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In less than a decade, Netflix has become a production powerhouse in South East Asia, and that fact was reinforced at a showcase the streamer held in the Indonesian capital Jakarta last week, where it showed off its latest batch of original local films and series.

Through aggressive and consistent investment in producing originals, Netflix has gained a market leading position in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines, and these three countries were the focus of the showcase on June 13. Among the slew of announcements, trailers, first-look stills and clips, Netflix unfurled news on not one, but two zombie projects, a period sex comedy, Thai sci-fi, more horror and action from Indonesia, and a serial killer thriller that could find a global audience.

Read on for details on the biggest Sea titles that Netflix showcased.

Kimo Stamboel on the set of ‘Abadi Nan Jaya’

Abadi Nan Jaya (working title) (Indonesia)

Perhaps...

Prolific filmmaker Joko Anwar’s contribution to the Indonesian movie scene is unparalleled, especially the way he went about uplifting the country’s movie industry and bringing it to the international stage, where it deserves much attention. The innovative, daring, and culturally rooted style of filmmaking that the director has adopted in his over two decade-spanning career only enhances the diversity of vision he showcases, as seen in some of his most well-regarded ventures like Gundala, Dead Time: Kala, and Impetigore. The most recent example of the director’s innovative and diverse skillset as an auteur is showcased in his horror anthology streaming on Netflix, Nightmares and Daydreams, a series revolving around seven different stories that are tied into a single overarching narrative.

Breaking genre conventions while adhering to them, Joko Anwar’s Nightmares and Daydreams unfolds like Junji Ito’s horror story collections, but the way it ends in...

If the past two decades have taught us anything then it is that modern cinema is currently in the age of the “Superhero”. With both Marvel and D.C. cinematic universes dominating box office figures, it is perhaps inevitable that others would follow suit. Comic books have proven popular in most cultures and provide a wealth of source material as well as storyboarding shorthand. Therefore, we eventually got the announcement in 2019 of the Bumilangit cinematic universe in Indonesia using the Marvel model of interconnected stories and media to tell their own stories. Following “Gundala” in 2019 came a delay due to the pandemic. With “Sri Asih: The Warrior” comes an attempt to regain momentum and unleash comic book action Indonesian style on a global audience as Shout Factory releases it on Blu-ray.

A volcanic eruption sees the tragic loss of Alana’s parents and she grows up in an orphanage along with her friend Tangguh.

Starting with Joko Anwar’s “Gundala”, Indonesia has been building its own superhero cinematic universe, in an effort that also seems to aim at creating a new star system within the country. Thus “The Legend of Gatotkaca” begins a new film series based on Satria Dewa, essentially introducing the character of Gatotkaca, who is not based on a comic but is a actually a character from the Mahabharata, while his story is interspersed with with elements from Indonesian mythology.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

The rather labyrinthine story begins with an attack of an individual that looks suspiciously a lot like a Sith from Star Wars, against a family whose house is in the middle of the woods. Years later, the boy of the family, Yuda, is a young man down on his luck, as the fact that he has to take care of his mentally ill mother,...

Exclusive: Premiere Entertainment Group has acquired world sales rights to the Indonesian superhero action film Sri Asih, starring Pevita Pearce, and will launch sales at EFM.

The film, produced by Indonesian production company Screenplay Bumilangit in association with Sk Global, was released theatrically in Indonesia on 1,270 screens in November and is set to premiere on Disney+ Hotstar in Indonesia and select Asian territories.

Sri Asih is the second installment from the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe (Bcu), a series of superhero films drawing on a library of more than 500 comic book characters published by Indonesian content company Bumilangit, following Gundala (2019).

The film follows Alana (Pearce), a young woman trying to find her own identity amidst a world of crime and corruption. She also happens to be the reincarnated Goddess Asih, protector of the masses and is tasked with preventing a demon spirit commander from releasing the Fire Goddess from captivity inside a volcano.

After being dormant for 3 years since the first feature “Gundala”, the announced Bumilangit Cinematic Universe from Indonesia remained dormant for a few years until springing back to life last year, first with the release of “Sri Asih” and now followed by the latest Indonesian comic-book adaptation “Virgo and the Sparklings”.

