The shows, that have been on every night in Paris for 65 years, are on here from now till Oct 22 on Wednesday till Sundays.
Tickets start at $55 and it’s restricted to 18 as there is nudity.
I caught it last night and it was pretty all right. The Crazy Girls, as they are called, have amazingly toned bodies which creates beautiful silhouettes. The whole set up is reminiscent of a 1960s era.
On Friday the 13th, head to Butcher Boy on Keong Saik Road for some deep, soulful house music with UK DJ Stephen Day and Irish DJ Shane O’Neill.
Grammy award-winning singer Bruno Mars will be returning to Singapore on May 6 next year for a one-night performance at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
The 32-year-old is currently on The 24K Magic World Tour, which has seen the star perform in Europe, Northe America and Australia so far.
He last performed in Singapore in 2014. For his upcoming concert here, audiences can expect him to belt out popular hits such as That’s What I Like, Versace on the Floor and That’s What I Like.
Tickets for The 24K Magic World Tour will go on sale on Oct 19 at 10am via www.sportshubtix.sg. Prices start from $168.
China’s film industry has made much progress in the past five years. Xu Fan reports.
China, the world’s second-largest film market after the United States, has seen both a rise in collaboration with the industry in other countries and stable development at home.
According to Tong Gang, vice-minister of the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, China has seen an average year-on-year growth of up to 30.35 per cent at the box office in the past five years.
The box office has grown from 17.1 billion yuan (S$3.51 billion) in 2012 to 49.2 billion yuan in 2016. The country’s movie industry has seen stable development.
Annual theatre visits have risen from 466 million in 2012 to 1.37 billion in 2016. And screens in urban areas have increased from 13,118 in 2012 to 41,179 in 2016. The rapid construction has made China one of the most alluring film markets in the world.
Another change is taking place, with a rise in coproductions with other countries.
The coproduction Wolf Totem.Photo: China Daily/Asia News Network
RISE IN COPRODUCTIONS
Six countries – the highest record for one year since 2012 – signed film-coproduction treaties with China from January to September. That makes for 20 foreign countries currently.
Newcomers include Russia, Brazil, Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Denmark and Greece.
“The model of coproducing films is developing very well,” says Tong. “Chinese filmmakers have established close relations with Hollywood’s major studios. A number of Sino-US film projects are underway.”
Miao Xiaotian, general manager of China Film Co-Production Corp, echoes Tong’s views. The company, founded in 1979, is the sole agency authorised by China’s top movie regulator to approve coproduction titles.
“The United States is the first and the most active player to explore an effective formula to win Chinese audiences,” says Miao.
He says 12 movies, or 16 per cent of the 73 approved coproductions last year, are Sino-US projects.
China expanded the annual quota of foreign movies on the basis of sharing box-office revenue from 20 to 34 in 2012.
Coproductions, which are treated like domestic titles and can be released outside of the foreign film’s quota policy, have also become a channel for foreign filmmakers to make forays into the Chinese market.
Before 2015, some 40 coproductions were approved every year. “But 2015 saw a rise to more than 50. That number became 73 in 2016,” says Miao.
The coproduction Kung Fu Panda 3.Photo: China Daily/Asia News Network
Such cases include Zhang Yimou’s fantasy epic The Great Wall (2016), French director Jean-Jacques Annaud’s Wolf Totem (2015), DreamWorks’ animated feature Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016) and Lu Chuan’s nature film Born in China (2016).
For some Chinese filmmakers, coproducing isn’t just about business but also serves cultural exchange.
Where Has Time Gone, the first coproduction by BRICS countries that will be released in China on Oct 19 exemplifies such an effort.
As an anthology of five independent short stories examining the titular theme, the movie is created by five well-known film directors from China, Russia, Brazil, India and South Africa.
Jia Zhangke has participated in film projects along with filmmakers from South Korea and Switzerland. The BRICS coproduction’s executive producer says he feels proud to lead the project.
“It gives the Chinese audience an opportunity to discover the cinematic charms of the countries that they have limited knowledge about,” says Jia, who believes Chinese theatres should not only be dominated by Hollywood blockbusters or domestic commercial cinema.
With a number of cash-rich Chinese investors and the expanding population of moviegoers, China has transformed from an “assistant’s role” to become an equal collaborator or even leader in international coproductions.
Jonathan Shen, founder of the Beijing-based studio Shinework Pictures, is among the latest filmmakers to sense the transformation. Shooting for his company’s new movie, The Composer, has just moved from Almaty, the largest city in Kazakhstan, to Yan’an in Shaanxi province, to film more scenes on Tuesday.
The biopic based on the true story of Chinese musician Xian Xinghai is the first Sino-Kazakh film production that includes Kazakhfilm JSC, the country’s largest studio, as the partner producer.
Shen says the Kazakh side was very excited upon hearing about the project. The movie brought top Chinese talent and advanced filming machines to Kazakhstan.
The coproduction The Great Wall.Photo: China Daily/Asia News Network
SCREENING ABROAD
A longtime ambition of local filmmakers has been to see Chinese films go abroad, and their wish has come true to an extent.
