News

Already a known actor with titles like “Mountains May Depart” and “A Writer’s Odyssey” under his belt, Dong Zijian decided to make his debut as director, adapting Shuang Xuetao’s novel, “My Friend An Delie”, in a rather ambitious endeavor. Let us see how he fared.

My Friend An Delie is screening at Far East Film Festival

On his flight home for his father’s funeral, Li Mo runs into his childhood best friend, An Delie. The two have not seen each other since middle school, and even though they are heading to the same funeral, the latter insists that he does not know who Li Mo is. As he tries to revive his friend’s memory, the two embark on a road trip, both literal and down memory lane.

Dong Jizian directs a film split in two parts, one involving the childhood of the protagonists, in Northeast China in the late 1990s,...

Sonali Joshi, founder of UK distributor Day for Night, has launched a Japan-based distribution, sales and production outfit titled Not That Films and landed its first title.

The new company, based in Tokyo, will be overseen by Joshi as founder and director alongside Day for Night co-director Chonpel Tsering as head of international projects. Both have relocated from the UK to Japan.

They have begun building its sales slate with the acquisition of State Of Statelessness, a four-part anthology drama by Tibetan filmmakers living in exile, which received its world premiere at Busan in October. The company will aim to acquire four titles a year,...

The film Snow Leopard shows a farmer who traps a snow leopard after it kills his sheep, creating a conflict about survival and morality. His monk brother, Nyima, asks him to free the leopard, seeing it as sacred, as government officials and a TV crew come to the scene with their separate aims.

The film takes place on cold Tibetan lands in Qinghai province, where empty landscapes show the clash between desperate humans and nature’s cold response. The story mixes revenge, faith, and power in a measured story asking how people live with natural forces they cannot manage.

Pema Tseden made Snow Leopard as his last film before dying at 53. He made films showing Tibetan life with deep observation, looking at Tibetan people living under Chinese control. This work brings up big life questions and seems like a quiet look at life, death, and what lies between.

Predator and...

Final movie of Pema Tseden, as he died four months before it premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, “Snow Leopard”, which won Best Film at Tokyo and the Cyclo D’or in Vesoul, is another testament to the significance of the loss of a truly great filmmaker.

The film is currently screening in the UK, courtesy of Day For Night

A regional television crew is driving through a Tibetan-speaking region of Qinghai province in northwest China to report on a herder who has captured the snow leopard which has killed nine of his sheep. Lead reporter Dradul has been contacted by the herder’s brother, Nyima, a former classmate who is now a monk. However, as soon as they arrive, they find Nyima’s brother, Jinpa, utterly enraged, having imprisoned the leopard in the pen, and waiting for the authorities to arrive in order to receive compensation for the dead animals.

Cinema lost one of its most original filmmakers when Pema Tseden passed away in May 2023. Before his death, the Tibetan director, known for making realistic and slow movies depicting simple life, produced 23 films. One of the last projects under his care is Dargye Tenzin‘s debut, nominated for the Grand Prix at the 40th Warsaw International Film Festival, and for the Jury Award at the 15th First Youth Film Festival, “Tashi”.

When middle-aged Tashi (Dan Geng) returns to his hometown, he starts reminiscing his childhood – specifically how in elementary school, he rescued a stray dog that was named after him. Young Tashi (Gyatso Jigme) spends his days going to school, doing homework, and hanging out with his friends. While taking a trip down the memory lane, and speaking with his old friend, the present day Tashi learns a surprising truth about the past.

Check also this interview

Just like Tseden,...

Musical Wicked is hoping to bewitch audiences this weekend, coming out in 698 sites for Universal.

The first of a two-part adaptation of the stage musical stars Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey, Michelle Yeoh and Jeff Goldblum, with Jon M Chu directing.

Elphaba (Erivo), a misunderstood young woman because of her green skin, and Glinda (Grande), a more conventional and popular girl, become friends at Shiz University in the Land of Oz. Their friendship is taken in a new direction after they cross paths with the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

Wicked is the third in a trio of blockbuster November...

Pema Tseden’s swan song about the fate of a snow leopard imprisoned by a vengeful farmer gains new layers of political meaning following the director’s death

Tibetan film-maker Pema Tseden died of heart failure last year at the age of 53, just months after completing this movie; his health was almost certainly weakened by rough treatment from Chinese police in a notorious 2016 incident at an airport where he was prevented from retrieving his luggage, and the ensuing row escalated when police officers became involved and Tseden ended up in hospital. This ugly and possibly tragic event must surely have influenced Tseden’s final film, which mixes satirical comedy and social commentary and an enigmatic Zen reverie of innocence and experience. The fact that Tseden did die also alters the film’s meaning.

