A hard-to-watch telling of the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India in Anthony Maras’s “Hotel Mumbai” provoked tears and cheers at its world premiere at the Toronto film festival.

It is an “anthem of resistance,” the Australian director declared at a press conference.

“You had a whole lot of people from every conceivable background, racial, ethnic, from different socio-economic groups who came together in the face of real adversity to survive,” Maras said.

The film received a standing ovation over the weekend for its searing, vivid dramatisation of the events at the opulent Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, targeted by Lashkare-Taiba militants.

It was also praised by critics for its empathetic portrayal of both the victims and the perpetrators.

Armie Hammer, who plays an American guest of the hotel, said: “The script was dripping in humanity.”

“You see the toll the attack has on the guests and the staff of the hotel, but you also see it, really for the first time that I can think of, on the actual perpetrators,” he said.

Nazanin Boniadi, who played his wife in the movie, had tears streaming down her face on stage during a post-premiere question-and-answer with the audience.

Director Anthony Maras

Jason Isaacs, cast as a Russian guest of the hotel, urged watching it with others in a cinema, saying it “connects you with other people and to recognise your common humanity.”

The hotel siege was part of a coordinated series of attacks in India’s most populous city which left more than 160 dead and hundreds wounded.

The film includes television footage of the attacks, as well as excerpts of interviews by the filmmaker of the survivors.

The hotel’s executive chef Hemant Oberoi, who has been credited for saving many lives during the assault, was on hand for the premiere.

Anupam Kher plays him in the film, which was his 501st and, he said, the first to earn him praise as an actor from his mother: “She said ‘I cried, I was very moved by your acting.”

Maras was also granted access to transcripts of intercepted calls between the 10 attackers and their handlers, as well as a video confession from the trial of the only surviving gunman.

A lot of their dialogue in the film, he said, was “verbatim”. “We couldn’t make up anything to the extent of what we heard on those chilling tapes,” he said.

This included a handler telling one of the attackers to leave his phone on throughout the assault so that he might hear the victims’ screams.

For days, the staff and guests of the hotel were on their own as police were outgunned, using old rifles against automatic weapons and grenades.

Maras said the hotel staff stuffed baking trays and saucepans down their shirts to use as shielding, and armed themselves with rolling pins and kitchen knives to try to protect themselves and guests.

“At a time when people are becoming so divided over so many different lines, to have this story where all these people are coming together selflessly to help each other… they were there for one another,” he commented.

“What’s remarkable is that despite the fact they must all have been out of their wits with terror they continued to act for each other and help each other,” echoed Isaacs.

Dev Patel had just finished acting in his first feature film “Slumdog Millionaire” when the violence in Mumbai was splashed live across television news channels around the world.

“To come back off this amazing journey (to India) and enter my house in London and see my parents looking at the television screen, watching the city essentially burn, it was very difficult,” he said.

“It’s horrible what happened there.”

The hotel was completely restored by 2010, and a monument was erected in the lobby to commemorate the victims.

The attacks, Patel said, “are still very raw for a lot of people.”

“But they really wanted to put that in the past and show that it didn’t cripple them.”

The coming-of-age film, which won Best Film at the 2018 Asian Film Awards, is set in 1970s and portrays the performing art troupe members of the People’s Liberation Army during the Cultural Revolution. Each face their own trials and tribulations; from escaping a family scandal to dealing with unrequited love, each experiences rejection that shapes their lives.

“Youth” is chosen by Suthee Muenwaja, the costume designer for GTH and GDH’s most successful films including “Pee Mak”, “Hello Stranger” and “Brother of the Year”.

“The costume in this film doesn’t stand out as much but it rather ratifies that costume is a part of the film’s overall art direction. All the colours of the costume in this film are in sync with the whole production. At first, the bright colours of the costume reflects the blooming youth before changing the tone to represent the sombre mood of the film and the characters that have been through difficult experiences,” says Suthee.

