EXCLUSIVE: Crunchyroll announced today a special one-day-only private pop-up installation MAKOTO SHINKAI: A Journey from Voices of a Distant Star through Suzume which will explore the complete works of Japanese animation filmmaker Makoto Shinkai.
18.10.2023 - 05:09 / deadline.com
Receiving its world premiere in Pingyao International Film Festival’s Crouching Tigers section, Zhang Yu’s feature debut Killing The Violet is the story of a woman dealing with the aftermath of being raped after a man breaks into her apartment.
At first she appears completely calm and assures her live-in boyfriend that there is nothing to worry about. But slowly she starts to question herself and the world around her starts to disintegrate. One of the first walls to crack is her ambition to be a writer and her feelings towards her father, a famous novelist who is comatose following a stroke, but still appears to enjoy sexual relations with his younger wife.
Zhang is a Shanghai-based director and screenwriter who made Killing The Violet as her graduation film at Tokyo University of the Arts. Produced by her classmate Lu Yanqing, the film is co-written by Zhang and Marina Kikuchi. Nobuhiro Suwa, a well-known Japanese actor and director who is also Zhang’s teacher at the University, plays the father and the cast also includes Saori, Anam Sekiguchi and Gen Ogawa.
DEADLINE: Why did you decide to study filmmaking in Japan rather than China?
ZHANG YU: When I was young, I liked literature, especially novels, and during elementary school wanted to be a novelist. When I grew up, I started watched films and found that to be a more effective outlet for what I wanted to say than writing novels. But in China, you need to take arts subjects as an undergraduate before you can study filmmaking, and my parents didn’t want me to take that route. So I had to finish my undergraduate studies in China before I could enrol on a filmmaking course in Japan. But while I was still an undergraduate I made some short films with friends at
EXCLUSIVE: Crunchyroll announced today a special one-day-only private pop-up installation MAKOTO SHINKAI: A Journey from Voices of a Distant Star through Suzume which will explore the complete works of Japanese animation filmmaker Makoto Shinkai.
Naman Ramachandran Warner Bros. Discovery has revealed several leadership roles across its Asia Pacific (APAC) business, following the appointment of James Gibbons as president, Asia Pacific, in October.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent WestEnd Films has scored multiple sales, including to North America, on British director Patrick Dickinson’s drama “Cottontail,” which stars Japan’s Lily Franky (“Shoplifters”) and Ciaran Hinds. The film, first announced at the AFM in 2019, won the prize for best first feature last week at the Rome Film Festival, where it had its world premiere.
Bring Me The Horizon and BABYMETAL have performed the track ‘Kingslayer’ together while on tour in Japan today (October 31) – check it out below.Previously, BABYMETAL told NME that they’d love to one day work with Bring Me The Horizon and they later collaborated together on ‘Kingslayer’.Now, the two performed the track together live at Bring Me The Horizon’s headline date at the WORLD Kinen Hall in Kobe today, complete with special choreography from BABYMETAL.Check out fan footage of the moment here:⚡️Kick off of NEX_FEST!!!⚡️Thank you for coming to NEX_FEST in KOBE⚓️Thank you @bmthofficial @yungblud @IPrevailBand #BABYMETAL #BMTHNEXFEST @nex_fest_japan pic.twitter.com/ZBiZiA1Lef— BABYMETAL (@BABYMETAL_JAPAN) October 31, 2023BMTHのfeat. Babymetalの完全版Kingslayerとうるさいオタク達 pic.twitter.com/ThkI2jcvpR— なた (@ssvod_) October 31, 2023Kingslayer with BabymetalBring Me The Horizon at NEX_FEST Osakapic.twitter.com/fiiv10FW9K— BMTH stan for lyfe (@bmthstan4lyfe) October 31, 2023 Speaking about their collaboration with BABYMETAL previously, BMTH’s Oli Sykes said: “We wanted to do something with them for ages.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Godzilla Minus One,” the biggest picture to date in the Japanese monster movie franchise and the Wednesday night closing gala title at the Tokyo International Film Festival, is set for pan-European release at the beginning of December. Rights were acquired for 38 territories (excluding the U.K., Ireland and German-speaking territories) by theatrical-only specialist distributor Piece of Magic Entertainment from Toho, the Japanese studio that controls the ‘kaiju’ franchise and distributes the picture in Japan from Nov.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Top Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi is in post-production of “Le Chemin du Serpent,” a French-language adaptation of his own 1998 film “The Serpent’s Path.” The story sees a mysterious woman team up with a man whose daughter was killed and who is now seeking revenge. Together they kidnap members of an organization and torture them to find out what really happened. With Damien Bonnard (“Asteroid City,” “Les Miserables”) and Shibasaki Ko (“47 Ronin,” “Battle Royale”) in the leading roles, the picture is the anchor title of the TIFFCOM sales slate of major Japanese studio Kadokawa. Production is by Kadokawa and Jean-Luc Ormieres’ Cinefrance Studios.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese drama film “Mountain Woman,” which was one of the standouts titles at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival, is to be represented for global sales by EST N8. Inspired by “The Legends of Tono,” which is Japanese folklore from the Tohoku region, the film depicts a small Japanese village overrun by famine. The burden falls upon Rin, a woman whose connections with the spirit and natural worlds allow her to rise amidst familial conflicts.
