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Italy has selected “Vermiglio” as the country’s entry for Best International Feature Film at the 97th Academy Awards. The movie written and directed by Maura Delpero won the Silver Lion Grand Jury Prize at the 2024 Venice Film Festival and will make its stateside debut at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 10.

“Vermiglio” is set in 1944, in Vermiglio, a high mountain village of the Italian Alps where war looms as a distant but constant threat. The arrival of Pietro (Giuseppe De Domenico), a refugee soldier, disrupts the dynamics of the local teacher’s family, changing them forever. During the four seasons marking the end of World War II, Pietro and Lucia (Martina Scrinzi), the eldest daughter of the teacher, instantly drawn to each other, led to marriage and an unexpected fate. As the world emerges from its tragedy, the family will face its own.

Italy has won Best International...

Venice Film Festival jury president Isabelle Huppert expressed support for Nicole Kidman after the actress was unable to accept her Best Actress prize for Babygirl in person, due to her mother’s death.

Kidman had traveled to Italy to receive the award but had to get back on a plane shortly after landing.

“I just wanted to express my compassion to Nicole Kidman, who can’t be here tonight, who had to go back unexpectedly, and I just want to tell her that we really miss her and we love her,” Huppert told the jury press conference.

Isabelle Huppert expresses condolences to Nicole Kidman following her mother’s passing.

Huppert says “we love you, Nicole” and explains why the jury awarded Kidman the Best Actress prize #Venezia81 pic.twitter.com/FKdn5YTIFU

— Deadline (@Deadline) September 7, 2024

Earlier at the awards ceremony, Babygirl director Halina Reijn had read out a message from...

While last year’s strikes created a somewhat subdued energy on the Lido with very few talent able to be present, this year’s 2024 Venice Film Festival proved to hot and steamy. And we’re not just talking about the excessive heat movie stars and fan alike were subjected to. Films like Halina Reijn’s erotic thriller “Babygirl” and Luca Guadagnino’s adaptation of William S. Burrough’s short novel “Queer” aroused audience interest with career-best performances from Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig and highly revealing sexual interplay. However it was Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Room Next Door” that took home the coveted Golden Lion, marking the first time the filmmaker has won a top prize at any major festival throughout his career.

Brady Corbet returned to the Palazzo del Cinema with his four-hour post-wwii epic “The Brutalist,” which screened to rave reception and earned the director the Silver Lion,...

It has not been, it’s safe to say, an all-timer Venice Competition lineup. Despite that, rumor has it that the 81st edition’s jury, presided over by Isabelle Huppert and comprising filmmakers James Gray, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Abderrahmane Sissako, Giuseppe Tornatore, Julia von Heinz and actress Zhang Ziyi, took some time to come to their decisions during a prolonged deliberation session yesterday.

Speculation was also rife that, insofar as festival juries pay much attention to precedent, due to the string of high-profile US films that have won Venice in recent years they might have been discouraged from awarding the top prize to another American, or even American-led movie.

That story shifted slightly in the days following the premiere of “The Brutalist,” as the 3h15m-long film, directed by Brady Corbet, starring Adrien Brody and described by Variety’s Owen Gleiberman as “paced with a pleasing...

The 2024 Venice Film Festival got underway this week and stars hit the red carpet in full force. Jenna Ortega and Winona Ryder showed up for the world premiere of Tim Burton’s long-awaited sequel “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” which was warmly received, while Angelina Jolie drew raves for her performance as opera diva Maria Callas in Pablo Larrain’s “Maria.” Nicole Kidman took to Venice for her erotic drama “Babygirl,” and Cate Blanchett flanked Oscar-winning filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón for the premiere of the “Roma” director’s Apple TV+ series “Disclaimer.”

See all the looks in TheWrap’s Venice Film Festival red carpet gallery below, which we’ll be updating throughout the festival.

Taylor Russell attends a red carpet for “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice” during the Venice Film Festival. (Photo by Stephane Cardinale / Getty Images) Taylor Russell attends a red carpet for “Maria” during the Venice Film Festival. (Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images...

So many stars stepped out to support Nicole Kidman and her Babygirl castmates at the Venice Film Festival premiere of their new movie on Friday (August 30) in Venice, Italy.

The 57-year-old Oscar winner stars in the erotic thriller from director Halina Reijn alongside Harris Dickinson, Sophie Wilde and Antonio Banderas, who all attended the premiere.

Antonio made a rare red carpet appearance with his girlfriend Nicole Kimpel!

A multitude of other stars attended the event to show support. The list includes the likes of Lili Reinhart and Chase Stokes. With such a large guestlist, we pulled together the photos so that you could easily see who was there and what they wore.

