Film fans get a rare taste of contemporary classics from Japan this month, when the Japanese Film Festival lights up screens at Bangkok’s premier arthouse cinema.
House Samyan is showing no less than 15 cinematic gems, ranging from comedies to romance to horror – and everything in between.
Highlights include the opener “Talking the Pictures”, which lifts the veil on the world of “benshi” – live film narrators who not only explained the story but also acted out roles before the advent of camera, editing and sound technologies swept them into oblivion.
“Tora-san, Wish You Were Here”
“Tora-san, Wish You Were Here” finds Suwa Mitsuo reminiscing about old times on the seventh anniversary of his wife’s death. The film is directed by the legendary Yamada Yoji, and is the 50th feature in the popular “Tora – san” series he kicked off in 1969.
Voices in the Wind
Directed by Suwa Nobuhiro, “Voices in the Wind” is the story of 17-year-old Haru, who sets out on a long journey across the country to her hometown where the tsunami swept away her parents and brother. Based on the real pilgrimage spot of Otsuchi, Iwate Prefecture, it features the so-called “wind telephone” booth used to speak to the departed.
In “Howling Village” directed by horror master Takashi Shimizi (“Ju-On: The Grudge”), a clinical psychologist investigates a series of unexplained deaths in the Inunaki Tunnel, a real-life haunted spot in Fukuoka Prefecture.
Films will be screened at House Samyan from November 13-22 – or from November 20 to 29, viewers can enjoy some of the films for free in their own “house” via an online platform.
The coronavirus keeps most London theaters dark, while performers stock grocery shelves
EntertainmentOct 30. 2020The stage is being repainted at the Garrick Theatre in London. MUST CREDIT: photo for The Washington Post by Tori Ferenc.
By The Washington Post · Karla Adam, William Booth · WORLD, EUROPE LONDON – At the gilded playhouses in the world’s most popular theater district, most of the marquee lights are still dark.
Strict social distancing will be in place if the Garrick Theatre is able to reopen in November. MUST CREDIT: photo for The Washington Post by Tori Ferenc.
Since the government ordered London’s stages closed seven months ago, only a handful of theaters have dared to announce reopening plans – with limited runs, limited casts and socially distanced audiences scattered in the seats. Producers say ticket sales will barely cover the electricity bill.
The impact of enduring restrictions has been catastrophic for London’s creative class. An estimated 290,000 people work in the theater here – onstage and behind the scenes – and many have had to seek paychecks where they can. Furloughed actors are stocking shelves in grocery stores. Musicians are hammering nails at construction sites.
“This is tough,” said top producer Nica Burns, whose company, Nimax, runs six theaters in London’s West End. “This isn’t just a job. It’s life choice.”
She said for the performers and crew, “it’s very hard emotionally, and for some mentally,” to be denied the spark of a live, paying audience.
Burns called this the worst of times and remarked that London theaters remained open through World War II. To find a similar closure? She suggested looking at the 16th-century plague.
Emma De Souza, a spokeswoman for the Society of London Theatre, said that at one Sainsbury grocery story in east London, there are so many West End performers working “you can hear singing in the aisles.”
Actor Paul Valentine is among those who have been stocking shelves since the lockdown hit.
“It’s been an interesting old year,” said Valentine, 32, who last year toured with a production of “Wuthering Heights.”
He said he misses performing in front of a live audience, especially as he enjoys comedic roles where “just a little twitch and you can make a group of people erupt with laughter. With no audience, you can’t do that. It’s a shame not to have that buzz.”
In July, the British government announced $2 billion of grants and loans for struggling arts institutions. More than $400 million has been doled out to nearly 2,000 organizations so far.
But industry representatives say little of that money is going to freelancers – an estimated 70% of those who work in the theater, and a good portion of those affiliated with other performing arts.
Hundreds of freelance musicians descended on Parliament Square in October to highlight the plight of the music industry. The impromptu orchestra played 20% of Gustav Holst’s “Mars” – lasting 90 seconds – to symbolize that eligible freelancers can claim a maximum of 20% of their income from government-support packages.
