Emerging Chinese Directors Lead Shanghai Festival’s Asian New Talents Section

Essence Festival has outdone itself.From July 5-7, the annual festival will bring in some of the biggest names in music to New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome for three fun-filled days of Hip-Hop, R&B and good times.Headliners at this year’s extravaganza include Usher, Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, Keke Palmer and Big Boi.They’ll be joined by T-Pain, The Roots, Victoria Monét, SWV and Jagged Edge.If you ask us though, we’re most excited to see “SNL” cast member Punkie Johnson handle hosting duties on Friday, July 5.Plus, we won’t be skipping out on Method Man, Sheila E. and Tank and the Bangas, either.Sound like the festival for you?As of now, it isn’t too late to scoop up last-minute tickets.At the time of publication, three-day general admission passes start at $691 before fees on Vivid Seats.Single-day passes can be found for as low as $70 before fees.In fact, if you’re planning on attending, it might be wise to make three separate single-day ticket purchases instead of buying the three-day pass.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A jury headed by French Vietnamese director Tranh Anh Hung awarded its Golden Goblet (Jin Jue) prizes for the Shanghai International Film Festival’s main competition. The top prize for best feature went to “The Divorce,” directed by Kazakhstan’s Daniyar Salamat. The jury praised the film for its sophisticated story-telling which mixes comedy, farce and tragedy, and “which moves fluidly from public sphere to the intimate relationship of a couple in crisis” and its feeling of innocence.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The 17th edition of the SIFF Project Market, held on the margins of the Shanghai International Film Festival, wrapped this week with the awarding of various prizes and an early evening party. In the juried section prizes were determined by a panel including Lu Chuan, Luca Liang and Yao Chen.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Flow,” a director-driven animated feature which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard and just swept three awards at Annecy Film Festival, has been embraced by a raft of major distributors in key territories, including the U.K., Japan, South Korea, Germany, Spain and Italy. The movie is represented internationally by Charades.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Extinction,” the Malaysian-produced animation that is playing at the Shanghai International Film Festival, has struck its first international rights sales deals. The film was recently picked up by All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based sales agency. All Rights has subsequently licensed the title to Magic Film for the CIS region, to Dazzler Media for the U.K., to Red Cape Distribution for Israel and to Bir Film for Turkey.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Coralie Fargeat’s Demi Moore-starring feminist body horror film “The Substance” has been set as the closing night title for the New Zealand International Film Festival. The picture is one of 16 which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival last month selected for the NZIFF which is now under the artistic leadership of Paolo Bertolin.

Book adaptations are tricky. Just look at the films made from Stephen King novels for proof.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zhang Yimou, director of many of China’s most spectacular and successful movies, is to try his hand at sci-fi. He will direct a film adaptation of “The Three-Body Problem.” The project was announced Sunday by Wang Changtian, founder and CEO of Enlight Media, one of China’s top three studios, at a forum organized within the Shanghai International Film Festival. Wang said that Zhang is in the early stages of preparations for the film.

Shanghai International Film Festival, but that did little to diminish the festive atmosphere. The ceremony was held at the Shanghai Grand Theater in the downtown area on an evening that was warm and spring-like and without the “plum rain” or summer downpours that the city is known for at this time of year. Arguably the biggest names in attendance were Hong Kong actor and “Westworld” star Daniel Wu, Hong Kong director Dante Lam, Chinese star actor-director-producer Xu Zheng and Japanese actor Yakusho Koji, who won the best actor award a year ago at Cannes for his leading role in Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days.” Marco Mueller, a celebrated festival director and artistic consultant, was also on hand in his adopted home town.

Naman Ramachandran Indian actor and filmmaker Manohara has had an inspirational journey. Hailing from humble circumstances in Bengaluru, southern India, Manohara was picked out of school and cast by filmmaker Prithvi Konanur in “Railway Children” (2016), which won him best child actor at India’s National Film Awards. Manohara went on to act in supporting roles in Konanur’s Busan and Hainan selection “Where Is Pinki?” (2020) and Busan, Hong Kong and Goa title “Seventeeners,” on which he also assisted.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Parallax China, one of China’s leading independent film sales companies, has picked up rights to a pair of titles that debut this week at the Shanghai International Film Festival. It is handling world sales on “Qian Tang River,” directed by Wan Bo, and “Another Day of Hope,” by Liu Taifeng. Both are directorial debuts and both appear in the non-competitive Refreshing Chinese Cinema section.

