Announced on Saturday, the Kim Ji-seok award was inaugurated this year as a tribute to the festival co-founder and former festival programme director who died while attending the Cannes International Film Festival in May.

Directed by Anucha Boonyawatana, whose previous work was the independent release “Onthakan” (“The Blue Hour”), the film premiered at Busan. Its stars, Sukollawat “Weir” Kanaros and Anuchyd Sapanphong, attended the festival and Weir also won the “Face of Asia Award” organised by Marie Claire magazine and the BIFF. Other winners of the “Face of Asia” awards are Japanese actress Sugisaku Hana, Vietnamese actress Lan Ngoc Ninh Duong and South Korean actor Choi Min Ho.

“Anucha’s film casts a Buddhist eye on the piercing theme of transience, using the metaphor of baisri flowers (where are sewn into elaborate flower sculptures and then allowed to decay) to stand for the impermance of our lives and emotions,” the jury noted.

“A man who has lost his daughter and driven away his wife rekindles an earlier romance with another man. But his lover is terminally ill, and the man becomes a monk in the hope that “making merit” will help to fend off the illness. With its exquisite language, ‘Malila: The Farewell Flower’ seems a more-than-fitting film to win an award named in memory of the late Kim Ji-seok.”

The Kim Ji-seok prizes are awarded to two films from the festival’s Window on Asian cinema section. Each receives a cash award of $10,000 (Bt340,000).

The jury was made up of critic and curator Tony Rayns, former Variety correspondent Darcy Paquet, and Indonesian director Garin Nugruho.

Directed by the 1981-born filmmaker Nattawut Poonpiriya, the movie revolves around two straight-A students, who plan to cheat in an international exam to make money and find their lives altered immeasurably by the mistakes they make.

The movie opened on the Chinese mainland on Oct 13 and has so far been awarded 8.3 out of 10 by film review site Douban.com, a barometer of popularity.

As well as proving a hit with Chinese netizens, local movie critics also lavished praise on the Thai production.

Zhang Boqing of Beijing-based research group Online Film Market, and honorary chairman of the China Film Critics Association, says the movie also explored social concerns as well as entertaining viewers.

He says the movie reflected the growing imbalance between rich and poor, and the unfair allocation of educational resources.

Rao Shuguang, secretary-general of the China Film Association, says the most alluring aspect of the film for him was the twisting storyline, which elevates the coming-of-age tale into a stylish crime thriller.

“The characters are also very impressive. Chinese filmmakers could learn a thing or two from their foreign counterparts,” says Rao.

But in China, where it is known as Haunted Road 2, the movie opened last week to rave reviews from fans and critics alike, with Aom gaining widespread praise as well. Chinese moviegoers were so intrigued by its Malaysian horror elements that the box office takings hit the RMB1mil (RM640,000) mark in just half a day and reached RMB10mil (RM6.4mil) in one week.

Aom (whose Chinese name is Li Haina) plays Bai Ling, a young lady from China who takes a business trip to Malaysia with her fiance Jun (China actor Leon Li Chuan). They win a lot of money at a casino in Genting Highlands, and end up staying the night in a spooky hotel there. After some close encounters with its creepy tenants, she tries to escape with the help of a local man (Malaysian actor Teddy Chin).

Best known for her rom-com roles in Thai remakes of K-drama Full House and J-drama Kiss Me, the 29-year-old Aom (real name Sushar Manaying) says she is fortunate to be part of Haunted Hotel, where she got to work with professionals from both Malaysia and China.

“Haunted Hotel is my first foray into the Chinese-language cinema. I worked very hard and gave it my all. I hope more people will watch our movie and see for themselves all the exciting things that we did,” said Aom during a media conference in Petaling Jaya to launch Haunted Hotel in Malaysia.

Aom stars as the China businesswoman named Bai Ling who has scary experiences in Malaysia in horror thriller Haunted Hotel. Photo: Filepic

How was it like having to shoot the movie in Mandarin?

Language was seriously a major challenge. But it is a Chinese movie, so the director insisted that we spoke our lines in Mandarin. My first language is not Mandarin, so I had to learn my dialogue by heart.

Since the movie is a horror thriller, it got especially tough when my character became excited or angry. She had to speak a lot faster and she usually had a lot more to say when her emotions got the better of her.

What would you say is the scariest thing about Haunted Hotel?

Definitely the location (Amber Court in Genting), because of its reputation as one of the top 10 haunted hotels in Asia and the spooky stories of people who died there. I’ve filmed other horror productions before, but not in a famous haunted location like that. But I did do Hashima Project, a Thai horror movie which was shot on the abandoned Hashima island.

Did you have to make any special preparations for the movie?

It was actually a very physical role, as there was a lot of action. So, I started on a special workout regime to make myself tougher and stronger. My character Bai Ling had to do a lot of running, fighting and falling from great heights. So, I made sure to keep myself fit and improved my stamina with cardio training.

Can you tell us about that dangerous-looking wire scene where you fall from a great height and end up dangling from some cables?

That was quite scary, because the scene is based on true events where a girl actually fell several floors and landed where I was supposed to be (suspended upside-down from the cables). The director did not tell me about it, but I did some research and found out anyway. Also, the wirework was especially challenging for me as my skin bruises easily.

Even so, I decided to do it for the experience. I actually looked forward to doing my own stunts as I wanted to learn more about doing action scenes. I admit it looked very dangerous, but I felt confident about attempting that scene as I knew all the proper safety measures had been taken.

Did you experience any eerie encounters on the set?

Actually, I have never had such experiences. Even when I was shooting other horror movies. I keep hearing other people tell scary stories. Some actors say they felt something watching them from behind while shooting the movie. But I have no scary stories of my own to share as I have never seen anything with my own eyes.

Directed by David Ayer, known for the box-office hits “Suicide Squad” and “Training Day”, the thriller follows two LAPD police officers played by Smith (Officer Ward) and Edgerton (Officer Jakoby), who work around the clock to keep the mean streets of Los Angeles safe from a sinister underworld filled with gang violence and dark forces.

Battling both their own personal differences as well as an onslaught of enemies, they must work together to protect a thought-to-be-forgotten relic, which in the wrong hands could destroy everything.

Take a closer look at the action-packed movie that Will Smith describes as “wildly unique” in the brand new trailer slated to screen on Netflix soon. “Bright” also stars Noomi Rapace, Lucy Fry, Edgar Ramirez, Ike Barinholtz, Enrique Murciano, Jay Hernandez, Andrea Navedo, Veronica Ngo, Alex Meraz, Margaret Cho, Brad William Henke, Dawn Oliveri, and Kenneth Choi.

“Bright” will be available for streaming on December 22.

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.