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SHANGHAI BLUES (1984) at Cannes Film Festival this year...

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#21
Kevin Costner's HORIZON, AN AMERICAN SAGA has been selected at Cannes to be the film to play out of competition this year. The Cannes Film Festival celebrates its 77th year and is considered one of the oldest and most important film festivals in the world, it will run from 14 - 25 May 2024.

The first chapter of "Horizon" will debut at the French film festival on May 19, giving the world its first glimpse of Costner's ambitious Western epic. The first two parts of "Horizon" are set to open in quick succession this summer, with Warner Bros. releasing chapter one in theaters June 28 and the second installment on Aug. 16.

"It's been 20 years since I've had the pleasure of being on the Croisette," Costner said in a statement. "I've been waiting for the right time to return and I'm proud to say that this time has come."

"The French have always supported films and believed deeply in filmmaking," added Costner. "Just as I believe deeply in my film."

"Horizon," which will screen out of competition at Cannes, is directed by Costner and stars him, Sienna Miller, Sam Worthington and Jena Malone.

The 77th Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25. George Miller's "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga," also from Warner Bros., was recently announced as another high-profile premiere at Cannes. The full lineup will be announced Thursday.

#22
GODZILLA X KONG: The New Empire continues leading the global box office with $361.1 million worldwide in two weeks, "Godzilla x Kong" could ultimately leapfrog the $529 million global haul of 2014's "Godzilla.", it also more than doubled the second film behind the DreamWorks studio produced KUNG FU PANDA 4.  The Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures release, directed by Adam Wingard, has thus far outperformed any of the studio's recent monster films except for 2014's "Godzilla." The latest installment, in which Godzilla and Kong team up, cost about $135 million to produce.

#23
News & Media / Hong Kong's CineFan Program Released
April 07, 2024, 08:23:22 PM
Hong Kong's CineFan Club released its new program for the months of May/Jun/Jul which will feature Aki Kaurismäki Finnish film director's film along with little know artist Godfrey Reggio and the 1960s and 1970s inspired films of psychedelic cinema. Please go to our event posts for more information about the program: Click here

#24
Asia / CineFan May/Jun/Jul Program
April 06, 2024, 11:25:15 PM
CineFan of Hong Kong released its new film lineup for the months of May, June and July. The main focus are the films of Finnish film director and screenwriter Aki Kaurismäki. Also featuring the films of artist and activist Godfrey Reggio and finally some of the 1960s and 1970s culture inspired classics known as the psychedelic era.

Aki Kaurismäki thinks his own films are dreadful. And his deadpan comedies are grim. But the bleaker the director has become, the more tender his films. No matter how despairing the reality is, his underdog characters always find solace in a sleazy bar, in eccentric rock 'n' roll, and in the company of a devoted canine friend.

Combining the restraint of Robert Bresson with the surrealism of Luis Buñuel, the profound Finn cinephile creates his own cinematic universe of visual stylisation and mordant jokiness for his humane comedy. Highly distinctive but hard to define, Aki's compositions are simple yet subtly expressive; his approach skews towards a tradition of neorealism, yet flecked with fairytalelike fantasy; his ambiance is nostalgic, yet evoking a modernist vibe. With witty irreverence and stylish intelligence, the artist works dichotomy into an arresting sensibility, championing humanity and spontaneous solidarity while sliding out an unspoken critique towards modern alienation and social injustice.

Seeing the Unseen Godfrey Reggio's The Qatsi Trilogy

In his Qatsi (= life) Trilogy, former Catholic monk and artist and activist Godfrey Reggio's critique of technology is not a message, but manifests as cinematic method in the form of non-fiction and wordless, visual narrative. Between poetry and discourse, and via torrents of images transported through Philip Glass' music, cinema becomes, in Reggio's own terms, a 'sacrament' directly confronting the technicised human world by firing it up.

Psychedelia – Cinema as a Fever Dream

Dennis Hopper's 1969 Easy Rider, one of America's first counterculture films that fused mainstream aesthetics with avant-garde tendencies to capture the sociopolitical climate of the time, helped bring psychedelic films into Hollywood. Robert Altman's surreal, dreamlike reality in 3 Women, Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's dizzying experiment in Performance, and Hayashi Kaizo's grafting of silentera aesthetics in To Sleep So as to Dream - all see the artists explore the interplay of films and druginduced states of mind as mutually constitutive transformations in human consciousness – and also cinematic adventures.