Head inside to see photos of everyone who attended the premiere…

Keep scrolling to see photos of everyone who attended the Babygirl premiere at the 2024 Venice Film Festival…

Nicole Kidman

Fyi: Nicole is wearing Schiaparelli FW24 Couture.

Harris...

Taylor Russell is giving us an incredible fashion moment to kick off the 2024 Venice Film Festival!

The 30-year-old actress is serving as a jury member for the festival and she stunned on the red carpet at the opening ceremony on Wednesday (August 28) in Venice, Italy.

Taylor was joined at the event by fellow jury members Isabelle Huppert and Zhang Ziyi, who are both on the Main Competition jury. Taylor is a member of the Debut Film jury.

Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was the opening night film and the cast walked the red carpet!

Fyi: Taylor is wearing a Chanel Couture dress and Tiffany & Co. jewelry. Zhang is wearing an Armani Prive Couture look and Chopard jewelry. Isabelle is wearing a Balenciaga Haute Couture outfit.

Browse through the gallery for 30+ photos of Taylor Russell and others at the festival…...

Among historic piazzas and winding canals, the 81st Venice Film Festival kicks off tonight on the Lido di Venezia with the Opening Ceremony and the highly anticipated world premiere of Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

The red carpet was brimming with talent, marking a stark contrast to last year’s event, which saw a notable absence of celebrities due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes.

Related: ‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ Review: It’s A Wonderful Afterlife For Tim Burton’s Joyously Macabre Sequel – Venice Film Festival

Cast at the premiere included Winona Ryder, Michael Keaton, Catherine O’Hara, Jenna Ortega, Monica Bellucci, Willem Dafoe, Justin Theroux, Arthur Conti, and director Tim Burton who all walked the red carpet for the out-of-competition film at the Palazzo, on Wednesday, August 28.

Related: See All Of Jenna Ortega’s Beetlejuice-Themed Red Carpet Looks

Other guests included Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement honoree, Sigourney Weaver and Taylor Russell,...

French screen icon Isabelle Huppert, president of the 81st Venice Film Festival’s main competition jury, took the stage Wednesday afternoon to share her thoughts on how she will approach her role as the event’s de facto artistic judge-in-chief. The gathering was marked by a triumphant tone from Venice artistic director Alberto Barbera, who sat by Huppert’s side and noted that his glamorous Italian festival will feature more big-name stars on its red carpet over the coming week than in any year of recent memory. But there was also a palpable undercurrent of angst over the myriad tech-driven business challenges that continue to roil the global independent film business.

“I’m worried about the things everyone is worried about — whether cinema can continue to survive — because it’s very weak now,” Huppert remarked early in the sitdown. “It’s very difficult to make a film. A film is not just an individual effort.

French acting legend Isabelle Huppert, who is president of the Venice Film Festival jury this year, was joined by her panelists as artistic director Alberto Barbera hosted the opening press conference for the 81st running of the event this morning. It’s a different look this year, with no one sporting Writers Guild strike T-shirts à la 2023.

This morning’s session was brief but earnest, with many of the jury members speaking about the concerns around the state of contemporary cinema.

“I’m worried about the things everyone is worried about. Making sure that cinema continues to live because it is very weak now,” Huppert said during the session.

“It’s very difficult to make a film. A film is not just an individual effort. It’s really something we deliver to the world. So I am concerned about whether our world will still connect with people. That’s why...

The Venice Film Festival is just over two weeks away, bringing starry talent back to the Lido in water taxis after a year off for many due to the strikes in 2023. The Biennale has unveiled its Conversations and Masterclasses lineup, with a richer program and in a new and larger (250 seats) location at the Match Point Arena, set up at the Tennis Club Venezia on the Lido.

Four Masterclasses will be held by directors and performers, including the actress Sigourney Weaver (recipient of the Golden Lion for Career) on Thursday, August, 29; filmmaker Peter Weir (Golden Lion for Career) on Sunday, September 1, and his 2003 film “Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World” also screens during the festival; actor/filmmaker Ethan Hawke on Monday, September 2; and Pupi Avati, director of closing night film “L’orto Americano” on Friday, September 6. All can be followed via live stream at labiennale.org.

Organized by Cartier,...

Ang Lee, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) Ang Lee

Ang Lee was pulling his hair out. He was in preproduction in China on his ambitious martial arts movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon when a silent investor pulled out. “It was the toughest movie I’d ever tried to make,” recalls Lee, who thought it was all over. But Columbia came to the rescue, thanks to a new initiative to assist local-language filmmaking in foreign markets. Gareth Wigan, a widely respected Sony exec, became involved, as did Barbara Robinson, who lived in Hong Kong and headed up Columbia Pictures Film Production Asia, and was asked to meet with Lee in Taiwan. A coalition came together, including Columbia, China Film Co-Production Corp., Good Machine International, Edko Films and Zoom Hunt Productions. Michael Barker and Tom Bernard’s Sony Pictures Classics signed on to distribute Crouching Tiger domestically, while Columbia International handled international territories...

