Tokyo Film Festival Plans for Physical Edition, Alliance With Filmex

As we start to look past the nightmare that has been 2020 and look forward to a (slightly) more hopeful 2021, we’ll start hearing of the winter film festivals’ plans soon. First, it was Sundance announcing plans for a shorter edition of the festival, still taking place in person.

The Berlin International Film Festival, the last of the big A-list festivals to be held in Europe before the coronavirus lockdown, has committed to holding a physical event next year. The 2021 Berlinale is set to run February 11-18.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterThe Berlin International Film Festival has opted to make its acting awards gender-neutral, meaning the prizes for Best Actor and Best Actress will be condensed into a Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance.

The Venice Film Festival, the first major in-person cinema showcase of the COVID-19 era, is requiring participants to wear face masks during screenings and take a coronavirus test if they are arriving from outside Europe. According to guidelines published Thursday, fans and the general public will be kept away from the red carpet during the Sept.

Alexandra Del Rosario Associate Editor/Nights & WeekendsThe IFP Gotham Awards on Thursday opened submissions for its 30th annual awards show, which last month shifted to January 2021 because of the pandemic. Organizers also said today that they are introducing a new category, Best International Feature, a director and producers award in which the key roles of director, producer and screenwriter should be based outside the U.S.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentFilmination, an online marketplace for Japanese content, is expanding and relaunching. The object is to smooth and speed up the often-cumbersome process of dealing with Japanese rights holders.Pitched as the first of its kind in Japan, the revamped site allows rights holders to present their wares and rights buyers to select films and TV series.

Also Read: Is 'Greyhound' Based on a True Story?The film, which is being released in some theaters (and virtual theaters) on the Aug. 14 anniversary, will also air on the Discovery Channel on Labor Day weekend, which is closer to the Sep.

What do you get lost in? Is it perfectly mundane or something deeper, even darker, than the pursuits of your public persona? The new film “Lost Girls & Love Hotels” explores one woman’s pull towards the latter as an escape. Running from the past and facing an uncertain future in a foreign land it questions the constructs of what we hide from, not to mention how we do it.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterThe Zurich and San Sebastian film festivals, which tend to overlap in their late-September slots and traditionally try to pool resources, are teaming once again to deliver a special market initiative that the orgs hope will contribute to rejuvenating the beleaguered international film biz.After months of pandemic disruption and cancellations, the European festival circuit is attempting to get going again, with Venice set to be the largest event to take place

Maggie Lee Chief Asia Film CriticWant to impress your date by fighting off her molestor? Wish your stand-up comedy act would bring the house down? Or looking to pack your grumpy grandpa’s funeral with keening mourners? Call “Special Actors,” an agency that supplies performers to help you keep up with the Suzukis — or out-scam your scammers.The third feature by Shinichiro Ueda, director of Japanese cult zombie comedy “One Cut of the Dead,” is a daffy ensemble trickster comedy with a few “gotcha”

was forced to scrub this year’s edition due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Tribeca Film Festival has announced it will return in 2021.

Amid shifting calendars caused by ongoing uncertainty surrounding the novel coronavirus pandemic, the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival has announced that it plans to return to New York City for its 20th anniversary edition from June 9-20, 2021.

Also Read: Tribeca Film Institute to Suspend Operations, Enact LayoffsAdditionally, Tribeca organizers announced they will dedicate space within the 2021 festival to the films whose premieres were not able to take place in 2020.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will go ahead with a physical event this year, with the 33rd edition taking place on Oct. 31 through Nov.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterOrganizers of the Sarajevo Film Fesitval, which was set to be one of the first international film festivals to take place in a meaningful physical form this summer, have made a late decision to shift the event entirely to online after a spike of infections in Bosnia.The fest had been due to take place August 14 – 21 in the Bosnian capital and the team have been bullish for months that it would be able to stage events in person despite widespread

From “The Kissing Booth” to a “Bullet Train,” it appears that Joey King is on the fast track for box office success. According to Deadline, King is in negotiations to star opposite Brad Pitt in the upcoming action-thriller “Bullet Train,” which is directed by David Leitch and written by Zak Olkewicz.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Pictures Division of Japanese entertainment and tech giant Sony achieved operating profits of $230 million in the April to June quarter.The wider corporation enjoyed a 53% increase in net income, hitting $2.19 billion (JPY233 billion) in the first quarter of its new financial year.

Kristine Kwak Some two weeks after releasing “Map of the Soul: 7 — The Journey,” BTS’s fourth Japanese studio album, the band is set to return with new music, this time in English.Columbia Records gave the BTS ARMY a pleasant surprise on July 28 by posting a countdown and link to the date of the record’s release, Aug.

Ever since its announcement as part of this year’s Cannes Film Festival Official Selections, Steve McQueen’s “Small Axe” anthology series from Amazon has been positioned as one of the 2020 fall festival darlings. And it appears that is playing out at this year’s New York Film Festival, which will not only debut a feature-length episode of the anthology as its Opening Night film but will also showcase two additional episodes as part of the main slate.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe Hong Kong International Film Festival has taken the unusual decision of revealing the pictures it selected for its now canceled 44th edition. It also plans to award prizes in its competition sections, though there will be neither in-person or online screenings for the public.The festival had previously rescheduled its 44th edition from its usual slot in March, due to the first wave of the coronavirus outbreak.