News

‘Watson’ Screening At Monte Carlo TV Festival

CBS’s Morris Chestnut sleuth series Watson will get its French premiere at the Monte Carlo Television Festival on Friday, June 13, at the Grimaldo Forum Monaco. The “medical series with an investigative spine” is set six months after the death of the titular Dr John Watson’s friend, Sherlock Holmes, at the hands of Moriarty. He resumes life as a head of a clinic dedicated to treating rare disorders, though Moriarty isn’t done with him yet. CBS Studios is making the show, with Paramount Global Content Distribution shopping it globally. Elsewhere at the Monte Carlo TV Festival, American actress Jaz Sinclair will receive the Golden Nymph for Most Promising Talent. Sinclair currently stars in Prime Video superhero drama The Boys and is known for roles in Netflix’s supernatural series The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina and films such as Paper Towns and When the Bough Breaks,...

“Extremely Unique Dynamic” introduces us to a world where past and present intertwine with a clever self-aware twist. The film invites us into modern Los Angeles, where the vibrant energy of the city plays backdrop to a reflective exploration of friendship.

Writer-directors Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu serve as both the creative minds behind the project and its charismatic leads, capturing a heartfelt portrait of lifelong companionship on the brink of change.

From the opening moments, we see glimpses of early childhood captured on grainy video, a reminder of simpler times and the seeds of creative ambition. As the film unfolds, it follows a weekend project that transforms into a poignant farewell, as one friend prepares to leave for Canada. This setup creates a layered narrative where the process of making a film becomes a mirror for personal revelations and unspoken emotions.

The playful approach—combining offbeat humor with moments...

A24’s The Brutalist busted out in limited expansion this weekend with close to $1.39 million on just 68 screens, a $20.4k per screen average, excellent for a period film with a three hour and 35-minute run time about a Hungarian architect in 1950s Doylestown, Pa. It won multiple Golden Globes — for Best Picture – Drama, Best Actor for Adrien Brody and Best Director — last Sunday.

This is another fine indie weekend as Hard Truths by iconic filmmaker Mike Leigh saw $165k at 22 theaters, a strong opening, despite severe weather in the south and the ongoing fire crisis in LA.

The Last Showgirl rounded out the top 10 on its debut weekend.

Holdovers Nosferatu, A Complete Unknown and Babygirl are at nos. 4, 6 and 8 respectively.

Indie distributors are now wondering if arthouses that gravitated to wide-release studios films since Covid may want to rethink.

The Brutalist: Another example of A24’s creative thinking included...

Wildfires rampaging through Los Angeles means moviegoing won’t be top of mind for Angelenos. Some top indies are opening or holding over in L.A. theaters, one of the nation’s key movie markets, amid uneven fire patterns that have scorched and flattened huge areas of the city but left others untouched.

“In West Hollywood, the sun is shining. You can’t really tell. Except for some ash that falls on your car, you can’t really tell what’s happening,” says Howard Cohen, co-president of Roadside Attractions, which is releasing Gia Coppola’s The Last Showgirl starring Pamela Anderson in moderate release on 870 screens nationwide, including 20+ L.A. theaters.

“I have mixed emotions opening in the middle of all this. It’s been such a great run with Pamela and Gia and Jamie Lee [Curtis] and the whole group. It’s hard to celebrate. We canceled the premiere on Thursday.

"You're a bad friend!" "You don't talk to me!" Will they figure it out and make a movie? Heroic Impact has unveiled a second official trailer for an indie comedy gem called Extremely Unique Dynamic, made by a trio of California filmmakers. This premiered earlier in 2024 and has played at a few festivals including Vancouver, Catalina, Sonoma, and the San Francisco LGBTQ+ Film Festival this year. During their final weekend together, two best friends test the limits of their friendship while making a triple-meta film. What does it mean? What is a triple meta film? You gotta watch to find out! In this (likely) first-ever and (maybe) award-winning Meta-Asian-Stoner-Coming-Of-Age-Bromantic Dramedy, bottled-up secrets emerge as best friends decide to make a movie... about two guys making a movie... about two guys making a movie. Starring Harrison Xu, Hudson Yang, Ivan Leung, Nathan Doan, and Valerie Yu. This looks smart and funny and clever,...

