Japan Music Idol Nakajima Yuto Sees ‘#Manhole’ as Opportunity to Show His Maturity as an Actor —Berlinale Special

Lydia Bright's three-year-old daughter, Loretta, was rushed to hospital after falling and hitting her head.

Kirkcudbright Burns Club has voted to end its long standing policy of men only membership.

A Stewartry fire station is struggling with staffing levels.

Kirkcudbright Rotary were invited to tell the pupils of Auchencairn Primary about how the organisation is fighting poliomyelitis globally.

Ally McCoist was "absolutely not having" Manchester City's penalty against RB Leipzig on Tuesday night - slamming the handball decision as "disgraceful."

Taylor Swift, a new survey has found.According to the survey by market research company Morning Consult, 53 per cent of US adults say they’re fans of the pop star.The survey, conducted ahead of Swift’s ‘Eras’ tour – which kicks off this weekend (March 17) in Glendale Arizona – explores “one of music’s most passionate fandoms, looking into who they are, what makes them tick and their favorite albums”.The survey also found that, of those who are fans of the singer, 16 per cent identified as “avid”, while the Swift fandom is “largely made up of millennials, and leans white, suburban and Democratic”.Findings revealed that nearly 74 per cent of self-described “avid” Swift fans are white, with more than half living in suburban areas (53 per cent), and the majority also identifying as Democrats (55 per cent). About half of the avid Swift fandom (49 per cent) also reported a household income of under $50,000 (£41,200).The gender profile split, however, is more even, with women making up 52 per cent, and men comprising 48 per cent.The survey found that nearly half (45 per cent) of fans are millennials, but Gen Z adults made up just 11 per cent, below Gen Xers (21 per cent) and baby boomers (23 per cent).A separate survey question found that less than half (44 per cent) of the avid fans considered themselves to be part of the “Swiftes” community.As for Swift’s best albums, 2014’s ‘1989’, which includes songs like ‘Blank Space’, ‘Wildest Dreams’ and ‘Shake It Off’, ranked as the top album among both adults overall and avid fans.Her self-titled 2006 debut album, meanwhile, ranked second among avid fans and third among adults.

HYBE founder Bang Si-hyuk has opened up about its battle against Kakao to acquire shares of K-pop agency SM Entertainment.Today (March 15), Bang delivered a keynote speech at the Gwanhun Forum, hosted by the Gwanhun Club, an association of senior journalists in Korea. Held at the Korean Press Center in Seoul, South Korea, the forum provided attendees the opportunity to gain insight into Bang and HYBE’s vision of the K-pop industry.During a Q&A session at the event, Bang opened up about HYBE’s recent attempt to acquire SM Entertainment, and its battle against South Korean internet giant Kakao over the K-pop agency.

As SXSW basks in the Oscars afterglow of Everything Everywhere All at Once, which premiered out of competition at the event last year, jury and special awards winners for the 30th edition of the film and TV festival have been announced.

EastEnders fans have speculated about the identity of Ravi Gulati’s mystery crime boss as he put his stay-out-of-prison plan into action. In recent episodes of the popular BBC soap, Diane Parish’s Denise Fox scrambled to save her marriage to Scott Maslen’s Jack Branning after following Ravi, played by Aaron Thiara, to a hotel room for an affair. While Denise saw the error of her ways and returned to Jack, the hairstylist was terrified that her detective boyfriend would work out her secret.

Controversial plans to build a 'new community' of 3,500 homes on largely green belt land around Elton Reservoir have been put forward by a developer. Housebuilder Peel claim they want to invest £500m in community facilities, new primary schools, transport links, and a new public park at land west of Elton Reservoir.

Love Island stars Kai Fagan and Sanam Harrinanan have revealed how they'll spend their winnings after they were crowned winners on Monday night (March 13). The couple were clear favourites to take the title as the ITV2 dating show's second-ever winter series came to an end.

Yo La Tengo performed their Nashville show in drag on Monday night (March 13), in what appeared to be a protest of the state’s restrictive new drag law.Earlier this month, Tennessee became the first US state to sign a law banning “adult cabaret” on public property or anywhere it could be seen by children, including “male or female impersonators who provide entertainment that appeals to a prurient interest, or similar entertainers”.The statute – which means a ban on drag performances in public spaces, set to take effect on April 1 – and similar laws, are reportedly being pushed in other Republic-run states.yo la tengo protesting anti-drag laws tonight in tennessee, courtesy @JohnQBoxler.

