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Exclusive: Thai director Baz Poonpiriya has reunited with Bad Genius producer Vanridee Pongsittisak on Gohan, an upcoming feature about a stray dog that marks the debut project from Gdh 559’s new joint venture Bask.

The feelgood drama is about the bond between a dog named Gohan as it moves through life with temporary owners over a decade.

Baz is directing the Thai feature along with two rising directors: Chayanop Boonprakob, whose credits include Friend Zone, SuckSeed and recent release The Red Envelope; and Atta Hemwadee, whose feature debut Not Friends was produced by Baz.

”Gohan is a film about...

Heist films typically evoke drama around vaults, jewels, and casinos with high-speed car chases that standard-setting classics like Ocean’s Eleven and The Italian Job often incorporate for the high-stakes tension that the genre takes pride in. A classroom and an examination hall don't inspire confidence as the backdrop for such heart-pounding suspense. But Bad Genius (2017), a Thai crime thriller helmed by Nattawut Poonpiriya, reimagines academic cheating as an adrenaline-fueled heist adventure.

Was Nattawut Poonpiriya‘s “Bad Genius” good? No, it was great. It was so great that almost all of the Asia Pacific from India to Australia loved it. It was so great that Bollywood wanted a version of their own, and made “Farrey” in 2023. But like anything that is great about Asian cinema, Hollywood also wants a piece of it. TV and stage writer, J. C. Lee in his debut as a director, offers his “Bad Genius” where he takes what was basic off the original and filled the rest with anything symptomatically Hollywood, including this basicness.

The basicness here means that this is identifiably “Bad Genius” in its core as a narrative — all the plot points are there, all the stakes, and consequences. It is remarkably shorter: some 30 minutes shorter than both the Thai and Bollywood versions. The whole set up remains the same: highschool poster girl and boy...

Exclusive: Vertical has acquired North American rights to Bad Genius, an English-language remake of the same-name Thai thriller, from Picturestart, Picture Perfect Federation, and Little Ray Media. Marking the directorial debut of J.C. Lee, a veteran producer whose credits include The Morning Show and How to Get Away with Murder, the film is slated to hit select theaters in the U.S and Canada on October 11.

Bad Genius is a high-stakes, high-octane thriller about a diverse group of students who team up to fight a system of injustice and inequity and take down the rigged academic institutions around them. Released in 2017, the original Thai version was written and directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya and produced by Thai film studio Gdh 559 Company Limited. In addition to debuting at #1 at the box office in Thailand, the film quickly became the highest-grossing Thai film of the year and the most internationally successful Thai film ever,...

Exclusive: Powerhouse Thai producer Vanridee Pongsittisak has unveiled more details about Bask Production House — a new collaboration formed between Bangkok-based studio Gdh and Bad Genius director Baz Poonpiriya, which was unveiled earlier this month.

Poonpiriya is set to direct Bask’s first two projects, which have Fast & Furious films director Justin Lin and Anita Gou from Kindred Spirit (The Farewell) onboard as producers.

Lin’s project already has a completed screenplay and is in the process of securing investment, while Gou’s project is currently in the script development stage.

“Baz had been developing a project but due to a scheduling conflict, I couldn’t help produce the film,” said Pongsittisak in an exclusive interview with Deadline. “Baz then reached out to Justin Lin for the project, because Baz admires his talent and vision. After reading the screenplay, Justin found it to be a great fit for him as well.

Bad Genius director Baz Poonpiriya and Thailand’s Gdh 559 have partnered to form strategic creative house Bask for global productions, partnering with Justin Lin as executive producer and Anita Gou as producer.

The new venture aims to offer a fresh perspective on Thai and Asian culture for global audiences. “Our mission is to support Asian filmmakers, giving a voice to those who are often overlooked and making sure they are heard and seen both behind and in front of the camera,” Baz told Screen.

On its debut slate are a string of in-development projects with Thai filmmakers attached. The...

Hot from its multi-territory success with “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies,” Thai film studio GDH559 set out a powerful production and releasing slate for the coming year. Significantly, four of its next five releases have LGBT themes.

Released in April, “Grandma” earned THB339 million ($9.4 million) in Thailand. It has since broken records in five countries for Thai-language film on its way to earning a cumulative THB1.2 billion ($33.3 million) and plays imminently at the New York Asian Film Festival.

Nearest to release, and most accomplished-looking of the new slate, is “The Paradise of Thorns,” a comedy drama about a man who is cut out of his lover’s durian farm inheritance due to a lack of paperwork and hereto-centric laws. A similar theme was explored earlier this year in Ray Yeung’s Teddy Award-winning drama “All Shall Be Well,” which told its story from a lesbian point of view...