A TV crew is seen making its way in a four-wheel drive across the vast Tibetan plateau...

Paramount’s “Gladiator II” dominated the U.K. and Ireland box office with a £9.1 million ($11.5 million) opening weekend, according to numbers from Comscore.

Studiocanal’s “Paddington In Peru” maintained momentum in its sophomore session, collecting £6.8 million for a cumulative £18.8 million after two weeks. Warner Bros.’ “Red One” secured third place with £1.4 million, pushing its two-week total to £4.6 million.

Entertainment Film Distributors’ “Heretic” added £505,118 in its third frame, reaching £4.9 million total. Sony’s “Venom: The Last Dance” continued its run with £398,650, accumulating £11.8 million after four weeks.

Universal’s “The Wild Robot” showed staying power in its fifth week with £387,352, bringing its total to £13.2 million. Lionsgate U.K.’s “Small Things Like These” gathered £326,315 for a three-week cume of £3 million.

Trafalgar Releasing’s “Kiss Me, Kate: The Musical” debuted with £258,966 and Trinity’s “The Last Dance” earned £187,203 for a total of £1 million. Andrea Bocelli’s concert film, “Andrea Bocelli 30: The Celebration,...

Featuring music by the late Ryuichi Sakamoto, “Black Ox” is the the first feature-length movie in Japan to use in part 70mm film. It is also inspired by “The Oxherding Pictures”, which depicts the path to enlightenment using ten poems and drawings of cows, while stars Lee Kang-sheng, who has had a quite prolific year in 2024.

Black Ox is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival

Starting with a rather impressive scene of a fire, the movie then settles in a sharp monochrome 4:3, introducing the main character in the nude. As the intertitles highlight, In Japan’s era of Civilization and Enlightenment, villages who opposed the nationalization of the mountains set fire to the trees and burned the forests. Mountain nomads who lost their homes trekked down to the village and began to live among the people. The protagonist however, as a dialogue with a woman of his tribe highlights,...

Already a known actor with titles like “Mountains May Depart” and “A Writer’s Odyssey” under his belt, Dong Zijian decided to make his debut as director, adapting Shuang Xuetao’s novel, “My Friend An Delie”, in a rather ambitious endeavor. Let us see how he fared.

My Friend An Delie is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival

On his flight home for his father’s funeral, Li Mo runs into his childhood best friend, An Delie. The two have not seen each other since middle school, and even though they are heading to the same funeral, the latter insists that he does not know who Li Mo is. As he tries to revive his friend’s memory, the two embark on a road trip, both literal and down memory lane.

Dong Jizian directs a film split in two parts, one involving the childhood of the protagonists, in Northeast China in the late 1990s,...

Du Jie, a seasoned Chinese cinematographer who has shot more than 20 films for directors including Chen Sicheng, Guan Ha, Ning Hao and Pema Tseden, has turned his hand to directing.

Japanese drama The Height Of The Coconut Trees marks his feature directorial debut and is premiering in Busan’s New Currents competition

You’ve been living in Japan since early 2020 and chose to direct a Japanese film there with a local cast and crew. How did it come about?

As a DoP, I got to travel to visit New York, Thailand and Japan to shoot the three Detective Chinatown films...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Bam

A Different Man director Aaron Schimberg has assembled an all-35mm retrospective of films that inspired his new feature, including work by Lynch, Lubitsch, Nicholas Ray, and Tsai; the 50th-anniversary restoration of The Conversation begins a run.

Museum of Modern Art

A career-spanning Johnnie To retrospective has begun, featuring the director in-person.

Anthology Film Archives

An Ingrid Caven retrospective includes films by Fassbinder and Eustache; work by Joseph Cornell, Tony Conrad, and Bruce Conner plays in “Essential Cinema.”

Film at Lincoln Center

An essential retrospective of Brazil’s L.C. Barreto Productions continues.

Roxy Cinema

Faces and A Woman Under the Influence screen.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of the Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden continues; two films by Joanna Hogg screen on Saturday; Young Frankenstein and The Warriors have standalone showings, the latter on 35mm.

Film Forum

The Searchers...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Film at Lincoln Center

An essential retrospective of Brazil’s L.C. Barreto Productions begins.

Roxy Cinema

Another Woman and The Lords of Flatbush play on 35mm.

