Hong Sang-soo’s Directors Fortnight Closing Film ‘In Our Day’ Picked up by Finecut (EXCLUSIVE)

Celebrity moms Paris Hilton and Kris Jenner were just two of a multitude of stars that got a jumpstart on their Mother’s Day celebrations at a party hosted by beauty brand Anastasia Beverly Hills.

Taylor Swift shared a special moment with the creator of TikTok’s viral “Bejeweled” dance during the latest stop on her Eras Tour.

Days of Our Lives has captured the hearts of soap opera enthusiasts for nearly six decades, and at the center of its enduring success is the iconic character of Dr. Marlena Evans. Portrayed by the talented Deidre Hall, Marlena has graced our screens with her captivating presence, complex storylines, and unforgettable moments.

Bruno Fernandes has lauded Alejandro Garnacho, Harry Maguire, Fred and Wout Weghorst for their contribution from the substitute bench in Manchester United's victory against Wolves this weekend.

The grieving dad of a prisoner who died after suffering a stomach ulcer has hit out over a three-year wait for an inquiry into his death.

A cash-strapped local authority has failed to sell its flashy private registration plate – despite promising to make money off it.

A new investigation into the suspicious death of a Scots mum on a Greek island 14 years ago has ruled it was foul play.

Police investigating one of New Zealand’s worst mining disasters in which two Scots lost their lives have said they may have found more human remains more than 12 years after the disaster.

The parents of a four-year-old boy with a rare cancer are desperately appealing for help to raise £250,000 to send him for a drug trial in America that could prolong his life.

Naman Ramachandran “Padatik,” a birth centenary homage to Indian auteur Mrinal Sen, is in post-production and is aiming to launch at a major film festival this fall. Sen is probably India’s most revered filmmaker after Satyajit Ray. Sen was born on May 14, 1923 in Faridpur, British India, now in Bangladesh and died in 2018, leaving behind a glittering array of work, most of which are considered landmarks of Indian cinema, including “Neel Akasher Neechey” (1959), “Baishey Shravana” (1960), “Akash Kusum” (1965), “Bhuvan Shome”(1969), “Interview,” (1971), “Calcutta 71” (1972), “Padatik” (1973), “Mrigayaa” (1976), “Ek Din Pratidin” (1979), “Akaler Sandhane” (1980), “Kharij” (1982) and “Khandhar” (1983).

Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey’s Anatomy and Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, is opening up about the differences between working for a network like ABC and a streaming platform like Netflix.

Meadow Walker‘s cameo in “Fast X” truly incorporates whateveryone knew and loved about Paul Walker by exuding humbleness, just one of the many redeeming qualities that exemplified her late father.

Mama June Shannon is speaking out about her body and the controversial diet trend that’s sweeping Hollywood.

Kate Middleton made a surprise cameo at the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday night.  The 41-year-old Princess of Wales gave a pre-recorded piano performance in the international song competition's opening segment, which she filmed earlier this month at the Crimson Drawing Room of Windsor Castle. Middleton played an instrumental version of the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra's song "Stefania," which won the contest last year.

So many stars walked the red carpet outside the 34th Annual GLAAD Media Awards at the New York Hilton on Saturday (May 13) in New York City.

What did your parents teach you about money?To be sensible and careful. My dad was an accountant who went on to run his own security service, providing doormen for clubs and pubs across Nottingham. My mum worked as a receptionist then had a career gap while she brought up five kids.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Perhaps you saw the gossip-site reports coming out of the Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas last weekend: Allegedly, Chris Brown and Usher had gotten into some kind of tiff backstage during Missy Elliott’s set. The two singers went on to… Wait a minute. There was a Missy Elliott show? Stop the presses … this seemed like a case of burying the lead, as they say in news circles. Hip-hop fans knew what the real headlines should have been on that story: A unicorn had been sighted during a full solar eclipse, as Halley’s comet made a rare pass over Brigadoon — or other metaphors to that effect — if Elliott was being sighted back on a stage. Something slightly rarer still occurred Tuesday night in southern California’s Inland Empire: a stand-alone headlining show by Elliott. As one tweeter put it: “Why Yaamava’ Theatre?” — wondering, reasonably, why Elliott was following her festival appearance not with a full tour or, say, a night or two at the Hollywood Bowl, but a one-off gig at a 2,500-seat theater at a casino-resort at least an hour outside of L.A. in off-the-beaten-track Highland? The Vegas festival and subsequent casino concert are it, as far as what’s on Elliott’s public itinerary following the news of her impending Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. The last time she did anything like a standard tour was 13 years ago, and since then, Elliott might not have done much more than a dozen full sets, almost all of them at festivals, none in theaters. So no wonder the cheapest tickets on the day of the show for her SoCal appearance were going for $500-plus.