There have been plenty of movies about making a movie — think Ed Wood or The Fabelmans. Now, get ready for a movie about making a movie...about making a movie. Confused? You won't be after you watch our exclusive trailer for Extremely Unique Dynamic...or you might be more confused. The indie meta-stoner comedy is coming soon. In Extremely Unique Dynamic, Daniel (Ivan Leung) and Ryan (Harrison Xu) are lifelong best friends who love making movies and getting high together. Years ago, they moved out to Los Angeles to pursue their dreams of acting, but it appears those dreams are at an end, as Ryan is about to move to Edmonton to be with his girlfriend, leaving Daniel deeply hurt.

And the 2024 Montclair Film Festival awards go to…

The Montclair Film Festival bestowed its top honor, the Fiction Feature Prize, to Payal Kapadia’s critically acclaimed “All We Imagine as Light.” The feature won the Grand Prix at Cannes but was later snubbed by India for its Oscar submission. The film centers on two nurses, played by Kani Kusruti and Divya Prabha, who grapple with their own relationships. “All We Imagine as Light” will premiere November 15 in theaters from Sideshow/Janus Films.

Montclair Film additionally recognized Mohammad Rasoulof’s “The Seed of the Sacred Fig” with a Special Jury Prize. The Feature Film jury included artist and podcaster Janette Afsharian, AP critic Jake Coyle, and Rolling Stone critic David Fear.

The festival’s Bruce Sinofsky Award for the Documentary Feature Competition was won by “Soundtrack to a Coup d’Etat,” which was directed by Johan Grimonprez. A Special Jury Prize was...

Nascent UK sales company Rapt Films International has picked up international rights to Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu’s debut feature Extremely Unique Dynamic ahead of the American Film Market (AFM).

The film, described as a “stoner bromantic comedy”, follows two Asian-American best friends who decide to make a movie, and explores the dynamic of their friendship. Leung and Xu also star in the film, alongside Hudson Yang, star of US sitcom Fresh Off The Boat.

Strand Releasing will release theatrically in the US.

Leung and Xu wrote and directed alongside Katherine Dudas, and produced under their Heroic Impact production company with Noel Do-Murakami.

NewFest has announced the full lineup for the 36th edition of the New York LGBTQ+ Film Festival.

The largest queer film festival in the U.S., it will include more than 140 new features, shorts and episodic projects from 31 countries in addition to legacy screenings.

The festival runs Oct. 10 to Oct. 20 in theaters in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as well as on NewFest’s on-demand platform until Oct. 22, with venues including the Sva Theatre, The LGBT Community Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music and Nitehawk Prospect Park.

The opening film on Oct. 10 is the N.Y. City premiere of Roshan Sethi’s “A Nice Indian Boy,” which had its world premiere at SXSW. The closing night selection is Jacques Audiard’s musical drama “Emilia Pérez,” which won the Cannes Jury Prize and the best actress award for Karla Sofía Gascón, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, and Adriana Paz.

Erin Carr’s “Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara...

Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the United States, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t going big on film.

More than 300 films screened at the 42nd Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, which took place in Providence from Aug. 6 to 11: a diverse slate of narrative features, documentaries and short films represented 51 countries across the globe. The festival — one of 10 international fests that serve as official qualifiers for the Academy Awards’ live-action, animated and documentary short categories — received over 7,000 submissions this year.

For executive director Shawn M. Quirk, who has been with the festival for 13 years, Riiff has a two-pronged approach to serving filmmakers both in Rhode Island and beyond its borders. “It’s really about building this global community, as well as helping our local filmmakers who need that access,” Quirk tells THR.

“I love the idea of us being a global film [destination],” adds Quirk.

Exclusive: The 48th San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival aka Frameline48 wrapped over the weekend and presented it awards after a slate of 120 in-person screenings and programs featuring international LGBTQ+ filmmakers and Bay Area artists.

Frameline48 highlights included a 30th anniversary screening of the 4K restoration of Go Fish; the “queer premiere” of Anthony Schatteman’s Young Hearts; the U.S. premiere of Juan Pablo Di Pace and Andrés P. Estrada’s Duino, world premieres of Deborah Craig’s Sally! (co-directed by Jörg Fockele and Ondine Rarey) and Osama Chami’s Una película barata; and screenings of Harrison Xu, Ivan Leung and Katherine Dudas’ Extremely Unique Dynamic, Marco Berger’s The Astronaut Lovers (Los amantes astronautas) and Luke Willis’ Lady Like, which saw the director and Lady Camden, the film’s subject, in attendance.

The Frameline kickoff celebration featured a live performance by singer, songwriter and producer Linda Perry, followed...

