Actress Natalie Dormer, currently on stage in London’s West End starring in “Venus in Fur, indie pop singer Madison Beer and singer/actress Sabrina Carpenter are set to present awards at the show.

The 2017 MTV EMAs will broadcast around the globe from The SSE Arena, Wembley in London on November 12 and will air live on MTV Asia on November 13. The repeat telecast airs on the same day.

For the 2017 MTV EMAs, Shawn Mendes is nominated for “Best Song” for “There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back,” and has also earned nods in the “Best Artist,” “Best Pop,” “Biggest Fans” and “Best Canadian Act” categories. Demi Lovato and Camila Cabello are also both up for “Best Pop,” and The Killers are nominated for “Best Rock.” Stormzy is up for “Best UK & Ireland Act.” The artists join previously announced performer and this year’s 2017 MTV EMA host Rita Ora, who will be performing her highly-anticipated new single.

Additional performers and presenters will be announced in the coming weeks.

“The King Who Brings Smiles” is available both in Thai and English and comes with subtitles in both languages. The series contains 9 episodes, each running for five minutes, focusing on the late monarch as a public health advocate, as an artist and a musician, as a sportsman, as an agriculture pioneer, as a supporter of all faiths, as a promoter of lifelong learning, as an engineer, as an innovator and as an advocate of the sufficiency economy theory.

Watch the nine episodes in English at https://tinyurl.com/ya9elohg and in Thai at https://tinyurl.com/ybl2nj3w.

The series can also be watched until Tuesday (October 24) in English at NBT World Channel from 3.05pm and in Thai on NBT 2HD channel at 3. From tomorrow (October 23) the Thai version will be aired on Workpoint (Channel 23) during its news programmes and today in both Thai and English on Line TV.

For more information, contacts Chula Communication Center at (02) 218-3364-6 or email cicc@chula.ac.th.

SOMETIMES described as an addictive homage to Spielberg’s “Stand By Me” and “ET” and to the cult television series of the 1980s, Netflix’s sci-fi series “Stranger Things” kicks off its second season next week to great anticipation. Indeed audience expectations are so high that the streaming service recently flew journalists from all over the world to London to chat with two of its young stars.

And so on a chilly afternoon last week, that intrepid group of reporters sat around in a five-star hotel in central London waiting for Millie Bobby Brow and Noah Schnapp.

It’s been a hectic few days for the two 13 year-olds who have been travelling around to promote and talk about the hit series, which premiered last year.

Part horror and part fantasy, the series is set in the small Indiana town of Hawkins in the 1980s. The story starts when a young boy Will Byers (Schnapp) mysteriously disappears from the town setting off a series of monstrous events. While everyone is searching for him, a mysterious girl with a shaved head, who later becomes known as Eleven, arrives in their midst. She turns out to be telekinetic and has escaped from a laboratory where secret experiments are being carried out.

Unbeknown to Will’s mother Joyce (Wynona Ryder) and police chief Jim Hopper, Will’s gang of friends, Mike (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin (Gaten Matarazzo) and Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin, try and find him while also helping Eleven. Smart and nerdy, the boys soon discover the Upside Down World, which looks similar to the world we live in but is poisonous and dark.

Directed by the Duffer twins Matt and Ross and full of references to the pop culture of 35 years ago, the series has propelled Brown to instant stardom. She plays Eleven with a maturity that goes far beyond her age, which won her a nomination for the Emmy Awards’ Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series as well as the best hero prize from the MTV Movie & TV Awards. The cast was also recognised by the Screen Actors Guild Awards in the Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series category. No stranger to the screen, Brown has appeared in e “Grey’s Anatomy”, “NCIS” and “Modern Family”.

While Schnapp is the key character and drives the first season, which ends with him throwing up then washing away a young monster-like creature, he actually has less screen time than his pals. Schnapp too has screen experience having played Tom Hanks’ son in Steven Spielberg’s “Bridge of Spies” and voiced Charlie Brown in the “The Peanuts Movie”. From the delicate little boy in the first season, Schnapp has moved into adolescence and while his voice is deeper, viewers will have no problem identifying him as Will.