Some psychedelic films are full-on assault on the senses, pushing your mental state to the edge. Recreating an out-of-body experience fuelled by psychedelic drugs, provocateur Gaspar Noé conceives a transcendental odyssey that defies life and death with masterful aerial shots in Enter the Void. Ken Russell creates a bombastic take on the pop opera genre with Tommy, a relentlessly frenetic musical experience with jaw-dropping visual imagination.

Visit the Official Website for the full program and more information.

#25
Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City's first international film festival has opened its doors and welcome guests and participants.

Please visit the Official Website for more information.

#26
The country's long overdue cinema law was finally revised last year and now permits local city governments to host international film festivals. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city, seized this opportunity to organise its inaugural international film festival.

"This collaboration highlights the close partnership between governmental bodies and private companies, facilitated by an open policy allowing private entities to participate in government social projects," says HIFF executive director Pham Minh Toan.

His event company Vietfest, which specialises in running large-scale entertainment and cultural projects, has previously collaborated with the Department of Culture and Sports of HCMC on several major events such as the Ho Chi Minh City International Music Festival (HOZO). Three successful editions have been held for HOZO since 2019, with latest hosting 250 artists and 150,000 attendees.

Toan and long-time collaborator Do Hoa have spent the past few years cultivating the idea of an international film festival in Vietnam. "We established Vietfest, which stands for Vietnam Festival, to organise multiple type of festivals, including film," says Hoa, who is HIFF deputy executive director. "We believed the time for a film festival in HCMC would come and have included activities related to film festivals in our agenda during business trips."

Toan and Hoa attended the Hong Kong International Film Festival in 2019, but Covid put a stop to overseas travelling until they visited South Korea's Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) in 2022. Last year, they returned to Busan and travelled to Singapore and Indonesia to immerse themselves in various cultures and attend music and film festivals to gain insight and knowledge.

Please visit the Official Website for the Film Festival

#27
News & Media / 2024 Oscars Award Results
March 18, 2024, 12:35:56 AM
Below are the results for the 2024 Oscars Academy Awards. The most awards were taken by Christopher Nolan's film OPPENHEIMER. See the full list of awards below:

Best Picture:
OPPENHEIMER

Actor in Leading Fole:
Cillian Murphy - OPPENHEIMER

Best Supporting Actor:
Robert Downey Jr. - OPPENHEIMER

Actress in Leading Role:
Emma Stone - POOR THINGS

Actress in Supporting Role:
Da'Vine Joy Randolph - THE HOLDOVERS

Best animation:
The Boy and the Heron

Cinematography:
OPPENHEIMER

Best Costume Design:
POOR THINGS

Best Directing:
Christopher Nolan - OPPENHEIMER

Documentary Feature Film:
20 DAYS IN MARIUPOL

Documentary Short:
THE LAST REPAIR SHOP

Best Editing:
Jennifer Lame - OPPENHEIMER

International Feature Film:
THE ZONE OF INTEREST (United Kingdom)

Makeup and Hairstyling:
Nadia Stacey, Mark Coulier and Josh Weston - POOR THINGS

Best Original Score:
Ludwig Goransson - OPPENHEIMER

Best Music, Original Song:
"What Was I Made For" - Barbie
Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell

Production Design:
POOR THINGS

Short Animated Film:
WAR IS OVER! Inspired by the Music of John and Yoko
Dave Mullins and Brad Booker

Best Live Action Short Film:
THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR

Sound:
THE ZONE OF INTEREST

Visual Effects:
GODZILLA MINUS ONE

Adapted Screenplay:
AMERICAN FICTION

Original Screenplay:
ANATOMY OF A FALL

Additional information available at the Academy Awards' Official Website



#28
News & Media / Actors Struggle to Find Work
February 22, 2024, 08:04:04 PM
Due to the large scale strikes in Hollywood by the actors and writers actors and the possibility for others in Europe joining them affected the film industry all around the world. Actors today are still facing hard times finding work as many other parts of the film industry had also been halted. The slow recovery still affecting the industry but both, production companies and movie goers are going back to work and audiences going to watch and enjoy new films again. Currently, however there is a large number of actors that are still waiting to get a role and many accept below their pay grade jobs.
#29
Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh is set to star in the action thriller film titled THE MOTHER.

Melanie Laurent has been appointed as director for the new movie which is also being shopped to international buyers in Berlin. Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee will produce the movie through Thunder Road, alongside Arthur Sarkissian and John Schramm. 

