Hong Sang-Soo’s Berlinale Film ‘In Water’ Sells to Cinema Guild for North America (EXCLUSIVE)

Top executives from Asian media companies including CJ ENM, Zee Entertainment Enterprises, BEC World and Bona Film Group discussed Asia’s changing media landscape on the first day of Hong Kong’s Filmart. 

EXCLUSIVE: Drift director Anthony Chen is gearing up to direct his first US-set project, Heartbeat: A New York Story, about the rarely-told experiences of the Asian gay community during the AIDS epidemic in 1980s New York.

Sammo Hung will be presented with a lifetime achievement honor at the Asian Film Awards. The ceremony was back as an in-person event after a two-year absence and has shifted back to Hong Kong after previously being held in Hong Kong, Macau and Busan. Hung will accept the award on Sunday at the Hong Kong Palace Museum. Hung’s career as an actor, action choreographer, director and producer spans some 60 years. His acting credits include action comedies “Dirty Tiger, Crazy Frog” and “Odd Couple,” paranormal horror comedies “Encounters of the Spooky Kind” and “The Dead and the Deadly,” comedy film series “Lucky Stars” and gangster action film “Shanghai, Shanghai.” In 1982, Hung won the best actor prize at the second Hong Kong Film Awards for his directorial effort “Carry on Pickpocket,” as well as best action choreography for “The Prodigal Son,” which he also directed and starred in.

Naman Ramachandran Siva Ananth, one of the producers of Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus “Ponniyin Selvan: 1,” is ecstatic about the film’s rich haul of nominations at the Asian Film Awards. The film has received a total of six nominations, including for best picture. It is an adaptation of Kalki Krishnamurthy’s classic Tamil-language novel. The story is set in 10th century India during a tumultuous time in the Chola empire, when the power struggle between different branches of the ruling family caused violent rifts between the potential successors to the reigning emperor and a civil war became imminent. All the political and military turmoil led to the Cholas becoming the most prosperous and powerful empire in the continent and one of the most successful and longest-reigning in history.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Driving ever more into Latin America, Wild Sheep Content, the L.A.-based label of former Netflix head of international original series Erik Barmack, has launched the Mexico City-based Wild Sheep Latin America as well as a dedicated film completion finance-distribution fund targeting five-to-eight investments a year in the region.  “Three Idiots” producer Jimena Rodríguez, who also created the distribution arm of Mexican exhibition giant Cinepolis, will head up Wild Sheep Latin America following on her production with Barmack of a burgeoning line in star-studded, character-driven crime thrillers begun by Netflix Mexico original “Invitation to Murder.”

Thania Garcia The Cure is hitting the road for a North American trek that includes three dates each at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl and New York’s Madison Square Garden. This will be the first time the band plays any North American shows since their 2019 festival appearances and their first tour in the region since 2016. Following a slate of 2022 European concerts, the Cure’s “Shows of a Lost World” tour will kick on May 10 in New Orleans and hit 30 stops across the U.S. and some parts of Canada with a closing show on July 1 in Miami. The Cure will be supported by Scottish post-punk band the Twilight Sad at all shows. See the full lineup below.

EXCLUSIVE: Cinema Guild has nabbed North American rights to the feature doc Our Body directed by Venice prize winner Claire Simon (The Competition), which premiered to critical acclaim at last month’s Berlin Film Festival before touching down stateside at MoMA’s Doc Fortnight as well as True/False. Pic is slated for release in theaters later this year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Adam Driver-starring sci-fi adventure film “65” has been approved for theatrical release in mainland China. It will hit cinemas on March 31, some three weeks after the film began to release in other international territories. The film is branded as a Columbia Pictures title and will be released by the Sony label in most territories. In China, however, all revenue-sharing import titles are officially handled by a state-owned enterprise. The Hollywood studio’s Chinese office theoretically operates in an advisory capacity, though in practice it is likely to be involved in marketing strategy and p&a decisions. The film has a survival-quest narrative. After a catastrophic crash on an unknown planet, pilot Mills (Driver) quickly discovers he’s actually stranded on Earth some 65 million years ago. Now, with only one chance at rescue, Mills and the only other survivor, Koa (Ariana Greenblatt), must make their way across an unknown terrain riddled with dangerous prehistoric creatures in an epic fight to survive.

Keshet International (KI) is set to hit the London TV Screenings with a raft of new shows, including “Trust No One,” a new Israeli thriller by Ron Leshem (“Euphoria”), Amit Cohen (“False Flag”) and Daniel Amsel (“MICE”). Other titles on Keshet’s roster include season 2 of “Line in the Sand,” as well as “A Body That Works.” These will be presented at a live event hosted for drama buyers on Wednesday as part of the London TV Screenings. “Trust No One,” which is set to roll out on Keshet 12 later this year, is directed by Ofir Lobel (“A Wonderful Country”)  and is headlined by Yehuda Levi (“A Body That Works,” “Fire Dance”). Levi stars as Itamar, the youngest ever director of the most powerful intelligence agency in Israel who has forged a career by recruiting and handling well-connected informants.  He is now faced with the worst crisis of his life: Itamar is being framed as the source of a cyber security leak. Totally isolated and no longer able to trust anyone, Itamar is forced to use the kind of morally questionable espionage tools he has always opposed to clear his name and save his agents’ lives – exposing a world where any smartphone, CCTV camera and digital device can be hacked.

Wu-Tang Clan and Nas have announced a sprawling world tour for this year, covering Australia, New Zealand, Europe, the UK and North America from May to October. The new run marks a continuation of the co-headlined ‘N.Y. State Of Mind’ tour – named for Nas’ 1994 ‘Illmatic’ cut – which initially hit the North American touring circuit over 25 dates last year.