Li Ziwei was taking the Mandarin Proficiency Test at Beijing’s Communication University of China when she first heard about plans to inaugurate what would evolve into the First International Film Festival.

That was 18 years ago and, as Li tells it, the landscape for cinema in China remained dominated solely by the major film and TV studios. But changes were afoot. Technology was increasingly allowing students to dream big as digital video (Dv) cameras, first, and later smartphones, brought filmmaking within reach.

First founder Song Wen began by launching a Student Dv Film Festival in Beijing before the First concept took shape. In the 18 years since its launch, the festival has carved a niche in Chinese cinema as the place where the “next generation” of talent is given its first time in the spotlight.

Li has worked alongside Song in her role as fest CEO. The festival has helped launch...

The lineup for the 81st Venice International Film Festival is here. Artistic director Alberto Barbera and Biennale president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco revealed the complete list of titles across sections early on Tuesday, July 23. Watch the live stream here or on YouTube.

Competition highlights included, as expected, Todd Phillips’ “Joker: Folie à Deux,” Pablo Larraín’s “Maria” with Angelina Jolie, Luca Guadagnino’s “Queer” with Daniel Craig, and Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature, “The Room Next Door.” Other gems in the lineup include “April,” from Georgian “Beginning” director Dea Kulumbegashvili; Brady Corbet’s “Fountainhead”-inspired epic “The Brutalist,” which runs a whopping 215 minutes and will present in 70mm; Aussie auteur Justin Kurzel’s thriller “The Order”; “Chevalier” director Athina Rachel Tsangari’s “Harvest” with Caleb Landry Jones; and Halina Reijn’s psychosexual thriller for A24, “Babygirl,” starring Nicole Kidman and Harris Dickinson.

Out of competition across series and features, there’s new work from Harmony Korine,...

Buckle in, film buffs, we’re not done with festival season yet. The 2024 Venice Film Festival lineup was announced on Tuesday, and rest assured there will be plenty of glamorous movie stars waving from boats. The lineup includes expected entries like Joker: Folie à Deux, starring Oscar winner Joaquin Phoenix...

Venice Film Festival has revealed the programme for its 81st edition, featuring a 21-strong Competition that includes new films from Todd Phillips, Pedro Almodovar, Luca Guadagino, Pablo Larrain, Brady Corbet and Justin Kurzel.

Scroll down for full line-up

The selection was unveiled by festival president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and artistic director Alberto Barbera. It marked Buttafuoco’s first time at the annual press conference, after replacing Roberto Cicutto in October 2023.

Further filmmakers in Competition include Wang Bing, Luis Ortega, Dea Kulumbegashvili, Dag Johan Haugerud, Athina Rachel Tsangari and Walter Salles.

The line-up also includes Jon Watt’s Wolfs, starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney,...

The line-up for the 81st Venice International Film Festival (August 28-September 7) will be unveiled today at 11:00 Cest (10:00 BST) by festival president Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and artistic director Alberto Barbera.

The press conference will be live-streamed below, and this page will be updated with the films as they are announced.

It will be Buttafuoco’s first time at the annual press conference, after replacing Roberto Cicutto in October 2023.

The previously announced opening film is Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.

Isabelle Huppert will preside over the jury, which also comprises James Gray, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Abderrahmane Sissako,...

Cheng Pei-pei, the pioneering Chinese actress dubbed the “Queen of Swords” and considered among the first female action stars who made her name in the Shaw Brothers classic Come Drink With Me and later had a memorable turn as the villain Jade Fox in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, has died. She was 78.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that the rumors are true. Our mother, Cheng Pei-pei, passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loved ones on July 17,” Cheng’s family said in a statement posted to Facebook. “In 2019, our mom was diagnosed with a neurodegenerative, atypical parkinsonism syndrome – unofficially, corticobasal degeneration (CBD). It is a rare disease with symptoms similar to Parkinson’s disease, however, current treatments cannot slow the progression. She chose not to make this news public so that she could deal with her condition in private and spend her...

Editor’s Note: This story was originally posted on July 23, 2017, and has been updated multiple times since.

Few cinematic moments can burn themselves into an audience’s psyche better than a good sex scene. They can shock, arouse, or simply capture human beauty in ways that cinema is uniquely positioned to do. Sex scenes don’t have to define the movies they appear in, but they’re often the parts you remember the most.

