NYPAA News

Well-wishers have donated more than $100,000 to help Alice Brock — the artist and former cook immortalized by folk singer Arlo Guthrie in his classic Thanksgiving Day tune “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree.”

Nearly 2,000 people pitched in over the last two months to a GoFundMe for the 80-year-old hippie, who’s been hit by hard times since the 1967 release of Guthrie’s 18-minute talking blues ballad.

“It’s been tremendous. God, what a relief,” Brock told The Post on Thursday about the outpouring of support.

The Brooklyn-born woman’s home and former diner in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, were the setting of Guthrie’s song about how the singer’s 1965 Thanksgiving Day arrest for littering kept him out of the Army during the Vietnam War.

“You can get anything you want at Alice’s restaurant,” the ballad begins.

A comedy film based on the song, “Alice’s Restaurant,” came out in 1969, and Brock, who didn’t want to play herself on the big screen, took a part as an extra.

“People used to say, ‘oh my mother knows who you are,’ now they say, ‘my grandmother knows who you are,’” Brock quipped about her status as a folk icon.

After the flick and closing her diner, Brock opened a larger restaurant called Alice’s at Avaloch in 1976 and continued to give back to her community, Boston radio WBUR-FM reported.

“There are very few things I wouldn’t give to people. So if somebody asked me for a job, I gave them a job — and especially if they really needed a job — like the people on parole or people who didn’t have rent money,” she told the station in a recent interview.

When the eatery went under in the late 1970s, Brock moved to Provincetown, working as a prep cook at night and pursuing her art during the day.

But the cash dried up and she struggled to pay the mortgage, ultimately having to sell her house and moving in with a friend who later died, the outlet reported.

Brock found a rental about two years ago — but was then hospitalized with heart disease. She also suffers from a lung condition, emphysema and tremors in her hands, which now keep her from being able to draw.

After spending a year in the hospital and a nursing home, Brock is back in her cottage but needed help to pay her rent.

That’s when her pal Dini Lamot, a member of the 1970s and ’80s Boston new wave band Human Sexual Response, stepped in and created the online fundraiser, which had raised $105,275 of its $120,000 goal as of Thursday.

“With the money that raised I’ll be able to live decently for the next two or three years,” Brock told The Post.

The reluctant legend said she was embarrassed by her friend’s GoFundMe plan, but that she was “humbled” by the support from friends and fans.

“It’s delightful that people feel that way about me,” she said, “but some of it is over the top.”

https://nypost.com/2020/11/26/100k-raised-for-namesake-of-arlo-guthries-alices-restaurant/

Italian screen legend Franco Nero is having a busy year. “Recon,” the Robert Port-directed World War II thriller in which he stars, opened theatrically on Veteran’s Day in the U.S. as an event release and since then has been playing well online. German courtroom procedural “The Collini Case,” in which Nero has the title role, recently dropped Stateside on several platforms after scoring well theatrically in Germany. His Cuba set “Havana Kyrie” will also be coming out in the U.S. soon.

And Nero’s got plenty more projects in the pipeline including “Django Lives!” where he plans to reprise the role that brought him worldwide fame in Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 classic Spaghetti Western “Django.” On his birthday, the 79-year-old icon spoke exclusively to Variety from Rome, where he’s been stuck due to the pandemic, but was pleased to get flowers sent from England by his wife Vanessa Redgrave.

How was it acting in “Recon” with all these young hotshots: Alexander Ludwig (“Vikings”), Sam Keeley (“Dublin Murders”) and Chris Brochu (“The Vampire Diaries”)?

The actors were really great. We all became big friends. But the cold was a killer. The whole film is shot on a snowy mountain in British Columbia, and it was like 10 or 20 degrees below. I play an Italian who is taken hostage by these young American soldiers who force him to become their guide. They have to cross the mountain. They think he’s an enemy, but he keeps telling them: I’m not! I’m still in touch with the director Robert David Port, who incidentally is an Oscar-winner (for a documentary short titled “Twin Towers”).

You and Port have another project together called “Black Beans and Rice.”

