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The inaugural Ho Chi Minh City International Film Festival (Hiff) in Vietnam has unveiled its line-up of about 100 films, including 12 each for the Southeast Asia competition and for the first or second film competition, with directors Anne Fontaine and Hirokazu Kore-eda among its guests.

Scroll down for line-up

The Asian premiere of French biopic Bolero will open the festival on April 6. Director Fontaine and leading actor Raphaël Personnaz will be present for the film’s Asian premiere, which will take place at the city’s historic Opera House.

Further notable festival guests include acclaimed Japanese director Kore-eda who will receive...

Korean Action

Korean action drama “A Shop For Killers” has become the most viewed local original on Disney+ in the Asia Pacific region so far in 2024, the streamer has revealed.

Set in contemporary Korea, the eight-part series follows college student Jeong Jian who dives for cover in her childhood home after a series of highly skilled assassins come after her. Fighting to survive, Jian begins to remember invaluable lessons her uncle taught her before his apparent suicide, drawing on them to help her stay alive. Jian now has to uncover her uncle’s hidden past and figure out why so many people are desperate to gain access to her house and the extensive arsenal hidden inside.

The cast includes Lee Dongwook (“Guardian: The Lonely”) and Kim Hyejun (“Connect”). “A Shop For Killers” is based on the popular novel by Kang Jiyoung, written by Ji Hojin and Lee Kwon, and directed...

Est N8 is joint venture launched by LA’s Est Studios, Bangkok’s N8 in Cannes.

International finance, production and sales company Est N8 has has boarded worldwide sales rights to Asian horror titles Dead Boys Club (Geng Kubur) and The Scarecrow for upcoming fall festivals and markets and has commenced talks at Busan.

Head of sales and distribution Tenten Wei is engaging with buyers in South Korea and will continue talks at Tokyo International Film Festival (October 23-November 1) and the American Film Market (October 31-November 5).

Est N8 is the joint venture launched by Los Angeles-based Est Studios and Bangkok...

HBO Asia has expanded its burgeoning production slate with six-episode half-hour series “Invisible Stories.” The first two episodes of the show, “Lian” and “Chuan,” play at the Singapore International Film Festival on Nov. 28.

The series is by writer and director Ler Jiyuan, who previously directed part of HBO Asia Original series “Grisse.” “Like 80% of Singaporeans, I live in a Housing Development Board flat, in a regular Hdb public housing estate,” Ler told Variety. “ ‘Invisible Stories’ is pretty much the world that I came from. I grew up in a three-room flat in Ang Mo Kio (residential town), back in the 1990s. My father was a taxi driver, my mother a factory worker who eventually lost her job during a financial crisis. The life I live, the people I see, were all inspirations for ‘Invisible Stories.’ For example, just two doors down from me was a spiritual medium who turned his flat into a temple.

The Singaporean film industry is experiencing an unprecedented production boom. At least 14 homegrown films are due to release this year, a 50% increase from 2018, with another 15 in development, per the Singapore Film Commission.

Last year saw unprecedented success for Singapore cinema, with Yeo Siew Hua’s “A Land Imagined” winning the Golden Leopard at Locarno, and several more awards globally. The film was released theatrically in Singapore in February 2019 and enjoyed a successful box office run. Jon M. Chu’s Singapore-set blockbuster “Crazy Rich Asians” led to a global uptick in interest in the island country; auteur Eric Khoo’s culinary themed “Ramen Shop” won plaudits at Berlin and Tokyo; and locally, horror films from Gilbert Chan (“23:59: The Haunting Hour”) and Jacen Tan (“Zombiepura”) found favor with audiences.

Local superstar Jack Neo had a 2018 Lunar New Year release with comedy “Wonderful! Liang Xi Mei” from regional powerhouses MM2 Entertainment and J Team Prods.

"And that is why you don't mix diesel with petrol!" Blue Fox Entertainment has released the official Us trailer for an animated children's movie titled Wheely, produced by Kru Studios and Kartun Studios. This Malaysian animated movie is one of the most blatant Cars ripoffs we've ever seen, and it looks horrible in every possible way. It's no surprise that thanks to Cars being beloved by kids worldwide, it is often ripped off and remade internationally, but what is surprising is that anyone even cares to watch this. In the film, Wheely, a cabbie from the lower ranks of society, faces a great uphill battle to save his dream girl from a monstrous 18-wheeler truck who is the mastermind of a luxury car-napping syndicate. The film features the voices of Ogie Banks, Frances Lee, Gavin Yap, Brock Powell, Thomas Pang, Barbara Goodson, Tamyka White, Jay Sheldon, and Armando Valdez. This looks so,...

Paris-based sales company adds Chained For Life, Demons to slate.

Paris-based sales outfit Reel Suspects has added several titles to its slate ahead of the upcoming European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin.

Among the additions are two films which will have their world premieres in Berlin: Aaron Schimberg’s satire Chained For Life, which will screen in Berlin Critics’ Week, and Daniel Hui’s psychological thriller Demons, which will be presented at Berlinale Forum.

Reel Suspects will also be screening footage of Bartosz Konopka’s polish historical drama The Mute. The director’s previous credits include Fear Of Falling and...