Despite having millions of followers on their Twitter accounts, the two insist they are grounded.

“I think we still live the same life, just our lives right now are a lot busier,” says Schnapp before trailing off to let Brown finish. “We have each other to help. Obviously we enjoy being famous and it means we get to do really fun things that many kids of our age don’t have the opportunity to do. So while we have a ton of fans, we also have each other. We know what the other is going through and so we are like best friends. Not only do we connect, we also finish each other’s sentences,” she says.

“We don’t deal with the fame. I mean we don’t even think of it much, I can’t really speak for Noah but I would say none of us even think about it. We act and we have a couple million followers, which is pretty huge. We are so grateful for the fans and the followers but that’s not what we work for. We work because we love it. It’s just being on camera and reading our scripts and becoming our characters. That’s so important to us and fame is just something that comes with it.

The directors took time to help the youngsters with the references to the ‘80s by letting them watch the shows and films on which they draw.

“A lot of the series is based on those references so the movie and television stuff is kind of like our homework. When we were filming, we didn’t stop and think ‘oh, right, this is The Goonies’. We just walk, we look at our scenes, we say our words, we cry, we react and then the director shouts ‘cut!’ and we go home,” says Brown.

The second season is set in 1984, about a year after the first season leaves off. Will is having mysterious flashbacks to Upside Down and he’s having some difficulty separating them from reality. Will’s mother has started dating an old high school classmate (Sean Astin, who starred in “The Goonies”) and even Eleven seems to find a way out from the Upside Down.

Schnapp says that his character is very different from the boy in the first season. “It’s emotional, it’s a lot more exciting but it’s still has everything from the first season.

Will is going through a lot more stress. I know he had a lot of stress last season too but that was another dimension. Now he’s struggling with the aftermath and that has changed him mentally.”

Eleven, says Brown, has changed too. “She’s very hormonal and very feisty. Eleven was always feisty but vulnerable too, crying all the time. Now she’s grown up. And there’s this love triangle too. It’s fun to compare ourselves to the way we were last season.”

A teen romance seemed likely in the first season when Mike kissed Eleven before she’s dragged back into the Upside Down in order to protect her friends from the monster.

The success of “Stranger Things”, says Schnapp, is not just down to nostalgia for the ’80s retro nor even the cast. “I don’t think there is just one reason. I think it’s because everyone can relate to the characters on the show and connect to them in their own personal way. Also because the chemistry between all the characters is very sweet,” he explains.

Asked to name their role model in acting, Schnapp doesn’t hesitate to name his screen dad in “Bridge of Spies”, – Tom Hanks.

“I still really look up to him. I really aspire to be like him because he’s such a nice guy and an amazing actor.

For her part, Brown loves two actresses, both of whom internationally hailed for their acting talents.

“I like Meryl Streep and Jodie Foster because they are the kind of women who have slipped effortlessly into directing, which is something I also think about. I also really admire Hailee Steinfeld. She sings, she acts and she’s a genuinely lovely person,” she says.

BACK UPSIDE DOWN

– “Stranger Things” season 2 starts streaming on Netflix next Friday.

Many Japanese novels sold well in Thailand in the early 2000s, with a number of works by wellknown writers selected for translation and publication in Thailand. Even though the number of publishers dealing with Japanese literature has fallen, the topics are more varied and the popularity of Japanese movies, among them “If Cats Disappeared from the World” and “Your Name”, have sparked renewed interest in Japanese books. Moreover, Thai young generation readers are keen on Japanese books that narrate the feelings and lives of their contemporaries. Pop-culture influencers also play a part in promoting Japanese modern and classic novelists.

Starting at 2pm, the talk’s objective is to share the background of Japanese novels in Thailand and exchange information among Thai readers and publishers. The talk will be in Thai and moderated by Artch Bunnag, editor of JLIT Publishing, Dr Namthip Methasate, assistant professor at Japanese language department, Chulalongkorn University, and Theerapa Theeraratstit  translator of “Let Me Eat Your Pancreas”). Admission is free.

