DISNEY+ ASIA SLATE TAKES SHAPE
Disney+ has set an Aug. 9 upload date for Korean series “Moving” from webtoon pioneer Kang Full.
The previously announced title forms part of a 20-component slate of films and series from East Asia that will release on the Disney-backed streaming platform in the second half of 2023 and through 2024.
Also from Korea is “The Worst of Evil,” a detective series in which a rural policemen is brought to the big city to bring down a DJ dealing in a potent new drug. It stars Ji Changwook, “Squid Game” actor Wi Hajun and Lim Semi.
Highlights from Japan include “Tokyo Revengers: Tenjiku Arc,” the latest instalments of a popular anime franchise, and the previously announced “Dragons of Wonderhatch,” a hybrid story set in both the “real world” and an anime land where dragons and humans coexist. The multi-dimensional story stars Nakajima Sena, Okudaira Daiken and Mackenyu.
The year 2023 is set to be rounded off with music docu-series “NCT 127: The Lost Boys,” Japanese anime “Synduality Noir” and an all-new ice show performance by Japanese ice-skater Yuzuru Hanyu. In 2024 new releases will include Korean-produced “A Shop For Killers” and “Red Swan,” and Japan’s “House of the Owl” and “Murai In Love.”
AFTER BURNER
The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and Netflix have announced the first three recipients to be supported by the Netflix Indigenous Scholarship Fund. The fund provides A$515,000 ($342,000) from Netflix for a range of initiatives to elevate Indigenous creatives and voices in the Australian screen and broadcast industries, and support Australia’s First Nations communities and storytellers. The first three AFTRS Netflix First Nations Scholarships were awarded on the basis of creative excellence to: Nazareth Manar Alfred (Master of Arts Screen: Directing); Dylan Marcus Nicholls (Master of Arts Screen: Documentary); and Samantha Alexis Laughton ( Master of Arts Screen: Business ). The scholarships will assist with the full cost of course fees, plus a contribution towards travel, accommodation and living expenses. The scholarships’ selection panel was chaired by AFTRS Council member Tanya Hosch and included representatives from AFTRS, Netflix, Screen West and Create Victoria.
MOE NORMAN, NOT GREG NORMAN
Australian director Bruce Beresford (“Driving Miss Daisy,” Mao’s Last Dancer”) has been signed by producer David Carver Films to direct “The Place I Belong,” the story of Moe Norman. The film is a human-interest journey set against an uplifting sports story and follows the rise of the socially misfit savant and self-taught amateur golfer, Moe Norman, from caddie and bowling alley pinsetter to playing The Masters and on the professional golf tour. Sadly, Norman’s eccentric and misunderstood behavior led to his being bullied out of the sport he loved. He became an unknown legend, playing and winning smaller tournaments and setting course records but living hand to mouth, sometimes sleeping in his car or in sand traps at the courses he played.
Beresford joins executive producers David Steinberg and Robyn Todd and coproducers Wayne and Janet Gretzky on the biopic. The production begins filming spring of 2024. The screenplay is written by Carver, Mark Bergen, Josh Schorr and Todd Korgan, based on previous versions by Joshua Michael Stern, David Lee Miller and Eric Adams.
“As a non-golfer, when I received the script, I thought I would read a few pages then politely pass. My prejudice disintegrated a few pages in. The central character is delightfully eccentric. The story of Moe’s amazing life and career and of those around him, is told with humor, compassion, sophistication and depth,” said Beresford.