The New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center announce the 23rd edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), running July 12–22 at Film at Lincoln Center, with additional screenings from July 22–28 at the Sva Theatre and July 13–15, 18–21, and 23–25 at Look Cinemas W57, plus a special collaborative presentation of films at the Korean Cultural Center New York.

“For so many, Asian films start and end with Parasite or Everything Everywhere All At Once (who could blame them?), but the real action is happening in the trenches of Asian cinema, where audacious auteurs and daring debutantes are unleashing a tidal wave of talent that's about to crash on American shores,” said Samuel Jamier, festival director and president of the New York Asian Film Foundation. “This year's festival is like sriracha sauce – it's spicy, it's tangy, it's got a kick that'll wake up your senses. And it's hard to find right now!

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia) 2024, one of Asia's largest international short film festivals accredited by the US Academy Awards®, today announced the nominees and special screenings for various categories on the official festival website. This year's festival will be held at multiple venues in Tokyo, starting with the Opening Ceremony on Tuesday, June 4th and ending with the Awards Ceremony on Monday, June 17th. The festival will be preceded by an online venue starting today, Thursday, April 25th and running until Sunday, June 30th under the theme “Illuminate your life”, with a selection of short films (including special non-competition screenings) curated by the festival.

Announcement of around 270 nominated works, selected from 4,936 entries from 114 countries and regions around the world. In the Japan category of the Live Action competition, which leads to the Academy Awards, short films by actors and directors such as Yudai Chiba, Risa Naka, Sota Fukushi,...

Gdh plans to acquire three to four international films per year.

Bangkok-based Gdh 559 has acquired Celine Song’s Past Lives from A24, which it will release theatrically in Thailand as its first non-Thai film.

Gdh is expanding into the theatrical distribution of international features through new business unit Out Of The Box. The US romantic drama, which proved one of the most critically lauded selections at this year’s Sundance and Berlinale, will be released in Thai cinemas on July 6.

The Korean and English-language drama centres on childhood friends who reunite in New York two decades after one family emigrated from South Korea.

Filmmakers had called for a boycott over the rule change.

The organisers behind Thailand’s Suphannahong National Film Awards have dropped a rule that would effectively disqualify independent features from nomination following a major backlash.

A recent rule change by the National Federation of Motion Pictures and Contents Associations (Mpc) stated that theatrical releases in five regions of Thailand and a minimum of 50,000 cinema admissions were required for a film to be considered for nomination. These regions include Bangkok, Chiangmai (the north), Chonburi (the east), Nakhon Ratchasima (the northeast) and Nakhon Si Thammarat (the south).

It meant that, earlier this week,...

Benedict Wong, Bel-Air star Jabari Banks, and Callina Liang are set to star in the English-language remake of Thai hit Bad Genius.

Picturestart and Picture Perfect Federation are behind the project that will be directed by Jc Lee from a script he wrote with Julius Onah. Shooting is expected to begin this May.

The film’s synopsis describes it as “a high-stakes, high-octane thriller about a diverse group of young people who team up to fight the system of injustice and inequity and take down the rigged academic institutions around them.”

The original film, titled Chalard Games Goeng (Bad Genius), was written and directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya and produced by Thai film studio Gdh 559 Company Limited. Released in 2017, the film broke box office records in Thailand, including becoming the highest-grossing Thai film of the year.

Erik Feig and Jessica Switch will produce via the Picturestart with Picture Perfect Federation’s...

Major pre-sales closed ahead of scheduled May production start. Mallory Edens’ Little Ray Media financing.

Picturestart and Picture Perfect Federation have set Jc Lee to direct the English-language remake of Thai hit Bad Genius (Chalard Games Goeng) and have cast rising stars Callina Liang (Tell Me Everything) and Jabari Banks (Bel-Air) alongside Benedict Wong (Doctor Strange franchise).

Picture Perfect Federation has also announced a raft of pre-sales, closing deals for the UK (Studiocanal), Australia/ New Zealand (Roadshow), France (Metropolitan), Germany and Austria (Constantin), Italy (Leone), and Latin America (Sun).

Rights have also gone in Japan (Gaga), Benelux (Belga), Scandinavia (Nordisk...

“Luce” writer Jc Lee is set to make his directorial debut with “Bad Genius,” the upcoming English-language remake of the 2017 hit Thai film “Chalard Games Goeng (Bad Genius).”

Picturestart and Picture Perfect Federation are producing the project, which will star Benedict Wong (“Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness”) alongside up-and-coming talent Callina Liang (“Tell Me Everything”) and Jabari Banks (“Bel-Air”). The film is financed by Mallory Edens’ Little Ray Media and will begin production in May.

