Industry veterans gathered at the Tokyo International Film Festival’s (TIFF) annual Motion Picture Association (MPA) seminar to discuss the evolving landscape of filming in Japan and the impact of emerging technologies on global production, with participants highlighting both opportunities and challenges in attracting international projects to the country. Japan’s location incentive scheme, which offers reimbursement […]

Independent Chinese film distributor Road Movies has already tasted success with a succession of imported Japanese animation films. But the company says that China’s youth market is best accessed through a vastly broader strategy that embraces IP, fandom, events, retail and merchandizing. “Our aim is to be a Chinese Disney – not in scale. But […]

The new co-production treaty signed between Japan and Italy is being touted as a significant step towards reintegrating Japan’s film production industry with those overseas countries. The agreement – signed in June and activated in August – was directly referenced on Monday by Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and has colored the programming of this […]

Hong Kong-based sales firm Cappu Films will use TIFFCOM, the rights market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, to launch world sales activities on two films that were recently at the Busan festival. Psychological thriller “Waterdrop,” was winner of two awards at the Busan festival earlier this month while crime comedy “So It Goes” […]

Youth romance film “She Taught Me Serendipity” which has its world premiere in competition on Tuesday at the Tokyo International Film Festival, has also enjoyed its first overseas rights sales. The film was licensed to South Korea’s NK Entertainment and to France’s Art House. Rights are represented by Tokyo-based Free Stone Productions. A release in […]

Paris- Hong Kong- and Los Angeles-based film sales company All Rights Entertainment has picked up worldwide distribution duties on “Ellie and the Christmas Creep,” a 3D animated comedy adventure. The company will begin marketing the film at the upcoming American Film Market, which has relocated this year from Los Angeles to Las Vegas and runs […]

‘After the Quake,’ a film adaptation of a Murakami Haruki story collection, has been picked up by Japan’s Bitters End for international rights sales. Directed by Inoue Tsuyoshi (“Amachan”) and produced by “Drive My Car” producer Yamamoto Teruhisa, the film is based on four of the six short stories in Murakami’s 2000 book of the […]

Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun’s latest feature “Pavane for an Infant,” starring acclaimed actor Fish Liew, makes its world premiere at the Tokyo International Film Festival, taking on the pressing social issue of abandoned babies and women’s rights in Malaysia. The film follows a female social worker operating a baby hatch facility, exposing the challenges […]

Nikkatsu, the venerable Japanese studio which is representing “Cloud,” the latest film by Kurosawa Kiyoshi, has added a quartet of new titles to its sales lineup, in time for TIFFCOM the rights market that accompanies the Tokyo International Film Festival. These are headed by “The Hotel of My Dreams,” a comedy-drama directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko. […]

Alain Guiraudie’s “Misericordia,” Carlos Marqués-Marcet “They Will be Dust” and Yeo Siew Hua’s “Stranger Eyes” all won big at Spain’s auteurist haven Valladolid Film Festival on Saturday, in a second edition under José Luis Cienfuegos whose prizes served as a vindication of the changes he has wrought at the festival as well as an indication […]

The world’s largest college-run film festival, the SCAD Savannah film festival, returns to Georgia Oct. 26 with its consistently eclectic programming mix of documentaries, box office hits, indies, animated films, short films and more. “SCAD honors the screen’s brightest stars, from Annette Bening to Lupita Nyong’o to Richard Linklater,” says SCAD President and founder Paula […]

In Meryem Uzerli-starring show “RU,” a married woman falls in love with a much younger man. But it’s not just about another age-gap romance following Anne Hathaway’s “The Idea of You” or Nicole Kidman’s “Babygirl,” which brought her an award in Venice.  “Where is my award?,” joked Uzerli at MipCom during a panel spotlighting “The Future of […]

Spain’s The Mediapro Studio brought out the big guns at this year’s Mipcom to promote its first-ever English-language slate, which includes projects featuring John Turturro, Melissa Leo, “24” showrunner Evan Katz and Oscar winner Juan José Campanella, among others. Though the ambitious pipeline was The Mediapro Studio’s big Mipcom head-turner, the company also closed noteworthy […]

Welcoming a bevy of stars, led by “NCIS'” Cote de Pablo and Michael Weatherly, talking up spinoff “NCIS: Tony & Ziva,” and some big new shows, such as “Rise of the Raven,” a sword and mace epic, Cannes’ Mipcom confab hit its final straits Wednesday evening announcing 10,500 delegates in attendance.  That’s down some 500 from 2023’s […]

Powerhouse production and distribution outfit Fremantle and Brazilian public broadcaster Globo are teaming on the new drama “Crime Inc,” which is being developed and produced by Mixer Films and Fremantle. Globo will distribute the show in Brazil via its Globoplay platform, with Fremantle taking rights to the rest of the world. The series turns on […]

‘Homecoming: The Tobi Amusan Story’ Trailer Nile Media Entertainment Group has boarded a new documentary from ATHLST and MagicLine Films about world record hurdler Tobi Amusan. Nile Media will rep global sales on “Homecoming: The Tobi Amusan Story.” Amusan became world record holder in the 100m hurdles in 2022 and is also a three-time Diamond […]

At this year’s Mipcom, where Spain is the Country of Honor, Spanish director J.A. Bayona (“Society of the Snow,” “The Impossible”) hosted a masterclass in which he talked about inspiration, anchoring his stories in a moment and the importance of improvisation. Early on, Bayona was asked to talk through his creative process, from picking a […]

Mip London won’t be a “rival” event to the London TV Screenings, assured Lucy Smith, Director of Mipcom Cannes and upcoming Mip London. “We will be very respectful of what they’ve already planned. They have grown a great event,” she said, promising “intelligent scheduling” on Mip London’s part to “make sure we won’t be fully […]

Republic Pictures has nabbed U.S. and Canadian rights to “Adulthood,” directed by Alex Winter and penned by novelist Michael M.B. Galvin. Described as darkly comic and modern-noir, “Adulthood” follows sister and brother Megan and Noah who are barely hanging on in present-day America. When they discover a dead body, long buried in their parents’ basement, […]