David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, the creators of the smash-hit, Emmy Award-winning television series, will write and produce new films that are separate from the main Skywalker saga and the trilogy being developed by Rian Johnson, writer-director of “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.”

“David and Dan are some of the best storytellers working today,” Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm, said in a statement.

“Their command of complex characters, depth of story and richness of mythology will break new ground and boldly push ‘Star Wars’ in ways I find incredibly exciting.”

Benioff and Weiss released a joint statement saying they had been dreaming of traveling to “a galaxy far, far away” since seeing the original movie in 1977.

“We are honored by the opportunity, a little terrified by the responsibility, and so excited to get started as soon as the final season of ‘Game of Thrones’ is complete,” they said.

Lucasfilm did not say how many movies would comprise the new series or announce release dates.

Disney boss Bob Iger said when Johnson’s trilogy was announced in November the “Star Wars” franchise had been “exceeding expectations” since the entertainment giant acquired Lucasfilm in 2012.

The two films from the main series under Disney’s charge — “The Force Awakens” (2015) and “The Last Jedi” (2017) — are among the top ten highest grossing movies of all time, with $2 billion and $1.3 billion respectively.

“Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” (2016), the first of three scheduled spin-off movies, also made more than $1 billion, raising hopes for the success of the next, “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which opens in May.

– Good and evil –

Californian filmmaker George Lucas was 33 when he prepared to release his third feature — a far-fetched, slightly corny intergalactic saga of good and evil starring a sulky farm boy with daddy issues.

“Star Wars” has since grown into the most lucrative and influential movie franchise of all time, ingrained in a geek culture that gave rise to Silicon Valley and disruptive technologies.

The announcement sparked excitement — and some grumbling — among fans of “Game of Thrones,” one of the most popular and talked-about cable shows in history, which begins its final, six-episode season in 2019.

“I can’t wait for a graphic C-3PO/R2-D2 sex scene in a galaxy far, far away,” joked one Twitter user, a reference to the frequent racy love scenes and nudity for which “Thrones” has become infamous.

But not everyone was thrilled by the announcement, which once again underscored the lack of female or ethnic minority directors in the “Star Wars” universe, a marked contrast to the diversity Lucasfilm has promoted in front of camera.

“Still no sign of ever seeing any part of a galaxy long time ago and far, far away as conceived of by a woman or person of color,” tweeted film executive Franklin Leonard, who founded The Black List, a yearly publication featuring Hollywood’s most popular unproduced screenplays.

The announcement came as the Walt Disney Company issued its first earnings report since announcing six weeks ago that it would buy much of rival studio Fox’s film and television assets in a $52 billion deal.

The California-based entertainment giant reported first-quarter earnings — up to December 30 — of $1.89 per share, a 22 percent on-year rise, and revenue of $15.4 billion, just shy of the $15.5 billion analysts had been predicting.

“We’re excited about what lies ahead, with a robust film slate, the launch of our ESPN direct-to-consumer business, new investments in our theme parks, and our pending acquisition of Twenty-First Century Fox,” said Iger.

Considered by critics and industry insiders as one of the most important film events in the world, the International Film Festival Rotterdam, wrapped its 47th edition on Sunday after recording a record attendance of 329,000. This year’s winner of the prestigious Hivos Tiger Award. “The Widowed Witch”, by Cai Chengjie, a new-generation filmmaker from China.

Thailand was well represented in Rotterdam too, with Korakrit Arunanonchai, a Thai artist based in New York, picking up the Ammodo Tiger Short Competition prize for his latest work “With History in a Room Filled with People with Funny Names 4” – the first time a Thai short filmmaker has been recognised with the Tiger award for short films.

Also screening were works by four other Thai short filmmakers, namely Pathompon “Mont” Tesprateep, a visual artist who came to Rotterdam with two works, “Song X”, which premiered at last year’s Locarno Film Festival, and his latest oeuvre “Confusion is Next”. Visual artist Prapat Jiwarangsan who in 2015 showed his short film ‘The Asylum’ here, was back with his new short film “Destination Nowhere”. Nakhen Puttikulangkura, a recently graduated filmmaker offered “When the Rain Is Falling Down”, while repeat director Sorayos Prapapan, an award-winning filmmaker, returned with ‘”Death of the Sound Man”, which premiered in Venice Film Festival and won him the Best Director prize at the Singapore International Film Festival.