Find out more at http://www.Jfbkk.or.th.

An established film director with a strong presence in both Indian and Western Cinema, Kapur has previously served on the jury of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival, the London Film Festival and the Tokyo International Film Festival. He first gained global recognition with his film “Bandit Queen” (1994), which won rave reviews after premiering at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

He then introduced Australian actress Cate Blanchett to the world in his two historical biopics of Queen Elizabeth – “Elizabeth” (1998), which won six BAFTA Awards and seven nominations at the Academy Awards, and “Elizabeth: The Golden Age” (2007) that earned two Academy Award nominations, and walked away with one win. A man of many talents, Kapur went beyond films and collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber to co-create the West End musical “Bombay Dreams”.

Joining Kapur on the jury are Hong Kong filmmaker Clara Law (“Autumn Moon”, 1992 and “The Goddess of 1967”, 2000), Iranian-American screenwriter and director Ana Lily Amirpour (“A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night”, 2014) and Head of Programming at the Locarno Film Festival Mark Peranson.

For the Southeast Asian Short Film Competition, the programming director of the Asian Future section at the Tokyo International Film Festival Kenji Ishizaka will head the jury panel, which also includes Singapore filmmaker K. Rajagopal (“A Yellow Bird”, 2016) and Indonesian actress Marsha Timothy (“Marlina the Murderer in Four Acts”, 2017).

“Our jury members are prominent and dynamic industry leaders in their own right. With their expertise and craftsmanship, we look forward to identifying talent and recognising Asian features and Southeast Asian short films that stand out with their bold artistry and strong storytelling,” said SGIFF executive director Yuni Hadi said

Besides their jury duties for the Silver Screen Awards which will be held on December 2 at the Marina Bay Sands, Kapur and Law will also hold masterclasses to interact and share their experiences with audiences. A series of short films by Ana Lily Amirpour including “Six and A Half”, her first and only film shot on film on Super 16mm, will also be screened as part of the Cinema Today section of the festival.

The festival has brought a new Focus series as part of this year’s line-up – “Histories of Tomorrow: Indonesian Cinema After the New Order”. Through film screenings and a panel discussion during the festival, the series will showcase filmmaking in Indonesia as an embodiment of its independent and community spirit.

The selected films share the common theme as agents of change that engage with social reality through cinema, which rose in prominence after the New Order. To encourage dialogues and foster a stronger audience-creator relationship, Indonesian film practitioners including the co-curator of the focus programme, Adrian Jonathan Pasaribu – who is also editor-in-chief of Cinema Poetica and a member of Indonesian Film Board – will be in town to engage with festival goers through a panel discussion.

“The Indonesian film industry today is rich with provincial colour and this is without doubt a result of the resurgence of Indonesian cinema post-New Order. As a fierce champion of the film talent and cinema of the region, the festival aims to shed light on this vibrant scene and inspire more with the unique flavour of Southeast Asian storytelling,” said Thai director Pimpaka Towira, the festival’s programme director.

The 28th SGIFF, which runs from November 23 to December 3, will take place across various venues, including Marina Bay Sands, Shaw Theatres Lido, National Museum of Singapore, National Gallery Singapore, The Arts House, Filmgarde Bugis+, Objectifs and SCAPE.

Weinstein was sacked as co-chairman of The Weinstein Company on October 8, but had continued to hold a seat on the board until his resignation on Tuesday.

A source close to the film producer confirmed his departure after a meeting in Manhattan wrapped up between Weinstein’s legal team and his eponymous company.

The Weinstein Company announced Monday that Colony Capital had agreed to provide an “immediate cash infusion” to the scandal-plagued studio, and that the two parties were in talks on a potential sale.

Around 40 actresses, including stars Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie and Mira Sorvino have come forward saying they were sexually harassed by the producer.