Museum of the Moving Image

A retrospective of the Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden begins; The Gleaners and I plays on Saturday; Speed Racer shows on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

An honestly titled retrospective, “Essential/Unessential Warhol,” begins.

Film Forum

A Spielberg retrospective begins, featuring E.T. on 35mm; Army of Shadows continues and West Side Story plays on Sunday.

Museum of Modern Art

“Paramount in the 1970s” includes films by Warren Beatty, Elaine May, and Peter Bogdanovich.

IFC Center

Rosemary’s Baby and a 40th-anniversary restoration of Paris, Texas play daily; Caligula: The Ultimate Cut and The Conversation continue; Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Hostel, The Goonies, Mute Witness, and The Vanishing play late.

Metrograph

The Seventh Seal,...

Panos Kotzathanasis talks about Pema Tseden's last film, Snow Leopard, the story and one of the most prevalent issues cattle-raisers all around the world face, the tension deriving from Jinpa and the calmness from Nyima, the impressive SFX and cinematography, the presence of authorities and their impact Tseten Tashi and his performance, while closing with a brief comment about the loss of most probably the most significant Tibetan filmmakers.

Born in 1990, Stenzin Tankong is a Film and Television graduate from the Symbiosis Centre of Media and Communication in Pune, India. He is a director and scriptwriter from Ladakh. He has been working on motion pictures for about five years and aims to bring the stories of his people and culture onto the world platform. “Last Days of Summer” is his first professional film.

Last Days of Summer is screening at Indian Film Festival Los Angeles

The film begins with a man, Dhundap, laying on the ground in sunglasses, looking at the sky, talking about the benefits of wearing such an ‘apparatus', which he seems to have gotten from a foreigner. It also seems to be talking to a goat and that he is actually a goat herder in the Himalayas. The next scene has him in his pen milking the animals, while talking with a woman about some of them missing,...

Six first or second-time directors from China take up the majority of the 11 slots in the Shanghai International Film Festival’s Asian New Talents section.

While family drama is the dominant genre, Variety takes a look what they are serving up:

Adapted from the book of the same name, Wang Xinrui’s “Dreaming of Mother and Home” depicts the drama of an adult daughter and her mother who is struggling through the last stages of life.

Zeng Zhi, previously a commercials director, puts the focus of his debut feature “Friday, Funfair” on the struggles of a young woman who was abandoned by her husband and is left to take care of her entire family and her sick only daughter.

Zhang Xuyu has made a series of short films and documentaries – including 2019 documentary short “Mr. Darcy,” was selected for the Brussels Independent Film Festival – before turning to fiction. His Shanghai feature,...

Exclusive: The world premiere of Rumana Molla’s Indo-Belgian film Minimum and the UK premiere of Indian actor Anshuman Jha’s directorial debut Lord Curzon Ki Haveli will be on show at this year’s UK Asian Film Festival (Ukaff).

Prominent figures including actors Shabana Azmi and Karisma Kapoor will be feted for their roles in Indian cinema at the annual event.

Ukaff, which says it is the longest running South Asian film festival in the world, will run its 26th edition from May 2 to 12 in venues across London, Leicester and Oxford.

Themed ‘Climate of Change,’ the festival will open with the premiere of Minimum at the BFI IMAX in London, while Lord Curzon Ki Haveli will close out the event at the Regent Street Cinema.

Indian industry veterans such as Kapoor, playback singer Kavita Krishnamurthy and designer Rina Dhaka are expected to attend the closing gala in London, with...

Pema Tseden's second feature film is a landmark for Tibetan cinema, being the first ever film from the country to be shot entirely with a Tibetan crew in the Tibetan language, while it is also noteworthy that the production was supported by renowned Chinese 5th Generation filmmaker Tian Zhuangzhuang.

The Search is screening at San Diego Asian Film Festival Spring Showcase

A director, a cinematographer and a producer drive through the Amdo region of Tibet, scouting actors for the “Drime Kunden” opera, which is traditionally performed for the Tibetan New Year and revolves around a prince who, selflessly, gives away his wife, his children and his own eyes to those in need. Eventually, they reach a village where they find the perfect actress to play Made Zangmo, Drime Kunden's wife. However, the girl is very shy, and furthermore, will not perform unless her boyfriend, who has left the village...

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist was named best film at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on Sunday evening (March 10).

The Japanese drama, which premiered in competition at Venice where it won five awards including the grand jury prize, also picked up best original music for composer Eiko Ishibashi.

