Former IFC Films Boss Jonathan Sehring On Steering ‘Drive My Car’ From Cannes To The Oscars & His New Venture, Sideshow

Lady Gaga is the lady of the night at the 2022 New York Film Critics Circle Awards!

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorCrunchyroll is inviting fans of the Dragon Ball anime franchise to hop on their Flying Nimbus cloud — and stream more than 500 episodes of the fan-favorite series that were previously available only on Funimation.For the first time, Toei Animation’s “Dragon Ball,” “Dragon Ball Z” and “Dragon Ball GT” are now available to watch on Sony’s Crunchyroll streaming service in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.The three series come to Crunchyroll as part of another wave of new content from Funimation, after Sony on March 1 announced that the two services would merge into a single unified Crunchyroll service. The trio of shows joins “Dragon Ball Super,” which has been available on Crunchyroll with English subtitles.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFree Stone Productions has added a quartet of new Japanese film titles to its sales slate for this week’s virtual edition of Hong Kong FilMart. The female-led company is selling romance “Leave in Summer” and drama film “Yes, I Can’t Swim” both of which will release later this year.Directed by Igashi Aya, “Leave in Summer” is a tale of a lost soul and his spiritual guide. It depicts a man washing up in a seaside town at the end of the season and seeking to stay so that he can reconnect with his recently deceased wife.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefTwo feature films from Ukraine will this month be given special screenings in Tokyo, Japan, as part of a fund- and awareness-raising initiative about Russia’s war in Europe.Both films “Atlantis” and “Reflection” were made by director Valentyn Vasyarovych. They played at the Venice film festival but have not been licensed to Japan or released commercially there.However, under the banner of the Ukrainian Filmmaker Support Screening Association, former Tokyo International Film Festival programmer Yatabe Yoshi, has arranged special permission for the benefit screenings to go ahead.

, and the Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway-led , which explores the rise and fall of the formerly $47 billion brand, WeWork, and the love story between two of the company’s co-founders.The streamer also recently announced that when baseball season begins, Apple TV+ will be the place fans will want to be (second only to the stands, of course). Apple and Major League Baseball are partnering to bring subscribers, a weekly double-header with pre- and post-game programming.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentHamaguchi Ryusuke’s Oscar-nominated “Drive My Car” took eight prizes at the 45th Japan Academy Film Prize ceremony, held on Friday at the Grand Prince Hotel New Takawana in Tokyo.In addition to the best picture award, the film won best director (Hamaguchi), best screenplay (Hamaguchi and co-writer Oe Takamasa) and best actor (Nishijima Hidetoshi). The film also scooped prizes for cinematography, lighting, editing and sound recording.Meanwhile, best actress went to Arimura Kasumi for her work in the hit romantic drama “We Made a Beautiful Bouquet.”Best animation honors were awarded to Watanabe Ayumu’s “Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko,”  a heart-warming coming-of-age film set in Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido.

A.D. Amorosi To complement Japanese director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s grieving, soft-spun vision for “Drive My Car,” which has received four Oscar noms including director and best picture, the choice of composer to create a melodramatic and delicate score was crucial.Enter Eiko Ishibashi, an experimental Japanese multi-instrumentalist whose 2018 “The Dream My Bones Dream” was a turning point in an already decade-long career of scores for theater and short films.Ishibashi’s 2018 album of haunting soundscapes and its electro-acoustic mix of noise, oddball pop, improvisational jazz and minimalist, modern classical music made her a cinematic force equal to Hamaguchi.

, and the Jared Leto and Anne Hathaway-led , which explores the rise and fall of the formerly $47 billion brand, WeWork, and the love story between two of the company’s co-founders.The streamer also recently announced that when baseball season begins, Apple TV+ will be the place fans will want to be (second only to the stands, of course). Apple and Major League Baseball are partnering to bring subscribers, a weekly double-header with pre- and post-game programming.

At Contenders Film: The Nominees, Deadline presented a panel with the director and star of perhaps the most historic nominated film at this year’s Oscars, Drive My Car, which represents Japan’s first-ever Best Picture nomination. It’s an astounding feat for a three-hour Japanese-language film, about a stage director’s personal crisis interweaved with his trip to Hiroshima to direct a production of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya.