“Homogenous, Empty Time”, the only Thai feature film in IFFR this year, is the latest work by veteran filmmaker Thunska Pansittivorakul, who was back in Rotterdam after a four-year absence. In this new film, which was screened at the Singapore festival and Queer Lisboa last year, Thunska and his co-director Harit Srikhao convey a strong message about the ongoing situation back home, dedicating the movie to the late political scientist and historian Benedict Anderson.

For many filmgoers, one of the highlights of the IFFR 2018 was the return of Apichatpong Weerasethakul. He was in town to present his new project “Sleep Cinema Hotel”, which he describes as a one of its kind experience.

“I made a short film back in the late 90’s which recorded me as I woke up,” says Apichatpong.

Sleep has long been a theme of Apichatpong’s works – for example, the sleeping scene at the stream in the jungle in “Blissfully Yours” and the sleeping soldiers in his latest feature “Cemetery of Splendor”.

“I’m not sure why I have this obsession with this state but I’m fascinated with observing my own body through the day and later, when I’m meditating. It makes sense as you have to focus your thinking and breathing. Dreaming ties in with the situation in Thailand, where I work with villagers, who take refuge in dreams. When you can’t deal with reality, you sleep because it’s a place where nobody can control you. It can be a liberation in some ways.

“It’s a dream to have a cinema specifically for sleeping. Over the years I have become less and less interested in watching movies. Even when I watch my own films, I go to sleep. Every time I go to Cannes Film Festival, I get through the red carpet thing, then I sit down for five to 10 minutes. When people clap or boo, I wake up. That fascination with internal images makes me believe that the best cinema is inside of us. We don’t need other cinemas. When we sleep, we see our own images in a different world. We tend to underrate our dreams,” he explains.

“The International Film Festival Rotterdam has asked me many times to create a project and from the beginning I’ve wanted to do a hotel. I wanted to turn the Oude Luxor cinema into a hotel. That later became a reality,” says Apichatpong.

His Sleep Cinema Hotel project turned the Postillion Convention Centre WTC Rotterdam Zaal Staal into a hotel. Here guests could actually book a bed and stay in the convention hall where moving images from the past from the EYE Filmmuseum and the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision flitted across the screen in a loop. Apichatpong selected five themes for the footage –sleeping animals, sleeping people, clouds, water and waves. Guests and observers of the Sleep Cinema Hotel could experience sleep while the moving images were projected.

“Rotterdam is a port city. It’s city that was bombed and rebuilt from nothing. The footage manifests the existence of the past, and memories of the past. It’s more like a reconnection with the spirit of different times when you are sleeping. We also had a book where we encouraged the hotel guests to write down what they had dreamt about last night.”

Guests who wanted to sleep at the Sleep Cinema Hotel paid 75 euros (about Bt3,000) a night to enjoy this unique experience. Hardly surprisingly, the hotel was fully booked.

And Apichatpong didn’t just bring sleep to Rotterdam but also a special project to support young visual artists. He selected Pathompon for Frameworks, an annual presentation format that shines light on new work by emerging visual artists. In this context, a renowned filmmaker will choose a visual artist to receive a grant from IFFR to finish a single-screen audio-visual work.

“I am interested in him because he is a musician. His earlier video works are fascinating, and later he made films that he shot on 16 mm, and the content of his works is about confronting fear. It’s very interesting to see a young Thai filmmaker make films about this theme. He really stood out,” says Apichatpong, adding that he sees Pathompon as the future of Thai cinema and the visual arts scene.

Jenner, 20, runs Kylie Cosmetics in addition to appearing in her family’s long-running reality show “Keeping up with the Kardashians.”

