‘Jane Campion – Her Way’ Tribute Set for 70th Sydney Film Festival – Global Bulletin

Kevin Costner's estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, opted for a little retail therapy amid her divorce, and she was spotted doing so without her wedding ring.Baumgartner went out and did a little shopping on Thursday in Santa Barbara, California, which is not too far from the home she and the  star share in nearby Montecito. Baumgartner looked quite fashionable with a white fedora hat, denim jacket, white top, jeans and matching white kicks.The outing comes less than a week after Baumgartner filed for divorce after more than 18 years of marriage.

EXCLUSIVE: The 33rd annual Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival has revealed its full film lineup.

Sophia Scorziello editor Mammoth Lakes Film Festival has announced the lineup of its ninth installment, held in-person from May 24-28 at venues throughout the California mountain town. Notably, the opening and closing films will feature stories from transgender individuals around the world. “Two of the most compelling documentaries we came across this year happened to be transgender stories, highlighting characters living in circumstances that threaten their survival, and we are so thrilled to showcase ‘Queendom’ and ‘Kokomo City’ as our opening and closing spotlight films,” said Paul Sbrizzi, director of festival programming. Opening film “Queendom,” by Agniia Galdanova, is a window into the life of Gena, a transgender Russian performance artist, and the radical acts that put her life in danger. The closing film “Kokomo City” by D. Smith explores the lives of four Black transgender sex workers as they consider what their existence means within the Black community. Koko Da Doll, who was one of the documentary’s four subjects, was fatally shot in Atlanta last month.

Making it official. Kevin Costner’s estranged wife, Christine Baumgartner, was spotted without her wedding ring shortly after filing for divorce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Glossy drama film, “Inside the Yellow Cocoon,” has unveiled its first trailer ahead of its world premiere this month in the Directors’ Fortnight section at Cannes. Its world sales representative, Cercamon will give the picture a market launch with a buyers-only screening on May 16. The anticipated Vietnamese-Singapore co-production is the debut feature by Pham Thien An and is eligible for the Camera d’Or prize. Its narrative follows a man whose sister-in-law is killed in a freak motorcycle accident in Saigon. He is tasked with delivering her body back to their countryside hometown. It is a journey on which he also takes his young nephew, who miraculously survived the crash. Amidst the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, the man begins a search for his older brother who vanished years ago in order to be able to hand over the boy. His pursuit, interrupted by magical dreams and forbidden desires, leads him to question what is worth living for.

Brie Larson, Paul Dano and Julia Ducournau are among the eight people chosen to complete the main competition jury at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, Cannes organizers announced Thursday morning in Paris.Swedish director Ruben Ostlund, who won the Palme d’Or last year for “Triangle of Sadness,” was previously announced as president of the jury. The presence of Ducournau, who won the top award for “Titane” in 2021, means that the last two Palme winners will be part of the deliberations to determine who succeeds them this year.Other jurors will be Moroccan writer-director Maryam Touzani, who was in Cannes last year with “The Blue Caftan”; French actor Denis Menochet, who recently appeared in Ari Aster’s “Beau Is Afraid”; Zambian/British writer-director Rungano Nyoni, whose “I’m Not a Witch” premiered in Cannes; Afghan novelist and writer-director Atiq Rahimi, whose film work often adapts his own bestselling books; and Argentinian writer-director Damian Szifron, who landed an Oscar nomination for his 2014 Cannes film “Wild Tales.”The jury’s 5-to-4 split between men and women is typical for Cannes in recent years.

Naman Ramachandran The Malta Film Commission is launching the first-ever Mediterrane Film Festival, a new annual event dedicated to celebrating film and creativity. Running from June 25-30, the festival will take place at Valletta, Malta’s capital, and other locations across the country The festival aims to serve as a platform for Malta to continue building its film brand image worldwide and attract more film business to the islands. Prominent films shot in recent years in Malta include Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon,” Terrence Malick’s “The Way of the Wind” and Colin Trevorrow’s “Jurassic World Dominion.” The program, which will be revealed during the Cannes Film Festival, will showcase films from each of the MED9 (an alliance of nine Mediterranean and Southern European Union member states: Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain) nations. Screenings will be accessible to the public, and the featured films will be in the running for various awards.

EXCLUSIVE: Fiona Shaw (Andor), Katherine Waterston (Inherent Vice) and Chaske Spencer (The English) have entered production in NYC on Park Avenue, a new indie drama from Sundance alum Gaby Dellal (On a Clear Day), who directs from her script written with Tina Alexis Allen.

We have some exciting new photos from the set of the Wicked movies!