It’s a great story written by Brandon Cole (“Illuminata”) whom I met in New York a couple of years ago. I loved the script, which I brought to Robert Port. We were all ready to shoot in Cuba, but we got blocked by COVID-19. It’s the same producer (Rick Dugdale) who did “Recon.” I told them: ‘I want to do it with my grandson Michael (Liam Neeson’s son by Natasha Richardson).’ It’s about a young man who’s a bit down and out. He goes to visit his Cuban mother on her deathbed in a U.S. hospital who tells him she wants her ashes scattered in the Cuban mountains where she was born and wants this to be done with his father, whom he hardly knows. The father is a trumpet player who plays in a small Cuban club. So then it turns into a road movie with the father, the son, and this other woman. It’s a very moving film

You recently did another film in Cuba where you play a crabby Italian maestro who reluctantly winds up in Havana to conduct the Cuban National Children’s Choir. 

Yes, “Havana Kyrie” which will be coming out Stateside in January and has been making the rounds on the festival circuit.

Tell me about “Django Lives!” 

Everything was ready to go, with plans to shoot in New Orleans, first in May, then in June, and then the world went on lockdown, so now we will see. Carolyn Pfeiffer (one of the producers) sent me a message the other day saying they are hoping we can shoot at the end of January 2021. New Orleans is where Tarantino shot “Django Unchained” (in which he has a cameo).

Carolyn, who is a friend, is the one who got John Sayles on board as screenwriter. The director is Christian Alvart (“Dogs of Berlin”), a top German director.  

What’s the story?

It’s set in 1915 when in America they were opening the first movie studios where they did silent Westerns and they hired the real life heroes of the West like Wyatt Earp and Buffalo Bill as consultants. But Django is not one of them. He’s a very humble character. He makes friends with this Mexican, they leave the studio and go to this real town where there is a sheriff and a bunch of bad guys who are hooded white supremacists. Django is a quiet character whom they call the old man, or something like that. But he carefully watches everything that’s going on. At first he does a few shooting stunts, and everybody thinks: ‘he can’t hack it!’ But the great thing about the movie is that instead, although he’s old, he can still pull it off. At the end there is an amazing grand finale at a cemetery where the machine gun comes out (of a coffin) just like in the “Django” original. It’s like a Western within a Western.

Has Tarantino read the script?

Not yet. I am going to ask Quentin to do a cameo. But only when I am totally sure the film will start shooting. That’s because a couple of years ago I was supposed to do a film in Italy about kids and boxing with Enzo Castellari and Quentin told me: ‘Absolutely! I will do a cameo.’ Then the movie didn’t happen and he told me: ‘Don’t ever talk to me about a film unless you are 100% sure.’ There is an amazing cameo in this film of a film director character who has to do a scene involving actors on these beautiful horses. Django arrives with this little nag and then runs off with one of them. Anyway, when we are totally sure the cameras will roll I will ask him.

https://variety.com/2020/film/news/franco-nero-recon-django-lives-tarantino-1234838108/

Expenditure on screen production in Australia plunged by 18% in the financial year to June 2020, reflecting a near total shutdown of large-scale drama filming from March, due to the impact of the coronavirus and work from home regulations. But, until the virus struck in the fourth (April to June) quarter much of the industry had been on course for a record year.

“If you think that we lost more than a quarter of our year, three and a half months, but ended down only 18%, that’s a good result. It is only half the downturn you might have thought,” Screen Australia CEO, Graeme Mason told Variety.

The July 2019-June 20202 period saw total production spending of A$990 million ($693 million) coming from production of local and foreign feature, television and online drama titles, as well as post, digital and visual effects, according to Screen Australia’s annual Drama Report. The report counts spending in the financial year that production begins.

Australian titles that started principal photography in 2019-20 accounted for A$543 million ($380 million), a drop of 32%, generated by 74 local productions. The 41 foreign projects (including PDV-only titles) generated A$447 million ($313 million) in spend, an 8% increase compared with 2018/19.

They comprised A$283 million ($198 million) of production in the country and a further A$165 million ($116 million) for PDV-only titles.

