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Hong Kong International Film Festival Society’s (Hkiff) Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has unveiled a slate of 25 in-development projects for its 23rd edition, with renowned auteur Kore-eda Hirokazu among the heavyweight filmmakers backing emerging talent.

Among the highlights is “Yellow,” directed by newcomer Yamaura Miyoh and produced by Kore-eda. The film follows a man living in self-punishment after a fatal car accident who finds redemption through his relationship with his deceased friend’s young son.

The selection showcases several established filmmakers nurturing new voices. Sylvie Pialat and Nai An are backing Hu Wei’s “49 Days,” about a divorced Chinese couple reuniting in Paris to arrange their son’s funeral. Aditya Vikram Sengupta is producing Niladri Mukherjee’s debut “Republic of Mahalaxmi Apartment,” which examines India’s majority rule issues through the story of a single mother who becomes her housing estate’s public enemy after flagging a malfunctioning elevator.

Hong Kong’s Asia Film Financing Forum, the region’s leading movie project market, has unveiled the 25 titles selected for its upcoming 2025 edition. The program features films that are in development from some of Asia’s most accomplished directors and producers, including Kore-eda Hirokazu, Aditya Vikram Sengupta, Nai An, Stanley Kwan and Yeh Ju-Feng.

The three-day event, the anchor component of the expanded Hong Kong International Film Festival’s Industry Project Market, will take place March 17-19 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre alongside the 29th Hong Kong Filmart.

“Those shortlisted are remarkable for their cultural diversity. They showcase extraordinary storytelling in a broad range of genres, from action to sci-fi, fantasy, suspense, and horror,” noted Hkiff Industry director Jacob Wong, who added that the organization had received 276 in-development project submissions from 45 countries and regions, spanning Hong Kong, Thailand, Turkey, Japan, Kazakhstan and South Korea.

“There are nine...

Hong Kong International Film Festival Society has announced the 25 in-development projects selected for this year’s Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf). The line-up includes several projects produced by high-profile filmmakers, including Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda, India’s Aditya Vikram Sengupta and French producer and writer Sylvie Pialat.

Kore-eda is producing Yellow, the feature debut of Yamaura Miyoh, about a man who lives a life of self-punishment after a fatal car accident. Sengupta is producing Niladri Mukherjee’s debut Republic Of Mahalaxmi Apartment, which examines India’s majority rule issues through a single-mother tenant who becomes her housing estate’s public enemy when she flags a malfunctioning elevator.

Pialat (Les Miserables) is teaming with Chinese producer Nai An on Hu Wei’s feature debut, 49 Days, about a divorced Chinese couple who reunite in Paris to arrange their son’s funeral and confront their past.

Exclusive: Veteran Philippine actress Hilda Koronel, known for her collaborations with Lino Brocka and other leading filmmakers, is returning to the big screen in Jun Robles Lana’s historical thriller Sisa, which started shooting in the Philippines this week.

The exclusive first look image above shows Koronel in the role of Sisa – a woman who wanders the land as a madwoman after surviving a brutal massacre of her village and family during the Philippine-American War. But her madness is a disguise, concealing her true identity as a spy driven by a burning desire for vengeance.

Lana said: “This story elevates the voices and experiences of marginalized women, challenging traditional gender roles and highlighting their crucial role in resistance movements. Despite the brutality and oppression they face, the characters in the story demonstrate the resilience and unwavering spirit of the Filipino people in their struggle for freedom and self-determination.”

The film...

Vice Ganda is a cultural phenomenon in the Philippines. A TV host fronting daily variety show It’s Showtime, which has been pulling in top ratings for 15 years. A film star whose comedies have been topping the Christmas box office annually since 2010. A performer whose concerts pack out venues in the Philippines and North America. And an openly gay star in a Roman Catholic majority country that has not legalized same-sex marriage or heterosexual divorce.

And yet, with great fame comes great responsibility, not to mention high expectations, and like many artists during the pandemic, Vice decided to take a break and figure out what to do next. That pause led to a pairing with writer-director Jun Robles Lana to make And The Breadwinner Is…, a family drama produced by Star Cinema and Lana’s The IdeaFirst Company, which is also a comedy, but one with a lot more depth and...

It is hard to talk about Jun Lana’s “Shadow Behind the Moon” without spoiling the would-be experience of the audience. To describe it on its form is already giving it away: it is a single-take drama with analog-video aesthetics. The treatment places the writer-director Lana into the spotlight of technical exposition and, interestingly, goes on to fill this exercise with an equally indulging material.

The film is prologued by a series of on-screen texts to provide some context: the story is set in the early 1990s during the intensified military campaign against communist rebels in the Marag Valley. Caught in this struggle are “internal refugees” who are displaced from their homes, but relocated within the area. Joel (Anthony Falcon) and Ema (Lj Reyes) are part of these “internal refugees” with no permanent residency but cannot leave the valley. They are friends with Mando (Luis Alandy), a soldier who helped them when Joel got sick.