The original film was written and directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya and produced by Thai film studio Gdh 559 Company Limited. The movie debuted at No. 1 at the Thai box office, quickly becoming the country’s highest-grossing Thai film of the year and, ultimately, the most internationally successful Thai film ever.

In addition to directing the remake, Lee reteams with “Luce” filmmaker Julius Onah to pen the script for “Bad Genius.” Their adaptation is described as “a high-stakes,...

Picturestart and Picture Perfect Federation have set Jc Lee to direct the English-language remake of Thai hit Bad Genius and also announced key cast members as well as a raft of international presales.

Lee also takes co-writing credits for the English-language screenplay with Julius Onah, who was previously announced as the director. The pair previously collaborated on the Sundance 2019 title Luce, adapted from Lee’s original play of the same name.

Up-and-coming talents Callina Liang, star of Itvx teen drama Tell Me Everything, and Jabari Banks (Bel-Air) will star with veteran UK actor Benedict Wong (Doctor Stranger In The Multiverse Of Madness).

The English remake is billed as a high-stakes, high-octane thriller about a diverse group of young people who team up to fight the system of injustice and inequity and take down the rigged academic institutions around them.

It is produced by Erik Feig and Jessica Switch at Picturestart...

Leading Thai production and sales company Gdh 559 is introducing comedy drama Not Friends and twin sister story You & Me & Me to buyers at Filmart, produced respectively by award-winning directors Baz Poonpiriya and Banjong Pisanthanakun.

The new films mark the first time both renowned filmmakers have acted as producer for other directors.

Baz is the director of Thai box office hit Bad Genius and Sundance award-winning One For The Road, while Banjong is the filmmaker behind acclaimed horror The Medium and Pee Mak, which became Thailand’s highest grossing-film of all time when it was released in 2013.

Not...

by Simon Ramshaw

Few production companies hold the same strength of trademark from its creator than Wong Kar-wai’s Jet Tone Films. While many of us know the celebrated Hong Kong filmmaker for his sumptuous romantic works like “Chungking Express” and “In the Mood for Love”, his career as a producer for other directors holds some of the same trail-blazing intrigue he brought to Hong Kong cinema since the 1980s. Set up in 1991, Jet Tone Films has been responsible for funding Wong’s oeuvre and has recently expanded overseas to collaborate with Japanese and Thai directors (Sabu and Nattawut Poonpiriya respectively) alike. But in this period of blossoming experimentation in the 1990s, Wong set prolific Hong Kong actor Eric Kot Man-Fai a challenge to direct a project about first love, and thus, the sprawling, affectionate “First Love: Litter on the Breeze” was born.

on Amazon by clicking...

While New Year’s is just the first day of January for most people, others consider it to be something more momentous. It represents a fresh start, especially for those who desperately need a change in their lives. The three core characters in Nattawut Poonpiriya’s 2012 movie Countdown don’t know it yet, but their New Year’s Eve is going to be a time of reflection and, most importantly, survival.

The college-age characters in Countdown have a problem that only people their age would consider a real crisis; their weed dealer has retired as part of his own clean slate. But if they want to have a fun New Year’s Eve, then roommates Bee, Jack and Pam need to find another source, stat. This brings them to calling Jesús (David Asavanond) from the torn-up business card that Jack found in his ex-dealer’s place. They have to guess...

The first ever feature film produced by the Hong Kong Baptist University, “Pretty Heart” is a timely discursive take on the increasingly more competitive arena of education. Unlike Nattawut Poonpiriya’s “Bad Genius,” however, which is a razor-sharp, heart-thumping romp on the nuts and bolts of students’ modus operandi and motivations behind wholesale cheating, “Pretty Heart” dissects the pressure to excel by humanizing all the people involved in preparing the city’s secondary school students for a test that will significantly impact their future.

Pretty Heart is screening at Asian Pop Up Cinema

The film interweaves three storylines, that of between English literature teacher Chloe Lee and the estranged relationship she has with her father, Lee Lung Kei, a principal of a cram center, her blossoming romance with her father’s top tutor K.K. Ho, and the relationship they all have with the kids they teach, particularly that with Shu Ting,...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Initial slate of five series set to be unveiled in Busan.

Hong Kong filmmaker Peter Ho-Sun Chan has launched production company Changin’ Pictures with an initial slate of five titles that includes stars Donnie Yen and Zhang Ziyi.

The company will focus on content for streaming services and plans to roll out 20 limited series across various genres in its first four years across the Asia Pacific region.

It aims to sign up leading filmmakers and fresh talent from throughout the region to create drama projects for a pan-Asian audience and aims to work with platforms and co-production partners looking to...

Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.

Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is...

