Author: SD

An actress has described feeling “humiliated and totally powerless” after Noel Clarke directed her in a production, in the latest testimony from a Guardian witness in Clarke’s libel claim against the UK newspaper. The woman, known as Mila for legal reasons, said she was acting in a scene that required waist-down nudity. Speaking in London’s High Court on Thursday, March 20, Mila said Clarke often asked her to “sit on his lap and made inappropriate sexual comments”, including telling her to bend over. Mila said she had been uncomfortable about the scene but accepted the role as she needed the…

The Florida city mayor who wanted to terminate the lease of an arthouse cinema and withold funding after it screened Oscar winner No Other Land has scrapped his proposal at a council meeting on Wednesday. Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner argued to terminate O Cinema’s lease and withhold city funding after describing the documentary to local residents as “a false, one-sided propaganda attack on the Jewish people that is not consistent with the values of our city and residents”. However Meiner withdrew the proposal at what the Miami Herald described as a “raucous” Miami Beach City Commission meeting “where the…

Less than two weeks before CinemaCon gets underway in Las Vegas, lobby group National Association Of Theatre Owners (NATO) has changed its name to Cinema United. The group has rebranded to establish a clear identity that differentiates it from the military alliance North Atlantic Treaty Organization – over the years the group has received calls in error – and to present a body that represents the passion and energy of exhibitor chains around the world. Its new mantra is “Moviegoing is Our Mission”. Cinema United will serve as an umbrella for CinemaCon and Cinema Foundation, the organisation’s charitable non-profit arm that promotes…

Bong Joon-ho’s Mickey 17 has become the highest-grossing film of the year to date at the South Korea box office. Warner Bros’ sci-fi feature, starring Robert Pattison, added $2.2m on its third weekend of release to reach $17.8m, according to Kobis, the Korean Film Council’s box office tracking service. This places it above local action-comedy Hitman 2, which took $16.5m following its release in January. Mickey 17 drew 323,566 admissions from Friday to Sunday (March 14-16), accounting for more than 43% of all ticket sales and bringing its total admissions to 2.6 million. Among international markets, director Bong’s home nation…

Payal Kapadia’s All We Imagine As Light was named best film at 18th Asian Film Awards on Sunday evening (March 16). The Indian filmmaker attended the ceremony in Hong Kong and accepted the award from filmmaker, martial arts star and AFA jury president Sammo Hung. Scroll down for full list of winners It marked nearly 10 months since Kapadia became the first Indian filmmaker to win the Grand Prix at Cannes, where the film was the first Indian feature to play in Competition at the festival for 30 years. “I’m so happy that we could end our journey here in…

South Korea’s box office received a major boost at the weekend as Bong Joon Ho’s Mickey 17 landed the biggest opening of the year to date with $6.67m from nearly a million cinemagoers. The sci-fi feature starring Robert Pattinson dominated the chart with 980,549 admissions from 2,153 screens, accounting for 69% of the total revenue share from February 28 to March 2, according to the Korean Film Council. For comparison, second place title Captain America: Brave New World took $722,000 and generated a 7.5% rev share from 110,888 admissions and 732 screens. The Marvel film was the previous bigger opener…

An actress has spoken in support of Noel Clarke as part of the libel trial brought by the UK actor and filmmaker against Guardian News and Media (GNM). Louise Dylan took the stand on Friday, March 14, as a witness for Clarke. She said she had heard through a friend that Clarke’s former business partner Davie Fairbanks had claimed he saw her being groped by Clarke at the wrap party for 2012 romantic comedy The Knot, which Clarke and Fairbanks wrote and produced, and in which Clarke, Fairbanks and Dylan acted. After hearing of Clarke’s libel case, she wrote an email…

Kaleem Aftab has left his role as director of international programming at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival. Aftab departed after the festival’s fourth edition, which ran from December 6-14, 2024. “When I first started working for Red Sea, everyone said it would be impossible to put on a successful film festival in Saudi Arabia,” said Aftab. “I’m deeply proud of the work that I did there, and the progressive programming, including showing content that people never believed would be shown publicly in Saudi Arabia. “Having seen the journey all the way to last year’s hugely successful edition at…

In a coup for Bleecker Street, the distributor has acquired US rights to Rob Reiner’s mockumentary sequel Spinal Tap II: The End Continues and the original 1984 cult classic This Is Spinal Tap. Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer reprise their roles as the legendary and inept British heavy metal band and Reiner once again adopts the character of documentarian Martin “Marty” DiBergi. There are cameos from Elton John, Paul McCartney, and Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood. Bleecker Street plans a nationwide US theatrical release of a newly restored version of This Is Spinal Tap in the summer before making the…

Noel Clarke was told the #MeToo movement “began to catch up” with him, as he took the stand for the first time in his libel trial against the Guardian newspaper on March 10, according to BBC News and the Guardian’s own reporting.  “In 2019, the #MeToo movement began to catch up with you and women began talking about your sexual misconduct,” said Gavin Millar KC, cross-examining Clarke for the Guardian News and Media (GNM)  The trial began at the London High Court on Friday, March 7, with Clarke taking to the witness box for the first time yesterday (Monday 10). The…