‘Fly Me to the Moon’ Wins Unprecedented Five Awards at the HAF Project Market

Colombian star Maluma cheers on Spanish tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz during the semifinals match against Italian Jannik Sinner during the Miami Open tournament held at the Hard Rock Stadium on Friday (March 31) in Miami Gardens, Fla.

Drake rocking out to Avril Lavigne while DJing at a recent club appearance has gone viral on social media.The rapper has been in Miami this week and seen at clubs around the area. A controversial sighting saw the OVO founder seen with 50 Cent the night before he was due to appear at Lollapalooza Brazil, leading fans to speculate that their meeting is why he cancelled his headline set on the day.In a viral TikTok video that has amassed over 136,000 views, you can see the Canadian rapper manning a club’s DJ booth choosing to spin Lavigne’s 2002 hit ‘Complicated’.Drake giving 2000’s vibes last night #drake #miami #mmw #avrillavigne ♬ original sound – Tiffany Escobar ‘Complicated’ is one of Lavigne’s biggest hits.

Teenage tennis phenom Carlos Alcaraz defeats USA’s top-ranked player Taylor Fritz during the Miami Open tournament quarterfinals on Thursday (March 30) held at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Fla.

wcinkala pmc-editorial-manager Variety announced Thursday the programming for its second annual Miami Entertainment Town lunch, to be held on Thursday, April 13, in Miami. The event, in partnership with CN Bank, celebrates the growing entertainment and media industry based out of Miami and recognizes those profiled in Variety’s Miami Entertainment Impact Report. At the celebration, Ronald Day, President of Entertainment and Content Strategy for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, and Karen Barroeta, Executive Vice President of Production and Development Telemundo Global Studios, will participate in a keynote conversation with Rodrigo Nieto-Galvis, Entertainment Banking Team Leader at CN Bank Miami. The conversation will be centered around Telemundo’s strategy and around music and original programming based out of Miami.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “The Bad Kids,” a hit series from Chinese streamer iQiyi, is to be remade as a Japanese feature film “Gold Boy.” The 12-episode gritty crime thriller depicts the troubles that arise after three children accidentally film a murder. The series was previously licensed to Japanese pay-TV group Wowow.

Carlos Alcaraz volunteers during the Miami Open Unites campaign on Monday (March 20) in Miami, Fla.

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.

Colombian star Maluma catches the New York Knicks face off against the Miami Heat during a basketball game on Wednesday (March 22) at Miami-Dade Arena in Miami, Fla. The Heat beat out the Knicks in an exciting game, 127-120.

Norway’s Casper Ruud and Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti helped groom puppies while volunteering during the Miami Open Unites campaign on Monday (March 20) in Miami, Fla.

Lily Moayeri When it comes to music festivals, becoming a brand name is paramount to long-term success. Consider the dozens taking place concurrently during the spring and summer months. Unless you’re a Coachella or Lollapalooza, building brand equity over decades years of shows — so that ticket-buyers don’t even necessarily need to know the lineup before committing their hard-earned dollars — how do you stand out from the crowd? The name Ultra, for instance, is synonymous with dance music — the annual festival takes place this weekend in Miami and is expected to draw upwards of 160,000 people. Founded in 1999, and named after the Depeche Mode album “Ultra,” it’s not the only dance music entity using the name, however, which has resulted in confusion in the music space and a tangled legal web for entrepreneur Patrick Moxey.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Like & Share” from Indonesia’s Gina S. Noer was named the best picture and collected the Grand Prix on Sunday at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. “All of us on the jury were struck by the film’s clear and powerful message, which affirms young women’s sexual curiosity and desire while clearly saying no to sexual violence. The style of the film is also original. The sweet, poppy feeling that fascinates the audience in the first half of the film becomes darker as the story progresses, making us shudder. “Like & Share,” with its strong message and brilliant direction, is a film that needs to be seen now more than ever,” said the jury in a statement.

Charna Flam Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s “The Beasts” (Spain), Lilo and Camilo Vilaplana’s “Plantadas” (U.S.), Hansel Porras Garcia’s “Febrero” (U.S., Cuba), Chandler Levack’s “I Like Movies” (Canada) and Pavel Giroud’s “The Padilla Affair” (Cuba, Spain) were among the winners at the 40th edition of Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival, which ran March 3-12. “The Beasts,” won the festival’s top awards, including the top jury prize, the $25,000 Knight Marimbas trophy and the Rene Rodriguez Critics nod. In addition to the two awards, “The Beasts” composer, Oliver Arson was recognized for his soundtrack and awarded the Alacran Music in Film Award, he was selected by Art of Light (Composer) Award honoree Nicholas Britell.