The story:

Michelle will play Ann, an immigrant mother and business woman looking to make the best for her family and her new life in America. When her two teenage sons stumble into trouble with a Boston dirty cop and a crime ring, Ann has no choice but to rekindle her past and stop at nothing until her sons are safe.

Filming for THE MOTHER will begin in the summer 2024. Stuart Ford will executive produce for AGC Studios alongside 30WEST, which is financing the film.

Wishing best for Michelle and team for the new project.

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#30
Nepal has submitted its first ever competition film titled SHAMBHALA to the 2024 Berlinale Film Festival. The film will be shown at the festival on Feb 23.

Set in the Nepalese Himalayas, Shambhala follows a woman in a polyandrous marriage with a man and his two younger brothers; when the man fails to return from a trading trip, the woman sets off to find him to give legitimacy to her unborn child.

Please watch the Official Trailer for SHAMBHALA

Also please visit the Official Website for the Berlinale Film Festival



#31
News & Media / Tragic Death at Marvel Studios Set
February 07, 2024, 06:13:21 PM
The tragic death was reported by Marvel studios when one of their set builder person working on the set of the new superhero film WONDER MAN has fallen and died on the scene on Feb 6. The crew member was identified as 41 year old Juan Carlos Osorio who was walking at a high elevation working on the new set for Marvel's new upcoming film. Marvel Studios was not yet filming at the time but the set builders were creating the set where filming will take place. The film has already been delayed due to the writers and actors strike.

Our condolences to set builder Juan Osorio's family and friends.



#32
Toshihiko Tanaka's human relationships drama REI - along with Iranian filmmaker Oktay Baraheni's film - took the top award at the Rotterdam Film Festival this year. Toshihiko Tanaka took the Tiger Award - with a cash prize of 40,000 Euros.

The drama revolves around a woman in her early thirties in a company job in Tokyo who is struggling to understand the value of her life until she meets a deaf landscape photographer living deep in the mountains of Hokkaido.

"The jury decided to give the Tiger Award to a burgeoning film director who chose to develop his debut film in a loose and unbounded environment," said the jury consisting of Marco Müller, Ena Sendijarević, Nadia Turincev, Billy Woodberry and Herman Yau.

Additional winners with other prizes included Indian director Midhun Murali, Australian filmmaker Jaydon Martin, and the NETPAC Award for the best Asian feature film, awarded by a jury from the Network for the Promotion of Asian Cinema, went to Ishan Shukla's Indian director dystopian animated feature Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust.

Congratulations to the winners and wishing them best of success in the future.

View the Official Trailer for REI.

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#33
News & Media / Jurassic World, New Episode in Development
February 07, 2024, 04:36:25 PM
Universal Studios begins putting together the next Jurassic World film

For this new installment, however none of the previous main cast are expected to return, no Chris PrattChris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard are expected to be back, nor the original trilogy's thespians Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Sam Neill, however the project is being picked up by Steven Spielbergs production studio Amblin Entertainment. Executive producers or producers are expected to be Steven Spielberg himself along with Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley and currently the director selected is David Leitch. David Leitch has well proven himself in the action genre as he is also know for starting the very successful John Wick frenchise with the latest installment also featuring Donnie Yen.

The last Jurassic World movie 'Dominion' - which was released in 2022 - still passed the $1 billion mark at the box office and that prompted the continuation of the story by Universal Studios.

The new Jurassic movie is expected to be in theaters sometime middle of 2025.

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#34
New Releases / House of Ninjas (2024) | Netflix
February 03, 2024, 05:39:29 PM
Years after retiring from their formidable ninja lives, a dysfunctional family must return to shadowy missions to counteract a string of looming threats. The Tawara family, the last ninja clan. It had abandoned its roots after an incident in the past, but now the family must take on the greatest crisis in Japanese history, one that threatens to shake the nation to its core.

House of Ninjas is a story about a Ninja family that lives in the shadows. Known as the Tawara family, they're the only Ninjas left in Japan. After their last mission doesn't go as planned, the Tawara family decides to live normal lives and never use their powers again. However, a new threat is about to engulf Japan in its clutches, and these hidden ninjas have no choice but to be out and save humanity.

Even though they keep calling themselves a "normal" family, not everyone can hide their skills entirely. When the Tawara family hears of a toxin that is killing hundreds of Japanese people, they know it is time for them to come out of hiding. The Tawara family decides to reunite to save their people. The impact of the last mission is still on their minds. So, will they let go of the past and be their best and bravest selves to save humanity? We will find out everything once the show releases.