75 films from 12 countries, 228 guests of honour and 65 thousand spectators. These are all the numbers of Udine Far East Film Festival 2024. There was an increase of accredited visitors (of 24% over 2023) and the screenings at Udine's 1,200-seat Teatro Nuovo venue were always full, from 9 in the morning to midnight. This says a lot about the growing interest in Asian Cinema.

China and South Korea were the protagonists of the opening Night of Wednesday the 24th of April, with two international premieres: Yolo and Citizen of a Kind, followed by some more South Korean box office sensations, The Roundup: Punishment, 12.12: The Day and horror movie Exhuma. Some very welcome returns of festival friends were Jun Lana, with LGBT comedy of errors Becky & Badette, Norris Wong with the musical The Lyricist Wanna Be, Nick Cheung, in the director's chair, with Peg O'My Heart and Herman Yau with three actioners: Moscow Mission, Raid of...

Director Jun Robles Lana is a committed advocate of all queer aspects of life, which he has portrayed in his body of work with contrasting tones of voice, from the theatrical colorfulness of “Die Beautiful” to the dark realism of “Kalel, 15”. “Becky & Badette” sits without a doubt in the former group and, despite not being strictly (no pun intended) a gay story, is as camp as Christmas. A mix of classic comedy of errors and the familiar “high school reunion” genre, peppered with many innuendos and Filipino in-jokes, “Becky & Badette” is pure fun from start to end, and also one of those films you can imagine the cast and crew having a great time while shooting it.

Becky & Badette is screening at UdineFar East Film Festival 2024

Becky (Eugene Domingo) and Badette (Pokwang) are two women in their forties, working as janitors in an all-colourful-girl office and living...

Directed by Jun R. Lana Becky and Badette is a Filipino comedy currently streaming on Netflix. The plot revolves around the lives of two friends, Becky and Badette, who have been struggling to find recognition in society. They decide to lie about their sexual orientations just to gain some momentary attention. However, when their high school crush enters their lives with an evil motive, their plan falls apart, and they turn against each other. How did Becky and Badette manage to climb the social ladder? What was Pepe’s motive? Why did Nirvana want to seek revenge on Becky and Badette? Let’s find out!

Spoilers Ahead

How Did Becky And Badette Support Each Other?

Badette and Becky had been the best of friends ever since school, and they had formed this bond as their mothers were also the best of friends. While Becky had a knack for singing, Badette...

Let's begin by talking about the numbers of the Far East Film Festival 26. This year the Feff community will be able to watch 75 films from 11 countries. More precisely, 15 world premieres (including those of restored classics), 24 international premieres, 19 European premieres and 13 Italian premieres. Expected in Udine from 24 April to 2 May, in the historic headquarters of the Teatro Nuovo and in the spaces of the Visionario, the Far East Film Festival 26 will give life to a 9-day long full immersion and it will colour the heart of the city with Asia (there are over 100 thematic events scheduled). A real feast of cinema.

The Opening Night on Wednesday 24 April will travel between China and South Korea with two international premieres. The task of opening the curtain will fall to “Yolo”, the blockbuster that bears the signature of famous comedy star Jia Ling (here in the double role of director and protagonist). It is...

Zhang Yimou is set to receive the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award at this year’s Far East Film Festival (Feff).

The auteur, a key figure in China’s Fifth Generation of filmmakers, is best known for his films ‎Raise the Red Lantern, ‎Red Sorghum, To Live, Hero and House of the Flying Daggers, and was also directed the memorable opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Also receiving the coveted Golden Mulberry at the 26th edition of Feff is Taiwanese producer Chiu Fu-sheng. Chiu, a legendary figure in the Asian film industry, is known for his collaborations with auteur filmmakers including Hou Hsiao-hsien, producing A City of Sadness (1989) and The Puppetmaster (1993) and Zhang, producing both Raise the Red Lantern and To Live (1994). Zhang’s 2023 film Under the Light will also compete in the main competition at Feff.

Feff, the respected Italian festival that takes place in the northern city of Udine,...

The Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Italy’s Udine has unveiled the full line-up for its 26th edition, which will honour Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou with an honorary award and world premiere restored versions of his Raise The Red Lantern and To Live.

Running April 24 to May 2, the festival will open with a double bill: Chinese box office hit Yolo and South Korean action-comedy Citizen Of A Kind.

Yolo dominated this year’s Lunar New Year releases, grossing $484m in China, and is directed by Jia Ling, who stars as an unemployed woman in her 30s whose life is...