Naman Ramachandran “White Snow,” the latest project from celebrated Indian filmmaker Praveen Morchhale, is his “artistic revolt” against political systems that repress artists. The project has been selected for the 21st Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart (March 13-16). Set in and around Kargil, a Muslim-dominated town in the Himalayas, where a war was fought between India and Pakistan in 1999, the film tells the story of Amir, whose short film gets banned due to a complaint from a religious leader, and his social media accounts gets blocked. His elderly mother Fatima sets out on an arduous journey in the Himalayan mountains to show the film in villages, which breaks her mentally and physically and brings her close to madness before she becomes a free soul.

Naman Ramachandran The writing team of Iran’s Jafar Panahi and Nader Saeivar, who won best screenplay at Cannes for “3 Faces” (2018) directed by Panahi, have reunited for “The Witness.” To be directed by Saeivar, the project has been selected for the 21st Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart (March 13-16). Saeivar made his feature debut with “The Alien” (2020), which was a Berlinale selection and won prizes at the Beijing, Hong Kong, Duhok, Taormina and International Crime and Punishment film festivals. Saeivar’s sophomore feature, “No End,” debuted at Busan in 2022 and won him best director at Goa and a brace of awards at Vesoul recently.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “We need more love stories, even if they have their ups and downs,” says Hong Kong-based producer Cora Yim, who is behind the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) in-development project “The Marriage Drive.” HAF runs takes place alongside the FilMart rights market.  The film is a simple-to-describe idea that writer-director Lawrence Kan has been kicking around and developing for some six years. The story involves a middle-class professional couple — he’s in the legal sector, she’s in finance — and tracks their childless, but not loveless, marriage over a period of 10 years from marriage to divorce.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Chinese director Zhang Hanyi takes an unexpected turn with his latest feature film effort, “The Walking Bird,” which makes its appearance as an in-development project at the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), which takes place alongside the FilMart rights market.  His previous film, 2017’s “Dragonfly Eyes,” was one of the most unusual and stylish films of the year from anywhere in the world. It told a disturbing (fictional) narrative through extraordinary found-footage obtained from hundreds of real-world CCTV cameras, and won the FIPRESCI and Ecumenical Jury prizes at the Locarno Festival that year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Work-in-progress film project “The Remnant” is both a spotlight on those who feel powerless and also a very Hong Kong example of elements of the city pulling themselves up. “The Remnant” is one of the projects in the Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) unspooling March 13-15 alongside Hong Kong’s Filmart market. It tells the story of a former gangster who, upon his release from prison, sets up a laundry in an anonymous district and lives a quiet life. After property developers try to grab a rundown building, young gangsters try to throw people out of the building, drug addicts cause trouble and the old-timer heeds his neighbors’ calls and fights back.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Amazon Music has announced the launch of two new weekly flagship music series: the hip-hop-focused “Rotation Roundtable” and the Latin/pop culture show “La Semanal Live.” “Rotation Roundtable,” premiering March 15, comprises a hybrid Twitch livestream and 90-minute podcast experience inspired by Amazon Music’s “Rap Rotation” and “R&B Rotation” playlists. It is hosted by journalist and executive producer Speedy Morman, Power 105.1 host/ producer Nyla Symone, “On the Radar” creator Gabe P and veteran journalist Rob Markman. Each episode will feature a “Big Questions” segment meant to incite discourse about current events in hip-hop. The show will also consist of “Hot Takes,” guest interviews, and a debate segment fueled by chat participation.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Post-Truth,” a Chinese comedy film about a cemetery plot salesman trying to salvage his reputation in the face of online assaults, topped the cinema box office in mainland China over the weekend, ahead of another new release title “Revival.” Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed that “Post-Truth” earned $17.0 million between Friday and Sunday. Including preview, it has a cumulative of $20.3 million. Crime drama, “Revival” earned $10.3 million over the weekend and has a running total of $11.4 million including previews. The two newcomers dominated the box office and relegated Hong Kong-produced courtroom drama “A Guilty Conscience” to a distant third place. “Guilty” took $2.3 million (RMB15.8 million) for a cumulative of $23 million since releasing on Feb. 24.

Carlos Alcaraz is back with another win!