News

Experience

A “Friends”-themed exhibition and experience is setting up home permanently in London. Inspired by the iconic sitcom, The Friends Experience is set to open in a purpose-built location at London’s ExCel center this summer ahead of the show’s 30th anniversary this year.

The experience features full-scale recreations of the show’s sets, from Monica and Rachel’s apartment to the infamous “Pivot!” scene complete with couch, as well as costumes, backdrops, props and memorabilia. Guests can recreate some of their favorite on-screen moments and enjoy themed food and drinks as well as exclusive merch.

It has been created by Warner Bros. Discovery Global Themed Entertainment, Original X Productions and Warner Bros. Television Group and is operated by U.K.-based The Luna Entertainment Group. Tickets can be purchased at www.FriendsTheExperience.com/London.

Homecoming

Philippines-born filmmaker Isabel Sandoval (Venice title “Lingua Franca”) has wrapped principal photography on her new film “Moonglow.

Following “Billie & Emma” (2018), Filipino director Samantha Lee has been on Gen Zs' lips for her genuine and sweet portrayal of sapphic youth. Last year, she returned with her third feature “Rookie”, greeted with the same enthusiasm. Since then, the film has been a tour de force in many international festivals, bringing Filipino same-sex love stories to audiences around the globe.

Rookie is screening at UdineFar East Film Festival 2024

Written by Lee and Natts Jadaone, “Rookie” focuses on two apparent rivals in an all-girls Catholic school during their junior years. Due to her height, laid-back newcomer Ace (Pat Tingjuy) is recruited by Coach Jules (Agot Isidro) for the San Lorenzo Angels volleyball team. Ace finds the opportunity frustrating as she used to be a basketball player at her previous school. Being, in fact, a “rookie” in the new team and not knowing anything about volleyball, she earns the ire of Jana (Aya Fernandez), the team captain.

Director Jun Robles Lana is a committed advocate of all queer aspects of life, which he has portrayed in his body of work with contrasting tones of voice, from the theatrical colorfulness of “Die Beautiful” to the dark realism of “Kalel, 15”. “Becky & Badette” sits without a doubt in the former group and, despite not being strictly (no pun intended) a gay story, is as camp as Christmas. A mix of classic comedy of errors and the familiar “high school reunion” genre, peppered with many innuendos and Filipino in-jokes, “Becky & Badette” is pure fun from start to end, and also one of those films you can imagine the cast and crew having a great time while shooting it.

Becky & Badette is screening at UdineFar East Film Festival 2024

Becky (Eugene Domingo) and Badette (Pokwang) are two women in their forties, working as janitors in an all-colourful-girl office and living...

“Essential Truths of the Lake” is the last thing most people would expect from Lav Diaz: a direct follow-up to his previous film, “When the Waves Are Gone.” It’s not a sequel, per se (this one actually comes earlier), but they are connected, with a third movie featuring the same disillusioned police detective in the works.

The Filipino filmmaker, whose pokey social critiques run anywhere from three to 11 hours, established the character of Lt. Hermes Papauran (John Lloyd Cruz) in “Waves.” Described there as “arguably the greatest Filipino investigator ever,” he’s Diaz’s version of “The Singing Detective”: a tortured enforcer afflicted with a skin condition that reflects on the surface the conflict and cynicism roiling within him. He’s a good cop in a corrupt country, furious with how Rodrigo Duterte mishandled the war on drugs.

It’s a basic rule of dramaturgy that it...

Lav Diaz is “concerned” about the situation in his native Philippines. But it doesn’t mean he will stop making films.

“If you do any kind of cultural work, you can be branded as a ‘communist’ and it’s a reason for them to kill you,” he says.

“There aren’t many venues to show my films, so we basically give them away for free. Listen, I am aware of the danger. But you have to accept the reality, confront these issues and continue to make things. And be careful, because we know what happened to Salman Rushdie.”

Diaz, speaking to Variety at Armenia’s Golden Apricot festival, where he headed the jury, also opened up about his upcoming Locarno world premiere “Essential Truths of the Lake.”

The film, which contends in main competition for the Golden Leopard, sees him returning to investigator Hermes Papauran from “When the Waves Are Gone,...

Films Boutique will handle international sales on Filipino master Lav Díaz’s “Essential Truths of The Lake,” one of the highest-profile titles in the just announced main International Competition at this year’s Locarno Festival.

The Berlin and Lyon-based production-sales company’s fifth collaboration with Diaz following, among others, Venice Golden Bear Winner “The Woman Who Left” and Berlin Silver Bear Winner “Lullaby To A Sorrowful Mystery,” “Essential Truths of The Lake” marks a prequel to Diaz’s ‘When The Waves Are Gone’ that premiered out of competition at Venice last year.