With the last of the anti-covid measures being lifted, shops being reopened and people being able to walk through their hometowns without wearing masks all the time, we have to question what this new normal is. The concept itself suggests, one the one hand, a way back to the way things were, but also a different kind of awareness on the other hand. While the former certainly seems true for many, the latter is rather vague, with many societies, politicians and companies returning to their status quo, often repeating the same formula that has made things worse to begin with. When Filipino director Jun Robles Lana started making his new feature “Your Mother's Son”, the news of the being infected or killed by the virus was one horror next to the reports of people being shot by then-president Duterte's henchmen. Infamous for his provocative approach to his subjects and themes,...

Papamichael is known for working as a cinematographer on films including ‘Sideways’ and ‘Nebraska’.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff) has selected 15 films for the second year of its Critics’ Picks competitive section, including the world premiere of Light Falls from acclaimed cinematographer Phedon Papamichael.

Greek filmmaker Papamichael’s film is a thriller about a young couple vacationing on a Greek island, who suffer an accident when exploring an abandoned hotel.

Scroll down for the full list of Poff Critics’ Picks

The film is a Georgian-Albanian-Greek-German co-production, with dialogue in English, Albanian, Georgian and Greek. It is Papamichael’s first...

Filipino filmmaker Jun Robles Lana is making his second appearance at Toronto International Film Festival with Your Mother’s Son, which is receiving its world premiere in the Centrepiece section.

Co-scripted by Lana and Elmer Gatchalian, the film tells the story of a hard-working mother and her delinquent son whose relationship is challenged when she invites one of her students to move into their home, so he can escape his violent father. Initially, it seems the son is suffering from a severe case of Oedipus complex, but as the film progresses, a more shocking tale of abuse of power and sexual dynamics begins to unfold.

Sue Prado (Barber’s Tales) plays the mother, with Kokoy de Santos (Gameboys) playing the son, and Elora Españo and Miggy Jimenez rounding out the cast. Lana, Perci Intalan and Ferdinand Lapuz produced the film through The IdeaFirst Company, Octobertrain Films, Quantum Films and Cineko Productions.

The programme comprises 47 films from 45 countries.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the line-up for its Centrepiece programme, with 47 titles screening from filmmakers representing 45 countries.

Included in the programme (previously known as Contemporary World Cinema) are Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, getting its North American premiere; Aki Kaurismaki’s Fallen Leaves, receiving its Canadian premiere; and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, a North American premiere.

Scroll down for the full list of Centrepiece titles

TIFF also announced additional titles for its Galas, Special Presentations and Documentaries programmes, among them the world premiere of Brian Helgeland’s Finestkind.

The Toronto International Film Festival has added 59 more films to the lineup of its 2023 festival, including 47 international films in the Centrepiece program, which in previous years was known as Contemporary World Cinema. New films were also added to the Galas, Special Presentations and Documentary sections.

World premieres among the new selections include “Finestkind,” a crime thriller from Brian Helgeland (screenwriter of “L.A. Confidential”) starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Foster; The Movie Teller,” a film set in Chile starring Berenice Bejo from “An Education” director Lone Scherfig; and Jessica Yu’s “Quiz Lady,” with Sandra Oh and Awkwafina.

The Centrepiece selections include a number of films from May’s Cannes Film Festival, among them Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses,” Aki Kaurismaki’s “Fallen Leaves,” Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s “Banel & Adama,” Amjad Al Rasheed’s “Inshallah a Boy,” Joanna Arnow’s “The Feeling That the...

The Toronto International Film Festival continues to expand its 2023 lineup with 47 films from 45 countries in the Centerpiece program, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema. The highlights include Cannes Film Festival winners “Fallen Leaves” from Aki Kaurismäki and “Perfect Days” from Wim Wenders as well as Agnieszka Holland’s Venice-bound “Green Border.” See the full lineup below.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece program, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer, in an official statement. “The rebranding of the TIFF program, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, for acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

Centerpiece Program 2023

About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne) Nuri Bilge Ceylan...

The dawn of the new decade seems to bring a reconnaissance to Filipino cinema, resulting from both the picking of movies from international festivals, including Sundance, and the always excellent work of Metro Manila Film Festival, locally. In Asian Movie Pulse, we have been following intently the movies of the country these 3,5 years, and we have come up with a list of some of the best movies we saw during this time.

Without further ado, check out some of the best Filipino films of the current decade so far.

1. Fan Girl (2020) by Antoinette Jadaone

Although pretty standard regarding its core premise, “Fan Girl” is an emotional, rather unpleasant and sometimes even shocking viewing experience thanks to the filmmaker's clear vision transformed into the script and directing. Antoinette Jadaone is still a relatively young auteur, but quite a prolific one over the course of the current decade, with more than a dozen titles under her belt.

In a quiet restaurant in the afternoon, 40-year-old gay English teacher Eric (Romnick Sarmenta) meets fresh-faced 22-year-old student Lance (Elijah Canlas) and treats him to steak. The two sit at a table in the window. They’re both aware that someone might see them there, but, well, people are already talking, It’s no-one’s business. Despite the rumours, nothing sexual has happened between them. Eric has simply taken it upon himself to mentor the youth. He has no ulterior motives – or at least that’s what he seems to believe.