Cast: Kento Kaku, Yosuke Eguchi, Tae Kimura

Release date: 15 Feb 2024

View the Official Trailer

The Official Netflix Page for House of Ninjas

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#35
New Releases / The Last Airbender - 2024 Netflix Series
February 02, 2024, 08:22:00 PM
Netflix is releasing a new version live-action series of the popular Nickelodeon series. The approach, according to showrunner Albert Kim and executive producer/director/VFX supervisor Jabbar Raisani? You change it up.

Based on the story created by Michael DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, Avatar: The Last Airbender is a fantasy series set in a world with four clans: the Fire Nation, the Water Tribe, Air Nomads and the Earth Kingdom. Aang is an adolescent child who awakens from a deep slumber after 100 years, and must learn who he is as the master avatar. Not only have the Four Nations been at war, but without the avatar, everything is out of balance in the physical and spirit worlds.

Aang feels alone as his tribe, the Air Nomads, have been exterminated. He finds friendship with teenagers Katara, a waterbender, and her brother Sokka, and meets others along the journey who help him understand not only his elemental powers, but how to navigate growing up. Not everyone in the story has bending abilities, but once he masters waterbending, airbending, firebending and earthbending, he can stop his adversary Fire Lord Ozai from taking over the world. The avatar state shows Aang at his most powerful -- which can be helpful or harmful.

The series taps into Asian and Indigenous traditions and folklore, packs in laughs and emotional storylines, and carries the characters through war, dysfunctional family dynamics, loss, love and more. Adventure, growth and relationships are core to the story, and viewers will get to see action-packed martial arts sequences, budding character arcs and special effects that bring bending and fantasy creatures like Appa to life.

The Last Airbender is executive-produced by Albert Kim, who also served as a writer, alongside Jabbar Raisani, Dan Lin, Lindsey Liberatore and Michael Goi. The cast features Gordon Cormier as Aang, Dallas Liu as Prince Zuko, Kiawentiio as the water-bending Katara, Ian Ousley as Sokka, Daniel Dae Kim as Fire Lord Ozai, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee as Uncle Iroh and Elizabeth Yu as Azula. Not to be left out, James Sie is returning as the Cabbage Man.

The show will debut with all eight episodes on Netflix on Thursday, Feb. 22. Rather than stream short episodes like the original, the new series will drop hour-long episodes that are family-friendly. However, the titles are different from what we've seen with the animated show.

Episodes:

1. Aang
2. Warriors
3. Omashu
4. Into the Dark
5. Spirited Away
6. Masks
7. The North
8. Legends

View the Official Trailer

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#36
New Releases / SHOGUN from FX-Hulu 2024 Feb
February 02, 2024, 08:00:13 PM
Those who have access to Hulu, this year with a coproduction with FX, Hulu is releasing an adventure-drama TV series called SHOGUN. The series is about when a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, Lord Yoshii Toranaga discovers secrets that could tip the scales of power and devastate his enemies.

It is an upcoming historical drama television limited series based on the 1975 novel of the same name by James Clavell that is set to premiere on Hulu, Disney+ (via the Hulu hub) and FX in the United States, Disney+ (Via Star) internationally, Disney+ and Star+ in Latin America. The novel was previously adapted into a 1980 television miniseries.

Premise
Shōgun follows "the collision of two ambitious men from different worlds and a mysterious female samurai; John Blackthorne, a risk-taking English sailor who ends up shipwrecked in Japan, a land whose unfamiliar culture will ultimately redefine him; Lord Toranaga, a shrewd, powerful daimyo, at odds with his own dangerous, political rivals; and Lady Mariko, a woman with invaluable skills but dishonorable family ties, who must prove her value and allegiance". Clavell's Shōgun is a fictionalized version of real events and history. The character of Blackthorne is loosely based on the historical English navigator William Adams, who in Japan rose to become a samurai under the strongest powerful daimyo, Tokugawa Ieyasu (on whom the character Yoshii Toranaga is based)

Season 1 episodes:

1. Anjin  (Feb 27)

2. Servants of Two Masters  (Feb 27)

3. Tomorrow is Tomorrow  (Mar 5)

4. The Eightfold Fence  (Mar 12)

5. Broken to the Fist  (Mar 19)

6. Ladies of the Willow World (Mar 26)

Cast:

