Philippines, Indonesian Projects Receive Fall Grants From Thailand’s Purin Pictures

Disney original animation is looking at a comeback this Thanksgiving. The princess pic Wish is looking at as much as $45M-$50M over five days after the studio suffering a setback over last year’s holiday with Strange World, which did $18.8M.

Michaela Zee Geffen Records and Hybe, the K-pop entertainment company behind BTS and NewJeans, have announced the final six members of the new girl group Katseye. The Katseye finalists, who were unveiled at a live event in L.A. on Friday night, include Daniela Avanzini, Lara Rajagopalan and Megan Skiendiel from the U.S.; Yoonchae Jeong from South Korea; Sophia Laforteza from the Philippines; and Manon Bannerman from Switzerland.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese authorities have banned artist and film director Guo Zhenming from traveling to Singapore for the world premiere of his documentary film “Tedious Days and Nights.” The film is scheduled to play at the Singapore International Film Festival on Dec. 4 in the festival’s Standpoint strand. It was advertised as including a Q&A session with the director.

NBC News, some of those placards stated that they felt the group is an LGBTQ “propagandist” that undermines “faith and morals.” Throughout their years together, the members of Coldplay have been outspoken about their support for various groups of people, including the LGBTQ community. Sometimes, the singer of the band, Chris Martin, will speak about issues that are important to him and his group mates while in concert. He has also been known to, from time to time, wave a rainbow flag or wear items that identify him as an ally.A post shared by Coldplay (@coldplay)This support is in contrast to the views of some conservative Muslims around the world.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, one of the biggest female streamers and gaming creators in the world, has signed with WME for representation. She most recently was repped by UTA. Valkyrae is known for streaming games “Among Us,” “Fortnite” and “Valorant,” among others.

Following the renewal of American High‘s first-look deal with Hulu Originals, the streamer has pre-bought rights to Prom Dates, a new coming-of-age comedy from American High and Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat.

IVE have announced the stops and dates for their upcoming 2023 to 2024 ‘Show What I Have’ world tour.Today (November 8), IVE announced the dates for the upcoming Asia, US, Europe, Latin America and Australia legs of their 2023 to 2024 ‘Show What I Have’ world tour. This comes just a month after they kicked off the tour in October with two shows in Seoul, South Korea.The K-pop girl group will kick off the Asia leg of their newly announced tour in November 2023, with two shows in Yokohama, Japan.

Sophia Sun Intern Indonesia’s Giovanni Rustanto brings “A Ballad of Long Hair” to the 2023 Taiwan Creative Content Fest, its latest stop on a tour of project markets and labs. Set in the 1990s, the project centers around an Indonesian-Chinese young man who inherits a magical trait from his witch mother – his hair grows half a centimeter every night. Possessing mesmerizingly long hair and a unique talent for ethereal metal music, he stands up against oppressive forces and sparks a youth rebellion that challenges toxic masculinity and government corruption.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Unscripted queer reality dating series “Boys Like Boys” is to air on Warner Bros. Discovery’s TLC channel in Taiwan in early 2024, making it the first local LGBTQ+ dating reality show to air on linear TV in the territory. The show is an original production by GagaOOLala, Asia’s out and proud LGBTQ+ streaming service, which is pitching an expanded array of queer content at the Taiwan Creative Contents Fest (TCCF) that launches Tuesday in Taipei. “Boys Like Boys” had its premiere at the Kaohsiung International Film Festival and is now available worldwide on GagaOOLala and WeTV in the Philippines and Thailand, where the ‘Boys Love’ genre has become highly popular.

Taiwanese LGBTQ+ Streamer GagaOOLala has announced a packed slate of originals and acquired titles on the eve of Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), including unscripted queer reality dating series Boys Like Boys. 

As Made In Chelsea returned to our screens last month, after a dramatic summer away in Corsica, the new series hasn't only brought a fresh batch of drama but also new cast members, including Lauren Sintès. So far on the latest series, Lauren has caught the eye of a few boys and sparked a row with Willow Day over Harvey Armstrong. Harvey and Willow appeared to be building a stronger connection while away in Corsica, but upon returning to Chelsea, Harvey seemed to lose interest in Willow and it wasn’t long before he set his sights on Lauren.

Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary Against The Tide won the Golden Gateway Award at this year’s Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, while the Silver Gateway Award went to Bahadur – The Brave, directed by Diwa Shah. The Special Jury Award went to Kanu Behl’s Agra. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent REinvent International Sales has boarded Howard J. Ford’s “River of Blood,” a psychological thriller that’s about to start shooting in Thailand. The company will unveil the project to buyers at the American Film Market.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is ready to cast its new season!

After focusing on Taiwanese projects for its first three years, the pitching section of Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) opened its doors to international projects for the first time this year. 

Very little has been heard from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya since her buzzy 2017 Cannes title Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts. 

Naman Ramachandran India’s Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest film market, has selected a range of projects from around the world for its annual co-production market. The 20 selected projects are from 11 countries, most are already structured as co-productions, and they are all South Asian-themed.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Six film projects currently at development stage have been selected to take part in a workshop session as part of mylab+@Jogja next month. The six share a common characteristic of Indonesian co-production and a recurring theme of luminescence. “This theme underscores the importance of having the distinctive light of Asian cinema arise from its own characteristics.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Boys’ Love, or ‘BL’ as it is also known, was once a minor and lightly regarded type of Japanese manga catering mainly to female fans, delivering stories of handsome young guys falling in love with each other. Now its popularity has spread beyond Japan to much of East Asia and beyond, while metamorphozing into a film, TV and online genre with millions of fans. Just how big BL has become was evident in a Wednesday TIFFCOM seminar on the BL phenomenon in Thailand: Beyond Borders: Exploring the Global Appeal and Diversity of Thailand’s Boys’ Love Contents. The eleven speakers, including an official from the Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy in Japan, vigorously pitched partnerships with Japanese content companies, which seemed to be a classic case of selling ice to Alaska’s indigenous inhabitants. Members of the packed seminar room might beg to differ, however.

Naman Ramachandran Chinese superstar actor and producer Fan Bingbing will be the 2023 recipient of the Singapore International Film Festival‘s (SGIFF) Cinema Icon Award. The festival will screen three of Fan’s films, curated by her – the recent “Green Night,” “Buddha Mountain” and “Double Xposure” – and the star will walk the red carpet on opening night, Nov. 30.