The reality of this situation is much more complicated than it looks, and neither man is quite what he seems to be. Their relative power, and audience sympathy, shifts back and forth over the course of a film which may be primarily conversational but will have no difficulty holding your attention. Director Jun Lana uses flashbacks to show us a previous meeting in.

Swiss-Kosovar feature ‘The Land Within’ takes best first feature film.

Hilmar Oddsson’s Icelandic dark comedy Driving Mum won the Grand Prix for best film in Competition at the award ceremony of the 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), held on Saturday, November 26.

The Official Selection jury, headed by Hungarian director Ildiko Enyedi, said Driving Mum “charmed us all with its transparent, simple but bold film language, with its graceful sense of humour, with its unpretentious way of speaking about burning questions of personal life. A film which tells us that it is never too late.”

Scroll down for...

At this year’s edition of PÖFF, a new competition titled “Critics’ Picks” was introduced with all thirteen films celebrating either world- or international premieres here in Tallinn. Only three Asian films compete for the award: Jun Robles Lana’s two-men drama “About Us But Not About Us”, a pretty humorless Iranian comedy “A Childless Vilage” directed by Raza Jamali, and Cigdem Sezgin’s sophomore feature – drama “Suna”, about a woman left with barely any options to live her life the way she would want to. Back in 2016, Sezgin’s debut “Wedding Dance” was in the First Feature competition of PÖFF.

Suna (Nurcan Eren) is in her early 50’s, left without assets and living, more or less, the life of a nomad who moves from house to house of diverse relatives. When they get tired of the situation, she simply gets introduced to a...

Duterte’s war on drugs is the Philippines 21st century witch hunt on individuals who might or might not be related to drug distribution and consumption, which doesn’t really matter the moment someone is labelled a dealer or addict. A slightest suspicion of either can make a person a living target, as literally anyone can claim their lives.

“Big Night“ is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

In the opening credits to his dramedy “Big Night” Jun Robles Lana addresses the so called ‘watchlist’, or the initiative started by the Philippine government in 2016, encouraging village officials to help gathering the names of drug suspects in every neighbourhood across the country. What this initiative actually means is that the lives of individuals are put in the hands of blood-thirsty mobs, or of people who aren’t shy of killing when such actions stop being punishable...

Tallinn Black Nights film festival kicked off on November 11th, but the screenings of films from all five competition segments – Official Selection, First Feature Competition, Baltic Film Competition, Rebels With a Cause and Critics’ Picks- have just begun.

Five titles from Asia compete in the Official Selection. Vietnamese director Dung Luon Dinh is in Tallinn with his martial arts rich thriller “Magnum 578”, Israeli director Shahar Rozen competes with “Ducks – An Urban Legend”, a comedy thriller that involves yellow rubber ducks, and a year after his sophomore film “Make the Devil Laugh” had its world premiere here in Tallinn, the Japanese director Ryuchi Mino is back in town with a period comedy “Ginji The Speculator”. Indian director Sudhansu Saria, whose debut feature film “Loev” competed at PÖFF in 2015, is back with “Sanaa”, a drama starring Pooja Bhatt and Sohum Shah. Iranian title “The Wastetown” directed by Ahmad Bahrami is also...

Corruption and the way it usually connects the police with the politicians and the “capital” has always been a source of inspiration for filmmakers, with a number of titles presenting its blights in their respective countries, with particularly Korean cinema leaning heavily on the subject.. The result is frequently masterful, with a number of great films of all time having the particular concept as their main theme. 24 of those are amassed in this list, in alphabetical order, as usually, with a focus on diversity.

1. A Dark, Dark Man

The most evident element here is the direct accusation Yerzhanov points towards the Kazakh system, particularly in rural areas, with the ways the police conduct their business in cooperation with politicians essentially deeming them even worse criminals than the ones they are supposed to deal with. At the same time, this comment allows for the two protagonists to stand out, through a rather thorough character analysis,...

New section has 16 features, of which 10 are world premieres.

The world premiere of Carol Morley’s Typist Artist Pirate King is among the 16 features programmed in Critics’ Picks, the new competitive section of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

The section will host 10 world and three international premieres, with three further films screening out of competition including a gala screening of Estonian co-production Call Of God.

Scroll down for the full list of titles

Speaking about how Poff is trying to innovate with the section, festival director Tiina Lokk said: “The Critics’ Picks competition programme solves a challenge our programme team...

Amazon Prime Video has announced its first slate of Southeast Asian local-language originals, including a trio of situational comedy improv shows, Comedy Island, across Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and projects from local talents including Joko Anwar, Kamila Andini and Banjong Pisanthanakun.