Sk Global’s “Thai Cave Rescue” series faced almost as many obstacles as the specialist divers drafted to bring out 12 boys and their coach from a waterlogged grotto in summer 2018 in front of a blaze of media attention and an expectant Thai nation.

The show debuts on Netflix on Thursday, a timing that means it follows three feature-length depictions and multiple news media specials retelling the watery events.

It is also the retelling that is most closely associated with the Thai government, which auditioned prospective production companies and streamers and has carefully held the real-life rescued youngsters close to its chest.

The platform’s answer has been to stress authenticity, access and width as much as possible.

“We get to show the heroism of all the people of Thailand, and we get to speak about the effect on the boys’ families,” said co-showrunner and screenwriter Dana Ledoux Miller at an...

Click here to read the full article.

Netflix has released the first trailer for its Thai original series Thai Cave Rescue, a docudrama of the incredible rescue of the Wild Boars boys soccer team that captivated the world in 2018.

Filmed entirely in Thailand, Thai Cave Rescue is told from the local perspective, and the trailer captures the fear faced by the boys as the cave filled with water and the scale of the rescue operation the international team faced as they raced against time and the elements.

The six-episode limited series will release on Netflix worldwide on Sept. 22.

Created by Michael Russell Gunn (Billions, Designated Survivor) and Dana Ledoux Miller (Designated Survivor, Narcos), Thai Cave Rescue is co-directed by Thai hitmaker Baz Poonpiriya (One for the Road, Bad Genius) and Thai-American director Kevin Tancharoen (The Brothers Sun, The Book of Boba Fett, Warrior). Gunn and Miller also serve as co-showrunners and writers of the project.

The festival wrapped up its 26th edition on August 3.

Korean action film The Roundup and US sci-fi The Artifice Girl won the gold awards for best Asian feature and best international feature, respectively, at the audience awards for the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal, which wrapped its 26th edition on August 3.

Starring Eternals and Train To Busan’s Done Lee as a ‘best of a cop’, The Roundup is directed by Lee Sang-yong and acts as a sequel to 2017’s The Outlaws. The gold winner was also a box office hit in South Korea, recording over 12.5 million admissions (as...

The long-anticipated Netflix drama about the miraculous 2018 cave rescue of Thailand’s Wild Boars youth soccer team finally has a premiere date of Thursday, September 22, 2022. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the six-episode limited series, Thai Cave Rescue, was filmed entirely in Thailand. It will follow the real-life story of the 12 young boys and their 25-year-old soccer coach who became stuck in a cave complex near the Myanmar border. The series is told from the boys’ perspective, as well as their families and the vast global team that helped save them. Michael Russell Gunn (Designated Survivor) and Dana Ledoux Miller (Narcos) are behind the series, which is directed by Thailand’s Baz Poonpiriya (Bad Genius) and U.S. director Kevin Tancharoen (The Book of Boba Fett). Gunn and Miller also serve as executive producers alongside Jon N. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), Lance Johnson (Troop Zero), John Penotti (Crazy Rich Asians), John Logan Pierson...

Netflix will on September 22 release its long-gestating drama about the real-life rescue of 12 boys and an adult who were trapped in a cave in northern Thailand. Thai Cave Rescue will show how the Wild Boars soccer team’s afternoon exploring with their 25-year-old coach went disastrously wrong when heavy rain trapped them inside, leading to a massive international recovery mission that engrossed the world.

Netflix partnered with filmmakers across Thailand and beyond to create the six-episode series, which is filmed entirely in the Asian nation, after jointly acquiring rights to the story with Sk Global Entertainment back in 2019. The drama unfolds through the perspectives of the boys at the center of the rescue.

Created by Michael Russell Gunn and Dana Ledoux Miller, the limited series is directed by Thailand’s Baz Poonpiriya and U.S. director Kevin Tancharoen. Both also serve as executive producers alongside Jon M. Chu and Lance Johnson for Electric Somewhere; John Penotti (Crazy Rich Asians) for Sk Global Entertainment; John Logan Pierson.

Cast includes Papangkorn “Beam” Lerkchaleampote as Coach Eak, Thaneth “Ek” Warakulnukroh as Chiang Rai governor Narongsak Osottanakorn, and Urassaya “Yaya” Sperbund and Manatsanun “Donut” Phanlerdwongsakul as Kelly and Pim — fictional representatives of the real-world hydraulic engineers and park rangers that made the incredible rescue possible. Supakorn “Tok” Kitsuwan is former Navy Seal diver Saman “Ja Sam” Gunan, and Bloom Varin plays army doctor Colonel Bhak Loharjun.

The boys are played by 12 young local actors, with filming taking place at the homes of the real boys and Tham Luang, where they were trapped, itself.

