Amazon Studios Developing Feature Film ‘This Is Always’ With Mina Shum Directing And Daniel Dae Kim Eyed To Star

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentAn animator long showered with awards and critical praise, beginning with his 2004 full-length directorial debut “Mind Game,” Yuasa Masaaki is no stranger to the festival circuit. But Venice, where his new animated feature “Inu-Oh” is screening in the Horizons section, is his first Big Three festival.

Vivienne Chow New features by some of the most prominent filmmakers from the Asia-Pacific region including The Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza, Bangladesh’s Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Japan’s Ogigami Naoko are among the seven titles competing for the Kim Jiseok Award at the upcoming 26th Busan International Film Festival (Oct. 6-16, 2021).Works by Royston Tan from Singapore, China’s Wang Qi, Aparna Sen from India and Ilgar Najaf from Azerbaijan have also been nominated.

The BFI London Film Festival has confirmed an eight-strong lineup for its Official Competition this year. The movies are:

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStudiocanal and Amazon Studios have unveiled the first clip and still of “The Electrical Life of Louis Wain,” Will Sharpe’s anticipated film about the eccentric British artist played by Oscar-nominated actor Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Imitation Game), ahead of the movie’s world premiere at Telluride.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has taken worldwide rights (outside France, Benelux, China, Japan and Korea) to animated feature The Summit Of The Gods (Le Sommet Des Dieux). Based on Jiro Taniguchi and Baku Yumemakura’s best selling manga, the movie debuted in the Cinema de la Plage section at the Cannes Film Festival this past July.

bromance with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, with whom he once shared a night of karaoke, vodka and “some hotties” — will give viewers another look into his wild side, thanks to a forthcoming feature film.“48 Hours in Vegas” by Lionsgate — and with Rodman himself serving as executive producer — will document the crazy bender that Rodman had during the 1998 NBA Finals.Viewers may remember this trip as the subject of a cliff-hanging ending of Episode 3 of “The Last Dance,” a popular 2020

Richard Kuipers A young woman discovers she’s a crime family heiress in “Yakuza Princess,” a grimy action-thriller set in the neon-drenched streets of São Paulo’s Japanese district. Adapted from Danilo Beyruth’s graphic novel by Brazilian filmmaker Vicente Amorim (“Motorrad), “Yakuza” delivers stylish shootouts and eye-catching swordplay but lacks the dynamic characters and story-telling panache required to lift it into the top grade.

Johnny Depp and Ethan Hawke got a very warm welcome at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival!

Will Tizard ContributorDespite an apparent last-minute sense of concern by Karlovy Vary fest organizers over international press coverage of Johnny Depp and his ongoing legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard over domestic abuse allegations, the rocker/actor/producer made his appearances without much fuss and introduced the docu he co-produced, “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan” to welcoming crowds on Friday.Depp’s other project at the Czech fest, the Japan-set thriller “Minamata,”

Japanese Breakfast shared a dreamy new song yesterday (August 26) Calle ‘Glider’ – listen to it below.The musician, real name Michelle Zauner, has written the song for her upcoming video game soundtrack, Sable.In a statement, Zauner said film score legends Alan Menken and Joe Hisaishi were two of her biggest inspirations when creating the soundtrack.Zauner added: “I was so lucky Daniel Fineberg and Gregorios Kythreotis from Shedworks invited me onto this game so early on.“I was immediately

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentAmazon Studios, La Unión de los Ríos, Kenya Films and Infinity Hill have teamed to produce Argentina’s first Amazon Original film, Santiago Mitre’s “Argentina, 1985,” which looks set to become a banner Argentine big fest title and release in 2022.Headlining arguably the foremost Argentine stars of their generations – Ricardo Darín (“The Secret in Their Eyes,” “Wild Tales”) and Peter Lanzani (“The Clan”) – the feature film has just started shooting

EXCLUSIVE: Amazon Studios is getting its engines revved up on a new romantic comedy set in the world of NASCAR with a list of top tier talent on board to help take this project across the finish line. Sources tell Deadline, Westbrook Studios will partner with The Chainsmokers’ Kick The Habit Productions and NASCAR to produce the upcoming romantic comedy feature, Clean Air for Amazon Studios with Younger writer Alison Rose Greenberg set to write the screenplay.

Meet Spike Spiegel (John Cho), Jet Black (Mustafa Shakir), and Faye Valentine (Daniella Pineda). Yep, the long-awaited and detailed “Cowboy Bebop” is finally done and premieres November 19 on Netflix.

Kate Aurthur editorAfter a competitive bidding war that received multiple offers, Gabrielle Union’s I’ll Have Another Productions has sold a queer teen comedy feature, with the working title “To Be Real,” to Amazon Studios. Tony winner, current Emmy nominee and recent Emmy winner Billy Porter — who’s been shooting his feature directorial debut “What If?” for Orion Pictures this summer — is attached to direct an original script by Ryan Shiraki, as sold from a pitch.

Japan as Shinichi Chiba, died late Thursday, Tokyo-based Astraia, his management office, said in a statement Friday.Japanese media said had been hospitalized near Tokyo with COVID-19 and died from pneumonia.Chiba rose to stardom in Japan in the 1960s, portraying samurai, fighters and police detectives, the anguished so-called “anti-heroes” trying to survive in a violent world.