Eight foreign features started shooting in Australia in 2019/20, bringing A$221 million ($155 million), a 20% increase, in expenditure from titles originating from the U.S., South Korea, Germany, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Foreign TV and online drama activity accounted for $193 million ($135 million) in Australian expenditure in 2019/20, up 59%, reflecting the increased spending by streaming platforms. The 18 streaming titles including the three foreign titles “Shantaram” (“The Bear”), “Odd Squad” season 3 (U.S./Canada) and “Bad Genius” (Thailand). There were fifteen PDV-only titles including “The Mandalorian,” season 2, “Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” season 2, “What If…?” and “The Boys” series 2.

The continued weakness of the Australian dollar, which typically trading at around $0.70, helped to attract a diverse range of inbound productions. The Australian federal government’s “Location Incentive” program supported two foreign dramas that entered production in 2019/20, “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” and “Shantaram.” Productions were also assisted by the federal location offset system and support from state governments.

In 2019/20 total expenditure on Australian features was A$205 million ($144 million), 36% below the previous year. A total of 19 titles started production with 17 local features including “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson,” “Streamline” and “Penguin Bloom,” and two official co-productions “Falling For Figaro” and the Jane Campion-directed “The Power of the Dog.”

Eight features that entered production in 2019/20 had their shoot interrupted due to COVID-19. Screen Australia says that evidence suggests that nine features were reported to have been postponed, with total budgets estimated to approach A$250 million ($175 million).

Several interrupted TV productions were able to restart shooting in June, including Network 10’s “Neighbours” and the second season of “Five Bedrooms,” and season two of children’s series “The Bureau of Magical Things” for Netflix and Network 10. ABC comedy “Aftertaste” was able to start pre-production in Adelaide in June, and Seven series “RFDS” returned to pre-production in Broken Hill.

The country sees itself as a success story. Not only has it largely overcome the virus outbreak, creating the conditions for production restarts and foreign inbound titles, the federal government and federal and state agencies have injected finance to help restarts. These measures include a Temporary Interruption Fund, which helps unfreeze insurance problems, and a A$400 million ($280 million) recommitment for the Location Incentive over the next seven years.

“The A$50 million ($35 million) Temporary Interruption Fund to date has been allocated to 23 approved projects supporting the safe return of production. And we have provided additional funding of A$53 million ($37.1 million) to Screen Australia and the Australian Children’s Television Foundation for the development and production of quality Australian content,” said Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts the Hon Paul Fletcher. The restarted projects have combined production budgets of over $330 million ($231 million).

“Several challenges remain with many projects reporting increases in costs as they make necessary adjustments to work in a COVID-safe environment, while others are yet to resume work or get started for a variety of COVID-related reasons. This will also have a flow on effect as some productions slated to commence work in 2020/21 have not been able to, with dramatic changes in production schedules impacting the availability of cast, crew and studio space,” said Mason.

https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/australian-screen-production-takes-hit-from-covid-1234840752/

Thanksgiving might look different in 2020 — but TV remains the same.

The coronavirus pandemic will impact holiday staples such as the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and the Purina Dog show, which are both proceeding on NBC with COVID-protocol adjustments.

But whether you’re celebrating solo, or connecting virtually with family and friends, there’s plenty of small-screen entertainment to keep you occupied during your feast — from marathons to movies.

Here’s the essential viewing line-up on the major networks and streaming platforms for today’s Big Day.

“Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade”

9 a.m. to noon, NBC

The show goes on — albeit with many changes. This year’s parade, hosted by Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, and Hoda Kotb, will be “virtual” with no crowd participation and many floats pulled by vehicles to reduce the number of people involved — and special guests including coronavirus cure funder Dolly Parton.

“12 Dates of Christmas”

HBO Max

If you’re in the mood to relax with an escapist dating show, look no further. This new series, from the showrunner of Netflix hit “Love is Blind,” follows three twentysomethings (Faith, Chad and Garrett) looking for love — in an Austrian castle.