As with the real mission, Thai Cave Rescue international actors to portray key contributors in this rescue, including Nicholas Bell as Vern Unsworth, Nicholas Farnell as John Volanthen, Christopher Stollery as Rick Stanton, Rodger Corser as Dr. Richard “Harry” Harris, and Damon Herriman as Dr. Craig Challen.

“Thai Cave Rescue is the first opportunity for audiences worldwide to see the Tham Luang story in a new and more emotional light — centering the perspectives of the 12 Wild Boars, Coach Eak, and heroes like Saman ‘Ja Sam’ Gunan, whose lives beyond the operation remain largely outside the public spotlight,” said Poonpiriya.

Tancharoen added: “As a Thai American, I feel so incredibly fortunate to help tell this story through the lens and soul of the Thaipeople. I wanted to bring my experience of telling big superhero stories to the real world. One where real-life superheroes worked together for a common cause regardless of where they were from, and the only superpowers are the perseverance of the human spirit and what we can accomplish when we work together.”

Ron Howard and MGM’s Thai cave rescue film Thirteen Lives is set for its theatrical debut on Friday (July 29). Read Todd McCarthy’s review here. The story was also told in Nat Geo documentary The Rescue last year and in indie film The Cave back in 2019.

Click here to read the full article.

Netflix’s long in the works series about the miraculous 2018 cave rescue of Thailand’s Wild Boars youth soccer team finally has a launch date. The six-episode limited series Thai Cave Rescue will release on the streaming service worldwide on Sept. 22.

Filmed entirely in Thailand, the show tells the real-life story of the 12 young Thai soccer players and their 25-year-old coach after they became stuck in a vast underground cave complex near the Myanmar border. The story unfolds from the perspectives of the boys themselves, as well as the experiences of their families and the vast global team that came together to save them.

Thai Cave Rescue is one of several screen projects to tackle the sensational story. Ron Howard’s Hollywood film version, Thirteen Lives, starring Viggo Mortensen, Colin Farrell and Joel Edgerton is getting a limited theatrical release this Friday ahead...

Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya kills it once again with his hotly-anticipated feature, “One for the Road.” The Thai director first attracted attention with his 2017 high school testing heist, “Bad Genius” (now available on Netflix!) — the highest grossing film of the year in his homeland. Now, in his 2021 feature, he’s joined forces with legendary Hong Kong producer Wong Kar-wai to spin a nostalgic tale with a modern twist.

“One for the Road” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

“One for the Road” kicks off at New York bar. Boss (Tor Thanapob) is an attractive, but noncommittal bartender; he treats his customers with more than just drinks on the regular. One night, an old friend from Bangkok, Aood (Ice Natara) asks him to return. It turns out that Aood has cancer, and furthermore, has a strange request: he wants to revisit all of his exes again before he dies. Boss...

The year 2021 was the year of Squid Game.

If one piece of content caught the zeitgeist on the world stage over the last 12 months it was Netflix’s Korean-language Battle Royale-style capitalism satire.

According to the streamer, the show smashed previous records to become Netflix’s most-watched title of all time, racking up a mighty 1.65 billion viewing hours in 28 days following its premiere in September.

Even if you’re not convinced by the metrics Netflix uses to reach some of its numbers, the show’s permeation of popular culture was tangible. Halloween was the perfect example of the phenomenon, with seemingly every group photo on social media prominently featuring a pink jumpsuit-sporting cosplayer. The costumes were so popular that some schools in New York banned them over fears they could glorify violence.

The show didn’t come from nowhere. Korean content has been breaking out in a...

Leading Chinese actor Huang Xiaoming will take a production role on selected film titles emerging from Stars Collective, the talent incubator program backed by China- and Los Angeles-based financier Starlight Media.

Huang, who has credits including “The Message” and “American Dreams in China,” will lead Stars Collective’s talent discovery efforts in China, be a mentor to the selected filmmakers and take a formal producer role on selected, individual projects the program hatches.

Stars Collective was launched last year with the idea of supporting 50 emerging filmmakers. Starlight now says it has over 100 filmmakers sighed up and has earmarked $100 million for development and initial production.

“The majority of those selected of the program are female, and represent a highly diverse mix of nationalities, ethnicities, races and personal and professional backgrounds,” the company said. “Stars Collective integrates global resources by bringing together local alliances of film producers and film commissions, throughout Europe for instance,...

Exclusive: In-demand Thai filmmaker Nattawut ‘Baz’ Poonpiriya, known for Asian box office smash Bad Genius and Sundance 2021 winner One For The Road, is to direct English-language horror-thriller The Innkeeper for Crazy Rich Asians and Midway backer Starlight.

Set against the backdrop of the Southeast Asian financial crisis in 1997, the film will chart the story of a man who must grapple with his own fears after discovering his disappeared twin brother in a desolate Thai hotel.