It reprises the character of the ethically conflicted police lieutenant Hermes Papauran, one of the best investigators of the Philippines. When asked what drives a man to search for the truth, Papauran says dejectedly that maybe he just wants to keep inflicting pain on himself.

Faced with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, he...

"Stay forever." Gravitas Ventures has revealedthe new Us trailer for an indie horror survival thriller titled Motel Acacia, the latest from Malaysian-Filipino filmmaker Bradley Liew (Singing in Graveyards). In the cold west, Motel Acacia is tasked with exterminating immigrants by the government through a bed, haunted with the spirit of a Filipino tree demon, that eats men and impregnates women. A young Filipino man, Jc, is groomed by his tyrannical father to take over the business. But he risks losing his own humanity to try and stop what's happening. The horror film stars Jc Santos, Jan Bijvoet, Nicholas Saputra, Agot Isidro, Vithaya Pansringarm, Bront Palarae, and Talia Zucker. This looks totally gnarly! Wtf! A tree demon inside a bed that eats people?! I want to see more of this big bad monster that appears at the end. Hot damn. Here's the official Us trailer (+ two posters) for Bradley Liew's Motel Acacia,...

“Motel Acacia” takes place in America, but not any version of America that Americans will recognize. “Re-elect Roberts!” announces a garish campaign billboard bearing the face of a generic white politician. “We are great again!” Well, it’s easy to guess who that’s referring to and to extrapolate what alternate reality “Motel Acacia” has in mind. This is America as seen from abroad, America as a scary place where ugly white racists don’t just build walls to keep undocumented aliens out; they sacrifice oblivious immigrants to a menacing tree demon.

A what? Tree demons aren’t really a thing in the United States, but they’re a fertile part of Filipino folklore, and given that “Motel Acacia” is actually an Asian co-production from Philippines-based director Bradley Liew (“Singing in Graveyards”), that explains how such a monster would find its way into a movie set in the Northern U.

Production has begun on Malaysian director Bradley Liew’s upscale horror film “Motel Acacia.” With a clearly topical message, the film features a hotel bed that eats immigrants.

Actor, Jc Santos called it: “A cautionary tale of what’s going to happen in the future.” Indonesian star, Nicholas Saputra said the he agreed to the role “because of its urgency and relevance.”

The movie has representation in North America through Xyz Films, the sales and production company of Todd Brown. He was also responsible for selecting the concepts to be presented at the International Film Festival and Awards Macao’s project market.

“Set in a fictional snowy United States, the film is about a young Filipino man who is groomed by his tyrannical Caucasian Father to take over Motel Acacia which is tasked with exterminating immigrants by the government through a bed, haunted with the spirit of a Filipino tree demon,...

wide

Red Sparrow [my review]

Jennifer Lawrence stars as a Russian spy who uses manipulation to get what she wants. (male writer and director)

limited

Werewolf [IMDb]

Ashley McKenzie writes and directs this drama about outcast drug addicts, costarring Bhreagh MacNeil.

Oh, Lucy! [IMDb]

Atsuko Hirayanagi cowrites and directs this dramedy about a lonely Tokyo woman, played by Shinobu Terajima.

Chasing Great [IMDb]

Michelle Walshe cowrites and codirects this documentary about a (male) rugby player.

Dance Academy: The Comeback [IMDb]

Samantha Strauss writes this drama following the continuing stories of the gender-balanced ensemble from an Australian television show.

Eat Me [IMDb]

Jacqueline Wright writes and costars in this thriller about a woman and the (male) home invader who saves her mid-suicide attempt. (male director)

The Lullaby [IMDb]

Tarryn-Tanille Prinsloo writes this horror movie about a woman, played by Reine Swart, who is having difficulty as a new mother.

Hondros [IMDb]

Jenny Golden cowrites this documentary about a (male) war photojournalist.

In the first minutes of Changing Partners, Agot Isidro’s Alex (don’t be confused, there’ll be two Alex’s here — that’s kind of the concept of the whole film) expresses her excitement over watching the new season of her favorite prime-time musical soap opera. Her much younger boyfriend Cris (Sandino Martin, one of the Cris’s, that is) finds the notion of characters breaking into song quite absurd. Isidro’s Alex explains that when characters burst into song, it is so emotions can be more untethered and thus more felt — the tempered voice inside one's self breaking free. Then a few minutes later, both this Alex and Cris start belting high notes on the magic and peculiarity of their love. With this first scene, there’s a...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...