The nature of sex scenes are constantly evolving, as the prevalence of intimacy coordinators and increased concern for performers’ safety in Hollywood is hopefully making regrettable sex scenes a thing of the past. That has allowed sexy cinema to flourish, with plenty of tantalizing movies hitting the multiplex in recent years. With that in mind, it felt like the right time to compile some of the best additions to the sexy film canon.

Our list of...

The International Jury for this year’s Venice International Film Festival has been finalized after the previous confirmation of French actress Isabelle Huppert as its chair.

Now, American director and screenwriter James Gray, British director and screenwriter Andrew Haigh, Polish director, screenwriter, and producer Agnieszka Holland, and Brazilian director-screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho are the latest additions to the jury. They will join Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako, Italian director-screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore, German director-screenwriter Julia von Heinz and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

The prestigious Golden Lion for best film and other awards will be revealed during the festival’s closing ceremony on Sept. 7.

Gray made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His other projects include The Yards (2000), starring Joaquin Phoenix, Two Lovers (2008) and The Immigrant (2013). The Lost City of Z had its world premiere at the New York...

Julia von Heinz gehört zu den neun Mitgliedern der Wettbewerbsjury in Venedig unter dem Vorsitz von Isabelle Huppert.

Julia von Heinz, hier bei der Premiere von „Treasure – Familie ist ein fremdes Land“ beim Tribeca Film Festival, ist in die Wettbewerbsjury der Mostra berufen worden (Credit: Marion Curtis / Starpix for Bleecker Street)

Nachdem die Mostra Isabelle Huppert Anfang Mai zur Präsidentin der Wettbewerbsjury ihrer von 28. August bis 7. September stattfindenden 81. Ausgabe ernannt hatte, wurden nun auch die übrigen Mitglieder des neunköpfigen Gremiums bekannt gegeben.

Demnach gehört der Mostra-Jury auch die deutsche Regisseurin und Drehbuchautorin Julia von Heinz, die für „Treasure – Familie ist ein fremdes Land“, ihr Drama über die Tochter zweier Auschwitz-Überlebender, die sich mit ihrem Vater auf den Weg nach Polen macht, um dort nach ihren jüdischen Wurzeln zu suchen, Mitte Juni mit dem Friedenspreis des Deutschen Films – Die Brücke ausgezeichnet worden war, an.

Weitere Mitglieder der Venedig-Jury sind der US-Regisseur und -Drehbuchautor James Gray,...

Filmmakers James Gray, Andrew Haigh and Agnieszka Holland have joined the main competition jury of the 81st Venice Film Festival (August 28-September 7).

They are joined by Brazilian director and screenwriter Kleber Mendonça Filho; Mauritanian director, screenwriter and producer Abderrahmane Sissako; Italian director and screenwriter Giuseppe Tornatore; German director and screenwriter Julia von Heinz; and Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.

As previously announced, the jury will be chaired by Isabelle Huppert, and award the Golden Lion for best film and the other official awards.

Gray’s Ad Astra screened in competition at Venice in 2019, and his directorial debut Little Odessa received the...

The full international jury for this year’s Venice Film Festival has been unveiled.

The lineup joining president Isabelle Huppert is director-heavy, consisting of James Gray (“Ad Astra”), Andrew Haigh (“All of Us Strangers”), Agnieszka Holland (“Green Border”), Kleber Mendonça Filho (“Bacurau”), Abderrahmane Sissako (“Bamako”), Giuseppe Tornatore (“Cinema Paradiso”) and Julia von Heinz (“Treasure”). “Memoirs of a Geisha” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” star Zhang Ziyi rounds out the jury.

In addition to awarding the Golden Lion for best film, the jury will also be responsible for handing out the Silver Lion grand jury prize, Silver Lion for best director, Coppa Volpi for best actress, Coppa Volpi for best actor, special jury prize, best screenplay and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for new young actor or actress.

Revered French actor Huppert was revealed as the president of the jury in May. “Isabelle Huppert is an immense actress. Demanding, curious and of great generosity,...

The Venice Film Festival has unveiled the names that will join Isabelle Huppert on the main Competition jury of its 81st edition, running Aug 28 – Sept 7.

Jury members include James Gray, Andrew Haigh, Agnieszka Holland, Kleber Mendonça Filho, Abderrahmane Sissako, Giuseppe Tornatore, Julia von Heinz, and Zhang Ziyi.

The jury will award the following official prizes to the feature films in Competition, with no joint awards allowed: Golden Lion for Best Film, Silver Lion – Grand Jury Prize, Silver Lion for Best Director, Coppa Volpi for Best Actress, Coppa Volpi for Best Actor, Special Jury Prize, Award for Best Screenplay, and “Marcello Mastroianni” Award for Best New Young Actor or Actress.