“The National Dog Show presented by Purina”

Noon on NBC

Dogs compete to be named “Best in Show” in the annual favorite, hosted by John O’Hurley and David Frei with commentary from Mary Carillo. This year’s adjustments for COVID precautions includes no spectators or vendors and a 70% decrease in the number of participating dogs (down to 600 from the normal 2,000 canine participants).

“Texas 6”

CBS All Access

This new eight-episode docuseries follows the Greyhounds, a six-man high school football team in the small town of Strawn, Texas.

“The Christmas Chronicles Part 2”

Netflix

Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn return as Santa and Mrs. Claus in this follow-up to the 2018 film “The Christmas Chronicles.” Cynical teen Kate Pierce (Darby Camp) reunites with Santa (Russell) when Christmas is threatened.

“Dead Poets Society”

Amazon

O captain my captain. The 1989 classic stars Robin Williams and Ethan Hawke as a teacher and his boundary-pushing student at an elite prep school.

“The Godfather” marathon

11:30 a.m. to midnight, BBC America

All three of Francis Ford Coppola’s “Godfather” movies will air back-to-back over nearly 12 hours (with commercials thrown into the mix).

“The Office” marathon

9 a.m. to 8 p.m., Comedy Central

Michael Scott (Steve Carell), Jim Halpert (John Krasinski) and the Dunder Mifflin team are taking over Comedy Central with a marathon including fan-favorite episodes “The Dinner Party,” “Fun Run” and both parts of “Goodbye, Toby.”

“Friends” marathon

1 to 6 p.m., TBS, TBS

So no one told you life was going to be this way. Join Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), and the gang for some of the classic Thanksgiving-themed episodes, including “The One with the Rumor,” featuring guest star Brad Pitt.

“Home Alone”

6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., Freeform

Nostalgia alert! Fun for the whole family watching young kid Kevin (Macaulay Culkin) defending his home from burglars — alone — in this 1990 big-screen classic. It will be immediately followed by the 1992 sequel, “Home Alone 2: Lost in New York” airing at 8:30 p.m.

“Wonder Woman”

5 p.m. to 8 p.m., TNT

Thanks to the recent announcement that the “Wonder Woman” sequel will premiere on HBO Max Dec. 25, there’s no better time to catch up on the first movie. Whether you’ve seen it five times already or somehow missed it when it hit theaters in 2017. Revel in the adventures of Diana Prince (Gal Gadot) — aka Wonder Woman.

https://nypost.com/2020/11/26/thanksgiving-2020-tv-schedule-parade-football-movies-and-more/

England has announced a return to the three-tier system after lockdown lifts Dec. 2. A number of cities, including the capital region of London and Liverpool, fall under Tier 2, which means that cinemas can reopen.

However, other major urban areas with a high concentration of cinemas, including Greater Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol are in Tier 3, the highest alert level, which means movie theaters there will have to remain shuttered.

It’s still unclear whether major chains such as Cineworld, Vue and Odeon will reopen. It’s unlikely that Cineworld will reopen any sites in 2020 without a pipeline of new releases, and it’s believed that Vue is also considering its options, particularly in light of extended closures in Germany.

“We must remain vigilant,” said Health Secretary Matt Hancock, addressing parliament on Thursday. “There are still today, 16,570 people in hospital with coronavirus across the U.K. and 696 deaths were reported yesterday. That means 696 more families mourning the loss of a loved one and the house mourns with them. So as tempting as it may be, we cannot simply flick a switch and try to return life straight back to normal.”

Hancock said that those who can work from home should continue doing so. In Tier 2, while pubs can now reopen, alcohol will only be served along with a “substantial meal.”

“I know that people want certainty about the rules they need to follow in their area,” Hancock said. “These decisions are not easy, but they are necessary. We’ve listened to local experts and been guided by the best public health advice.”

The current measures will be reviewed on Dec. 16.

The Isle of Wight, Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly are the only areas of England in Tier 1. The devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own sets of restrictions.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson will hold a press conference later on Thursday.

https://variety.com/2020/film/global/uk-post-lockdown-tier-system-london-tier-2-cinemas-reopen-1234840736/

Grasshopper Film has picked up North American non-theatrical and digital distribution rights to Mo Scarpelli’s “El Father Plays Himself,” as the documentary of the Italian-American director and cinematographer screens at the 33rd IDFA Best of Festivals Selection – after having won a special mention for best international feature at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel.

