Tokyo’s All-Woman Crew Kazakh True Story ‘Madina’ Smashes Patriarchy: ‘We Face Sexism on a Daily Basis’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Elizabeth Wagmeister is joining CNN as correspondent covering entertainment, based in Los Angeles.

Strictly Come Dancing viewers were left doing a double take after spotting an Olympic athlete in the audience at this weekend's live show.

Ethan Shanfeld Taylor Swift has rescheduled her concert tonight in Buenos Aires due to “chaotic” weather. She will perform at the Estadio River Plate stadium on Sunday, Nov. 12, instead.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two films from Japan, Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” won the top prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards on Friday. Multiple other honors went to films from Korea and Kazakhstan. The 16th edition of the APSA Awards was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and recognized films from eight countries. “Perfect Days,” a gentle comedy drama about a toilet cleaner in Tokyo finding happiness in the everyday, premiered in Cannes and more recently was selected as Japan’s Oscar contender and as the opening title of the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Godzilla Minus One,” the biggest picture to date in the Japanese monster movie franchise and the Wednesday night closing gala title at the Tokyo International Film Festival, is set for pan-European release at the beginning of December. Rights were acquired for 38 territories (excluding the U.K., Ireland and German-speaking territories) by theatrical-only specialist distributor Piece of Magic Entertainment from Toho, the Japanese studio that controls the ‘kaiju’ franchise and distributes the picture in Japan from Nov.

Very little has been heard from Indonesian filmmaker Mouly Surya since her buzzy 2017 Cannes title Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts. 

This year’s Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) has three Japanese filmmakers playing in competition — a haul that TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo told Deadline is a welcome high for the fest. 

“Ticket sales have gone up 27%, and we’re only at the midway point, so I’m quite happy,” Ando Hiroyasu, Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) Chairman, told Deadline as he shuttled between engagements at this year’s busy and buzzy comeback edition. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Top Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi is in post-production of “Le Chemin du Serpent,” a French-language adaptation of his own 1998 film “The Serpent’s Path.” The story sees a mysterious woman team up with a man whose daughter was killed and who is now seeking revenge. Together they kidnap members of an organization and torture them to find out what really happened. With Damien Bonnard (“Asteroid City,” “Les Miserables”) and Shibasaki Ko (“47 Ronin,” “Battle Royale”) in the leading roles, the picture is the anchor title of the TIFFCOM sales slate of major Japanese studio Kadokawa. Production is by Kadokawa and Jean-Luc Ormieres’ Cinefrance Studios.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Vietnam-based sales agent Skyline Media has closed multi-territory deals for two of its current titles “The Soul Reaper” and “Vietnamese Horror Story.” The deals follow Skyline’s recent trip to Busan’s ACFM and come ahead of its participation as exhibitor at a string of further final quarter sales events – Tokyo’s TIFFCOM, Santa Monica’s American Film Market and Taipei’s Taiwan Creative Content Fest. Folk horror film “The Soul Reaper,” currently in the final stages of post-production, was licensed to GaragePlay for Taiwan and to Westec Media Limited (WML) for Laos, Cambodia and nine other Southeast Asian territories. The film, adapted from Thao Trang’s best-selling horror novel “Lunar New Year in Hell Village” (aka “Tet O Lang Dia Nguc”), is set to be released in Vietnam cinemas on 08 December. GaragePlay is one of Taiwan’s leading distributors, and recently handles releases of “Suzume,” “John Wick: Chapter 4” and “Someday or One Day.” WML is the biggest content distributor in Cambodia and has distributed more than 1,000 titles theatrically since its establishment.

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.

Veteran Hong Kong actor Tony Leung passed through the Tokyo Film Festival this afternoon, where he led a masterclass session following a screening of 2046, his sixth collaboration with filmmaker Wong Kar-Wai. 

There’s been much celebratory talk here at the Tokyo Film Festival about a new dawn of internationally-minded Japanese artists led by directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda, Makoto Shinkai, and Ryusuke Hamaguchi. 

As the Tokyo Film Festival returns with a focus on international expansion, this year’s MPA seminar hosted as part of the festival industry program was centered around how to make the country a more attractive production environment for international producers.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Leading Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou has a tough guy exterior – leather jackets, black shirts and a square jaw that has earned him acting awards alongside his top-level credentials as cinematographer and director of “Hero,” “The Road Home” – but on a visit to the Tokyo International Film Festival this week he was all smiles and frank talk. Zhang received a lifetime achievement award on Monday. On Tuesday the festival gave a gala screening to his historical blockbuster “Full River Red.” And at a Wednesday masterclass, Zhang was more gushed usable details about his process and frank advice for newcomers. “To be a film director you need to be physically in good shape. No smoking and no drinking,” he advised. “I generally adopt a two-stage process,” he explained.

Naman Ramachandran New Philippines anime franchise “Solemn Vow” has set several partnerships across the Southeast Asian region. Conceptualized as an anime series with a strategy for spinoffs into manga, games, music and merchandise, the franchise, created by Lawrence Panganiban, has formed partnerships with Philippines-based Enigma Kai and media startup Fire and Ice, and Singapore-based companies Anito Studios and Silver Media, in collaboration with Japanese animation giant Toei Animation Philippines, which will handle production.

Naman Ramachandran Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights for Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour‘s feature documentary “Call Me Dancer.” The deal was revealed on the sidelines of TIFFCOM, the film market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival. The film follows Manish Chauhan, a young and talented street dancer from Mumbai who struggles against his parents’ insistence that he follow a traditional path.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Ichiyama Shozo assumed control of the program of the Tokyo International Film Festival after a long programming career that included Tokyo and the slightly more indie Tokyo Filmex events. He is also a regular producing partner of Chinese art-house darling Jai Zhangke. These influences have shaped his approach to this year’s Tokyo IFF lineup, he told Variety.

“The pandemic has finally passed, and cinema has returned to normal, but the way people think has changed dramatically,” Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou concluded when quizzed by Deadline about cinema post-Covid 19 during a brief chat at the Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF). 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief TIFFCOM, the film market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, is set to be more international and more diverse in its first full comeback year after the COVID hiatus. It should also be more pleasant and convenient, having re-located to a more modern venue that is close to the film festival. “Bringing the in-person market back after four years, my priority was to make sure that TIFFCOM could happen during the festival, not some other time,” said Shiina Yasushi, who has headed the market for ten years.