FILMFARE FAME AT LAST
2022 global hit film, “RRR” won the award for the best film in the Telugu language at the delayed Filmfare South awards. For their performances in “RRR,” N.T.R. Jr and Ram Charan were named as winners in the best leading actor category and S.S. Rajamouli won best director.
In the Tamil category, “Ponniyin Selvan Part 1” took the best film award. Its director Mani Ratnam bagged the best director award. Kamal Haasan and Sai Pallavi were honored with the best actor (male) and best actor (female) for their performances in “Vikram” and “Gargi,” respectively.
The winner of the best film award in the Malayalam category was “Nna Thaan Case Kodu,” with its helmer Ratheesh Balakrishnan Poduval collecting the best director prize.
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For Kannada cinema, Kiranraj K. was awarded the best director award for “777 Charlie,” while “Kantara” was named the best film.
The awards were instituted for Hindi-language films in 1954 by the Times of India’s Filmfare magazine. The awards for the southern industries began a decade later in 1964.
FINAL FOUR
Four dramatically different Australian films are in the running to win the country’s richest film prize, worth A$100,000 ($67,200) at the 2024 CinefestOZ Film Festival to be held in Western Australia, Aug. 31 – Sept. 8.
They are family comedy “Runt,” written by Craig Silvey, directed by John Sheedy and starring Celeste Barber, Jai Courtney and Jack Thompson; animated drama “Memoir of a Snail,” by Oscar winning director Adam Elliot; dark comedy “Audrey,” by director Natalie Bailey with actors Jackie van Beek and Jeremy Lindsay Taylor; and the thought-provoking, Indigenous horror “The Moogai,” by director Jon Bell and starring Shari Sebbens and Meyne Wyatt.
TRIGGER HAPPY
The Mulan International Film Festival has set “Love Is a Gun,” directed by Taiwanese actor and director Lee Hong-Chi, as its opening title. At Venice last year, the film won the prestigious Lion of the Future – “Luigi de Laurentiis” Venice Award for a Debut Film. It recounts the story of Sweet Potato, portrayed by Lee who returns to his hometown after serving time in prison. Seeking redemption, he rents sunshades on the beach while attempting to secure a “good citizen” certificate for employment in the city. However, his past catches up with him through old acquaintances.
The festival runs Aug. 9 to 17, in Toronto, Canada.
SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS
APOS: Kevin Mayer, founder and CEO of Candle Media, producer and entrepreneur Simon Fuller, Jacques Dupuy, CEO of Canal+ international and James Gibbons, president of APAC for Warner Bros Discovery, are among the first speaker confirmed to appear at the annual APOS media and entertainment convention in September.
Operating from the Ayana Resort in Indonesia’s Bali, Sept. 24-26, the conference’s main themes include the return of mergers & acquisitions, streaming’s new playbook, generative AI, sports and live entertainment and the expansion of short form video.
Other speakers include: Jaeson Ma (Op3n), Paramount’s Pam Kaufman and Beverly McGarvey, Tiktok’s Sato Yoichi, Tving CEO Julie Choi, Netflix India’s VP of content Monika Shergill, Liberty Media’s Derek Chang and Prime Video’s Gaurav Gandhi.
SXSW: At the second edition of SXSW Sydney (Oct. 14–20), Australian actor Luke Hemsworth will moderate a panel titled “Better than a Hollywood Movie: The highs, lows, epic moments, and colossal steps forward in bringing back the Tasmanian Tiger.” Co-founder and CEO of Colossal and serial technology entrepreneur Ben Lamm, and Professor of Biosciences at University of Melbourne TIGRR Lab Andrew Pask will discuss their latest efforts to de-extinct the Thylacine and return the storied animal to Tasmania.
Other headlining speakers include: co-founder and CEO of Razer, the world’s leading brand for gamers Min-Liang Tan; Amy Gallo, best-selling author of “Getting Along: How to Work with Anyone (Even Difficult People)”; musician and mindfulness advocate Chad Lawson; ABC radio presenter and host of “This Working Life” podcast Lisa Leong; Australian race car driver Molly Taylor; Billboard Top Music Lawyer Priyanka Khimani, and senior editor at Rolling Stone India Peony Hirwani.
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