The baby’s name was not immediately announced. She was born in Los Angeles on February 1.

Jenner is normally a busy social media machine-feeder. But her pregnancy was a relative blackout, which she said was her decision.

“I knew my baby would feel every stress and every emotion. So I chose to do it this way for my little life, and our happiness,” she said in a statement on Twitter.

“It is with great sadness that myself and my family announce the unexpected passing of our son and brother, Chris Cattrall,” she said in a tweet, less than 24 hours after publicly appealing for help in finding him.

“At this time we ask for privacy. We want to thank you all on social media for your outpouring of love and support in this trying time,” she said without specifying the cause of death.

Her younger sibling disappeared from his home in Canada’s Alberta province for five days.

“MISSING! This is my brother Christopher Cattrall or Chris as we call him,” she wrote in an Instagram post that accompanied a picture of the 55-year-old, sporting a short haircut, a slight smile, and a black sports-style jersey.

She added that he had not been seen since January 30, and that he left his keys, cell phone, and wallet on the table of his home in the town of Lacombe, while the front door was unlocked.

“This is not like Chris. He… would never leave his unlocked home without those items nor his seven beloved dogs,” she wrote.

“Chris is 55 years old, six feet tall (1.83 meters), 200 pounds (90 kilograms), blue eyes, short brown hair, goatee, average build and usually wearing a waist length hooded winter coat with black gloves, blue jeans and calf high black winter boots,” she added.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police had also issued an alert on Sunday. CBC television cited the police as saying Chris Cattrall’s death was not considered suspicious.

The move is “the most significant collaboration in Malaysian sports history,” said iflix in a Friday media release..

For the first time since the league was founded, football fans everywhere in Malaysia and beyond will be able to livestream every Liga Super, Piala Malaysia, and marquee Piala FA matches exclusively on the all new “Football Malaysia on iflix” channel.

Starting February 3, football fans around the region will have virtual front-row seats to the entire professional football season, including 22 rounds with six matches weekly for Liga Super, 74 Piala FA and Piala Malaysia tournament matches as well as select Liga Premier matches and the Piala Sumbangsih match.

In addition to live streamed matches, users will also be able to access new features including match highlights and player interviews.

Those with access to the Internet will be able to livestream four Liga Super matches every week along with 46 tournament matches and select Liga Premier matches for free, regardless of their subscription status. New users and those with an active iflix subscription will further be able to livestream, catch up and enjoy all matches and features.

Football is widely recognised as Malaysia’s most popular sport. With only seven million total households with televisions, only a small percentage of the population was able to enjoy the competition without physically attending matches. Football has been largely inaccessible to the majority of Malaysians.

The entertainment service and Football Malaysia will additionally create new competitions and content expressly for football fans, including a series of entertainment and lifestyle original productions about and around the world of football for both broader audiences and hard-core fans alike.

The Football Malaysia on iflix channel will join iflix’s growing live sports streaming offerings, which include Indonesia’s Liga 1, the global Mayweather vs McGregor fight, also in Indonesia, as well as T10 Cricket in Bangladesh, and eSport competitions for DOTA2.

Now available to over one billion consumers across 25 territories throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa, iflix is a market leader in video streaming. Offering consumers a large library of top Hollywood, Asian and Middle Eastern regional, and local TV shows and movies, including many first run exclusives and award-winning programs, each subscription allows users to access the service on up to five devices, including phones, laptops, tablets, and television sets, for viewing wherever, whenever.

The Japanese Film Festival is back today with a showcase of 11 top-quality films being screened at SF World Cinema over the next nine days before travelling around the country with stops in Chiang Mai in the north, Phuket in the south, and for the first time, in Nakhon Ratchasima in the northeast.

All 11 films have been carefully selected to reflect Japanese art and culture as well as the way of life in an attempt to strengthen cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Opening the festival tonight is “Destiny: Kamakura Story”, a fantasy film from renowned director Takashi Yamazaki, whose earlier works include award-winners “Always: Sunset on Third Street” and “Stand by Me Doraemon”. “Destiny: Kamakura Story” is an adaptation of the popular Japanese manga about a writer Masakazu Isshiki (Masato Sakai) who, along with his much younger wife Akiko (Mitsuki Takahata), solves mysterious cases taking place in Kamakura by interacting with demons, spirits, gods and aliens.