Swedish singer Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night with her power ballad “Tattoo”, at a colourful, eclectic music competition clouded for a second year running by the war in Ukraine.

Allison Holker Boss made her first public appearance since the devastating passing of her husband, Stephen ‘tWitch’ Boss, in December 2022.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Toho, Japan’s most powerful movie studio, is launching a production services offshoot intended to assist and grow foreign film and TV shoots in the country.Toho Tombo Pictures is a joint venture with Japan-based producer Georgina Pope, who has worked with the top entertainment companies around the globe for more than 30 years. The new company will be headed by Shimada Mitsuru, who currently serves as president of Toho Studios, as representative director of Toho Tombo Pictures. Pope, Ueda Koji and Toho Studios executive Sudo Tetsushi will serve as directors. Ueda is GM of international business of Toho and VP of U.S. subsidiary, Toho International, Inc.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The BBC has acquired Norwegian comedy drama ‘Afterglow’ for BBC Four and BBC iPlayer. The 7×45 minute series tells the story of Ester Sand, the one person you think will live forever, who finds out she has cervical cancer on her 40th birthday. But after the initial shock, it’s Ester who comforts the people in her life and she has no intention of leaving the world just yet. “ ‘Afterglow’ is a story of love and life and all of the glorious and silly things we do before we die,” the broadcaster said. “Afterglow” stars Nina Ellen Odegaard (“Possession”), Torbjorn Harr (“Vikings”), Sara Khorami (“Witch Hunt”) and Hermann Sabado (“Home for Christmas”). It was created by Kjetil Indregard and Atle Knudsen, who also acts as director.  It was produced by Monster Scripted for NRK, with rights handled by Reinvent International Sales. “Funny, sad, honest and touching, ‘Afterglow’ is that rare thing – an uplifting drama about serious illness,” said Sue Deeks, head of BBC program acquisition.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Cannes Market has hitched up with the Ties That Bind and Focus Asia organizations to launch Spotlight Asia, a new industry support structure. Debuting during this year’s Cannes film festival, the program aims to foster greater film collaboration between Asia and Europe. Spotlight Asia will take the form of a series of round table discussions, short presentations and networking events between May 16-24. They will cover genres ranging from fiction to animation. The collaborative events will especially focus on the tools that potential co-producers from Europe and Asia need to equip themselves with in order to navigate the different forms of cooperative working, ranging from introducing existing funding opportunities to helping navigate each country’s specific laws and production functionalities.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Director Stanley Tong (“Rumble in the Bronx”) is to team up with Jackie Chan for the tenth time on “The Legend.” State media in China report that Chan, who recently reached the top spot in the mainland Chinese box office with aged stuntman comedy “Ride On,” will play an archaeologist on a quest through time and space. With production by Bona Film Group, “The Legend” is pitched as being in the same vein as Tong and Chan’s 2005 effort “The Myth,” which was a fantasy love story. Tong and Chan have worked together on other titles including “Police Story 3,” “Supercop” and “Vanguard.” India’s Jio Studios is backing “Khashaba,” a Marathi-language film on the life of India’s first Olympic medalist Khasaba Dadasaheb. After delivering the sleeper hit Sairat and Fandry, the new film will be directed by Nagraj Manjule. The title is considered as part of Jio Studio’s ambition to deliver more than 100 stories this year. With production to begin shortly, the film will be mounted on a large scale. “Along with entertaining the audience, this film will also introduce the audience to a brave and exceptional athlete who made India proud all over the world,” said Manjule. “Khashaba” will be presented by JioStudios and produced by Aatpat Production, Jyoti Deshpande and Manjule.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Malaysia-based content group Vision New Media has promoted Min Lim to the newly created role of group CEO. She reports to founder and chairman Beng Teck Lim. Poh Lin Ho, who had been with Vision Plus Entertainment for nearly 40 years, latterly as its CEO, is stepping down from the business. Lim, who is currently head of production at group production business Double Vision, will now take responsibility for all content creation and distribution activities, plus the group’s extensive post-production, dubbing and subtitling services. She will also oversee Square Box Pictures, the group’s theatrical distribution arm, as well as long-standing television distributor Vision Plus Entertainment.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The highly-anticipated Japanese animated feature film “The First Slam Dunk” dominated the mainland China cinema box office in its opening weekend. It broke multiple records as it did so. The film scored $38.5 million (RMB266 million) over the Friday to Sunday weekend, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. However, it opened on Thursday, a day earlier than is the norm in China, and has accumulated $55.2 million over the opening four-day frame. The film is based on IP that is well-known to a generation of comic book fans and TV audiences in China (early middle-aged men were reported to have been particularly interested) and has already proved a hit in other parts of Asia. (Comscore estimates that the film has grossed $211 million worldwide.)

