Philippines Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Philippines media and entertainment company ABS-CBN is set to launch tentpole co-production The Bagman at this year’s Asia TV Forum & Market (ATF) in Singapore, with the star of the series, Arjo Atayde, also attending the event. 

The first group of hostages are being released from Gaza, more than six weeks after the October 7 attack.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The QCinema Project Market, the industry initiative that accompanies The Philippines’ QCinema International Film Festival, revealed its winners list on Tuesday delivering almost $500,000 of grants and in-kind support. The prizes followed a two-day networking and pitching event on Nov. 18 and 19 for 19 feature-length fiction film projects from Southeast Asia.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Cannes’ Directors Fortnight section has joined forces with The Philippines for the latest edition of its Directors Factory professional training program. Operating since 2013, when it kicked off in Taiwan, the Directors’ Factory works with a new partner country each year to mentor eight budding filmmakers who are preparing ambitious first or second feature projects that they will make in pairs. The four resulting co-written and co-directed short films will be screened as part of the Directors’ Fortnight (aka Quinzaine des Cineastes) in May. Four pairs were selected in Manila in October: Eve Baswel (Philippines) and Gogularaajan Rajendran (Malaysia); Maria Estela Paiso (Philippines) and Ashok Vish (India); Arvin Belarmino (Philippines) and Lomorpich Rithy (aka YoKi) (Cambodia); Don Josephus Raphael Eblahan (Philippines) and Tan Siyou (Singapore). They have now begun writing their screenplays and are expected to shoot their films March in Dapitan, a city in The Philippines’ Zamboanga Peninsula, known for its many shrines and as the place of exile of Philippines’ national hero, Jose Rizal. These days it is a hub for domestic and international tourism. Post-production of the four titles will then be hosted in Quezon City, which seeks to become the new film capital of the Philippines and where many of the country’s post-production houses are already based. The program is operated and co-produced by Epicmedia Productions of The Philippines and Dominique Welinski, founder and curator of DW (France).

ABS-CBN Entertainment and regional streamer Viu are teaming on a Philippines remake of CJ ENM’s hit romcom series What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim. 

Disney original animation is looking at a comeback this Thanksgiving. The princess pic Wish is looking at as much as $45M-$50M over five days after the studio suffering a setback over last year’s holiday with Strange World, which did $18.8M.

French studio Federation’s new theatrical sales arm Ginger & Fed and Paris-based genre specialist WTFilms have unveiled a slew of AFM deals for apocalyptic thriller Survive.

Michaela Zee Geffen Records and Hybe, the K-pop entertainment company behind BTS and NewJeans, have announced the final six members of the new girl group Katseye. The Katseye finalists, who were unveiled at a live event in L.A. on Friday night, include Daniela Avanzini, Lara Rajagopalan and Megan Skiendiel from the U.S.; Yoonchae Jeong from South Korea; Sophia Laforteza from the Philippines; and Manon Bannerman from Switzerland.

Naman Ramachandran Tatino Films, a French production and consultancy company involved in industry events in Asia and Europe, has teamed with Kazakhstan-based Alternativa Film Project and the Philippines’ QCinema Project Market for three film residencies. The partnership will yield two Pop Up film residencies called the Pop Up Alternativa Awards for filmmakers from Central Asia and one Pop Up QCFC (Quezon City Film Commission) x QCinema Award for Southeast Asian filmmakers to develop their upcoming film projects.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter, one of the biggest female streamers and gaming creators in the world, has signed with WME for representation. She most recently was repped by UTA. Valkyrae is known for streaming games “Among Us,” “Fortnite” and “Valorant,” among others.

Taiwan-Japan documentary After the Snowmelt and Filipino fantasy feature Mother Maybe were presented with the TAICCA X CNC Awards at the close of the pitching forum at Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF). Both awards came with a cash prize of $30,000. 

< 1 min read In Budapest, controversy surrounds the World Press Photo exhibition, where minors are barred from viewing five LGBTQ-themed photographs captured by Filipino photojournalist Hannah Reyes Morales, depicting the lives of older LGBTQ+ individuals in the Philippines.

David Byrne and Fatboy Slim’s Broadway musical Here Lies Love is to close later this month, due to low ticket sales.The production, which depicts the life of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, is based on the two musicians’ 2010 concept album, debuted on stage in 2013 and began its current Broadway run in June this year.Deadline reports that the final performance will take place on November 26. It will have played a total of 33 previews and 149 regular performances at the Broadway Theatre.The report continues that the show failed to attain a sufficiently high level of ticket sales to justify its relatively high weekly operating costs, which required the theatre to extensively renovate its setup to accommodate the show’s dance club setting.In a statement, the show’s producers said: “When we started this journey to bring this bold and original work to Broadway, we asked ourselves: Can anyone produce on Broadway in a new way? Is there a new path forward? What does the template look like? Will audiences want something radically new? Who will those audiences be?”“We have learned a great deal about the answers to those questions.