Tomorrow fans have a chance to meet actor Taishi Nakagawa who stars in the film “ReLife”. The film tells the story of Arata Kaizaki (Nakagawa), a 27-year-old unemployed man who decides to take part in a research programme called “ReLife” under which he has to take a medication that makes him look 10 years younger. Deciding to attend high school for a year, he falls in love with fellow student Chizuru Hishiro (Yuna Taira). But once the year-long experiment expires, he will be erased from her memory.

Another highlight of the festival is “Memoirs of a Murderer,” the Japanese remake of the Korean film “Confession of Murder” by Jung Byung-gil. It revolves around the shocking murder of five individuals by a presumed serial killer. The statute of limitations expires without the killer being apprehended only for him to resurface 22 years later at a press conference where he announces the launch of a memoir about the murders he committed. And that’s just the beginning of his plan. Tatsuya Fujiwara of “Death Note” and “Battle Royale” fame plays the murderer.

The enchanting animation “Miss Hokusai” by Keiichi Hara is about the daughter of Katsushika Hokusai, a globally recognised Japanese artist. However, very few are aware of his daughter, and how she contributed to her father’s art. This is the story of O-Ei, Master Hokusai’s daughter – a lively portrayal of a free-spirited, utterly outspoken and highly talented woman.

Action drama “Mumon” portrays Mumon (Satoshi Ono), a lazy but talented ninja from Iga province who causes the big trouble for the ninja corps when he kills a ninja from a different family for a reward.

Heart-warming drama, “Close-Knit” centres on the life of Rinko, a transgender woman with a heart of gold. Her boyfriend Makio was captivated by her heart and accepts her for who she is. And a lonely girl named Tomo suddenly appears in their life.

Other films include “Honnouji Hotel,” “ Reflections,” “Survival Family,” “The Long Excuse,”and “Tora-san of Goto.”

Cinematic cheer

– The Japanese Film Festival moves to Chiang Mai from February 23-25 with Bt80 tickets, then on to SFX Cinema Central Plaza Nakhon Ratchasima from March 2-4. It wraps at SFX Central Festival. Phuket during March 9-11.

– Admission for both the Nakhon Ratchasima and Phuket showings is free. Tickets will be available at the information desk of “The Japanese Film Festival 2018” from 5pm on March 2 in Nakhon Ratchasima and March 9 in Phuket . – Tickets on weekends will be available from 1pm.

– Find out more at SF Call Center (02) 268 8888 or visit http://www.SFCinemaCity.com and Facebook.com/Welovesf.

Directed by the late Rattana Pestonji, the 1958 comedy drama and musical tells the story of Nien, (Suebnuang Kanphai), a poor orphan girl who is on the run after stealing some food that a wealthy man had purchased to feed his dogs. A singing garbage collector Choo (Suthep Wongkamhaeng) rescues her by hiding in his garbage cart while the wealthy man and a policeman continue their search. Choo then takes Nien back to his humble shack and gives her shelter. They fall in love but are torn apart when Choo is drafted into the army and sent off to war. Nien takes over Choo’s job as garbage collector before a wealthy woman adopts her. When Choo returns, he is blind and Nien, who has grown accustomed to luxury, is conflicted between maintaining her newfound wealth and returning to a simple life with Choo.

Leading actors Charlie Intaravijit, Suthep and Suebnaung will attend the screening at 1pm at Sri Salaya theatre with Suebnuang then having her hand and foot prints set in concrete at Laan Dara at 3pm. A conversation with the three actors begins at 3.30pm and Suthep will perform the soundtrack backed by the Kanchanaphaline band.

The film has been remastered in 4k. Find out more at (02) 482 20013-4

Directed by Ruj Ronnaphob, the film was released in 1979 and has now been restored by Five Star Entertainment.