Entry is Bt60 per person (with a free programme). Tickets are available at 3pm and the screening starts at5pm. The film is in Chinese with English and Thai subtitles. The post-screening talk will be in Thai with English translation.

The 2018 edition of the Venice Film Festival, which wrapped on Saturday, marked a turning point in Thai cinematic history, when first time filmmaker Phuttiphong Aroonpheng’s “Manta Ray”, being named Best Film in the festival’s Orizzonti (Horizons) section.

Back in 2003, Japanese star Tadanobu Asano won the Upstream Award for Best Actor for his role in Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s “Last Life in the Universe”, but this the first time a Thai director has picked up a major prize at one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals.

Though “Manta Ray” is the director’s first feature film, Phuttiphong is not a newcomer to Thai cinema or indeed to being recognised for his work. After graduating from Silpakorn University, Phuttiphong continued his studies at the Digital Film Academy of New York and started making short films and visual art works and his “My Image Observes Your Image if it Is Possible to Observe it” was screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. He is also known for his cinematographic contribution to Pimpaka Towira’s “The Island Funeral”, which won him the Asian New Talent Award for Best Cinematography from the 2016 edition of the Shanghai International Film Festival.

Back in 2009, Phuttiphong was selected as a participant in the Asian Film Academy’s filmmaking workshop organised by Busan International Film Festival and it was here, he says, that the idea for his own feature film was conceived.

“I wanted to do something about the border,” Phuttiphong tells XP. “I directed a video project about human identity, like an artist’s identity. When I started my film project, I decided to cast wider for the subject matter.”

The film project “Departure Day”, which later became “Manta Ray”, was first presented at the Hong Kong Asia Film Financing Forum in 2011, before participating in Produire Au Sud workshop at the Festival of the Three Continents in Nantes, France later that year.

“I heard about the situation of the Rohingya people in Myanmar and Thailand and went to Ranong province to conduct my research. My friend, who is a researcher, explained to me in depth what was happening with them. That’s why I decided to make a film about these people.

The director and cast of “Manta Ray” at the world premiere of the film at the Venice Film Festival. From left: Wanlop Rungkumjad, Phuttiphong Aroonpheng, Rasmee Wayrana and Aphisit Hama.

“However, during the development process, the slant I was planning on taking changed, especially when I heard people who know nothing about the Rohingya criticising them heavily. I was shocked to see people in my society becoming ultra-nationalist and ready to attack other human beings. That is why the theme of ‘Manta Ray’ focuses more on people’s views and attitudes towards the Rohingyas. I didn’t make ‘Manta Ray’ as a film about the Rohingya crisis, as that problem is highly complex. All we know is from what we have been told by other people, and from the distorted history. I tried to focus on humans who know nothing, know no history, but still judge other human beings,” he says.

Despite its main character being a Rohingya, the drama is not an ethnographic film and does not, as Phuttiphong says, provide information on the Rohingya crisis.

“I am not a humanist nor a social worker. I tried to avoid turning the story into another soapy drama. I prefer to tell this story through my film language,” he explains.

Because of the inherent difficulties faced by independent filmmakers in Thailand, it took Phuttiphong eight years to get started on the film.

“I was lucky in that many people helped me. But what really helped this project was my short film ‘Ferris Wheel’.”

The awardwinning film “Manta Ray” starrring s Wanlop Rungkumjad, right, as the fisherman, and Aphisit Hama, left, as Thongchai, reflects the relationship between homeowners and illegal immigrants in the real world.

In 2015, Phuttiphong was chosen by the Busan International Film Festival as a participant in the Colour of Asia project for which four young Asian filmmakers were assigned to make a short film under the mentoring of Asian auteurs such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul and Naomi Kawase. With funding support from the programme, Phuttiphong made ‘Ferris Wheel’, which went on to become a film festival hit and earned a special mention award from the Singapore International Film Festival. Moreover at the end of the Busan International Film Festival 2015, Phuttiphong was chosen by the Colour of Asia project as a recipient of financial support from China’s video hosting service Youku to make his first feature film and on top of that, the success of “Ferris Wheel” attracted veteran French producer Philippe Avril to join the Thai team of producers Mai Meksawan, Jakrawal Nilthamrong and Chatchai Chaiyon.