Synopsis

The story follows Riani and her schoolmates Ussy, Monica, and Sasmi, who together form the band Virgo and The Sparklings and embark on the beginnings of a musical career. However, the initially successful debut of the band is interrupted by a spate of magical attacks on ordinary people, leading Riani and her bandmates to don costumes to fight back against the mysterious attack.

Produced by Joko Anwar, “Virgo and the Sparklings” stars Adhisty Zara, Ashira Zamita, Satine Zaneta, Mawar Eva De Jongh, Rebecca Klopper, Rachel Florencia and Bryan Domani. It is scheduled to release in Indonesian theatres on March 2nd,...

In Woo Ming Jing’s latest feature film “Stone Turtle” which world-premiered in Locarno’s International Competition, an immigrant woman takes revenge in her own hands after her tormentor from the past appears to challenge her. It is a feminist tale in which folklore, dance and genre tropes play a significant role in layering the non-linear plot. Parts of the events are getting re-told, re-plotted or even re-dreamt to steer the narrative in other directions. Woo makes no secret of his biggest influence – Harold Ramis’ “Groundhog Day” (1993), and even the Netflix series “Russian Doll” which is given in the repetitiveness of certain events that get altered by Zahara when she wants to influence the now by changing the past.

“Stone Turtle” screened in Locarno Film Festival

Regarding other filmic influences, they mainly come from Japanese sources, and this is not just the case with the animated part drawn by Paul Williams,...

Woo Ming JIn is back in the international festival scene with his layered female revenge drama that borrows from genre tropes, and incorporates animation and folklore. In “Stone Turtle”, which screens in Locarno’s international competition, an isolated Malaysian island becomes a place of the merciless cat and mouse game under the wake eyes of ghosts who all have two things in common: being women, and illegal immigrants.

In this Malaysian-Indonesian co-production, two acclaimed actors slip into lead roles: Indonesian Asmara Abigail (Joko Anwar’s regular cast since “Gundala”), and Malaysian Bront Palarae. Their chemistry is charged with all ingredients needed for a proper revenge story, none of them painted in black & white, but nuanced enough to make a distinctive line between good and bad.

Asian Movie Pulse met with Woo Ming Jin in Locarno, right after “Stone Turtle”s world premiere to talk about the film’s unique look,...

Remember the Bumilangit Cinematic Universe? The superhero movie franchise is based on the characters from the Indonesian Bumilangit comic-books, which has a rich history and character roster. The project was announced a few years back, with Joko Anwar overseeing it and kickstarting it with 2019’s “Gundala”. However, since the release of Anwar’s film and the tease at the end of it, not much has been heard about the Bcu’s future, likely because of pandemic-related delays. That’s all changed now though, with the first teaser trailer for the second film “Sri Asih”, written by Upi Avianto, who also takes the director’s chair on this, and Joko Anwar.

Not much is known about the synopsis of the feature, but it is based on the Sri Asih character from the Bumilangit comic books by Ra Kosasih, with actress Pevita Pearce playing the titular character. The film is expected to...

Exclusive: Indonesian director Joko Anwar (Impetigore) is preparing to make his English-language debut with Fritzchen, an adaptation of the classic short story by Charles Beaumont that is in development at Village Roadshow.

While the story published in Orbit magazine in 1953 (and later in Beaumont’s anthology Yonder) examines a boy’s encounter with a strange creature on the beach, blending elements of sci-fi and horror, details with regard to the film’s plot are being kept under wraps. Michael Voyer (The Broodmare) is adapting the script, with David Kopple on board to produce for Entertainment 360. Village Roadshow recently optioned the short story and will serve as the project’s financier.

Beaumont was an acclaimed science fiction writer best known for penning such Twilight Zone episodes as “The Howling Man,” “Static,” “Miniature,” “Printer’s Devil” and “Number Twelve Looks Just Like You.” He also wrote the screenplays for films including Brain Dead,...

