seem funny that Bong Joon-ho's instant classic can be given as the first example of an action bonanza,...
- 7/31/2023
- by Guest Writer
- AsianMoviePulse
The Locarno Film Festival will fete Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård with its Honorary Career Leopard award at the upcoming edition, running August 2 to 12.
The award ceremony will take place August 4 at the Piazza Grande, followed by an audience Q&a at the Spazio Cinema on August 5, while the actor’s 1990 pic Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg by Kjell Grede, will screen on August 3.
Alongside his work with European filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, for whom he starred five times, including Breaking The Waves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, Skarsgård is known for his roles in big Hollywood films such as Pirates of the Caribbean films, Mamma Mia!, Thor, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune — the second part of which will be released this fall.
Also active in television, Skarsgård won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries in the HBO drama Chernobyl. He recently starred in...
The award ceremony will take place August 4 at the Piazza Grande, followed by an audience Q&a at the Spazio Cinema on August 5, while the actor’s 1990 pic Good Evening, Mr. Wallenberg by Kjell Grede, will screen on August 3.
Alongside his work with European filmmakers such as Lars von Trier, for whom he starred five times, including Breaking The Waves, which won the Jury Prize at Cannes, Skarsgård is known for his roles in big Hollywood films such as Pirates of the Caribbean films, Mamma Mia!, Thor, and Denis Villeneuve’s Dune — the second part of which will be released this fall.
Also active in television, Skarsgård won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor in a miniseries in the HBO drama Chernobyl. He recently starred in...
- 7/10/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Riz Ahmed will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival where the latest short in which the British actor appears – titled “Dammi” and directed by French auteur Yann Mounir Demange – will world premiere.
Ahmed, who earned an Oscar nomination for best actor in 2021 for his performance as a drummer who suddenly goes deaf in Amazon’s “Sound of Metal,” will be feted by the Swiss fest dedicated to indie filmmaking cinema with with its 2021 Excellence Award Davide Campari, which pays tribute to film personalities who have left their personal stamp on contemporary cinema.
“Dammi,” which was teased at Cannes, is an experimental work, broadly on the theme of immigration and identity, produced by French fashion brand Ami, founded by Alexandre Mattiussi, and also starring Isabelle Adjani, Souheila Yacoub, Sandor Funtek and Suzy Bemba. The buzzed-about short will screen at Locarno’s 8,000-seat Piazza Grande, on opening night, Aug. 2, during the...
Ahmed, who earned an Oscar nomination for best actor in 2021 for his performance as a drummer who suddenly goes deaf in Amazon’s “Sound of Metal,” will be feted by the Swiss fest dedicated to indie filmmaking cinema with with its 2021 Excellence Award Davide Campari, which pays tribute to film personalities who have left their personal stamp on contemporary cinema.
“Dammi,” which was teased at Cannes, is an experimental work, broadly on the theme of immigration and identity, produced by French fashion brand Ami, founded by Alexandre Mattiussi, and also starring Isabelle Adjani, Souheila Yacoub, Sandor Funtek and Suzy Bemba. The buzzed-about short will screen at Locarno’s 8,000-seat Piazza Grande, on opening night, Aug. 2, during the...
- 7/5/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-Summer movie event, has announced its lineup, welcoming recognizable names to its main competition, from Filipino auteur Lav Diaz (“Essential Truths of the Lake”) to Romanian powerhouse Radu Jude, who will show “Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World.”
As already announced, Cate Blanchett and Zar Amir Ebrahimi are set to attend the Locarno Film Festival’s closing night to promote the European launch of Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari’s debut film “Shayda.”
Among the titles selected for Locarno’s more broad-audience-friendly Piazza Grande lineup, Justine Triet will attend with her Cannes Palme’ d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” along with Ken Loach and his “The Old Oak.”
The festival will also celebrate the careers of Harmony Korine, producer Marianne Slot, editor Pietro Scalia, Tsai Ming-liang and present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Italian producer Renzo Rossellini.
As already announced, Cate Blanchett and Zar Amir Ebrahimi are set to attend the Locarno Film Festival’s closing night to promote the European launch of Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari’s debut film “Shayda.”
Among the titles selected for Locarno’s more broad-audience-friendly Piazza Grande lineup, Justine Triet will attend with her Cannes Palme’ d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” along with Ken Loach and his “The Old Oak.”
The festival will also celebrate the careers of Harmony Korine, producer Marianne Slot, editor Pietro Scalia, Tsai Ming-liang and present a Lifetime Achievement Award to Italian producer Renzo Rossellini.