“I really miss playing with others,” said Barry Clements, 30, a trombonist who sat in the pit orchestra of “Les Miserables” for six years. “Bouncing off other players and the audience and performing for the people. That’s the beauty of it – we all love what we do.”
He hopes to rejoin his bandmates in December, when “Les Miserables” is scheduled to return for a six-week limited run – assuming the growing number of government restrictions still allows it.
“We are all looking forward to getting back and hopefully getting back to some sort of reality, even if for a short time,” Clements said.
For now, he is working as a laborer, ripping out flooring and fitting units for his father’s construction company. One of his friends from the West End is now a delivery driver, another retrained as a lifeguard.
Cynthia Duberry, 44, a veteran stage manager who has been in the industry for 20 years, is working at a grocery store.
She said one of the things she misses most is the half-hour before a show opens.
“That sound, of the audience coming in, is one of my favorite moments,” she said. “I’m standing onstage, just before I hand over the show to the front of house, you stand there, everything is prepped, the rustle, this lovely moment before these two worlds come together.”
Last year, London’s theaters played to 15.3 million people (more than Broadway by a million), which generated $1 billion at the box office.
Today, the streets of the West End are empty. The bistros and bars that would have been packed by the theater crowd, gulping down a last round or quick bite, rushing to 7:30 p.m. curtain, are struggling.
David Pugh, a West End and Broadway theater producer, said he is struck by how quiet his neighborhood is. His apartment overlooks Shaftesbury Avenue, home to shows including the hit “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.”
“I don’t need double glazing any more,” he said. There isn’t much noise for the windows to block out.
Some in the industry have been incensed by the suggestion they give up on the arts and find permanent jobs in other industries.
A government-backed poster suggesting that a ballet dancer might pursue a career in cybersecurity landed with a particular thud. Of course, dancers retire young and seek out second careers whether or not the world is in the midst of a pandemic. But Britain’s cultural secretary conceded that running it in the current environment was “crass.”
Caroline Jay Ranger, a theater director, said, “They want to put money into retraining us to do something else, when all we do is theater – these are the set builders, the electricians, the master carpenters, the wig designers” and they are all “specialist, specialist people.”
Summer offered a bit of reprieve for the arts in Europe, especially in outdoor venues, such as the Salzburg music festival. But now the weather has forced everyone back indoors, at the same time cases of the novel coronavirus are rising exponentially in Europe and the United States.
Broadway has decided it is too much to take on – theaters in New York will likely remained closed at least until May.
Of the approximately 80 theaters in London, 10 have announced they are open or will try to reopen from late October onward, even if they must operate at a loss, with smaller, socially distanced audiences. The Royal Ballet also plans to resume public performances in early November.
The bigger musicals need to sell 80 to 85% of tickets to break even; strict social distancing often means they can pack in 30 to 40%.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has said social distancing in a London playhouse is, financially, “impossible.” He pointed out that while his hit musical “Phantom of the Opera” was closed in London over the summer, it ran to packed houses in South Korea, with no social distancing. Instead the Korean showplace had hygienic door handles, thermal imaging cameras to spot customers with a fever and other strict hygiene measures.
In London, the first big musical to return was “Sleepless in Seattle,” a stage version of the Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks romantic comedy. The cast and crew were tested daily for the coronavirus, the director axed the kiss, and theater capacity was reduced from 1,200 to 400. Theatergoers wore masks, observed a one-way system and had their temperatures taken on the way in.
“People across the globe were watching us carefully,” said producer Michael Rose, who didn’t break even on the show, but said “proved it can be done.”
“There were standing ovations every night,” he said. “I feel like we were providing some sort of therapy and feel very privileged if that was the case.”
MANILA, Philippines — Rabiya Mateo of Iloilo City was named Miss Universe Philippines 2020 during the pageant’s pre-taped coronation ceremonies at the Baguio Country Club’s Cordillera Convention Hall over the weekend.
Parañaque City’s Ysabella Ysmael bagged first runner-up honors while Quezon City’s Michele Gumabao was named second runner-up.
Bohol’s Pauline Amelinckx was named third runner-up while Kimberly Hakenson of Cavite was fourth runner up.