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The South Korean cinema box office fell to its lowest level of the year over the latest weekend. Nationwide theatrical earnings in a territory which before COVID was the world’s fourth largest were barely over $6 million. “John Wick: Chapter 4” lead the weekend chart from Japanese anime “Suzume” and Korean sports drama “Rebound” in a top three repeat from a week earlier. “John Wick 4” earned $2.51 million in its second weekend of release, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That was a 38% week-on-week decline and represented a 41% share of the total Korean box office market. It also gave the film a cumulative total of $9.73 million since release on April 12.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Rights to ‘Man in Black,” one of two documentary films by China’s Wang Bing to appear in Official Selection at Cannes this year, have been picked up by specialty sales agency Asian Shadows. The 60-minute film, which will debut as a special screening, is a portrait of 86-year-old Wang Xilin, one of China’s most important modern classical composers and is now lives in exile in Germany. It was made in close collaboration with French cinematographer Caroline Champetier, whose credits include Leos Carax’s “Holy Motors,” Amos Gitai’s “Promised Land” and Andre Techine’s “Alice and Martin.” During the 1960s, when China’s Cultural Revolution forced intellectuals into the fields and stripped the middle classes of their wealth, Wang Xilin was the was the target of severe persecution, including beatings, imprisonment and torture. The film examines the body and soul of a man scarred by a life of suffering, who is yet still capable of deep and sincere compassion.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Trinity CineAsia has acquired rights to Chinese tentpole action movie “Born to Fly,” and will release the film in cinemas in the U.K. and Ireland.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japanese animated film “The First Slam Dunk” has taken a strong early lead at the mainland China box office, picking up $13.8 million on its Thursday opening day. Films mostly release in China on Fridays, but the Japanese hit was given previews on Wednesday and a full court release on Thursday, starting with widespread midnight screenings. Data from local firm Ent Group reveals that the film earned $3.16 million from some 14,000 preview screenings on Wednesday, followed by $13.8 million on Thursday from 184,000 screening sessions. That gives it a $17 million cumulative and positions it at the top of the box office chart even before the conventional Friday to Sunday weekend begins.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles is expanding its efforts to engage the industry side of the business and in June will host its inaugural IFFLA Industry Day. The festival was founded in 2002 and, now in its third decade of operation, has pivoted to a strategy of year-round programming and events. The center piece of the IFFLA Industry Day will be a pitch competition that involves selected emerging and established film and TV writers and directors who pitch their upcoming project to a panel of executives from different sectors of the industry. The executives and a live public audience will provide feedback and heighten the sense of discovery. The winner will receive a $10,000 development grant.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Dubai-based sales agency Cercamon has picked up international rights to “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” by first-time feature director Pham Thien An. The film will have its global premiere next month in the Directors Fortnight section of the Cannes film festival. Pham Thien An previously made short films “The Mute” in 2018 and the one-take “Stay Awake, Be Ready” in 2019. Both enjoyed a busy festival career, with “Stay Awake” earning the Illy Prize in Cannes followed by additional awards at the Palm Springs, Busan, Kyiv and Flickerfest events. “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell” follows the emotional journey of Thien, who is entrusted with the responsibility of delivering his sister-in-law’s body to their hometown after a tragic motorcycle accident in Saigon. Amidst this heartbreaking task, Thien also takes care of his nephew, Dao, a five-year-old survivor of the accident. As they traverse the mystical landscapes of rural Vietnam, Thien embarks on a quest to find his long-lost brother and reunite him with Dao, a journey that ultimately leads him to question his faith.