Georgian drama film “April” took double honors on Saturday at the annual Asia Pacific Screen Awards, winning the best film prize and the best performance prize for Ia Sukhitashvili. Directed by Dea Kulumbegashvili, the film portrays the determination of an obstetrics and gynaecology provider in the face of accusations about the death of a newborn […]

Supernatural crime series, “Detective Daji” is to be launched as a project at next week’s Asia TV Forum and Market (ATF) in Singapore. The U.S.-Taiwanese show involves a female police officer Detective Daji Su murdered in the line of duty. She is given a second chance at life when she is resurrected by an ancient […]

Malaysian media, telecoms and oil mogul Ananda Krishnan has died at age 86, his companies reported on Thursday. No cause of death was disclosed. Krishnan founded Malaysia’s second-largest mobile operator, Maxis Bhd, and the dominant broadcasting and media company Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd. He also held a substantial stake in oil field services provider Bumi […]

New Zealand’s Black Mandala Films has acquired the sales rights to “Play Dead,” a chilling new horror film that kicks off with a woman waking up in a basement, surrounded by corpses, and fighting for her life. The grisly tale of survival and deception is directed by Carlos ‘Charly’ Goitia (“Nightmare Radio: The Night Stalker” […]

Double Oscar-winning composer A.R. Rahman has music projects in every corner of the world. But none is bigger than his long-term plan to build a better India through culture. Rahman (“Slumdog Millionaire”) lifted the veil on his nation-building exercise and some of his immediate projects at a masterclass at the Internation Film Festival of India, […]

Phillip Noyce, the ace Australian director behind “The Quiet American” “Salt and “Rabbit Proof Fence,” is no ordinary storyteller. His genial, almost bumbling, demeanor belies a quick brain and an avid user of technology. Both were on display in Goa at the International Film Festival of India where he is the recipient of a lifetime […]

John Seale, the Australian-born cinematographer who won an Oscar for “The English Patient” and has four other nominations for “Witness,” “Rain Man,” “Cold Mountain” and 2015’s “Mad Max: Fury Road,” was one of the highest-profile international guests at the ongoing International Film Festival of India. In a Saturday masterclass, he examined multiple angles of cinematography […]

“Wicked,” which was by far the highest grossing film in the world this weekend, failed to give the South Korea box office market a much-needed jolt. The Jon M. Chu-directed fantasy claimed a strong 45% share of the box office in Korea with $3.58 million earned from 501,000 admissions between Friday and Sunday. Over five […]

“Kraven the Hunter” has been granted a theatrical release in mainland China that is closely coordinated with its North American and international rollouts. It will open in Chinese theaters on Dec. 14, a Saturday. Its international campaign begins at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival on Dec 11, along with the first commercial outings […]

“Her Story,” a comedy-drama film told from a largely female perspective, topped the mainland China box office on its first weekend of release. “Gladiator II,” opening the same weekend, placed fourth. Data from consultancy firm Artisan Gateway showed “Her Story” earning RMB125 million ($17.5 million) between Friday and Sunday. Including previews, it has a cumulative […]

Payal Sethi’s “Kurinji” (aka “The Disappearing Flower”) was Sunday named as the first prize winner of the projects at the Film Bazaar in Goa, India. It earned a $10,000 cash prize. The project explores the theme of “Gulf Wife” syndrome and follows a Kerala housewife whose migrant worker husband in the Gulf region suddenly stops […]

Recognizing the brilliance of British director Lucy Walker, both as a filmmaker and as an advocate for the documentary format, Shekhar Kapur hurriedly arranged an additional masterclass on Saturday at the International Film Festival of India, where he is festival director. And hosted the session himself. Their conversation ranged from technology and technique through to […]

The vast expanse of opportunity that exists if India and Spain manage to increase and improve their film and TV industry co-operation was on display at a panel session on Sunday at Film Bazaar. “If you explained the incentives, people would be flocking [to Spain] to produce,” said leading Indian producer Nikhil Advani. He cited […]

Mainland Chinese director Lou Ye claimed the two top honors – best narrative feature film and best director – at the Golden Horse Film Awards on Saturday in Taiwan with his indie title “An Unfinished Film.” The prizes for Lou, and others awarded on the night, represent a defiant gesture towards mainland Chinese authorities which […]

Bobby Bedi, one of India’s most successful film producers, unveiled a powerful multinational production slate ranging from dance documentary to soaring fantasy. Speaking at a private event on the sidelines of the International Film Festival of India, in Goa, Bedi introduced “Mudras,” the journey of a Spanish dancer who travels to India in the 1980s […]

Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker began a Saturday panel discussion on stories that travel by describing her own wanderlust backstory. “As a girl growing up in London, I didn’t have enough money to travel. And I didn’t think being on vacation was the most interesting way to see the world. And yet I really wanted […]

Sony Pictures Networks India (SPNI) has agreed a cricket rights broadcast deal stretching eight years with the Asian Cricket Council. The deal encompasses all editions of the Men’s and Women’s Asia Cups, Men’s and Women’s Under-19 Asia Cups, and the Men’s and Women’s Emerging Teams Asia Cups. The agreement was sealed after a bidding process […]

Vidhu Vinod Chopra, who is both one of India’s most revered filmmaking veterans and a self-confessed angry man, took to the stage on Friday for a (mostly) good-natured introspective conversation punctuated with musical interludes. Though he scarcely needed prompting, Chopra, the dynamo behind “3 Idiots,” “Munna Bhai MBBS” and “12th Fail,” was pressed by friend […]

Ridham Janve, an already acclaimed director attending the Film Bazaar with his second film “Hunter’s Moon” (aka “Kaatti Ri Raatti”), likens the editing process to a game of long-distance chess that he played with star editor Amit Dutta. “I would send him bursts of files, notes and elements of the mood, but not the narrative. […]