Shanghai International Film Festival represent a showcase of directors who are also known-quantities, but who are worthy of higher profiles. (The festival’s Asian Talent selection has a further selection of six more directors seeking to break through.) The competition quartet fall into two pairs (a seventh and eighth generation maybe): the latest works of Guan Hu and the rarely seen Gu Changwei on one hand; and a younger generation of auteurs, Wei Shujun and Zhang Dalei. Guan is in need of rehabilitation after his 2019 war film was selected as the Shanghai festival’s opening film but experienced a last-minute cancellation due to the intervention of unforeseen layers of censorship.

Naman Ramachandran Iranian filmmaker Marjan Khosravi, winner of multiple awards for her shorts, is bowing her first feature-length film, “Requiem for a Tribe,” at the Shanghai International Film Festival. The film is in the documentary competition and eligible for a Golden Goblet. Khosravi has an awards-laden career.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Along with a red-carpet opening ceremony, a press conference with the members of the main competition jury is a staple event of major film festivals and the 26th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off in traditional form on Friday. Along with Vietnam-French director Tran Anh Hung, previously revealed as jury president, the other members of the decisive committee this year are: Australian director and screenwriter Rolf de Heer; German director Matthias Glasner; Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka Fai; Argentinian director Santiago Mitre; Chinese director Sonthar Gyal; and, the jury’s only woman, star actor Zhou Xun. A packed audience lobbed familiar questions about the criteria they jurors would employ to decide the Golden Goblet prize winners, and what informs those views.

Barefoot Music Festival returns to Wildwood, NJ’s Wildwood Beach for four days of boot scootin’ country music, fun and sun.Headliners set to appear at the beach this year include big names like Keith Urban, Luke Bryan, Kane Brown, Old Dominion and Oliver Anthony.They’ll be joined by mainstays Jake Owen, Scotty McCreery, Bailey Zimmerman, Hailley Whitters and The War and Treaty.Plus, to sweeten the deal, non-country icons The Beach Boys and Bret Michaels will be there, too.In total, 41 huge acts are scheduled to take the stage at the four-day fest.And if you want to be there with them, it isn’t too late to grab last-minute general admission passes.At the time of publication, the lowest price we could find on four-day passes was $647 before fees on Vivid Seats.Single-day passes start at $210 before fees.For more information, we’ve got everything you need to know and more about the 2024 Barefoot Country Festival below.All ticket prices listed above are subject to fluctuation.A complete breakdown of all the best prices on single and multi-day Barefoot Country Music Festival passes can be found here:(Note: The New York Post confirmed all above prices at the publication time. All prices are in US dollars, subject to fluctuation and include additional fees at checkout.)Vivid Seats is a verified secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Luke Newton was photographed for the first time with his rumored girlfriend Antonia Roumelioti amid rumors that linked him to his Bridgerton costar and onscreen love interest Nicola Coughlan.

Selena Kuznikov SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers fromSeason 3 of “Bridgerton,” now streaming on Netflix. Before “Bridgerton” Season 3 lead Luke Newton booked his role on the Regency era-drama, he was juggling auditions, any acting work he could find and working at a bar trying to pay his rent. Now, he’s leading the series, the third season of which saw its biggest debut in the show’s history.

Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton caused some damage to the set of Bridgerton while filming a steamy love scene. Now, the actress is showing off what they broke.

, but IRL, it looks like has a new girlfriend. The Bridgerton star was photographed on June 12 holding hands with his rumored leading lady, dancer Antonia Roumelioti, following the afterparty for the show's London premiere.In the photos, Newton, in a butter yellow button-up shirt, and Roumelioti, in a backless turquoise halter dress, navigate the throng of partygoers and photographers.

The stars of "Bridgerton," Netflix’s Regency-era drama rife with romance and heartbreak, offered some dating and relationship advice for fans looking for love. Nicola Coughlan and Luke Newton, who play Penelope Featherington and Colin Bridgerton, dominate the third season’s storyline with their friends-to-lovers story arc. At Wednesday's London premiere for the second part of season 3, which hits Netflix on Thursday, the pair joked about how fans often suspect that they are dating in real life because of their on-screen chemistry.