Jury head Huppert has a long relationship with the Venice Film Festival. She has won its Coppa Volpi for best actress twice with Story of Women (1988) and La Cérémonie (1995). In 2005, she was honored with a Special Golden Lion for the Overall...

China’s movie box office made a roaring start to the year, but sales have waned in the months since. Ticket revenue for the first half of 2024 totaled $3.4 billion (Rmb 23.9 billion), down 9 percent from last year, according to data released Tuesday by consultancy Artisan Gateway. Total admissions for the period reached 550 million, an 8.9 percent year-over-year decrease, as average movie ticket prices in the country — at $6.1 billion (Rmb 43.4 billion) — remained relatively stable compared to the past three years.

China’s theatrical market began the year with enviable strength as ticket sales set a new record during the traditional Lunar New Year holiday in February, racking up a record $1.1 billion (Rmb 8.1 billion). But that eight-day stretch came to represent a whopping 33.9 percent of the full first-half haul.

Sales revenue has gone especially soft in the first month of summer, a period once dominated by imported Hollywood movies (Beijing’s film regulators block U.

Giving the traditional, star-driven period epic a gloss-coating of topicality, Peter Ho-Sun Chan’s “She’s Got No Name” is based on a notorious real-life murder case that unfolded against the turbulent backdrop of 1940s China. And although it’s probably most notable for providing Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi with a remarkably de-glammed central role, it is the setting, rather than the sincere but only tentatively feminist storyline, that will likely give this handsome, lengthy movie its international appeal. The re-creation of mid-century Shanghai remains impressive even as Chan’s evident admiration for his heroine’s survival instinct starts to become rote, locking Zhang into a screenplay that gives plenty of depth to her character’s anguish, but little breadth to grow.

Zhang plays Zhan-Zhou, a poor, illiterate working-class woman with a birthmark grazing her forehead and cheek, whom we meet as she scurries from her alley tenement and onto a trolley car,...

from our special envoy Jean-Marc Thérouanne at the Cannes Film Festival.

From May 14 to 25, 2024, Far East Asia is represented in competition by the film “Caught by the Tides” by the master of Chinese cinema of the sixth generation, Jia Zhang-ke. This film, in small impressionist touches, tells the evolution of China in this first quarter of the 21st century. Jia Zhang-ke tries to describe it through the songs marking the collective memory. He multiplies the winks to his work of fifteen films, time markers flowing inexorably.

Jia Zhang-ke and Zhao Tao in Grand Théâtre Lumiere Gala presentation of Caught by the Tides. (Photo credit Fica)

The Indian subcontinent is back in competition, after a long 30-year eclipse, with the film All We Imagine As Light by director Payal Kapadia, recognized in Cannes by the Golden Eye Award for his documentary film Une nuit sans savoir selected at the Directors' Fortnight...

Joey King has been acting since she was little, but she has never had the opportunity to walk the Cannes red carpet. This year, she finally made a remarkable debut at the Cannes Film Festival, and she left a lasting impression by choosing outfits that showcased her charms.

She was seen on two occasions over the weekend, showing support for the French animated drama film The Most Precious of Cargoes, directed by Michel Hazanavicius, and the Chinese-Hong Kong crime drama She’s Got No Name, starring Zhang Ziyi and Michelle Yeoh, and helmed by Peter Chan.

Joey King showcases two contrasting looks and hairstyles at the 77th Cannes Film Festival (Credit: Abaca Press / Pa / INSTARimages)

See the striking differences between Joey King’s dazzling yellow look and icy princess appearance on the red carpet.

Radiating Old Hollywood Glamour in a Yellow Miu Miu Column Gown

King’s style has indeed changed over the years.

By the time Chinese star Zhang Ziyi walked the Cannes Film Festival’s red carpet on the event’s penultimate night in mid-May, it was already clear that Chinese cinema was back on the international stage in a major way. The world’s most glamorous movie event premiered five films from China across its official selection this year, ending a long period of relative obscurity that began with the pandemic. The two most prominent Chinese films to unfurl in Cannes this year — Jia Zhangke’s acclaimed drama Caught By the Tides and Peter Chan’s commercial powerhouse She’s Got No Name, starring Zhang and a slew of big-name Chinese actors — were both backed by rising studio Huanxi Media.

Founded in 2015 by veteran producer Dong Ping (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and former attorney Steven Xiang, Huanxi Media has climbed to the forefront of the Chinese industry thanks to a streak of...

Chinese filmmaker Zhang Yimou this week made his first-ever trip to the Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine, and appeared to fall in love with the theatrical and festival experience all over again.