“Originally the film was supposed to have two parts,” Phuttiphong explains. “It was the story of a Burmese immigrant who crosses the Moei river to come to Thailand and the tale of a stranger who is found on the shores of the Andaman. As I had already used the Burmese immigrant idea for ‘Ferris Wheel’, I decided that in my first feature film, I would focus on the man who is found on the shore.”

Of the change of title from “Departure Day” to ‘Manta Ray’, the director says: “Manta rays keep moving. They wander all over Andaman Sea and know no boundaries. It fits with the idea of the film.”

“Manta Ray” tells the story of a local fisherman (Wanlop Rungkumjad) who discovers an injured man (Aphisit Hama) in the forest. The fisherman rescues the stranger, who doesn’t speak a single word. He later calls the stranger “Thongchai” after Thai superstar Thongchai “Bird” McIntyre. One day, the fisherman mysteriously disappears from Thongchai’s life. Thongchai meets Saijai (Rasmee Wayrana), the fisherman’s ex-wife, and bit by bit, Thongchai begins to take over his friend’s life.

Wanlop is a familiar face in Thai independent film and has appeared in such award-winning outings as Sivaroj Kongsakul’s “Eternity”, Nawapol Thamrongrattanarit’s “36” and Pimpaka Towira’s “The Island Funeral”.

After the mysterious disappearance of the fisherman, the stranger, right, Aphisit Hama, starts to take over his life, and also his wife, played by mor lam singer Rasmee Wayrana.

“In 2012, I made a pilot film for the financiers, and asked Wanlop to be in it. I saw him in ‘Eternity’ and liked him a lot. When we actually started the production of ‘Manta Ray’ in 2017, we decided that this character had to be played by him.

“We couldn’t use a Rohingya actor for the part of Thongchai as this would have been illegal. Aphisit is from Sai Buri in Pattani province and came along to our casting call. He has always felt an outsider in Thai society, and that’s the reason we chose him to play this role”

Rasmee Wayrana is an internationally known mor lam singer. And even though she has no acting experience, Phuttiphong chose her to play the role of Saijai, the fisherman’s wife. “We wanted someone who can sing. I saw her on YouTube and I liked her a lot, so we tried hard to track her down and convince her to be in this film.”

Production was completed last October and earlier this year came the unexpected though welcome news that the film has been selected for the Orizzonti competition at Venice.

“I had no expectations at all and I certainly didn’t expect it to come this far. It’s unbelievable that the film was selected for Venice,” says the director.

“Manta Ray” had its world premiere on September 7, the penultimate day of festival and despite many people having already left Lido, the film still got a good buzz.

“My film was the last in the Orizzonti section to be screened. There were not very many people in the audience, but we got good feedback. The festival staff told me that many people waited back to listen to the Q&A, perhaps because they were confused by the story.”

And the very next day, Phuttiphong learnt that he had become the first Thai to win a prize from the festival. “I didn’t expect it to win. I was very excited. My producer might have had an inkling that it could win but to me it came completely out of the blue and I hadn’t prepared a speech!”

After its huge triumph in Venice, “Manta Ray” is continuing its journey, screening at the Toronto, San Sebastian, Vancouver and Busan film festivals in the coming weeks.

“I hope that the film will have its theatrical release in Thailand very soon, perhaps next year.” he says.

His father, Raem Woratham, 85, also a former actor, said doctors had called him at 2am to say death was imminent, but he didn’t reach Nakornping Hospital in time to say a last goodbye.

Raem said he was prepared for the worst, having been told when Warut was first admitted that he had 50 per cent chance of survival.

Actor-TV host Maethanee “Nino” Buranasiri and two other friends from show business were with Warut when he died.

Maethanee, reportedly in tears, helped hospital staff move Warut’s body to the morgue before leaving the hospital.