Main
Hiroyuki Sanada as Lord Yoshii Toranaga (Tokugawa Ieyasu (1543–1616))
Cosmo Jarvis as Pilot Major John Blackthorne (Miura Anjin (William Adams)) (1564–1620))
Anna Sawai as Toda Mariko (Hosokawa Gracia (1563–1600))
Tadanobu Asano as Kashigi Yabushige (Honda Masanobu (1538–1616))
Hiroto Kanai as Kashigi Omi (Honda Masazumi (1566–1637))
Takehiro Hira as Ishido Kazunari (Ishida Mitsunari (1559–1600))
Moeka Hoshi as Usami Fuji
Shinnosuke Abe as Toda Buntaro (Hosokawa Tadaoki (1563–1646))
Tokuma Nishioka as Toda "Iron Fist" Hiromatsu (Hosokawa Fujitaka (1534–1610))
Yasunari Takeshima as Muraji
Yuki Kura as Yoshii Nagakado (Matsudaira Tadayoshi (1580-1607))
Fumi Nikaido as Ochiba No Kata (Yodo-dono (1569–1615))
Tommy Bastow as Father Martin Alvito (João Rodrigues Tçuzu (1561–1634))
Yuka Kouri as Kiku
Yoriko Dōguchi as Kiri No Kata (Lady Acha (1555-1637))
Ako as Daiyoin / Lady Iyo (Kōdai-in (1549–1624))

Supporting
Toshi Toda as Sugiyama (Maeda Toshiie (1539-1599))
Hiro Kanagawa as Igurashi
Junichi Tajiri as Uejiro
Néstor Carbonell as Vasco Rodrigues
Nobuya Shimamoto as Nebara Jozen
Yuki Kedoin as Takemaru
Mako Fujimoto as Shizu No Kata
Haruno Niiyama as Natsu No Kata
Hiromoto Ida as Kiyama ukon Sadanaga (Konishi Yukinaga (1555-1600))
Takeshi Kurokawa as Ohno Harunobu (Otani Yoshitsugu (1558-1600))
Yuko Miyamoto as Gin
Yoshi Amao as Sera

View the Official Trailer for the series

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#37
A story dedicated to Christopher Reeve

Sundance Film Institute is having a limited time screening of the new 2024 documentary 'Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story'. Sundance Film Institute releases the new 2024 documentary 'Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story' created by two documentary filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui and also offers screening times to audiences to view the documenatry.

On this documentary dedicated to the life of Christopher Reeve the filmmakers go to the family and home of the former star and follow him through his career and also his family life. Moving backward and forward in time, filmmakers Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui expertly weave together a dual narrative exploring the life-changing impact of two pivotal moments in Christopher Reeve's career: being cast in 1978's Superman and becoming paralyzed in 1995.

Decades before superheroes took over the cinemas, Reeve made the world believe a man could fly; his accident brought worldwide awareness of disability. In Super/Man, Reeve's family and close confidantes demonstrate remarkable candor in their reflections on life before and after the accident. The result is a deeply moving film foregrounding the man behind Superman — not a hagiography, but a full-fledged portrait that encompasses both the soaring heights and the dark depths of Reeve's journey.

Screening times and locations:

JAN 21, 9:00 AM MST
Screening
The Ray Theatre
PARK CITY

JAN 24, 3:15 PM MST
Screening
Redstone Cinemas - 7
PARK CITY
OPEN CAPTION

JAN 26, 9:30 AM MST
Screening
Library Center Theatre
PARK CITY

JAN 27, 10:00 PM MST
Screening
Megaplex Theatres at The Gateway - Theater 8/9
SALT LAKE CITY

JAN 28, 12:30 PM MST
Screening
Holiday Village Cinemas - 3
PARK CITY

Visit the Official Page at Sundance Film Festival for additional information

#38
The 74th Berlin International Film Festival has revealed the 20 titles selected for its official Competition as well as its competitive Encounters strand. All Competition titles are world premieres with the exception of Aaron Shimberg's A Different Man, starring Sebastian Stan and Adam Pearson, which recently debuted at Sundance and will receive its international premiere in Berlin.

Six of the films are directed or co-directed by women – the same figure as last year – and two are debut features.