The 22-year-old Mateo, who bested 45 other candidates, will represent the country in the yet to be scheduled Miss Universe pageant
‘Carrying hope and a symbol of light’
During the pageant’s question and answer portion, Mateo was asked where do pageants stand during a crisis.
“As a candidate, I know I’m not just the face of Iloilo City, but I am here carrying hope and as a symbol of light in the darkest times,” Mateo told pageant host KC Montero.
Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 2019 Gazini Ganados crowns her successor, Rabiya Mateo of Iloilo City, as Miss Universe Philippines 2020. Image: Courtesy of the Miss Universe Philippines organization
“And as of the moment, I want to help my community. I want to use my strength to make an impact and that is the essence of a beauty pageant. It gives us the power to make a difference,” she added.
Remembering Miriam: ‘The best president we never had’
Mateo was also asked that should she be given a chance to create a paper currency with the image of any living or dead Filipino, who would it be.
Mateo instantly thought of her fellow Ilongga, the late Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago, who she even described as “the best president we never had.”
“For those who don’t know, she was an Ilongga, but what I admired about her is that she used her knowledge, her voice, to serve the country,” Mateo said.
“And I want to be somebody like her. Somebody who puts her heart, her passion into action. And after all, she is the best president that we never had.”
Beauty and brains
Mateo graduated cum laude at the Iloilo Doctor’s College in 2018, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Therapy.
She was hailed Best in Swimsuit in the preliminary competition held on Oct. 21.
Mateo will try to become the fifth Filipina to capture the Miss Universe crown after Catriona Gray (2018), Pia Wurtzbach (2015), Margie Moran (1973) and Gloria Diaz (1969).
Mateo was crowned by Bb. Pilipinas-Universe 2019 Gazini Ganados.
Ganados was allowed by the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc. to crown her successor.
This was the first stand-alone pageant proclaiming the country’s representative to the Miss Universe pageant, after the Miss Universe Organization announced in December 2019 that that it was parting ways with the Binibining Pilipinas Charities Inc., which had been sending the Philippines’ candidate to the global tilt since 1964.
The international organization appointed 2011 Miss Universe third-runner up Shamcey Supsup-Lee as national director.
Pageant in the time of pandemic
The Miss Universe Philippines team originally set the coronation program in May, but the COVID-19 pandemic compelled the group to postpone the ceremonies to June and eventually, October.
In an earlier interview, Lee told the Inquirer that adhering to the health and safety protocols was one of the toughest parts of mounting the national competition.
The delegates, organizers, staff, and crew had to test negative for COVID-19 before heading to Baguio City, and were tested again every five days.
Charity missions
The national pageant organization also embarked on various charity missions to help those who are affected by the pandemic, and invited the delegates to encourage the public to contribute to the causes they choose to champion.
Showcasing world-class Filipinos
The pageant also featured world-class Filipinos.
International celebrity designer Furne One of Dubai-based Amato Couture designed the competition swimsuits, while “American Idol” runner-up Jessica Sanchez performed in the opening number. (with reports from INQUIRER Northern Luzon, Armin Adina)
Award-winning Pakistani filmmaker, Shehzad Hameed Ahmad was recently honoured by United Women Singapore for championing the cause of gender equality through his films.
In an online ceremony, Singapore-based Ahmad was awarded the Gender Equality Impact Changemaker (Male Individual) award.
Over the last 10 years, Shehzad has done considerable work highlighting women causes and creating awareness for gender equality.
Hareem and Shehzad
His work includes the likes of The Pakistani Four 2012, where he traversed across America to film the journey of 4 Pakistani American women; Flight of the Falcons 2015, that profiled the inspiring journey of Pakistani schoolteacher and her two-room school in Aroop, Gujranwala that highlighted the issues of girls education in rural Pakistan; and Nepal’s Child Brides 2017, that highlights the work of Nepali activists in creating awareness about this crucial issue.
He works on a range of different topics with his work being featured on TVF International, Toggle, Dawn News, National Geographic, TV Ontario, CNA and Crime & Investigation Channel, amongst others.
United Women Singapore’s GEIA aims to recognise organisations, men, women, and youth in Singapore who have championed initiatives to advance gender equality and empowerment of women in the workplace and/or the community.