On Tuesday, Game Of Thrones actress Lena Headey became the latest to detail alleged encounters with the mogul at the Venice Film Festival and in Los Angeles.

In a series of tweets, the English actress said after she told him she was uninterested in anything other than work, the studio boss was left “furious.”

The avalanche of accusations against the twice-married, 65-year-old father of five include rape, assault and sexual harassment. He insists any sexual encounters were consensual.

– ‘Silence condition of employment’ –

For years one of the most powerful moguls in Hollywood, his films have received more than 300 Oscar nominations and 81 statuettes. But he was expelled last week from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Revelations about Weinstein, first revealed by The New York Times and The New Yorker magazine, have seen a growing number of women share experiences of sexual harassment — both in Hollywood and the wider world.

On Monday, Oscar-winning actress Witherspoon, 41, said she was just 16 when it happened to her for the first, but not the only time, by an unnamed director.

“I have my own experiences that have come back to me very vividly, and I found it really hard to sleep, hard to think, hard to communicate,” she told an Elle magazine’s Women in Hollywood event late Monday.

“A lot of the feelings I’ve been having about anxiety, about being honest, the guilt for not speaking up earlier or taking action,” she continued.

“True disgust at the director who assaulted me when I was 16 years old and anger that I felt at the agents and the producers who made me feel that silence was a condition of my employment.”

The mother of two said she wished she could have said it was an isolated incident.

– Amazon resignation –

“But after hearing all the stories these past few days… it’s made me want to speak up and speak up loudly because I felt less alone this week than I’ve ever felt in my entire career,” she said.

As the Weinstein harassment allegations reverberate around the world, thousands of women have taken to social media in response to an appeal by actress Alyssa Milano to respond “me too” if they have been sexually assaulted or harassed.

US actress America Ferrera joined the campaign on Tuesday to say she was sexually assaulted when she was nine years old, although there was no suggestion that the alleged assault was linked to her career.

At the Women in Hollywood event on Monday, Jennifer Lawrence — who in 2016 was the highest paid actress in the world — spoke of being humiliated by a female producer and urged to lose weight at the start of her career.

“A female producer had me do a nude lineup with about five women who were much, much thinner than me. And we all stood side-by-side with only paste-ons covering our privates,” she said.

“After that degrading and humiliating lineup, the female producer told me I should use the naked photos of myself as inspiration for my diet.”

“I let myself be treated a certain way because I felt like I had to for my career,” she said.

In reverberations beyond the Weinstein scandal, Amazon confirmed Tuesday that Roy Price was resigning as president of Amazon Studios — just days after he was suspended on October 12 from the tech giant’s entertainment division on the heels of renewed sexual harassment allegations.

The signing ceremony was being held at the Mipcom along with the signing of an agreement for 10-feature film co-production with Wings Media, a member of the Oriental Pearl Group and a wholly owned subsidiary of China’s second-largest media group, Shanghai Media Group.

Valued at an estimated US$$250 million, this will be the biggest animation film cooperation in Asia, and the first ever China-Singapore-Thailand animation co-production.

The first film produced by the joint venture will integrate Wings Media’s sci-fi centric hit reality TV series “Starship MZ:2049” with Tiny Island Productions’ award-winning animated series, “Dream Defenders”.

It is expected to be completed for release in 2020, with a new film based on a new IP to be rolled out each following year. The long-term goal will be to build China’s own version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe that will entertain audiences worldwide.

Shellhut Entertainment and Tiny Island Productions had previously partnered to produce Shellhut Entertainment’s hit animated TV series project “Shelldon”. This venture is part of the Shellhut Entertainment’s Strategy to expand its media footprint in Asia, and IPs from these films will be used to build theme parks in Thailand.

“We are dedicated to searching the globe for the best film and television content,” said Dr. Jwanwat Ahriyavraromp, CEO of Shellhut Entertainment. “We are confident that this partnership will introduce the world’s audience to the new, exciting and unique flavours of Asia.”