- 7/5/2023
- by Marta Balaga
- Variety Film + TV
The man is not in black. He is in nothing at all. Wearing his nakedness calmly, like a fact so obvious it requires no explanation, an 86-year-old Chinese male stands up slowly in the otherwise empty gallery of Paris’ famous Bouffes du Nord theatre. The artfully peeling, faded-grandeur interior, dim but for gathered pools of warm light, booms with the sound of his wooden seat swinging back into place, then with the creaks of the floorboards under his bare feet. This is the arresting opening to Chinese documentarian Wang Bing’s other Cannes 2023 film, “Man in Black,” a project so diametrically different from his Competition entry “Youth: Spring” that it feels hard to credit them both to the same person. Perhaps we shouldn’t. This brief but profoundly moving film represents such a consummate collaboration between director, cinematographer, editor and subject that its authorship could be recorded as a four-way tie.
- 7/1/2023
- by Jessica Kiang
- Variety Film + TV
The 76th edition of the Locarno Film Festival will close with a screening of the Sundance Competiton pic Shayda attended by the film’s star Zar Amir Ebrahimi (Holy Spider) and Exec Producer Cate Blanchett.
Directed by Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari, Shayda, which won the Audience Award at Sundance 2023, will close out the final evening of the Festival alongside a free second screening of a surprise title that touches on the history of cinema and the Locarno Film Festival, chosen by Marco Solari, President of the Locarno Film Festival. This year will be Solari’s final year at the helm.
Blanchett is an exec producer on the pic through Dirty Films, the production company she runs with her husband, Andrew Upton, and Coco Francini. On August 12, the two-time Oscar winner will moderate a discussion between Niasari and Ebrahimi at the festival on the theme of Iranian women and Iranian cinema...
Directed by Iranian-Australian filmmaker Noora Niasari, Shayda, which won the Audience Award at Sundance 2023, will close out the final evening of the Festival alongside a free second screening of a surprise title that touches on the history of cinema and the Locarno Film Festival, chosen by Marco Solari, President of the Locarno Film Festival. This year will be Solari’s final year at the helm.
Blanchett is an exec producer on the pic through Dirty Films, the production company she runs with her husband, Andrew Upton, and Coco Francini. On August 12, the two-time Oscar winner will moderate a discussion between Niasari and Ebrahimi at the festival on the theme of Iranian women and Iranian cinema...
- 6/23/2023
- by Zac Ntim
- Deadline Film + TV
Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang, the arthouse darling known for works including Venice Golden Lion winner “Vive L’Amour” and “The River,” which scored the Berlin Silver Bear, will be celebrated by the Locarno Film Festival with its Honorary Leopard achievement award.
The iconoclastic auteur, who is a key figure in Taiwan’s so-called Second New Wave, will receive the prize from the Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema during an Aug. 6 ceremony held on its 8,000-seat outdoor Piazza Grande venue.
The tribute to Tsai Ming-liang will also involve an onstage conversation with the director on the future of cinema and a screening of the helmer’s 2020 film “Days” (Rizi), as well as an art gallery exhibition of his experimental works.
The Malaysian-born Tsai made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with “Vive L’Amour” 1994, followed by “The River” in 1996 and “The Hole,” which bowed in Cannes in 1998. His “The Wayward Cloud...
The iconoclastic auteur, who is a key figure in Taiwan’s so-called Second New Wave, will receive the prize from the Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema during an Aug. 6 ceremony held on its 8,000-seat outdoor Piazza Grande venue.
The tribute to Tsai Ming-liang will also involve an onstage conversation with the director on the future of cinema and a screening of the helmer’s 2020 film “Days” (Rizi), as well as an art gallery exhibition of his experimental works.
The Malaysian-born Tsai made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with “Vive L’Amour” 1994, followed by “The River” in 1996 and “The Hole,” which bowed in Cannes in 1998. His “The Wayward Cloud...
- 6/20/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
The Locarno Film Festival will fete multi-award-winning Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang with an Honorary Career Leopard award at the upcoming edition running from August 2 to 12.
Regarded as a key figure in the Second New Wave of Taiwanese cinema, Malaysian-born Tsai Ming-liang made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with Vive L’Amour, which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1994.
Other award-winning titles include with The River, which won the Jury Award at Berlin in 1996, while in 2009, his work Visage (Face) became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s “Le Louvre s’offre aux cineastes”.
Tsai’s connections with the art world have grown over the years and he has been invited to participate in various art exhibitions and festivals, while he developed aesthetic ideas such as “Hand-sculpted Cinema” and “The removal of industrial processes from art making”.
The festival’s celebration...
Regarded as a key figure in the Second New Wave of Taiwanese cinema, Malaysian-born Tsai Ming-liang made his debut in the early 1990s, breaking out internationally with Vive L’Amour, which won Venice’s Golden Lion in 1994.
Other award-winning titles include with The River, which won the Jury Award at Berlin in 1996, while in 2009, his work Visage (Face) became the first film to be included in the collection of the Louvre Museum’s “Le Louvre s’offre aux cineastes”.
Tsai’s connections with the art world have grown over the years and he has been invited to participate in various art exhibitions and festivals, while he developed aesthetic ideas such as “Hand-sculpted Cinema” and “The removal of industrial processes from art making”.
The festival’s celebration...
- 6/20/2023
- by Melanie Goodfellow
- Deadline Film + TV
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