China-US co-production garners attention on Netflix debut
EntertainmentOct 25. 2020A scene from Over the Moon. [Photo/Mtime] Chinese-American co-production Over the Moon landed on Netflix, the world’s leading streaming entertainment service, on Friday.
The animated adventure drama film is a co-production between Netflix Animation and the Shanghai-based Pearl Studio, formerly known as Oriental DreamWorks. The film revolves around a 12-year-old girl, Fei Fei, who builds a rocket ship to travel to the moon hoping to meet Chang’e, the legendary Moon Goddess.
Partnered with DreamWorks Animation, Pearl Studio is the production house behind animated film Abominable, one of the most successful Chinese-American co-productions of 2019, which took the top spot in the North American box office over its opening weekend and has grossed over 60 million U.S. dollars in North America for a global total of 190 million dollars.
Directed by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Glen Keane in his feature directorial debut after nearly 50 years in the industry, Over the Moon stars the voices of a strong Asian-American voice cast, including Cathy Ang, Phillipa Soo, Ken Jeong and John Cho.
Keane, 66, is a veteran Disney animator for feature films including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. He won the Academy Award along with NBA legend Kobe Bryant for his animated short Dear Basketball in 2018.
Keane told Polygon, Vox Media’s entertainment network, that he was drawn to the character at its core, Fei Fei, after Netflix tapped him for the film when it acquired the project as a co-production with Pearl Studio.
Keane said that he felt immense pressure to get everything right for the “sacred” story as the legend of Chang’e is important to Chinese culture and is the basis for the Mid-Autumn Festival. Keane sought input from his Shanghai-based animation team in order to make the story more culturally authentic, right down to the little details, Polygon reported.
A. Felicia Wade, a film critic for DiscussingFilm.net, called the film “a space age fairytale for today.”
“The film does have sweet universal lessons – cherishing those around you and letting new ones in, which is extremely poignant for the time we’re in. It’s hard to shake off the feeling of familiarity, but hopefully its new lens encourages more diverse animation being made in the future,” commented Wade, adding that the film is still really charming overall and is sure to make an impact for viewers to come.
“Over the Moon celebrates Chinese culture as no mainstream American toon – not even Mulan – has before,” commented Peter Debruge, a senior film critic for Variety, but he also pointed out that the film “does so in a way that’s so formulaically Western that it feels like the creative team took Coco and dressed it up in another country’s colors, customs and costumes.”
Another film critic, CNN’s Brian Lowry, wrote that Keane “clearly learned the tricks of the trade during his time at Disney, with the movie appearing pretty desperate to conjure that sort of magic.”
“With Disney invading Netflix’s streaming turf, turnabout is fair play, as Over the Moon overtly tries to emulate Disney animation without occupying its orbit,” he noted.
“Over the Moon may hail from beyond the Disney umbrella, but it nonetheless bears a recognizable corporate imprint, from its abundance of cute animal sidekicks and so-so original songs to its strategic exploration of grief as both premise and theme,” commented film critic Justin Chang for the Los Angeles Times.
Over the Moon is also slated to hit theaters in China this weekend.
Rudy Giuliani joins a long list of political figures pranked by Sacha Baron Cohen
EntertainmentOct 25. 2020Sacha Baron Cohen reprises his role as a fictional Kazakh journalist in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” released Oct. 23, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Amazon Studios
By The Washington Post · Sonia Rao · ENTERTAINMENT, FILM
“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” the surprise sequel to Sacha Baron Cohen’s hit mockumentary, made quite a splash in the days leading up to its Friday release.
Details emerged of a scene in which the actress playing Borat’s daughter, Tutar (Maria Bakalova), poses as a television journalist and ends an interview by inviting Rudy Giuliani, the former New York mayor and President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, to join her for a drink. After she removes his microphone, he reclines on a hotel bed and slides his hand into his pants.
Soon enough, Borat bursts into the room, exclaiming, “She 15. She too old for you. She my daughter, please, take me instead.” (The actress, per IMDb, is 24.) The Kazakh characters’ plan had been to garner the American government’s favor by presenting Tutar as a “gift” to a Trump ally – hence the film’s impossibly long subtitle, “Delivery of Prodigious Bribe to American Regime for Make Benefit Once Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan.” Cohen’s ploy had been to expose Giuliani’s potentially compromising behavior in such a situation.