The New York based distributor is looking to release the title on digital markets in early 2021.

A doc feature that played at the Krakow Film Festival and won another special mention at Perso Perugia Social Film Festival, follows the re-encounter of a father and son as the latter attempts to shoot a film about the life of the father in the midst of the Venezuelan Amazon.

A kind of “making of” documentary that explores with father-son dynamics with a keen eye the dynamics as they unfold under the pressure of shooting a movie, “El Father Plays Himself” adds a layer of self awareness that raises the question of what documentary representation entails.

Based in New York and founded in 2015, speciality distributor Grasshopper Film is dedicated to the release of acclaimed and award winning independent films, with a library of over 300 features, an outlet appropriate for Scarpelli, whose already substantial work that drawn attention at the Berlinale, SXSW Film Festival and BFI London Film Festival, among other events.

“In the toughest year ever for releasing an independent film, we’re thrilled to be working with Grasshopper for digital and non-theatrical distribution in North America,” Scarpelli told Variety, adding that the company “has a track record of breaking through the noise of the Internet to bring artful films to the fore. I can’t think of a better partner for releasing this layered and intimate film to audiences online.”

https://variety.com/2020/film/global/grasshopper-mo-scarpelli-el-father-plays-himself-1234840737/

A selection of prominent films that debuted in this year’s real-world festivals Berlin and Venice, or were presented under the so-called ‘Cannes Label 2020,’ make their Southeast Asian premiere over the next week at the 31st Singapore International Film Festival. Among the highlights is the Venice Golden Lion-winning title “Nomadland” directed by Chloe Zhao.

The film festival, which runs from Nov. 26 to Dec. 6 in a hybrid format with physical and online screenings amid COVID-19, has long positioned itself as a leading event in the region to showcase Singaporean cinema. Just as important is its role curating the year’s top international films for Singapore audiences.

Besides “Nomadland,” which follows a group of American middle class people forced to become nomads amid recession, the festival’s Cinema Today showcases another Venice award-winner “New Order.” Directed by Mexican filmmaker Michel Franco, the thriller revolving around a lavish wedding turning into a coup d’etat scored the Grand Jury Prize on the Lido.

Based on Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovyov’s “War and Christianity: Three Conversations,” Romanian feature “Malmkrog” directed by Cristi Puiu was the winner of best director award in the Encounters section at February’s Berlinale. Uruguay poet and filmmaker Alex Piperno’s debut feature “Window Boy Would Also Like to Have a Submarine” won the Tagesspiegel Readers’ Jury Award at the Berlinale earlier this year.

Films tackling challenging subjects are plentiful. French writer and director Charlene Favier’s debut feature “Slalom,” follows a 15-year-old competitive skier falling victim of her coach’s sexual abuse. The Victorian drama “Ammonite” starring Kate Winslet and directed by Francis Lee is a film about the forbidden love between two women. Both films were among the selection of Cannes Film Festival.

Some of the Singapore screenings are accompanied by pre-recorded interactions with the filmmakers.

https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/sgiff-selection-festival-of-festivals-role-1234840603/

Music from the past, online abuse, girl and boy racers – plus the inner lives of primary school children were among the subjects tackled by films featured in the IDFA’s Upcoming Catalan Documentaries strand.

Designed to showcase projects nearing completion, the online event kicked off with “I Am” – a heartwarming film that traces four children over eight years through their primary school journey.

The documentary’s director Patricia M. Felix then waited a further four years to make the final part of her project, capturing the teenagers’ reactions and comments about their younger selves.

Subjects include Mia, who must overcome dyslexia and the charismatic Candella who the children gravitate towards. There’s also class joker Manuel who experiences issues when two of his close friends leave, and Neil, an adopted child from Russia who starts his school years drawing angry monster houses and finishes them by writing a performing a play about an alien trying to find his place in the world.