The trio of comedy shows – Comedy Island: Indonesia, Comedy Island: Thailand and Comedy Island: Philippines – all involve famous comedians and other celebrities being stranded on a paradise island and are expected to start streaming in 2023.

In Thailand, the comedians must escape from a mysterious scientist who is trying to reprogram them; in Indonesia, they’re forced to take part in bizarre, role-playing games to amuse the local inhabitants; and in the Philippines, they’re trapped on a lost island that has reappeared and are competing for a life-changing prize. Indonesia’s Base Entertainment is producing the Indonesian and Filipino versions, while Liminal Productions is producing the Thai version.

Click here to read the full article.

Amazon launched localized versions of its Prime Video service on Monday in key Southeast Asian markets — Indonesia, Thailand and The Philippines. The tech giant boosted its subscriber push in the three markets by simultaneously unveiling slates of localized originals for each territory, as well as discounted introductory Amazon Prime membership offerings.

Amazon Prime Video launched in Southeast Asia in 2016, but the versions of the service available in the region have never featured the local-language interfaces, subtitling and original content offerings that are common in more developed markets.

That changes Monday in Southeast Asia’s three biggest markets, where Amazon Prime is relaunching with seven-day free trials, followed by special discounts that will last until the end of the year — 59,000 Indonesian rupiah (3.98), 149 Thai baht (4.10) and 149 Philippine pesos (2.69).

Amazon said its first Southeast Asian shows will be localized versions of its situational comedy improv format,...

The 20th anniversary Nyaff boasts a handful of this year’s most innovative and important films about the LGBTQ+ experience from all around Asia. Nyaff is proud to say that three of them have been selected for their Uncaged Competition for Best Film.

Angry Son by Kasho Iizuka, Japan, Uncaged Competition

7/28/2022 9:30pm

An intensely moving, gently comedic coming-of-age tale about overcoming otherness and oppression through unconditional compassion, this charming film by a transgender director focuses on a gay, biracial teen who was raised by a Filipina bar hostess mother in the countryside of Japan, and has endured a full spectrum of prejudices.

Big Night! by Jun Robles Lana, Philippines

7/27/2022 6:15pm

A biting satire about a gay hairdresser (a superlative Christian Bables) and model citizen who learns that he has been added to a government kill list, and sets out on a harrowing — and sometimes hilarious — odyssey to clear his name and stay alive.

Tickets go on sale July 1 for the fully in-theater 20th anniversary edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), presented by the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center (Flc), running from July 15–28, 2022 at Flc, as well as on July 23 and July 28–31 at Asia Society, which will be co-presenting a selection of key films and a Hong Kong marathon day. International stars and acclaimed filmmakers will return in-person to grace the Nyaff red carpet at Flc, receive awards, speak at Q&a sessions, and impart wisdom during masterclasses and special talks.

Hong Kong cultural icon Josie Ho will headline Nyaff 2022 with her latest project as producer of the inspiring musical documentary Finding Bliss: Fire and Ice—The Director’s Cut, in which she travels with musicians and students from Hong Kong to Iceland for a transcendent collaboration. As a tribute to the acting superstar, the festival...

The Asian Film Festival, directed by Antonio Termenini, presents a selection of the best of Asian research and independent cinema, with particular attention to debuts and young directors of the rich Newcomers section.

The seventeenth edition of the Asian Film Festival presents 27 feature films and 3 short films from 10 East Asian countries and will take place, from July 30 to August 5, at Casa del Cinema, Villa Borghese Park, Rome.

The afternoon screenings will be in the comfort of the Deluxe Room, the evening ones in the Ettore Scola Open Air Theater, to enjoy the films in serenity and in the cool of the park.

8 feature films from the Philippines will celebrate 100 years of Filipino cinema with the best of the most recent productions.The closing evening also will feature the Filipino “Kalel, 15” by Jun Lana, the story of a difficult adolescence in the Manila slums. Saturday 1 August will be Korean Day – a...

Chris Kraus’s film exploring inter-generational legacy of the Holocaust scores twice at Tiff.

German director Chris Kraus’s The Bloom of Yesterday has won the $50,000 Grand Prix at the Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff), running Oct 25 to Nov 3.

Set against the backdrop of a conference devoted to the German death camp Auschwitz, the film stars German actor Lars Eidinger as a Holocaust researcher who is forced to confront his connection to the past by an intern played by French actress Adèle Haenel.

The film also won the Wowow Viewer’s Choice Award.

Croatian film-maker Hana Jusic won Best Director for her debut feature Quit Staring At My Plate, about a woman living cheek by jowl with her family in a tiny apartment.

The Special Jury Prize went to Amanda Kernell’s Sami Blood inspired by the Swedish 1930s practice of forcibly removing indigenous Sami children from their families.

The film follows the fate of Elle Marja...

