Aaron Kwok, Francis Ng Reunite for ‘Insider’ as Hong Kong Film Production Perks Up

Never say never? Gary King and Daisy Kelliher got off to a rocky start when they met in Below Deck Sailing Yacht — but the twosome continue to fuel dating speculation since becoming friends.

Vivienne Chow A Taiwanese filmmaker has made his short film inspired by Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests available online for free after it failed to get approval from the city’s censorship authorities.Wu Zi-en, director of “Islander,” has uploaded the full 25-minute film noir to online platform Vimeo last week, after it became the third film in a month to have been censored by Hong Kong authorities.The city last year changed censorship regulations to effectively ban any film that is politically sensitive or poses a threat to national security.“Islander” follows a man and his grandson’s journey to visit the son, who has been placed behind bars as a political prisoner in Taipei. The film was selected as part of the Fresh Wave International Short Film Festival in Hong Kong, but its public screening was canceled because the film did not receive the approval in time. Fresh Wave organizers did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “There There,” Andrew Bujalski’s ensemble comedy starring Jason Schwartzman and Lili Taylor. The film had its world premiere at Tribeca.

As one of the most famous families on the planet, the royal family ’s day-to-day life is full of unique traditions. From instructions surrounding when and when not to wear a tiara to how and how not to drink tea, being royal comes with its own quirks. And one notable tradition regards the names of members of The Firm, with many royals holding different titles that are often influenced by their ancestors.

Coronation Street has finally confirmed what brings Spider Nugent crawling back to the cobbles. It was announced back in April that Martin Hancock would be reprising the role of the character 19 years after his exit on the ITV soap.

Coronation Street star Martin Hancock has revealed that he has a previously unknown connection to another actor on the ITV soap. Martin is set to make a comeback as his character Spider Nugent crawls back into Toyah Habeeb's life after 19 years.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorOscar-winning actors Geoffrey Rush and Benicio Del Toro will be feted at the 56th edition of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival, which will run July 1-9.

Martin Hancock appears to have his former on-screen girlfriend to thank for his return to the cobbles of Coronation Street. The actor is set to make his comeback on screen next week as Spider Nugent heads back to Weatherfield.

Austin Butler paid a visit to the “Tonight Show” and got host Jimmy Fallon all shook up.

Vivienne Chow To Hong Kong documentary filmmaker Ngan Chi-sing, seeking asylum in the U.K. is going to be one of his priorities in the coming year. That’s because he has made a film about the 2019 protests that he fears would endanger his security, should he ever return to his home city.“Hong Kong cannot tolerate documentary films like mine anymore,” Ngan, the director of “Love in the Time of Revolution,” which premieres this week at the inaugural edition of the Melbourne Hong Kong Film Festival running from June 12-19 in Australia, told Variety.

Nordisk Film Production has a new CEO in the shape of Katrine Vogelsang, the Head of Fiction at TV2. She will form a management unit with Henrik Zein, who is stepping over from chief exec position to become COO.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFactwire, an independent news agency and publication in Hong Kong, said Friday that it will cease operations with immediate effect.It is the fourth closure in the last year of a significant news organization that is not aligned with the city establishment’s pro-Beijing camp.The injection by Beijing in July 2020 of a National Security Law, and a powerful security apparatus in the city, is seen by media organizations to have significantly reduced the freedoms of the press. The government disputes this analysis, but says that reporting must remain lawful.Factwire, which specialized in investigative reporting, was established in 2015 using HK$4.7 million of funds that were crowd-sourced from 3,300 supporters in three months. It did not pinpoint the reasons for its closure, nor analyze the timing of it.

Vivienne Chow Restored versions of Chinese language cinema classics Wong Kar-wai’s “Days of Being Wild” (1990) and Jia Zhangke’s first full-length feature “Pickpocket” (“Xiao Wu”) 1998) will lead the inaugural program of Hong Kong’s M+ Cinema, which will be opened to the public on June 8.The opening program also features the Hong Kong premiere of one of the films from Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovskiy’s epic project series “DAU,” making the M+ Museum notable for not canceling Russian culture following the country’s invasion of Ukraine.The cinema, comprising three theaters with seating capacity of 180, 60, and 40 seats, is a core facility of the Moving Image Centre at M+, the visual culture museum that opened in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District in November last year. Moving images, including artist-made audio-visual works, artist films, and traditional feature films, are considered among one of the three key disciplines of the mega institution housed in a building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.