TOKYO APPOINTMENT
Noted Japanese director Ando Momoko (“Kakera: Pieces of Our Life,” “0.5mm”) has been named as the ambassador for this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.
She also features, alongside her father Okuda Eiji in the festival’s newly-released poster, which recreates a scene from Ozu Yasujiro’s “Tokyo Story” and in which Okuda and Ando represent the classic film’s Ryu Chishu and Hara Setsuko characters. The poster image, shot at the rooftop garden of Kitte Marunouchi Building, with Tokyo Station in the background, was designed by Koshino Junko, who has created the festival’s key visuals for the past three years.
This is the 120th anniversary of Japanese film master Ozu’s birth, and the 60th anniversary of his death.
The festival, which says that its key themes this year will be “diversity” and “the possibilities of cinema,” will run Oct. 23 – Nov. 1 in the Hibiya-Yurakucho-Marunouchi-Ginza area.
The 36thTIFF opening ceremony will take place at the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, as it did last year, while the closing ceremony will be held at Toho Cinemas Hibiya. In addition to three large theaters, Marunouchi Toei, Marunouchi Piccadilly and Toho Cinemas Hibiya, the Hulic Hall Tokyo will join as a new screening venue. The festival’s other regular theaters, Kadokawa Cinema Yurakucho, Cine Switch Ginza, Humantrust Cinema Yurakucho and Toho Cinemas Chanter will also operate.
RAID II
Regulators from Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service have raided the offices of tech giant Kakao Corp in connection with a probe they are mounting on suspicion that the share price of talent agency SM Entertainment was manipulated. In February this year, another talent firm Hybe Corp. bought a tranche of SM shares from founder Lee Soo-man and mounted a takeover bid. But Hybe complained to Korean regulators that its attempt to make a tender offer for further SM stock had been thwarted by price manipulation and the actions of Kakao and Kakao Entertainment as SM’s allies. In March, Hybe dropped its bid and disposed of all the SM shares it had bought. The FSS previously raided SM’s offices in April.
COMMISSION
U.K. broadcaster ITV has commissioned six-part series “Big Zuu’s 12 Dishes in 12 Hours,” hosted by double BAFTA-winning broadcaster and TV chef Big Zuu. The show will see Big Zuu will take an all-star array of celebrity guests on a quest across Europe to get a true flavor of each city through sampling local delicacies.
The show is a co-production between Twofour (part of ITV Studios) and Big Productions and will air on ITV1 and streamer ITVX in 2024. It was commissioned by Katie Rawcliffe, head of entertainment commissioning at ITV and Natalie Rose, entertainment commissioner at ITV and is executive produced by Dan Adamson for Twofour and Alex Gilman for Big Productions.
BOX OFFICE
Karan Johar’s “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani,” starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt, has surpassed $15 million in key overseas territories. Since its release on July 28, the Dharma Productions and Viacom18 Studios co-production, distributed internationally by Moviegoers Entertainment, has crossed $7 million in North America; £1.45 million in the U.K.; A$1.5 million in Australia; $3.5 million in U.A.E.; with the balance from the rest of the world.
The international collections for the film have now overtaken those of previous Bollywood blockbuster releases, “Bajirao Mastani” ($15 million); “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” ($12.27 million); “Brahmastra” ($14.2 million); “Gully Boy” ($10 million); “Simmba” ($13.5 million); and “War” ($14 million). In the U.K., it has now outgrossed Johar’s previous film, “Ae Dil Hai Mushkil” and Pakistani blockbuster “The Legend Of Maula Jatt.”
The film has collected some $20 million in India.
APPOINTMENTS
Finland’s Yellow Film & TV has appointed Jani Hartikainen as chief content officer, reporting into CEO Olli Haikka. Hartikainen joins the company from Finnish channel MTV and will be overseeing domestic and Nordic content, working out of Yellow’s Helsinki office.
Hartikainen has previously managed high profile projects “Estonia” and “Reindeer Mafia” and has held prominent positions as the head of content for brands such as Nelonen, Telia and MTV3. He was formerly head of drama and development at MTV Oy and has executive produced more than 50 drama series or seasons during his six years at MTV3 and CMore.
Yellow has also hired development producer Eveliina Mauno and promoted Janne Lähteenmäki to junior producer. Mauno was production manager for HBO documentary series “Viisi valittua” (“The Chosen Five”).
ECO WARRIORS
Eco-friendly brands Grub Club, Milliways, Ocean Bottle, OceanSaver and UpCircle have been revealed as winners of Sky’s 2023 £2 million ($2.5 million) sustainable advertising initiative. The brands each win £250,000 in media value. They will now move into ad production in advance of the final stage of judging in December, which will see the most compelling creative securing a total of £1 million in media value.
Established by Sky Media, the Sky Zero Footprint Fund, now in its third year, supports sustainable brands by helping to amplify their climate-positive campaigns using the power of TV and advertising. The winning brands were selected because of their pitch’s display to inspire change, with each one demonstrating sustainable values that align to Sky’s own. Sky Zero‘s pledge is to go net zero carbon by 2030.
SHORTS
The Smalls Film Festival (Sept. 23-24) returns to London for its 16th annual edition, hosting a celebration of the year’s best shorts at Curzon Hoxton cinema. The program is divided into seven feature-length compilations spanning animation, comedy, documentary, drama, music video and student film. A new category, change, will celebrate the films that spotlight issues affecting the world today.