“Extremely Unique Dynamic,” a comedy drama film that plays at the Frameline Festival in San Francisco, is set for release later this year in North America.

North American rights to the picture were acquired by distributor Strand Releasing, which says it plans a late fall theatrical release.

The U.S.-produced film chronicles “two best friends who test the limits of their relationship while making a triple-meta movie.” It had its debut in March at the Sonoma International Film Festival and followed that with appearance at Inside Out and CAAMFest.

The film is directed by Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu and stars Leung (“The Tender Bar”), Xu (“Last Summer of Nathan Lee”), Hudson Yang (“Fresh Off the Boat”) and Nathan Dean (“Ginormo”). Cinematography is by Steven Shulgach, editing by Michael Scotti Jr., sound design by Nikola Simikic and the original score by Ian Mackley.

The film was produced by Leung...

Ivan Leung and Harrison Xu in Extremely Unique Dynamic

Getting you first feature as co-writers/co-directors into a major film festival is quite an achievement. Harrison Xu and Ivan Leung could barely contain their excitement about Extremely Unique Dynamic screening as part of the Inside Out Toronto 2024 line-up when I met them to discuss it. Ivan had never been to Canada, so had that to look forward to as well, plus they were still buzzing from Sonoma and looking forward to being able to announce another high profile screening. it was a big moment – and on top of that, Ivan had another new experience to embrace.

“This is my first time going to festivals,” he explains. “I've always worked in the studio system. I do a lot of commercial TV and film, but I've never gotten to explore the festival system. And if I knew how fun it was before,...

Two buddies, Ivan Leung (an actor with several bit roles mostly on TV under his belt) and Harrison Xu (a prolific voice actor specialised in English-language dubbing of Asian series) and their actress-filmmaker friend Katherine Dudas decided to make a movie. About two aspiring actors friends making a movie. About two friends making a movie. How meta is that? Double or triple? Anyhow, that is how a little no-budget indie comedy “Extremely Unique Dynamic” was born, and we got the chance to see it at Caam Fest…

Extremely Unique Dynamic is screening at CAAMFest

The plot is actually a simple one. Daniel (Leung) and Ryan (Xu) are life-long besties that have been trying to become famous for all their lives. As kids, they used to play filming their shenanigans with a camcorder, and as adults they are aspiring actors and roommates in Los Angeles that spend most of their time...

Inside Out Toronto 2Slgbtq+ Film Festival has revealed the full program lineup for its 34th edition. The festival champions 2Slgbtq+ filmmakers from across the globe, and will showcase 106 films from 25 countries, including 30 feature films and 5 world premieres. The festival will take place May 24th to June 1st in Toronto, Canada at TIFF Lightbox as well as online. Inside Out’s Co-Head & Executive Director, Elie Chivi, and Co-Head & Artistic Director, Andrew Murphy, made today’s announcement. ​​

The festival’s opening night film will be Amazon MGM Studio’s My Old Ass – Megan Park’s sophomore feature, which premiered earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival to standing ovations. Starring Aubrey Plaza, Maisy Stella and Maddie Ziegler, the queer comedy is about a woman who is visited by her future self and is told not to fall in love.

Fresh from its World Premiere at BFI Flare London Film Festival,...

San Francisco, April 11, 2024 -The Center for Asian American Media (Caam) is excited to announce its fully in-person program for CAAMFest 2024, taking place May 9-19, 2024 in San Francisco and Oakland. This year's festival will include over 35 programs that will spotlight film, food, music, and ideas.

“Our CAAMFest programs this year take a deeper look into our vast and infinite Asian American stories, unearthing truths that are complicated, sometimes strange, and at times revelatory,” says Festival and Exhibitions Director Thúy Trần. “As we are entering an election year in a socio-politically shapeshifting world that can feel uncertain, we look to artists and storytellers to ground us and remind us of the responsibility of our shared humanity. With this year's CAAMFest, we are proud to lift the voices of these brave and tender storytellers.”

The Opening Night film screening will take place at the Palace of Fine Arts Theatre—followed by the Gala...

The Sudanese drama Goodbye Julia is continuing its impressive awards run, earning the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature over the weekend at the Sonoma International Film Festival in California.

Mohamed Kordofani directed the story set in the context of the secessionist movement that led to the establishment of the independent nation of South Sudan in 2011.