At a masterclass on Thursday morning, Zhang spoke of his filmmaking techniques and priorities, his enduring quest for the human touch and why not all films need to be masterpieces.

“Nobody has pure talent. Success also comes from hard work and the kind of luck that pull together an optimal crew and a cast that gels. I don’t believe that all films can be masterpieces and I doubt that I’ve made my best possible film yet. I’m still on the way,” he told a packed audience at Udine’s Teatro Nuovo, most of which had moments earlier watched a screening of his sensational “Raise the Red Lantern,” which had been restored to 4K.

Pluto TV, Paramount’s free streaming service, has revealed its May highlights. The Pluto TV May 2024 schedule includes Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Heritage Month programming, more anime content, new channels, and new film additions.

Pluto TV is the leading free streaming television service, delivering hundreds of live linear channels and thousands of titles on-demand to a global audience.

The Emmy Award-winning service curates a diverse lineup of channels in partnership with hundreds of international media companies. It offers a wide array of genres, languages, and categories featuring movies, television series, sports, news, lifestyle, kids, and much more.

Pluto TV can be easily accessed and streamed across mobile, web, and connected TV devices. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Pluto TV’s growing international footprint extends across three continents and over 35 markets.

Pluto TV May 2024 Programming

Asian American, Native Hawaiian, And Pacific Islander Heritage Month

To pay tribute, Pluto TV...

Among the high-profile filmmakers selected for this year’s Cannes Film Festival is a wave of upcoming talent from Asia and the Middle East, including the first Indian feature chosen for Competition in 30 years and the first film from Saudi Arabia to ever make the Official Selection.

While Cannes has a reputation for bringing back familiar names year after year, the line-up for the 77th edition does feature several rising filmmakers and not just in the “discovery” strands of the selection.

Making her first appearance in Competition is Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia with All We Imagine As Light. It marks...

There's an entire generation of movie lovers who first encountered Jackie Chan in the "Rush Hour" films. The actor, director and stuntsman didn't have a huge love for the franchise at the time, perhaps because they barely scratched the surface of what he was capable of as a choreographer. Still, his buddy cop films hold a special place in the hearts of countless action fans, and his rapport with co-star Chris Tucker isn't half bad, either.

The "Rush Hour" trilogy hasn't aged the best in the intervening years, thanks in part to its director, Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct in 2017. The film's "East meets West" humor would also never fly today, making the franchise something of a time capsule for irreverent, 2000s humor. Still, we could never get enough of Chan and Tucker — that's why we're all still holding out for that potential "Rush Hour 4." While...

“Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” is full of surprises. But there’s one very big cameo that has been withheld from marketing materials so far that really needs to be discussed.

But in order to do that, we’ve got to talk about the ending of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.” If you haven’t seen the movie – or if you don’t want to be totally ruined when you do – turn back now.

Consider this your last spoiler warning.

Still there? Ok, let’s get into it.

Is there an extra monster in “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire?”

Yes, there is.

Is it a classic monster?

Yes, it is.

Who is it?

It’s Mothra.

Whoa really?

Yes really. The last time we saw Mothra in the MonsterVerse was 2019’s “Godzilla: King of the Monsters.” In that film, she showed up to help Godzilla against the...

This article contains massive Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ending spoilers.

Adam Wingard grew up on the Shōwa era of Godzilla movies. That would be the period of time when Toho Studios produced monster movies during the reign of Emperor Hirohito—so all the kaiju flicks released between 1954 and 1975. This included ones where Godzilla was a scary emblem of nuclear radiation, sure, but more often than not, the Big G spent these decades as a glorified superhero who hung out with pals like Mothra or Anguirus on Monster Island.

“Those were the movies that were playing on daytime television when I was a kid,” Wingard says when he sits down with Den of Geek ahead of the film’s opening weekend. “So that’s where my inspiration from Godzilla really originates.” He even recalls a vivid childhood memory of watching Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974) where the evil, robotic Zilla impersonates...

It seems that the commercial value of Asian films, both of the past (for the most part) and of the current ones, is having an impact also on physical media, with a number of established and newer companies releasing even more movies from the region in 2023. At the same time, the competition seems to up the quality of releases which keep getting better and better, to the joy of collectors, a number of which are definitely among the writers of Asian Movie Pulse.

Without further ado, we list here 30 Best Asian DVD and Blu-ray releases of 2023, in no particular order.

1. The Katsuhito Ishii Collection (Third Window Films)

Over the course of his career Japanese auteur Katsuhito Ishii has gained not only popularity among the festival crowd but a loyal group of fans, which all the more understandable when watching his works, that are now gathered in one comprehensive boxset thanks to Third Window.

