News

The West has a tendency to lump horror from East and Southeast Asia into one basic but limiting category. Because of this, someone might write off an entire continent’s contributions to the genre based solely on a few popular movies with similar plots and executions. However, Eric Khoo’s series Folklore highlights — not to mention celebrates — the differences that make each episode’s depicted culture so unique. That’s not to say there isn’t an overall theme here. This anthology show emphasizes a commonality among its stories; every tale of terror draws from the supernatural. More specifically, each self-contained episode is based on a local custom, myth or superstition. And as the second season demonstrates with both flair and potency, defying the past and ignoring tradition has serious consequences.

Like other anthology series, there is no specific order when watching the episodes. Skipping around is surely an option,...

Sayaka Kanda, a voice-over actress and singer who voiced Anna in the dubbed Japanese version of Disney’s Frozen, was found dead on Saturday at a hotel in Sapporo. She was 35.

According to local media reports, Kanda, the daughter of actor Masaki Kanda and singer Seiko Matsuda did not show up for an afternoon performance of the musical My Fair Lady at the Sapporo Cultural Arts Theater, where she was playing Eliza Dolittle. She was found at the hotel where she had fallen from a height.

Reports say the the local police are investigating the fall as a suicide but have not ruled out foul play.

A notice on Kanda’s official website from Robe Co. Ltd. CEO Mitsuhisa Kamachi said, “We are very sorry to give such a report to all the fans who supported us and all the people who took care of us,” calling the situation “unbelievable and unacceptable.

Dive deep into the origins of fear as horror anthology series Folklore returns with its second season, bringing you 6 thrilling stories set in 6 different Asian territories, each directed by a local director. Billy Christian, Erik Matti, Nicole Midori Woodford, Seiko Matsuda, Liao Shih-han, Sitisiri Mongkolsiri will direct the six episodes.

Season 2 of #Folklore, an HBO Asia Original series, premieres November 14 exclusively on HBO and HBO Go, with new episodes every Sunday. Subscribe to HBO Go with a special price plan now available.

Although Asian Ott players have seen a big increase in viewership, speakers also discussed the challenging economics of streaming.

Coming right at the end of the year, this week’s Asia TV Forum & Market, which took place virtually from Singapore, reiterated may of the themes that we’ve been hearing globally throughout this Covid-hit year.

Speakers at the event’s ‘Mornings with Industry Leaders’ sessions agreed that the pandemic has just accelerated the trends that were already there, truncating into months the changes in consumer habits and business practices that were otherwise going to take a few years.

“We’re...

WarnerMedia today announced the second season of the HBO Asia Original horror anthology series, “Folklore“. Principal photography for the seven-part hour-long series will commence early next year in seven Asian territories including Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand. Each episode will be directed by a local director from each territory.

Helmed once again by Singapore’s award-winning filmmaker Eric Khoo, the second season of “Folklore” will ramp up the fear factor as it examines the human condition when exposed to supernatural powers in a mind-bending race against oneself, each story bringing a different take and perspective.

The directors for this season include Sittisiri Mongkolsiri from Thailand, Shih-Han Liao from Taiwan, Erik Matti from the Philippines, Billy Christian from Indonesia, Nicole Midori Woodford from Singapore, and Bradley Liew from Malaysia. Pop singer-songwriter Seiko Matsuda, who also appeared in Eric Khoo’s “Ramen Shop” will be making her directorial debut in the episode from Japan.

Production company BlackBox Multimedia has partnered with Italian producers Leader Produzioni and LatAm’s Eo Media Distribution for the TV series adaptation of Luis Sepúlveda’s novel Diary Of A Sentimental Killer. The story follows an unnamed assassin who has been left by his lover the day before he is set to embark on a crucial assignment. Chilean writer Sepúlveda, who died from Covid-19 in April 2020, saw his books sell more than 6 million copies worldwide and be translated into 40 languages.

Kim Engelbrecht and Iain Glen will lead the cast of Reyka, M-Net and Fremantle’s eight-part crime drama that will shoot in South Africa. The show follows a flawed but brilliant criminal profiler who investigates a string of brutal murders committed by a serial killer. The series is created and written by Rohan Dickson and is jointly produced by Serena Cullen for Serena Cullen Productions in the UK and Harriet Gavshon...

The culinary arts sometimes get lost in the maelstrom of film, music, literature and other mediums of expression, including the forging of a national identity where cuisine is often homogenised with other regional variations (as it is perceived among the white West). Food is so much more than this, though: it is a labour of love, a fragrant harmonium of the senses, a powerful trigger of long lost memories. It brings all manner of people closer together and transcends language and national barriers. These are all the things sumptuously captured in Eric Khoo’s latest; a film which, since premiering at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, has extensively toured the circuit and has won a whole heap of praise. ‘Ramen Shop’ (or ‘Ramen Teh’) may boast similarities to other soul-searching journeys committed to screen, but triumphs in its total embrace of its key palate-pleasing ingredients.

“Ramen Shop” is...

The film tells the story of a young ramen chef from Japan.

Japanese stars Takumi Saitoh and Seiko Matsuda have joined the cast of Singaporean filmmaker Eric Khoo’s upcoming foodie drama Ramen Teh.

Singapore’s Mark Lee and Jeanette Aw also star in the film, which will be co-produced by Khoo’s Zhao Wei Films and Wild Orange Artists. Also joining the ensemble cast are Tsuyoshi Ihara, Tetsuya Bessho and Singaporean theatre actress Beatrice Chien.

The film, which has started shooting in Singapore, tells the story of a young ramen chef from Japan who travels to Singapore to learn more about his Singaporean mother who died when he was ten years old.

Japanese chef Keisuke Takeda and Singapore food blogger Dr Leslie Tay have been tapped to consult on the culinary scenes in the film.

Singapore’s Clover Films will distribute the film locally. Theatrical release is scheduled for the second quarter of 2018.