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The Busan International Film Festival drew its largest film audience in more than a decade at its 31st edition, which ran Oct. 6–15, while a political firestorm over a Korean box office hit and an Iranian director’s war speech kept politics in the spotlight. These are Variety’s takeaways from the festival and its Asian Contents […]
A new Philippine-Italian sales alliance aims to put independent films in front of buyers in Asia, Europe and North America. Fire & Ice Media, the Philippine producer and sales agent, and Italy’s Coccinelle Film Sales unveiled the strategic partnership at Busan’s Asian Contents & Film Market. The pair will work together on a handpicked group […]
Three filmmakers at the forefront of China’s women-led cinema boom – Shao Yihui, Yang Lina and Yin Lichuan – have new titles on the slate of sales agent Parallax Films, which is shopping them to buyers at the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) in Busan. In the short “Winning at Sleep,” Shao turns her […]
A boy’s devotion to his uncle, a man with an intellectual disability, curdles into shame as he grows up and away from home in “Uncle,” the first feature written and directed by Taiwan’s Yen Hao-hsuan. The project is part of the Asian Project Market, which runs within the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & […]
“Demon Hunters,” Mei-Juin Chen’s India-Taiwan action-comedy, will open in cinemas across the Netherlands on Oct. 29 via LAX Entertainment, extending a run that began theatrically in Taiwan and continued on streaming and digital platforms in India and the U.S. LAX chief Soeniel Sewnarain has lined up screens with leading Dutch exhibitors, among them Pathé and […]
Sri Kishore has set his supporting cast for “The Grand Tribute,” adding Sham Kaki, QBobo, Virginia Lau, Ahstisham Ahmad and Jayan Yvette C. Marquez alongside Hong Kong veterans Law Kar-ying and Paw Hee-ching, with the Hong Kong shoot underway. The story follows a Cantonese opera performer in his 70s staging one final show as a […]
Thai horror hit “Rinrada: The Influencer,” which stars Yoshi Rinrada in her first horror lead, has closed distribution deals in Asia and the Middle East around its North American debut at Screamfest. The story centers on an influencer whose life is wrecked by an online pile-on. She comes back as a ghost with little time […]
Small, AI-native companies running automated pipelines can develop their own intellectual property, while traditional studios hold on to their advantages in established franchises, production infrastructure, talent and distribution, according to VFX veteran Hong Jae Cheol. Hong, a producer-director at Viscode who began his career at Industrial Light & Magic and worked on films including “Iron […]
Independent producers from five Asian territories joined forces on Sunday, launching the Asian Producers Alliance (APA) at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market to push for cross-border co-production and stronger protection of creators’ rights. “Squid Game” producer Kim Ji-yeon, a board member of the Producers Guild of Korea (PGK), read the […]
Japan’s Dwarf Studios is looking for a new partner for “Hidari,” the stop-motion samurai film voiced by Keanu Reeves, after talks with a U.S. company that offered to fund the entire budget in exchange for all rights stalled, producer Matsumoto Noriko told an audience at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market […]
Kim Sung-soo, director of Korean box office hit “12.12: The Day,” once saw AI as a destroyer of the film industry. Speaking Sunday at a session hosted by Kling AI at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, he described how it has instead become part of his craft. His turning point […]
Hong Kong’s Cappu Films has signed on as worldwide sales agent for “Overstake,” a sci-fi action thriller from writer-director Stas Mareev that pairs a live-action shoot with settings being rebuilt through generative AI. The sales company is introducing the title to buyers at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market. In the […]
The Producers Guild of Korea and Italy’s CNA Cinema e Audiovisivo will set up exchange programs and share information on public funding, building on the two countries’ government-level co-production accord. Korean and Italian producers will have a direct line to each other after the Producers Guild of Korea (PGK) and CNA Cinema e Audiovisivo (CNA) […]
Hong Kong’s Cappu Films has taken on worldwide sales for “Banr,” Erica Xia-Hou’s Canadian-Chinese drama about a 40-year marriage tested by Alzheimer’s disease. After its world premiere in the Narrative Features lineup at the 2025 Slamdance Film Festival, the film heads to the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market, where Cappu is […]
Hong Kong’s Cappu Films has taken on worldwide sales for “Ephemera,” Shan Jiang’s queer romance, which had its world premiere in Tribeca’s U.S. narrative competition this year. Cappu is shopping the film at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market. Yvonne Shuyu Zhang and Shu-Yi play two young women whose lives are […]
Hong Kong-based Cappu Films has taken on sales beyond Australia and New Zealand for “Her Last Laugh,” Joy Hopwood’s Australian dramedy featuring Peter Thurnwald (“XO, Kitty”) and Ana Thu Nguyen (“Mortal Kombat II”). The finished film is being introduced to buyers at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market. Hopwood wrote, directed […]
The Philippines has revamped its International Co-Production Fund (ICOF) around two tracks, with the amount of cash on offer tied to the size of the Filipino stake in a project. The Film Philippines Office (FPO) unveiled the new framework at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market. The Majority Track covers projects […]
Chinese martial arts star Xie Miao (“The Furious,” the “Eye for an Eye” series) is set to lead an English-language action crime thriller set in the U.S., which Los Angeles-based Stars Collective has in development. The project will pursue the bruising, realistic style of martial arts action seen in “The Furious,” and is designed to […]
Generative AI can widen the options for a visual effects shot, but artists still decide which of them serve the story, according to James Rustad, global head of GenFX at Eyeline, Netflix’s in-house VFX studio. Rustad made the case at an InnoAsia session “Making What’s Next: Generative AI and the Future of Filmmaking at Eyeline,” […]
Hollywood’s appetite for Asian stories has broadened, but for Lionsgate’s Helen Lee-Kim, “every movie is still a fight.” Lee-Kim, the studio’s president of international, made the remark at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents & Film Market during the panel “UTA × Gold House: Hollywood & The Asian Diaspora,” moderated by Variety‘s Asia Editor […]