Molly-Mae Hague has unveiled her daughter Bambi's incredible nursery on social media following her birth in January. The former Love Island star, 23, has shared several snippets of her baby daughter's nursery on Instagram over recent weeks, but she's now unveiled the entire space in a series of snaps.Taking to her second Instagram account, which is entirely dedicated to her and boyfriend Tommy Fury's £4 million Cheshire mansion, new mum Molly shared three new photographs of the room, branding it a "little slice of heaven". "The Nursery," the mum-of-one wrote.

Emmerdale fans think they have figured out drug dealer Callum's downfall on the ITV soap after Tuesday's episode saw him kidnap Leyla Harding in shocking scenes. Only recently, Leyla spotted Callum in a club as she recorded him mid drug deal, where he was later handcuffed and taken away as she confronted him.

Amber Gill is “happier than ever” with her footballer girlfriend Jen Beattie, after going public with their romance – but she wants to keep things as private as possible, pals have told us. Former Love Island star Amber, 25, was first linked to Arsenal player Jen, 31, in December, and the pair sealed it with a kiss last week as they celebrated her match win. Now, a source has revealed, “Things are still fairly new but Amber is really smitten with Jen.

The Only Way Is Essex favourite Lydia Bright, 32, has shared her recent stresses after her daughter Loretta, who recently turned three, was rushed to hospital after falling and hitting her head as their family home faced a series of issues.Taking to Instagram this morning, Wednesday 15 March, Lydia told her 1.2 million followers: "Monday was hard, the boiler stepped, the gate broke and as grateful as I am to have a beautiful home sometimes the neverending lists with a move can feel overwhelming. "Yesterday was worse, I ended up in A&E with Loretta she hit her head whilst climbing.

JK Rowling says she "absolutely knew" that her comments and views on transgender issues would make Harry Potter fans "deeply unhappy". The world famous author said despite an enormous backlash to a tweet made in 2019, there were "a tonne of Potter fans that were grateful that I said what I said".

As hip-hop has grown into the dominant musical force in the English-speaking world over the past half-century, its influence on luxury and style has been undeniable — and watches are no exception. From LL Cool J’s Gruen Gold Nugget in the “I’m Bad” video back in 1987 through to Rihanna’s six-figure Jacob & Co. piece at this year’s Super Bowl, watches have served as a reminder of their wearer’s ascents from harsh conditions to higher places.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Spanish SVOD platform Movistar+ wowed viewers at the Málaga Film Festival on Tuesday with the first episode of “La Unidad Kabul,” the third season of its special police unit thriller. The latest instalment is set in Afghanistan, where Spanish agents are on a new mission to meet an infiltrator with information about a possible attack in Europe. The elite unit is in the war-torn country as the U.S. ends its 20-year occupation, leaving Kabul to be taken by the Taliban. As Spanish authorities begin the evacuation of civilians and collaborators, the agents get caught up in clashes between the Taliban, Mujahideen and Islamic State-Khorasan Province (ISIS-K) forces.

Sarah Ferguson, the aunt of Prince Harry, has spoken out about his relationship with wife Meghan Markle.The Duchess of York, who was formerly married to Prince Andrew, discussed Harry’s marriage to Suits actress Meghan as she reflected on her divorce from Andrew in 1996. She told the PA news agency: "I divorced, went to America, wrote a book, went on Oprah and did 12 years as the longest-running spokesperson of Weight Watchers.

EXCLUSIVE: Fauda outfit Yes Studios is pushing into the premium docs space with a feature about a man who spent 44 hours suffering from locked-in syndrome. Scroll down for the trailer.

Harry Potter will open in Japan. Billed as the world’s largest indoor Harry Potter attraction, it is set to open its doors this summer, on Friday June 16. Ticket sales will begin on March 22. It is also set to be the first Warner Bros. Studio Tour in Asia. The attraction, which will feature exclusive sets and experiences, will be located on the site of the Toshimaen amusement park in Nerima, Tokyo, which shut down in Aug. 2020. Potter fans will be able to step into the world of Hogwarts and more, learning how the films were made, exploring costumes, props and sets and special effects.

