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Acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Michihito Fujii is preparing a crime drama centred on a blind orphan and ex-yakuza, which Toei will introduce to international buyers at the European Film Market (EFM) this week.

A Light In The Harbor marks the latest feature from Fujii, known for 2019 box office hit The Journalist, which won three prizes including best film at Japan’s Academy Awards and was spun-off into a Netflix series of the same name.

The upcoming drama follows an ex-yakuza who steals money from his old gang to pay for an operation to restore the sight of a blind orphan. It...

Netflix has revealed fresh details of its upcoming slate from Japan, including a three features and an epic samurai period drama.

At an event in Tokyo today (February 12), the streaming giant said it would release manga adaptation Demon City this month, action remake Bullet Train Explosion in April and “boys love” (Bl) drama 10Dance in December. All have previously been announced.

Demon City, based on the manga Oni Goroshi and written and directed by Seiji Tanaka (Melancholic), is about a hitman played by Toma Ikuta who awakens from a long coma and embarks on a bloody, revenge-inspired killing spree. The...

Rachel Dratch, Lilli Cooper, Lea DeLaria, Julianne Hough, Suzy Nakamura, Julie White and Vanessa Williams will star in the just-announced Broadway comedy Potus: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive this spring.

The play by Selina Fillinger – a writer on Apple TV’s The Morning Show making her Broadway debut – begins a strictly limited engagement at the Shubert Theatre on Thursday, April 14, with opening night set for Monday, May 9. Five-time Tony winner Susan Stromanwill direct. The limited engagement will run through Sunday, August 14.

Produced by the Tony Award-winning production company Seaview (Slave Play), Lynette Howell Taylor’s 51 Entertainment, Glass Half Full Productions and Tony-winning entertainment company Level Forward (What the Constitution Means to Me), the production will mark the world premiere of Potus.

Potus is described as a modern farce: “One four-letter word is about to rock 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Other winners include ‘Blast’, ‘The Righteous’.

Oh-Seung Kwon’s Korean thriller Midnight has won the best feature award at UK genre festival Grimmfest, which ran as a hybrid in-person and online event this year.

The film, which debuted in South Korea in June this year, centres on a deaf mother and daughter who interrupt a serial psychopath as he attempts to claim his next victim, only to finds his wrath redirected toward them instead. Korean sales firm Finecut is handling sales on the title.

Scroll down for the full list of winners.

The award was chosen by a jury consisting of Stewart Bridle,...

Jennifer Ngo was working as a journalist in London when massive protests broke out in her native Hong Kong in 2019.

She watched news feeds and live streams with a mixture of “heartbreak” at the violence and “hope” that Hong Kongers were taking to the streets in the name of democracy once again.

“After 2014 there was a big social movement and nothing really changed, a lot of people were discouraged. So when 2019 came along, I was both terrified and hopeful that people are once again on the streets, and as a journalist I felt I had to be part of this, I had to document this,” she says.

Ngo headed back to Hong Kong to make her first ever documentary, “Faceless,” which focuses on the individual journeys of four young protestors (none of whom are named).

Following the film’s European premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, Ngo participated in...

Jim Cummings and Pj McCabe’s ‘The Beta Test’ will open the festival.

US directors Jim Cummings and Pj McCabe’s feature The Beta Test will open the UK’s genre film festival Grimmfest which is running as a physical event in Manchester from October 7-10.

Cummings and McCabe will also star in the film about a Hollywood agent who gets sucked into a world of sexual infidelity and mysterious streams of digital data. Los Angeles based-Vanishing Angle produced the horror thriller. The feature initially premiered in the Berlin International Film Festival’s Encounters.

The festival is screening three...

When the coronavirus pandemic began sweeping across the globe last year, Canada’s Hot Docs, one of the world’s leading documentary film festivals, was among the first international fests forced to pivot to an online edition. But while the abrupt shift might’ve caught the organizing team off-guard, the result hardly felt like a compromise: along with virtual screenings of more than 200 films, the festival attracted a record number of buyers to its doc market.

One year later, audiences and industry players alike have grown accustomed to a virtual festival experience, and Hot Docs is poised to build on the success of last year’s trial by fire. “We’ve done it once, and the bar keeps getting raised,” says programming director Shane Smith. “We’re constantly looking at what other festivals were doing, how they were doing it, how to engage the audience, but also how to engage the industry and the filmmakers,...

"A diploma cannot compare to the future of Hong Kong." Dogwoof has released an official promo trailer for the documentary film Faceless, the first film from journalist / filmmaker Jennifer Ngo. This is premiering at the Hot Docs Film Festival this week, hence the new trailer to drum up some early buzz and interest. Not to be confused with two other horror films also titled Faceless. Ngo's doc Faceless is an intimate portrayal of four young protestors in Hong Kong struggling to protect their freedom and way of life under the shadow of authoritarianism. The film takes us to the front lines of the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong to meet four brave young people. "As protests morph into a greater city-wide movement calling for democracy and justice against police brutality, each of them are forced to re-examine their motives, their values and personal relationships." This doc goes hand-in-hand with the...

Dogwoof has acquired world sales rights to “Faceless,” the directorial debut of Jennifer Ngo, ahead of its world premiere at the Hot Docs film festival, Variety has learned exclusively.

“Faceless” is a behind-the-headlines story of the 2019 Hong Kong demonstrations, seen through the eyes of four young protestors seeking to protect their way of life. Directed by Ngo and produced by Lorraine Ma, it’s a Dissonant Productions film in association with Xtr and Flat-Out Films. The deal was negotiated with the filmmakers by Oli Harbottle, head of acquisitions for Dogwoof.

“I remember watching ‘Blackfish’ in 2013 as an aspiring filmmaker and making a mental note of Dogwoof,” said producer Ma. “For years they have supported filmmakers in releasing urgent stories that speak truth to power. It’s a dream come true to partner with them in bringing ‘Faceless’ to global audiences.”

“Faceless” follows a daughter who loves her police officer father...

To celebrate the success of a variety of Game of Thrones merchandise, HBO is hosting a scavenger hunt for fans at Comic-Con starting on Wednesday, July 20th at 6:00pm! Also: Famous Monsters at Sdcc 2016, Tales of Poe DVD and Digital HD release details, and info on Spell on Wheels‘ first issue debut.

Game of Thrones Sdcc 2016 Scavenger Hunt Details: Press Release: “Wednesday, July 13, 2016 — HBO Global Licensing is excited to debut a wide array of new Game of Thrones products and convention exclusives at this year’s San Diego Comic Con, and to highlight some of its bestselling products released throughout the series’ run. To help celebrate, HBO is inviting fans to participate in a Comic-Con Scavenger Hunt, sending them on a quest to find some of the coolest Game of Thrones products available on the Comic-Con floor.

Starting Wednesday, July 20th, at 6 p.m. Pt when the convention floor opens for Preview Night,...