Wooden Boat, Pucará Cine, Reteam For ‘Bajo el Mismo Sol,’ From New Directors Winner (EXCLUSIVE)

China's reported overseas police service stations and their operations to persuade citizens to return to the homeland mark a dangerous expansion of the regime’s international reach, according to a human rights advocate.  Safeguard Defenders, a pan-Asian human rights organization, published an investigation last month detailing a Chinese campaign to combat "fraud and telecom fraud" crimes committed by its citizens living abroad.The report indicated that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has established at least 54 police stations across 30 different countries, including the U.S. "I think it shows how brazen the CCP is getting and how little regard they have for other governments," Laura Harth, Safeguard Defenders' campaign manager, told Fox News.

Michaela Zee editor President Joe Biden’s turbulent first year in office is the focus of HBO’s forthcoming documentary, “Year One: A Political Odyssey.” In the trailer, which Variety can exclusively reveal, the documentary chronicles Biden’s first year as president, from his inauguration in 2021 to the State of the Union speech in March. Directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker John Maggio, “Year One” explores the dynamics of the President’s inner circle, featuring archival news footage and insider interviews with secretary of state Antony Blinken, national security advisor Jake Sullivan, secretary of defense Lloyd Austin, CIA director William Burns and White House chief of staff Ron Klain, among other members of Biden’s cabinet.

Environmental Progress founder Michael Shellenberger is sounding the alarm on President Biden's "woke green energy" agenda for threatening U.S. security.

Jim Sciutto, CNN’s chief national security correspondent and co-anchor of its morning Newsroom newscast, has been absent from the show for the past two days in what is said to be a personal leave.

Manori Ravindran International Editor It may officially be the year of the tiger in the Chinese Zodiac calendar, but in the world of film, it’s definitely the year of the wee donkey. The humble equine features in films such as Searchlight’s “The Banshees of Inisherin” and even Neon’s “Triangle of Sadness,” but nowhere is this loyal beast of burden in the spotlight more than Janus Films and Sideshow’s “EO,” from legendary Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski. The film — which shared the Cannes Jury Prize with Félix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s “The Eight Mountains” — shares a vision of modern Europe through the prism of a gray donkey, EO, who is torn away by animal activists from his beloved circus performer owner, and passed from hand to hand in the service of humans. On his life’s path, EO meets all sorts of people and experiences joy and pain, as well as disasters and unexpected bliss.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong multi-hyphenate Peter Chan Ho-sun is far too intellectual to call himself an “arms dealer,” as Sony Pictures has in casting itself as an unattached supplier to streaming platforms. But politeness and Bob Dylan references aside, Chan’s new company, Changin’ Pictures, aims to become a major independent purveyor of premium Asian TV content for the streamers. The company is using this week’s Busan International Film Festival as its launchpad and will unveil the first five series of its 20-title pan-Asian slate.  Chan’s thesis is that global audiences are hungry for Asian content but have not been able to access it easily under legacy film and TV distribution systems. With streaming making everything accessible everywhere, and audiences no longer balking at subtitles, quality Asian drama can and will travel.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Devotion,” a drama about a group of elite fighter pilots during the Korean War, will screen at the opening night of the Urbanworld Film Festival. The Sony Pictures and Black Label Media production was directed by J.D. Dillard and stars Jonathan Majors, who will serve as the festival’s official ambassador. HBO will return as a founding partner of the Urbanworld Film Festival, and Visa will serve as presenting partner. The festival will take place from Oct. 26 to Oct. 30. “This year’s slate is incredibly impressive,” said Karen McMullen, head of programming. “We have some of the top artists in the industry as well as exciting new voices premiering their films at Urbanworld. It has been a privilege working alongside this organization as we move into our 26th year as a festival. We can’t wait to see everyone in person in New York City to help us celebrate our dynamic films and filmmakers.”

Former Manchester City star Sun Jihai is now a successful businessman away from football.

Addie Morfoot Contributor “POV Shorts” will kick off its fifth season Nov. 7, with 11 documentaries highlighting topics including art as activism, freedom of expression, Americans with disabilities, intergenerational stories, and connectedness on the way.Packaged into six 30-minute episodes, “POV Shorts” will be available on PBS and will stream on POV.org and the PBS Video app.

Kamila Valieva is back — and she appears to be making a very strong statement about what she went through at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China.

Universal Music has announced a new partnership with General Motors’ Buick brand to release music inspired by the car maker.The first song to be released under the deal is ‘Guang Zhi Suo Xiang’ performed by Liu Lingfei, a leading musical theatre actor in China. Oh yes, I probably should have mentioned that this is a deal between the Chinese divisions of the two companies.That song was actually unveiled last month, to coincide with this year’s Buick Owners Day in China, and an accompanying video was put out earlier this month.According to the two brands, “the song and its accompanying music video are crafted to depict Buick owners’ lives and deepen their pride of Buick ownership”.The news now is that there’s more of this sort of thing to come.

moon phase occurs when the moon is directly between the sun and Earth. The two bodies share the same celestial longitude, an alignment also called a conjunction. Celestial longitude is a projection of the Earth's own longitude lines on the sky; during new moons, a line drawn from the pole star due south through the sun would also hit the moon.

The Rome Film Festival has unveiled its first line-up under the new management team of former Rai executive Paola Malanga as artistic director and Cineteca di Bologna director Gian Luca Farinelli as president, who were both appointed to their roles last March.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Christina Anderson will receive the 2022 Horton Foote Prize for “the ripple, the wave that carried me home,” a play that examines racial justice, politics and family forgiveness. She will be honored at a private celebration at New York’s Lotos Club, where Anderson will be presented with $50,000 and a limited edition of Keith Carter’siconic photograph of Horton Foote, which is found in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. Named after Foote, the writer of “Tender Mercies” and “The Trip to Bountiful,” the biennial prize recognizes excellence in American theater. It has been presented since 2010.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ruben Östlund’s Palme d’Or winning film “Triangle of Sadness” has been sold by Coproduction Office to major distributors around the world. “Triangle of Sadness,” which was acquired by Neon for North America at the Cannes Film Festival, just had its North American premiere at Toronto and is playing at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Coproduction Office has now sold the movie worldwide to major distributors. Recent deals have been closed with Stay Golden (China), Edko (Hong Kong), Impact (India), Gaga (Japan), Green Narae (South Korea), Catchplay (Taiwan), TBA Studios (Philippines), Sun (Latin America), Frontrow (Middle East), Forefont (South Africa) and Les Films 26 (French-speaking Africa). 

Korean director Park Chan-wook is back with a new thriller “Decision To Leave”, and ET Canada has your exclusive first look at the trailer.

K.J. Yossman After triumphing at last year’s Venice Film Festival, the U.K. and Irish rights to Eric Gravel’s race-against-time social drama “Full Time” (À plein temps) have been snapped up by Parkland Entertainment. It is set to be released in the U.K. and Ireland in early 2023. The film, which stars “Call My Agent’s” Laure Calamy, had its world premiere at last year’s festival in the Orizzonti section before going on to win prizes for both Calamy, for best actress, and Gravel, for best director. In “Full Time,” Calamy stars as Julie, a maid in a luxury Parisian hotel while simultaneously carting for her two children in the French countryside. One day, she finally gets a break when she is offered an interview for a long-hoped for job. But, as luck would have it, the interview is on the same day as a national strike, which shuts down the city’s transport.