Kitano Takeshi to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award From Udine Far East Asian Film Festival

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefKC Global Media has assembled a selection of Korean, Japanese and U.S. content for the second quarter across its portfolio of linear channels AXN Asia, Animax, GEM and ONE. Animax gets a second season of reality competition show, “American Ninja Warrior Junior,” season 4 of Dick Wolf’s “FBI,” season 3 of “FBI: Most Wanted” and “FBI International.” Continuing the crime theme, it will also play season 13 of “NCIS: Los Angeles” from May.

Jack White and Halsey, as well as Foals, Bonobo, Fontaines D.C. and more.This marks the return of international artists to Fuji Rock Festival following a 2021 edition comprising an all-Japanese line-up.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe Rome Film Festival is under new management following a political shake-up that has led to the appointment of RAI Cinema executive Paola Malanga as the fest’s artistic director and Gian Luca Farinelli, who heads the Bologna film archives, as president.Malanga, who was appointed late on Tuesday, replaces Antonio Monda, the New York based journalist and film academic who during his seven-year stint at the helm of the event secured a steady stream of high-caliber guests such as Quentin Tarantino, Tim Burton and Angelina Jolie, to mention a few names on the Rome red carpet at last year’s edition.Farinelli –– who has been appointed president of the Cinema Per Roma foundation that oversees the Rome fest –– takes the reins from Laura Delli Colli, a prominent film journo and critic who remains on the foundation’s board. The new Rome fest regime was prompted by the election last October of new Rome mayor Roberto Gualtieri.The Eternal City extravaganza, which is the brainchild of former Rome mayor Walter Veltroni, has been undergoing management shake-ups due to Italy’s political spoils system ever since its launch in 2006 with Nicole Kidman on the red carpet and ambitions to rival Venice.While Delli Colli exited gracefully, Monda’s departure has been a bit more acrimonious.

The 8th Annual Women’s Voices Now Film Festival: The Rights and Roles of Women: Redefining Our Shared Reality is in the books and the winning films have been selected by our jury: 

Youth Cultural Bonus was officially approved last Wednesday (March 23) by Spain’s council of ministers in hopes of restoring cultural and creative industries that have suffered during the ongoing pandemic.Recipients will have one year to spend the digital voucher, a €200 (£170) spending cap on live events and festivals, a €100 (£85) cap for physical products such as vinyl, and a €100 cap for digital products. Food, textbooks, and instruments can’t be bought using cultural vouchers.The official Spanish government website states: “Following the example of nearby countries, such as France or Italy, where similar initiatives are already being practised for young people who turn 18, the Youth Cultural Bonus is intended for those people who reach the age of majority in the calendar year in which it is requested.”The statement continued: “The Youth Cultural Voucher project seeks to facilitate universal and diversified access to culture for young people, generate new habits of cultural consumption and strengthen existing ones, create new audiences, stimulate demand and reduce the negative impact caused by the pandemic on various cultural sectors in our country.”They also shared that they hoped the vouchers would “promote loyalty that generates the habit of consuming cultural products in young people so that, as adults, they continue to consume cultural products regularly.”Similar plans to increase cultural spending have taken place in both France (€300) and Italy (€500).

Fed-up passengers landing in Manchester said they were forced to sit on a plane for almost an hour after it landed on Sunday, as others claimed they were left waiting for around two hours for their baggage in another day of 'chaos'.

Japan has won the award, and the first time since 2008.It beat out Italy’s “The Hand of God,” Norway’s “The Worst Person in the World,” Denmark’s “Flee” and Bhutan’s “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom.”———For more of AP’s Oscar coverage visit: https://apnews.com/hub/academy-awards

Not surprisingly, the most celebrated film of the year took one of the most coveted Oscars in the world. No, this isn’t about “Power of the Dog” or the Best Picture race.

Courtney Barnett has announced ‘Here And There’, a boutique touring festival with a rotating line-up. Tickets will be available here.The one-day, one-stage festival will be making 15 stops across North America this August and September with a unique line-up set for each city.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticA frothy wish-fulfillment comedy that takes a few wildly unpredictable turns, “Spin Me Round” serves up an al dente satire of corporate retreat culture by following the manager of a popular pasta restaurant on an all-expenses-paid trip to Italy, where nothing goes as she expected. Amber (Alison Brie) imagines something along the lines of the company’s TV commercials, in which handsome Tuscan Grove founder Nick Martucci (Alessandro Nivola) serves pasta in the shade of the family villa — the ideal backdrop for a straightforward rom-com scenario.

Nicolas Cage, 58, married his fifth wife, Riko Shibata, 27, in Feb. 2021, and he’s confident that this is going to be the marriage that lasts for him. “I am a romantic, and when I’m in love, I want to give that person everything I can,” Nick told GQ in a new interview. “It’s my expression of saying, ‘I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you.’ And this is it for me. I mean, this is not happening again. This is it. This is it.”

Kill Bill: Vol. 1.Among the upcoming lineup of nearly three dozen featured events include: The signature Blossom Kite Festival, offering a variety of competitions and demonstrations taking flight from the grounds of the Washington Monument as well as other area parks or virtually (3/26).Cherry Night, a one-night-only celebration of D.C.

They recently announced their comeback - without Kerry Katona - and Atomic Kitten gave fans a taste of what's to come. The girl band's Natasha Gay and Liz McClarnon rolled back the years for a live performance in Manchester for St Patrick's Day.

by some critics, but apparently not enough to convince the Academy, which passed up a nomination for Lady Gaga as this year’s Best Actress.The New York Film Critics Circle thought otherwise, awarding her the Best Actress title officially back in December. And on Wednesday night, the 35-year-old triple-threat finally got the chance to accept the award during their rescheduled ceremony.“Thank you to the New York Film Critics Circle for recognizing my performance as Best Actress this year,” she told the audience during her tearful three-minute speech.

The Boys and Suicide Squad (2016) actress shared details about the alleged incident on her Instagram yesterday (March 16), saying that she decided to do so to “raise awareness” of the rise in anti-Asian hate crimes in countries including the US.The actor, who was born to Japanese parents in LA, said that she rarely shares things about her private life but felt compelled to speak out.“Something happened today that I thought was important,” she wrote, claiming that she was “walking to a café for some coffee and a man struck me in the back of my head. It came out of nowhere”.She continued: “We made no eye contact before, I wasn’t doing anything out of the ordinary.

The UK will remove the last remaining Covid travel requirements from Friday, with the Easter holidays just around the corner. Transport secretary Grant Shapps announced that the need to complete a passenger locator form will be dropped later this week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAnson Lo, part of Hong Kong pop sensation Mirror, has joined the cast of “Chungking Mansions,” an ambitious zombie film that is currently in advanced preparation.Alongside Lo, Hong Kong-Canadian actresses Selena Lee and Jeannie Chan, Korean star Choi Si-Hun, and Hong Kong actor Louis Cheung join the previously announced Japanese action star Rina Takeda and Singaporean actors Desmond Tan and Rebecca Lim.Davika Hoorne, who previously starred in “Pee Mak,” Thailand’s highest grossing film of all time, will also join. She takes over a role previously assigned to Angel Locsin as the assistant to the American protagonist’s pregnant wife.Directed by banker turned producer and director Bizhan Tong (“The Escort”), the film tracks a diverse group of people who, following a zombie attack, try to break into Chungking Mansions.