Jun Lana's new dramedy Die Beautiful has dropped a new teaser-trailer just in time for its world premiere at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival. There's enough spectacle here to make up for 2013's harrowing Barber's Tales and color to make up for 2015's bleak Shadow Behind the Moon. That's not saying the new film will not tread dark trails, however: the story, in fact, pivots around the death of a Filipino transwoman. Here's the full synopsis: Trisha, a Filipino transgender woman, suddenly dies while being crowned in a beauty pageant. Her last wish was to be presented as a different celebrity on each night of her wake, but her conservative father wants to bury her as a man. Trisha’s friends are left with no choice but to steal...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

This year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) will feature five unique Filipino dramas. The Philippine Entertainment Portal reports that Die Beautiful, I America, Birdshot, Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis and Shiniuma will be part of the festival’s 29th year.

Die Beautiful stars Paolo Ballesteros as a transwoman and beauty pageant veteran whose dying wish is to be dressed as Lady Gaga for her funeral. The film is directed by Jun Lana. It is the only Filipino film included in the main competition. This marks Lana’s second run at Tiff. His 2013 freshman entry Barber’s Tales won the Tiff Best Actress award for its star Eugene Domingo.

Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis or “A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery” is Lav Diaz’s eight-hour epic for Tiff’s World Focus Section. Anchored by Philippine superstars John Lloyd Cruz and Piolo Pascual, Hele Sa Hiwagang Hapis is a fantastical meditation on Philippine literature,...

French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix to head jury for Tokyo competition section, which includes five world premieres.

French filmmaker Jean-Jacques Beineix will head the jury of this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff), which has unveiled its 16-strong competition section, including five world premieres.

The jury also includes Spotlight producer Nicole Rocklin, Japanese director Hideyuki Hiayama, Italian actor Valerio Mastandrea and Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung.

World premieres in competition include Japanese director Kiki Suginos’ Snow Woman, Chris Kraus’ The Bloom Of Yesterday (Germany-Austria), Jun Roble Lana’s Die Beautiful (Philippines) and two films from China – Mei Feng’s Mr. No Problem and Roy Szeto’s Shed Skin Papa.

The competition section includes one other Japanese title – Daigo Matsui’s Japanese Girls Never Die (see full competition line-up below).

This year’s Crosscut Asia section is focusing on Indonesia, screening three films by Teddy Soeriaatmadja, along with works from Nia Dinata, Ifa Isfansyah, [link...

The 44th edition of the Festival du Nouveau Cinema has just announced their entire lineup and it’s pretty insane! The festival which takes place in Montreal from October 7 to 18 is screening nearly 400 films and events in only 11 days. This includes 151 feature films and 203 short films from 68 countries – 49 world premieres, 38 North American premieres and 60 Canadian premieres. Give credit to the team of programmers: Claude Chamberlan, Dimitri Eipides Julien Fonfrède, Philippe Gajan, Karolewicz Daniel, Marie-Hélène Brousseau, Katayoun Dibamehr and Gabrielle Tougas-Frechette.

Below is the lineup. There’s a lot to process so take your sweet time!

Opening and closing

The whole New Testament directed by Jaco Van Dormael (Toto the Hero, Mr Nobody, The Eighth Day), will kick off this 44th edition.

After its world premiere at the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes last May, the new opus unconventional Belgian director, starring Benoît Poelvoorde (Three Hearts, Ransom of Glory), Yolande Moreau (Mammuth,...

Anti-Nazi satire from Stations of the Cross director Dietrich Bruggemann and a new documentary from Mark Cousins among titles.Scroll down for competition line-ups

The 50th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (July 3-11) has unveiled the competition titles in its Official Selection, East of the West, Forum of Independents and Documentary sections.

The main competition will comprise seven world premieres and six international premieres, including the new film from Stations of the Cross director Dietrich Brüggemann, Heil, a satirical comedy centred on neo-Nazis.

Polish documentary director Marcin Koszałkaʼs will present his feature debut, The Red Spider, a psychological thriller inspired by true events from the 1950s that delves into the mechanisms that give rise to a mass murderer.

Danish documentary maker Daniel Dencik will present his first feature, Gold Coast, about a young anti-colonial idealist who sets out for Danish Guinea to set up a coffee plantation - but not everything goes to plan. The music is...

Terence Chang, Philippe Bober and Naomi Kawase are among the producers of the 30 projects selected for this year’s Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf, March 23-25).

Bober, one of the Europe’s most respected producers and distributors, is teaming up with award-winning Chinese director Lou Ye to produce Riddle from Zhou Hao, whose debut The Night screened at Berlinale 2014.

Chang, the longtime producing partner of John Woo, is co-producing coming-of-age drama That Summer, to be directed by new mainland Chinese talent Zhou Quan. Meanwhile, Kawase is serving as producer on a project to be directed by Cuba’s Carlos Machado Quintela, which is being made in collaboration with the Nara International Film Festival.