Scroll down for full list of winners

While Hamaguchi was not at the ceremony, held in the Grand Theatre of the Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, the top prize was accepted in-person by Ishibashi, cinematographer Yoshio Kitagawa and co-editor Azusa Yamzaki – presented by...

Oscar winner Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s formalist arthouse drama Evil Does Not Exist won the best film prize Sunday night at the Asia Film Awards in Hong Kong.

The Japanese film industry had a big night overall at the 17th edition of the awards ceremony, which was hosted this year in Hong Kong’s gleaming new Xiqu Centre, part of the city’s $2.7 billion West Kowloon Cultural District development. Japanese festival favorite Hirokazu Kore-eda won best director for his mystery drama Monster, while the great Koji Yakusho took best actor for Wim Wender’s moving minimalist drama Perfect Days. Hamaguchi’s chief collaborator on Evil Does Not Exist, Eiko Ishibashi, won best music and the Kaiju critical and commercial sensation Godzilla Minus One claimed both best visual effects and best sound.

In many ways, it was Zhang Yimou’s night, however. The venerated Chinese director took the stage twice, once to...

Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” was Sunday evening named as the best picture at the Asian Film Awards.

The 17th edition of the prizes was held at the Xiqu Centre, part of the West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong.

While “Evil Does Not Exist” and Korean blockbuster “12.12: The Day” had dominated the nominations with six each, including those in the best film category, the prizes on Sunday were much more evenly distributed. No title collected more than two prizes.

Outside, crowds failed to be muted by the March drizzle, though VIP guests were given escorts with purple umbrellas.

Filmmaker and industry attendance was also robust. Those spotted on the red carpet and pre-event cocktails included: Lee Yong Kwan (former chair of the Busan film festival), Tom Yoda, Udine festival heads Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche, Anthony Chen, Stanley Kwan, Rina Damayanti, Hong Kong distributor Winnie Tsang,...

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won Best Film at the Asian Film Awards (AFAs) this evening in Hong Kong. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

This is the second year running that a film helmed by Hamaguchi has picked up the award. He won the top prize last year with Drive My Car. This year, however, the director was not in attendance to accept the award due to what he described as “work commitments” in a video message played at the top of the ceremony.

Evil Does Not Exist, which also picked up an award for original music, debuted at the 2023 Venice Film Festival. The film follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house,...

Vesoul continued in its usual style of programming this year, adding, however, three very interesting sections for 2024, one focusing on Malayalam cinema, one on Taiwanese cinema and one on Netpac winners, which allowed the programmers to include a number of movies of quality without being restricted by the prerequisites of the films included in the competition section. The inclusion of films from countries from the former Ussr, as in the case of Uzbek “Sunday” and Kazakh “Scream” was once more the cherry on the top, in one of the best years in terms of film selection for the festival, which celebrated its 30th edition this year. Lastly, the screening of “Snow Leopard” the last film of the recently deceased Pema Tseden was the most touching moment of the whole festival, with the presence of the protagonist, Tetsen Tashi, definitely adding to the overall impact.

Without further ado, here is our...

Final movie of Pema Tseden, as he died four months before it premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, “Snow Leopard”, which won Best Film at Tokyo and the Cyclo D'or in Vesoul, is another testament to the significance of the loss of a truly great filmmaker.

Snow Leopard is screening at Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema

A regional television crew is driving through a Tibetan-speaking region of Qinghai province in northwest China to report on a herder who has captured the snow leopard which has killed nine of his sheep. Lead reporter Dradul has been contacted by the herder's brother, Nyima, a former classmate who is now a monk. However, as soon as they arrive, they find Nyima's brother, Jinpa, utterly enraged, having imprisoned the leopard in the pen, and waiting for the authorities to arrive in order to receive compensation for the dead animals. His father,...

Honorary Golden Cyclo (offered by the Agglomeration Community and the city of Vesoul): to Zero Chou director (Taiwan) et à Tu Du-chih, sound engineer (Taiwan).

Cyclo D'Or (offered by the Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté), International Jury: President: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, director (Iran), members: Zero Chou, director (Taiwan), Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, actress (Iran), Shogen, actor (Japon).

The Snow Leopard de Pema Tseden (Chine-Tibet) –Through the mysterious relationship between the monk and the snow leopard, the traditional worldview of the Tibetan people is revealed – a realm of spiritual emotion that is challenging to express. The director skillfully captures this enchanting world with great precision, making it a remarkable and profoundly moving achievement.