On Twitter, Giuliani called Cohen a “stone-cold liar” for implying (via the film’s hidden camera footage) that he had behaved inappropriately. The former mayor claimed to have been tucking his shirt in after removing the microphone, adding that he called the police back in July after realizing he had been “set up.” He isn’t the first political figure to be duped by Cohen (nor is he the only one to respond publicly). Shall we revisit the incident with Roy Moore, the former Republican Senate candidate from Alabama? Sarah Palin, the former Alaskan governor and vice-presidential candidate? Richard Cheney, an actual vice president?
The British comedian’s history of tricking famous people on camera dates to “Da Ali G Show,” a Channel 4 series that jumped to HBO in 2003. Posing as English gangster Ali G, Cohen tried to convince Trump, then a business man and reality television personality, to invest in an “ice cream glove” (which is exactly what it sounds like). As The Washington Post’s Bethonie Butler noted in an article on Cohen’s interviews, he also asked Richard Kerr, a former deputy director of the CIA, about how to punish suicide bombers.
Though then-President George W. Bush wasn’t directly involved in the prank, Cohen also notably butchered the national anthem in 2006′s “Borat,” pretending to be the fictional Kazakh journalist Borat Sagdiyev at a Virginia rodeo while calling on Bush to “drink the blood of every man, woman and child in Iraq.”
Several of Cohen’s most memorable political targets were featured in “Who Is America?,” the recent Showtime series in which he made a mockery of American politics while sporting new disguises. Some of the show’s bits were less than successful – Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for instance, didn’t take the bait – but those that landed did so with great impact and, in the cases of Moore and another, resulted in legal action.
In July 2018, a few months after The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its reporting on Moore’s alleged past sexual harassment of teenage girls, an episode of “Who Is America?” aired in which Cohen used a fake pedophile detector on the former Senate candidate. Moore has stated that he flew to Washington to “receive an award for my strong support of Israel,” and in the episode sits down to speak with someone he believes to be an Israeli anti-terrorism expert named Gen. Erran Morad. Cohen, as Morad, pulls out a wand toward the end of their chat and refers to it as “the latest Israeli gadget.” The pedophile detector beeps each time he waves it past Moore (who denies the accusations and tells Morad he has been married for 33 years).
“I did not know Sacha Cohen or that a Showtime TV series was being planned to embarrass, humiliate, and mock not only Israel, but also religious conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Joe Walsh, and Dick Cheney,” Moore said in a statement released ahead of the episode. He went on to sue Cohen, CBS and Showtime for $95 million, claiming defamation and “extreme emotional distress.” The case is pending.
Palin similarly flew to meet with Cohen, believing she had been offered a “legit opportunity” to honor military veterans by appearing in a Showtime documentary. Though the former governor never appeared in the show – Cohen said the footage “just wasn’t funny enough” – she wrote on Facebook that she had encountered a fake veteran and “sat through a long ‘interview’ full of Hollywoodism’s disrespect and sarcasm.”
The Facebook post arrived days after Cohen teased a clip of Cheney signing a waterboarding kit for Morad, who interviewed him about the brutal interrogation techniques employed by the CIA during the Bush administration’s “war on terror.” In the “Who Is America?” episode, Cheney says, “Well, that’s a first.”
In another, Morad asks politicians if they will support his “Kinder Guardians” program to teach schoolchildren as young as preschoolers how to handle guns (as opposed to the National Rifle Association’s proposal to arm teachers). Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., is skeptical: “You want me to say on television that I support 3- and 4-year-olds with firearms?” he asks Morad, who responds with an affirmative. “Typically members of Congress don’t just hear a story about programming and indicate whether they support it or not.”
Of course, Cohen manages to convince several others to do exactly that. The segment cuts to a video of current and former congressmen expressing support for Kinder Guardians, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., and Trent Lott, the former Republican Senate majority leader from Mississippi. Joe Walsh, the former Republican representative from Illinois, describes the program introducing “children from 12 to 4 years old to pistols, rifles, semiautomatics and a rudimentary knowledge of mortars.”