Pusha T and Nigo have shared a new collaboration together, ‘Hear Me Clearly’ – listen to it below.The track, which comes in at just under two-and-a-half-minutes, features a chorus that interpolates Jay-Z’s verse on Rick Ross‘ 2010 track ‘Free Mason’.Pusha T took to Twitter to share the artwork for the track. It’s a simple polaroid shot of the rapper signed by Nigo with the words ‘Day Uno Family’ written in the corner.‘Hear Me Clearly follows the previously-released singles ‘Want It Bad’ with Kid Cudi and ‘Arya’ with A$AP Rocky.

Manori Ravindran International EditorMulti-hyphenate Flying Lotus and his company Brainfeeder Films has linked with Paris-based Logical Pictures and XYZ Films for a multi-picture development deal covering a slate of films that the artist will produce and direct.Logical Content Ventures, the co-production fund backed by Logical Pictures, will finance the development of the films, which will focus on genres in the horror, thriller and sci-fi universe. Logical also secured a first-look agreement to finance and produce.

Bobby Gillespie has won Best Music Book at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 this evening (March 2) for Tenement Kid.The Primal Scream frontman’s memoir beat music books by Dave Grohl (The Storyteller: Tales Of Life And Music), Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast (Crying In H Mart), Questlove (Music Is History) and Paul McCartney (The Lyrics) for the win.“I’m very pleased and honoured to receive the Best Music Book award,” said Bobby. “Thank you NME!”Published October 21, Tenement Kid tells Gillespie’s story up until the creation of Primal Scream’s classic album ‘Screamadelica’.In 2007, Primal Scream were crowned Godlike Genius at the NME Awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Sonia Yuan, who stars in Japan’s first Best Picture Oscar nominee Drive My Car, has signed with Artist International Group for management.

Kid Cudi has teamed up with DJ and Bape founder Nigo for a brand new single called ‘Want It Bad’ – listen to it below.Produced by Pharrell, it’s the second preview of Nigo’s upcoming album, ‘I Know Nigo’. The first track to be released from the project was last month’s A$AP Rocky-featured ‘Ayra’.On the euphoric ‘Want It Bad’, Cudi celebrates his successes and the grind it took to get to this point: “Lives fast, with high hopes/ Story of a kid who was feelin’ low/ To the life of me, lemme set the scene/ On my grind, I work hard/ Lord hit me, woah, tell ’em it’s a new mould/ Walk into a different zone, doin’ the impossible/ Too incredible.”Arriving with a flashy video shot in Paris, you can check out the Harrison Boyce-directed clip below:Nigo first announced the forthcoming album back in December, revealing that the project was on the way and that he’d signed to Steven Victor’s Victor Victor Worldwide label, a joint venture between Victor and Universal Music Group.Guest appearances will include Pharrell, Kid Cudi, A$AP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert, Pusha T, Tyler, The Creator, Fam-Lay and Teriyaki Boyz, with more to be announced.Outside of his work as the head of the streetwear brand A Bating Ape, Nigo has long had an interest and association with the world of music.

A.D. Amorosi Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, who has curated a new Yoko Ono tribute album, “Ocean Child,” says that his first true introduction to Ono’s work came during a crate-digging session 20 years ago.“I found a copy of “Feeling the Space,” in the ‘O’ section of a dusty record store, thinking it would be what I imaged to have been her more challenging avant-garde stuff,” says Gibbard, talking about Ono’s self-produced 1973 album.

Disruptive Restaurant Group (DRG) celebrates the East Coast expansion of their Las Vegas-based Japanese restaurant Kumi. Now, New York City has the chance to indulge in Kumi’s classic Japanese cuisine that takes on a Korean-American twist. While the Las Vegas location can be found at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, the New York City location opened up in the heart of Midtown inside the Le Meridien hotel on February 3.

Clayton Davis Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car” defied expectations last week when it nabbed Oscar nominations for best picture, director, adapted screenplay and international feature. The Japanese movie, released domestically by venerable art-house distributor Janus Films, surpassed titles with more robust campaigns, including Amazon’s “Being the Ricardos” and Netflix’s “Tick, Tick … Boom!”Even Hamaguchi was surprised by the noms.“I could have never imagined that I would be a realistic contender,” he tells Variety, speaking through Stacy Lee, a Japanese interpreter.