Another friend, singer Somprasong “Tum” Singhawanawat, posted on Facebook that Warut had been pronounced dead at 2.40am.

Raem said prayers would be recited at Wat Phra Singh for seven days and the cremation would be held after 100 days.

Warut suddenly collapsed soon after returning home to Ban Phae Huai Khwang in Hang Dong district

from a TV show taping in Lamphun.

He underwent cardiopulmonary resuscitation at Hang Dong Hospital and was then transferred to Nakornping Hospital.

Warut was born in Bangkok on September 17, 1969. After graduating from Bangkok Christian College, he continued his studies in aviation in England.

He got into show business in 1988 and immediately found fame with his first movie, “Khu Kham” (“Ill-fated Love”), in which he played an idealistic Japanese soldier in a World War II drama set in Thailand.

His portrayal of Kobori won him a Phra Saraswati award, also known as the Tukkata Tong (Golden Doll).

In 1992 he won a Golden Television Award for his role in the drama series “Nai Fan” (“In Dreams”).

Warut also hosted TV shows.

He and his common-law wife, Jessadawan Chantaeng, had a son, Anachak Woratham, before they separated.

Warut later revealed he had another son in New Zealand, by a previous wife.

With entertainment jobs dwindling due to his drinking problem, Warut retired from the business last July to focus on his coffee shop-restaurant in Hang Dong, Ban Warut (Warut’s Home).

He’d been alcohol-free for more than six months and was recently invited to join the cast of another TV show.

He also spoke about the hazards of alcohol at public events for the district public health office.

The movie, about a young novice about to take her final vows and a priest sent by the Vatican to probe the death of a young nun in Romania, unseated another Warner hit — “Crazy Rich Asians” — which had taken the No. 1 spot at the box office for three weeks in a row, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said Monday.

“We knew heading into the weekend that anticipation for ‘The Nun’ was extremely high across multiple demos, but these results surpassed all our expectations,” Jeff Goldstein, head of domestic distribution for Warner Bros., told Variety.

Vigilante action film “Peppermint,” starring Jennifer Garner as a mother seeking revenge against the drug cartel she blames for killing her husband and daughter, grabbed the number two spot with $13.4 million in ticket sales.

“Crazy Rich Asians,” with its nearly all-Asian cast led by Henry Golding and Constance Wu, came in third with $13.1 million.

Another Warner film, “The Meg,” came in fourth with $6.1 million in ticket sales. It stars Jason Statham as a rescue diver confronting a huge, prehistoric shark.

In fifth spot was Sony thriller “Searching,” starring John Cho as a man desperate to find his missing teenage daughter. It took in $4.6 million.

Rounding out this weekend’s top 10 were:

“Mission: Impossible — Fallout” ($3.9 million)

“Christopher Robin” ($3.4 million)

“Operation Finale” ($2.9 million)

“BlacKkKlansman” ($2.6 million)

“Alpha” ($2.5 million).

The Lab, which will train Southeast Asian filmmakers on grant writing and project pitching, will be held during the opening weekend of the ninth annual festival, which will take place from December 7-12.

This is the third year of the collaboration with TFI and at the end of the workshop, a jury will select one project from the forum to attend the TFI Network market, which will take place in New York City during the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival.

Hosted annually by TFI, the industry market gives filmmakers the opportunity to build connections with a wide range of industry insiders who can potentially help them advance their projects.

TFI will then mentor the winning filmmaker or filmmaking team through the completion of their project. All participants in the Talent Lab will also receive preferential consideration for any of TFI’s grants.

In addition to the opportunity to attend TFI Network market, participating filmmakers will have the chance to win an Aurora Producing Award of $10,000 (Bt328,700), granted by Singapore-based media investment firm Aurora Media Holdings.

Founded by Justin Deimen, Terence Kong, and Jeremy Sim, Aurora Media is one of Southeast Asia’s leading media and entertainment asset incubation, investment, and management specialists.

