Regal Cinemas Owner Cineworld Restructuring Backed by Majority of Lenders – Global Bulletin

As the shockwaves continue to reverberate from Tuesday’s news of the planned merger of Saudi-backed LIV Golf and the PGA Tour, it appears likely that a lot more foreign money will soon start to flow into U.S. sports.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Women Talking,” which won Sarah Polley an Oscar for best adapted screenplay, was this weekend named best narrative feature at the Bali International Film Festival (aka the Balinale).Ashen Nadeem’s “Crows Are White” won the feature documentary prize and “The Tone Wheels,” by Yuda Kurniawan, was named winner of the Gary L Hayes Award for Indonesian Filmmaker. The festival jury called “The Tone Wheels” “an outstanding endeavor that transported us into the backstreets of Jakarta on a captivating musical journey.” The film depicts a busking village where dreams flourish, despite the scarcity of resources and equipment.

Nobel Prize-winning writer Annie Ernaux has signed an open letter in support of Amber Heard, decrying “the vilification” and “ongoing online harassment” of the actress.

EXCLUSIVE: Film Independent has set 26 filmmakers from 15 nations to participate in the 2023 edition of their Global Media Makers LA Residency, which is being held in person this month.

The American Cinematheque said Monday that Oscar, Emmy and Tony winner Helen Mirren will receive the 2023 American Cinematheque Award, which will be bestowed November 4 at the Beverly Hilton during the nonprofit organization’s annual gala tribute.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix is to launch a new Japanese reality show “Is She the Wolf?” which was developed with broadcaster Abema and adapted from the original show “Who Is the Wolf” which previously ran for 13 seasons. The show follows five men and five women on a quest for love through dates and a group project. However, some female participants are “lying wolves” who cannot fall in love. They must navigate the entire season without being discovered or accepting any declarations of love. It includes a diverse group of participants aged 22 to 32, including actors, artists, models, and athletes. “Is She the Wolf?” streams exclusively on Netflix in Japan beginning June 11, with new episodes streaming each Sunday. Outside Japan, all episodes will be released on Netflix in September 2023.

Documentary fans might be forgiven for nurturing a dream – that Cannes would follow the recent example of Venice and Berlin and award its top prize to a nonfiction film. Complete the documentary Triple Crown – the Golden Lion, the Golden Bear and the Palme d’or.

An American bulldog mauled its owner after running riot in playground today.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Indian streaming service JioCinema claimed a record for the number of concurrent viewers this week. It reported that 32 million viewers were simultaneously using its service to watch the IPL cricket final match between The Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Titans. The platform’s previous peak was 25 million. Chennai eventually won the rain-affected and one-day delayed match Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) has removed its bouquet of 14 channels from Indonesia’s TV largest platform, MNC, ending decades-long affiliate arrangements, Content Asia reported. The decision, confirmed by WBD, involves channels from HBO and Cartoon Network to Discovery and TLC, all of which came off air on May 12. The move is understood to be the culmination of a payments disagreement. In November last year, beIN removds its sports service from MNC. WBD content remains available on three smaller platforms in Indonesia, IndiHome First Media and Trans.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief NBCUniversal (NBCU) and JioCinema, Viacom18’s streaming service, have entered into a multi-year partnership bringing thousands of hours of NBCU films and TV series to India. Content is sourced from the Universal Television, UCP, Universal International Studios, Universal Television Alternative Studio, Sky Studios, DreamWorks Animation, Universal Pictures, Focus Features and Bravo brands. NBCU’s programming will live in a Peacock branded hub starting next month on JioCinema’s newly announced “JioCinema Premium” SVOD tier. While JioCinema has been making an audience impact with free-of-charge screenings of the ongoing IPL cricket tournament, the first content announced on the subscription tier hailed from another recent deal with Warner Bros Discovery.