Clockwise from top left: It Lives Inside (Neon), Once Upon A Time In Hollywood (Sony Pictures Releasing), The Matrix Resurrections (Warner Bros. Pictures)Image: The A.V. Club

For the holiday season, Hulu is adding some genre favorites and promising new movies to its library. The streaming platform in December welcomes...

Right from his debut feature “Runaway” in 1995, Kim Sung-su has established two things vehemently: he can work with big stars and he can work on a big budget quite effectively. Starting with a then-young but nonetheless impressive Lee Byung-hun, he has since gone on to work with the likes of Lee Jung-jae, Jung Woo-sung, Hwang Jung-min and even Zhang Ziyi in a rare Korean production appearance. Since his last two works, he has also established that he is also adept at working with an ensemble cast, with both “The Flu” and the highly impressive “Asura: The City of Madness” having an extensive and impressive cast-list. Seven years since “Asura: The City of Madness”, Kim returns to the big screen and with a couple actors he has worked with for “12.12: The Day”, a political thriller based on recent Korean history.

Synopsis

On December 1979, Seoul had been enduring a harsh winter before the upcoming spring.

The latest film from the director of ‘Farewell My Concubine’ will be released in China in late September.

Fortissimo Films has secured international rights to Chinese war epic The Volunteers: To The War by Chen Kaige, the acclaimed director of Farewell My Concubine and The Battle At Lake Changjin.

The Amsterdam and Beijing-based sales company will launch sales on the feature at the Asian Contents and Film Market in Busan next month, following its release in China on September 28. The international sales agreement excludes North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The film, previously known as The Great War, is the...

Clockwise from upper left: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (Paramount), Ben-Hur (MGM), Police Story (Golden Harvest), Steamboat Bill, Jr. (United Artists)Graphic: AVClub

When it comes to the art of motion picture making, stunt work is one of the industry’s most important yet unsung crafts. Indeed, stunt people have been...

Going simply by the awards handed out, the 25th Shanghai International Film Festival delivered on its promise to celebrate the emerging stars of both Asian and Chinese cinema.

There were Golden Goblet wins for established markets Japan and China, and those less known, including Uzbekistan. And there were some scene-stealing emotions shared up on stage at the Shanghai Grand Theater, including the moments when two of China’s biggest stars, Hu Ge and Da Peng, were jointly awarded the festival’s best actor prize and then shared memories of their long-lasting friendship.

Japanese director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri was certainly swept up by the occasion, as China’s major festival event marked a return to normalcy — and a return of international guests — after the travel restrictions and assorted uncertainties of the global pandemic.

Kumakiri’s Yoko picked up the festival’s best feature film, best actress and best screenplay awards in the...

Actress Zhang Ziyi led a celebration of Chinese women in cinema at this week’s Shanghai International Film Festival, and urged the country’s next generation of female stars to be “fearless” when choosing their roles.

The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha star was taking part in a session titled “Her Film Era Forum: Life Without Limits” on the sidelines of the 25th edition of China’s preeminent festival, where she discussed her own career and shared some of the lessons she has learned across almost three decades in film.

“You should always be curious and stick to it as your profession once you decide to join this industry,” Zhang said. “When facing new challenges, [women] need to be fearless instead of being afraid of failure. Success will not be guaranteed, but we will never know the result if we never make a start.”

The hope, Zhang said,...

Chinese actress Zhou Dongyu, who is in Cannes with Anthony Chen’s Un Certain Regard title The Breaking Ice, has had a fairytale career trajectory.

Although she had no desire to act, she was plucked from obscurity by Zhang Yimou when still a high school student in 2010, and became one of China’s most respected young actresses, with a string of award-winning films.

She agreed to star in The Breaking Ice as soon as Chen called her and before he’d even written the script. She’d worked with him before on short film The Break Away, part of Neon-produced anthology The Year Of The Everlasting Storm, which Chen had directed remotely during the pandemic.

“He called and said he wanted to shoot a film in China, quite quickly over the winter, because he had a month free when another project was postponed,” Zhou tells Deadline. “I agreed immediately...

The latest in a never-ending series of propaganda movies from mainland China, Manifesto is an account of the life and times of Chen Wangdao, the translator and scholar who completed in 1920 China’s first translation of “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Chen undertook this life-changing task when he returned from his studies in Japan. Chen Duxiu, Yu Xiusong, Shi Cuntong, Jing Hengyi, Dai Jitao and other key historical figures are also portrayed in the movie. (Sources: Douban and China Daily)

Director Hou Yong has worked on Zhang Yimou’s movies, The Road Home (1999) and Hero (2002), in cinematography and the camera/electrical department. He was also a co-director for a 2021 drama series The Rebel Princess starring Zhang Ziyi. Manifesto‘s cast members include Liu Ye, Hu Jun and Janice Man. It has premiered in China on March 24, 2023.