The film centres on Plew (Sombat Methanee), a professional assassin who returns to Thailand to find out who killed his father. He is forced by Bunpot to kill Slavut, but instead he accidentally helps Slavut get away. While on the run from Bunpot, he meets Jack (Chatupol Bhuapirom), they decide to flee to Rome. Later they come back to help one of his best friends and kill Bunpot and all of his men.

The film is in Thai with English subtitles and showing at Bangkok Screening Room from February 10 to 25.

Also showing is “Star Sand”, which begins in the closing days of World War II and sees Japanese-American girl Hiromi encountering an American deserter Bob and a Japanese soldier Iwabuchi, living together in a cave on a small island in Okinawa. As both vow never to harm another human being again, Hiromi looks after the deserters until another soldier appears and the peace of the cave is shattered. “Star Sand” will run from February 14 to March 4.

“Malila” will start screening on February 17, two days after its official release and be shown daily through March 4.

The classic film from New Wave French director Alain Resnais, “The Last Year at Marienbad” shows from today through February 18. The black-and-white film won the Golden Lion award from Venice International Film Festival in 1962 and features costumes designed by Coco Channel. It’s the tale of a man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled chateau they now find themselves wandering. Unforgettable in both its confounding details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlour games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, Resnais’ investigation into the nature of memory is both disturbing and romantic.

Find out more by visiting https://bkksr.com/ or call (090) 906 3888.

News outlet TMZ, citing law enforcement, said Salling had committed suicide by hanging.

“I can confirm that Mark Salling passed away early this morning,” his lawyer Michael Proctor said in a statement.

“Mark was a gentle and loving person, a person of great creativity, who was doing his best to atone for some serious mistakes and errors of judgment.”

Salling was facing sentencing on March 7 after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography under an agreement with prosecutors. He had been arrested in late 2015, and charged in 2016.

Authorities reportedly found more than 50,000 pornographic images and videos of children, mainly girls, on his laptop and an external drive.

On “Glee,” Salling played Noah Puckerman, an angry football player outside his comfort zone when he joins the high school glee club.

According to TMZ, he had previously attempted suicide in August.

Another actor on the hit series, Canadian Cory Monteith, died in July 2013 of an overdose of drugs and alcohol.

“The Salling family appreciates the support they have been receiving and asks for their privacy to be respected,” Proctor said.

Imagine a world that would allow us to save our minds, memories and consciousness before we die, digitally piling them up in a cortical stack then inserting that stack in a new body or sleeve at some point in the future. That’s the premise of the new dystopian series “Altered Carbon” making its debut on Netflix this Friday.

Cast members Joel Kinnaman, Martha Higareda, Dichen Lachman and creator/script writer Laeta Kalogridis recently jetted into a bitterly cold Seoul to introduce their ambitious project.

Based on the cyberpunk novel of the same name by Richard K Morgan, Kalogridis says she initially intended to make “Altered Carbon” as a movie but later expanded the story into a 10-episode series for Netflix.

“It’s about what happens when we develop technology that allows human beings to live forever but are not morally ready for the consequences of that,” explains Kalogridis, who also wrote the scripts for and produced “Shutter Island”, “Terminator Genisys and was executive producer for “Avatar”.

Kinnaman, who is best known for his roles as the RoboCop in the remake of “RoboCop” and also as Rick Flag in “Suicide Squad”, plays Takeshi Kovacs, the lone surviving soldier in a group of elite interstellar warriors known as Envoy who were defeated in an uprising against the new world order. Three hundred years later he is brought back in a new sleeve – as the human body is known here – at the request of the rich and powerful Laurens Bancroft (James Purefoy) on condition that he solves a murder – Bancroft’s own. The latter is one of the long-lived, wealthy and powerful beings classified as the Meth – a Biblical reference to Methusalah)

After waking up in a new sleeve – formerly that of Will Yun Lee – Kovacs not only has to come to turns with his new persona but also finds himself pursued by detective Kristin Ortega. And as he works to solve Bancroft’s murder, he has to find out who wants to kill him and why, now that he has appeared in a new sleeve, he is being chased.