Spring has sprung — which means it’s time to look ahead to winter. Organizers of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival said today that its 39th annual event will run February 7-17 in the coastal California town.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The BBC has acquired Norwegian comedy drama ‘Afterglow’ for BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. The 7×45 minute series tells the story of Ester Sand, the one person you think will live forever, who finds out she has cervical cancer on her 40th birthday. But after the initial shock, it’s Ester who comforts the people in her life and she has no intention of leaving the world just yet. “ ‘Afterglow’ is a story of love and life and all of the glorious and silly things we do before we die,” the broadcaster said. “Afterglow” stars Nina Ellen Odegaard (“Possession”), Torbjorn Harr (“Vikings”), Sara Khorami (“Witch Hunt”) and Hermann Sabado (“Home for Christmas”). It was created by Kjetil Indregard and Atle Knudsen, who also acts as director.  It was produced by Monster Scripted for NRK, with rights handled by Reinvent International Sales. “Funny, sad, honest and touching, ‘Afterglow’ is that rare thing – an uplifting drama about serious illness,” said Sue Deeks, head of BBC program acquisition.

EXCLUSIVE: Cedric the Entertainer (The Neighborhood), Sophia Ali (Uncharted), Gregg Henry (Guardians of the Galaxy), Adhir Kalyan (United States of Al), Reno Wilson (Good Girls) and Jamie Lee (Crashing) will topline Above The Line, an independent dark heist-comedy from director Jeffrey Scott Collins. Others set for roles include Dylan Playfair (Letterkenny), Jackson Pace (The Walking Dead), John Way (Sweet Sunshine), Suzy Nakamura (The West Wing) and Jordan Claire Robbins (The Umbrella Academy).

John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) is set to star opposite Honorary Oscar winner Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction) in The Piano Lesson — a Netflix film adaptation of August Wilson’s classic play, which will mark the feature directorial and screenwriting debut of his brother, Malcolm Washington. Pic’s starry ensemble will also include Ray Fisher (Rebel Moon), Danielle Deadwyler (Till), Michael Potts (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and Corey Hawkins (The Tragedy of Macbeth).

Refresh for latest…: While a handful of big-ticket Cannes Film Festival titles have already been revealed, the bulk of the Official Selection for the 76th edition will be unveiled today. General Delegate Thierry Frémaux is announcing the lineup for the May 16-27 event from Paris’ UGC Normandie cinema this morning and we are updating the list live below; you can also watch the livestream here.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Competition reality TV format “Lego Masters” has been picked up by Tokyo Broadcasting System for adaptation in Japan. The deal is the 19th for the Banijay Rights-represented format and the third in Asia. Production is currently underway for the show, which will see pairs compete against each other to wow judges with inspiring designs and brick builds. “I am looking forward to working with Banijay Rights and not only learn about the production of the show, but also to closely examine the essence of creation behind it,” said Aso Kunihiro, producer, contents solution department at TBS in a prepared statement.

The Cannes Film Festival will announce the lineup for its 76th edition Thursday morning at 11 a.m. Paris time (2 a.m. PT/5 a.m. ET). The press conference will stream live from the UGC Normandie cinema on the Champs-Elysées.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Gustav Möller, who won the Audience Award at Sundance with his previous film “The Guilty,” has just completed the shooting of “Vogter,” a psychological thriller which has been boarded by Nordisk Film and Les Films du Losange. “Vogter” boasts a stellar Nordic cast including Sidse Babett Knudsen, the BAFTA-winning actor of “Borgen,” Dar Salim (“Game of Thrones”) and up-and-comer Sebastian Bull. The film follows Eva, an idealistic prison officer who is faced with the dilemma of her life when a young man from her past gets transferred to the prison where she works. Without revealing her secret, Eva asks to be moved to the young man’s ward – the toughest and most violent in the prison. Here begins an unsettling psychological thriller, where Eva’s sense of justice puts both her morality and future at stake.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda, the Chinese conglomerate that once threatened to take over Hollywood, has put up for sale the Hoyts cinema chain in Australia that it bought in 2015. Hoyts is Australia’s second largest movie theater operator with 46 multiplexes housing 412 screens, according to 2022 data from Screen Australia. It also owns Val Morgan, Australia’s biggest cinema advertising firm.Wanda Cinema Line, itself China’s biggest theater operator, has appointed Credit Suisse and Nomura to handle the sale. Bidders are understood to have access to a “stapled debt” package (a line of agreed financing arranged by the banks) if the potential buyer cannot arrange sufficient finance of their own. A first deadline for bids is set at the beginning of May, with final offers to be submitted by the end of June.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A growing range of Thai, Japanese and Chinese-language films and TV shows are reaching global audiences – joining the by-now well-established international viewership for South Korean shows.Netflix’s Global Top 10 for the week April 3-10, sees made-for-streaming Korean title “Kill Boksoon” on top of the non-English-language films list, with 27.5 million hours watched in its second week of release. It is immediately followed by Thai film “Hunger,” about a young woman apprentice in an upmarket restaurant working under a tough boss. The film is directed by Sitisiri Mongkolsiri and stars “Bad Genius” breakout Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief U.K.-based sales agent Mister Smith Entertainment has picked up international rights to “Grafted,” a New Zealand-set horror film which marks the feature directing debut of Sasha Rainbow. The film is now in production. Mister Smith will launch sales next month in Cannes. The film tells story of a Chinese student who travels to New Zealand to complete the scientific work of her deceased father only to find a new way of achieving popularity, one body at a time.