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Sydney Film Festival will present ‘Jane Campion – Her Way,’ a retrospective of films by the pioneering director. Campion herself will appear in conversation with David Stratton on June 10 at the 2023 edition of the festival, its 70th anniversary presentation (June 7-18). Held in association with ACMI and the National Film and Sound Archive, ‘Jane Campion – Her Way’ will encompass screenings of all nine of Campion’s feature films, as well as a selection of her short films. The selection will go on to tour the ACMI in Melbourne (June 15 – July 2) and at NFSA in Canberra (July 20-30). “For our 70th edition, we wanted to present a retrospective commensurate with the milestone, reflecting the audacious and boundary pushing filmmaking synonymous with our festival and region. Campion is a ground-breaking filmmaker who has made a profound impact on cinema with her daring and unforgettable films,” said Sydney Film Festival director Nashen Moodley.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Television Broadcasts, Hong Kong’s leading free-to-air broadcaster, has said that it is considering legal action against a group of shareholder activists. The shareholder group, seemingly led by Chow Ngai Keung and publishing its critiques on Facebook, has made a series of complaints about TVB. These include the allegation that TVB is operating a streaming app Maiduidui in Mainland China without the proper authorization and that TVB has misled shareholders over the official name of the company that ultimately holds executive control. The minority shareholders have also criticized TVB for investments in Mainland Chinese firm SMI and State Reserve Energy Bonds, which have cost the company HK$1 billion ($128 million) of losses, and for its 2021 acquisition of e-commerce platform Ztore.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Hong Kong Film Awards gave a huge dose of support to veteran filmmaker Mabel Cheung Yuen-ting, naming her documentary “To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self” as best film on Sunday, despite local controversy which saw it pulled from screens earlier this year. The numerical winner on the night was “Detectives Vs Sleuths,” which earned four major awards: best director, best screenplay, best actor (Sean Lau Ching-wan) and best cinematography. The hugely popular Sammi Cheng was named winner of the best actress award, her first win after six previous nominations. Michelle Yeoh was on hand to present the prize for best new performer to 10-year-old Sahal Zaman, for his role in “Sunny Side of the Street.” Yeoh, who recently won the Oscar for best actress in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” established her career in Hong Kong and won the same award back in 1986 with “Yes, Madam.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Jackie Chan-starring nostalgic stuntman comedy film “Ride On” trotted to a second weekend atop the mainland Chinese box office. “The Super Mario” Bros. Movie” remained in fourth place. “Ride On” earned $6.0 million (RMB41.5 million) between Friday and Sunday, a 48% week-on week drop, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That took it to a $22.6 million total since release on April 7. Below it, Japanese animation “Suzume” and Chinese shaggy dog story “Hachiko” swapped places. “Hachiko,” on its third weekend outing, earned $4.9 million, for a cumulative of $35.1 million. “Suzume” earned $4.5 million in its fourth weekend on release in China, giving it a $109 million cumulative.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “John Wick: Chapter 4” easily outgunned Japanese animation film Suzume to claim top spot at the South Korean box office over the latest weekend. The American action title earned $4.05 million between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council (Kofic). That represented a nearly 50% market share, continuing a polarization or clustering around a single title that has become familiar of late in Korea, a market that formerly had greater diversity and width. Over the five days since its Wednesday opening, “John Wick 4” earned $5.87 million.