Naman Ramachandran Writer, producer and script editor Cassandra Johnson-Bekoe has joined U.K. independent production company DARE Pictures in the newly created position of head of scripted development. Johnson-Bekoe was previously senior development executive at Daniel Kaluuya’s production outfit 59%, overseeing the company’s slate and generating new IP across international and regional markets. Prior to this she worked in scripted development and her credits include “Ted Lasso” season 2 (WarnerBros/Apple+), “Riches” (Greenacre Films for ITV), “Secret Invasion” (Marvel Studios) and “The Chemistry of Death” (Cuba Pictures Ltd, for Paramount+). Reporting into DARE CEO Derren Lawford, Johnson-Bekoe will focus on developing the company’s scripted slate, as well bringing with her an original slate of IP and working on new drama and film projects with a view to taking them from pitch to commission with a particular emphasis on the U.S. and African markets. She will identify and develop relationships with emerging and established storytelling talent.

Emiliano De Pablos In an early market deal at this week’s Málaga Film Festival, Guido Rud’s sales house FilmSharks has nabbed worldwide sales rights to Spanish period thriller “Olvido” (“The Forgotten Killings”). Directed by Inés París (“A mi madre le gustan las mujeres,” “La noche que mi madre mató a mi padre”) and written by Fermín P. Pina, “The Forgotten Killings” is produced by José Luis Rancaño at Madrid-based La Dalia Films.   Inés París’ “La noche que mi madre mató a mi padre,” also produced by Rancaño at La Dalia and starring Spain’s Belén Rueda and Argentina’s Diego Peretti, snagged the audience prize at the 2016 Málaga Film Festival.

Emiliano De Pablos The Walt Disney Co.’s Star Distribution has taken Latin American distribution rights to Argentine writer-director Pablo Solarz’s coming-of-age film “Desperté con un sueño” (“I Woke Up with a Dream”) An Argentina-Uruguay co-production, teaming Buenos Aires-based Pampa Films and Aramos Cine with Montevideo’s Mutante Cine and Bocacha Films, “I Woke Up with a Dream” screened March 14 at the Málaga Film Festival’s main competition. Top Argentine producer Pablo Bossi’s Madrid-based company Gloriamundi is handling “I Woke Up with a Dream” rights outside Latin America.

