GETTING IN FRONT OF THE COMPETITION The International Olympic Committee said on Thursday that Swiss-based, Chinese-owned Infront Sports Media would handle broadcast right sales in much of Asia for the next series of Summer and Winter games.
The deal covers 22 territories including Afghanistan, Brunei, Cambodia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Singapore, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Vietnam but not China, Japan or South Korea, and runs 2026-2032. That means it will cover the Milan-Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics and the Los Angeles 2028 and Brisbane 2032 Summer games. The 2030 Winter Olympics, which have yet to be allocated a host, and all Youth Olympic Games during this period will also be covered.
Infront, which is headed by Philippe Blatter and has been owned by Chinas Dalian Wanda since 2015, replaces the Japanese advertising and marketing giant Dentsu, which had handled the rights since 2014. Infront already handles Olympic broadcast tights in sub-Saharan Africa.
Dentsu and other companies have been charged in Japan with collusion in commercial contracts for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. A former Dentsu executive is charged in a separate Olympic bribery case. And the company is implicated in a French investigation into IOC vote buying.
We look forward to working with Infront to ensure fans across the region have access to comprehensive Olympic coverage, through both digital and free-to-air television, said Anne-Sophie Voumard, the MD for IOC television and marketing services.
NEW DIRECTION The Pattaya Film Festival in Thailand got under way on Thursday evening with a breezy ceremony that preceded the screening of classic Thai movie Pattaya, Dont Burn, attended by its director Adirek Wattaleela. The festival is part of a campaign to highlight local culture and attractions other than the citys famous nightlife. Its screening schedule includes a mix of recent Asian art-house titles (Lunana, A Yak in the Classroom, Rehana and Return to Seoul) as well as a selection of Pattaya-set movies and Thai classics. Several will get open-air screenings on the beach.
ROMANTIC WRAP
Taiwanese filmmaker,TomLin Shu-Yu(The Garden of Evening Mists, Zinnia Flower) has completed principal photography in Kuala Lumpur and Vancouver on his first U.S. film, romantic comedy Worth the Wait.
It follows a year in the interconnected lives and romances of an all-Asian ensemble cast. The players include Lana Condor(To All The Boys Ive Loved Before),Andrew Koji(Bullet Train, Warrior),Ross Butler(Shazam! franchise,),Sung Kang(Fast Furious franchise, Obi-Wan Kenobi),Elodie Yung(The Cleaning Lady, Daredevil),Karena Lam(American Girl, Zinnia Flower),Osric Chau(Supernatural, The Flash),Ali Fumiko Whitney(The Road Dance),Ricky He(The Good Doctor),Tan Kheng Hua (Crazy Rich Asians, Kung Fu) andLim Yu-Beng (Rebel Moon, Mr. Midnight: Beware the Monsters).
The film has a screenplay byMaggie Hartmans.It is produced byDan MarkandRachel Tanunder their shingle, King Street Pictures (SnakeheadGeorge LeeandMarcus Englefieldon behalf of their company, Storyoscopic Films (Animal Crackers andVincent Xieof Waymaker Pictures. Its financiers are Waymaker Pictures and Jupiter Peak Productions
NIPPON AWARDS
Four awards were presented at the conclusion of the 23rd Nippon Connection Film Festival in Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, which was attended by some 18,500 visitors.
The Nippon Cinema Award went to Suzuki Masayukis Yudo, while the Nippon Visions Jury Award was awarded to Your Lovely Smileby Lim Kah Wai. A special mention from the jury went to Sayonara Girls, by Nagakawa Shun, while the Nippon Visions Audience Award went to Hoarded on the Border, by Kayano Takayuki. The Nippon Docs Award was claimed by My Anniversaries, by Kim Sungwoong.
Selected films of the festival will be shown as part of the thematic focusCityscapes Countrysidein the upcoming months in the cinemas of the Rhine-Main area.Festival organizers announced that the event will return next year from May 28 to June 2, 2024.