Classic Cult Film Streamer Cultpix Pacts With Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute, Strikes South Africa Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

TV star Jenny Powell showed off her toned figure as she stripped down into a bikini for a chilly ocean swim, while enjoying an autumn break in Marbella.The 55 year old donned a coral-printed bikini as she stood on the beach and posed for the camera. It looked like a perfect day for a dip, as the blue sky and calm waters could be seen in the background.The star showed off her washboard abs and toned legs as she posed up a storm with one hand running through her hair.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Nurturing young talent and promoting film education is the name of the game at the Black Nights Film Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. The festival will feature a range of events specifically aimed at education promoting both film literacy in schools and vocational training in front of and behind the camera.

Warner Bros Discovery has signed a multi-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Taiwan Mobile and Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) to create and distribute Taiwanese original content locally and across international markets.

EXCLUSIVE: Hugo Weaving is leading Australian streamer Binge‘s first original film, How to Make Gravy.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The immediate family of leading Taiwanese film director Hou Hsiao-hsien said on Wednesday that he had retired from filmmaking due to illness and is now living peacefully in retirement. They said that their family-run company remains active and in business. The statement (see below) was issued in response to news articles earlier this week that followed an introductory speech given in London by critic and curator Tony Rayns before a screening of 1985 title “A Time to Live and a Time to Die,” one of Hou’s best-known features. Rayns was reported to have said that Hou has dementia, will not direct again and that members of Hou’s company had lost their jobs. The family statement – signed by Cao Baofeng, Hou’s wife, son Isaac Hou and daughter Bess Hou – explained that Hou had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease before the COVID pandemic and that COVID had, to their surprise, worsened the problems. They continued by saying that Hou has recovered from the COVID-related complications and is now resting quietly at home with his family.

Thierry Frémaux is best known internationally as the long-time head of France’s Cannes Film Festival, which is organized out of its offices in Paris’s trendy Marais neighborhood.

Following reports of marital troubles with wife Chloe Madeley, James Haskell has ditched his wedding ring again while out partying in Paris with pals.The former rugby ace, 38, headed to private members’ bar Le Rugby Club in the French capital on Thursday evening with close pal Mike Tindall, 44, ahead of the England V South Africa World Cup semi-final on Sunday. James and Mike hosted a party for their new range of gin Blackeye, which they launched last month with pal Alex Payne, and the duo were seen exiting the club at around 3am after a wild night of partying.

The Last Dinner Party made their Later…with Jools Holland debut by playing two songs – watch the videos below.The band played two of the three singles they have so far released, ‘Nothing Matters’ and ‘My Lady of Mercy’, both of which were produced by James Ford (Arctic Monkeys, Florence + the Machine, Foals).Alongside the band, the episode also featured performances from Johnny Marr, Take That, METTE, Frankie Archer and Skindred.The Last Dinner Party recently completed their UK tour, and they are now preparing to cross the Atlantic Ocean and make their way to the US.They will play five gigs there, with stops in New York, Washington D.C., Philadelphia, Los Angeles and Chicago. They will then make their way back to Europe as opening support for Hozier on his arena tour.Earlier this month, they also announced details of an “intimate variety show” that they will play at London’s Roundhouse on February 1, 2024, with support from Heartworms.Check out their full tour dates below and visit here for any remaining US tickets.In a five-star review of their live show in London in April, NME wrote: “The Last Dinner Party’s ability to go straight from something as potent and wrenching as slow-burning ballad ‘Mirror’ to hamming up the theatrics of ‘Lady Of Mercy’ is a hugely impressive skill: even this early on in their career, on stage, they prove to be masters of contrast.

England held their nerve to beat Fiji in an enthralling quarter-final clash in Marseille, setting up a date with defending champions South Africa in Paris this Saturday.

Christopher Vourlias Amazon Prime Video and German broadcaster ARD have acquired the distribution rights to “The Morning After,” an eight-part dramedy series starring rising British actress Amara Okereke (“In the Lost Lands,” “Red Rose”), with principal photography now underway in Cape Town. Created by Thierry Cassuto and Karen Jeynes (“Recipes for Love and Murder,” “Puppet Nation”) and set in Cape Town, the show stars Okereke as a young, aspiring singer from the U.K.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “It’s been a really buzzy and busy market,” said Lucy Smith, director of Mipcom TV market and conference, and MipJunior, the kids TV event that preceded it, in Cannes Wednesday. More than 11,000 participants from more than 100 countries had come to the event, which runs Oct. 16-19.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Causeway Films, the Australian film production house behind recent breakout “Talk to Me,” has opened a U.K. operation. The company has hired Daniel Negret, formerly of Head Gear Films, as its CEO. Causeway Films was established by producers Kristina Ceyton and Samantha Jennings in 2014, launching with Jennifer Kent’s Sundance hit “The Babadook.” It followed that by producing Kent’s follow up feature “The Nightingale,” which won the special jury prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2019. Innovative horror film, “Talk to Me,” from filmmaking duo Danny and Michael Philippou screened in Sundance, Berlin and SXSW 2023 and was acquired by A24.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent MK2 Films has acquired a collection of films and TV series directed by Bruno Dumont, the award-winning French director behind “Life of Jesus,” “Slack Bay” and “Humanity.” The acquisition, unveiled during Mipcom Cannes, covers the bulk of the director’s work, spanning eight films and TV series including “Li’l Quinquin,” which premiered at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight. MK2 Films will represent rights to these titles in France and international markets.

Lise Pedersen Two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Alexander Payne shared his passion for film and his thoughts on contemporary American cinema with the audience at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon where he is premiering his eighth feature film, “The Holdovers,” under the French title “Winter Break,” on October 15th. In a conversation skilfully led and translated by Los Angeles-based French film journalist Didier Allouch, Payne drew laughs from the Lumière crowd when he explained that the secret to making good films was “keeping your budgets low.” “John Huston approached Luis Buñuel one day and asked him, ‘How is it that you make these wonderful films, like “Viridiana” and “The Exterminating Angel”?’ And Buñuel replied, ‘How much money do you make and how much money do you think I make?’” said Payne with a smile.

Aaron Nemane was always encouraged to play with personality coming through the ranks at Manchester City and it's his personality which has helped him shape a promising career that perhaps could hit further heights.

Danni Moore was just 30 when she discovered a lump in her breast as she fed her baby son. But as shocking a discovery as that was - the lump turned out to be an aggressive stage 3 breast cancer tumour which led to a double mastectomy - her journey has afforded her some amazing life changing moments including a chance to pose topless for a new campaign.The mum of two hasn't stopped there though and has also completed a charity trip to France with former TOWIE star, Pete Wicks and plans to turn her story into a book to inspire others.

Ben Croll Introduced last year, MIA’s dedicated animation program heads into its sophomore edition with a more firmly entrenched industry position and a resoundingly global outlook. With the program scaffolding already in place, MIA curators spent the past year shoring up support and scouting for projects at key markets in Berlin, Cannes and Annecy, resulting in a program of roughly 30 co-production pitch projects and works-on-progress that altogether spans more than 40 countries.

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. 

For a diamond broach heaving with 158 carats, the first thought to come to mind wouldn't be 'Granny's Chips'.

With the Rugby World Cup now well and truly in full swing, Scotland fans will no doubt be on the edge of their seats as the Scottish national team takes to the pitch on Saturday to take on Ireland. The team, which is headed up by coach Gregor Townsend sadly suffered an early blow at the start of the competition when they lost their Pool B opener in Marseille to South Africa, but despite the initial setback, the Scots came back stronger to beat both Tonga and Romania.