The Iranian Independent Filmmakers Association (IIFMA) is hailing new rules announced on Friday by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences pertaining to the international feature category as a “major victory.” Going forward the Oscars are allowing submissions from individual directors, not just entries designated by selection committees in different countries. The new rules […]

Jio Studios and Mumbai Film Company’s “Raja Shivaji” has delivered the biggest opening weekend in Marathi-language cinema history, grossing INR43.66 crore ($4.6 million) across its first three days in India. Directed by Riteish Deshmukh, the historical epic’s opening weekend surpasses all previous Marathi cinema records. “Sairat” (2016), the highest-grossing Marathi film of all time at […]

The South Korean box office saw a surge in activity during the weekend of May 1–3, as high-profile international sequels drove audience turnout. According to data from KOBIS, the tracking service operated by the Korean Film Council, “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” claimed the top spot in its opening weekend, earning $3.8 million from 575,467 […]

Berlin-based Pluto Film has pounced on worldwide sales rights to Chilean psychological thriller “Summer War” (“Guerra de Verano”) ahead of its market debut at Cannes’ Marché du Film and its world premiere at the 25th Tribeca Film Festival in June. The fifth feature by acclaimed director Alicia Scherson (“Play”), “Summer War” is her second adaptation […]

Zhonghe Qiancheng’s suspense thriller “Vanishing Point” claimed the number one position at the China box office in its opening weekend, earning RMB164.7 million ($24.2 million). Written and directed by Cheng Wei-hao and starring Zheng Kai and Liu Haocun, the story begins with the unexplained disappearance of a young boy within a residential compound on the […]

India’s Collective Artists Network has built an AI-powered avatar of Amish Tripathi – one of the country’s bestselling authors – to anchor a new short-form content channel covering history, mythology and philosophy, with a digital rollout beginning this month. The channel is being developed through the company’s Historyverse creative unit, which is shaping the editorial […]

“Fujiko,” the second feature from Japanese director Kimura Taichi and produced by Megumi, took the Mulberry Audience Award at the 28th Far East Film Festival. The Korean documentary “The Seoul Guardians,” directed by Kim Jong-woo, Kim Shin-wan and Cho Chul-young – a live chronicle of a coup d’état – came in second, while four films […]

SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers for “Kitty Likes to Dance,” Season 3 Episode 4 of “Euphoria,” now streaming on HBO Max. Three episodes in, and this season of “Euphoria” has already been a doozy. Just last week, Cassie (Sydney Sweeney) and Nate (Jacob Elordi) had their wedding, which ended in the groom violently losing a […]

There was both magic and realism involved for the Chilean creatives Francisca Alegría and Fernanda Urrejola, who brought Isabel Allende’s beloved novel “The House of the Spirits” to the screen as a limited series for Amazon Prime Video. Alegría and Urrejola and “House of the Spirits” executive producer Eva Longoria detailed the backstory of the […]

Kenneth Branagh, the director behind the 2011 Marvel film “Thor,” says he’d be open to returning to the world of superheroes. Branagh told Business Insider, “Part of me would love to finish my relationship with that character. I’d always wanted to do more and indeed had a couple of ideas, more in the territory of […]

The annual Run for the Roses on Saturday was a historic moment for women in horse racing as Cherie DeVaux became the first female trainer to win the Kentucky Derby. DeVaux’s story plus other firsts that were poised to be achieved by jockeys, trainers and horses at this year’s derby drove the live audience on […]

Noah Kahan has scored his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with his fourth album “The Great Divide,” opening with 389,000 equivalent album units. Kahan’s debut marks the biggest week for a rock album since the charts started measuring by units at the end of 2014. It also becomes the third-biggest week for […]