“In less than a month – less than a month – a first-grader can become a first grenade-er,” he says in the video, closing it out with: “Happy shooting, kids.” Walsh later told The Post’s Aaron Blake that he was also invited to Washington to accept an award for his support of Israel, and that he was under the impression that Kinder Guardians was “specifically about a program that Israel does.”
A hefty amount of fictionalizing goes into each of Cohen’s setups, but the shock value comes from how people behave in those situations. In response to Giuliani calling the “Borat” scene a “compete fabrication,” Cohen said on “Good Morning America” that everyone can watch and “make your own mind up.”
“I would say that if the president’s lawyer found what he did there [to be] appropriate behavior, then heaven knows what he’s done with other female journalists in hotel rooms,” Cohen said. “It is what it is. He did what he did.”
By The Washington Post · Steven Zeitchik · BUSINESS, ENTERTAINMENT, TV
People went outside, and Netflix subscriptions started going down.
That was the lesson from the streaming giant Tuesday, as the company reported that its quarterly net subscriber gains dipped below 10 million for the first time since the start of the pandemic, to just 2.2 million over the summer.
The streaming company had seen massive subscriber spikes since early 2020, gaining 16 million global subscribers in the quarter ending in March, as stay-at-home orders dominated in Europe and began taking hold in the United States. Robust growth continued in the spring, with the period from April to June seeing Netflix rack up a net addition of 10.1 million subscribers around the world.
But July, August and September – historically a strong quarter for Netflix – saw much slower growth, including just 177,000 adds in the United States. The period was one in which many Americans emerged from shutdowns to gather in outdoor locations. In contrast, Netflix had drawn nearly 3 million new American subscribers in the spring.
“As expected, growth has slowed,” the company’s executives said in a letter to investors. “We think this is primarily due to our record first half results,” it added, suggesting that many people who would think about subscribing during the pandemic already had.
The 2.2 million figure is also way down from the 6.7 million Netflix added in the same period last summer.
While the numbers could be viewed as partly a function of subscriber cancellations over the controversial “Cuties,” data has shown this is not likely to have a material impact.
With $6.43 billion in quarterly revenue, Netflix exceeded forecasters’ projections of $6.38 billion. But earnings per share of $1.74 came in well below expectations of $2.14.
Analysts are unlikely to be concerned with the subscriber slowdown, though, in part because the company is approaching 200 million worldwide subscribers. Its official count was 193 million coming into the quarter. Those figures are well above its nearest streaming competitor, Disney Plus, which several months ago reported it had topped 60 million subscribers worldwide.
On a call with investors, Netflix chief financial officer Spence Neumann said that the firm’s “general underlying metrics are very healthy,” while co-chief executive Reed Hastings added that “We’ve been doing high 20 [million] net adds per year for four years. And this year on guidance it’ll be 34 million. So we’ll set all kinds of new records this year.”
Netflix executives noted in their letter that the company had racked up more than 28 million global subscribers so far this year, surpassing the 27.8 million it gained in all of 2019.
Even as it touted the subscriber numbers, the company has been canceling a number of shows in recent weeks, including fan favorites “Glow,” “The Society” and “Altered Carbon,” often for apparent covid-related cost issues. On Monday, it canceled the outerspace drama “Away” after one season.
On the call, Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos also addressed the surprise departure of the originals executive Cindy Holland last month, saying he wanted to “restructure the content team to. . ..have one global organization.” Holland drove early series like “House of Cards” and “Orange Is The New Black” and was replaced in an unexpected move by Bela Bajaria, who previously ran local-language originals.
A fall and winter in which rising virus rates and cold weather are expected to drive people inside could keep Netflix subscriber numbers high.
Meanwhile, the lack of new movies in theaters could ensure people turn to the streaming giant for their entertainment fix. Already, Aaron Sorkin’s war-protest legal drama “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” and Darren Star’s dramatic comedy “Emily in Paris” are among the most talked-about pieces of content this fall, with a new take on the Daphne du Maurier’s gothic novel “Rebecca” starring Lily James expected to further drive conversation this month.
