Burning Topics From South Asia Explored in Venice Gap-Financing Market Trio

SF9, has opened up about the departure of member Rowoon.Yesterday (September 18), FNC Entertainment announced that SF9’s Rowoon would be stepping back from the boyband. In its statement, the K-pop agency said the singer would “remain as the ninth member of SF9”, although South Korean news outlets such as The Korea Herald and Korea JoongAng Daily reported that Rowoon had left the group.SF9’s leader Youngbin has since addressed the news, in a letter posted on the boyband’s official fancafe website, as seen by The Qoo.

Suga is about to start his military service.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief ‘Expendables 4’ narrowly took top place at the mainland China box office on a quiet weekend preceding the National Day holiday season at the end of the month. “A Haunting in Venice” opened outside the top five. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway shows “Expendables 4” earning $10.9 million (RMB78.6 million) over its debut weekend.

Naman Ramachandran “Baahubali” star Rana Daggubati who also serves as a board member of the Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, has revealed plans to engage with South Asian independent filmmakers at this year’s edition. The festival, which was hitherto focused on discovering Indian films and filmmakers, has pivoted to becoming one that spotlights South Asian talent, meaning films from India’s neighbors will also be showcased. Daggubati is uniquely placed to foster the burgeoning independent cinema scene via several companies that he is involved in.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Blue Ant Media, the Canadian-owned group with operations spanning TV production, distribution and channels management, is creating a new Asia-Pacific base in Sydney, Australia. It has hired Jon Penn as its Asia-Pacific MD and Jason Soh as VP of distribution, based in Singapore.Penn is a veteran with ten years in Asia with BBC Studios and 11 years of experience at Fremantle. Latterly, he has been a partner at ACT Media Ventures and advised Blue Ant on its expansion in Australia. “The appointments signal the expansion of Blue Ant Media’s channel and program distribution business in Asia Pacific, combining the company’s channel distribution and content sales in the region into one unit.

Disney has kept Kenneth Branagh’s 20th Century Studios Hercule Poirot franchise going following its inception at Fox with 2017’s Murder on the Orient Express, but recent installments have yet to reach that first pic’s box office heights.

Back in 2018, Miley Cyrus lost her Malibu home when the house burned down due to a wildfire.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Miley Cyrus revealed on her “Used to Be Young” TikTok video series that she was filming a traumatic scene for “Black Mirror” in South Africa at the same time the Woolsey Fire ripped through Malibu, Calif. and burned her home to the ground. The two incidents happening in tandem with each other resulted in anxiety attacks years later, which kicked in every time Cyrus had to perform.

Naman Ramachandran Prolific Indian studio Applause Entertainment and Zindagi, the Indian subcontinent-focused programming block on streamer ZEE5 Global, have set a wide-ranging content partnership. The partnership will create South Asian-themed content from across the subcontinent. The initial burst of productions will be in the Hindustani (combining Hindi and Urdu) language that is understood across the subcontinent.

EXCLUSIVE: Here’s your first trailer for Liam Neeson crime-thriller In The Land Of Saints And Sinners, which debuts tomorrow at the Venice Film Festival.

Sofia Coppola’s new film about Priscilla Presley is earning rave reviews.

The tears flowed for Priscilla Presley following the world premiere of Sofia Coppola’s biopic, “Priscilla”, in Venice on Monday.

William Friedkin’s last film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial will make its U.S. premiere on October 6 on Paramount+ with Showtime.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The QCinema International Film Festival in the Philippines has beefed up its industry program by introducing a project market strand, QCinema Project Market (QPM). It acts as a networking and funding platform for Filipino and Southeast Asian projects in advanced development.

Naman Ramachandran “Love Island: All Stars,” a spinoff of ITV’s “Love Island” format, has been confirmed by the U.K. broadcaster’s chiefs. “Love Island” is a British dating game show format that has been on U.K.

Paramount+ has announced it will premiere William Friedkin’s last film The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in all international markets where the service is currently live.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Renowned Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Chiu-wai ditched his quiet, brooding persona on Saturday in Venice, where he is to receive a Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award. Instead, at a press conference in his honor, Leung positively gushed about his upcoming first European movie role and about the strengths of the “golden era” acting training he received in Hong Kong in the 1980s. Leung has made a speciality of saying little in many of his films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based, Mainland China-born auteur Yonfan has scandalized and enthralled Chinese-speaking parts of Asia in a career that has spanned fine-art photography, filmmaking and journalism. Further afield, he has become a regular on the Lido. His 1995 feature “Bugis Street,” which has been restored and is screening in the Venice Classics section, achieved notoriety at the time of its debut. It is set in the red-light area of Singapore, at a time shortly after the country had achieved independence and before it earned its buttoned-up, conservative reputation. Loosely structured, the film follows a 16-year-old woman (played by Hiep Thi Le), who’s an employee at the appropriately named Sin Sin Hotel.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “City of Wind” depicts a version of Mongolian everyday life that is both traditional and modern. Ulaanbaatar is shown as messy and sprawlingly urban in a fashion that will be familiar to millions of city dwellers in Asia — even if there are yurts in the front garden. Presented in Venice’s Horizons section, and then Toronto, “City” starts as a story of a shaman, who is still of school age.

Marta Balaga Mika Gustafson’s “Paradise Is Burning” – sold by Italy’s Intramovies and previously known as “Sisters” – has debuted a trailer and exclusive first clip ahead of its premiere in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section. Set in Sweden, it sees young sisters Laura, Mira and Steffi trying to get by on their own after their mother leaves. When social services call, Laura comes up with a plan: in order to avoid foster care, she needs to find someone to impersonate their mom.