‘The Roundup: Punishment’ Review: Beefy International Treasure Don Lee Goes Places and Punches People and What More Could We Want?

Naman Ramachandran Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has acquired worldwide rights for Indonesian film “Crocodile Tears,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart. The film is a co-production between Indonesia’s Talamedia (producer Mandy Marahimin), Singapore’s Giraffe Pictures (producers Anthony Chen and Teoh Yi Peng), France’s Acrobates Films (producer Claire Lajoumard) and Poetik Film (producer Christophe Lafont) and Germany’s 2Pilots Filmproduction (producers Harry Flöter and Jörg Siepmann). The deal was negotiated by Sebastien Chesneau at Cercamon, Chen at Giraffe Pictures and Marahimin at Talamedia.

EXCLUSIVE: ANIMA, the Filipino studio behind Venice winner On The Job 2: The Missing 8 and Sundance winner Leonor Will Never Die, is joining with Project 8 Projects to co-produce Antoinette Jadaone’s teenage pregnancy drama Sunshine.

ZDF Latest To ‘Race Across The World‘

Naman Ramachandran India premieres of France’s “The Taste of Things” and Korea’s “Exhuma” will open and close respectively the first edition of India’s Cinevesture International Film Festival. Tran Anh Hung won best director at Cannes 2023 for “The Taste of Things,” which was subsequently submitted as France’s official entry to the Oscars’ international feature category.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading South Korean sales company Finecut has picked up international sales rights to action comedy film “Boss.” It will launch the title at next week’s FilMart in Hong Kong. Directed by Ra Hee-chan (“Going by the Book,” “Mr. Idol”), the film follows gang members embroiled in fierce competition.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lily Franky, the Japanese acting sensation who starred in “Shoplifters” and “Like Father Like Son,” heads the cast of “Diamonds in the Sand,” a multinational co-production that appears at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) as a work in progress. Developed and directed by Janus Victoria, the film started as an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of kodokushi, or lonely death, where elderly people who live alone are discovered dead only months after their passing due to the isolated lives that they lead.

, the craze for fermented foods and superfood has been inescapable in recent years. Kimchi, in particular, has gone from being South Korea’s national dish to something of an international phenomenon.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres. Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A year after announcing the ambitious project, The Philippines ABS-CBN is now in production on new series “The Bagman.” Filming began in Manila on Feb. 25. “The Bagman” is a spin-off from the original, locally-produced digital series “Bagman” that was aimed at the Filipino audience.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief EST N8, the film and TV sales venture formed by U.S.-based EST and Thailand’s N8 company, has hired Chatsuree ‘Chat’ Sripamorn for an Asian sales roles. Reporting to Tenten Wei, she will represent the company at next week’s FilMart. Sripamorn has previously worked at three of the top Thai entertainment companies Mono Next, GMM Studios and Rose Studio over a span of ten years.

After a successful return as a physical event last year, Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart, March 11-14) is taking place again this year against a complicated backdrop, both in terms of market realities and the shifting geopolitics of the region. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Atlas Distribution Company, a U.S. indie distributor, has set Vietnamese-American co-production film “A Fragile Flower” on course for a theatrical release in the U.S. Produced by the duo Mai Thu Huyen and Jacqueline Thu Thao, the romantic musical drama, with a screenplay by Vietnamese singing sensation Nhat Ha, is set debut from Mar.

Drishyam,” a hit Indian thriller in which an ordinary man confounds the police in order to protect his family, is to be re-made in English. Production is by India’s Panorama Studios with U.S. companies Gulfstream Pictures and JOAT Films.

the NBC show follows the lives of the firefighters and paramedics working at the Chicago Fire Department at the firehouse of Engine Company 51, Truck Company 81, Rescue Squad Company 3, Ambulance 61 and Battalion 25. Killmer, who joined in Season 3, announced in November that she would be leaving the series after a decade in the role of paramedic Sylvie Brett. Before leaving, though, Sylvie will tie the knot with Captain Matthew Casey (Jesse Spencer).

EXCLUSIVE: The news when Deadline speaks to Lisa Kramer is the launch of a Paramount+ branded hub with African pay-TV giant MultiChoice. But a conversation with the President, International TV Licensing at Paramount Global Content Distribution (PGCD), offers a much wider insight into the world of TV in 2024.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief In Berlin with “The Roundup: Punishment,” part four of the action movie series that he created and stars in, the larger-than-life Korean American Don Lee finds himself simultaneously in multiple timely and lucrative businesses. These include the Marvel superhero business, the Korea-to-Hollywood remake business, “The Roundup” franchise and its multiple spinoff possibilities. Lee may even be in the business of saving Korean cinema, which is currently having one of its periodic wobbles.

Naman Ramachandran Nepali filmmaker Min Bahadur Bham‘s journey to make Berlin competition title “Shambhala” was arduous but an ultimately rewarding one. Bham’s 2012 short “Bhansulli” debuted at Venice. His debut feature “Kalo Pothi” (aka “The Black Hen,” 2015) won the Fedeora best film award at Venice Critics’ Week and became Nepal’s official Oscar entry.

Adam Sandler was presented with the Icon Award at the People’s Choice Awards on Sunday night. The problem was, he went up and accepted something entirely different — and way less appropriate!

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM has appointed Jung Jhong-hwan, as president of content, global business. He is expected to spearhead growth of global content production and distribution and continue the group’s multi-studio approach to business.

Jennifer Aniston helped honor her longtime friend Adam Sandler at the 2024 People’s Choice Awards and she also won an award herself!