It is not a secret that in many countries, foreign domestic helpers are a big help with regard to the middle-class maintaining a certain kind of standard. At the same time, many parts of Germany and the US depend on foreign workers, and their willingness to take whatever job is at hand if it means having some kind of opportunity to support their families at home. Hong Kong is no exception to the rule with many families employing foreign domestic workers from the Philippines or Indonesia, which creates a similar necessity on both sides. Given the work culture of places like Hong Kong on the one hand, and the fact these workers depend on a steady paycheck for themselves and those left behind on the other hand, there is a certain dynamic which, in many ways, mirrors the downfalls of today’s era of globalization and its mechanisms of exploitation.

Sometimes having good intentions and eye-witness testimony is not enough to make a topical, issues-driven movie connect with its anticipated audience.

The movie “Dea,” recently boarded by Hong Kong sales company Good Move Media, is a case in point. It probes the put-upon lives of foreign domestic helpers, who number several hundred thousand in Hong Kong, but are politically invisible.

These female helpers, mostly hailing from Indonesia or The Philippines, enable Hong Kong’s middle classes to function as double income families and facilitate the territory’s hard-charging, long-hours work culture. And yet foreign domestic helpers endure often demeaning living standards, sleeping in their employer’s smallest rooms, precarious employment conditions and widespread ridicule for their colorful group activities in public places on their Sunday rest days.

The film was written by a workshop of such women in Hong Kong and neighboring Macau, who had experienced sexual violence in the course of their work.

Though Marvel has decided to consolidate all of its cinematic universe offerings onto Disney+, some outliers still live on for other streaming services. In May 2021, Hulu is set to premiere the latest non-canon Marvel series.

The animated comedy Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K. is set to premiere on May 21 and stars Patton Oswalt as the titular Marvel villain. Oswalt’s Modok is every bit the devious floating head that he’s depicted as in the comics. He’s also your every day family man and the show will take on the format of a workplace sitcom. Sounds kinda fun! It’s no wonder that M.O.D.O.K. is the last Hulu Marvel show standing.

In non-Marvel offerings this month, Shrill will debut its third and final season on May 7. This comedy based on Lindy West’s memoir and starring SNL‘s Aidy Bryant has been a consistently bright presence on the streaming scene since...

The martial arts genre has been in a significant decline for many years now, with just a few entries here and there over the years, reminding us of its existence essentially, although gems like The Raid, Jailbreak etc occasionally come to the fore. A number of Asian martial arts superstars have already moved to Hollywood or other countries in the west, with the same applying to the action stars, at least those who have not moved to China. The Chinese industry releases action blockbusters quite frequently, most of which, however, are of doubtful quality, to say the least, with the combination of the aforementioned, making the current list one of the most difficult to compile. Nevertheless, 10 films were found in the end, although a number of them are mostly here for the impressiveness of the action scenes and not their quality overall.

Without further ado, here are the best Asian...

Joko Anwar showed his knack for genre filming and for breaking the box office from his debut, “Janji Joni“, and in the last two years, with movies like “Satan’s Slaves” (remake of the cult classic) and “Gundala” has cemented both of this traits, even in an international level. “Impetigore” in particular, apart from Rotterdam, also screened in Sundance, a quite significant feat since the representation of Asian cinema in the particular festival is scarce, to say the least.

“Impetigore” is Screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

Maya works at a toll booth in Jakarta until one night she is attacked by a strange man with a machete, who seems to know a lot about her past. The girl barely survives but starts researching about what the man said, with her “investigation” leading her to a rural village in the woods, where she was born by parents she never met.

Sk Global and Indonesia-based production entity Screenplay Bumilangit are partnering to co-finance and co-produce multiple feature films based on Indonesia’s Bumilangit cinematic universe.

Screenplay Bumilangit is a joint venture between Screenplay Films and Bumilangit Entertainment. The joint company develops, finances, and produces superhero action films from the Bumilangit cinematic universe, a set of intertwining storylines based on characters created by comic artists and which embrace and elevate Indonesian comic and pop culture

The first film in the universe was 2019 effort “Gundala,” directed by Joko Anwar, which played at the 2019 Toronto, 2020 Udine and 2020 Bucheon festivals. North America distribution is through WellGoUSA and it opened theatrically last week in Japan.