“We commend the festival for its impressive selection of narrative features and unanimously select Goodbye Julia as the best film,” jurors wrote. “An outstanding first feature from Mohamed Kordofani, anchored by two stellar performances from Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak, Goodbye Julia provides a glimpse into a culture and region that’s underrepresented and underexplored in contemporary cinema.”

The jury, comprised of Rosa Bosch (Begin Again Films), Tyler Coates (The Hollywood Reporter), Rebecca Fisher (Magnolia Pictures), Jason Hellerstein (Sideshow), and Julie Huntsinger (Telluride Film Festival), awarded a Special Mention to Hesitation Wound, describing...

The champagne may be flowing at the kickoff for the 27th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival – for more reasons than one.

This year’s event in California’s wine country will open with the U.S. premiere of Widow Clicquot, directed by Thomas Napper, a narrative feature about the Grande Dame of Champagne. Actress Haley Bennett stars in the titular role of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, “who against all odds advanced her late husband’s techniques to create the recipe for modern-day champagne.”

Siff, running from March 20-24, will showcase 43 narrative features, 16 documentary features, and 48 short films representing more than 25 countries, according to a release.

Maya Hawke in ‘Wildcat’

The festival’s Centerpiece Film is Wildcat, directed by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter Maya Hawke as renowned Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor. The Closing Night Film is Luc Besson’s crime drama Dogman, starring Caleb Landry Jones. A Closing Night...

Check out this exclusive clip from the upcoming found footage, mockumentary-style coming-of-age drama, Last Summer of Nathan Lee, which follows an 18-year-old with brain cancer who vows to live, laugh, and love in his final summer. Directed by Quentin Lee, the indie film is set to be released in theaters later this month.

Alongside this exclusive clip, you can also check out the detailed synopsis for Last Summer of Nathan Lee below:

“Nathan Lee (Harrison Xu), an Api teenager, finds out that he has brain cancer right before he turns 18 and vows to live the remains of his life with passion... and refuses to die a virgin. Knowing that his gay best friend, Dash (Matthew Mitchell Espinosa), wants to become a filmmaker, Nathan offers himself as a documentary subject to Dash, who is also in love with Nathan. Nathan and Dash decide to document as much of his remaining life as possible.

A young man coming of age in high school schemes to lose his virginity. Sounds familiar, right? Last Summer of Nathan Lee, directed by Quentin Lee, adds a fatal twist. Here's the official synopsis: "Nathan Lee (Harrison Xu), an Api teenager, finds out that he has brain cancer right before he turns 18 and vows to live the remains of his life with passion... and refuses to die a virgin. Knowing that his gay best friend, Dash (Matthew Mitchell Espinosa), wants to become a filmmaker, Nathan offers himself as a documentary subject to Dash, who is also in love with Nathan. "Nathan and Dash decide to document as much of his remaining life as possible. Without reservation, Nathan experiments sexually and falls in love with...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

International sales agency The Open Reel has unveiled the first trailer for director-producer Quentin Lee’s “Last Summer of Nathan Lee.”

Inspired by a real life incident from Lee’s high school years, the film follows the titular Nathan Lee, a teenager who finds out that he has brain cancer just before he turns 18, vows to live the remains of his life with passion and refuses to die a virgin.

The cast includes Harrison Xu, Matthew Mitchell Espinosa, Natasha Tina Liu, Aaron Guest and Dru Perez. The film is produced by Lee’s Margin Films, with screenwriter Dennis Escobedo and casting director Kit DeZolt also serving as producers alongside Lee.

“Last Summer of Nathan Lee” will have its world premiere at The Center for Asian American Media (Caam)’s CAAMFest 2023, which will take place from May 11 to 21.

Meanwhile, The Open Reel has also closed a number of sales on its slate titles.

In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Amy Hill packed her bags in Hollywood and returned home to her family in Hawaii, thinking she would quarantine there. But the actor-comedian’s short-lived break from production came to an end with a surprise Zoom call in April.

Hill, 67, stars in director Quentin Lee’s sci-fi feature “Comisery” as a Japanese American psychiatrist based in, ironically, Hawaii. Having previously collaborated with Lee in the webseries “Comedy InvAsian,” she didn’t hesitate to sign on to be the lead in an experimental project filmed entirely over Zoom.

“I’ve played a psychiatrist, therapist before, so the challenge, for me, was figuring out how this is a different character than the ones I’ve played before,” the veteran actor tells Variety. “Now that I’m getting older, my time is more valuable, because I have fewer moments left in life. So I don...