International Oscar Race: ‘Tiger Stripes,’ Critics’ Week-Winning Body Horror Film, Selected to Represent Malaysia

Malaysian filmmaker Amanda Nell Eu has distanced herself from the cut of her feature film Tiger Stripes, which is being released theatrically in Malaysia on October 19 for one week in an Oscars-qualifying run. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Amanda Nell Eu, director of breakout film “Tiger Stripes,” has disowned the censored version of the movie that launched in her native Malaysia on Thursday. “I do not stand behind the cut that will be shown in local cinemas […] the film that will be shown in local cinemas is not the film that we made, and it is not the film that won the Grand Prize of the Critics Week in Cannes,” said Eu in a statement (see below for full letter). The debut feature had received wide acclaim as the first Malaysian film in many years to play in Cannes, the first by a Malaysian woman director. It won a prize as best picture in Cannes Critics’ Week sidebar, will be the opening film of the Singapore International Film Festival and has been selected as Malaysia’s Oscar contender. Pitched somewhere between a coming-of-age drama and a body horror movie, the film tells the story of a 12-year-old who becomes the first among her friends to reach puberty.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Una Gunjak’s debut feature “Excursion,” which is Bosnia and Herzegovina’s entry for the Oscars’ international feature film category. Salaud Morisset is handling international sales. HBO Europe has just picked up the SVOD and pay TV rights to the movie in 15 countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Rome Film Fest opener “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a bold period dramedy that marks the directorial debut of popular Italian actor Paola Cortellesi, has scored a slew of international sales. The film, shot in black-and-white and set in post-World War II Rome, riffs on Italy’s neorealist past, albeit with a female empowerment element angle and a contemporary A-list Italian cast.

Super exciting news has been revealed for fans of Drag Race!

IMAX is continuing its expansion in Malaysia and its partnership with Golden Screen Cinemas, pacting for six state-of-the-art IMAX with Laser systems. The agreement will cover five new locations including the Aurum TRX in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, and one upgrade to the Southkey Megamall location in IOI City Mall. With the new deal, IMAX has now completed 13 signings for its systems this year in Malaysia, making it the top international growth market for IMAX in 2023 to date.

Taylor Swift’s new documentary, Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, has scored the biggest opening weekend for a concert film in history. The film, which premiered in the UK on October 13, documents the six performances completed by Swift at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium earlier this year.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Matthew Heineman’s moving documentary feature “American Symphony” was recently acquired by Netflix after its debut at the Telluride Film Festival, cementing itself as one of the early frontrunners for the Oscars. Its main subject, “Soul” Oscar winner Jon Batiste, will now be in the race for best original song with the track “It Never Went Away.” Batiste sings the emotional number, which he co-wrote with Grammy-winning songwriter and producer Dan Wilson. Read: Variety’s Awards Circuit for the latest Oscars predictions in all categories.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Lionsgate has landed U.S. rights to “The Home,” a thriller starring Pete Davison. The movie, directed by James DeMonaco (“The Purge”), was backed by Miramax and screened for buyers outside of competition at this year’s Toronto Film Festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Tiger Stripes,” the Malaysian coming-of-age, body horror film that debuted in Cannes’ Critics Week section has been set as the opening title for this year’s Singapore International Film Festival (Nov. 30 – Dec.

EXCLUSIVE: Bruce Weber’s Academy Award-nominated documentary Let’s Get Lost has received a 4k restoration, which will debut at this year’s Lumiere Film Festival. 

The 1975‘s Matty Healy has hit out at The Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas‘ comments about their LGBTQ+ stance in Malaysia.It comes after the 1975 were banned from Malaysia after their set was cut short during day one of the Good Vibes Festival on July 21, when Healy criticised the Malaysian government for anti-LGBTQ laws during their headlining set.Healy also kissed bandmate and bassist Ross MacDonald on the lips onstage before their set was cut short.The cancellation resulted in The Strokes’ set being pulled from Good Vibes and led to Casablancas sharing his own thoughts on Instagram.He wrote at the time: “it def helped the white outsider awareness yes, for sure… i felt the same. had no idea.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Some twenty aspiring film projects have been selected to participate in the inaugural edition of the Qcinema Project Market (Nov. 18-19) that this year represents and expansion of the QCinema Film Festival in The Philippines’ Quezon City. The selected titles include development projects by several of East Asia’s better known independent and art-house directors and projects.

Matty Healy delivered a lengthy speech regarding The 1975’s recent ban from Malaysia during a show in Dallas on Monday night (October 9). In July the band were ejected from the stage during a set at Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival and subsequently banned from returning to perform in the country after Healy spoke out about the government's anti-LGBTQ laws and kissed his bandmate, Ross MacDonald.

Anthony Hickox, the British director known for horrors such as Waxwork and Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth, has died aged 64.

The 1975‘s Matty Healy has delivered a lengthy speech regarding the band’s recent ban from Malaysia for criticising the government’s LGBTQ+ stance at their show in Texas last night (October 9).The band were banned from Malaysia after their set was cut short during day one of Good Vibes Festival on July 21, when Healy criticised the Malaysian government for anti-LGBTQ laws during their headlining set at Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival.Healy also kissed bandmate and bassist Ross MacDonald on the lips onstage before their set was cut short two songs later – just seven songs into their setlist – and it was announced that the band were, from then, banned from Malaysia.Future Sound Asia (FSA), the organiser of Kuala Lumpur’s Good Vibes Festival (GVF), then demanded the band pay RM12.3million (£2,099,154) in damages after Healy‘s “indecent behaviour” caused the cancellation of the festival, with artists and vendors complaining of lost earnings. The Malaysian LGBTQ+ community also condemned Healy over his actions, arguing that: “Foreigners don’t get to come in and shit on us and tell us how to do things, especially when they only make it worse for us”.During the band’s set last night, ahead of their performance of ‘Love It If We Made It’, Healy gave his views on the incident and spoke about in great length.Matty Healy’s full speech on Malaysia incident in Fort Worth tonightThanks to Emily and talktorossabouit#The1975 #SATVB pic.twitter.com/1DfP18kXND— The 1975 TH (@the1975_thteam) October 10, 2023Matty Healy’s full speech on Malaysia incident transcribed by 1975Archives #The1975 #SATVB pic.twitter.com/lkhBcBKXxF— The 1975 TH (@the1975_thteam) October 10, 2023“Alright ladies and gentlemen,” he began.

Naman Ramachandran The enduring popularity of the Asian LGBT and horror genres and the relationship with giant streamer Netflix were among the topics of discussion at a lively panel focusing on distribution at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Contents and Film Market. “I hate the fact that all the producers want to work with Netflix, it is also killing international sales as well. Because if all the big titles go to Netflix, it leaves very little room for independent distributors,” said Chen Shao-Yi, general manager at Screenworks Asia.

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. 

Naman Ramachandran India’s Crawling Angel Films and Singapore’s Akanga Film Asia are teaming on Busan Asian Film School (AFiS) alumnus Aakash Chhabra’s feature directorial debut “I′ll Smile in September.” The film is selected at the Busan International Film Festival‘s Asian Project Market. Akanga’s credits include Cannes winner “Tiger Stripes,” Locarno winner “A Land Imagined” and its “Oasis of Now” is in competition in the festival’s New Currents strand.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Berlin Film Festival has created a new scouting role to curate a rising generation of German filmmakers. The next edition, which is set to take place from Feb. 15-25, will see its section dedicated to newcomer German films merged into the main program.