According to Felix, the 90-minute project, produced through Diana Toucedo Film (“Trinta Lumes”) and WKND (which makes TV animation “Tender Metal” and feature “The Nice Unfaithful Husbands Club”), will be complete next year. The project is also looking for international distributors.

“Pepi Fandango” is one of two documentaries that featured music in the session, although a part-musical documentary, part-road movie and part flashback to the Holocaust, Lucija’s Stojevic’s film doesn’t easily fit into any category.

Made through Barcelona-based Noon Films, it tells the story of Pepi, separated from his father as a small boy and sent to a concentration camp where he met the incarcerated children of Spanish Civil War Republicans.

There, the children could be heard singing flamenco music across the walls to the adult camp to let them know that they were still alive. As an older adult this joyful music continues to haunts Pepi, so he embarks on a journey from his home in Vienna to an Andalusian village to literally face the music that causes him so much pain.

According to Stojevic, whose previous doc “La Chana” won the IDFA Audience award in 2016, around 75% of the film has been shot. He added that goals now including completing filming either on location in Vienna and Barcelona or through archive, if COVID-19 restrictions prevent filming.

The project is also interested in partnering with broadcasters and distributors from Austria, Germany and France.

The second film for which music is the beating heart is “Muyeres” which looks at the songs and music originating from women in the Asturian Mountains, at a point in time when their traditions are in danger of dying out.

Contemporary musician Raül Refree, makes it his mission to track down some of these women to complete a preservation project that his grandfather started recording years ago.

According to Lallana, the presence of Refree is more of an inciting incident than a narrative device, as she plans to create “an unconventional and poetic narrative” out of the material, which will feature four of the remaining women as well as the “ghostly voices” on Refree’s grandfather’s recordings.

Producer Alejandro Cassilo added that Spanish state cinema aid has already covered 50% of the budget, and the plan is to start shooting next spring.

Made through Corte y Confección de Películas, the film is also looking for an international sales agent to manage the film’s festival and tour plans as well as additional support from a television or SVoD platform.

Ransomware

Last year Patricia Franquesa received an email from a hacker demanding a ransom in return for not publishing intimate photos of her that were taken from her stolen computer.

The Catalan-funded project “Olé Mi Coño” is the filmmaker’s attempt to wrestle back control over the situation.
Franquesa started to record a visual collage of her online life during this crisis – comprising of emails and the calls to the police -which she is now turning into what she describes as a “thriller documentary.”

Sales agency Rise and Shine has already boarded this gripping story which is currently in development at two Spanish producers: Gadea Films – through which Franquesa co-produced her first production “La Mami” and Barcelona-based Ringo Media (whose credits include “Matria”).

The 65-minute project is now looking for financiers to stump up the remaining €200,000 ($240,000) needed to complete the budget, including broadcasters, streaming platforms and international sales agents. The film is also looking to connect with film festival programmers.

Laura Sistero’s documentary “Tolyatti Adrift,” meanwhile, follows a year in the life of four teenage “drifters” who eat, breathe and race cars.

They all hail from Tolyatti, a city in Russia once known for its burgeoning car industry, which has since fallen into decline.

From this, a new movement, “Boyevaya Klassika,” emerges, which sees young people rescue and soup up old cars from local factories.
One of them is trying to dodge military service while another has fled from alcoholic parents. A third aims to become the movement’s first female driver.

Sistero, an ad director who combines her commercial work with more personal projects, is working with Barcelona-based creative group Boobaloo Films on the project, which already has a number of partners attached including: Les Films d’Ici, Radio Canada, France Télévisions, TV3, ICAA film fund, CNC Cosip, Procirep. Having raised €167,000 ($199,000) of its estimated €208,567 ($250,000) budget, the feature is now looking for sales agents, TV pre-sales and international distribution.

https://variety.com/2020/film/global/catalan-docs-2020-idfa-1234840720/

As is customary, the local fare on offer at the Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is linguistically and thematically diverse, reflecting the nature of the island city-state.