Anwar is a partner in the Screenplay Bumilangit venture and serves as the creative architect to the Bumilangit cinematic universe. Executives Winnie Lau and Michael Hogan will oversee the Bumilangit cinematic universe films on behalf of Sk Global. Bumilangit Entertainment, which...

Virgo And The Sparklings, Sri Asih kick off deal.

Sk Global and Indonesia-based production company Screenplay Bumilangit will co-finance and co-produce multiple features based on Indonesia’s popular Bumilangit Cinematic Universe (Bcu).

The partnership launches with two Bcu films shooting in Indonesia this month. Virgo And The Sparklings directed by Ody C. Harahap is currently filming in the Jakarta area. Upi will direct Sri Asih and filming is set to begin later this November.

Joko Anwar, the Indonesian director behind the Bcu’s first superhero feature Gundala, is a partner in the Screenplay Bumilangit venture and serves as the creative...

Five Flavours Asian Film Festival invite you for a journey through taste, colors, and sounds of the Asian continent, hoping they can provide food for your thoughts and solace for your spirits.

The Programme of this year’s Festival comprises more than forty titles representing the extreme variety of Asian cinemas – from horror cinema to sweet melodramas, from grasping auteur cinema to relaxing journeys around the continent.

All the films will be presented online between November 25 and December 6.

Preparing this year’s edition forced the organisers to face up to completely new challenges – from the matters of logistics to finding new ways of thinking about their mission, priorities, building bridges between filmmakers and audiences outside the screening rooms. The online edition of the Festival is not a compromise, but a different way to reach the, perhaps even wider, audiences, discover the rich variety of Asian cultures, and explore the contemporary...

Prolific hitmaker Joko Anwar further cements his reputation as one of the non-English-speaking world’s foremost fantasy filmmakers with “Gundala,” an action-packed and emotionally satisfying adaptation of the treasured Indonesian comicbook created by Harya “Hasmi” Suraminata. Set in a bleak future-now Jakarta, where the lightning-powered superhero is the city’s last hope against corrupt politicians and a megalomaniac crime boss, “Gundala” packs a few too many characters and side-stories into the mix but as the first entry in a planned series it’ll do very nicely. On the strength of this, a successful franchise with strong international appeal could be in the making. After attracting 1.7 million admissions in domestic theatrical release in late 2019, Anwar’s latest hit will land on Well Go USA’s streaming platform on July 28.

Featuring in 23 comics published between 1969 and 1982, Gundala has made just one prior screen appearance, in Lilek Sudijo’s cheesy but enjoyable “Gundala...

Born in Medan, North Sumatra, Joko Anwar grew up watching kung fu movies and horror films and reading Bumilangit comic books. He went to the prestigious Bandung Institute of Technology to study Aerospace Engineering and after graduating in 1999, he became a journalist at The Jakarta Post and later a film critic. He then continued as a script writer, while his directorial debut came in 2005, with “Janji Joni”. His next two films “Kala” and “Forbidden Door”, received rave reviews from critics, and screened in festivals all over the world. In 2012, he shot “Ritual” and in 2015 “Copy of my Mind” His 2017 film, “Satan’s Slaves” is became the highest grossing Indonesian horror film of all time, the highest grossing R-rated Indonesian film of all time.

Joko Anwar is this year in Udine with his two latest movies, the horror “Impetigore” and the superhero “Gundala”. On this occasion we “virtually” sat down with him for a chat about Impetigore,...

In today's Horror Highlights we have a Nsfw gory clip from Battlefield 2025, details on the acquisition of The S.H.U, and a look at the trailer for Browse:

Exclusive Clip from Battlefield 2025: "Weekend campers, an escaped convict, young lovers and a police officer experience a night of terror when a hostile visitor from another world descends on a small Arizona town."

