‘The Substance’ Among 16 Cannes Titles Selected for New Zealand Film Festival – Global Bulletin

Sunny Side of the Doc, the world’s biggest documentary-focused marketplace in the world, wrapped its 35th edition Thursday, after gathering 2,100 participants over four days in La Rochelle, France.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor “Baby,” which premiered in Cannes Critics’ Week where it won the Louis Roederer Foundation Rising Star Award for joint acting lead Ricardo Teodoro, has closed further sales. Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal have sold the distribution rights to Ama Films for Greece, Mezipatra z.s for Czech Republic and Slovakia, and Falcon for Indonesia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The family drama “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies” has become the highest-grossing Thai film of all time in The Philippines, distributor Westec Media claims. The company, which released the film, does not quantify the receipts or the record. But there is little doubt of the film’s hit status across Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Malaysia International Film Festival (Miffest), which runs July 21-28, will open with horror film “Indera” by local director Woo Ming Jin and starring Shaheizy Sam and Azira Shafinaz. The festival will conclude with the double feature of “Love Lies” by Ho Miu Ki and “Peg O’ My Heart” by Nick Cheung.

‘Peppa Pig’ Writer Part Of Kartoon’s ‘Winnie-The-Pooh’ Team

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Caught by the Tides,” the contemporary Chinese epic film directed by Jia Zhangke, has been acquired for U.S. release by Sidehow and Janus Films. The film appeared in main competition in Cannes in May and is on one an extended look at the romantic destiny of his perennial heroine, Qiaoqiao (Zhao Tao) over a period of 21 years.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief France’s Canal+ Group has increased its stake in multi-territory Asian video streamer Viu to 36.8%. It says that the move is in accordance with the terms of the strategic partnership with Viu owner PCCW Group announced a year ago and follows the satisfaction of key business milestones.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Extinction,” the Malaysian-produced animation that is playing at the Shanghai International Film Festival, has struck its first international rights sales deals. The film was recently picked up by All Rights Entertainment, the Paris, Hong Kong and Los Angeles-based sales agency. All Rights has subsequently licensed the title to Magic Film for the CIS region, to Dazzler Media for the U.K., to Red Cape Distribution for Israel and to Bir Film for Turkey.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Actor-director Viggo Mortensen, actor Clive Owen and actor-director Daniel Brühl will be honored at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Central and Eastern Europe’s leading movie event, which will open with Mortensen’s “The Dead Don’t Hurt.” The festival also revealed Wednesday that director-producer Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter-director Nicole Holofcener will attend the event. Mortensen, Owen and Brühl will each receive the Festival President’s Award.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Wanda Film, China’s largest cinema operator, has expanded its business relationship with Imax Corp. in a huge deal that straddles technology and content. With 381 Imax installations, Wanda alone operates more Imax venues than most countries.

Naman Ramachandran After Jonathan Glazer’s Cannes, Oscar and BAFTA-winning “The Zone of Interest,” Daniela Volker’s “The Commandant’s Shadow” tackles the same subject – what it was like to live next door to a WWII concentration camp. While Glazer’s film was a work of fiction, based on Martin Amis’ novel, Volker’s film is a documentary. Exploring the legacy of Auschwitz, it follows Hans-Joergen Höss, son of commandant Rudolf Höss, and grandson Kai, on an emotional journey.

EXCLUSIVE: Israeli romcom drama series The Baker and the Beauty is being remade for France’s TF1, with French singer-songwriter Amir Haddad playing the lead in his debut TV role.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Paolo Cortellesi’s “There’s Still Tomorrow,” a box office smash in its native Italy, was Sunday named winner of the Sydney Film Prize at the end of the Sydney Film Festival (June 5-16) A jury headed by Danis Tanovic called the film about an industrious woman in post WWII Rome “audacious, cutting-edge and courageous.” The prize is one of the richest awarded at any festival and is worth A$60,000 ($39,600). The announcement was made at the city’s State Theatre ahead of the Australian premiere screening of the Demi Moore-starring Cannes hit “The Substance.” The A$20,000 ($13,200) Documentary Australia award went to local filmmaker James Bradley, for “Welcome to Babel,” which charts Chinese-Australian artist Jiawei Shen’s plans to create an epic work.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Parallax China, one of China’s leading independent film sales companies, has picked up rights to a pair of titles that debut this week at the Shanghai International Film Festival. It is handling world sales on “Qian Tang River,” directed by Wan Bo, and “Another Day of Hope,” by Liu Taifeng. Both are directorial debuts and both appear in the non-competitive Refreshing Chinese Cinema section.

Shanghai International Film Festival represent a showcase of directors who are also known-quantities, but who are worthy of higher profiles. (The festival’s Asian Talent selection has a further selection of six more directors seeking to break through.) The competition quartet fall into two pairs (a seventh and eighth generation maybe): the latest works of Guan Hu and the rarely seen Gu Changwei on one hand; and a younger generation of auteurs, Wei Shujun and Zhang Dalei. Guan is in need of rehabilitation after his 2019 war film was selected as the Shanghai festival’s opening film but experienced a last-minute cancellation due to the intervention of unforeseen layers of censorship.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Along with a red-carpet opening ceremony, a press conference with the members of the main competition jury is a staple event of major film festivals and the 26th edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival kicked off in traditional form on Friday. Along with Vietnam-French director Tran Anh Hung, previously revealed as jury president, the other members of the decisive committee this year are: Australian director and screenwriter Rolf de Heer; German director Matthias Glasner; Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka Fai; Argentinian director Santiago Mitre; Chinese director Sonthar Gyal; and, the jury’s only woman, star actor Zhou Xun. A packed audience lobbed familiar questions about the criteria they jurors would employ to decide the Golden Goblet prize winners, and what informs those views.

Crunchyroll Senior Vice President of Global Commerce Mitchel Berger was in ebullient mood as he gave a talk on the growing global reach of anime at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival this week.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Reminiscent of the outsized Chinese box office success once enjoyed by a certain genre of Hollywood movie – think “Expendables 3,” Pacific Rim” and “Transformers: Age of Extinction” – some Japanese anime films are now earning more in China than they are in their native Japan. Last year, “Suzume” (pictured above) earned $117 million in China, coming in ahead of the film’s $104 million total in Japan.

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The 2024 ICC T20 Cricket World Cup is underway and one of the most anticipated matchups takes place this weekend as India faces off against Pakistan in a group stage match airing live on Willow TV. Pakistan is coming off a stunning loss to the U.S.

Tim Chan If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. Cricket fans in the U.S. are in for a treat this weekend as two of the biggest cricket nations in the world face-off at the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.