Cannes jury head has described the process of selecting the Competition winners as a “very intense experience”, at the jury press conference following the Palme d’Or victory for Justine Triet’s Anatomy Of A Fall. You can see the full list of winners here.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Wscripted, the talent platform sourcing women and non-binary writers, has unveiled the nominees for its third Cannes Screenplay List, an initiative launched in partnership with MUBI. The final selection was curated by an inaugural jury of international female filmmakers, including Mounia Meddour (“Papicha”, “Houria”), Funa Maduka (“Waiting for Hassana”), and Camille Griffin (“Silent Night”). The list features 10 English-language and two French-language film projects by women and non-binary screenwriters and celebrates original projects from development to early financing stages.

UK-based global theater chain and parent of Regal Cinemas said overnight it expects to emerge from Chapter 11 in July.

Hong Sangam is soo’s In Our Day, the closing night film at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight sidebar, has sold to Cinema Guild for North America.

Naman Ramachandran “Lioness,” an official Indo-U.K. co-production being made under the 2008 bilateral treaty, will star Aditi Rao Hydari (“Jubilee”) and Paige Sandhu (“Emmerdale”), it was revealed at the Cannes India pavilion on Tuesday. Written and to be directed by Kajri Babbar (“Khoj”), the film is inspired by the research of Peter Bance, the historian who wrote about Princess Sophia Duleep, one of the key leaders of the suffragette movement in the U.K., the Princess of Punjab, granddaughter of Maharajah Ranjit Singh and the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. The film will tell the story of two British Punjabi women living in the U.K., a century apart. While Sophia’s story is rooted in history, the second story is a fictional tale of Mehak Kaur an educated, married immigrant woman living in 1990’s Southall.

Fatima Djoumer has been appointed General Director of independent exhibitor network Europa Cinemas, replacing Claude-Eric Poiroux who is stepping down after 30 years in the role.

A group of South Asian filmmakers, including Indian director Anurag Kashyap (Kennedy) and the team behind Pakistani Directors Fortnight title In Flames talked on a Cannes panel about how cinema can cross the political barriers that are keeping their countries apart. 

Naman Ramachandran After a successful launch at SXSW earlier this year, the South Asian House initiative, which aims to highlight, recognize and appreciate South Asians in film and television, is set to debut at the Tribeca Festival, New York, on June 16. Brainchild of producers, curators and programmers Rohi Mirza Pandya (Box Office Guru Media and Desipina), Monika Samtani (Ms. Media and The Fem Word), Jitin Hingorani (Jingo Media and DFW South Asian Film Festival) and Kirtana Banskota (Banskota Productions and Nepal America Film Society), the event will showcase programming focused on the funding, creation and distribution of South Asian stories for a global audience. The day will consist of two panel discussions focused on content creation in the diaspora and the Indian film industry and will be part of the AT&T Untold Stories Lounge at Spring Studios.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Cinema has closed the first deals on tragicomedy “One Last Evening,” the inventive debut feature film from up-and-coming German director Lukas Nathrath. The Munich-based sales agency discovered the film at the Locarno Film Festival last year, where it screened in the Works-in-Progress section, and took the main prize, the First Look Award. The film has been sold to Filmwelt for Germany and Austria, September Film for Benelux, Aurora Films for Poland and Discovery for the former Yugoslavian territories. “One Last Evening” (“Letzter Abend”) draws a poignant and humorous portrait of Generation Y. The film, which is set during the pandemic, centers around a dinner party hosted by a young couple as they prepare to move from Hanover to Berlin.

Naman Ramachandran Classic cult film streamer Cultpix has struck a deal with Polish cultural institution WFDiF – Documentary and Feature Film Studios (Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych i Fabularnych) for a season of Polish erotic cinema classics from the 1980s and early 1990s. Titles featured in the season include Krzysztof Nowak’s “What Do the Tigers Like: (1989); Andrzej Barański’s “Bachelor Life in a Foreign Country” (1992); Roman Załuski’s “Och Carol” (1985); Ryszard Ber’s “Thais” (1983); Marek Koterski’s “Porn” (1990); and Jacek Bromski’s The Art of Loving (1989). The deal was revealed at the ongoing Cannes film market, where Cultpix expanded deals with previously signed film libraries – Germany’s The Playmaker Munich, as well as Echelon Studios and Vinegar Syndrome from the U.S. – for over 250 titles to be released later in 2023 and in early 2024.