Author: CWB News Department

First-time writer and director Lee Ju-yeong along with other established South Korean directors like Kim Jee-woon (‘The Good the Bad, and the Weird) are riding a tidal wave of new local production being rolled out by Warner Brothers. The company plans to release two South Korean films in the country this year, both currently in preproduction, all this to be a part of a slate of up to four local productions for 2017. Handling this new slate of projects is Jay Choi, a seasoned Korean producer and former executive at a number of local distribution/investment films. Choi was appointed in…

This past Tuesday, TIFF offered a first glance at the panels to come for its September event. These include discussions on the Brexit as well as Hollywood’s gender bias problem. To top it off, there will also be a conversation with ‘Hoop Dreams’ director Steve James. Each of the panels will have an accompanying material to watch that highlights the topics for attending audiences. To air out the gender gap, TIFF organizers have planned a screening of the docuseries ‘4%: Film’s Gender Problem,’ a more recent production from Jigsaw Productions, Alex Gibney’s company. The series explores the current issues around…

Aspen, CO (July 20, 2016) – Tapping three female industry veterans to lead its slates in the coming year, Aspen Film today announced special guest programmers for its flagship events during the 2016-17 season. Rachel Chanoff has been named Director of Programming for the 38th annual Aspen Filmfest (September 21-25, 2016); Jane Schoettle will serve as Director of Programming for the 25th Aspen Film Academy Screenings (December 21, 2016-January 1, 2017); and Kathleen McInnis will bring her shorts expertise as Director of Programming for the 26th Annual Aspen Shortsfest (April 5-9, 2017). “We’re ecstatic about the stellar quality of our programming directors for the…

Breaking records for the Shangai Stock Exchange, China Film Group Corporation’s $611 million intial public offering will be the largest in the history of Chinese entertainment. The $611 million translates to 4.09 billion yuan. China Film Co. is a state run movie distributor and is reported on by Forbes to be have a monopoly on that region’s industry. If you want to inport films into that audience, you will be dealing with them or their other state-backed distributor Huaxia. On paper, China Film Co. has a commanding 58% share of the entire theatrical movie distribution in China. With the money…

This past weekend Zanzibar International Film Festival (ZIFF) 2016 awarded some of the best films from across the globe. ZIFF 2016 took place from July 9th to the 17th with more than a week of film screenings and special events enjoyed by thousands of locals, over 60 visiting filmmakers and hundreds of invited guests and international visitors. East African films dominated the awards, with Rwanda’s ‘A Place for Myself ‘winning three awards; The Sembene Ousmane Award, The Signis Prize, and the Golden Dhow for Best Short Film. Kenya’s ‘Watatu’ also was recognised with three awards, including the coveted Golden Dhow for Best Feature Film,…

Thousands of Iranians, including artists, intellectuals, and others have attended the funeral ceremony in Tehran of the country’s top filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, who died last week at the age of 76.Kiarostami, the winner of the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 for Taste Of Cherry, died in Paris, where he had been undergoing medical treatment.Despite the global attention on his work, Kiarostami did not receive official support in Iran, where his movies were rarely screened. Some at the memorial service held posters that said “First Welcome, Last Farewell” — a reference to the lack of official attention…

The Toronto International Film Festival, taking notice of the flurry of photos and videos posted to Instagram, has partnered with the Facebook-owned app to launch a digital shorts competition. The TIFFxInstagram Shorts Festival will see new and established filmmakers from around the globe invited to upload original 60-seconds-or-fewer film shorts, using Instagram. TIFF programmers will select 30 finalists to be showcased on the film festival’s website and an Instagram channel in August before a six-person jury selects a Judge’s Choice award winner. The video contest jury includes Selma helmer Ava DuVernay, filmmaker Xavier Dolan (Mommy), music video director Nabil Elderkin…

After years of surging growth, China’s box office experienced a 4.6 percent decline in the second quarter of 2016, with the first-half gain of 21 percent its lowest in years.A few months ago, it would have seemed inconceivable.China’s box office shrunk nearly five percent in the second quarter of 2016, according to leading local sources.Coming after a historic run of relentless growth, fueled by a nationwide cinema construction boom, the fall marks the Chinese theatrical market’s first year-on-year quarterly decline in over half a decade. In the first quarter of 2015, China’s box office expanded an astonishing 50 percent, hitting…

Celebrated Iranian director, whose Taste of Cherry won Cannes’ top prize in 1997, remained in the country after the Islamic revolution and continued to flourish.Abbas Kiarostami, the multi-award-winning Iranian director whose 1997 film Taste of Cherry was awarded the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival, has died aged 76.“Abbas Kiarostami, who had travelled to France for treatment, has died,” reported the semi-official Isna news agency on Monday. Iran’s house of cinema confirmed the report, Isna said. Kiarostami had been diagnosed with gastrointestinal cancer in March 2016, and had undergone a series of operations, including in Paris last month.Speaking to…

WOODLAND HILLS, Calif  – Panavision, the entertainment industry’s leading designer, manufacturer and rental provider of high-precision optics and camera systems, has announced the availability of PanaND filters. Representing the next-generation neutral density filters, they offer significant improvements in quality and consistency, so filmmakers can focus on achieving their creative goals. Full spectrum PanaND filters benefit from advancements in materials and manufacturing to deliver color neutrality very accurately. “Until now, cinematographers using traditional ND filters to control exposure have always had to deal with color shifting and optical performance degradation,” says Haluki Sadahiro, Panavision’s director of new product development. “Unlike traditional…