Film interprets the conflicts of the human world through a spiritual lens, this work is a truly rare gem!

Grand Jury Award:

Film Review: Scream (2023) by Kenzhebek Shaikakov

Scream by Kenzhebek Shaikakov (Kazakhstan). The film has magical realism style that truly commendable,...

The late Pema Tseden’s “Snow Leopard” (China) won the top prize, the Golden Cyclo, at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema on Tuesday.

The film, which previously won awards at the Tokyo and Hainan festivals, also won Vesoul’s National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (Inalco) jury prize and actor Tseten Tashi scored a jury special mention. Pema Tseden (aka Wanmacaidan) died in May last year, age 53.

The grand jury award went to Kenzhebek Shaikakov’s “Scream” (Kazakhstan), which also won the Netpac award and the Mark Haaz award. “Scream” actors Orynbek Shaimaganbetov and Arnur Akram were accorded a jury prize special mention. The film shared the Mark Haaz award with Rajesh Jala’s “The Spark” (India), which also had a special mention at the film critics’ award.

“Solids by The Seashore” by Patiparn Boontarig (Thailand) won the jury prize and also the Inalco favorite award.

The East Asia Film Festival Ireland (Eaffi) and the Irish Film Institute (Ifi) are delighted to announce the programme for the eighth edition of the festival, which will take place this year from Thursday, March 7th to Sunday, March 10th, bringing works from prominent and

emerging writers and directors from diverse cultural and social backgrounds across East Asian cinema to audiences in Ireland. These films reflect on individual and communal experiences, and observe and explore life and relationships in an eclectic mix of fiction, documentary, and classic titles. At the programme's centre is a season of rare screenings by auteur filmmaker Edward Yang (1947–2007) – four masterworks from one of the most iconic figures, alongside Hou Hsiao-Hsien, of the Taiwanese New Wave film movement of the early 1980s.

Each of the four special screenings will be introduced by Taiwanese film producer Chuti Chang. They will be:

A Confucian Confusion , which charts the...

Taiwan and India in the spotlight at the 30th Vesoul Iff of Asian Cinema

The 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema will feature 92 films, including 52 never-before-seen films from 29 countries, under the banner of commitment!

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian director with 60 international awards to his credit, is President of the Jury. Other members include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin 2007, Fatemed Motamed-Arya, the most awarded Iranian actress in the history of Iranian cinema, and Japanese actor Shogen, cinema ambassador at the Sea-Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.

The 17 films in the fiction and documentary competitions come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. Four are French premieres, six European premieres, five international premieres and two world premieres.

Feature Film Competition :

China: All Ears by Liu Jiayin – China (Tibet): The Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Korea: Work to...

A UK-based Chinese film festival that strives to take on the responsibility of promoting the importance of a mutual understanding of diverse cultures between greater China and the UK, Mint Chinese Film Festival (Mint Cff) is back for its fresh 2nd edition from Feb 1-4 at Keswick Alhambra Cinema to welcome the Year of Dragon, showcasing the best and most pioneering Chinese films!

Mint is the first women-organised Chinese film festival in the UK and aims to curate for underrepresented voices, images, and stories, actively discovering and supporting Chinese creators, emerging women filmmakers and artists, and gender-diverse directors.

Founded by Chinese film curator Yixiang Shirley Lin and Keswick Alhambra Cinema's co-owner Dr Carol Rennie, Mint is a year-round active film festival; it not only holds an annual Chinese film festival but also curates and organises pop-up film screenings and relevant cultural and artistic events in various venues across the UK...

A total of 35 films from 24 countries and regions have been shortlisted to compete for 16 awards at this year's Asian Film Awards.

Renowned Japanese director Kurosawa Kiyoshi will serve as the Jury President for this year's Awards. As the first Japanese director to hold this position, Kurosawa Kiyoshi is deeply honored. He will lead the Jury and over 200 Voting Members in selecting the winners for this year's Asian Film Awards.

The winners of other Afa awards, including the Lifetime Achievement Award, Excellence in Asian Cinema Award, Afa Next Generation Award, and Rising Star Award, will be announced later.

The 17th Asian Film Awards Nomination List

Best Film

12.12: The Day (South Korea)

Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)

Paradise

Perfect Days (Japan)

Snow Leopard (Mainland China)

Best Director

Kim Sung-soo | 12.12: The Day (South Korea)

Gu Xiaogang | Dwelling by the West Lake (Mainland China)

Hamaguchi Ryusuke | Evil Does Not Exist (Japan)

Kore-eda Hirokazu...

