Chinese TV Finding Fans in Africa, Strong Enough to Resist TikTok, Executive Claims – FilMart

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Taiwan has become a go-to destination for Chinese language series production over the past few years, as international streamers have taken the initiative and as the local content trend has become entrenched in Asia. While some of Taiwan’s advantage may have been handed to it as a result of regional political factors, the movement has led to greater interest in Taiwan stories, both historical and modern.Five Taiwan TV projects are being pitched at Series Mania, that are deemed to have international appeal according to Taiwan Creative Content Agency (TAICCA), a government-backed agency that has become noticeably proactive over roughly the same period.

The chairwoman of the House Energy & Commerce Committee opened a hearing featuring the CEO of TikTok by telling him that “your platform should be banned.”

reported the news in an exclusive report.Lead duo Montalban and Brandy Norwood will return to their roles of fairytale couple King Charming and Cinderella alongside Rita Ora as the Queen of Hearts who “rules over the kingdom of Wonderland with an iron fist.”Montalban first starred as Prince Christopher in “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella” (1997) alongside Norwood as Cinderella with the late Whitney Houston playing the Fairy Godmother. Other ensemble cast members included Whoopi Goldberg, Victor Barger, Natalie Desselle Reid, Bernadette Peters and Jason Alexander.“The Rise of Red” will bring viewers back to Auradon and the Isle of Lost, where the “Descendants” franchise begins.

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures‘ new Mean Girls film, based on the Tony-nominated Broadway show and the classic film comedy that inspired it, has found its Kevin G. in up-and-comer Mahi Alam (American Born Chinese), with veteran comedic actor Connor Ratliff (Search Party) also coming on for a role.

Lise Pedersen Documentary filmmaker Jialing Zhang, who was nominated for an Emmy for “One Child Nation,” spoke to Variety about her latest film, “Total Trust,” which is running in the main competition at CPH:DOX, the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Festival. It tells the chilling story of three women and their families fighting for their human rights in China, where state control is ubiquitous thanks to high technology surveillance, such as facial recognition, big data analysis and points systems that mean citizens gain or lose points depending on their behavior. Zhang’s intimate footage offers unprecedented access to the impact of this all-controlling system on the protagonists’ everyday lives.

reported Friday.The inquiry began late last year after TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, admitted that employees had wrongly captured information of American users of the social app, including data from two journalists and some of their associates, the Times reported.The U.S. government as been concerned for years about the growing popularity of TikTok and the influence the authoritarian Chinese government has over the company and how the app is used.Both the Trump and Biden administrations have investigated TikTok amid these concerns, and now FBI and the U.S.

Although Filmart felt quiet on its first morning, with many attendees glued to their phones watching the Oscars, it soon turned into a reasonably vibrant market, with sales companies locked in back-to-back meetings, new project announcements and a few star appearances to liven up proceedings. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Hong Kong Trade Development Council said Thursday that 7,300 executives from 41 countries had attended its FilMart and Entertainment Pulse events this week (March 13-16). “The revived physical marketplace was as vibrant and active as in the past,” organizers claimed. In 2019, the last year that FilMart was held as an in-person event, the TDC reported “close to 9,000 visitors from 52 countries and regions.” For 2023, it reported “over 700 exhibitors from 30 countries and regions,” including a record Mainland China exhibitor tally exceeding 330. Those numbers compared with 888 exhibitors from 35 countries and regions in 2019, including 264 exhibitors from China.

Vanessa Bryant and her daughters are honoring the late Kobe Bryant.

The Biden Administration appears to be playing hardball, insisting TikTok’s Chinese parent company ByteDance divest the hugely popular video-sharing app in the U.S. According to the WSJ, it’s threatening a ban if that doesn’t happpen.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The White House has told TikTok that parent company ByteDance, the Chinese internet giant, must sell its ownership position in the popular video app or face a ban in the U.S., TikTok said on Wednesday. The U.S. government made the demand citing national security concerns. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. The U.S. government’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS), which is an interagency group oversees national security risks led by the Treasury Department that has the authority to block foreign transactions involving U.S. entities, “recently” demanded that ByteDance divest TikTok, per the Journal. 

Kobe Bryant.Vanessa Bryant and her three daughters -- Natalia, Bianka and Capri — all held hands as they unveiled the prints Wednesday in Hollywood, where Natalia also spoke about her late father's unparalleled work ethic and how he inspired her to study film at USC.Lakers president Jeanie Buss and former Lakers coach Byron Scott also attended the ceremony and briefly spoke before Natalia took the podium and offered a moving tribute to the «best girl dad.»«Most people knew him as a basketball player or storyteller. I got to know him as my dad, and lemme tell you, he's the MVP of girl dads, to say the least,» she said.