Written by Joseph Mbah and Robert Conway. Jose Rosete, Anna Harr, Dustin Leighton, Caleb Thomas, Alaina Laethem, Adam Michael Gold, and Titus Covington star in a Joseph Mbah film, releasing July 7 on digital from Uncork’d Entertainment

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Peg Acquires Rights to The S.H.U: "Los Angeles, June 30, 2020 – Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg), a Los Angeles-based sales, production and financing company, has acquired worldwide rights to psychological horror-thriller The S.H.U., or Segregated Housing Unit, starring Edi Gathegi. Melora Hardin, Angela Sarafyan, Tony Amendola, and James Jagger round out the key cast.

As every year, with the usual online announcement, the Festival’s director Sabrina Baracetti, has launched the 22nd edition’s Programme of the Udine Far East Film Festival 2020. This year, Sabrina talks from her office instead of the beautiful Teatro Nuovo of Udine, in a Zoom call, but the enthusiasm is as strong as ever.

After the incredible success of the lockdown teaser Programme called “Io Resto a Casa” (I Stay at Home) the Festival will continue the partnership with the online streaming platform MyMovies.it, From the 8yh of June the accreditations will be available on the Official Website

Festival Director Sabrina Baracetti

But, let’s have a look at the titles. Here are some interesting numbers: 46 Films, of which 38 in competition (the audience will be able to vote), 8 Countries, 12 Firs-time directors, and 25% of directors are women.

All The Films At A Glance. Online Festival Line-up 2020 And Territorial Restrictions...

Korean disaster action film has been set as the opening movie of the Far East Film Festival in Udine. Due to coronavirus and social distancing measures still in place in Italy, the festival will be held entirely online this year.

The festival is normally held in late April and early May. This time it will run June 26-July 4 with a slightly reduced selection of 46 films from East Asia.

The festival will be hosted on the MyMovies.it online platform. Organizers explained that some titles will be available worldwide, some only in Europe and some exclusively in Italy. They include 4 world premieres, 12 international premieres, 10 European premieres and 17 Italian premieres.

Organizers have arranged the line up in a loose daily schedule, but say that they have “also left open the possibility of choosing independently when to watch movies by accessing the on-demand section.” And only 3 of the 46 titles will be shown exclusively in...

The festival will play 46 features from eight Asian countries.

Udine’s Far East Film Festival (Feff) has revealed a lineup of 46 features including four world premieres, for the online-only edition of the event that will run from June 26 until July 4.

It will open with the international premiere of Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo’s disaster action film Ashfall, available to viewers in Europe only.

The film was a blockbuster hit in South Korea over Christmas, grossing almost $60m (£47.9m) by the end of January.

The world premieres are Ning Yuanyuan’s Chinese title An Insignificant Affair; Daigo Matsui’s Japanese...

Plano, Texas –Indonesia’s preeminent comic book superhero and his alter ego enter the cinematic universe to battle the wicked Pengkor and his diabolical squad of orphan assassins in the action-packed “Gundala“, debuting on Digital, Blu-ray and DVD July 28 from Well Go USA Entertainment.

Based on a popular comic book first published in 1969, “Gundala”is the first film in a proposed eight film franchise launching a new superhero cinematic universe (in the vein of Marvel). In this origins story, Sancaka (Abimana Aryasatya) is a security guard who was struck by lightning, giving him superhuman powers and turning him into the superhero Gundala. “Gundala”had its international premiere at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival and this release features an all-new English dub, in addition to its original subtitled soundtrack.

Written & Directed by Joko Anwar (“Impetigore“) and based on the comic by Harya Suraminata, “Gundala” stars Abimana Aryasatya (“12:00 A.

"Who are you?" "The people." Well Go USA has released an official Us trailer for the Indonesian superhero action movie Gundala, from writer / director Joko Anwar. Indonesia's preeminent comic book superhero and his alter ego Sancaka enter the cinematic universe to battle the wicked Pengkor and his diabolical squad of orphan assassins. While it may look like this character was made for the big screen, he originally comes from an Indonesian comic book series of the same name. Follow the story of Sancaka, an orphan who lost his father during a riot, intertwined with Pengkor, an orphan who (also) lost his father during a riot. One got struck by lightning, the other got burned by fire. Starring Abimana Aryasatya as the heroic Gundala, and Bront Palarae as Pengkor, with Tara Basro, Ario Bayu, and Lukman Sardi. This looks like a badass superhero movie! Fun to see different versions of superheroes from other countries.

