‘Limbo’ and ‘Anita’ Top Hong Kong Film Awards Nominations

The U.S. is not the only country with growing income inequality. The same is true of China, a phenomenon explored in the Oscar-nominated feature documentary Ascension, from MTV Documentary Films.

Limp Bizkit have added two extra shows to their upcoming UK tour.The nu-metal icons – who released their sixth studio album ‘Still Sucks’ back in October – are set to hit the road in September and have now added a couple of new dates to their UK jaunt due to increasing demand.Fred Durst and co. will now play a second date at London’s O2 Academy Brixton on September 8, the day after their rescheduled gig at the venue.

Richard Kuipers Folklore, feminism and film noir come together in Pushpendra Singh’s meticulously crafted fourth feature “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs.” Set in the disputed Jammu and Kashmir region in Northwest India, this moody fable about an unhappy young bride plotting her escape from tradition and patriarchy is a gripping character study that stutters slightly in the latter stages before producing a magical finale that no-one will forget in a hurry. Singh’s beautifully shot film has traveled extensively on the festival circuit and picked up awards at Hong Kong and Jeonju since debuting at Berlin in 2020.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Kanaa,” an Indian-produced film from 2018 which tells the story of an aspiring woman cricketer and delves into issues of race and gender equality, will get a theatrical release in mainland China on March 18, 2022, according to Chinese state media. It is only the second Tamil-language film to be released in China in recent years, after “2.0” in 2019.

The Hong Kong Film Festival has been forced to alter plans for its 46th edition due to a spike in local Covid cases caused by the Omicron variant.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Hong Kong International Film Festival, scheduled to have taken place from the end of March, has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. Organizers also canceled remaining screenings in the Cine Fan community outreach program.This decision follows the Hong Kong government’s moves earlier this week to extend social distancing measures until April 20, 2022.

Vivienne Chow Hong Kong protest films “Revolution of Our Times” and “May You Stay Forever Young” will have their British premiere in March at a new film festival organized by artists and culture sector workers who have relocated to the U.K. Ng Ka-leung, a producer and director of Hong Kong dystopian anthology “Ten Years,” and documentary filmmaker and writer Wong Ching, co-curators of Hong Kong Film Festival U.K. 2022, said the festival is more than just about screening films that can no longer be shown in their hometown due to political changes.It is organized by Hong Kong Umbrella Community, a U.K.-based body co-founded by Nathan Law, a former Hong Kong lawmaker who is now living in exile in Britain.

Zack Sharf Maureen Murphy, who founded the Razzie Awards in 1981 with John J.B. Wilson, said in a new interview with Vulture that she regrets giving a worst actress nomination to Shelley Duvall for “The Shining.” The Razzie Awards are held annually the day before the Oscars and spotlight the worst films and performances of the year. The voting body consists of 1,128 members from 49 states and over two dozen countries worldwide.“Knowing the backstory and the way that Stanley Kubrick kind of pulverized her, I would take that back,” Murphy said when asked about the more controversial Razzie Award nominees from over the years.

More than 40 years after the Razzie Awards nominated Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”, the organization’s founders say they stand by the film’s nod for Worst Director, but not its Worst Actress nomination for Shelley Duvall. Ultimately, the film won neither award, with Duvall losing to Brooke Shields in “The Blue Lagoon” and Kubrick losing to “Xanadu” director Robert Greenwald.

Chris Willman Music Writer“This is our last show,” Dave Grohl announced at the outset of the Foo Fighters’ set Wednesday night at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood. There was an awkward silence as the invited audience waited to see if there was a punchline coming or not.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Osaka Asian Film Festival has unveiled its biggest ever program – a total of 76 films – to unspool next month (March 10-20, 2022).Its competition section includes the acclaimed Korean debut film “Aloners,” which offers an exacting critique of the alienating effects upon life of modern capitalist economies; Hong Kong biopic “Anita”; the world premiere of “Angry Son,” which combines LGBT and mixed race themes in a heartwarming comedy; Kong Dashan’s new take on “Journey to the West,” as a ragtag group of people on a UFO hunt; “Mama’s Affair,” the second film by Kearen Pang, whose 2017 debut “29+1” won Osaka’s audience award, “No Land’s Man” from Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and festival circuit hit “Barbarian Invasion.” The spotlight section includes ten titles. Among them are “The Ground Beneath her Feet” from Bangladesh’s Mohammad Rabby Mridha; “A Room of Her own” from China’s Xie Yiran; and Carlo Francisco Manatad’s “Whether the Weather is Fine.”The largest component section is the twenty-title Indie Forum, a platform for Japanese indie films that allow the winner to claim the Japan Cuts Award.

Vivienne Chow Police in Hong Kong on Tuesday arrested Tommy Yuen, a popular singer and pro-democracy campaigner. Local media and rights groups reported that Hong Kong authorities have also blocked access in the city to a pro-democracy website operated from the U.K.Yuen, a former member of the Canto-pop boy band E-kids, was arrested by national security police over the suspicion of sedition and money laundering.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefOnly a few months ago, hundreds of Asian film executives were expecting to attend this week’s Berlin festival and the European Film Market. For many, it would have been their first participation in a top-tier overseas festival for nearly two years.But the Omicron variant has upended those dreams. And, except for those folks with a film playing in the festival, most have stayed at home.

Fans know him as Cain Dingle but Jeff Hordley couldn't be more different from his Emmerdale character.

Naman Ramachandran Protagonist Pictures has closed multiple deals for several key territories on Sundance selection and Berlin Film Festival competition title “Call Jane.”Territories sold include DCM for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, Umbrella Entertainment for Australia and New Zealand, Mis.label for Scandinavia, Eagle for Italy, Shaw for Singapore and Empire for South Africa.Directed by Phyllis Nagy, the Oscar nominated writer of “Carol,” the film stars Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Kate Mara and Chris Messina. The film follows Joy (Banks), a traditional 1960s housewife who unexpectedly falls pregnant and finds the Janes, an underground abortion movement led by Virginia (Weaver).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBlackOps Studios Asia from the Philippines, Story Arch Pictures from the U.S. and Agog Film from Hong Kong have joined forces to develop, produce and finance a slate of genre movies that target the streaming marketplace.The 16-title slate comprises nine films and seven series in the action, horror and sci-fi genres, with 11 flowing from BlackOps, two from Story Arch and three from Agog.