News

Liu Xing’s Hong Kong-China co-production Say My Name and Gong Yiwen’s mainland China production Her First Taste were both presented with Wip Awards in the works-in-progress section of this year’s Hkiff Industry projects market.

Say My Name also won the White Light Post-Production Award and was one of five winners in the Haf Goes to Cannes program.

In Hkiff Industry’s In Development section, the two Idp Awards went to Waves Under The Sea, a co-production between Hong Kong, China and Macau, directed by Chan Sileong, and Drive South Pray West, co-directed by Thailand’s Panu Aree and Kong Rithdee.

Both the Idp and Wip sections give out two awards – one to a Hong Kong project, including co-productions with Hong Kong, and the other to a project from outside Hong Kong. All four awards come with a cash prize of $12,800.

The Idp Awards and Wip Awards...

Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Trunk season 1.Netflix's The Trunk had a satisfying conclusion as Um Tae-seong's (Kim Dong-won) murder was solved. With Gong Yoo and Seo Hyun-jin leading The Trunk's cast, the show tells an enthralling story about a mysterious trunk that leads to the discovery of a dead body. At the core of the show's plot is Han Jeong-won (Gong), a drug-addicted music producer who is forced into a fake marriage orchestrated by a company called New Marriage (Nm) and his ex-wife, Lee Seo-yeon (Jung Yun-Ha). Jeong-won marries Noh In-ji (Seo), one of Nm's top employees.

As Jeong-won and In-ji get to know each other, they begin to fall in love, but their relationship faces challenges due to their pasts. When Tae-seong is released from a mental health institution, he is determined to come between Jeong-won and In-ji, but he goes too far and is murdered by an Nm employee.

K-dramas have captivated an international audience in recent years with their compelling stories, entertaining characters, and talented cast. While well-written storylines, characterizations, and conflicts are major factors in making a masterpiece K-drama, skilled actors are essential for bringing the words and emotions to life. From dark crime thrillers to heartwarming romantic comedies, K-dramas are elevated by the cast's portrayal of their characters and the chemistry between them.

The performances of the best K-drama stars can either make or break the show. Several iconic K-dramas boast remarkable and compelling characters that are only brought to life when perfectly cast, making it impossible to imagine any other actor in the role. Outstanding performances from actors can make the emotional and dramatic scenes especially unforgettable. K-dramas with perfect casting ensure that audiences can best enjoy tremendous portrayals of beloved characters.

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim (2018) Park Min-young As Kim Mi-so

What's Wrong with Secretary Kim...

The Trunk marks Gong Yoos return to screen three years after The Silent Sea, and I predict it to be one of the best K-dramas of 2024. The three-year wait for Gong Yoo to star or at least appear in another major K-drama will be worth it as the actor will be in not only one but two shows before the year ends. Gong Yoo will star in The Trunk and Squid Game 2, which will be released a month from each other on November 29 and December 26, respectively.

Squid Game season 2 will close a very strong year for Netflix when it comes to K-dramas. From original webseries such as Parasyte: The Grey, Sweet Home 3, and The Frog to licensed shows such as Queen of Tears and Love Next Door, some of the best K-dramas of 2024 were available on Netflix. As a big Gong Yoo fan, however, one of my most anticipated shows...

Chloe Gong's best books demonstrate subtle shades of urban fantasy blended with Shakespearean plots and historical fiction; her new book Vilest Things is among the biggest fantasy books coming out in September 2024. Gong's career started with These Violent Delights, the bestselling retelling of Romeo and Juliet which she wrote and published while studying at the University of Pennsylvania. With this book and its spinoff, Gong claims two of the best fantasy book duologies amid this structure becoming more popular in young adult literature.

Book

Series

Release date

These Violent Delights

Secret Shanghai

2020

Our Violent Ends

Secret Shanghai

2021

Foul Lady Fortune

Secret Shanghai

2022

Last Violent Call (novella)

Secret Shanghai

2023

Foul Heart Huntsman

Secret Shanghai

2023

Immortal Longings

Flesh and False Gods

2023

Vilest Things

Flesh and False Gods

2024

Gong progressed to adult fantasy with the subsequent release of Immortal Longings, introducing a fascinating new history-inspired setting and a tumultuous story based on Antony and Cleopatra.

“D.C. is gonna get Chucked up” in Chucky season 3, which is scheduled to begin airing on October 4th – and fans will be able to watch the new episodes on both Syfy and USA, then they’ll be available to stream on Peacock the following day. With the premiere date just days away, Shoe Palace has unveiled their officially licensed 14 piece Chucky-inspired clothing collection, and you can look at the line-up at This Link.

Shoe Palace’s Chucky clothing collection includes T-shirts, sweaters, hoodies, and joggers with images of Chucky (and sometimes Tiffany) on them, with some of those images coming directly from marketing materials for the likes of Child’s Play 2, Bride of Chucky, and Seed of Chucky. There’s even one hoodie where the hood can double as a Chucky mask.