Indonesian superhero movie Gundala has been picked up for North America by Well Go USA Entertainment. 

The film, which first bowed in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced by Indonesia studio Screenplay Bumilangit, is now set for release on July 28.

Premiere Entertainment Group, the L.A.-based sales, production and financing company that is handling worldwide sales of the film, announced the news. 

Written and directed by Joko Anwar and produced by Bismarka Kurniawan and Wicky V. Olindo, Gundala is superhero origin story starring Abimana Aryasatya in the title role, alongside Tara ...

Indonesian superhero movie Gundala has been picked up for North America by Well Go USA Entertainment. 

The film, which first bowed in the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival and was produced by Indonesia studio Screenplay Bumilangit, is now set for release on July 28.

Premiere Entertainment Group, the L.A.-based sales, production and financing company that is handling worldwide sales of the film, announced the news. 

Written and directed by Joko Anwar and produced by Bismarka Kurniawan and Wicky V. Olindo, Gundala is superhero origin story starring Abimana Aryasatya in the title role, alongside Tara ...

Produced by Indonesia’s Pt Rapi Films, the film is a reboot of the horror classic of the same name, directed by Lilik Sudjio.

Japan’s Nikkatsu has picked up international rights to the latest film from Kimo Stamboel, The Queen Of Black Magic, scripted by fellow Indonesian genre maestro Joko Anwar.

Produced by Indonesia’s Pt Rapi Films, the film is a reboot of the horror classic of the same name, directed by Lilik Sudjio, about a man who takes his family to the orphanage where he grew up, but soon encounters terrifying supernatural forces.

Starring Ario Bayu, Hannah Al Rashid and Adhisty Zara,...

Amy Miller Gross directed and produced for Mandorla Productions.

Premiere Entertainment Group has bolstered its Efm sales slate with worldwide rights to wedding comedy The Pleasure Of Your Presence starring Alicia Silverstone.

Tom Everett Scott (Parental Guidance), Jake Hoffman (The Irishman), and Mathilde Ollivier (Overlord) are among the key cast on the story about a woman (Silverstone) who tries to halt to her brother’s marriage to a much younger French woman over the course of their wedding weekend in the Hamptons.

Amy Miller Gross directed from her original screenplay, and produced for Mandorla Productions alongside Andrew Carlberg and Tim Harms,...

Luke Goss stars in sci-fi kidnap thriller R.I.A.

Los Angeles-based Premiere Entertainment Group (Peg) has beefed up its Efm sales slate and acquired international rights to survival thriller Centigrade and worldwide rights to sci-fi thriller R.I.A. starring Luke Goss.

Genesis Rodriguez and Vincent Piazza star in Centigrade as a married couple who find themselves trapped inside a frozen vehicle after an overnight blizzard buries their car in snow, while struggling to survive amid plunging temperatures and unforeseen obstacles.

Brendan Walsh makes his feature directorial debut from a screenplay he co-wrote with Daley Nixon. Bradley J. Ross produced for Manhattan Productions...

The full programme and tickets for the 13th edition of CinemAsia is now available online. This year, CinemAsia will introduce films from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, India, Bhutan, Thailand and The Philippines. Enjoy the biggest box office hits, like “Exit”, “Gundala”, and “The Wild Goose Lake”, and check out the work by upcoming and young directors from Asia, like “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”, “Moonlit Winter” and “Dolly Kitty and Those Twinkling Stars”. There is something for every Asian cinema lover!

Online ticket sales start today. Explore the complete programme below or check out their website for more details about their complete film selection.

Special Focus Diaspora: “Neither Burned, nor Banished”

CinemAsia Film Festival traditionally screens a wide variety of Asian diaspora films. This year we’ve asked veteran film programmer and critic Léo Soesanto to guest curate a special selection of five films that represent...

