‘My Endless Numbered Days’ Explores Urban Alienation in Singapore and Japan – SGIFF

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme, the U.K.’s largest festival of Japanese cinema, will take to the road in February and March. Its 2024 selection is the event’s largest ever with much of it attuned to the theme of memories, times and reflections.

Variety asks directors and writers to write about the films that resonated most deeply with them, relating what makes these selected works special, memorable and endearing both to them and audiences overall. In the following 13 essays, screenwriters commend their fellow scribes for crafting memorable tales that traverse fantasy and fiction, depict figures both imaginative and historical, and span from Barbieland to New York City.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese-made crime drama, “Endless Journey” opened on top of the mainland China box office on a weekend with three new releases in the top five. The Wanda Pictures and Alibaba title earned $20.5 million (RMB146 million) between Friday and Sunday, its official opening weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Together with previews from the week earlier, it ended the weekend with a cumulative total of $34.5 million (RMB245 million).

Naman Ramachandran Pham Thien An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” which previously won the Golden Camera at Cannes, has won the Asian Feature Film Competition at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival. Yoon Eun-Kyung won best director for “The Tenants,” which also won the FIPRESCI award. “Dreaming & Dying,” by Singaporean director Nelson Yeo earned a special mention.

Naman Ramachandran The Singapore Film Commission (SFC) celebrated its 25th anniversary during the 34th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) with a lavish party attended by the great and the good of the industry. Though the local box office for Singaporean films has yet to regain its pre-pandemic heights, they are doing well internationally with 2023 alone seeing selections at all the top festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Cannes, Locarno, Busan and San Sebastian.

Naman Ramachandran One of the most popular events at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) was a panorama event where six of the country’s leading indie film lights shared a panel to discuss opportunities and challenges. Opportunities are plentiful, with the festival world embracing Singaporean films and filmmakers warmly. Hong Kong-based Anthony Chen has had a stellar year with his directorial efforts “Drift” and “The Breaking Ice” which premiered at Sundance and Cannes, respectively.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore‘s Robot Playground Media (RPM) and Valencia-based co-producer TV ON Producciones (TOP) have commenced production on animated feature film “The Violinist,” it was revealed at the Asia TV Forum and Market. The film was unveiled at a presentation attended by the representatives of Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) and the Spanish Embassy in Singapore.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Johnny & Associates, the Japanese talent agency that has been embroiled in a huge sexual abuse scandal, is rebranding itself as Starto Entertainment. The name is derived from the words ‘star’ and ‘to’ implying “to head toward the future,” the group said on Friday. “It is an expression of our commitment to all our artists current and yet to come, with whom we inaugurate a new era in accordance with their individual talents and personal goals,” the group explained. Johnny & Associates was for many years the most powerful talent shop in Japan, creating idol groups such as Snow Man, and leveraging its male performers into film and TV roles. It was brought low by a scandal relating to its founder Johnny Kitagawa who abused young male performers over a period of decades before his death in 2019.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Singapore Film Commission and the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA) have agreed to back training and development program Emerge, which supports writers, directors and producers to develop Chinese-language original films. The announcement was unveiled on Friday within the context of the Asia Television Forum (ATF) in Singapore.

Naman Ramachandran The popular Singapore Comic Con (SGCC) is back with an array of internationally renowned creators and characters. BBC Studios’ hit family animation “Bluey” is returning to the SGCC main stage and this time she will be joined by her sister Bingo in a new, refreshed “Bluey Live Experience,” which debuted last year.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore’s MediaCorp and Taiwanese production company Mission International have signed a memorandum of understanding for content development at the Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF). Mission International is led by producer Angie Chai, best known for hit teen idol drama “Meteor Garden” and forming successful boyband F4.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Korean-produced series “The Glory” won the best drama series award on Thursday at the Asian Academy Creative Awards Gala Final. Thai-produced TV movie “Hunger” was named best feature film. The awards are organized by the Asian Academy of Creative Arts (AACA) a.k.a Asian Academy Creative Awards (AAA) and are held alongside the Asia Television Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore. The AACA “was established to honor creative excellence and serve as a peer judged pinnacle of achievement in content creation, performance and media production.” By the conclusion of the gala ceremony, Singapore, Japan and India had each claimed seven prize wins.