A follow-up to all of the Child’s Play movies (remake excluded), the Chucky TV series picks up...

Roman Polanski’s Venice Film Festival feature The Palace received a 3 minute ovation tonight at its world premiere screening.

The Palace unfolds against the backdrop of Switzerland’s luxury Gstaad Palace hotel and revolves around the chasm between its ultra-rich clients and those who serve them in the lead-up to a lavish New Year Party on the eve of 2000.

Featuring Mickey Rourke, Fanny Ardant and John Cleese in the ensemble cast, the film took inspiration from Polanski’s own stays at the Gstaad Palace. He wrote the screenplay with Polish director Jerzy Skolimowski and producer Ewa Piaskowska. Longtime collaborator Alexandre Desplat composed the score.

As we revealed earlier this week, the film has closed multiple distribution deals in international markets.

There remains fierce debate in the film world and beyond over whether Polanski should be endorsed or not as an artist while 1973 charges of unlawful sex with a minor in the U.

In The Palace, guests of a luxury hotel prepare to celebrate the turn of the millennium. The caviar is tasted. The fireworks are readied. Soon (you guessed it) indulgence shifts to debauchery. The director, if you haven’t heard, is Roman Polanski, a filmmaker whose marketability in Europe seems to endure almost in spite of its continued non-existence in Britain and the United States. The Palace was made on a budget of €17,000,000, boasts an Alexandre Desplat score and a starry cast, and was shot in the Gstaad Palace of Switzerland, where a basic single room will set you back a grand a night. The Palace premiered this week at the Venice Film Festival, where Polanski’s last film, An Officer and A Spy, opened to cautiously positive reviews in 2019, ultimately winning him the Silver Lion for Best Director. At the time you could almost feel the critical consensus straining against its better judgment.

Star Wars would not be Star Wars without the music of John Williams, making it nearly impossible to rank all of his scores from worst to best. His grand orchestral symphonies and incredibly memorable tracks give Star Wars a unique style that no other movie franchise can replicate (unless they too are scored by Williams). Each Star Wars soundtrack gives audiences a chance to experience Williams' musical approach all over again while still hearing something entirely new.

Every Star Wars score succeeds differently, either by creating memorable themes or by complementing the film as a whole. Several Star Wars soundtracks manage to do both at the same time, enhancing the entire movie and delivering music that can be enjoyed on its own merit. This is what separates the great soundtracks from the exceptional, revealing which of John Williams' nine Star Wars scores is truly the best.

Related: Star Wars: The...

MegaHouse has revealed its newest One Piece collectible, and the item perfectly captures the attitude and swagger of the Surgeon of Death.

Available for preorder on Sideshow, the Trafalgar D. Water Law figurine recreates the fan-favorite character's appearance from the Wano Country arc. Shown sitting with his cursed sword Kikuko against his shoulder, Law exudes pure confidence and authority. The item comes with interchangeable hands that allow for multiple posing options and is expected to begin shipping in May 2024.

Related: 20 Best One Piece Episodes To Rewatch

3 Images

Close One Piece's Impressive Collectible Figures

The Law figurine features an impressive price tag of $242; however, that amount pales in comparison to the retail prices of some other recently released One Piece collectibles. In particular, Jimei Palace and Sideshow are now accepting preorders for a heart-stealing statue of the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, priced at $886. Showing the Snake Princess in her signature dark...

King Charles III’s coronation is almost upon us, with a Bank Holiday weekend full of celebrations fast approaching.

The official coronation takes place on Saturday 6 May, with a coronation concert taking place the following evening on Sunday 7 May.

Staged at Windsor Castle and broadcast across the BBC, the concert will feature performances from Take That, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

Last summer, a royal concert was staged at Buckingham Palace for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, titled the Party at the Palace concert. Rod Stewart, Diana Ross and Queen were among those to perform.

Here’s everything you need to know:

When and where is the concert taking place?

The coronation concert take part on the evening of Sunday 7 May, ahead of Bank Holiday Monday on 8 May.

The concert will be staged on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle, marking the first time a concert has been held in the grounds.

King Charles III’s coronation is almost upon us, with a Bank Holiday weekend full of celebrations fast approaching.

The official coronation takes place on Saturday 6 May, with a coronation concert taking place the following evening on Sunday 7 May.

Staged at Windsor Castle and broadcast across the BBC, the concert will feature performances from Take That, Katy Perry and Lionel Richie.

Last summer, a royal concert was staged at Buckingham Palace for the late Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, titled the Party at the Palace concert. Rod Stewart, Diana Ross and Queen were among those to perform.

Here’s everything you need to know…

When and where is the concert taking place?

The coronation concert take part on the evening of Sunday 7 May, ahead of Bank Holiday Monday on 8 May.

The concert will be staged on the East Lawn of Windsor Castle, marking the first time a concert has been held in the grounds.

New True Detective instalment, The Regime, The Sympathizer adaptation also on the way.