The company said one of its most-viewed shows in the most recent quarter was “Ratched,” Ryan Murphy’s spinoff of sorts from “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”; at least a few minutes of the series were viewed by 48 million households in its first four weeks of release.
Netflix, which has benefited from Oscar-nominated movies such as “The Irishman” and “Roma” in recent years, is likely to really reap its rewards this year. New rule changes allow for movies to qualify this year without playing in theaters, broadening Netflix’s potential base of contenders. And many studios have postponed their films until later in 2021, thinning out the field.
Netflix’s stock price, which has risen 80% since the start of shutdowns in mid-March, was down 6% in after-hours trading Tuesday.
A 27-year-old Thai-Canadian, Chalisa ‘Amanda, Obdam, has won the Miss Universe Thailand 2020 crown.
Phuket-born Amanda pipped 29 others in the fray for the Mouawaddiamond crown worth Bt3.5 million.
Winner Amanda has a career as a model and beauty queen, having previously won Miss Grand Rising Stars 2016 and Miss Tourism Metropolitan International 2016.
Amanda, who has a bachelor’s degree in business administration with a major in economics from the University of Toronto, Canada, impressed the judges as much with her brains as her beauty, answering questions fluently.
Twenty-nine beauties were in the fray in the final round on Saturday evening at True Icon Hall, Iconsiam in Bangkok.
During the question and answer segment for the top five contenders, Amanda was asked: “A hundred years from today, who would historians select as the most influential woman of the 21st century and why?” She answered that all women have a chance because “we are very strong”.
In the Q&A round of the final three contestants, all the ladies were asked the same question: “The Temple of Dawn symbolises Thailand’s spirit and is a landmark; how would you represent yourself as an icon of Thailand?” Amanda’s reply that even though she was born Thai-Canadian, she is truly a Thai lady and she is going to present all of her Thainess to the world, impressed the judges
Chalisa ‘Amanda’ Obdam is crowned Miss Universe Thailand by Paweensuda Drouin, the 2019 winner.
Amanda was crowned the winner, while first runner-up was Praveenar Singh, a Thai of Indian descent from Chiang Mai province, and the second runner-up was Punika Kulsoontornrut from Prachuap Khiri Khan province
EntertainmentOct 11. 2020BTS (Big Hit Entertainment-Yonhap)
By Korea Herald
South Korea debates whether to exempt K-pop superstars from mandatory active duty
As K-pop juggernaut BTS’ global domination continues, South Korea is again debating whether or not to conscript the seven young men for their mandatory active duty.
Talk of special treatment resurfaced on Sept. 3, two days after BTS’ latest single “Dynamite” claimed the coveted top spot on the US Billboard Hot 100 singles chart — a first in the history of Korean music and a “splendid feat” that boosted national pride, according to President Moon Jae-in.
A ruling party lawmaker publicly proposed a revision to the conscription law to allow high-achieving pop stars like BTS to put off enlistment until the age of 30.
All able-bodied South Korean men aged between 18 and 30 must serve active duty for 18 to 21 months. In this country, still technically at war with North Korea, military service is a highly sensitive issue – so much so that the conscription status of public figures and their sons makes headlines upon any hint of unfairness.
Pop stars have often enrolled in graduate studies to postpone enlistment until after the peak of their careers. BTS’ eldest member Jin is currently enrolled in an online graduate program and can postpone his enlistment until after 2021.
Then on Monday, another ruling party lawmaker finally raised the question: Why not just exempt BTS from active duty?
“Not everyone has to take up a rifle to serve his own country,” Rep. Noh Woong-rae said at a party meeting, stressing that allowing BTS to continue what they are doing is in the best interest of the country.
South Korea exempts exceptionally talented people in the fields of classical music, dance and sports from active duty, but so far not K-pop artists.
Classical musicians and dancers are exempt when they win awards at government-chosen competitions. Athletes need to win any medal at the Olympics or a gold medal at the Asian Games to avoid active duty.
While exempt from active duty, which requires communal living and training at military bases, they are still required to fulfill about four weeks of basic training and mandatory 544 hours of community service during the 34-month term, while carrying on with their day-to-day life.