Richard Kuipers Murder, treachery and political intrigue are the juicy ingredients of Zhang Yimou’s “Full River Red,” an entertaining if overlong mystery-comedy set in the narrow passageways and dark chambers of a Song dynasty military compound in 1146. With a twist-packed plot to match its labyrinthine location, Zhang’s fast-paced film motors along nicely as an engaging “Knives Out”-style whodunnit before stumbling a little in the protracted final act. A Lunar New Year smash hit in China, “Full River Red” will be released on 150 North American screens by specialty distributor Niu Vision Media on March 17.  The biggest commercial success of Zhang’s distinguished 35-year career, “Full River Red” has already grossed a whopping $671 million at home since Jan. 22. The 157-minute blockbuster continues the string of hits (“Cliff Walkers,” “Shadow,” “Sniper”) he’s delivered since big-budget international co-production misfire “The Great Wall” in 2016. Much less ornately decorated and colorfully photographed than Zhang’s famous wuxia epics “House of Flying Daggers” and “Hero,” this intricately plotted outing is more concerned with wordplay than swordplay.

Disney has released a new teaser trailer for its upcoming adaptation of Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese starring Everything Everywhere All At Once‘s Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and Stephanie Hsu.The teaser trailer focuses on Yeoh’s character warning that a “gate between Heaven and Earth is opening” with the fate of the world “hanging in balance.” The trailer also shows glimpses of several multiverse settings as well as Ke Huy Quan’s and Stephanie Hsu’s characters.American Born Chinese is set to arrive in Disney+ beginning May 24. Based on Gene Luen Yang’s 2006 graphic novel the same name, the series will tell the story of a teenager named Ben/Jin Wang who struggles as a Chinese immigrant in an American high school.Upon meeting a fellow foreign exchange student Wei-Chen, the two become embroiled in a historical battle of Chinese mythological gods, with themes of identity, culture and family woven in.Jin Wang will be played by young star Ben/Jin Wang, while his fellow exchange student Wei-Chen is played by Jim Liu.

While Disney+ has teased that the coming-of-age series jumps between action and comedy as it explores themes of identity, culture and family, Yeoh and Quan try their hand at multiverse jumping once more as the pair transport across space and time and fight the forces that threaten the world.Besides “Everything Everywhere All At Once” royalty, the comedy-action series features an ensemble including Ben Wang, Yeo Yann Yann, Chin Han, Daniel Wu, Jimmy Liu and Sydney Taylor.Hailing from 20th Television, Kelvin Yu serves as executive producer and showrunner while “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” director Destin Daniel Cretton will direct and executive produce alongside Melvin Mar and Jake Kasdan, Erin O’Malley, Asher Goldstein and author Gene Luen Yang.  You can watch the teaser above.“American Born Chinese” will premiere May 24 on Disney+.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based indie sales agent Autumn Sun comes to FilMart with a bulging slate of new film titles from around Asia — including two animated features from mainland China. Autumn Sun, headed by sales veteran Elliot Tong, is giving a market premiere to “Planet Cat,” an animated feature by Song Yuefeng (“Ping Pong Rabbit,” “Throne of Elves”) about a chance meeting between a stray cat and a girl in a city at night. The film is produced by Nuctopus Studio and Dreamers Studio and previously won a development prize at the Beijing International Film Festival. The feature is now in post-production and a promo reel is being screened at the market.

Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan's new Disney+ series, , has a premiere date.Ahead of the Oscars on Sunday, where Yeoh and Quan could make history if they win Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor for, Disney+ announced the upcoming series will drop Wednesday, May 24. A 30-second teaser highlights Yeoh and Quan's performances, along with their co-star, Stephanie Hsu, who guest stars on  Based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang,  tells the story of Jin Wang (Ben Wang), an average teenager juggling his high school social life with his home life.

Disney+ will launch its upcoming series American Born Chinese on May 24, hoping that the Everything Everywhere All at Once magic of Michelle Yeoh, Key Huy Quan, and Stephanie Hsu boosts the streamer.

Disney+ is giving fans a first look at its much-anticipated martial arts adventure.

Wilson Chapman editor It’s a big night for “Everything Everywhere All at Once” at the Oscars, but stars Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan are already looking to the future with “American Born Chinese.” The two actors reunite in the first teaser for the action-comedy series. Released Sunday morning by Disney+, the footage caps off with the announcement of a May 24 premiere date for the series. The series is adapted from cartoonist Gene Luen Yang’s acclaimed 2006 graphic novel, which tells the story of Jin Wang (Ben Wang), a child of Chinese immigrants who’s struggling with growing up in a predominantly white suburb. When he meets a new Taiwanese classmate, the two become fast friends, but Jin is pulled into the battles of Chinese mythological gods.