An international team of animation veterans will be assembled to lead the development and production of the films, led by director Paul Chung who has worked for feature film studios like Dreamworks, Walt Disney, Warner Brothers and MGM, on films such as “Shrek”, “Madagascar”, “Megamind” and “Jungle Book”.

“Paul has many years of experience working in the US and UK, and has been working in China recently,” said David Kwok, CEO of Tiny Island Productions. “Our goal is to create appealing characters and stories that will touch the heart of audiences in the East and West. Shellhut and Tiny Island Pictures’ next step will be to talk with American and European partners, and we will have more exciting announcements coming soon. Through the creation of new IPs, the company plans to expand its operations towards developing licensing and merchandising products.”

“This collaboration will bring together Science Fiction from China and the rest of the world,” said Shelan He,Vice President of Oriental Pearl Group,President of Shanghai WingsMedia “I believe the co-produced films will showcase the best of China’s culture, as well as expose China’s audiences to the multi-cultural characteristics of Singapore and Thailand.”

Wings Media views Shellhut and Tiny Island Pictures as important long-term partners, and will use this partnership to lay the foundation for more extensive collaborations in the future to create more quality content for international markets.

Beginning in December, two series from each of the regions will arrive on the US streaming services HBO GO and HBO NOW as well as HBO On Demand.

“Working with talented local writers, directors and producers, our international networks are creating programming that lives up to the high-quality storytelling that is expected of the HBO brand. This programming regularly outperforms even ‘Game of Thrones’ record audience numbers in their respective markets. I am tremendously proud to bring such a selection of programs to our US audience,” said Plepler during his keynote conversation at Mipcom, Cannes.

The selected content is produced and aired by HBO international networks in Latin America, Europe and Asia in local languages and includes the Czech Republic’s mini-series “Wasteland”, seasons 1 and 2 of Polish series “Pakt”, seasons 1 and 2 of El Hipnotizador”, new Brazilian drama La Vida Secreta De Las Parjeas”, Taiwan series “ The Teenage Psychic” and the first two seasons of the Thai/Indonesia co-production “Halfworlds”.

The programming has been featured at major international film festivals including the Toronto International Film Festival and the Karlovy Vary Film Festival among others.

Plepler is in Cannes to receive the Variety Vanguard Award and spoke on stage about the power of brands in an increasingly competitive global marketplace.

Thai movie “Chalard Games Gong” (“Bad Genius”) only opened in in China last Friday (October 13) and has already grossed more than100 millon yuan (Bt500 million) in box office takings. The production team also released several posters and materials behind the scene on the same day.

Bad Genius’s performance at the box office on the first day was very good and the film is expected to raise another film frenzy after the Golden Week national holiday. Before the first show in Chinese mainland, the film was shown in Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan to good feedback.

After topping box office takings in Thailand, the film set a new record for Thai films in Taiwan and topped the box office for two consecutive weeks in Hong Kong. It has also got good ratings on major film review websites, including 100 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes, 8.3 points on IMDb and 8.5 points on China’s douban. The movie has been called “a must-see film in October” by Internet users and film critics alike.

Bad Genius” focuses on Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying), a straight-A student who plans with rich kid Pat (Teeradon Supapunpinyo) to cheat the international standardised test for students wanting to enrol in the world’s leading universities. The test is scheduled to take place on the same date and same time at locations all over the world. Their plan is for Lynn to fly to a country in a time zone that’s ahead of Thailand and then send the answers back to her customers. The only setback is that they need another genius to help them pass on the answers in Thailand and the only person that fits the profile is Bank (Chanon Santinatornkul), Lynn’s scholarship-student rival who is staunchly against cheating of any kind.

“Bad Genius”, which is based on a sensational cheating case of 2014, tells a story of how talented people exploit their skills to help others cheat in exams and get high profits.

The film’s theme and conception together with social and educational issues are presented in a totally new way. Some Chinese viewers even said that the film was better than any Hollywood film they had ever seen.

However “Bad Genius” still ranks in second place in the China box office after the martial arts comedy “Never Say Die” that took the top spot at the Chinese box office for the third week in a row.