In 2016, the overseas revenue from Chinese films hit a record total of 3.83 billion yuan, up 38 per cent from 2015 and more than triple the 2012 figure, according to the country’s top sectoral regulator.
A State-backed project called Chinese Films Worldwide Releases has reached major theatres in North America, Europe, Asia and Oceania, says Tong.
In next five years, the project will screen 15 domestic hits every year in more than 100 overseas cities and establish a global distribution network for Chinese movies, adds Tong.
In the last two years, Wolf Warrior 2, China’s highest-grossing film of all time, and The Monkey King 2, a fantasy epic based on the Chinese classic Journey to the West, did well abroad, too.
Wei Jingyi, vice-president of leading Chinese overseas distributor CMC Pictures, says Wolf Warrior 2 has so far become the most successful Chinese movie in Australia and Singapore, and has been sold to some European countries, such as the Netherlands and Austria, where Chinese movies are scarcely screened.
Film festivals have also become a pivotal place for Chinese movies to show abroad.
Around 390 Chinese film festivals and events were held overseas in the past five years. Chinese films have won 552 international awards over the past half decade, earning local stars, directors and producers more attention in the world.
But the biggest challenge seemingly still comes from Hollywood.
“Some reports show that US films dominated 67.4 per cent of the global market last year, and the figure for European movies was 26.7 per cent,” says Tong.
“Chinese filmmakers need to make more movies that appeal to Western audiences and market them well.”
Another Hollywood celebrity has come forward in light of the sexual harassment allegations thrown at movie producer Harvey Weinstein.
Writing a revealing piece for Variety, Heather Graham revealed that Weinstein asked her to have sex with him in exchange for being included in his movie in the early 2000s.
“‘I want to put you in one of my movies,’ he said and offered to let me choose which one I liked best. Later in the conversation, he mentioned that he had an agreement with his wife. He could sleep with whomever he wanted when he was out of town. I walked out of the meeting feeling uneasy,” Graham wrote.
Not giving up, Weinstein invited the actress again in his hotel suite. Due to her previous experience with the movie mogul, she confided to a fellow actress friend and offered to chauffeur her in the meeting. Thinking twice, she called to inform him she couldn’t make it.
“I made up an excuse-I had an early morning and would have to postpone. Harvey told me that my actress friend was already at his hotel and that both of them would be very disappointed if I didn’t show. I knew he was lying, so I politely and apologetically reiterated that I could no longer come by,” she said.
Because of her rejection, Weinstein instead dropped her as an initial choice for the role. She never starred in any of his films since.
She added that because of the New York Times article that featured Ashley Judd speaking about her encounter, she admitted that she felt ashamed for not sharing her story a while back. “If I have spoken a decade ago, would I have saved countless women from the same experience I had or worse?”
“I hope that dialogue covers the gray areas where we ask ourselves, ‘Did what I think happen just happen?’ and that we are no longer shamed into feeling that we should grow a thicker skin, or that our story ‘isn’t good enough to count,'” Graham commented.
Here are the actresses who’ve accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, abuse
Her story follows a similar narrative from the eight women testifying how Weinstein harassed them in exchange for job offers by the movie mogul and how he quietly settled legal suits against those who filed charges.
Following the expose, Weinstein has faced a backlash, getting fired from his own company and his name being removed from several television shows and future movie projects he produced.
Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and Queen Jetsun Pema will attend the Royal Cremation of His Majesty the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s in Bangkok on October 26, a spokesman for the Royal Palace of Bhutan announced yesterday.
They will visit Thailand from October 25 to 27, the spokesman said. The Royal families of Thailand and Bhutan are close.
The Bhutanese King and Queen visited Bangkok on October 16 last year to pay respects to the late King, who passed away on October 13.
Photo: The Nation/Asia News Network
Meanwhile, South Korea will send a special delegation to the funeral, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said on Tuesday.
Headed by Vice National Assembly Speaker Park Joosun, the delegation will visit for five days and attend the funeral services to be held starting October 26, Yonhap news agency reported.
Park is a member of the liberal opposition People’s Party.
The delegation will also include Representative Kang Byunwon of the ruling Democratic Party, Representative Baek Seungjoo of the main opposition Liberty Korea Party and Representative Ji Sangwuk of the splinter Bareun Party, according to the presidential Blue House statement.
Pope Francis on Wednesday accepted the resignation of an Indonesian bishop who had been accused by his own priests of having a mistress and skimming US$124,000 (S$167,945) from Church coffers.
Ruteng bishop Hubertus Leteng will be replaced temporarily by Sylvester San, the Bali-based Bishop of Denpasar, pending a new appointment, the Vatican said in an appointments update that did not enter into details of the case.
A total of 69 priests were reported to have resigned in June in protest at Leteng’s conduct, prompting a Vatican probe of allegations he took $94,000 (79,000 euros) from the Indonesian bishops’ conference and $30,000 (25,000) from his own diocese in unregistered transactions.
