Projects from Aditya Assarat, Wang Qi, Le Bao And Jailed Myanmar Producer Ma Aeint In Busan’s Asian Project Market Line-up

Vivienne Chow Venice Production Bridge – Venice Gap-Financing Market  “Mirror” – Director: Wu De-Chuen“Mirror” is a story of three men from different generations of the same family. They live in different eras and have starkly different jobs —as an engraver, a tailor and a trader. But their lives are oddly similar. They share the same ambition to attain the definition of man, but at the same time, they each take their significant others for granted and undermine their own values, thus reliving the paths of their predecessors. “Fathers’ Video Tapes” – Director: Baboo LiaoTaiwan might be one of the most liberal societies in Asia today, especially in the matter of gay rights and was the first territory in the region to legalize same-sex marriage. But there was a time where homosexuals on the island struggled for acceptance. “Father’s Video Tapes” gives a nod to this forgotten past of Taiwan’s LGBT community through a three-part narrative that inserts audiences between real space and VR, through bodily interactivity. 

Vivienne Chow Taiwan at Venice 2022 — Venice Immersive Competition “All That Remains” – Director: Craig Quintero Among the latest explorers in the VR realm is Riverbed Theatre, a “total theater” company that was formed in Taipei in 1998 and combines visual and performing arts. “All That Remains” is directed by the company’s artistic director Craig Quintero. The film challenges audiences’ perceptions of truth by questioning the possibilities beyond the everyday patterns that are constructed from known facts and familiarity. The idea is to nudge viewers out of their comfort zone. It positions itself as a meditation on the malleability of facts and the increasingly fluid boundary between truth and fiction as humans are facing unprecedented alienation from each other. The film was financially backed by a grant from the Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA). 

EastEnders' Kelsey Calladine-Smith has shared emotional snaps with her co-stars following her exit from the soap. The young actress posted a series of behind the scene images on social media along with the caption: "My Eastenders experience has brought me nothing but smiles !!!" Her character Jada Lennox can be seen posing next to show royalties James Bye (Martin Fowler), Danny Dyer (Mick Carter), Steve McFadden (Phil Mitchell), Kellie Bright (Linda Carter), and Letitia Dean (Sharon Watts) as well as various crew members.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Film studios in Asia-Pacific are expanding the scale of their operations and want location incentives to keep pace. “Incentives are fundamental, they are an expectation [of production managers] and having one is no longer a USP,” said Rashid Karim, CEO of Iskandar Malaysia Studios. He was speaking at the Content Asia summit conference in Bangkok on Thursday. The IMS facility opened ten years ago around the same time as Malaysia introduced a location production incentive scheme. These days, the scheme offers a generous 35% uncapped rebate. But since the scheme launched, rival locations in the Asian region including Thailand, India and Mongolia have launched or are in the process of launching rebate schemes.

Naman Ramachandran Sony Music and Music Women* Germany (MW*G), the nationwide umbrella organization of all music women and female-identifying and non-binary individuals, have revealed the winners of the Female* Producer Prize. The prize aims to support female producers in Germany who often lack visibility and support in the country. The winners include Novaa, producer, songwriter and Berlin based artist who produces her own tracks as well as for Keke, Fløre, Amanda Tenfjord and LEA; Jenny Gerdts, music producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist; and GOTOPO, Berlin-based Colombian-Venezuelan producer and artist.

The Venice Film Festival has announced two new initiatives in collaboration with The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk to support and raise awareness about directors, filmmakers, and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned around the world during the past year.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Munich-based sales agency The Playmaker has sold black comedy “Holy Shit!” to distributors in several major territories ahead of its U.K. premiere at Frightfest on Aug. 28. The Playmaker has closed deals for Japan (New Select), South Korea (Lumix Media), China (Beijing Blue Media Times), France (Family Films) and Baltics (Estin Film). Scriptwriter and director Lukas Rinker’s claustrophobic real-time genre movie made its market premiere in Cannes this year. “Holy Shit!” won the Audience Award at its world premiere at this year’s Hard:Line Film Festival and was shown at the Night Visions Film Festival in Helsinki. At Fantaspoa, it received an Honorable Mention for the “best blood (and shit) bath.”