“It’s been fascinating and truly fulfilling for us to work with Southeast Asian talent through the years,” says Deimen, Group Managing Partner at Aurora Media Holdings.

“They have the drive, passion, and a unique perspective on storytelling for both niche and commercial films that promises to impact global audiences. We’re proud to be associated with the LPFF Talent Lab and its team as they’ve shown terrific acumen in curating and nurturing these filmmakers, and preparing them for the next level of inter-regional and international co-productions.”

The 2017 Talent Lab had 10 participating film projects from six Southeast Asian countries and was led by TFI’s manager of Artist Programmes, Bryce Norbitz, and TFI’s senior director of Artist Programs, Molly O’Keefe. At the end of the project pitching sessions, the Lao feature film project “Raising a Beast” was selected to attend the 2018 TFI Network market, and the Philippine film project Cat Island received $10,000 towards its production.

“It has been wonderful to immerse ourselves in the contemporary Southeast Asian film landscape and do our small part in sharing these essential films with a US marketplace,” says O’Keefe.

“We are honoured to return for a third year and expand upon the solid foundation we have built with LPFF to share pitching, funding, and general industry experience with talented working filmmakers from the region.”

To read more about the 2018 LPFF Talent Lab, access the Call for Applications at http://www.lpfilmfest.org/content/2018/festival-talentlab.html.

This year, the festival features seven selected Italian contemporary movies, namely “Emma – Il Colore Nascosto Delle Cose”, “Cinderella, the Cat”, “The Correspondence”, “Young, Fit and Almost Good Looking” “Tenderness”, “The Place”, and “It Is All About Karma”.

“Emma – Il Colore Nascosto Delle Cose” is a 2017 drama directed by Silvio Soldini and tells the story of Teo, a man with a good job, a fiancee, lovers and no intention to assume any responsibility in his life. His meeting with Emma, a blind woman, will upset his convictions.

“Young, Fit and Almost Good Looking – Ci Vuole un Fisico”, directed by Alessandro Tamburini, is about Alessandro and Anna who meet by chance after both missing out on a dinner date. At first Alessandro cannot stand Anna, finding her unattractive and nosy. But during a night full of discussion and dancing, he will get to know her, learning something more about himself.

Giuseppe Tornatore’s English-language romantic drama “The Correspondence” is centred on astrophysics professor Ed and his lover, the PhD student Amy Ryan. Amy is working as a stuntwoman, who performs dangerous scenes that normally lead to the death of the character. She keeps communicates with Ed through video chat, e-mails, and packages. One day, Amy realises he is not answering his mobile phone although she does receives some emails from him. When reading the last one, she notices a maple leaf hitting her window and watches it for a moment before it flies away.

“The Place” is directed by Paolo Genovese, who also co-wrote the script. An adaptation of the TV series “The Booth at the End”, it narrates the fates of an apparently random group of strangers who each come into contact with a mysterious figure they believe possesses the power to grant any wish, in return for which they must carry out a task he assigns them.

“Cinderella the Cat” is an animation by Alessandro Rak, Ivan Cappiello, Marino Guarnieri and Dario Sansone, loosely based on the Giambattista Basile’s fable of the same name and Roberto De Simone’s musical “La Gatta Cenerentola”. The plot is set in a decaying future Naples and concerns a mysterious mute teenager called Mia, who struggles to escape from the Camorra boss Salvatore Lo Giusto and her vicious stepmother Angelica.

“Tenderness” is a 2017 drama directed by Gianni Amelio and based on the novel “The Temptation to Be Happy” by Lorenzo Marone.

Lorenzo, who recently suffered a heart attack, is on his way to his top-floor apartment in Naples when he meets Michela, a charming young woman, who has just moved into the apartment opposite but has forgotten her keys and finds herself locked out. Cynical and grumpy, the retired lawyer who has been living estranged from the rest of the world, mellows under her spontaneous charm. He helps her, becomes friends not only with her but with her husband Fabio and their two children. For once, the self-declared misanthropist seems to be experiencing the long-forgotten feeling of empathy.