EXCLUSIVE: Cleopatra Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Argentinian director and producer Nicolas Onetti’s slasher picture What The Waters Left Behind: Scars.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales outlet New Europe Film Sales has sold North American distribution rights for its Berlinale-selected drama “Delegation” to Greenwich Entertainment. “Delegation” is a story of three Israeli high school friends who take part in a class trip visiting Holocaust sites in Poland – their last time together before going to the army. During the trip, shy boy Frisch, aspiring artist Nitzan and class heartthrob Ido deal with issues of love, friendship and politics against the backdrop of concentration camps and memorial sites. The journey will change them forever. The deal for the film, which had its premiere in the Generation 14Plus competition, was negotiated by Naszewski and Greenwich co-president Edward Arentz.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Arbelos, a Los Angeles-based boutique film distribution company, has acquired North American rights to the new 4K restoration of Béla Tarr collaborator György Fehér’s landmark but long unseen Hungarian masterpiece “Twilight” (“Szürkület”). The restored version of the film world premiered in the Berlinale’s Classics strand on Monday. Hungary’s National Film Institute handled the sale. Fehér, who made only two theatrical features, shot the black-and-white film at the end of the 1980s. Based on the crime novella “The Pledge” by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, it is the story of a retired detective who uses a girl as bait to try to catch a serial killer.

Motion Content Group, an industrious producer and co-financier of Love Island, Wynonna Earp and some 1,800 other series globally, is rebranding as GroupM Motion Entertainment in North America.

American distribution following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Cinema Guild will release the film in theaters following its North American festival premiere later this year. The film tells the story of a a pair of wayward young people who abandon theirnewborn child on a stormy night in the mountains of Greece. Taken in by a family of farmers, Jon grows up without knowing his father or mother. Years later, after a tragic accident, he is sent to prison, where he meets Iro. The two form a connection, expressed through music, that will, by turns, haunt them and uphold them the rest of their days. Freely inspired by the story of Oedipus, Schanelec’s latest is as terrifying as myth and as gentle as a folk song.

North West and Monroe Cannon had some fun with their famous moms on Monday night.The 9-year-old daughter of Kim Kardashian and Kanye West and the 11-year-old daughter of Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon were singing and dancing along to Carey's song, «It's a Wrap,» on North and Kim's joint TikTok account at the reality star's Calabasas home.As the two girls danced along to the tune, their moms stepped into the frame, pretending to sing into hairbrushes as their daughters tried to push them away.Mariah rocked some leather leggings, boots and a white jacket for the occasion, while Kim went more casual in a black tank top and sweat pants with some black slides.«It’s a wrap! But never for us!» Kim and North's TikTok account captioned the video.It’s a wrap! But never for us! In addition to goofing off with their A-list moms, Monroe and North also gave their own tribute to Rihanna. In another TikTok, Monroe, dressed in red to match the singer's Super Bowl halftime show performance outfit, lip-syncs to RiRi's song, «Work,» as North, dressed in white to match Rihanna's backup dancers, busts a move behind her.«We love you @rihanna Happy Birthday xoxo Roe and North,» they captioned the video.

Marta Balaga SEO: Petit Film boards Agnieszka Smoczyńska’s ‘Hot Spot’  DESCRIPTION: Paris-based Petit Film boards ‘Hot Spot’ by ‘The Silent Twins’ director Agnieszka Smoczyńska By MARTA BAŁAGA Paris-based Petit Film has boarded “Hot Spot” by Polish director Agnieszka Smoczyńska.  The story, set in the near future, follows a disillusioned private eye Djonny, called to investigate a murder at a refugee camp. But he becomes increasingly unstable as he confronts a cyber witch who gradually takes control of his life. 

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International One of the hottest packages at the EFM has been taken off the table for international. Sources tell Variety that Prime Video has snapped up all international rights, excluding the U.S., to Justin Kurzel’s “The Order,” which stars Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult in a story about the titular white supremacist organization that operated in the 1980s. The project is penned by Oscar- and BAFTA-nominated writer Zach Baylin (“King Richard”), who based the screenplay on Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt’s book “The Silent Brotherhood.” Published in 1989, the book details the activities of the radical-right hate group The Order, which was one of the most sinister organizations to emerge in America since the Ku Klux Klan.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Uncork’d Entertainment has acquired the North American rights for suspense sci-fi thriller “I’ll Be Watching” from Iuvit Media Sales at the European Film Market in Berlin. The film has also been picked up by Falcon Films in the Middle East and North Africa, while Dolphin Medien has taken German-speaking territory rights. The film is directed by Erik Bernard (“Free Dead or Alive”), and stars “The 100” stars Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley, along with Bryan Batt (“12 Years a Slave”), David Keith (“An Officer and a Gentleman”), Hannah Fierman (“VHS”), and Seth Michaels (“Red Notice”).

Naman Ramachandran Singapore-based film production outfit Potocol, whose “Tomorrow is a Long Time,” by Jow Zhi Wei bowed at the Berlin Film Festival’s Generation 14plus competition, has revealed a diverse Asian slate. Potocol’s recent triumphs include Bangladeshi filmmaker Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s Cannes selection “Rehana Maryam Noor” and Indonesian director Makbul Mubarak’s Venice winner “Autobiography.” The company, led by Jeremy Chua who is currently at the Berlinale, has a growing reputation for championing the rise of young filmmakers from across Asia. Potocol has four films in post-production and several more in development. Nicole Midori Woodford’s debut feature “Last Shadow at First Light” is a supernatural road trip drama that follows a Singaporean teenager tracing the footsteps of her missing mother in Japan and explores the ripple effects of a traumatic event subconsciously buried within the family unit.