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival is launching two initiatives to support directors, filmmakers and artists who have been arrested or imprisoned around the world during the past year. In tandem with the International Coalition Filmmakers at Risk (ICFR), a panel will be held on Sept. 3 at the Palazzo del Casinò press conference room titled: “Filmmakers Under Attack:Taking Stock, Taking Action.” Panelists will include fest chiefs Alberto Barbera (Venice);  Vanja Kalurdjercic (Rotterdam); Orwa Nyrabia (Amsterdam Documentary Film Festival); Turkish producer Nadir Öperli; European Film Academy president Mike Downey and an unspecified Iranian director. 

Nicola Peltz of late, with the couple giving major Posh and Becks vibes in Beverly Hills. The 23-year-old son of David Beckham and Victoria Beckham can often be found zooming around in a red McLaren P1, thought to be worth around $1. 2million (£992,000) – prompting TikTok star Daniel Mac to ask what he does for a living to be able to afford such a luxury.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorVienna-based sales agent Square Eyes has acquired international rights to Theo Montoya’s debut feature “Anhell69,” ahead of its world premiere in Venice Film Festival’s International Critics’ Week. The producers include Bianca Oana, who also produced Alexander Nanau’s Oscar-nominated doc “Collective,” and Berlinale winner “Touch Me Not” by Adina Pintilie.A haunting, cinematic portrait of the young queer scene in Medellín, “Anhell69” follows Montoya’s short film on the same subject, “Son on Sodom,” which premiered in Cannes 2020. In “Anhell69,” a funeral car cruises the streets of Medellín, while a young director tells the story of his past in this violent and conservative city.

A column chronicling conversations and events on the awards circuit.

“People are catching up on films,” is how one arthouse executive described the current moment in specialty, which echoes the slowdown in studio wide releases.

TIFF announced its Short Cuts section today comprised of 39 live-action narrative, documentary, and animated short films from directors repping 18 countries.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThe international trailer has been debuted for Jafar Panahi’s “No Bears,” which has its world premiere on Sept. 9 in competition at Venice Film Festival, before moving to Toronto Film Festival and New York Film Festival. Celluloid Dreams, which is handling world sales, has revealed territory deals with several distributors.

Manchester United will be going in search of their first victory of the season when they travel to the Gtech Community Stadium to face Brentford on Saturday evening.

Strictly Come Dancing pro dancer Karen Hauer was seen leaving rehearsals ahead of the 2022 series, sporting a brand new hairstyle.The Venezuelan dancer, 40, usually sports a cropped pixie cut but was seen wearing her hair in longer curls as she left a gruelling dance rehearsal ahead of the BBC series show returning next month. Karen opted for a casual look, wearing her new hairstyle with gym shorts and a crop top, pairing her look with a large, red satchel bag and a pair of white trainers.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Asian Project Market, the film financing event attached to the Busan festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, will return this year as an in-person event. To increase the focus on regional projects it has selected 29 titles and excluded those from outside Asia.The APM will be held at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center (BEXCO) and run Oct.

Tatiana Leite at Bubbles Project has unveiled a fulsome production slate which suggests a beginning of tentative film production renaissance in Brazil, driven by renewed state subsidy lines and the promise of regime change at October’s general elections.According to Leite, one of Brazil’s most energetic international co-producers, Bubbles has currently three feature films in post-production and seven in development. The titles in post are:*Horror film “A Herança” (“Birthright”), the feature debut of João Cândido Zacharias, in which Bubble teams as a majority producer with Sony Pictures International Production and Kromaki Filmes.

EJ Panaligan editorCinema Guild has acquired the North American distribution rights for Hong Sangsoo’s upcoming film “Walk Up.” The film will world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September and will also play in competition at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. Cinema Guild will open the film in theaters in 2023 following its release of Hong’s other 2022 title, “The Novelist’s Film,” this fall.Kwon Haehyo, in his ninth film for Hong, plays Byungsoo, a film director who goes with his daughter, an aspiring interior designer, to a building owned by an old friend who is already established in the design field.