‘The Mimicry’ and ‘Abang Adik’ Emerge as Winners at First Cinema at Sea Festival – Global Bulletin

Sure, there’s still a little under two weeks left in 2023, but we really are starting to look ahead at 2024, particularly when it comes to the first few film festivals of the year. That includes the Berlin International Film Festival, which is still about a month away from a full announcement of the competition films.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Berlin Film Festival artistic director Carlo Chatrian is in an upbeat mood as he puts the finishing touches on assembling his fourth and final edition. It appears to be shaping up nicely with a rich mix comprising prestige star-driven titles, such as the world premiere of Netflix’s “Spaceman” in which Adam Sandler plays an imperiled astronaut, and films with “political elements” that are intrinsic to the fest’s DNA. The day before revealing his Berlin Special lineup that includes several star-studded galas – the main lineup will be announced on Jan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fact-based action drama “12.12: The Day” won a fourth weekend at the South Korea box office and became the second highest grossing film of the year. The political thriller incurred a steep week-on-week drop in takings, managing only $5.89 million in its fourth weekend, compared with $11.4 million in its third. But it still hogged a 72% market share, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). After releasing on Nov.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Oppenheimer,” followed closely by “Barbie” and “The Killers of the Flower Moon,” collected the most nominations for the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) International Awards. The AACTA International awards recognize global, not only Australian-made, film and TV productions from the current year and are voted on by Australian professionals. The separate AACTA Awards focus on Australian-made content. The winners of the AACTA International Awards will be announced on Feb.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Australian streamer Stan has acquired rights to both seasons, totaling 20 episodes, of the Malaysian adaptation of Scandinavian crime series “The Bridge.” The agreement, brokered by Lyle Bettson-Barker, SVP Australia and New Zealand from Banijay Rights, represents the first time that Stan has acquired a Malaysian drama series. The Asian version of “The Bridge” was initially commissioned by Viu and HBO Asia in 2018, after Double Vision, part of the Vision New Media group, introduced Viu to the format. It broadcast to across 23 territories in the combined footprints of Viu and HBO Asia and was also shown on Viu in South Africa.The title has garnered more than 20 regional awards and nominations across its two seasons, making it the most awarded drama in Malaysian history. Season one faithfully follows the original show, and sees a dead body found on the border between Malaysia and Singapore, necessitating an investigator from each country to work together to solve the crime.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fifth Season, the production and distribution company previously known as Endeavor Content, has secured a $225 million strategic investment from Toho International, the Japanese film and TV studio behind current box office hit “Godzilla Minus One.” The investment gives Toho a 25% equity stake in the company and leaves Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM as Fifth Season’s majority owner. Former parent company, Endeavor Group Holdings continues as a strategic shareholder. CJ ENM and Fifth Season will work with Toho to both produce global content and participate in content produced in Japan.

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 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.

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 The BBC has revealed a first look for season 2 of show “The Traitors.” Season 1 was a huge success and won two BAFTAs, including for host Claudia Winkleman. Set in a Scottish castle, the format sees 22 strangers compete in a series of missions for a chance to win £120,000 ($151,000). However, amongst the players lie the ‘Traitors,’ who meet in secret and decide who to eliminate from their fellow players known as ‘Faithfuls.’ “The Traitors” will return on Jan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Webtoons, the vertical-scrolling iteration of digital comics that emerged some twenty years ago in Korea, along with the smartphone, are now a global medium. But they are only at the beginning of their global journey, says Charlie Park, CEO of Kakao Entertainment-owned Tapas. Park was speaking Tuesday at the Asia Television Forum in Singapore in a session moderated by industry consultant Jimmy Kim. Park explained that the webtoon segment was for several years a niche fan-driven activity with few opportunities for monetization.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Political drama thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the South Korean box office for a second weekend with a $13 million haul. Its second weekend outing topped its first session, when it earned $11.2 million, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). And the film (aka “Seoul Spring”) increased its share of the weekend’s total cinema market to a crushing 81%. Separately, ComScore calculated that the film’s single country receipts made it the seventh highest grossing film in the world over the weekend. After two weekends on release, “12.12: The Day” has garnered $34.2 million, making it already the sixth ranking film in Korea this year and the third biggest Korean-produced picture.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Negotiations are under way to secure a December or more likely an early January release for Taylor Swift’s “The Eras Tour” movie in mainland China cinemas. The film, which has grossed some $250 million worldwide since debuting on Oct. 13, is currently being reviewed by Chinese authorities.

Taika Waititi has revealed that former US President, Donald Trump, issued a “list of demands” surrounding his brief appearance in NBC’s 2012 Super Bowl advert.The video features stars of the network, including The Office’s Steve Carell, Parks And Recreation’s Amy Poehler and 30 Rock’s Alec Baldwin. In the video, the actors are seen singing ‘Brotherhood Of Man’ from the 1961 musical, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying.Trump, who at the time was hosting The Apprentice (US) can be briefly seen wearing a suit, looking into the camera, as he points and says the word, “you”.Waititi, who directed the advert, appeared on a recent episode of the SmartLess podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes, where he shared that the former president’s appearance came with some conditions.“There was a piece of paper with a list of [Trump’s] demands,” the Jojo Rabbit director shared.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese films “Trending Topic” and “The Invisible Guest” will be given theatrical releases in Malaysia and Singapore in the coming month. This step follows agreements between Chinese streamer iQiyi and Malaysian cinema chain GSC and Singaporean distributor Clover Films.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China’s nationwide annual box office passed the symbolic $7 billion and RMB 50 billion marks in recent days, confirming a decent, but still incomplete recovery of the theatrical cinema industry. According to consultancy Artisan Gateway, the running box office total to Nov. 26 was $7.15 billion.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The husband and wife team of Otsuka Ryuji and Huang Ji, who worked with a minimalist crew and mostly non-professional actors, gave a round of thanks to Asian leading auteurs for inspiring them, and then hugged each other on stage for winning the Taipei Golden Horse Film Awards best narrative feature prize with their pregnancy drama “Stonewalling.” The numerical winner on Saturday night was “Old Fox,” which earned the best director award for Hsiao Ya-chuan, as well as the best supporting actor, makeup and costume, and best film score prizes. The nominations, announced in October, saw “Snow in Midsummer” collect nine nominations and Taiwan‘s Oscar contender “Marry My Dead Body” head the field with eight.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Marco Mueller, the veteran film festival curator and director, is set to launch a new festival and market in Macau. It will have its first edition in January. The Asia-Europe Young Cinema Festival, running Jan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Producer and screenwriter, Darren Dale has been named as the new board chair of the Sydney Film Festival, following the retirement of Dianne Weir. He is a leading advocate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander content and has been director of Blackfella Films since 2000.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Chewing Gum” was named winner of the NT$1 million Grand Prize, the top award at the 2023 Golden Horse Film Project Promotion production event. Other prizes were awarded for works in progress and for TV series. The winners were announced at a ceremony on Wednesday at the New Horizon Event Space in Taipei, Taiwan.