The women’s allegations against the 65-year-old movie mogul, according to the magazine, include unwanted oral sex and forced oral and full sex. Weinstein denies all charges, according to a statement from his spokeswoman Sallie Hofmeister, circulated among US media.

The accusations will be seen as a hugely damaging escalation of the scandal engulfing the Oscar-winning producer, as the numerous allegations which led to his weekend sacking from The Weinstein Company had so far been limited to complaints about harassment.

New Yorker writer Ronan Farrow spent 10 months interviewing 13 women who reported they were harassed or assaulted by Weinstein.

The investigation was published as fresh misconduct allegations emerged from Hollywood A-listers such as Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Argento, the 42-year-old daughter of iconic horror director Dario Argento, said Weinstein forced oral sex on her 20 years ago.

She told the publication she had maintained her silence until now for fear that Weinstein would “crush” her, adding: “I know he has crushed a lot of people before.”

She said Weinstein, who has weighed up to 300 pounds (136 kilograms), terrified her due to his immense size.

“It wouldn’t stop. It was a nightmare,” she added, revealing that she had felt forced to pretend she was enjoying the attack in hopes that it would be over with sooner.

Argento acknowledges that her credibility may be compromised by the fact that she eventually yielded to his advances, even growing close to him and having consensual sex with him multiple times over the following five years.

She said she felt “obliged” to submit, however, and worried that he would ruin her career if she rejected him.

“Just his body, his presence, his face, bring me back to the little girl that I was when I was 21… After the rape, he won,” she told the New Yorker.

Lucia Evans, an aspiring actress, said she met Weinstein at the Miramax office in New York in 2004 and that he forced her to perform oral sex on him.

“I said, over and over, ‘I don’t want to do this, stop, don’t,'” she told the New Yorker.

“I tried to get away, but maybe I didn’t try hard enough. I didn’t want to kick him or fight him.”

– ‘People give up’ –

Evans said she was overpowered and “just sort of gave up.”

“That’s the most horrible part of it, and that’s why he’s been able to do this for so long to so many women: people give up, and then they feel like it’s their fault,” she added.

Another woman, who was too afraid to allow her name to be published, told the New Yorker Weinstein brought her to a hotel room and “forced himself on me sexually.”

She thought about going to the police, but decided it would be a case of “he said, she said,” and worried about how powerful his legal team would be, and how much she had to lose.

Another instance involved model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, once a finalist in the Miss Italy contest, whom the New Yorker said Weinstein met in March 2015 at a reception for a show he was producing in New York.

According to the New Yorker, Gutierrez says Weinstein “lunged at her, groping her breasts and attempting to put a hand up her skirt” at a meeting in his offices in Tribeca.

She reported the incident and the New York Police Department asked her to wear a wire to his play “Finding Neverland.”

Audio of their conversation in a hallway at the Tribeca Grand Hotel was released by the magazine, with Weinstein heard repeatedly trying to persuade her to come into his room.

“Why yesterday you touch my breast?” she asks, and he replies: “Oh, please, I’m sorry, just come on in, I’m used to that.”

Clinton, Obama weigh in

Authorities decided not to press charges, according to the New Yorker, after it emerged the young woman had attended one of former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi’s infamous “bunga bunga” sex parties.

Weinstein was fired late Sunday from his own film studio, three days after a New York Times report alleged that the man behind such hits as “The King’s Speech” and “The Artist” had preyed on young women hoping to break into the industry.

The Times, as well as various entertainment media, separately reported on Tuesday that the litany of Weinstein’s harassment victims also included Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Rosanna Arquette and French actress Judith Godreche.

“I was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein,” former Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said in a statement Tuesday, while former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle said they were “disgusted” at the longtime Democratic Party donor.

“Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status,” they said in a statement.

Variety magazine, citing unnamed sources, said the latest allegations had sparked anger and dismay at The Weinstein Company’s offices in Tribeca and Beverly Hills, where work had ground to a halt.