‘AKA Mr. Chow’ Trailer: Doc About The Iconic Restauranteur Premieres On HBO On October 22

Lay Zhang is opening up about his acting goals.

EXCLUSIVE: Peter Luo’s LA-based finance and training vehicle The Stars Collective is teaming up with Chinese financier Hana Investments on an ambitious “cross media fund to invest in comics, films, games, collectibles, consumer goods, artificial intelligence and metaverse technology.”

Receiving its world premiere in Pingyao International Film Festival’s Crouching Tigers section, Zhang Yu’s feature debut Killing The Violet is the story of a woman dealing with the aftermath of being raped after a man breaks into her apartment. 

Chinese director Ning Hao has flown directly from Busan film festival in South Korea to China’s Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF) with his latest film, The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau. 

‘Marie Antoinette‘ Back On The BBCThe BBC has announced that it has acquired the second season of Canal+ Creation Originale Marie Antoinette. Sue Deeks, head of acquisitions for the BBC, said the first season of Deborah Davis’ drama had been a “great success” for the corporation. Marie Antoinette is produced by Claude Chelli and Margaux Balsan for Capa Drama, Stéphanie Chartreux for Banijay Studios France, as well as Bedside Productions. Season 2 is currently in production.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two titles which debuted at Cannes this year were named as the major prize-winners at the seventh edition of the Pingyao International Film Festival in China. Wei Shujun’s black comedy-thriller “Only the River Flows” won the festival’s Fei Mu prize for best Chinese film.

Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows was presented with Best Film in the Fei Mu Awards at this year’s Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF), while Inside The Yellow Cocoon Shell, directed by Vietnam’s Pham Thien An, won Best Film in the festival’s Roberto Rossellini Awards.

Fix up and look sharp, NYC filmgoers: Wang Bing‘s latest, “Youth (Spring),” begins its US theatrical rollout at Metograph next month. And the new documentary is just the first in a trilogy of new films Wang Bing has worked on since 2014.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Iqbal H. Choudhury’s “The Wrestler” and Mori Tatsutya’s “September 1923” were announced joint winners of the New Currents competition at the Busan International Film Festival. “The Wrester” “was like a single round match, magically depicting an exciting narrative,” the jury said.

Guillermo del Toro is looking back and reflecting on the scrapped Star Wars movie he was developing that would’ve centered around Jabba the Hutt.

China’s Pingyao International Film Festival has announced the line-up for its seventh edition (October 11-18), which will open with Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows and close with the world premiere of Fei Yu’s Football On The Roof. 

Good Morning Britain's Richard Arnold treated viewers to their first look inside the brand new Big Brother house during Friday's broadcast.The presenter gave fans a sneaky glimpse inside the swanky house, which holds sustainability at the forefront, ahead of the reality show's highly anticipated return to TV this Sunday. Richard teased viewers with a quick tour of the luxurious garden which features an outdoor water tank which collects rainwater that will fill the famous hot tub as well as a cosy outdoor fireplace area.The first look inside the Big Brother house comes as a brand new batch of housemates prepare to move in this weekend.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been given access to the international trailer for animated film “The Peasants,” which is Poland’s entry for the international feature category of the Academy Awards. The film had its world premiere in the Special Presentation section of Toronto Film Festival last month, and screens next week at the London Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: The Eternal Memory, the latest film from Oscar-nominated filmmaker Maite Alberdi (The Mole Agent), has landed a series of international deals for Dogwoof and MTV Documentary Films ahead of its UK premiere this week at the London Film Festival. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Feted in Busan this week as the Asian Filmmaker of the Year, Hong Kong superstar Chow Yun-fat bemoaned censorship in China for its impact on the film industry. “We have a lot of censorship requirements in mainland China. Scripts must go to many departments. So, we need [to portray] clear situations in scripts.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent “The Head,” The Mediapro Studio’s biggest hit, will have a third season, Ran Tellem, TMS head of international content development, confirmed Tuesday at Iberseries & Industria Platino. “‘The Head’ started out something like four years ago as a limited series only for six episodes and now it’s going into third season, so you might say we never lived up to our promises,” Tellem joked on stage at an early Iberseries panel, entitled Creative Content Strategies, where he shared the stage with former Netflix international head Erik Barmack, now at L.A.-based Wild Sheep Content. The Mediapro Studio will produce ‘The Head,’ Season 3 out of Spain.

Matty Healy of The 1975 has issued an apology to those that he has “hurt” while trying to take on the “character role of 21st Century rock star”.The singer-songwriter expressed regret over his recent behaviour while on stage with The 1975, noting that he has been at the centre of controversy due to “playing pretend”, and trying to embody what he sees as a modern rock attitude.A recent example of this controversy came after he participated in a discussion about New York rapper Ice Spice during an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show. On the show, Friedland and co-host Nick Mullen discussed the heritage of the rapper, debating whether she has Hawaiian, Inuit or Chinese, before impersonating the accents of those countries and regions.While Healy didn’t participate in the mocking of accents, he did laugh along with the podcast hosts. The episode has since been taken down.Now, the singer has issued an apology to all of the people he has “hurt” due to his behaviour, and promised to “do better” in the future.“Because some of my actions have hurt some people, I apologise to those people, and I pledge to do better moving forward,” he told the audience.

Netflix has dropped a first-look trailer for Leave the World Behind, the apocalyptic thriller starring Julia Roberts, Mahershala Ali and Ethan Hawke. Check it out qabove.

A number of Greater Manchester wine bars have been named amongst the best in the UK by a national newspaper.

Refresh for latest…: Here we are with a sort of hybrid weekend at the international box office: there were fresh entries from the Hollywood studios, as well as major new titles timed to holiday play in local markets, and a holdover that’s continuing to rack up records.