Directed by Eduardo Falcone, “It Is All About Karma – Questione di Karma” is about Giacomo, the heir to an industrialist who prefers to devote his mind to thoughts and fantasies. An esoteric will change Giacomo’s life by telling him that he is the current reincarnation of his father, who died when he was a young boy. The reincarnation is Mario Pitagora (Elio Germano), a man whose sole interest is money. Their meeting will change their lives.

This fourth edition of the Italian Film Festival Bangkok 2018 is supported by the Embassy of Italy and Dante Alighieri Society. All movies are screened with the original Italian soundtrack, with English and Thai subtitles.

Find out more at Facebook.com/ItalianFilmFestivalBangkok or http://www.MajorCineplex.com/en/main.

“Love Alarm” will be available only on Netflix globally in 2019.

The story of “Love Alarm” revolves around a mobile application that alerts users when someone within a 10-metre radius has romantic feelings for them. While the app becomes a social fascination, people are still interested in the true, natural feelings for each other that existed before everyone was using the app.

“Love Alarm” is the hit webtoon series by Korea’s top comics author Chon Kyeyoung, and has been recognised for its unique drawing style and in-depth emotional expressions within the story. Chon is well known for her work including Unplugged Boy and Girl in Heels, and Love Alarm’s popularity has been continuing for 7 seasons since its debut in 2014.

The new Netflix original series will be directed by Lee Najeong, recognised for the popular romantic comedy “Fight My Way”, and writers will include Lee Ahyoun and Seo Bora. The 8episode Netflix original series will be produced by Studio Dragon.

The Asian adaptation of Endemol Shine’s hit Nordic detective series “The Bridge” will be screened on HBO, HBO GO and HBO on Demand in Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Palau, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

“This adaptation of ‘The Bridge’ will add to our ever-growing line up of Asian Original content that will resonate with audiences in the region and around the world,” says Jonathan Spink, chief executive of Asia

“Our approach is not just to produce great content, but also continue investing in the local ecosystem by providing a platform for sustained growth,” added Kingsley Warner, executive producer of the Asian series. The Bridge, Malaysia and Singapore.

Starring Bront Palarae, Rebecca Lim, Cheryl Samad and Tony Eusoff, “The Bridge” is directed by Lee Thean-jeen and Jason Chong. A body is found on the border of two countries, Malaysia and Singapore, forcing an investigator from each country to work together to solve the case.

Also to be honored during the 10th annual Governors Awards on November 18 in Hollywood will be producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, who are married and who will receive the Irving G. Thalberg Award, named after the legendary studio executive, the Academy said.

“Choosing the honorees for its awards each year is the happiest of all the Board of Governors’ work,” John Bailey, president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, said in a statement.

“And this year, its selection of five iconic artists was made with universal acclaim by the Academy’s 54 spirited governors,” he added.

Levy, the first publicist ever to receive an honorary Oscar, has long worked with Steven Spielberg and spearheaded the advertising campaigns for such films as “Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “Schindler’s List.”

Tyson, 93, who began her career as a model before turning to acting, was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 1972 film “Sounder.” Her other film credits include “Fried Green Tomatoes,” and “The Help.”

Schifrin, 86, who has written scores for more than 100 films, including “Bullit” and “Dirty Harry,” is perhaps most famous for the theme he wrote for the television series “Mission: Impossible” which has also been a hallmark of the films that followed.

Kennedy, in charge of the latest “Star Wars” movies at Disney, is the first woman to receive the Thalberg, which was last handed out by the Academy in 2009 to Francis Ford Coppola.

She and her husband have produced a number of movies together including “The Sixth Sense,” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

The honorary Oscars are handed out every year “to honor extraordinary distinction in lifetime achievement, exceptional contributions to the state of motion picture arts and sciences, or for outstanding service to the Academy.”

The Governors Awards were created as a separate event in 2009 to allow more space for the honorees to accept their statuettes and to declutter the main show’s packed schedule.