Joko Anwar showed his knack for genre filming and for breaking the box office from his debut, “Janji Joni“, and in the last two years, with movies like “Satan’s Slaves” (remake of the cult classic) and “Gundala” has cemented both of this traits, even in an international level. “Impetigore” in particular, apart from Rotterdam, also screened in Sundance, a quite significant feat since the representation of Asian cinema in the particular festival is scarce, to say the least.

“Impetigore” is screening at the International Film Festival Rotterdam

Maya works at a toll booth in Jakarta until one night she is attacked by a strange man with a machete, who seems to know a lot about her past. The girl barely survives but starts researching about what the man said, with her “investigation” leading her to a rural village in the woods, where she was born by parents she never met.

With Marvel and DC competing for the crown within the superhero-genre, the formula introduced by these companies has laid the foundation for other filmmakers and countries to show the world their heroes and their stories. While Marvel is busy producing its first movie with an Asian superhero, Indonesian filmmaker has already made a film based on the comics by Harya “Hasmi” Suraminata which tells the adventures of Sancaka, who, after being struck by lightning, receives superhuman powers and becomes the superhero Gundala.

“Gundala” screened at Fantasy Filmfest – White Nights 2020

Even though they have trouble getting by, young Sancaka’s parents try to live a happy life, teaching their son the importance of looking after others and not ignoring injustice. While his father is out on a strike, Sancaka runs after him in an attempt to warn him about a plan to frame him, but he helplessly watches as his father dies,...

The 9th edition of Paris International Fantastic Film Festival (Pifff) has unveiled the full Programme. Pifff will opens doors on the 11th of December and will run until the 17th, presenting more than 30 movies – including some interesting Asian titles – and lots of guests.

In the Pifff Team’s words: “This year, the festival is longer, better, stronger; diversified like never before. Bypassing preconceived concepts of classification, and engaging in the exploration of little known movies. Looking forward to our 10th birthday, we invite you to a taste of our 9th birthday cake. It will be generous and tasty. Promise.”

All The Asian Movies And Guests In Pifff

Official Competition

“Super Me” by Zhang Chong

“Vise” by Yasuhiko Shimizu

“Vise” by Yasuhiko Shimizu

Out of Competition

“Bullets of Justice” by Valeri Milev

“Gundala” by Joko Anwar (Indonesia – 2019)

“Jallikattu” by Lijo Jose Pellissery

“Ride Your Wave” by Masaaki Yuasa

“The Pool” by...

Screenplay Films, Bumilangit Studios plan superhero franchise.

Premiere Entertainment Group has launched talks with Afm buyers on worldwide rights excluding Indonesia to Toronto Midnight Madness selection Gundala.

The Indonesian superhero action film from Screenplay Films and Bumilangit Studios is conceived as the first in a franchise. It charts the central character’s origins as an orphaned boy in Jakarta who gains powers after he is struck by lightning and goes to war against a mob boss.

Abimana Aryasatya, Tara Basro, Bront Palarae, and Ario Bayu star, and Joko Anwar directed from his screenplay. Bismarka Kurniawan and Wicky V. Olindo served as producers,...

Even as his latest comicbook superhero film “Gundala” prepares for release later this month, the trailer for “Impetigore”, director Joko Anwar’s fourth film of 2019, yet again a horror film, as been released.

Synopsis

After surviving a murder attempt in the city, Maya, a down-on-her-luck young woman, learns that she may inherit a house in her ancestral village. With her friend Dini, Maya returns to the village of her birth, unaware that the community has been trying to locate and kill her to remove the curse that has plagued the village for years. As she begins to discover the complicated reality about her past, Maya finds herself in a fight for her life.

The film stars Tara Basro (“Satan’s Slave“), Ariyo Bayu (also in “Gundala”), Marissa Anita (“Folklore: A Mother’s Love“) and Christine Hakim (“Merantau”) and is distributed by South Korea’s Cj Entertainment. It is expected to...

New works from celebrated documentary filmmakers Alex Gibney, Barbara Kopple, Lauren Greenfield, Alan Berliner, Feras Fayyad, Patricio Guzman, Fisher Stevens and Mark Cousins will be showcased in the Tiff Docs section of the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, Tiff organizers announced on Thursday.