Naman Ramachandran Action comedy film “Baby Hero” was launched at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum and Market on Thursday. The film is a co-production between Singapore’s Hong Pictures and Bangkok-based Hollywood (Thailand). Principal photography will commence in the first quarter of 2024 with a view to releasing the film in 2025.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Japanese publishing house Kodansha has struck a deal with new production company Majestic Limited for a feature film adaptation of its “Origin” comic. Created by Boichi (“Dr. Stone,” “Sun-Ken Rock”), a renown Korean manga artist (real name Park Mu-jik) who is based in Japan, “Origin” is set in a near-future where humanity has achieved incredible advancements in technology and robotics. It tells a story of self-discovery, morality, and what it means to be human. Winning the grand prize for manga at the 22nd Japan Media Arts Festival and currently only printed abroad, the English translation of “Origin” hit U.S.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore‘s Mediacorp has begun introducing virtual sets into its scripted content, starting with two Chinese drama series, it was revealed during the ongoing Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF). “Strangers in the Dark” is about an outcast in school, who uses her vivid imagination to help solve various mysteries.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Singapore is launching a new fund to support international coproduction of TV series. It will also expand government investment into virtual production (VP). The two moves were announced on Wednesday by senior minister of state for communications and information Tan Kiat How at the opening ceremony of the Asia Television Forum and Market (ATF).

Naman Ramachandran “Sunday,” which has its world premiere at the Singapore International Film Festival, marks the feature directorial debut of Sean Ng. Ng previously directed a few shorts and his producing credits include feature documentary “André and His Olive Tree” (2020), which was Taiwan’s highest-grossing documentary that year. “Sunday” was developed at TorinoFilmLab.

Naman Ramachandran Chai Yee-Wei’s “Wonderland” comes to the Singapore International Film Festival after debuting at the San Diego Asian Film Festival where it won the audience award. Chai’s credits include “Blood Ties” (2009), “Twisted” (2011) and “That Girl in Pinafore” (2013), which premiered at the Shanghai International Film Festival. “Wonderland” is his fifth feature.

Naman Ramachandran Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) is teaming with AI Singapore and the Agency for Science, Technology and Research to launch the S$70 million ($52.3 million) National Multimodal LLM Program (NMLP). The initiative, funded by Singapore’s National Research Foundation, will develop the country’s research and engineering capabilities in multi-modal large language (LLM) models. It will help to plug a critical gap because current LLM models are heavily Western originated.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Singapore actor and filmmaker Alaric Tay (“Zombiepura”), through his Very Tay Media company has joined forces with two Philippines companies Black Ops Studios Asia and PsyOps Studios to produce a slate of films aimed at international markets. The venture, that was facilitated by Hong Kong-based producer Mike Leeder, was announced on the eve of the Asia Television Forum (ATF) in Singapore. They aim to put together a combined slate across diverse genres, including action, sci-fi, horror and comedy and have suggested a timeline extending to the fourth quarter of 2026. The joint venture also includes partnerships with other Asian companies including Screen Ops (HK), Fly Entertainment, Causeway Media Productions and IAmCasting. “Singapore and the Philippines have the individual potential to execute projects with commercial appeal,” said Tay. “But by building stories together with like-minded visionaries beyond our own shores, we can elevate the types of projects that are being produced in our collective countries.” Tay was the star and executive producer of 2018 Singapore zombie movie “Zombiepura.” He was also co-producer and director of HBO Asia’s first comedy drama series “SeNT” and is best known for playing multiple characters on Mediacorp satirical series “The Noose.” Headed by director Pedring Lopez and producer Rex Lopez, Black Ops Studios Asia and PsyOps Studios focus on action films and series.