‘Godzilla: Minus One’ Trailer: Toho Reboots With A New Tale Of A Monster Rising In Post-War Japan

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Neo Sora’s concert documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” a standout at the Venice Film Festival, has sold for theatrical distribution in North America to Janus Films ahead of its North American premiere at the New York Film Festival. The theatrical release will be followed by a Blu-ray Disc release on the “Janus Contemporaries” label. This is the latest deal inked by London and Paris-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation, following a slew of sales to Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Midas Filmes), Germany and Austria (Rapid Eye), Scandinavia (NjutaFilms), Baltics (Kino Pavasaris), South Korea (Media Castle), China (JL Vision Films), Hong Kong and Macau (Edko Films), Taiwan (Cai Chang) and Singapore (Anticipate Pictures).

Sophia Scorziello editor Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott are closer than ever in the trailer for Searchlight Pictures’ upcoming gay romance “All of Us Strangers.” Helmed by Andrew Haigh, the film is an adaptation of Taichi Yamada’s 1987 Japanese psychological novel “Strangers.” The two actors star as neighbors-turned-lovers — a screenwriter named Adam (Scott) and the enigmatic Harry (Mescal). As their relationship evolves, Adam returns to his childhood home to discover that his three-decades-deceased parents, played by Claire Foy and Jamie Bell, are seemingly alive.

Gareth Edwards directed his first movie, the 2010 indie “Monsters,” it could scarcely have been a more DIY endeavor. He had less than $500,000 to tell an intimate story about two Americans contending with giant aliens rampaging through Mexico, so his crew consisted of just his actors (Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able), a sound tech, a line producer, a translator and a driver.

Vanessa Redgrave To Be Feted At European Film Awards

Last year, it was confirmed that a popular Leeds ramen and dumpling spot, House of Fu, would be heading to Manchester. Now, the team behind the hit restaurant have confirmed the exact date it will open.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Paramount+ streaming service will launch in Japan in December as a free-of-charge addition to cable and internet provider J:COM’s platform and to pay-TV service Wowow. Paramount+ originals including “Tulsa King,” “Mayor of Kingstown” and “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds” will be available at the launch of the service and for the first time in Japan. Japan will be the second country in East Asia where the service becomes available, following a launch in South Korea in June last year.

Naman Ramachandran Indian star Karthik Sivakumar, known by his screen name Karthi, is bullish about upcoming release “Japan,” his 25th film. The film is due to release in November during the Deepavali holiday frame in Tamil, Telugu and a few other languages.

The 2023 series of Strictly Come Dancing is just around the corner, with the new season scheduled to launch of BBC One on Saturday 16 September. A new set of celebrities are set to take to the iconic dance floor on the hit BBC One show, including Bobby Brazier, Les Dennis, Ellie Leach and Angela Scanlon. This year's pairings are yet to be revealed, with Strictly bosses being careful to keep them under wraps until the launch show.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Kore-eda Hirokazu returns to Japan for his latest film “Monster,” which poses this question to audiences: “Who really is the monster?” While location scouting, the filmmaker was looking down at a lake, dark and almost black, and “I thought of Sakamoto Ryuichi music. He was the only person who could do the music for this film.” It would mark the first time in years that the legendary composer behind “The Last Emperor” and “The Revenant” had worked on a Japanese title The film opens with Minato, played by Kurokawa Soya, an 11-year-old fifth grader who watches a burning building from afar. Kore-eda returns to this sequence three times, each from a different perspective.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Japan rugby union team on Sunday thrashed tournament newcomers Chile 42-12 on the first weekend of the freshly kicked-off Rugby World Cup. But in 2015, Japan were the underdogs and yet pulled off a surprise result against rugby titans South Africa. In the first ever match between the two nations Japan won 34-32, due to an 80th minute try. “The Brighton Miracle,” a docu-drama capturing and re-constructing that shock match, has been picked up by Blue Sky Media.

Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO) and Japan Film Commission have announced details of a new incentives program for offshore film and TV productions shooting in the country. 

The Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion has been given to a winner!

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Brussels-based company Best Friend Forever has revealed a raft of deals for key territories for Ramata-Toulaye Sy‘s feature film debut, “Banel & Adama,” which played in competition in Cannes and makes its North American premiere in Toronto. Variety reviewed it as “a dreamlike debut” in May. The film just won the Melbourne International Film Festival’s top prize, the Bright Horizons Award.

French filmmaker Claire Denis has been announced as the jury president for the Official Section of the 71st San Sebastian Film Festival, running from September 22-30.

In cinema, few names are as iconic as Hayao Miyazaki, and his latest adventure carries the weight of expectation. Drawing inspiration from the mysticism of Japanese folklore and grounded in the pain of personal loss, The Boy and the Heron, which opened the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, is a visual spectacle that rekindles the art of 2D animation in an era dominated by the digital.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Fujishima ‘Julie’ Keiko has quit as president of Johnny and Associates, the Japanese talent agency that is embroiled in a poisonous child sex abuse scandal. The alleged abuses were committed over several decades by company founder the late Johnny Kitagawa, Fujishima’s uncle, two external reports have found. Some of the boys were still of elementary school age when they were allegedly abused. Fujishima will be replaced as president by actor Higashiyama Noriyuki, a long-term employee of the powerhouse agency and host of the TV Asahi show “Sunday LIVE!!” The company held a press conference on Thursday to announce the leadership change and take press questions over its responses and remedies to the scandal. During the event, both Higashiyama and Fujishima acknowledged that Kitagawa committed acts of sexual abuse against young agency talents prior to his death at age 87 in 2019.

EXCLUSIVE: In a world where the space for specialist and non English-language cinema is shrinking in cinemas, it’s encouraging to see that Tokyo-based Gaga Corporation is committed to bringing a diverse range of theatrical releases to Japanese audiences. 

Late Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto was celebrated at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday with the Out Of Competition premiere of concert film Opus.

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, October 4-13) has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year. 

Naman Ramachandran The European Film Academy has revealed the nominations for Lux – The European Audience Film Award. The nominated films are: “20,000 Species of Bees” by Estibaliz Urresola Solaguren (Spain); “The Teacher’s Lounge” by İlker Çatak (Germany); “Fallen Leaves” by Aki Kaurismäki (Finland, Germany); “On the Adamant” by Nicolas Philibert (France, Japan); and “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood” by Anna Hints (Estonia, France, Iceland).