Strictly Come Dancing stars Tyler West and Molly Rainford appear to have confirmed their romance after months of speculation. The Kiss FM DJ and the CBBC star were said to have grown close behind the scenes of the BBC One dance contest before heading on tour with some of their fellow 2022 co-stars.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Japan’s online video market slowed in the fourth quarter of 2022, but ad-supported streamer TVer surged forward to overtake Prime Video as the most watched platform, according to a new report. The “Japan Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” report by consultancy Media Partners Asia shows SVOD subscriptions slowing to their slowest pace since 2015. From an average of 6-9 million per year between 2018 and 2021, they fell to just 3.1 million in 2022. Premium video viewership grew 8% quarter on quarter to reach 31 billion minutes in the fourth quarter, with SVOD at 55% share; AVOD at 34% and freemium at 11%.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Two of Japan’s leading video streaming services are to merge, it was announced late last week, creating the largest local company in the market. Current number two player U-Next is to absorb Premium Platform Japan, a company which operates the Paravi streaming platform. The combined company is estimated to have some 3.7 million subscribers and revenues exceeding JPY800 billion ($594 million) per year. Integration of the two operations could begin as soon as July, local media reported. That would allow U-Next subscribers to access Paravi’s content, much of which is re-runs from conventional TV broadcasters. Premium Platform Japan is substantially owned by TBS Holdings and TV Tokyo.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema has unveiled its 85-title lineup for the edition that starts later this month (February 28 to March 7, 2023). Elements include a 10-film competition section, a 10-film documentary film section, a tribute to the Turkish director Semih Kaplanoglu; a thematic section “Asian Diaspora Cinema” offering a panorama of works by directors from Asian countries living in exile; and a Philippines cinema sidebar. Fiction films in competition include: Azerbaijan’s “Cold as Marble,” by Asif Rustamov; China’s “In Our Prime,” by Liu Yulin; Korea’s “A Letter from Kyoto,” by Kim Min-ju; India’s: “Behind Veils,” by Praveen Morshhale; Iran’s “No End,” by Nader Saievar; Mongolia’s “The Sales Girl,” by Sengedorj Janchivdorj; The Philippines’s “Feast,” by Brillante Mendoza; Singapore’s “#LookAtMe,” by Ken Kwek; and Vietnam’s “Memento Mori: Earth,” by Marcus Vu Manh Cuong. The president of the jury is Lee Yong-kwan, president of the Busan film festival.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Growth of premium video services in Southeast Asia accelerated in the second half of 2022, to reach 48.4 million paid subscriptions, according to a new report. But the same analysis sees growth slowing and costs accelerating. The latest report from Media Partners Asia, “SEA Online Video Consumer Insights & Analytics” shows 48.4 million paid online video subscriptions at the end of 2022 in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The full year saw 11.8 million net new customers, with 7.3 million of that total coming in the second half, including 4.6 million in the fourth quarter. Indonesia accounted for half of the increase.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” topped the box office chart in mainland China on its opening weekend, with a $19.4 million start. But the much-discussed arrival of the Marvel movie was weak compared its franchise predecessor. And its debut was not enough to reignite the China box office market. The film arrived in a fashion that was adequately signalled for marketing purposes. And it opened on a date that was coordinated with the North American and other international debuts. In the context of the Chinese market, the film also had the advantage of landing at a time when the big, Chinese-made, Lunar New Year titles were losing their power.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” dominated the Korean box office charts over the latest weekend with a $4.91 million opening weekend. Nationwide box office rose to $9.78 million, up from $7.85 million a week earlier. The film played on over 2,000 screens and enjoyed a 50.1% market share between Friday and Sunday, according to data from Kobis, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council. The film earned $7.1 million in its full five day run since opening on Wednesday. “Quantumania” landed ahead of “The First Slam Dunk,” the Japanese animation that opened at the beginning of the year and had taken the top spot for the previous two weeks. “Slam Dunk” earned $2.17 million, another strong hold, and down from $2.67 million the previous weekend. Its cumulative total since Jan. 4 stands at $26 million.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Berlin Film Festival is once again finding house room for Hong Kong’s most commercially successful enfant terrible, Soi Cheang, aka Cheang Pou Soi, who previously brought film noir “Limbo” to the Berlinale. This time he attends with “Mad Fate,” a film about destiny that may be Cheang’s most bloodthirsty, but which the director says is intended to be inspirational. It plays in the Berlinale Special section. Born in Macau, Cheang developed his career at the feet of Ringo Lam, Andrew Lau, Joe Ma, Wilson Yip and Johnnie To, the great stylists of the crime and action film genre across the Pearl River estuary in Hong Kong. To, who is on the Berlin jury this year, is also a producer on “Mad Fate” through his Makerville label.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Hong Kong-based sales agency Golden Network Asia has amassed a large collection of advanced sales on upcoming Jackie Chan-starring film “Ride On.” The film, pitched as an action dramedy and one in which Chan pays homage to old-school stunt men, has recently been given an April 7 release date in mainland China. The date also mark’s the star’s 69th birthday. The film has already been licensed to: Well Go USA for North America; Plaion Pictures for Germany; Eagle Pictures for Italy; SPI International for Eastern Europe, Benelux and Israel; AN Media for CIS; ATV for Turkey; Phars Film for Middle East; Twin Co. for Japan; Contents Panda for South Korea; Shanghai Pictures for Malaysia; Shaw Renters for Singapore; Eagle International for Taiwan and worldwide Airline; Prima Cinema for Indonesia; Pioneer Films for the Philippines and Indo Overseas Film for India.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Warner Bros. Discovery has extended its rights to show the U.S. Open in 45 markets across Europe, including exclusive access in 42 territories, after reaching a new five-year agreement with the United States Tennis Association (USTA). Territories excluded from the deal are Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the U.K. and Ireland. The deal includes live and highlights rights with every match on every court available to stream on discovery+ and the Eurosport app in addition to live television coverage during the tournament on Eurosport 1 and 2. Markets including the Nordics will also have the option to showcase the best matches on Warner Bros. Discovery’s free-to-air channels.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Silicon Valley investment firm Maum Capital Group has struck a strategic and financial alliance with Globalgate, the local-language film and TV production consortium assembled by Lionsgate. The move involves an investment of unspecified value and significance into Globalgate. It also sees the appointment of Globalgate’s executive chairman William Pfeiffer as CEO of Maum affiliates, including Maum Culture Innovation and Maum Studio, which are focused on content-based businesses. The Maum-Globalgate alliance “furthers Maum’s plans to harness and expand Korean and global content, filmmakers, and talent on the worldwide stage,” the companies said in a statement. Korean music and TV content is currently among the most exportable, following the successes of BTS and Blackpink, TV hit “Squid Game” and the Oscar success of “Parasite.”