Kitano Takeshi to Receive Lifetime Achievement Award From Udine Far East Asian Film Festival

Former glamour model Katie Price recently escaped to the country and enjoyed a day out in the New Forest with her son Harvey and her mum Amy. The 41 year old mum-of-five, who has reportedly separated from partner Carl Woods, clearly made the most of spring as she headed to the countryside with her loved ones. By documenting her trip on Instagram, Katie gave her 2.7million followers a sneak peak of the trip thanks to her photos and videos.The TV personality, Harvey, 19, and 70 year old Amy kickstarted the day with a lovely walk in the park.

EastEnders actress Clair Norris has announced that she has been working on a new BBC documentary with Panorama, which will explore the topic of obesity. Soap actress Clair, 24, is best for her role as Bernadette Taylor on the BBC show.

EXCLUSIVE: Sue Naegle is leaving Annapurna after five and a half years at Megan Ellison’s film and TV company, most recently as Chief Content Officer, overseeing film as well two divisions she has been instrumental in launching, television and theater. Naegle’s departure is said to be amicable and she is expected to focus on producing, including a number projects she put in development while at Annapurna.

EXCLUSIVE: Mather Zickel (Better Things) will star alongside Olivia Applegate, Clé Bennett, Zoé De Grand Maison, Nicholas Logan Sam Trammell and Jessica Frances Dukes in Michael Patrick Jann’s Western horror film Organ Trail for Paramount Pictures, which has wrapped production.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefColumbia Pictures’ 2021 horror-thriller “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions” has been given official approval to release in cinemas in mainland China. It will launch on Saturday April 2, 2022.Directed by Adam Robitel, it is the sequel to the psychological thriller “Escape Room” that terrified audiences around the world in 2019. In the new installment, six people unwittingly find themselves locked in another series of escape rooms, slowly uncovering what they have in common to survive.The film was released in many international markets and in North America in July last year.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief“Barons,” a surf and business drama series that plays this week at Series Mania, is a calling card for the newly re-structured Australian operations of TV giant Fremantle.In recent weeks, leadership of the unscripted side of the business has been put in the hands of Eureka, a company in which it bought an increased shareholding last year. That leaves the remainder, under the management of Greg Woods, focused on high end drama and documentaries.Insiders have called the new emphasis on premium drama and big factual pieces a new chapter for the company.Other upcoming shows include the recently wrapped “Heartbreak High” for Netflix, “Significant Others” for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, and “Jump” for local streamer Stan.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefThe New Zealand International Film Festival will return to an in-person event this year, but in a scaled-down format. It will operate in multiple cities between July 28 and Sept.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefBruce Tuchmann-backed Rialto International has launched a branded on-demand streaming service in Japan, focused on independent film, and housed on Amazon’s Prime Video Channels platform.Rialto Channel launched in 1999 in New Zealand, where it was initially branded as The Sundance Channel. It established itself as an award-winning and industry-leading indie film destination for over twenty years.In Japan, the Rialto-branded venue will feature current and iconic independent films.

Naman Ramachandran Sophie Turner Laing, former CEO of Endemol Shine and MD of Sky, has been appointed chair of the U.K. National Film and Television School’s (NFTS) board of governors. She will become the NFTS’ first female chair when she succeeds Ingenious founder Patrick McKenna, who will step down at the end of his term in August.During McKenna’s tenure, which began in 2013, the NFTS became the film school to win a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education and the first educational institution to be awarded a BAFTA for Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema.Turner Laing was in charge of Endemol Shine from 2014-2020, overseeing a network of more than 120 creative production companies in 28 markets.

The UK’s National Film and Television School’s (NFTS) Board of Governors has named Sophie Turner Laing, former CEO of Endemol Shine and MD of Sky, as its new chair.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefIndependent distributor Film Movement has picked up all North American rights to award-winning folk horror film “Seire.” The Korean chiller will be released theatrically in 2022, followed by launches on home entertainment and digital platforms.The film takes as its central premise the Korean superstition that nobody in the family of a baby less than three weeks old – the ‘seire’ period – should attend a wake. And that failure to take precautions risks misfortune.The story, penned by writer and first-time feature director Park Kang, sees the father of a newborn attend the funeral of an ex-girlfriend.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefSouth Korean entertainment conglomerate CJ ENM has struck a deal to invest in KT (formerly Korea Telecom). The first step in the new arrangement sees CJ invest KRW100 billion ($82 million) in buying a stake in KT’s Studio Genie. “Studio Genie investment is aimed at increasing the competitiveness of CJ ENM channels such as tvN and OCN and OTT content from TVing,” CJ ENM officials explained.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief‘The Batman’ flew to an opening weekend of $11.6 million and landed in first place at the box office in China. It was the biggest opening this year in China for a Hollywood title but, with a return of coronavirus problems affecting cinema operations, the result has a tinge of missed opportunity.Data from consultancy Artisan Gateway showed the film amassing $11.8 million including previews from Thursday. Imax reported that the film earned $2 million of that total from its screens or 16% of the films China weekend total.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefRoland Emmerich’s space action film “Moonfall” landed in South Korea at the top of the box office chart. But the country’s continuing COVID problems mean that “Moonfall” and all other titles operated at a desperately low orbit.As the biggest new release of the week Moonfall pushed aside Korean-made “In Our Prime,” the previous weekend’s winner.

Apple Original Films’ CODA has won the Darryl F. Zanuck Award for Outstanding Producer of Theatrical Motion Pictures at PGA Awards tonigtht, making a Best Picture win at Oscar next Sunday highly likely — while also making history as the first ever streaming film to win this award at the Producers Guild Awards.

They recently announced their comeback - without Kerry Katona - and Atomic Kitten gave fans a taste of what's to come. The girl band's Natasha Gay and Liz McClarnon rolled back the years for a live performance in Manchester for St Patrick's Day.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefAustralian independent production house Photoplay has appointed Karen Radzyner as its head of development. The company is the only Australian firm to have a show selected for MipTV’s CanneSeries.Radzyner joins Photoplay from Dragonet Films.

St Patrick's Day and Spring Break.But for the world's 15.2 million Jewish people, it's also known as the time when the festival of Purim is celebrated.And all three of those events have one thing in common – alcohol.Actually, two things if you include strange outfits you wouldn't normally be seen out in.Without going into too much religious detail, Purim is when Jewish people celebrate the time when the evil Haman – who ran the Achaemenid Empire, which stretched from parts of Macedonia to a bit of India – was stopped in his plans from killing all of Persia's Jews.And as the joke says, most Jewish holidays are about not dying, and then eating and drinking to celebrate.It even says in a Jewish book known as the Talmud that we should drink on Purim until we can “no longer distinguish between (the words) arur Haman (Cursed is Haman) and baruch Mordechai (Blessed is Mordecai)” - basically, get so drunk you can't see straight.Wine and vodka are the two most popular drinks during the 24 hours binge, which started last night (Wednesday, March 16).And Jews will also attend the synagogue to hear the retelling of the story of what happened centuries ago.Scottish journalist and antisemitism fighter Eve Barlow summed it up earlier this week, and touched upon the rise in antisemitism in the world today.She said: “Purim is incredibly theatrical, excessively loud, and unabashedly fun.“It's the least serious Jewish festival about one of the most serious tales in Jewish history.“It's a time in which we let our boys and girls be the example and we embrace our inner child.“It's a lesson in why we enjoy, not because we're safe but because everything is uncertain.“Jews cannot afford for our environments to be secure in order to have a great

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefColleen Kwok’s “The Stars The Sun The Moon” won the top prize for a Hong Kong-produced in-development project at the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum. Mainland Chinese title “Not Found” by Huang Ningwei won the equivalent prize for the best non-Hong Kong project.A total of 14 prizes were announced at a virtual ceremony on Wednesday, with “Silent Ghosts,” another local project, directed by Hang Yeng, collecting the top work in progress award.HAF organizers said that this year’s online platform hosted more than 900 private meetings between filmmakers and potential backers, a figure that was almost double the level of activity in 2020, when COVID forced the project market into a virtual format for the first time.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Patrick Jann has been tapped to direct the Western horror film Organ Trail for Paramount Pictures, with Olivia Applegate (Love and Death), Clé Bennett (The Man in the High Castle), Zoé De Grand Maison (Riverdale), Nicholas Logan (Dopesick), Sam Trammell (True Blood) and Jessica Frances Dukes (Ozark) signing on to star.

K.J. Yossman Tome Hiddleston and Claire Danes starrer “The Essex Serpent” has confirmed its release date.The series, based on Sarah Perry’s novel of the same name, will debut globally on Apple TV Plus on May 13.