WINNING WAYS
“Women Talking,” which won Sarah Polley an Oscar for best adapted screenplay, was this weekend named best narrative feature at the Bali International Film Festival (aka the Balinale).
Ashen Nadeem’s “Crows Are White” won the feature documentary prize and “The Tone Wheels,” by Yuda Kurniawan, was named winner of the Gary L Hayes Award for Indonesian Filmmaker.
The festival jury called “The Tone Wheels” “an outstanding endeavor that transported us into the backstreets of Jakarta on a captivating musical journey.” The film depicts a busking village where dreams flourish, despite the scarcity of resources and equipment.
The American Indonesian Culture and Education Foundation Prize went to “Orpa,” directed by Theo Rumansara. The film encapsulates the challenges faced by a young woman as she strives to carve her own path, breaking free from the constraints of societal expectations and traditional norms in Papua Island. Another prize, the Committee Choice Award went to “The Art of Giving,” by Indonesia’s Mickael Couturier.
This year’s 16th edition presented 45 films from 13 countries and was held at a multiplex in Ubud.
ANIMATION EXPANSION
Indian animation and VFX studio 88 Pictures, founded in 2016, has opened its first overseas office set for Toronto, Canada. The company said that it had hired Sabrina Riegel, global head of look (“Shrek,”“Madagascar,”“How to Train Your Dragon”), Nol Meyer, global head of previz and layout (“Shrek,”“Madagascar,”“Megamind”) and Jean Claude Nouchy, digital FX supervisor (“Spirit,”“Aquaman II”), as lead managers at the new branch.
The company currently has operations in Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. It has previously worked on projects including “Trollhunters Trilogy,”“Fast & Furious Spy Racers” and “Gremlins.”
“We aspire to make 88 Pictures among the top boutique studios in the world that are known for creating curated content across the varied mediums of animation, VFX and games. I strongly feel the future is ahead of us,” said Milind D. Shinde, 88 Pictures’ founder and CEO.
APPOINTMENTS
Fremantle has appointed Kit Yow as its new VP distribution Asia. She will be responsible for driving the distribution of existing formats, finished content and new scripted formats in the region.She will be based in Singapore and report to Haryaty Rahman, who was promoted to EVP sales, Asia at the end of last year.
Yow was most recently the VP of sales at All3Media International. She started her broadcast journey as a production assistant at Media Prima Berhad, where she progressed to become a multilingual broadcast journalist. She went on to become head of brand management for Tonton, Media Prima’s OTT arm. During six years at All3Media International, she closed a raft of content licensing deals and was also responsible for licensing hit BBC dramas to Asian OTT platforms such as Pumpkin Films in China and Naver in South Korea.
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Elsewhere, Julie Delormeau, who previously worked at TF1 Group and the streaming service Salto, is joining Newen Studios as head of legal affairs. Emmanuel Allanos, who worked at NTT Cloud Communication and Deepki, is joining Newen Group as human resources policies, including talent attraction, development and engagement, as well as social relations. Christen Debauve, meanwhile, has been promoted to director of performance and projects. Under his new role, he will be supporting all of Newen Studios’ business units and subsidiaries, and will oversee the group’s information systems and general affairs. Debauve previously worked at Bouygues Telecom and at the Fork, a subsidiary of Tripadvisor. All three executives will report to deputy CEO of Newen Studios, Anna Pugacewicz, and will be part of Newen Studios Group’s executive committee headed by Romain Bessi.
SERIES
Five-part docu-series “Marc Márquez: All In” follows Spain’s Marc Márquez who claimed 59 MotoGP wins and 100 podiums before the age of 30. But a crash in the 2020 season opener threatened to derail his successful career. In the series, the eight-time world champion plans his return. It will be available to watch on Red Bull TV from June 5.
SOCCER RIGHTS
Broadcaster RTL Hungary and the Union of European Football [soccer] Associations (UEFA) have entered into an agreement wherein for the next three seasons starting with 2024/25, RTL Hungary will be the home of the UEFA Champions League for the first time in its history. RTL Hungary won package A of the UEFA Champions League broadcasting rights, meaning that on Tuesday and Wednesday match days, they can choose first which match to be broadcast, either linear or streaming. RTL Hungary has also acquired the digital broadcasting rights of UEFA Champions League package B. The broadcasting rights include 36 games per season within package A, and 167 games per season within package B.
ENVIRONMENT
In commemoration of World Environment Day, India’s Reliance Games will incorporate the issue of plastic pollution into its popular game, “Little Singham,” broadcast on Warner Bros. Discovery channel Pogo, and also introduce a new game, “Little Singham Cycle Race” that will also address the issue. Through gameplay mechanics, players collect virtual plastic bottles and prohibited plastic material, reinforcing the significance of reducing, reusing and recycling plastics. The in-game activation is part of Reliance Games’ support of Playing for the Planet, an initiative facilitated by the United Nations Environment Program, which works with the games industry to decarbonize the industry and test green activations in games.