The series is rooted in a neo-catholic world in which believers have arranged that they will not be resleeved as they believe that the soul goes to Heaven when they die, and so would not pass on to the new sleeve. This makes them easy targets for murder, since killers know their victims will not be resleeved to testify. The controversy between believers and non-believers is reignited when a resolution is passed that allows the police to wake up the Catholics who have died to find out who murdered them.

“The book is about the evolution of a new technology that would completely change the way we live. It’s not artificial intelligence; this is more about how we would change ourselves from the inside out, what I would like to call transhumanism,” Kalogridis explains.

“And I wanted to know more about the characters in the book like Ortega and Reileen who weren’t built up in the novel.”

“Altered Carbon” is complicated and non-sci-fi fans risk have problems understanding the futuristic society and being confused by the technical terms used throughout the 10 episodes like stacks, sleeve, Oni and more. Yet the series is undeniably entertaining, offering viewers an unsual glimpse to the world they created. In short, it’s a mixture of “Blade Runner” and “Matrix” with a dash of genres from action. romance, thriller and even social criticism thrown in.

Kinnaman says working on the series felt rather like making 10 movies at the same time. He likes the idea of the stack and sleeve and says he would almost certainly opt for it should it be available in real life, a subject that caused a great deal of heated debate with his wife during shooting. ““She said. ‘go ahead if that’s what you want but get a new wife because I’m only living once,” he laughs.

“At first we were tempted by the idea of getting to live longer as a lot of our fears are connected to death. I think the show says in a beautiful way that the essence of life and the beauty of being alive is that we are going to die. I would probably make the wrong decision and get spun up (as the stack going into the new sleeve is called) and that’s probably not good for society as a whole. But I don’t think I would be able to refuse it,” adds the actor.

His fellow stars, actresses Higareda and Lachman, agree with Kinnaman, saying they’d want to live forever too if the stack and sleeve concept were reality.

Kalogridis is less enthusiastic. “I’m only interested in the human health span and in mental acuity. I’m interested in not taxing the planet and actually think that it’s very bad thing for anyone to live forever because ultimately death is the greatest safeguard we’ve been given against the worst parts of ourselves. It’s the balance of yin and yang,” she says.

Getting that debate across is one reason the writer/producer opted to change from film to series after buying the film rights to the book more than 10 years ago.

“It is hard to pack such a detailed story and characters into a two-hour movie and I became very aware that if you try and cram all the developments and the emotional growth, especially between Kovacs and Ortega into that timeframe, you can’t live any of it,” she says.

Kinnaman agrees, adding: “The book is so dense and so rich that turning it into the equivalent of a short story is impossible. It would really disappoint fans of the book as there’s so much you’d have to omit.”

The actor adds that he was pleased with the challenge of playing Kovacs in his new body.

“One of my favourite moments is in the love story with Ortega when I become jealous of myself, jealous of my new sleeve. It’s like the two of us are in a love triangle and I am two parts of that triangle,” he explains.

The female characters play a major role in driving the story throughout the 10 episodes. For example, the relation between Kovacs and his little sister Ray or Reileen is played up much more than in the book and both she and Ortega come across as very strong women.

“In many movies the typical Latina character is a tomboy and we wanted to break with that and turn her into a real person. So Ortega is tough. She’s also feminine but she’s also close to her family and true to her heart. But she has to defend herself in the world and that takes a well-rounded person,” says Higareda whose previous work includes “Street Kings”, “McFarland” and the hit action TV series “Hawaii Five-O.

“I wanted to make Reilleen vulnerable because in Hollywood Asian women are so underwritten and one dimensional. Asian women are much more complicated,” says Lachman whose parents are of Tibetan and German descent. Lachman also appeared in TV series “Agents of SHIELD” and “The Last Ship”.

“I just feel we’re so lucky that we can both represent a part of who we are culturally and bring it to life in a really interesting way,” Lachman concludes.