SM Entertainment has previewed its upcoming music releases for the first quarter of 2024, featuring new music by aespa, NCT’s Taeyong and RIIZE.In the newly published SM Entertainment Earnings Release report for the third quarter of 2023, the company included a preview of the music line-up for the first quarter of 2024 It details a slew of planned album, mini-album and single releases from several SM artists for the period.Following the most recently announced upcoming release of Taeyeon’s mini-album ‘To. X’ on November 27, SM Entertainment has revealed that other artists slated to put out new music for the rest of the year include Super Junior’s Ryeowook, NCT 127 and TVXQ.

IVE have announced the stops and dates for their upcoming 2023 to 2024 ‘Show What I Have’ world tour.Today (November 8), IVE announced the dates for the upcoming Asia, US, Europe, Latin America and Australia legs of their 2023 to 2024 ‘Show What I Have’ world tour. This comes just a month after they kicked off the tour in October with two shows in Seoul, South Korea.The K-pop girl group will kick off the Asia leg of their newly announced tour in November 2023, with two shows in Yokohama, Japan.

, Rocero rose from pageant queen in the Philippines to top fashion model and trans activist in the U.S., having publicly come out as transgender in a now-viral TED talk along the way.As a years-long wave of anti-LGBTQ legislation crested in 2023, Rocero's decision to tell her story—and her subsequent honor as —couldn’t have been more urgent, or timely. And Rocero's honor in particular made for quite a "full-circle moment," as both she and noted in their moving speeches.“Glamour was the first American magazine to , out and proud,” James recalled, before highlighting just some of Rocero's impressive accomplishments.

Here Lies Love — a disco musical created by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim about the life of former Filipino first lady Imelda Marcos — will close on Broadway on November 26, the show’s producers announced this morning (November 7). An ambitious, $22 million affair, the production took over Manhattan’s Broadway Theatre, renovating the space to accommodate spinning stages and a state-of-the-art audio system that created a club atmosphere.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter “Here Lies Love,” an unconventional disco musical about the rise and fall of former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos, will close on Broadway this month due to lackluster ticket sales. It will play its final performance on Nov. 26, concluding a run of 33 previews and 150 regular performances.

Prince William was left stunned when a young royal fan took a bite of his finger while on a royal visit in Singapore.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Unscripted queer reality dating series “Boys Like Boys” is to air on Warner Bros. Discovery’s TLC channel in Taiwan in early 2024, making it the first local LGBTQ+ dating reality show to air on linear TV in the territory. The show is an original production by GagaOOLala, Asia’s out and proud LGBTQ+ streaming service, which is pitching an expanded array of queer content at the Taiwan Creative Contents Fest (TCCF) that launches Tuesday in Taipei. “Boys Like Boys” had its premiere at the Kaohsiung International Film Festival and is now available worldwide on GagaOOLala and WeTV in the Philippines and Thailand, where the ‘Boys Love’ genre has become highly popular.

Taiwanese LGBTQ+ Streamer GagaOOLala has announced a packed slate of originals and acquired titles on the eve of Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), including unscripted queer reality dating series Boys Like Boys. 

Sarvnik Kaur’s documentary Against The Tide won the Golden Gateway Award at this year’s Jio MAMI Mumbai Film Festival, while the Silver Gateway Award went to Bahadur – The Brave, directed by Diwa Shah. The Special Jury Award went to Kanu Behl’s Agra. 

Singaporean writer-director Nicole Midori Woodford is on a roll with her debut feature, Last Shadow At First Light, which premiered in New Directors at San Sebastian film festival and has two nominations at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) for best screenplay and best performance (Mihaya Shirata). 

By Photography by The way Geena Rocero stares down a camera is captivating. Here, at in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, she challenges its gaze with the kind of merciless confidence that comes only after nearly two decades of modeling. With each click, the elegant frame of her face tilts, her lithe limbs flick, and her eyes steady on the target.

Naman Ramachandran Bangkok-based film fund Purin Pictures will disburse $140,000 to three Philippines and one Indonesian film as part of its fall grants. The Purin committee has chosen three fiction and one documentary projects for production support and one documentary project for post-production support. “The Remotes” is John Torres’ first fiction film after two decades of making documentaries.

RuPaul’s Drag Race is ready to cast its new season!

After focusing on Taiwanese projects for its first three years, the pitching section of Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF) opened its doors to international projects for the first time this year. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief No Maori Allowed, directed by Corinna Hunziger was named the winner of the Pasifika Award and recipient of a $5,000 cash prize at the Hawaii International Film Festival. It recounts the story of a teacher who unearths a secret past in the town of Pukekohe. Thet causes M?ori community figures to come forward to share personal stories that shaped their lives.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Six film projects currently at development stage have been selected to take part in a workshop session as part of mylab+@Jogja next month. The six share a common characteristic of Indonesian co-production and a recurring theme of luminescence. “This theme underscores the importance of having the distinctive light of Asian cinema arise from its own characteristics.

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.