‘Snow Leopard’, ‘Paradise’, ‘The Goldfinger’ and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ also land multiple nods.

South Korean box office hit 12.12: The Day and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist lead the nominations for the 17th Asian Film Awards, with six nods each including best film.

Also up for best film is Prasanna Vithanage’s Paradise from Sri Lanka-India, Wim Wenders Perfect Days from Japan and Chinese feature Snow Leopard by the late Pema Tseden.

Scroll down for full list of nominations

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Hong Kong on March 10 and will be decided by a...

Films and talent from China and Iran dominated the winners.

Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden has won the Grand Prix at Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) on a night dominated by Chinese and Iranian cinema.

The Tibetan-language drama centres on an argument between a father and son after a snow leopard breaks into a sheep pen and kills nine rams. It was completed before the filmmaker died in May and premiered out-of-competition at Venice before going on to screen at Toronto.

German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who presided over the international jury, announced the winner at the festival’s closing ceremony today.

“Snow Leopard,” the last film by Tibetan director Pema Tseden prior to his death in May, was awarded the Grand Prix at the closing ceremony of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday. Premiering out of competition at this year’s Venice Film Festival and later screening at Toronto, the film depicts the argument between a father and his adult son of how to deal with the title beast, which has descended from the mountains to kill sheep in their village.

Winner of the second-place Special Jury Prize was “Tatami,” a drama co-directed by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir about an Iranian judoka (Arienne Mandi), who is ordered by her government to withdraw from a match to avoid facing an Israeli opponent and is subjected to increasingly desperate pleadings from her coach (Amir). Premiering at Venice, “Tatami” is the first feature film to be co-directed by an Israeli (Nattiv...

Family drama Snow Leopard, directed by the late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, has won the Tokyo Grand Prix, the top prize at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival. Scroll down for the full list of winners.

The film, which is also nominated for three Asia Pacific Screen Awards, follows a rural family who debate whether they should kill a snow leopard that broke into their home and killed nine sheep. The full synopsis reads: In a mountain village where white leopards live, the film explores the symbiosis of humans and animals through the fantastical interaction of a young Tibetan monk and a leopard.

Snow Leopard is one of two films Tseden, who had Chinese citizenship, had been working on when he died in May, aged 53. His death was reported by Chinese media. No cause of death was given, but unverified Chinese media reports said he had a heart attack.

Leaff 2023 brings a diverse programme from East and Southeast Asia, including international and UK premieres. This year, our programme will be showcased through these strands: Retrospective: Director Chung Ji-Young, Leaff’s Official Selection, Competition, Stories of Women, Halloween Horror Special, Cherish the World, Lgbtqia+ and Classics Restored. The festival will open and close at Odeon Luxe Leicester Square. Other screenings and Q&As will take place at Odeon Luxe West End and the Cinema at Selfridges.

For more information about tickets, please visit: https://www.leaff.org.uk/2023tickets

Here is the full programme:

Opening Gala

The Boys + Q&a with the Director | Dir. Chung Ji-Young | Korea | 2023 | 124 mins

Closing Gala

Concrete Utopia + Q&a with Director, Actor Park Bo-young | Dir. Um Tae-hwa | Korea | 2023 | 130 mins

Leaff Official Selection

The Breaking Ice | Dir. Anthony Chen | Singapore | 2022 | 97 mins

Dan Dan | Dir. Song Chuan | China | 2022 | 103 mins

Hidden Blade | Dir. Cheng Er | Hong Kong | 2022 | 128 mins

In Broad Daylight | Dir.

Three festival-goers will choose the winner of the international series competition.

Switzerland’s Geneva International Film Festival (Giff) has unveiled the programme for its 29th edition, with festival hits including Polite Society and The Sweet East, and a new format for its international series competition.

The festival includes 110 works, of which 53 are films, 27 are series, 28 are immersive experiences and two are installations.

Scroll down for the feature and series competition titles

Giff includes four competition sections: international feature, international series, international immersive and the convergent competition – the latter section featuring projects from all three formats.

All 12 titles in the international...

Distributor, Day for Night has acquired a trio of Asian titles for U.K. and Ireland at the Busan International Film Festival’s Asian Contents and Film Market.