The movie is the first project hatched under Poonpiriya’s first look development deal with Starlight, whose Peter Luo will produce.

Script is written by Eakasit Thairath (Warrior King 2) and Poonpiriya, with revisions by Logan Martin (Meat). The plan is to shoot in the U.S and Thailand in 2022.

Poonpiriya’s thriller Bad Genius was the highest-grossing Thai film of 2017, and went on to become the most successful Thai film ever overseas after grossing more than $30M in China.

Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya’s latest feature “One for the Road” turned heads at its premiere in this year’s Sundance World Cinema: Narrative Film competition. And rightly so, too: Poonpiriya’s last work, “Bad Genius” (2017), broke Thai box office records upon its release. Furthermore, “One for the Road” boasts an eye-popping producer on its credits, the legendary Wong Kar-wai — known for Hong Kong classics like “In the Mood for Love” (2000) and “Chungking Express” (1994).

Now, in the spirit of a virtual Sundance, we settle down with Poonpiriya over Zoom. Poonpiriya speaks to us from Thailand; with a leafy green set-up (compared to that of the rainy Bay Area!), his easy humor is contagious. Poonpiriya gives us the lowdown of what it was like to create this deeply personal work with another superstar director, and some of the scenes that spoke out to him.

How did your project get started?

After my...

Road to Redemption: Poonpiriya Paves the Way for Heartfelt Crowd-Pleaser

Teetering between cornball and poignant, Baz Poonpiriya’s One for the Road is a big-hearted melodrama that hits all the right notes, almost too neatly, then makes up for its sins with welcome surprises. We’ve all seen our share of weepy dying-buddy films, and while it doesn’t reinvent the wheel—there’s enough fresh fun here in the filmmaker’s third outing.

Poonpiriya showed a knack for mainstream appeal with his 2017 breakout, Bad Genius; here, he combines broad strokes with personal touches—a feat in and of itself, even when the results are mixed.…...

Last year’s Sundance Film Festival – one of the few in-person festivals of 2020 – saw a marked gain in Asian-American cinema with the win of Yoon Yuh-jung-starring “Minari”. This year, after six days and 73 feature films, Sundance sees less wins on the Asian and Asian-American cinematic front — and instead sees a turn of attention to the first day of the festival. Though three of the four Grand Jury Prizes awarded to films showcased on Sundance’s opening night, their presence must have been difficult to forget over the last six days — among them including “Flee,” a Denmark-France-Sweden-Norway animated documentary about an Afghan refugee.

Asian stories stood out in this year’s World Cinema: Documentary category, however. “Writing with Fire” (Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh) — a film exploring the accomplishments of a Dalit women-run news outlet in India — notably won the Audience Award and Special Jury Award: Impact for Change Award. Kurdish...

Chicago – The 2021 Sundance Film Festival will be long remembered as the “virtual” version due to the pandemic, but there are always the real films, and the festival announced their competition honorees on February 2nd, in a virtual ceremony hosted by comedian Patton Oswalt.

After six days, 73 feature films and 50 Short Films, the Grand Jury Prizes were awarded to “Coda” (U.S. Dramatic) … Coda is an acronym for Child of Deaf Adults, and highlights the character of Ruby. “Summer of Soul” (U.S. Documentary) … the “Black Woodstock” of Harlem in the same Summer of 1969. “Flee” (World Cinema Documentary) … a child immigrant grows up to be a respected academic, but still harbors a secret. And “Hive” (World Cinema Dramatic) … a woman has a husband missing in action during the Kosovo war – should she continue to support herself or wait?

The list of all award winners are below.

Grand Jury Prize

Coda

Photo credit: Sundance Film Festival

U.

Siân Heder’s US feel-good family tale Coda won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize.

Coda and Hive were the big winners at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival virtual awards ceremony on Tuesday night (February 2), taking home four and three prizes, respectively.

Siân Heder’s US feel-good family tale Coda – set up after producer Patrick Wachsberger took remake rights to French film La Famille Bélier with him when he left Lionsgate – won the U.S. Grand Jury Prize: Dramatic, Audience Award: U.S. Dramatic, U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for Ensemble Cast, and Directing Award: U.S. Dramatic prizes.

The...

The mostly virtual 2021 Sundance Film Festival is coming to a close. The festival announced awards winners Tuesday night, trading an in-person ceremony for one broadcast live and hosted by Patton Oswalt. The biggest winner was Sian Heder’s coming of age drama “Coda,” which earned four U.S. Dramatic Competition awards, including the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award. Other Big winners were “Summer of Soul,” which took home the two top U.S. Documentary awards.