Warner Bros Discovery (Wbd) teased plenty of content on Wednesday’s presentation for its launch of the Max streaming service, among them new shows in development based on the Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones worlds and in-production Batman spin-off series The Penguin.

All these shows and others mentioned in the presentation heavily suggest Wbd will exploit its vast content stable to build franchises as it competes for customers’ dollars against more established rivals like Netflix and Disney+.

Max, which launches in the US on May 23, has ordered an original,...

British Academy voters have spread the small-screen love across the 2023 BAFTA TV awards, with a broad selection of shows landing nominations.

Announced March 22, BBC/AMC comedy-drama This is Going to Hurt and BBC police drama The Responder lead the pack of nominees with six nods each, closely followed by Apple TV+ shows Bad Sisters and Slow Horses, Netflix’s The Crown and BBC/Amazon Western The English with five. Am I Being Unreasonable?, Big Boys, Somewhere Boy and Top Boy landed four nominations each. 128 programs in total were nominated.

While it’s a close race among the shows, among the networks, the BBC has a commanding lead with 81 nominations, followed by Channel 4 with 33, Netflix with 24, ITV with 19, Apple TV+ with 15, Sky with 14 and Disney+ with 8 nominations.

Among the names getting their first BAFTA TV nomination are several recognizable stars, including Gary Oldman for Slow Horses, Cillian Murphy for Peaky Blinders...

Since premiering his last film “An Officer and a Spy” in competition at Venice in 2019, Roman Polanski has fallen from grace in France. But he’s now back with a new movie called “The Palace” that could make a surprise splash on the festival circuit.

Polanski, who fled the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to having unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl, was leading a pleasant life in France for decades until he came back into the global spotlight with the Lido premiere of “An Officer and a Spy” and scooped the Grand Jury Prize.

Shortly after the movie’s Venice bow, Polanski faced new allegations of sexual misconduct, which he denies. When he went on to win best director at France’s Cesar Awards, the country’s equivalent of the Oscars, industry outcry prompted a complete overhaul of the leadership of the awards org. The scandal sparked the...

Richard Osman has recalled the timePointless host Alexander Armstrong played a game of the quiz show with Queen Elizabeth II.

The royal, who died last week aged 96, was known to be a fan of the daytime quiz show, in which contestants are tested on obscure knowledge.

Appearing on Lorraine on Thursday (15 September), Osman recalled a time that host Alexander Armstrong was invited to the Sandringham Women’s Institute for a game of Pointless.

“He was invited up to see the Queen. I note I wasn’t invited,” he joked to Lorraine Kelly.

“He went up to Sandringham Wi and he played a game of Pointless. There were two teams, the Queen was captain of one of the teams against a local woman from the village.”

Osman continued: “The Queen’s team won. [Armstrong] said she was very, very forthright in her opinions as to what answers they should give and, at the end,...

After a fairly quiet summer––outside of a few gems––the fall movie season is near and there’s much to anticipate. As we do each year, after highlighting the best films offered thus far, we’ve set out to provide an overview of the titles that should be on your radar––and while some dates will certainly shift and some films added, it’s quite a promising lineup.

Featuring 40 films, the below preview includes both the best we’ve already seen (with full reviews where available) and the anticipated with (mostly) confirmed release dates over the next four months. A good amount will premiere over the next few weeks at Telluride, Venice, TIFF, and NYFF, so check back for our reviews.

The Cathedral (Ricky D’Ambrose; Sept. 2)

What makes the fabric of our upbringing? The memories we’ll reflect on after those years have passed are often not what we...

‘True History of the Kelly Gang’

The Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace is still screening Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman although it’s streaming on Netflix and has booked Justin Kurzel’s True History of the Kelly Gang, which opens on January 9, 17 days before it premieres on Stan.

But Alex Temesvari, general manager of the Cremorne cinema, insists he supports the traditional 90-day theatrical window – for 90 per cent of releases.

“I am a big supporter of the traditional window but it’s become abundantly clear that the one size fits all model does not work for all films,” Temesvari tells If.

“There are definitely occasions when limited seasons for specialty product is more appropriate. If certain types of content go to streaming three weeks later, it doesn’t have a big impact on the cinema audience for these films.

“If someone wants to see the film early on the big screen...

Twelve years after Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock’s first self-experimental delve into the fast food industry, the junk grub shunting documentarian returns with a not too hotly anticipated follow-up, but one that’s as surprisingly fun and enlightening as its predecessor. Instead of blitzing his body with McDonald’s for a month, Spurlock sets out to open his first fast food/ “fried” chicken restaurant; a shrewd marketing move considering the sequel and outlet will promote each other, but as a central concept, Super Size Me 2: Holy Chicken! lacks the lightbulb moment/ car-crash sales point compared to the original’s “what would happen if someone were to eat nothing but McDonald’s for a month?”. Yet Spurlock’s frontman charisma, film craft savvy and doc content make SSM2 as entertaining, edifying and educative as the original.

Spurlock relays his objective, aspirations and inspiration during the set-up then conducts market research by conversing with the public,...