The Haf line-up also includes five projects from Hong Kong filmmakers of different generations. Following Doomsday Party, Ho Hong is returning to Haf with suspense drama Lost In Border, while Gilitte Leung is attending for the first time with inspirational sports drama Breathing...

The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (Haf) has unveiled this year’s line-up of 29 projects, including two from the Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza.

The line-up includes four projects under the third annual Haf/Fox Chinese Film Development Award, which aims to support scripts from up-and-coming Chinese filmmakers (see full line-up below).

Mendoza is bringing feature film project The Embroiderer, about undying love, along with documentary Gay Messiah, which questions religion and belief. The Philippines’ Jun Robles Lana also returns to Haf this year with his project Our Father, after winning the 2013 Haf award for Barber’s Tales.

Hong Kong filmmakers are also strongly represented in the line-up, with five projects, including comedian Lam Tze-chung’s Game and actress-turned-director Carrie Ng’s Angel Whispers.

Hong Kong projects also include Jason Kwan’s A Nail Clipper Romance, produced by acclaimed director Pang Ho-cheung; Philip Yung’s The Sea, produced by Jia Zhang-ke’s regular producer Chow Keung; and Simon Chung...

The full line up has been unveiled for the 7th edition of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Daniel Schechter’s Life Of Crime will open the 7th edition of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which runs Oct 24- Nov 2.

13 Arab feature films (seven of which are world premieres) will compete across different sections of the festival, including Rani Massalha’s Giraffada and Nejib Belkhadi’s Bastardo in the New Horizons Competition, Ahmed Abdallah’s Rags And Tatters and Hicham Ayouch’s Fevers in the Narrative Feature Competition, and Sherief Elkatsha’s Cairo Drive and Mohammad Soueid’s The Boy From Aleppo in the Documentary Feature Competition.

Tobe Hooper’s UAE horror Djin will screen in the festival’s Showcase section.

Films competing in the Narrative Feature Competition include Jun Robles Lana’s Barber’s Tales, Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners, Danis Tanovic’s An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker, Jasmila Zbanic’s [link...

The full line up has been unveiled for the 7th edition of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.

Daniel Schechter’s Life Of Crime will open the 7th edition of the Abu Dhabi Film Festival, which runs Oct 24- Nov 2.

13 Arab feature films (seven of which are world premieres) will compete across different sections of the festival, including Rani Massalha’s Giraffada and Nejib Belkhadi’s Bastardo in the New Horizons Competition, Ahmed Abdallah’s Rags And Tatters and Hicham Ayouch’s Fevers in the Narrative Feature Competition, and Sherief Elkatsha’s Cairo Drive and Mohammad Soueid’s The Boy From Aleppo in the Documentary Feature Competition.

Tobe Hooper’s UAE horror Djin will screen in the festival’s Showcase section.

Films competing in the Narrative Feature Competition include Jun Robles Lana’s Barber’s Tales, Denis Villeneuve’s Prisoners, Danis Tanovic’s An Episode In The Life Of An Iron Picker, Jasmila Zbanic’s [link...

Competition section includes six world premieres and titles from Koji Fukada, Jun Robles Lana and Lee Ju-hyoung.Scroll down for Competition list

The 26th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) has announced its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section including Hospitalité director Koji Fukada’s Au revoir l’été, Jun Robles Lana’s previous Haf project Barber’s Tales and the Kim Ki-duk-produced Red Family.

Those that are not world premieres are all Asian premieres including Aaron Fernandez’s San Sebastian entry The Empty Hours.

Chen Kaige, the Chinese director behind Farewell My Concubine, will head the competition jury. He will be joined by Korean actress Moon So-ri (Oasis), Australian producer Chris Brown (Daybreakers), Us director-writer-producer Chris Weitz (The Twilight Saga: New Moon), and Japanese actress Shinobu Terajima (Caterpillar).

Tiff is set to run Oct 17-25 with new festival head Yasushi Shiina putting an emphasis on showcasing homegrown productions and discovering Asian talent.

The newly launched...

The Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum wrapped up on Wednesday and handed out its awards. The major prizes were picked up by Ho Hong and Jun Robles Lana. 25 projects took part, whittled down from 250 submissions, and the two big prizes (worth $19,230/Hk$150,000) were destined for a Hong Kong film (of which there were five) and one of the remaining broader Asian hopefuls. This year's Hk prize went to debut helmer Ho Hong's Doomsday - Party while the Filipino project Barber's Tales from Jun Robles Lana took home the other top prize. Both projects were also handed Arri prizes, which entitles them to €30,000 worth of rental equipment from the camera manufacturer. In addition, Barber's Tales took home the Technicolor Asia Award worth $25,000...

[Read the whole post on twitchfilm.com...]...

I am proud of the Philippine Cinema! Like Hollywood, for every mainstream film, there are independent movies that tell a captivating story made by passionate filmmakers who want their voice heard. One of those filmmakers is Jun Robles Lana who created a thought-provoking movie about aging called .Bwakaw..

