Gritty Thai Drama ‘Doi Boi’ Marks Feature Debut for Documentary Veteran Nontawat Numbenchapol: ‘Everyone Starts With a Dream’ (EXCLUSIVE)

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.

Mark Schilling Japan Correspondent Boys’ Love, or ‘BL’ as it is also known, was once a minor and lightly regarded type of Japanese manga catering mainly to female fans, delivering stories of handsome young guys falling in love with each other. Now its popularity has spread beyond Japan to much of East Asia and beyond, while metamorphozing into a film, TV and online genre with millions of fans. Just how big BL has become was evident in a Wednesday TIFFCOM seminar on the BL phenomenon in Thailand: Beyond Borders: Exploring the Global Appeal and Diversity of Thailand’s Boys’ Love Contents. The eleven speakers, including an official from the Office of Commercial Affairs, Royal Thai Embassy in Japan, vigorously pitched partnerships with Japanese content companies, which seemed to be a classic case of selling ice to Alaska’s indigenous inhabitants. Members of the packed seminar room might beg to differ, however.

EXCLUSIVE: Emelia Hartford, actor and well-known figure in the automotive industry, has signed with CAA for representation.

Elon Musk is enjoying some bonding time with his son. The CEO of Tesla spent the weekend at the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

New Line’s The Nun II, one of the few bright spots at the fall box office rocked by the actors strikes, will hit Max on Oct. 27. That premiere date is after the pic’s 50-day theatrical window.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “This Time,” a romantic drama reminiscent of Richard Linklater’s “Before Sunrise” trilogy, but not officially based on it, has been picked up for global distribution by fast-moving sales company EST N8. The story follows two high school sweethearts who unexpectedly reunite in Los Angeles 23 years after they were separated in Jakarta and must decide if they’re still in love. The film, directed by Sebastien Tobler, stars Ken Kirby (“Good Trouble,” “Dynasty”), Leila Perry (“Filthy Animals”) and was produced by Theresa Chiu. It had its world premiere at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival in May. The rights deal was brokered by Tenten Wei and Sophie Shi of EST N8.

The hottest place to be this weekend in Los Angeles was the Brandi Carlile & Friends concert at the Hollywood Bowl!

Most people know Alice Englert as the daughter of the great New Zealand auteur Jane Campion. And some may know her as an actress from films like “Them That Follow,” “Body Brokers,” and Campion‘s “The Power Of The Dog.” But Englert is a filmmaker, too, and her feature debut, “Bad Behavior,” is ready for its theatrical release in New Zealand next month.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Dynamic Singaporean producer Jeremy Chua is to receive the FIAPF Award for Outstanding Contribution to Asia Pacific Cinema, at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) on Nov. 3 on Australia’s Gold Coast.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director With “Moonlighting” now available on streaming for the first time thanks to Hulu, series creator Glenn Gordon Caron spoke to the New York Post and confirmed he was able to tell series star Bruce Willis about the show’s streaming resurgence amid the actor’s ongoing frontotemporal dementia (FTP) diagnosis. “Moonlighting,” the Emmy-nominated ABC dramedy that ran for five seasons and 67 episodes in the late 1980s, served as Willis’ acting breakthrough.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Solids by the Seashore,” “The Berefts” and “House of the Seasons” were all multiple winners of the Vision Awards at the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday evening. Another winner was “Yellow Door: ’90s Lo-fi Film Club,” a documentary celebrating Korea’s early cinephiles, who include “Parasite” director Bong Joon-ho. The Vision Awards precede the main New Currents Competition and the Jiseok Competition prizes which will be presented on Saturday at the festival’s closing ceremony.FIPRESCI Award“That Summer’s Lie” Dir. Sohn Hyun-lok.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Tiger Stripes,” the Malaysian coming-of-age, body horror film that debuted in Cannes’ Critics Week section has been set as the opening title for this year’s Singapore International Film Festival (Nov. 30 – Dec.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Some twenty aspiring film projects have been selected to participate in the inaugural edition of the Qcinema Project Market (Nov. 18-19) that this year represents and expansion of the QCinema Film Festival in The Philippines’ Quezon City. The selected titles include development projects by several of East Asia’s better known independent and art-house directors and projects.

Attorneys for Daystar Peterson (Tory Lanez) have filed a motion for his release on bail pending the appeal of his sentence in the Megan Thee Stallion shooting case. It’s the second such motion submitted by his defense team since Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge David Herriford sentenced him in early August to 10 years in prison.

EXCLUSIVE: J. Mills Goodloe has been hired to adapt Michael Thompson’s novel How To Be Remembered into a feature film. MRC will finance and Elizabeth Cantillon will produce.

Blink-182 have paid homage to the legendary New York rock band the Ramones in the video for their latest single ‘Dance With Me’.The track is a fresh take on a classic Blink song packed with a tapping guitar riff, heavy drums and catchy, anthemic lyrics such as: “Olé, Olé. Olé, Olé, Olé, Olé / Yeah / We’re doing it all night long“.Directed by The Malloys, the song’s accompanying video is billed as a love letter to the famous New York punks – one of Blink’s favourite bands – and sees Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker dressed up in Ramones cosplay.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Issues of cultural diversity, different Asian diaspora populations and the quest for the Asian cinematic identity came up for discussion on Thursday as the New Currents competition jury at the Busan International Film Festival prepared to get down to work. Filmmaker and academic Jung Sung-il, who is set as the jury president, appeared to invite a degree of dispute that might get the blood racing. “I have high hopes, hope for controversies and good conversations among the jurors,” he said in opening remarks.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “I hope we can communicate and reconcile again,” said Busan Mayor Park Heong-joon on the opening night of the South Korean city’s film festival. With so much of the dialogue in opening drama “Because I Hate Korea” discussing Korean societal rigidities, group loyalties, long working hours and poor pay (which cause the protagonist to emigrate to laid-back New Zealand), it is easy to forget that many of these characteristics are what may have saved this year’s Busan International FIlm Festival from going off the rails.

Mark Wahlberg is opening up about his family’s big move.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Argentina ‘s Pampa Films and Lungo Films are teaming up with U.S.-based Bravura Media to produce a series based on the novel “Fordlandia, a Dark Paradise” by Argentine scribe, Eduardo Sguiglia. The series project, titled “Fordlandia,” is among the 10 series pitches to be presented at this week’s Iberseries & Platino Industria’s Co-Production and Financing Forum in Madrid.