Action movies don’t get much more intense when it comes to large-scale set pieces than John Wick: Chapter 4. However, the Keanu Reeves-led franchise is sure to leave fans craving more violent genre flicks with jaw-dropping fight choreography. Here’s a list of seven action movies to watch for viewers excited for the fourth installment.

‘Upgrade’ (2018) Logan Marshall-Green as Grey Trace | Ben King/Universal Pictures

Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) is left paralyzed and his wife dead after a savage mugging. A billionaire inventor steps in with a cure for his life-altering injuries, a technological implant called Stem that gives him more than the ability to walk. Grey gains superhuman strength and agility, but he plans to use these new abilities to track down the men who killed his wife and make them pay.

Leigh Whannell’s Upgrade has stellar fight choreography and no shortage of extreme brutality. Meanwhile, audiences...

“Everything Everywhere All at Once” star Michelle Yeoh has made history with her win for best performance by a female actor in a leading role at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, becoming the first Asian woman to win a leading film acting award.

“I think if I speak my heart will explode,” an emotional Yeoh said on stage while accepting her award. “SAG- AFTRA, to get this from you who understand what it is to get here… everyone of you know the journey, the roller coaster ride, the ups and downs. But most importantly we never give up. I thank you… This is not just for me, this is for every little girl who looks like me.”

The actress then paused, turning away from the podium to compose herself but eventually relenting with an excited litany of curses screaming “shit” and “fuck” to an elated crowd. “Thank you for giving...

Ke Huy Quan, the comeback star of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” has been the feel-good story of the awards season — and he just made history at the Screen Actors Guild Awards with his win for best performance by a male actor in a supporting role.

While on stage accepting his award, an emotional Quan revealed that he only recently heard the news that he would be the first Asian male film winner. “This moment no longer belongs to just me, it also belongs to everyone who has asked for change,” he said. “When I stepped away from acting it was because there were so few opportunities.” The SAG winner then looked across the crowd calling out the current nominees including co-stars Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu. “The landscape looks so different now than before. So thank you so much to everyone in this room who contributed to these changes.

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio film review for the re-release of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” the 2000 classic directed by Ang Lee and featuring Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All at Once). The 4K restoration is currently in theaters (see local listings).

Rating: 5.0/5.0

The story takes place in an imagined China in the 1800s. Lu Mu Bai (Chow Yun-Fat) and Yu Su Lien (Michelle Yeoh) run a security business, with Bai starting to become uneasy about his future and wanting to move on. He even gives up his weapon of choice, a sword called Green Destiny. This begins a series of events, in which Green Destiny is stolen by a mysterious warrior – under the auspice of Bai’s enemy Jade Fox (Cheng Pei-Pei) – which in turn releases a number of unsettled scores from Bai’s past. On the flip side of that story is a young woman named Jen (Zhang Ziyi...

“#FilmTwitter is going to explode tonight,” director Ava DuVernay tweeted on Feb. 4, 2018, just minutes before kick-off for Super Bowl Lii. “Something is coming that I can hardly believe. Lawd. History in the making.”

A little over an hour later, the world found out what the celebrated director and producer was referring to. During a commercial break, Netflix premiered the first footage of “The Cloverfield Paradox,” a science-fiction thriller that had originally sported the enigmatic title “God Particle,” spurring online speculation on its potential ties to the “Cloverfield” franchise. What’s more, the splashy ad was capped with a mic drop moment — the film would be available to stream immediately after the game.

Super Bowl commercial breaks are the notorious premier real estate of the ad market. It’s become an annual tradition for studios to use the event to introduce their upcoming blockbuster hopefuls to the public. This year, big trailers for “Fast X,...

After coming up short against Allison Janney on her first Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for 2017’s “Downsizing,” Hong Chau now has a second chance at a supporting victory thanks to her work in “The Whale.” Although she is far from the first woman to compete for the same SAG Award twice, she has broken new ground as the only person of both Asian birth and descent to receive multiple solo film acting nominations from the guild. If she prevails, she will follow Yuh-Jung Youn (2020’s “Minari”) as only the second Asian winner of any individual film SAG Award.

Along with “Everything Everywhere All at Once” actress Jamie Lee Curtis, who earned her first SAG Award notice for 1994’s “True Lies,” Chau is one of two returning supporting nominees in this year’s lineup. Also vying for the prize is Curtis’ co-star, Stephanie Hsu, a past TV ensemble winner for...