Blerta Basholli’s “Hive” won three awards in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition: the Directing and Audience awards and the Grand Jury Prize. Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh’s “Writing with Fire” earned two World Cinema Documentary awards.

A total of 72 features screened over the last week, along with 50 shorts, four Indie Series, and 14 New Frontier VR/new media projects. Those projects were judged by a jury made up of Zeynep Atakan, Raúl Castillo,...

The narrative feature “Coda” and the documentary “Summer of Soul” swept the top categories at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, winning the Grand Jury Prizes and also taking the audience awards in the U.S. dramatic and documentary competitions.

“Coda,” director Sian Heder’s coming-of-age story in which Emilia Jones plays the only hearing member of a deaf family, also won an award for its ensemble, many of them deaf actors who performed in ASL. Its wins come three days after the film set a record for the largest sale in Sundance history, a $25 million deal with Apple.

“Summer of Soul,” which like “Coda” screened on the festival’s opening night, is a documentary by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson built around long-unseen concert footage from the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, a six-weekend event that first-time director Questlove uses as a launching pad to explore race relations and Black culture in that tumultuous time.

The 2021 Sundance Film Festival awards went off at a very fast clip tonight, in an hour’s time. Host Patton Oswalt — or as he billed himself, “Discount Giamatti” — kept the jokes flowing.

Siân Heder’s Coda, which we first told you was swooped up by Apple with a rich $25 million bid, came up big. It won both the U.S. Grand Jury Prize, U.S. Dramatic Audience Award and a Special Jury Ensemble Cast award too. Heder also won Best Director in the U.S. Dramatic section. The movie follows a girl named Ruby. As the only hearing person in an otherwise deaf family, she is divided about staying with them as their fishing business is threatened.

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s Summer of Soul took the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award for Documentary.

Blerta Basholli’s Hive, about a woman in Kosovo who fights against a patriarchal society and whose husband is missing,...

Thai director Nattawut Poonpiriya‘s impossibly stylish high school heist thriller Bad Genius was one of the best hidden gems to emerge from the Southeast Asian region over the past few years, and seemed to signal a bright new filmmaker in the arena who could rival Edgar Wright in breakneck editing and crazy camera acrobatics. That […]

The post ‘One for the Road’ Review: ‘Bad Genius’ Director Steers a Stylish Road Trip Dramedy [Sundance 2021] appeared first on /Film.

Available for release, DVD, Digital

Tokyo Dragon Chef – available on DVD and Digital

From us: Yoshihiro Nishimura directs another preposterous combination, this time mixing yakuza, food, musical and exploitation in the most insane matter, and through a rather low budget approach that did not allow him to present his trademark special effects. The characters, however, are as absurdly hilarious as they can come, with the whole concept of the hardcore yakuza trying to be kind to their customers and hiring influencers to help them, being both extremely funny and a kind of social comment regarding social media and the fate of failed/retired yakuza. (Panos Kotzathanasis)

Deliver Us From Evil – avail. for release now

Distributor: Signature Entertainment

From us: Overall, this is an entertaining action movie featuring two strong and likeable leads, although the predictable set-ups are sloppy and the story offers nothing new. In fact it’s similar to Wilson Yip’s “Paradox,...

Chinese media investor Starlight Culture Entertainment has set up an animation joint venture with David Steward II’s Lion Forge, one of the companies behind Oscar-winning short film “Hair Love.”

Among the venture’s first projects is a short focusing on the coronavirus pandemic, and its impact on humans and other animals. Production will begin immediately.

The agreement is presented as a partnership with a multi-year, multi-property span, and an agreement to co-finance and co-produce a slate of animated films.

Content will be drawn from Lion Forge’s existing stock of intellectual property, which includes comics, graphic novels, and celebrity affiliations, as well as broader cultural IP, notably from China. The first feature disclosed under the pact is a reworking of “Journey to the West,” a traditional Chinese tale that has been repeatedly adapted for the small and large screen.

For each project generated by the joint venture, Starlight will retain distribution,...

The film was released in Thailand on 3 May 2017 to critical acclaim, placing first at the Thai box office for two weeks and earning over 100 million baht, making it the highest-grossing Thai film of 2017 so far. The film was selected to open the 16th New York Asian Film Festival, the first Southeast Asian film to do so, and lead actress Chutimon was awarded the Rising Star Asia award by the festival organizer.

“Bad Genius” is screening at the 27th Art Film Fest Kosice

Lynn is a genius secondary school student living with her father, who is accepted in a prestigious school on an academic scholarship, after she impresses the director with her wit and intelligence during her interview. One of the first individuals she meets is Grace, a very likeable girl with very bad grades. Soon, Lynn starts helping Grace cheat, in order for her to be able to participate in...

