Toei Animation teams with Saudi's Manga Productions on 'Journey'
LOS ANGELES, May 19, (RTRS): The
Doha Film Institute, which is at Cannes as a co-financier of Elia Suleiman's
competition entry 'It Must Be Heaven', has announced the 37 projects receiving
its Spring Grants, roughly half of them to be directed by women.
The latest batch of mostly Arabic fare set to
tap into support from the DFI, a key driver for Middle East filmmakers, will
comprise a slew of documentaries and two TV series, which 'reflects the type of
content currently in demand from streamers,' said DFI director of financing
Hanaa Issa.
TV series represent a new strand of funding
for the DFI, initiated with the previous grants cycle. The standout TV project
is 'Faraya', a series presented by emerging Lebanese helmers Nadim Tabet ('One
of These Days') and Mounia Akl ('Beirut, I Love You'). It's about 'an
inexperienced police officer investigating the death of a cleaning lady at a
high-end ski Lebanese resort whose poor judgment triggers a series of violent
events,' according to the synopsis. The production company is Beirut-based
Abbout Productions.
DFI CEO Fatma Al Remaihi said plenty of
submissions for TV projects have been coming in, prompting 'a debate within our
funding committee about how much should be allocated for TV series versus
film,' adding that they will not set quotas for film and TV and that their philosophy
of 'quality and merit' will stay the same.
Issa noted that Netflix, MUBI, Amazon and
Vimeo all attended the DFI's Qumra workshop this year, adding that she hoped
streamers would get involved in their TV projects during next year's edition.
She also said that the volume of documentaries
at this grants session – roughly half of the feature-length works – makes for
congenial content for streamers, just like TV series. The docs include
'Fouledh', by young Tunisian directors Mehdi Hmili and Abdallah Chamekh
(pictured), about working conditions in Tunisia's biggest steel mill.
Also:
LOS ANGELES: In an
industry-building effort for Saudi Arabia, new Saudi animation
studio Manga Productions has teamed up with Japan's Toei Animation on a $10
million to $15 million animation feature titled 'The Journey', an epic based on
Saudi folklore to be directed by Shizuno Kobun, whose credits
include 'Godzilla: City on the Edge of Battle'.
Manga and Toei will collaborate
on the pre-production and creation of story and the character design with
Japanese and Saudi artists working together, they said in a joint statement.
The co-production stems from a
pact between the two companies made in November 2017, one month before Saudi
Arabia lifted its 35-year ban on cinemas.
'The Journey' is a milestone
project for Manga,' said Manga Productions CEO Bukhary Essam, who
is at Cannes
with members of the Manga creative team.
'What we are doing here with 'The
Journey' is representative of our larger role in creating an ecosystem
throughout Saudi Arabia and the Arab world in which young talents are given
opportunities and are supported, and high-quality work representing our culture
is produced,' he added.
Toei Animation managing director Shinji
Shimizu said it was 'a great honor to cooperate in making Saudi
Arabia's very first animation film based on the history and culture of ancient
Arabia.'
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LOS ANGELES: Mumbai
production outfit Azure Entertainment is powering up a slate of remakes of
European and Asian movies. These include a retread of 2017 Thai hit 'Bad
Genius' and an Indian version of South Korea's 'The Terror: Live'.
Azure is collaborating with
Reliance Entertainment and Neeraj Pandey-led Friday Film Works' Plan C Studio on
the development and production of 'Genius'. The film, which focuses on a female
student who monetizes her skill at exam-cheating, was Thailand's
highest-grossing movie in international markets. Azure is presenting and
producing Tigmanshu
Dhulia's 'Yaara', based on Olivier Marchal's 'Les Lyonnais'.
These are in addition to a
previously announced two-film partnership with Warner Bros that kicks off with
a remake of Hong Kong's 'Infernal Affairs', which was remade by Martin Scorsese
as 'The Departed'. Rights were acquired from Warner.
Set up by Sunir Kheterpal, who
previously had stints with Adlabs-Reliance Entertainment and the Hinduja Group,
Azure is owned by The Three Sisters: Institutional Office. Its 2019 releases include
two blockbusters, Sujoy Ghosh's 'Badala' and Anurag Singh's 'Kesari'.