South Korea's Hong returns to Berlin, having had six films in Competition at the festival since 2008. His latest, A Traveler's Needs, was described as a comedy and a "light but piercing take on human relationships" by Chatrian at the press conference. It stars French actress Huppert, who will also receive honorary Golden Bear that should could not accept in-person when it was first bestowed in 2022. Huppert previously starred in Hong's In Another Country (2012) and Claire's Camera (2017), both of which premiered at Cannes.

Competition

Another End, dir. Piero Messina
Architecton, dir. Victor Kossakovsky
Black Tea, dir. Abderrahmane Sissako
La Cocina, dir. Alonso Ruizpalacios
Dahomey, dir. Mati Diop
A Different Man, dir. Aaron Schimberg
The Empire, dir. Bruno Dumont
Gloria!, dir. Margherita Vicario
Suspended Time, dir. Olivier Assayas
From Hilde, With Love, dir. Andreas Dresen
My Favourite Cake, dir. Behtash Saneeha, Maryam Moghaddam
Langue Etrangère, dir. Claire Burger
Who Do I Belong To, dir. Meryam Joobeur
Pepe, dir. Nelson Carlos De Los Santos Arias
Shambhala, dir. Min Bahadur Bham
Sterben, dir. Matthias Glasner
The Devil's Bath, dir. Severin Fiala, Veronika Franz
Small Things Like These, dir. Tim Mielants (previously announced)
A Traveler's Needs, dir. Hong Sangsoo
Sons, dir. Gustav Möller

Encounters

Arcadia, dir. Yorgos Zois
Cidade; Campo, dir. Juliana Rojas
Demba, dir. Mamadou Dia
Direct Action, dir. Guillaume Cailleau, Ben Russell
Sleep With Your Eyes Open, dir. Nele Wohlatz
The Fable, dir. Raam Reddy
A Family, dir. Christine Angot
Favoriten, dir. Ruth Beckermann
Ivo, dir. Eva Trobisch
The Great Yawn, dir. Aliyar Rasti
Some Rain Must Fall, dir. Qiu Yang
Hands In The Fire, dir. Margarida Gil
Matt And Mara, dir. Kazik Radwanski
Through The Graves The Wind Is Blowing, dir. Travis Wilkerson
You Burn Me, dir. Matias Pineiro

Please visit the Official Website for more information

#39
The 48th Hong Kong International Film Festival is going to place in Hong Kong from 28 March through 8 April 2024.

As of this time no other information available but we'll bring new updates as we know more.

 Please also visit the Official Website for more information

#40
Italy was one of the countries most hit in Europe by the COVID pandemic. The strict lockdowns crippled the economy in many ways, countless businesses closed their stores and naturally their movie theaters were not immune to this. While most survived but were not able to show any films.

2023 started to show a great recovery and box office has surged again. Below are some figures from 2023:

Box office takings rose 62% compared to 2022 to hit €495m, according to figures from Italian box office company Cinetel published by audiovisual body Anica. Admissions grew by 59% to reach 70.5m. However, the Italian theatrical market is still down by approximately 16% in takings and 23% in attendance compared to the pre-pandemic average for the 2017-2019 period. The top grossing film of the year was There's Still Tomorrow, the directorial debut of Italian star Paola Cortellesi, which was released in October through Vision Distribution after world premiering at the Rome Film Festival. The black and white comedy drama, set in Rome in 1946, grossed nearly €33m at the box office – ahead of second placed Barbie (€32.1m) and then Oppenheimer (€27.9m).

Anica highlighted the performance of Italian films in 2023, noting that Italian productions, including co-productions, recorded revenues of over €120m and 18m admissions for a roughly 26% share of total attendance.

Not only was there a higher share for Italian productions than the average for the pre-pandemic years of 2017-2019 (21%) but it was also close to the average for the entire decade 2010-2019 (26.9%).

The top three Italian-produced films, in addition to Paola Cortellesi's There's Still Tomorrow, included comedy adventure Me Contro Te Il Film – Missione Giungla (€4.8m) and Fabio de Luigi's comedy Tre Di Troppo (€4.7m). Anica also underlined the recovery of the summer season in Italy, traditionally considered the weakest period at the local box office.

The May to August period saw higher takings than the three-year period 2017-2019. Overall, the year recorded five months out of 12 with values higher than pre-pandemic data.

Italy mirrors most other European countries whose 2023 box office remains below the pre-pandemic era. France's box office is 13.1% below the pre-Covid 2017-2019 average, while the UK and Ireland is 22.1% down on the three-year pre-pandemic period average. For Germany the figure is 16.9% below and for Spain it is 23.9% below.