There’s been much celebratory talk here at the Tokyo Film Festival about a new dawn of internationally-minded Japanese artists led by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Makoto Shinkai, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi.
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” has essentially finished its box-office run, and while the film fell short of the $1 billion mark—grossing $942.1 million worldwide—a three-hour biopic earning anything over $150 million at the box office globally is an astounding achievement these days and demonstrates how Nolan can “eventize” any subject and make it into an epic. While its Oscar prospects seem very high—sure to earn a Best Picture and Best Director nomination, among others—the film has its critics and had criticism lobbied at it.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Jet Lag: The Game” is refueled for Season 8 and bringing “Challenge Accepted” host Michelle Khare along for the ride. Streamy winner Khare has joined “Jet Lag” as the guest contestant on the new season of the hit web travel game show, which will be returning to the U.S. for its eighth season after several installments shot abroad in Europe, Japan and New Zealand, playing alongside usual competitors: Sam Denby, Adam Chase and Ben Doyle (the winner of Season 7).
Tokyo’s International Film Festival returned this evening for its first completely unrestricted, post-COVID-19 edition with a well-attended screening of Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days.
Wim Wenders introduced the cast and crew of “Perfect Days” at an outdoor stage, giving the opening ceremony of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival a moment of European cool. Inside the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, Wenders was brought on stage twice more. “I had a dream that with ‘Perfect Days,’ I’d make a film that would play at the Cannes Film Festival. I dreamed that it would win the best acting prize.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Netflix has picked up rights to Japanese financial drama series “Trillion Game” from leading local broadcaster Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS) and will begin airing it from Saturday. The show involves two young men – one a computer programming ace, the other a self-centered but charismatic entrepreneurial type – who have their early career moves thwarted by Dragon Bank and instead start their own company with the seemingly impossible ambition of building a trillion dollar company. They have no business plan and no capital and must come up with innovative ways to raise money and get ahead. The story was based on a manga originally written by Inagaki Riichiro and illustrated by Ikegami Ryoichi that was serialized in Shogakukan’s Big Comic Superior magazine from 2020. The TBS series, directed by Murao Yoshiaki, written by Habara Daisuke and produced by Matsumoto Akiko, Matsushita Hiromi and Kato Shoichi, began airing as weekly instalments in primetime evening slots from July 14 to Sept. 15.Meguro Ren, a member of the J-pop idol group Snowman, plays Haru Tennoji, the charming but tricksy protagonist.
Geng Zihan has just won Best Director in the Fei Mu Awards of Pingyao International Film Festival for her debut feature, A Song Sung Blue, a coming-of-age tale set in Harbin in northeast China.
Chinese director Ning Hao has flown directly from Busan film festival in South Korea to China’s Pingyao International Film Festival (PYIFF) with his latest film, The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Any new show by producer Frank Doelger – whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “The Swarm,” “John Adams” and “Rome” – must rate as an event. That event takes place Oct. 17 at Cannes Mipcom trade fair, with the world premiere of “Concordia,” on which Doelger serves as executive producer and showrunner.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief A dearth of new release films allowed Zhang Yimou’s “Under the Light” to retain a comfortable lead at the China box office over the weekend, in its third week of release. The contemporary crime drama film earned $13.5 million (RMB97.2 million) between Friday and Sunday, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. Since releasing on Sept. 28, it has accumulated gross revenues of $163 million (RMB1.17 billion).
EXCLUSIVE: Bruce Weber’s Academy Award-nominated documentary Let’s Get Lost has received a 4k restoration, which will debut at this year’s Lumiere Film Festival.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Top Japanese star Yagira Yuga (“Nobody Knows,” “Asakusa Kid”) was front and center of streamer Disney+’s plans when it gave a green light to a second season of drama-horror series “Gannibal.” The creepy show, in which Yagira portrays a damaged police detective on the heels of a gangster-like family in a troubled village, has been a ratings winner in terms of minutes watched for the streamer. And, on Sunday, it earned Yagira win an Asian excellence prize at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards. He spoke to Variety about the newly-started production of the second season.Where does Season Two kick off? In Season One, we saw the surfacing of many secrets including those of the village and the villagers.
Neymar Jr and his girlfriend Bruna Biancardi excitedly announced they were having their first baby. A few months later, this happy news was overshadowed by reports of the football player’s admitted infidelity.