Global Flicks: India’s Ambitious Push in the Animation and VFX Sector
Goodbye Julia - Station Films / Sudan CULT
Africa: Sudanese director Mohamed Kordofani’s Goodbye Julia feature is the first Sudanese film to screen in Canne's official selection. The story revolves around two women brought together by fate and attempts to reconcile differences between northern and southern Sudanese communities. The film is led by Eiman Yousif and Siran Riak, who is making her big-screen acting debut. The cast includes Nazar Goma and U.S.-based South Sudanese actor Ger Duany.
Nigerian filmmaker and director Niyi Akinmolayan shared the official trailer for his upcoming film, The House Of Secrets. The spy thriller stars Efe Irele, Shawn Faqua, Kate Henshaw, Onajite Dede, Femi Jacobs, Taye Arimoro, Emeka Nwagbaraocha, Gbubemi Ejeye, Metein Ebiwari, Moyinoluwa Olutayo, Ekpenyong Bassey Inyang, Tobi Daniels, Anee Icha, Funlola Aofiyebi and many more. The film will be released exclusively on Prime Video on June 30, 2023.
Nigerian filmmaker Niyi Akinmolayan shared a teaser of his upcoming live-action film Mikolo. The big family adventure project is slated for release in 2023. Features notable Nollywood stars like Etim Effiong and Yvonne Jegede alongside Fiyinfoluwa Asenuga and Oluwapamilerinayo.
Utopia has acquired the North American rights to Omen, the debut feature from artist-musician Baloji. The film was co-written by Thomas van Zuylen and follows a young man, Koffi, played by Marc Zinga, who, after spending years in Belgium, returns home to the Congo to find himself confronted by his past and culture at a family event. The film co-stars Lucie Debay, Elaine Umuhire, Yves-Marina Gnahoua, and Marcel Otete Kabeya.
Yuji Sakamoto - Jun Sato
Asia: India looks to be moving closer to hiking its recently inaugurated cash rebates on international shoot spend in the country, including on animation and VFX works. India showed further signs of expansion in animation and VFX hiking its recently inaugurated cash rebates on international shoot spend in the country. Apurva Chandra, secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, traveled to Annecy to tell foreign companies that the cash rebate takes in animation and VFX. India pursues grand ambitions with its growing animation sector.
Netflix has signed a five-year deal with Japanese screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto, winner of the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s competition title Monster. Sakamoto’s first Netflix project will be a romantic murder mystery film, In Love And Deep Water, released later this year. Directed by Taki Yusuke, The story takes place on a luxury cruise ship where a ship butler encounters a female passenger claiming their partners are on the verge of cheating. The film stars Ryo Yoshizawa and Aoi Miyazaki.
British singer-actor Luke Evans and Taiwanese actor Gwei Lun-mei will co-star in Weekend Escape Project, an action thriller produced in Taiwan by EuropaCorp. George Huang will direct the film and is set to start shooting on July 3 in Taipei.
Hong Kong action film directed by Herman Yau, The White Storm: Heaven or Hell, will have its North American premiere at the New York Asian Film Festival. The film stars Louis Koo, Aaron Kwok and Sean Lau (aka Lau Ching-wan). Set in the Golden Triangle region known for drug production and trafficking, Kwok plays an undercover cop who infiltrates a drug cartel led by a notorious Thai drug lord.
Filmmaker Nitesh Tiwari to direct new feature Bawaal starring Varun Dhawan and Jahnvi Kapoor. The film will be a direct-to-digital premiered exclusively on Amazon Prime Video in India and across 200 countries in July. Saji Nadiawala’s Nadiadwala Grandson Entertainment will produce the love story in collaboration with Ashwiny Iyer Tiwari and Nitesh Tiwari’s Earthsky Pictures.
Tan Chi Mui, director of Barbarian Invasion from Malaysia, scored a top result from the SIFF Project Market. The market is a component event of the Shanghai International Film Festival. The project is a Malaysia-China coproduction that revolves around a story that combines contemporary wuxia with youth elements.
Bollywood A-lister actors Kajol and Kriti Sanon will lead the cast of Netflix India’s mystery thriller original film Do Patti. The film will debut with Kriti Sanon and writer Kanika Dhillon. The story is rumored to be a suspense thriller set in the hills of northern India. No director has been announced for the film.
Ladj Ly - Sylvain Lefevre
Europe: French director Ladj Ly will feature Les Indésirables at the Toronto Film Festival from September 7-17. The film stars Alexis Manenti as an idealistic young doctor who takes on the role of mayor in an outer-city suburb following the sudden death of his predecessor as well as Anta Diaw as a young French woman of Malian origin who fights to keep her family in the neighborhood she grew up in. The film also stars Jeanne Balibar, Steve Tientcheu, and Aristote Luyindula.
Latin America: Chilean filmmakers Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña directors of the animated movie The Wolf House/La Casa Lobo, have signed on to direct a lifesize-scale stop motion animation for English singer/songwriter PJ Harvey’s new song I Inside the Old I Dying from her planned album of the same name releasing July 7th.