Made with blessings from Cinemalaya, the purveyor of well-crafted indie films in the Philippines, .Bwakaw. stars the Filipino icon, Eddie Garcia, as Rene, a quarrelsome elderly gay man who came out late in life. Faced with many missed opportunities, Rene finds solace in his dog, bwakaw (translation: voracious appetite).

Playwright, screenwriter, and filmmaker Jun Robles Lana, the youngest Filipino to be inducted in the Palanca Literary Awards Hall of Fame, created .Bwakaw. in honor of his mentor, Rene Villanueva. You can feel the filmmaker.s passion just by watching the movie. The film was the official submission of the Philippines for the...

Bwakaw

Written by Jun Robles Lana

Directed by Jun Robles Lana

Bwakaw is a movie full of quiet surprises, and the great pleasure of watching it results from the matter-of-fact way the script leisurely unfurls its secrets and piles layer upon layer on what initially appears to be an uncomplicated story. At first glance, Rene (Eddie Garcia) seems like your standard grumpy old man bitter about how life has treated him, but then comes the somewhat unexpected revelation that Rene is gay and his grumpiness isn’t just part of his personality but it stems from a lifetime of denial and deferred happiness considering he only came to terms with his sexuality very late in life.

Now in his seventies, Rene has stopped putting off happiness and has just given up on it. He focuses all his energy on performing a job he’s already retired from and preparing for his eventual demise.

For the first time in Academy Award history, 71 countries are vying for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. The submissions for 2012 include director Michael Haneke’s Amour, which won the Palme d’Or at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival; France’s global box office sensation The Intouchables; and Nairobi Half Life, the first film ever submitted by Kenya. Check out the full list below:

Afghanistan: The Patience Stone, Atiq Rahimi, director

Albania: Pharmakon, Joni Shanaj, director

Algeria: Zabana!, Said Ould Khelifa, director

Argentina: Clandestine Childhood, Benjamín Ávila, director

Armenia: If Only Everyone, Natalia Belyauskene, director

Australia: Lore, Cate Shortland, director

Austria: Amour,...

The Oscar season is almost upon us, and the submissions list is in for the Best Foreign Language Film category, featuring a record 71 entries, including the first submission from Kenya.

Last year, Iran’s Asghar Farhadi came away with the top prize for his acclaimed film, A Separation, and the year before, it was Denmark’s Susanne Bier with her In a Better World.

This year, there are already a handful of strong contenders amongst the pack, most notably Michael Haneke’s Amour, for Austria, which won the Palme d’Or at Cannes; Olivier Nakache’s and Éric Toledano’s The Intouchables, for France, which has been breaking records at the global box office; Pablo Larráin’s No, for Chile, which also came away from Cannes with an award in hand; Kim Ki-duk’s Pieta, for South Korea, which took four awards at Venice, including (controversially) the Golden Lion; and...

The Intouchables

A record 71 countries, including first-time entrant Kenya, have submitted films for consideration in the Foreign Language Film category for the 85th Academy Awards®. In May, Michael Haneke.s Amour (Love) won the Palme d.Or at the 65th Cannes Film Festival and was shown this past weekend at the 50th New York Film Festival. However the film I was happiest to see make the list below is from France – The Intouchables from directors Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano. Check out our review Here.

In the Academy’s rules, only one picture will be accepted from each country. Plus the Academy Statuette (Oscar) will be awarded to the motion picture and accepted by the director on behalf of the picture.s creative talents. Ultimately five foreign language motion pictures are nominated for this award.

Director/writer Asghar Farhadi’s A Separation from Iran won the Oscar for the Best...

Update: The official list has been revealed and the total is a record 71 movies. I have updated the list directly below or you can check it out here. The original article follows. I have been tracking the Oscar Foreign Language submissions again this year, as I have for the past several years, and it looks like we finally have a full field as I expect we will be seeing an official press release from the Academy some time this week. This year we have five more submissions already over last year as the total has now reached 68 submissions compared to last year's 63. This, despite, Iran boycotting the Oscars this year due to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked so much controversy as of late. To reach the total of 68 films I have just finished adding 16 more titles to the list from the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina,...

I have been tracking the Oscar Foreign Language submissions again this year, as I have for the past several years, and it looks like we finally have a full field as I expect we will be seeing an official press release from the Academy some time this week. This year we have five more submissions already over last year as the total has now reached 68 submissions compared to last year's 63. This, despite, Iran boycotting the Oscars this year due to the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims, which has sparked so much controversy as of late. To reach the total of 68 films I have just finished adding 16 more titles to the list from the following countries: Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Armenia, China, Georgia, Greenland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Peru, South Africa, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and Uruguay. To siphon out front-runners is never easy in this category, though there are a few that stick out immediately.