Solomon Thomas is a football player for the NFL who is also a massive Broadway fan!
11.03.2024 - 00:05 / variety.com
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Lily Franky, the Japanese acting sensation who starred in “Shoplifters” and “Like Father Like Son,” heads the cast of “Diamonds in the Sand,” a multinational co-production that appears at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) as a work in progress. Developed and directed by Janus Victoria, the film started as an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of kodokushi, or lonely death, where elderly people who live alone are discovered dead only months after their passing due to the isolated lives that they lead.
In Victoria’s telling, Franky’s Yoji is a divorced and demoted Japanese salaryman who chooses to abandon it all and head to Manila. He believes that nobody is lonely in the Philippines.
For all its drawbacks and discomforts, the chaos of Manila offers the promise of life, human connection and unpredictable destiny, as opposed to kodokushi’s dark, silent certainty. Victoria has completed seven short fiction films, including “Hopia Express” (2006) and “Myth of Manila” (2021), which received best short film awards at Cinemanila and Sharjah, respectively, and has written and directed nearly a hundred long-reportage documentaries for Philippines broadcasting companies.
The cast also includes veteran Yoshiyuki Kazuko, who has appeared in hundreds of Japanese films including “Empire of Passion” and “20th Century Boys,” as well as Maria Isabel Lopez, a Philippines beauty queen who started her career in controversial films with plenty of sexual and erotic content, and has become an award-winning actress in the films of Brillante Mendoza. They are joined by young star Charlie Dizon, who made her name internationally with “Fangirl” by Antoinette Jadaone.
Solomon Thomas is a football player for the NFL who is also a massive Broadway fan!
EXCLUSIVE: Apple’s Invasion is rounding out its Season 3 cast with Ashton Sanders (Moonlight, Wu-Tang: An American Saga) and Eric Lange (Perry Mason, Escape at Dannemora) who will tackle major recurring roles.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Universal’s “The Fall Guy” will open in mainland Chinese cinemas next month, ahead of its debut in the U.S. and star Ryan Gosling’s native Canada. The film is set to release officially in China on April 30.
Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen are teaming up for a new Peacock series!
Under the Bridge,” with Riley Keough and Lily Gladstone leading the cast. The series is set to premiere with two episodes April 17, and new episodes launching weekly. “Under the Bridge” is based on Rebecca Godfrey’s book about the true story of fourteen-year-old Reena Virk, who went to join friends at a party in 1997 and never returned home.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Miyazaki Hayao’s “The Boy and the Heron,” which recently won the Oscar for best animated feature film, will head to global streaming giant Netflix later this year, excluding the U.S. and Japan. The hand-drawn, critically acclaimed fantasy adventure film is part of a renewed worldwide catalog deal between Netflix and the Japanese producer Studio Ghibli, sales agent Goodfellas and independent distributor GKids.
EXCLUSIVE: Yellowjackets actor Kevin Alves has set his directorial debuting though indie heist movie Lucky Weekend.
It's the first international break of the year as Celtic's domestic season goes on ice until March 31.
Bill Hader is been cast in a Dr. Seuss movie!
Celebrity Big Brother star Jemma Lucy has opened up about her feud with glamour model Katie Price, branding her "jealous". The 35-year-old first got a taste of fame in 2005 at age 17 when she appeared in Channel 4 reality show Brat Camp. Later, she starred in Katie Price's model search show, Signed By Katie Price, before joining MTV's Ex on the Beach for two seasons.
Are you struggling to get dressed in the morning? We hear your cries for help.The unpredictable British weather can make getting dressed super stressful, one minute it's sunny, and the next all we can think to put on is a practical pair of wellies. We're all in need of a few wardrobe heroes that bridge the gap until spring fully arrives.
A first look teaser clip at the upcoming movie adaptation I Wish You All the Best has been revealed!
HCG AwardPresented by CAA ChinaTwo cash awards of $20,000 value each. CAA China may board the winning projects later by entering into script development agreements. “Call of Lobster” (Taiwan) Dir.
Naman Ramachandran Celebrated Philippines filmmaker Lav Diaz‘s examination of the human condition continues with “Kawalan.” The work-in-progress has been selected for the 22nd Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart. In the film, Tomas, the old venerable mayor of the remote town of Kawalan, learns that the invading Japanese will set up a garrison there. He organizes willing members in his community to set up a hidden settlement in the middle of the forest, where they can live unaffected by the horrors of war.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief China’s unprecedented economic and social transformation in the latter part of the 20th century has been picked over in dozens of movies by filmmakers ranging from Jia Zhangke to Wang Xiaoshuai. But with more than one billion people affected by China’s transformation, there is no shortage of personal stories and no end of ways to tell the tale. Sophomore filmmaker Huo Meng trains his eye on one of those stories in his second film, “The Wind Is Unstoppable,” which he is just finishing off.
Naman Ramachandran Upamanyu Bhattacharya‘s animated feature “Heirloom” has the emerged from the crucible of Annecy, one of the world’s top animation festivals. The Indian work-in progress film has been selected for the 22nd Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF), the project market that operates concurrently with FilMart. In the film, Sonal, a teacher, grapples with a hereditary disease, mirroring her mother’s untimely demise.
Bradley Cooper and Gigi Hadid’s relationship heats up, people are wondering when they will make their red carpet debut. With the 2024 Academy Awards this weekend on March 10th, it seems like the perfect place for the A-List couple to make their appearance.Cooper, who is nominated for “Maestro” will surely be on the carpet, but it doesn’t seem like he will be taking Hadid.
John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent MALAGA — Dark Star Pictures, the L..A.-based distribution company, has secured North America distribution rights to “On the Go,” which showcases the acting talents of “Elite’s” Omar Ayuso, here playing a Grindr addict with vengeance in his heart. Celebrating its world premiere at last August’s Locarno Film Festival, “On the Go” was acquired for world sales in the run-up to the Swiss festival by Paris-based MPM Premium.
Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor “Desert power.” That’s how Denis Villeneuve teases what’s to come at the end of 2021’s “Dune,” as Timothée Chalamet’s Paul Atriedes looks out across the desert in awe as he sees a Fremen person riding a sandworm. And Villeneuve does not disappoint.
Amber Davies has become the eighth celebrity to be eliminated from ITV's Dancing On Ice during Sunday evening's semi-final show, after a gruelling week of training as they hoped to make it to the final.The Love Island star, 27, and her partner Simon Proulx-Senecal found themselves in the skate-off against Adele Roberts and Mark Hanretty, being forced to fight for their place in the competition but ultimately losing out. It was then time for judges Ashley Banjo, Oti Mabuse, Christopher Dean and Jayne Torvill to decide who made it to the final next week, as they all voted in Adele's favour and shared that she had a 'cleaner' performance during the skate-off.