The law describes it as an alternative service and no major change has been made to this rule since it was first introduced in 1973.
Giving K-pop artists the same special treatment is again proving to be a highly divisive issue, prompting a clear discord along party lines, ministries and the public.
“I don’t think the public and BTS themselves want us to continue debating their conscription,” Democratic Party of Korea leader Lee Nak-yon said at a party meeting Wednesday, advising his fellow party members to say “as little as possible” on the matter.
Lee was clearly putting the brakes on Rep. Noh’s outspoken rhetoric backing a change in the law so that BTS could become the first pop artists to take advantage of alternative service.
“Suppose BTS serves active duty, I think they can do what they do now there, making contributions to this country and elevating its stature,” Lee said.
The defense minister was more direct on the matter, speaking against alternative service for BTS.
“We need public consensus before proceeding to look into it,” he told a parliamentary audit Wednesday. But he conceded a merit-based delay in draft was worth looking into.
At the same audit, the culture minister, however, sounded a different tone, saying the matter needs to be “looked into positively,” adding there were voices in favor of pop artists’ admission to the alternative program.
The public stands split, with those for and against granting pop artists the new privilege standing at 31.3 percent and 30.5 percent, respectively, according to the latest poll commissioned by local outlet Kuki News on Sept. 21.
Those against the privilege argued that there would be no uniform standard to the rule on pop artists’ admission to the alternative program.
“Classic musicians, dancers and athletes have their own competitions – foreign or domestic – to win and prove their exceptional performance to qualify for the service,” a Seoul resident who asked only to be identified by his surname Kim said.
“How are we going to gauge their performance?”
Those in favor of the alternative service spoke of how BTS enhanced Korea’s image abroad and stimulated its economic growth through tourism, among other aspects, but conceded there is a long road ahead.
“We’ll have to come up with a just and fair means based on merit to determine whether certain K-pop artists qualify for the alternative program,” said Han Diane, a freelance writer.
Regarding the issue, the bandmates of BTS have repeatedly said they are willing to fulfill their duty, just like all other ordinary Korean men.
“Someday when duty calls, we will be ready to respond and do our best,” Jin previously said in an interview with CBS’ “Sunday Morning” last year.
“We have nothing to add other than what Jin said himself and the fact that we believe he can postpone his enlistment until 2021,” BTS label Big Hit Entertainment told The Korea Herald.
In a bid to introduce Indonesian ethnic music as part of world music, the Culture Directorate General of the Education and Culture Ministry is set to organize the Indonesian Music Expo (IMEX) Forum.
“We hope that players from the world music industry can come and trade according to their needs,” Ahmad Mahendra, the Culture Directorate General’s head of film, music and new media, said during an online press conference on Wednesday.
“There will be performances from 15 groups. These artists have played in prestigious world music festivals all over the world,” Ahmad said.
He said the ethnic music of Indonesia was very rich and should be introduced to a wider audience. “For thousands of years Indonesia has been the crossroads of east and west. As a result, the progress of world music here is diverse and extraordinary,” he added.
The term “world music” was originally coined among ethnomusicology academics. It became a new trend when major record companies in the United States and Europe started to market ethnic music recordings under the term in the 1980s. The genre then became an umbrella for traditional music originating in Latin America, Africa and Asia. European Celtic music and gamelan from Indonesia are also known throughout the world as part of the genre.
According to the ministry’s statement, 30 years after the genre was introduced it had grabbed 10 percent of the market, worth around US$6.5 billion. World music festivals and new talent are increasingly popular on the global stage. (wng)
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The stage is being repainted at the Garrick Theatre in London. MUST CREDIT: photo for The Washington Post by Tori Ferenc. 
![A scene from Over the Moon. [Photo/Mtime]](https://media.nationthailand.com/images/news/2020/10/25/30396747/800_d23ebc0627f7d60.jpg?v=1603619356)
A scene from Over the Moon. [Photo/Mtime] Chinese-American co-production Over the Moon landed on Netflix, the world’s leading streaming entertainment service, on Friday.
Sacha Baron Cohen reprises his role as a fictional Kazakh journalist in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” released Oct. 23, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Amazon Studios 
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