In addition to the 25 documentaries, the festival also revealed more than 50 additional films in the Midnight Madness, Tiff Discovery and Tiff Cinematheque sections.

The documentary section will open with “The Cave” from Feras Fayyad, director of the Oscar-nominated “Last Men in Aleppo.” The film is set in an underground hospital led by a female doctor in Syria. Other former Oscar nominees and winners showing films at Tiff include Gibney with “Citizen K,” his portrait of Russian oligarch-turned-Putin-critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Kopple, with “Desert One,” about an Iranian hostage rescue mission; and Stevens, co-director with Malcolm Venville of “And We Go Green,” a Leonardo DiCaprio-produced film about the Formula...

The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its documentary, discovery, and midnight programs.

The lineup of 25 nonfiction works in the documentary category cover an array of topics and subjects — ranging from immigration to corruption in politics to Truman Capote’s rarefied social circle. The announcement comes as documentaries have become one of the most reliable sources of box office revenues for indie studios. Films such as “Free Solo” and “Rbg” were among the biggest arthouse hits of 2018 and there’s a lot of interest among buyers in the films in this section. Thom Powers, Tiff Docs programmer, attributes the rising commercial prospects of these films to the ubiquity of non-fiction works on Netflix and other streaming services.

“People have developed a real appetite for documentary films similar to the way they once developed an appetite for serial television,” says Powers. “Once they started sampling, they just wanted more. With Netflix...

Indonesian director Joko Anwar has completed production on his most recent film “Gundala”. The film stars Abimana Aryasatya as the titular super hero. Gundala was created by Hasmi in 1969 and has enjoyed a cult following through the long running comic book series.

“Gundala” is scheduled to be released in Indonesia on August 29, 2019. In anticipation for the films release a trailer has been made available and can be viewed below.

Synopsis

Sancaka has lived on the streets since his parents left him. Living a hard life, Sancaka survives by thinking about his own safety. When the condition of the city gets worse and injustice rages throughout the country, Sancaka must decide whether he continues to live to look after himself or rise to become their oppressed hero. (Official)...

Superhero movies have been dominating cinema for well over a decade, so we’re not surprised to see Indonesia getting in on the action with Gundala, their new comic book adaptation about a hero who can shoot bolts of lightning from his hands. To make things even more interesting, the film was written and directed by […] The post Brutal Trailer For Indonesian Superhero Film Gundala appeared first on Dread Central.

Nam Ron (alias of Shahili Bin Abdan) was born in 1969 in Kangar, Malaysia. He graduated from the Department of Theatre in the National Arts Academy in 1994, and has since worked in theatre, television and film as a director, writer and actor. His reputation was launched by the play Misi (co-written with Faisal Tehrani), followed by many successful stage performances. He has worked with most reknowned Malaysian filmmakers such as Dain Said, Yasmin Ahmad, James Lee, Tan Chui Mui, acting in main, supporting roles not mentioning many cameo appearances. His directorial debut, “Gedebe” was a loose adaptation of “Julius Caesar” set in the underground Malaysian music scene. In his film works Nam Ron skillfully combines genres cinema with sharp social commentary.

Though he made his acting debut on television in 2000, Bront Palarae, who is a Malaysian of Pakistani-Malay-Thai descent, first gained fame by portraying two characters in Cinta Tsunami, a television series in 2005. Since then,...

Satan’s Slaves filmmaker Joko Anwar has signed with Paradigm Talent and Good Fear Film + Management.

Satan’s Slaves was released as Pengabdi Setan in Anwar’s native Indonesia in 2017 and finished that year as the highest-grossing Indonesian film of that year. The supernatural thriller also finished its theatrical run as Indonesia’s biggest domestic horror film ever. The film has been sold in 42 countries and is now streaming on Shudder.

Satan’s Slaves was produced by Rapi Films with assistance from South Korean giant Cj Entertainment. A crisp occult thriller follows a family’s spiral as they begin to suspect that their dead matriarch has returned with dark intentions.

Anwar’s other credits include The Forbidden Door, Joni’s Promise and Kala. He is currently wrapping Gundala, his Indonesian superhero film.