The opening film, Tan Bee Thiam’s “Tiong Bahru Social Club,” is presented in several languages, including English, Cantonese, Mandarin, Hokkien, Malay and Tamil. Inspired by Jacques Tati and Charlie Chaplin, the stylized satire follows a 30-year old millennial who stumbles across the eponymous club, an organization that aims to transform Singapore’s Tiong Bahru into the happiest neighborhood in the world.

While “Tiong Bahru Social Club” bowed at Busan in October, the rest of the local features are all world premieres.

In Biyun Tan’s irreverent Chinese, Hokkien, Teochew and English-language “Citizen Hustler,” a hawker seeks ways to access financial aid after the closure of the Sungei Road flea market.

Remi M. Sali’s English, Mandarin and Bahasa Melayu-language film “Not My Mother’s Baking,” details the romance between a Malay Muslim woman, who is the daughter of a celebrity chef, and a Chinese man who she engages to produce her vlogs. However, a cultural difference emerges, as his parents run a stall selling roast pork, a meat that is anathema to Muslims.

Liao Jiekai and Sudhee Liao’s Japan-set documentary “Faraway My Shadow Wandered” is a Singapore-Japan co-production in Japanese and English. It follows a man who returns to his roots in the company of a visitor researching dance.

In the English and Mandarin-language “Sementara,” filmmakers Chew Chia Shao Min and Joant Ubeda do a deep dive into the heart of Singapore, interviewing people from all walks of life, as the nation celebrates its golden jubilee in 2015.

The beating heart of Singapore cinema and the SGIFF is its robust shorts program. Accompanying the opening film is SGIFF-commissioned short, Shoki Lin’s “Newborn,” in which a young mother is forced to care for her newborn child alone after her mother’s disappearance.

In addition, there are two packed shorts line-ups in the Singapore Panorama strand. Highlights include Russell Adam Morton’s “Saudade,” narrated in Kristang, an endangered creole language of Portuguese Eurasians, which reimagines rituals of early Eurasian kampongs; Shreela Agarwal’s Hindi, English and Tamil “My Brother” that charts the plight of undocumented workers; Lim Jia Ying’s English-language “Watermelon Please,” a hand-drawn animated short where a man’s love for watermelon becomes the catalyst for introspection; and Yong Mun Chee’s Mandarin, Teochew, Cantonese-language “21 Days,” which follows a man’s desperate quest for signs of his deceased mother’s spirit.

https://variety.com/2020/film/asia/singapore-film-festival-local-films-1234840668/

Streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV Plus will soon be forced to play a more significant role in the financing of European content when the Audiovisual Media Services Directive officially kicks off on Jan. 1.

While each of the European Union’s member states is in the process of exploring ways to adapt the directive — which requires streamers to allocate at least 30% of their catalogues to local programming — France is leading the charge, powered by a task force of representatives from the producers and directors guilds, along with the National Film Board (CNC) and the Directorate-General for Media and Culture Industries (DGMIC). A draft of the decree was submitted to the French government around 10 days ago and a final decision is expected in early December.

Defining the contours of the decree has been a balancing act for the task force and the French orgs whose goal has been to craft strong enough incentives to get streamers on board and willing to rejig their investment and acquisitions model, but at the same time preserve the foundation of the French film industry and the diversity of its independent production sector.

Once greenlit by the government, the decree will need to be approved by the Council of State and the CSA (broadcasting authorities). Platforms will then be expected to sign agreements with the CSA and industry guilds.

France is one of Netflix’s key European markets. The streaming service boasts nearly 9 million subscribers within its borders, and launched a fully-staffed Paris office in January. The company also recently chose France to trial its first linear channel.

“This transposition of the directive and the new obligations of platforms will be decisive for the legacy of France President Emmanuel Macron’s mandate,” said Marc Missonnier (“Little Nicholas,” “Mirage,” “Cheyenne et Lola”), a leading French producer who is a key member of the task force.

“Why is it historical? Because professionals are so enthusiastic about the arrival of platforms, and it’s important that as [platforms] continue growing, they take part in a system that took decades to build,” said Missonnier.

The core principle of the system, explained Missonnier, is that “those who broadcast or distribute content in France should pre-finance this content and guarantee some cultural diversity, as well as some independence, so that those who produce and those who broadcast or distribute aren’t always the same.”

