Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers its North American live debut

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Maryam Touzani’s “The Blue Caftan,” which world premiered at Cannes and won the Fipresci prize. The film, which is represented in international markets by Films Boutique, will have its North American premiere at Toronto in the Special Screenings section.Touzani’s follow-up to Un Certain Regard title “Adam,” “The Blue Caftan” tells the story of Halim and Mina, a married couple running a traditional caftan store in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Before Now & Then,” a period drama film about Indonesian women battling the traumas of war and patriarchal society, has been picked up for North American distribution by Film Movement. The film is directed by Kamila Andini.The film had its premiere earlier this year at the Berlin festival, where it was rewarded with a Silver Bear for Laura Basuki’s supporting performance. It also recently captured the jury prize at the Brussels International Film Festival.Film Movement plans a theatrical release in the first quarter of 2023, followed by a wide release on home entertainment and digital platforms.Rights sales are handled by Wild Bunch International and CAA Media Finance.

It's finally here, Little Monsters. After some pandemic-induced postponement, Lady Gaga has kicked off The Chromatica Ball tour.

Whitesnake have removed themselves from a 24-date tour of North America, which they were scheduled to co-headline with Scorpions, due to frontman David Coverdale’s ongoing health issues.Coverdale broke the news in a statement shared to the band’s official Instagram yesterday (August 6). In it, he noted that he’s been forced to step away from the mic “due to my continued treatment for a persistent upper respiratory infection that affects my ability to perform”.A post shared by David Coverdale (@whitesnake)As a result of Coverdale’s continuing health issues, Whitesnake’s own headline shows in the US have also been cancelled.

Taiyo Coates In the decades since hip-hop’s conception, artists have taken transformative steps when it comes to communicating stories. While the genre has invariably been tethered to innovation and multiple mediums, the scale of performance has been slower to evolve.

The 1975 have released a new single called ‘Happiness’ – you can listen to it below.The song is the latest preview of the Manchester group’s fifth album ‘Being Funny In A Foreign Language’, which is due to arrive on October 14 via Dirty Hit. It follows on from the recent comeback track ‘Part Of The Band’.“‘Happiness’ is like… there’s literally loads of us in the room on that track,” frontman Matty Healy told Zane Lowe of the funky, sax-filled latest offering on Apple Music 1 this evening (August 3).“[It] really doesn’t really have much structure.

EXCLUSIVE: IFC Films has acquired North American rights to the comedy Bar Fight!, starring Melissa Fumero (Brooklyn Nine-Nine), Rachel Bloom (Crazy Ex-Girlfriend), Luka Jones (Shrill) and Julian Gant (Call Me Kat), with plans for a day-and-date release on November 11.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Streaming media company Cinedigm has landed all North American rights to hit Latin horror movie “History of the Occult” from Buenos Aires-based FilmSharks. After a successful run across Latin America, Europe and Asia, it will debut in the U.S.

OFF! – which features ex-members of Black Flag and Burning Brides – have announced their long-awaited third album, ‘Free LSD’, with the first single ready to stream right now.Titled ‘War Above Los Angeles’, the new single carries a wild science-fiction narrative, and arrives with a music video written and directed by guitarist Dimitri Coats. According to a description for the clip, the narrative footage in it comes from an upcoming feature film, also titled Free LSD, which is set for release in 2023.Have a look at the video below:‘Free LSD’ will be released on September 30 via Fat Possum, and mark the band’s first full-length offering since 2014’s ‘Wasted Years’ album. In a press release, Coats said the album would serve as a soundtrack for its cinematic counterpart, with both the album and film “go[ing] hand in hand as an overall art project”.

JYP Entertainment, home to top acts like TWICE, ITZY and Stray Kids, is teaming up with Republic Records to debut a new North American girl group, holding auditions in the US this September.On July 25, the two agencies unveiled a video featuring JYP Entertainment founder and chairman Park Jin-young and Republic Records’ founder and CEO Monte Lipman announcing their upcoming venture ‘A2K’.“The name of this project is ‘A2K’, which is an abbreviation of ‘America2Korea’. So the final artist that comes out of this procedure will be the first American artist made out of a K-pop system,” said Park.“It’s like talented artists who goes through a training system like an Olympic gymnast will go through,” he added.

EXCLUSIVE: XYZ Films has acquired North American rights from FilmSharks to the Argentinian horror film Legions, directed by Fabian Forte.

Marcus Mumford is making an exciting announcement.

Marcus Mumford has announced a North American headline tour for 2022 – tickets will be available from here.The Mumford & Sons frontman will hit the road stateside this autumn in support of his debut solo album ‘(Self-Titled)’, which is due to arrive on September 16 via Island (pre-order here).The tour is set to kick off in Boulder, Colorado on September 19 ahead of further shows in Denver, Seattle, Portland and Los Angeles throughout the rest of that month. In early October, Mumford will resume the stint in Ventura, California.He’ll then make stop-offs in cities such as Austin, Dallas, Chicago, Detroit, Nashville, Portland, New York and Boston.

Kendrick Lamar is officially on the road with his The Big Steppers Tour and the set list has been revealed.

Kendrick Lamar has kicked off his ‘The Big Steppers’ world tour in Oklahoma, showcasing several tracks from his new album.The rapper premiered seven tracks from ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ for the first time at the Paycom Center and brought on Baby Keem for their collaboration ‘Family Ties’.During the show he gave ‘Worldwide Steppers’, ‘Father Time’, ‘Purple Hearts’, ‘Die Hard’, ‘Auntie Diaries’, ‘Crown’ and ‘Mr Morale’ their first live outings as the rapper brought on Tanna Leone on the latter track.

Singer Justin Bieber will be back on tour sooner rather than later.

Beabadoobee has announced a slew of North American tour dates for later in the year in support of her newly-released second album, ‘Beatopia’.Following US dates supporting Bleachers, festival appearances in Europe and Japan, and tours in Australia and the UK, Beabadoobee will kick off her North American headline run in late October, with dates running through to early December.Support on the tour will come from Beabadoobee’s Dirty Hit labelmates, Lowertown. The duo released their latest EP, ‘The Gaping Mouth’, last year.

Fans of beabadoobee in the United States and Canada will get plenty of chances this fall to see the rock songwriter tour behind her just-released project Beatopia. They'll kick off in October following a previously announced series of dates in Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand.