Michelle Yeoh to Be Feted at Japan Festival – Global Bulletin
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MY AT MEIHODO
Michelle Yeoh, star of the globally acclaimed Oscar-winning film “Everything Everywhere All At Once,” will serve as guest of honor and advisor at the fifth Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival, a platform for young visual artists and one of the largest short film festivals in the world. The festival takes place in Fukuoka, Japan.
Other new guests include Maggie Q (“Mission Impossible: III,” the “Divergent” franchise and CW series “Nikita”), film editor Gabriella Cristiani and Stephen Castor (“Spider-Man”), co-CEO of It’s Just Us Productions, Rocket Science 3D and Rocket Science Motion Capture Studios, franchise.
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Returning guests include special advisor and composer Tan Dun (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”) and honorary chairwoman Yue-Sai Kan, an Emmy-winning television producer.
Since launching in 2018, Meihodo has become one of the largest and most popular short film festivals in the world. This year, the festival received a record 3,533 submissions from 122 countries and regions around the world.
“We’re so excited to welcome the incredible Michelle Yeoh, fresh off of her historic Academy Award win,” said Qing Su, chairman of the Meihodo International Youth Visual Media Festival. “Everything about Michelle’s recent career surge, and her landmark film ‘Everything Everywhere All At Once,’ is emblematic of Meihodo’s themes and mission, including pushing the boundaries of cinema storytelling. Also, as an Asia-originated festival with historic roots in martial arts, we’re proud that Michelle also embodies our goals for diversity and our origins.”
MULTIPLIER EFFECT
A study on the economic impact of season one of the hit television series “Sweet Tooth,” produced by Warner Bros. Television for Netflix and filmed in New Zealand, found that the show stimulated over $41.3 million (NZ$66 million) in contribution to New Zealand’s GDP in 2020. It also reported that expenditure made during the show’s production stimulated a total of 1,180 full time and part time jobs in New Zealand, with New Zealanders making up 95% of the crew and 80% of the cast.
The study was conducted by Oxford Economics and commissioned by the Motion Picture Association (MPA) and the Australia-New Zealand Screen Association (ANZSA).
“The study found that for every dollar rebated through the New Zealand Screen Production Grant, almost $7 in economic activity had been generated, putting money in the hands of New Zealand screen workers and creating opportunities for small businesses,” said Paul Muller, CEO of ANZSA. The case study was presented to New Zealand’s parliament as part of an investigation into how the country’s economy performed during COVID.
BOLLYWOOD OST
Digital music company Believe has signed an exclusive music distribution deal with Panorama Music, the Indian company behind blockbuster Bollywood films including “Omkara,” “Pyaar Ka Punchnama” “Raid” and “Drishyam.” The partnership marks Believe India’s expansion into the new Bollywood original sount track market, the country’s largest music segment. Believe’s Label and Artist Solutions (L&AS) will exclusively distribute all content for Panorama. The recent release of the soundtrack from “Drishyam 2” is the first example of their collaboration.
LOVING IT
U.K.-based distributor DCD Rights has unveiled sales deals for series one and two of Australian premium romantic drama “Love Me.” New sales for Series 2 include Yes-dBS and Hot (Israel), Proximus, Pickx+ (Belgium) and streaming service CBC Gem (Canada), in addition to previous sales to Acorn TV (UK, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Netherlands, India) and Viaplay (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Netherlands). Season one was licensed to companies in nearly 50 territories including to Hulu in the U.S. and Paramount+ for Italy, France and Germany.
The show is a Warner Bros. International Television Australia production for the Foxtel Group, with major production investment from Screen Australia and financed with support from Film Victoria. It is is an authentic and intimate depiction of the place that love, loneliness, grief, and joy occupy at different stages of our lives.
“Love Me” was adapted from the hit Viaplay Original “Älska Mig,” created by Josephine Bornebusch and stars Hugo Weaving, Bojana Novakovic (“Birds of Prey”) and William Lodder (“Wakefield”.) All episodes of Love Me are available on Foxtel’s streaming service Binge from April 6.
SCRUB THAT
Abacus Media Rights has pre-sold Stan Original drama series “Scrublands,” from production company Easy Tiger, to popular streamer Sundance Now for the U.S. and English-speaking Canada. Based on the award-winning, best-selling crime novel by Chris Hammer, “Scrublands,” which recently wrapped principal photography in Victoria, stars Luke Arnold (“Black Sails”), Jay Ryan (“Top of the Lake”) and Bella Heathcote (“The Neon Demon”). Commissioned by Stan and Nine Network the show is set in an isolated country town, where a young priest opens fire on his congregation, killing five. One year later, an investigative journalist arrives to write what should be a simple feature story on the anniversary of the tragedy. But when he digs beneath the surface, the previously accepted narrative begins to fall apart, and he finds himself in a race to uncover the truth. The show is directed by Greg McLean and written by Felicity Packard, Kelsey Munro and Jock Serong.
TICKETING
“Dasara,” the Indian film starring Nani, has grossed INR870 million ($10.5 million) across its various language versions worldwide. In India, the producers have reduced the ticket prices for the Hindi-language version to INR112 ($1.36) for this week, Monday through Thursday.
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