Day for Night is acquiring the late Pema Tseden’s “Snow Leopard” from Rediance. Pema Tseden, the Tibetan art house film director known for “Jinpa” and “Balloon,” died at 53 earlier this year. The film explores the complicated coexistence of animals and people on the Tibetan plateau. After a snow leopard kills nine rams owned by a herder, a bitter conflict ensues between the herder who wants to kill the snow leopard and the father who wants to release it.

“Snow Leopard” world premiered at Venice and subsequently played Toronto and will next be at Tokyo.

“Next Sohee” by Korean filmmaker July Jung (“A Girl at My Door”), which premiered at Cannes’ Critics Week in 2022 and played at Busan and London, has been...

Japan heads the nominations, followed by China.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist heads the nominations for the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, with nods in four categories including best film, best director, best screenplay and best cinematography.

The Japanese feature premiered at Venice where it picked up both the jury and Fipresci prize, and centres on a father and daughter in a rural village, whose peaceful lives are disrupted by proposals to build a camping site in their area.

Hamaguchi’s latest film, following Oscar-winner Drive My Car, was just ahead of China’s Snow Leopard by the late Tibetan director Pema Tseden,...

Japanese filmmaker Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s latest feature, Evil Does Not Exist, leads this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) with four nods, including the gong for Best Film.

Hamaguchi’s nominations haul includes Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Cinematography for Yoshio Kitagawa. The film is Hamaguchi’s first film since his Oscar-winning Drive My Car and debuted at this year’s Venice Film Festival. The pic follows Takumi and his daughter Hana, who live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. Like generations before them, they live a modest life according to the cycles and order of nature. A plan to construct a glamping site near Takumi’s house, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to nature, threatens to endanger the ecological balance of the area and the local people’s way of life.

Also nominated in the Best Film category are Wim Wenders’s Perfect Days, Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden,...

The Tokyo International Film Festival undertook a series of bold changes in 2020 to enhance its international reach, including a location change and major shakeups across staffing and programming. For the global film community, however, much of the overhaul went unfelt due to the travel restrictions of the pandemic. The Tokyo festival’s chairman, Hiroyasu Ando, emphasized at a press conference in the Japanese capital Wednesday that the event “aims to take a bigger leap” this year with its upcoming 36th edition, making good on its ambitions for a transformation.

“We’re really focussing on international interaction,” Ando said, noting that the festival would welcome some 600 overseas guests this year, including filmmakers, jury members and industry professionals, a major uptick from the 104 international industry VIPs who attended in 2022.

The Tokyo International Film Festival will open Oct. 23 with a gala screening of acclaimed German auteur Wim Wenders’ Tokyo-set drama Perfect Days, which...

The full lineup has been unveiled for the festival’s 36th edition.

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today revealed the lineup for its 36th edition, including 20 world premieres across its two competition strands.

The festival, set to run October 23 to November 1, will feature 15 titles in its main Competition section led by Japan and China, which each have three films in the selection.

Scroll down for full list

From China are crime drama A Long Shot from debut feature director Gao Peng; Snow Leopard by late Tibetan filmmaker Pema Tseden, which premiered at Venice; and Dwelling By The West Lake by Gu Xiaogang,...

Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each.

Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award.

The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, includes the world premiere of Russian director Alexei German Jr.’s “Air” and Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s “The Gospel of the Beast.”

The trio from Japan are: “(Ab)Normal Desire,” by Kishi Yoshiyuki; “A Foggy Paradise,” by Kotsijui Yohei; and “Who Were We,” by Tomina Tetsuya.

The festival’s gala selection appears designed for entertainment pleasure. In addition to the previously-announced “Perfect Days” and “Godzilla Minus One,” set as the festival’s opening and closing films,...

by Cláudio Alves

Vast wild landscapes dominated the latter half of my second day at TIFF. First came Nikolaj Arcel’s The Promised Land, fresh off its Venice premiere and inflated by high expectations. Then, it was time for Snow Leopard, the last completed film of Pema Tseden, the remarkable Tibetan director who dedicated himself to expressing his country’s specificities on the big screen. He died in May at 53, leaving behind a body of work that felt like it was just entering its golden age with titles like Jinpa and Balloon. And so, an air of mournfulness enveloped the screening of his leopard-loving film, a poem of snowy peaks and the beasts that share them...

Auteurs Agnieszka Holland, Wim Wenders, Hamaguchi Ryusuke and Aki Kaurismaki are among the filmmakers featured in the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Centrepiece program.

The strand, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema, which honors and celebrates global cinematic achievements, features 47 titles from filmmakers representing 45 countries.