Film Fest Košice loves Asian Movies. They have a whole section dedicated to them, called Eastern Promises, and curated by Kristina Aschenbrennerova (also a contributor of Asian Movie Pulse).

But beside Eastern Promises they also have always a good selection of Asian Titles within the general Programme. Let’s have a look at those titles.

Asian Films in The Programme

International Competition Of Feature Films (Peter Nágel)

(1st-3rd feature films of the director produced after 1 January 2018)

Still Human by Oliver Chan, 2018, Hk

The Day After I`m Gone, by Nimrod Eldar, 2019, Il

A Tale of Three Sisters, by Emin Alper, 2019, Tr-de-nl-gr

A Tale of Three Sisters

International Competition Of Short Films

(Short films (up to 30 minutes) produced after 1 January 201)

Brotherhood by Meryam Joobeur, 2018, CA-tn-qa-se

The Fox by Sadegh Javadi Nikjeh, 2018, Ir

Tungrus by Rishi Chandna, 2018, In

Tungrus

Around The World (Peter Nágel)

Bag of Rice by Kiseye Berendj, 1996, Ir-jp...

Original is highest grossing Thai film internationally.

Picturestart founder Erik Feig is teaming up with Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Entertainment on Bad Genius, an English-language remake of 2017 Thai hit Chalard Games Goeng.

The partners will develop, produce and finance the project, and Eva Anderson has been brought on to write the script.

Nattawut Poonpiriya directed and Thai film studio Gdh 559 Company Limited produced the original about entrepreneurial high school seniors who take down the rigged college-admissions system.

Jessica Switch and Julia Enescu will oversee for Picturestart, and the parties secured rights before news of the Us college admissions scandal broke.

Erik Feig’s Picturestart and Patrick Wachsberger’s Picture Perfect Entertainment are developing, producing and attached to finance the English-language remake of the hit 2017 Thai movie Bad Genius (Chalard Games Goeng).

Eva Anderson has been tapped to write the adaptation of the film which was written and directed by Nattawut Poonpiriya. Jessica Switch and Julia Enescu will oversee for Picturestart.

Picturestart’s adaptation is a high-stakes, high-octane thriller heist about a group of entrepreneurial high school seniors who team up to take down the rigged college admissions system. Rights were secured before the current college admissions scandal broke.

Anderson is a co-ep for USA’s Briarpatch and a consulting producer for AMC’s Dispatches from Elsewhere. She was previously a staff writer and producer for You’re the Worst on FX. She is represented by Reign Agency and Jackoway Austen Tyerman Wertheimer Mandelbaum Morris Bernstein Trattner & Klein.

Bad Genius...

Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu, Thai filmmaker Nattawut Poonpiriya (Bad Genius) and Netflix, along with Sk Global Entertainment (Crazy Rich Asians) have teamed for a forthcoming project about the rescue of a Thai soccer team trapped in a cave. The harrowing events and ultimately uplifting outcome that took place near Chiang Mai last summer has inspired several movie and TV stories based on the events. It’s unclear if the forthcoming Netflix project will be released as a feature film or in a limited series format.

“Like the rest of the world,...

Netflix today announced that it is joining forces with Sk Global Entertainment, Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), and Nattawut "Baz" Poonpiriya (Bad Genius) to bring the dramatic story of the 2018 Thai Soccer Team Rescue to audiences around the world.

Netflix and Sk Global Entertainment have been granted the rights by the 13 Thumluang Company Limited to tell the true story of how the 12 boys and their soccer coach were rescued after being trapped for two weeks inside of the flooded Tham Luang caves near Chiang Mai, Thailand during the summer of 2018. Said Jon M. Chu, a director on the project.

"Like the rest of the world, we were riveted by the news of the Thai cave rescue. With the entire globe watching, this tragic human drama transformed into a beautiful, inspirational story of human beings saving other human beings. Not only did this show the best of the human spirit...

Netflix is joining forces with SK Global Entertainment (Crazy Rich Asians), director Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians), and Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya (Bad Genius) to tell the story of the 2018 Thai soccer team cave rescue.

Netflix and SK Global Entertainment have been granted the rights by the 13 Thumluang Company – the firm set up to represent the boys – to tell the true story of how the 12 boys and their soccer coach were rescued after being trapped for two weeks inside of the flooded Tham Luang caves near Chiang Mai, Thailand during the summer of 2018. Netflix has not yet decided whether the story will be told as a film or mini-series.

Nattawut “Baz” Poonpiriya and Jon M. Chu will serve as directors. John Penotti and Jon M. Chu will serve as producers alongside Chu’s producing partner Lance Johnson, under their Electric Somewhere Company banner. Starlight Culture Entertainment Group (Crazy Rich Asians) will executive produce.