The draft decree proposes for the streamers three separate local investment rates of 20%, 22.5% or 25% of their annual turnover, which would be reinvested in local film and TV. For instance, if Netflix has a turnover of $951 million (€800 million) in France, and it decides to invest 20% of that turnover, it will be required to invest €160 million in content in France. The exact split between investment in films versus TV will be set by the CSA after the decree’s publication.

If the streamer hopes to receive a stronger release window to broadcast and distribute films sooner, its corresponding investment will also need to be greater.

Based on the draft decree, if a service chooses the lower investment rate of 20%, it will have the least advantageous release window and can only hold the French rights to movies.

However, if services invest 22.5% and 25% of turnover, they can obtain world rights to the content (and pay accordingly for the privilege). Currently, the release window for all subscription-based services is 36 months, but the decree says that window will be brought down to between 13 and 25 months for an investment of 22.5%, and under 13 months for an investment of 25%.

International sales agents and distributors who aren’t part of the task force are finding the possibility of handing world rights to streamers to be highly problematic for their respective business models.

“It’s a huge mistake to give platforms access to world rights in exchange for a percentage of investment; it will be very detrimental to the breadth and diversity of the independent film industry,” said Emilie Georges at Memento Films International, which has handled “Call Me By Your Name,” “A Separation” and “My Salinger Year.”

“Even if Netflix’s window for the whole world is set at 12 months on these movies, we won’t be able to sell residual rights to these films around the world, sell them to individual distributors or TV channels who refuse to take films that will be on Netflix, or even show them to festivals because many of them are reluctant to take Netflix movies,” said Georges.

Missonnier said sales agents and distributors would be protected to some extent because only French rights are taken into account as part of the investment obligation of streaming services, and can’t represent more than 75% of the acquisition price. He says this 75% cap on French rights will ensure that Netflix doesn’t get a bargain for world rights on movies.

But Georges said this calculation is incongruous to the market reality.

“Of course if you make a French comedy whose primary market is France, international rights may not be worth more than 25% of an acquisition price, but for director-driven, prestige festival movies, the world rights are often worth more than the French rights,” added the executive, citing Celine Sciamma whose latest film, “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” sold more tickets internationally than in France.

Streamers will also have to work with local distributors in France on movies. Although the investment percentage applies to both films and TV content, the decree has different obligations for TV and cinema. As such, movies backed by streamers will have to be released in theaters in France because “based on the French law, the theatrical release is the difference between [television content] and a film,” said Missonnier.

Another key aspect of the directive is the percentage of independent production that platforms must commit to. The decree says independent production must represent 75% of the streamers’ investment in France, in line with traditional players. The platforms will be able to pre-buy those independently-produced films — but not co-produce them — and will have rights for a duration of 12 months.

With regards to TV series, independent productions will need to form at least 66% of titles, and platforms will have broadcasting rights for a duration of 36 months. For in-house productions, Netflix will have global rights to shows they fully finance.

If any platform’s slate includes at least 10 movies, that service will also have to contribute to the financing of films. The decree says platforms will be able to produce in-house and won’t have to work with local producers on these films — another problematic point for local producers guilds, who strongly object to the provision.

The task force has met with executives from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney as part of the ongoing talks. “We’re discussing, but it’s not negotiation. If platforms don’t agree with the decree, notably because they are not headquartered in France, it will [still] apply to them because it’s a decree,” said Missonnier.

The decree’s obligations are calculated based on annual turnover. Missonnier said the government will determine how to calculate accordingly for hybrid services like Apple and Amazon since their turnover isn’t only linked to movies and television content.

Meanwhile, Netflix will start declaring its revenues from France to the local tax administration starting in January, according to Capital. Since launching in France in September 2014, Netflix declared its French revenues to the administration in Amsterdam where its European headquarters are located. The streaming giant is applying the same model in Spain, it said earlier this week.

https://variety.com/2020/film/global/eu-directive-streamers-local-content-netflix-amazon-france-1234839918/