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One of Naver Webtoon’s most popular titles, “The Remarried Empress” has drawn nearly 3 billion views in 10 languages since it launched in 2019. As a live-action series on Disney+, and on Hulu in the U.S., it carrys the expectations of a fan base that already knows every character. Originally scheduled to premiere on Nov. […]
Jakarta Governor Pramono Anung Wibowo kicked off the Jakarta Film Summit 2026 on Tuesday with a pitch for the Indonesian capital as a regional film hub, making the case that the city is equipped to draw more shoots, filmmakers and investors from across the region. Speaking at the Royal Glass House at Park Hyatt Jakarta, […]
“Ria,” Philippines filmmaker Arvin Belarmino’s debut feature about a young woman from the folk-punk scene who takes on a property developer to save her home, has been picked up by international sales company Lights On following its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival. The film picked up the Heart of Eurasia Award after […]
Sakhya Byamba’s “Zogsool” was the biggest winner at the Busan International Film Festival’s Vision Awards on Wednesday, taking home four prizes. The film won both the Netpac Award and the Fipresci Award, along with the Vision of Jiseok Award. It also shared the Hylife Vision Award with Sailesh Rathnakumar’s “Selvi,” which separately picked up the […]
Cannes animated comedy “Jim Queen” has picked up a new batch of international sales after screening at the Busan International Film Festival, its first outing in Asia. Global Constellation, the sales arm of pan-European studio Vuelta, has closed deals with Prorom for the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria. HBO has secured first-window […]
Taiwanese director Lee Yun Chan has returned to feature filmmaking after two decades away with “To Be Ordinary,” the only Taiwanese film in competition at the Busan International Film Festival. Lee made her feature debut with 2005’s “The Shoe Fairy” and more recently directed the Disney+ series “Women in Taipei.” The Mandarin title literally means […]
Iram Parveen Bilal’s award-winning Pakistani thriller “Wakhri” has landed distribution in several international territories. Its theatrical and broadcast releases are rolling out this fall across France, the U.K. and Ireland, Australia and Brazil, and more territories will follow over the coming months. In France, the film is heading to cinemas this October through Salon Indien, […]
When Han Jun-hee binge-watched “House of Cards,” the series struck him as a game changer. It left him with one ambition: to make a story no one had told before, but that many people would watch. Delivering a masterclass at Netflix’s Creative Asia program during the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the director of “Coin […]
When Kim Ji-yong read the script for “Possible Love,” its emotional climax, set in a still forest by the beach, had no wind in it. Korean summer storms on location changed that. The cinematographer behind “Decision to Leave” and “Squid Game” Season 2 asked director Lee Chang-dong to change the scene’s setup, a choice that […]
Namkoong Sun, director of Netflix’s Korean romance “Love Untangled,” said her first commercial feature felt little different from her independent films once cameras rolled, apart from the scale. The freedom, she added, came with weight. Namkoong was speaking at “New Voices in Film,” an industry panel staged by the Busan International Film Festival and Netflix […]
Netflix has used AI in one form or another on some 300 of its titles, Lee Sung-gyun, the streamer’s senior director of APAC production, told an audience at the Busan International Film Festival. On the same panel, “The Outlaws” director Kang Yoon-sung said AI workflows could take 30% to 40% off a feature film’s production […]
Netflix research found that 67% of surveyed members internationally expressed interest in visiting South Korea. For the streamer’s Sung Q Lee, the pull lies in the stories set there, rather than the scenery alone. Lee, Netflix’s senior director of APAC production, made the case at the opening masterclass of Creative Asia, which Netflix and the […]
Debuting Italian director Margherita Ferrari is at the Busan International Film Festival with “Föa – Once Upon a Future,” an innovative coming-of-age drama that also marks Paolo Sorrentino’s debut as a producer. Set in Genoa during the tragic days in July 2001 when the G8 summit led to deathly clashes between protesters and police, “Once […]
UTA and Gold House are joining forces at the Busan International Film Festival and in Seoul this month, marking the Asian Pacific advocacy organization’s first official foray into Korea as the two look to connect Asian creatives and investors with Hollywood. The partnership kicks off with the UTA x Gold House x Variety Industry Night […]
Fan Bingbing watches AI-generated microdramas now and then. She’s just not convinced they’re doing China’s young audiences any good. The Chinese star made the remarks at a Busan International Film Festival press conference, where she presented Wayne Wang’s “Diary of a Mad Old Man,” screening in the A Window on Asian Cinema strand, and Ivan […]
Charlotte Gainsbourg had one artist to recommend to the crowd at her Busan International Film Festival masterclass, and it was not a safe pick. “I’m not good for recommendation. I have one artist that I listen to, very controversial artist, but I listen to everything he does, and it’s Kanye West,” Gainsbourg said, to laughter […]
Na Hong-Jin told a Busan International Film Festival masterclass audience that his film “Hope” grew out of a conviction, around 2017, that war was about to break out on the Korean peninsula. At the time, Na said, news reports were describing U.S. fighter jets and bombers flying in and out over Pyongyang through the night. […]
When Variety spoke with Taiwanese director Lu Po-Shun in March, he was seeking final financing for his debut feature, “Will You Still Be My Friend,” a coming-of-age drama weaving adolescent friendship with local politics and solar energy development. Now, following its San Sebastián premiere and two Golden Horse nominations, Lu is bringing the film to […]
The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is keeping Hur Jin-ho’s “The Assassin(s)” as its opening film, a day after all 109 lawmakers of South Korea’s conservative People Power Party (PPP) asked the festival to pull it. The festival made no mention of the PPP in a statement issued Wednesday, saying only that it was aware […]
Chinese filmmaker Gu You’s films modeled on Chinese landscape painting will not stop at three. The director of “The First Taste of Loneliness,” which world premiering in competition at the Busan International Film Festival, tells Variety that a fourth installment is already in research and development, and that it may lean toward genre. The new […]