Leteng had denied the allegations but offered no explanation for his sudden departure on Wednesday, at the age of 58, 17 years before the usual retirement point for a bishop.
As part of an ongoing investigation into the alleged embezzlement of more than Bt200 million (S$8.17million) from state subsidies for temples in recent years, Thai authorities on Wednesday morning searched a house in Bangkok’s Taling Chan district linked to the wife of former National Buddhism Office (NBO) director Nopparat Benjawatananan.
Nopparat, who served as NBO chief from 2010-2014, was accused of siphoning off money from the subsidies and has fled Thailand.
Anti-Money Laundering Office (AMLO) deputy chief Pol Major-General Romsit Weeriyasan led AMLO officials along with Royal Thai Police Counter Corruption Division officers used a warrant to search the luxury house of Pattaranan Benjawatananan, who was registered as marrying Nopparat in 2013.
An initial probe found that the house was registered in Pattaranan’s daughter’s name after it was bought with Bt49 million in cash in 2013, when the daughter was only 20 years old.
A security guard testified that some people had moved boxes reportedly containing documents out of the house on October 8. This search was part of the investigation into alleged embezzlement between 2012 and 2016 of subsidies to repair 12 temples that had suffered Bt62 million in damage.
Accused alongside Nopparat in the first part of the investigation were NBO temple development and religious funding division head Wasawat Kittitheerasit, NBO deputy director-general Pranom Kongpikul, NBO official Natthawadee Tantayawisarnsut and a civilian named Siwaroj Piyaratseree.
There were also three other civilians and one monk facing accusations in this part of probe. The authorities conducted searches on September 21 at 14 locations in Nakhon Pathom in the second part of the probe, concerning the alleged Bt141 million embezzlement in 2012-2017 of three types of subsidies to temples.
These are the fund to maintain and restore temples, the fund to support Buddhism propagation and the fund to support 23 Phrapariyatidhamma schools.
The September 21 searches had yielded 80 gold bars, each weighing about 15 grams, some land title deeds and other documents at the house of NBO former directors Phanom Sornsilp. These items were seized for inspection.
Officers filed the charges under the Criminal Code’s Section 157 (dereliction of duty) and Section 147 (abuse of authority in the appropriation of funds) against Nopparat.
The second batch probe identified 19 suspects comprising 13 civil servants, four monks and two civilians. Besides the five above-named suspects in the first part of the probe, who were also accused in the second part, another nine NOB officials were named.
They were Phanom, Sing Buri Buddhism Office director Narongdej Chainet, NBO academic Pattana Su-ammartmontri, Lampang Buddhism Office director Boonlert Sopa, NBO Phrapariyatidhamma education division head Pornpen Kittitarangkoon, NBO Buddhist religious sites division Chatchai Chuchua, NBO public works expert Phayong Sileung, NBO inspector-general Wiroj Oonsap, and Samut Songkhram Buddhism Office director Kaew Chidtakob.
One civilian suspect, Paitoon Kannamo, was also named while four monk suspects’ names were withheld.
WASHINGTON – A stream of actress, models and ex-employees have come out, many anonymously, to accuse Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment and abuse dating as far back as the 1990s.
THE FIRST TO SPEAK OUT
The scandal unfurled with the testimonies of eight women published in the New York Times on October 5. The women who spoke out were anonymous ex-employees of the director, known for his work on films including “The King’s Speech,” as well as actress Ashley Judd.
The newspaper also revealed other cases of harassment, including actress Rose McGowan and model Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, who reportedly received settlements from Weinstein following the incidents.
Here are the actresses who’ve accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, abuse
The New Yorker magazine also carried out its own ten-month investigation, published October 10, which featured accusations from 13 women – including three of rape from actresses Asia Argento and Lucia Evans, and another anonymous young woman.
In the same article, actress Mira Sorvino, Emma de Caunes, Rosana Arquette and Jessica Barth gave similar accounts of the cinema mogul’s sexual advances – along with Emily Nestor, an ex-employee of the Weinstein Company, who fired Weinstein in the wake of the allegations.
A STRING OF SUPERSTARS SPEAK
The flood of revelations paved the way for other women to begin speaking out.
Celebrated actresses Gwyneth Paltrow, Angelina Jolie, Judith Godreche and Katherine Kendall all told the New York Times they were approached by Weinstein – who was naked or wearing a bathrobe – in hotel rooms during the 1990s.
The Times also published the accounts of two other women – Tomi-Ann Roberts, a 20-year-old student in 1984, and up-and-coming comedian Dawn Dunning in 2003.
Elsewhere, journalist Lauren Sivan told NBC’s “Today” show the producer masturbated in front of her in a restaurant kitchen a decade ago.
Meanwhile, model and actress Cara Delevingne took to social media to share her account of being invited to a meeting about a role – only to be propositioned by Weinstein in his hotel room, before he tried to kiss her.
And in a damning op-ed in the Guardian, French actress Lea Seydoux – also subjected to Weinstein’s advances – alleged “everyone” in Hollywood “knew what Harvey was up to.”
