Nam Dong-chul Steps in as Busan Film Festival’s Interim Director After Management Turmoil

Taipei Film Festival is aiming to shine an international spotlight on Taiwanese actors through a new initiative, Top Talents, that will showcase nine actors including major stars Kai Ko and Chen Bolin. 

South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has moved to resolve its ongoing management crisis by confirming that managing director Cho Jongkook has been dismissed and will be replaced by deputy director Kang Seung-ah. 

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has revealed a multi-year series partnership with Indian filmmaker Hansal Mehta. Mehta’s hard hitting crime drama series “Scoop,” his maiden venture for Netflix, bowed earlier this month and was a major success for the service. Inspired by crime reporter Jigna Vora’s book “Behind Bars in Byculla: My Days in Prison” and starring Karishma Tanna as crime reporter Jagruti Pathak, the series is set up as the first season of a franchise.  Taking this successful collaboration forward, Mehra will create multiple series for Netflix over the next few years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Some 18 film industry guilds and trade associations are calling for urgent structural reform of the Busan International Film Festival. They point out that this year’s edition of the festival is looming less than 100 days away. The festival’s management has made a succession of management missteps in recent weeks, including one that resulted in an official apology. At the beginning of May, a decision to split the festival’s senior management in two by creating a new position for Cho Jongkook, was followed by consternation among guilds and the resignation of festival director Huh Moonyoung.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Busan International Film Festival has apologized for its mishandling of the resignation of its executive director Huh Moon-young and related sexual harassment allegations. “We sincerely apologize over the sexual harassment case that occurred in the workplace,” BIFF said in a Korean-language statement on Thursday. (A festival spokesperson said that an English-language statement, along with an update, will be issued in the coming days.) Huh has publicly denied the allegations, though he has not replied to email and telephone requests for comment by Variety.

Choi Sung-bong, a South Korean pop star, has been found dead at the age of 33.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean blockbuster “The Roundup: No Way Out” suffered a 50% week-on-week decline, but it was still strong enough to see a pair of Hollywood newcomers. The third part of the Don Lee-starring Roundup franchise, “No Way Out” earned $5.16 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. It accounted for a 42% share of the market and attracted 650,000 additional spectators.

A pub boasting some of the best views of Greater Manchester has reopened its doors after a major refurbishment. The Hare & Hounds, in Hyde, was closed for several weeks for a six-figure makeover which has modernised the entire site.

A New Wave of K-Cinema: Korean Women Directors,” The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is hoping to change that. Across the month of June, the Los Angeles museum is showing 10 contemporary Korean films made by women that “explore the complexities of diverse conditions, including the trauma of domestic violence, investigations into gender and class politics, humanity’s relation to nature and the environment, and love and friendship.” Hyesung ii, who organized “A New Wave of K-Cinema,” told TheWrap it is a series she has had in mind since she began working at the museum.

Naman Ramachandran Cleopatra Entertainment has secured the North American and U.K. distribution rights for Japanese superhero film “Lion-Girl.” The film is written and directed by cult Japanese director Kurando Mitsutake (“Samurai Avenger: The Blind Wolf”) and based on characters created by prolific manga artist Go Nagai. The story revolves around survivors of a meteor shower who find themselves locked in a battle against each other and a group of creatures called Anoroc, monsters who hunt and kill humans to extract their life force. The cast includes Tori Griffith (“Wake Up,” “Princess of the Row”) as the titular Lion-Girl, Derek Mears, known for his roles in comic book adaptations such as The CW’s “Swamp Thing” series, Damian TooFeek Raven (“The Chadwick Journals”), David Sakurai (“Fantastic Beasts”), Shelby Lee Parks (“Good Trouble”), Matt Standley (“Fairyland”), and Joey Iwanaga (“Enter the Fat Dragon”).

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Killing Romance,” one of the most creative Korean films of the past year, has been set as the opening night title for the upcoming New York Asian Film Festival. The deliberately multi-genre picture tells the tale of a beautiful movie star with dubious acting skills (portrayed by Le Ha-nee) who suddenly quits the industry and retires to newly-married life that turns out to be anything but bliss. When she decides to return to acting she teams up with a fan and an absurd plot to kill her absurdly rich husband. The film is directed by Lee Won-suk who previously attended the NYAFF with his first film, “How to Use Guys With Secret Tips,” in 2013 and returned with his second feature, the big-budget period drama The Royal Tailor, which earned the audience award at NYAFF in 2015.

Luke Bryan got real about his work-life balance struggles — and pressures — after finishing season 21 of American Idol ahead of his nationwide tour.

It’s fun to be the bad guy, right? So, why wouldn’t someone like Nimona strive to be the perfect villainous sidekick? There’s only one problem—the person she vows her loyalty to doesn’t really want a sidekick and actually isn’t really a villain. But they can still wreak some havoc.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Seoul Metropolitan Police on Tuesday raided the offices of Korea’s three leading multiplex cinema operators and three film distributors. “The six entities are accused of obstructing the business of the Korean Film Council (KOFIC) by falsely counting the audience numbers for Korean films,” a spokesman for the police is reported to have told Korean media, according to the semi-official Yonhap news agency. The raids were conducted by the force’s anti-corruption and public crime investigation team. Local media named the companies visited by the police on Tuesday as cinema chains CJ CGV, Megabox and Lotte Cinema, and distributors Showbox, Lotte Entertainment and Kidari.

Sony Music Entertainment (Japan) subsidiary Aniplex Inc has acquired Origamix Partners Inc, the management company of Alice In Borderland director Shinsuke Sato, and will  relaunch the company under the name Myriagon Studio as of June 1.

Prolific actor and director Clint Eastwood was born on this day, May 31, 1930, in San Francisco, California.  He and his family moved a number of times before settling in Piedmont, California, reports Britannica. Eastwood was drafted during the Korean War and stationed in California — and upon his discharge from the Army in 1953, Eastwood moved to Hollywood.

From the Palme d’Or for “Parasite” to a stint on the following jury to a Best Actor prize all of his own with last year’s “Broker,” Song Kang-ho has become a recent fixture at Cannes. This year he made a late-break for Croisette with “Cobweb,” a slight-but-entertaining film about the movies from director Kim Jee-woon.

Chinese actress Zhou Dongyu, who is in Cannes with Anthony Chen’s Un Certain Regard title The Breaking Ice, has had a fairytale career trajectory. 

Untold Stories competition, where five up-and-coming filmmakers will pitch their ideas for a chance to turn their project into a film that will debut at next year’s festival in New York City. CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin will moderate the jury panel, which includes “Antwone Fisher” star Derek Luke, “Sons of Anarchy” star Mo McRae” and AT&T chief marketing and growth officer Kellyn Smith Kenny.

Marta Balaga Denmark’s “Norwegian Offspring,” by Marlene Emilie Lyngstad, from Den Danske Filmskole, was chosen as the winner of the 26th edition of La Cinef. In the story, a mother passes away and her estranged son – obsessed with theories about the repression of male sexuality in modern society – starts longing for offspring of his own. “The jury was captivated by this bold filmmaker,” said Ildikó Enyedi, who presided over the jury. “It made us laugh and cringe at the same time.”