TIFF has also revealed the additional lineup of galas, special presentations and documentaries, which feature star wattage from around the world including Tommy Lee Jones and Anil Kapoor.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece program, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF chief programming officer. “The rebranding of the TIFF program, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.

Ahead of Toronto International Film Festival kicking off in less than a month, the festival announced more additions, including Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist, Close Your Eyes by Víctor Erice, Fallen Leaves by Aki Kaurismäki, Green Border by Agnieszka Holland, Perfect Days by Wim Wenders, About Dry Grasses by Nuri Bilge Ceylan, and more.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece programme, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer. “The rebranding of the TIFF programme, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the Festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

See the lineup below.

Centrepiece Programme 2023

100 Yards Xu Haofeng, Xu Junfeng | China

International Premiere

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The programme comprises 47 films from 45 countries.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has unveiled the line-up for its Centrepiece programme, with 47 titles screening from filmmakers representing 45 countries.

Included in the programme (previously known as Contemporary World Cinema) are Victor Erice’s Close Your Eyes, getting its North American premiere; Aki Kaurismaki’s Fallen Leaves, receiving its Canadian premiere; and Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border, a North American premiere.

Scroll down for the full list of Centrepiece titles

TIFF also announced additional titles for its Galas, Special Presentations and Documentaries programmes, among them the world premiere of Brian Helgeland’s Finestkind.

The Toronto International Film Festival has added 59 more films to the lineup of its 2023 festival, including 47 international films in the Centrepiece program, which in previous years was known as Contemporary World Cinema. New films were also added to the Galas, Special Presentations and Documentary sections.

World premieres among the new selections include “Finestkind,” a crime thriller from Brian Helgeland (screenwriter of “L.A. Confidential”) starring Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Foster; The Movie Teller,” a film set in Chile starring Berenice Bejo from “An Education” director Lone Scherfig; and Jessica Yu’s “Quiz Lady,” with Sandra Oh and Awkwafina.

The Centrepiece selections include a number of films from May’s Cannes Film Festival, among them Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days,” Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s “About Dry Grasses,” Aki Kaurismaki’s “Fallen Leaves,” Ramata-Toulaye Sy’s “Banel & Adama,” Amjad Al Rasheed’s “Inshallah a Boy,” Joanna Arnow’s “The Feeling That the...

The Toronto International Film Festival continues to expand its 2023 lineup with 47 films from 45 countries in the Centerpiece program, previously known as Contemporary World Cinema. The highlights include Cannes Film Festival winners “Fallen Leaves” from Aki Kaurismäki and “Perfect Days” from Wim Wenders as well as Agnieszka Holland’s Venice-bound “Green Border.” See the full lineup below.

“We are very excited to present the new Centrepiece program, a cinematic journey that transcends boundaries and embraces the art of human experience,” said Anita Lee, TIFF Chief Programming Officer, in an official statement. “The rebranding of the TIFF program, formerly Contemporary World Cinema, is a reflection of the festival’s vision to provide an elevated platform for international cinema, for acclaimed titles from festivals around the globe, highly anticipated premieres from Canadian and international talents, and the latest work of influential filmmaking luminaries.”

Centerpiece Program 2023

About Dry Grasses (Kuru Otlar Üstüne) Nuri Bilge Ceylan...

The Venice Film Festival celebration is getting closer, and despite the current strikes at Hollywood, some really anticipated titles will be shown to attendees. With many productions halted, both for cinema and television, many studios are considering pushing some of their next releases back, since actors won't be able to promote their upcoming projects.

But the acclaimed Italian festival is just around the corner, and the situation across the ocean won't stop the organization to include some amazing movies within its lineup, with a long list of celebrated filmmakers set to appear to present their art.

Luca Guadagnino's upcoming sport comedy Challengers, which was recently pushed back, is one of the big loses that the 80th celebration of the Venice Film Festival had this year, but since the lineup was already closed when the SAG-AFTRA strike began, most of the titles expected to be featured will be present.

Hur Jin-Ho’s intense family drama is an adaptation of Herman Koch’s ‘The Dinner’.

South Korean sales firm Finecut has closed key distribution deals for Hur Jin-ho’s A Normal Family, which is set to receive its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival.

The family drama has been sold to key territories including France and French-speaking Switzerland (Diaphana Distribution), Vietnam (Lumix Media) and worldwide Inflight excluding South Korea and Taiwan (Encore Inflight), just based on the screening of a promo reel.

The film will debut in the Special Presentations section of TIFF and is an adaptation of Dutch...