Hindi
HAF Awards winners announced
Hong Kong: The Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum today announced the winners for the HAF awards, the Technicolor Bangkok awards, the Lacarno Open Doors awards and the Paris Project awards.
The HAF Excellence award this year was presented to Charlie Young, director of Christmas Rose (Hong Kong), for being the first project to successfully achieve full financing at the HAF.
Wanted by Dante Lam and The Murderer by Na Hong-jin were awarded HKD 100,000 (USD13,000 approx) each for projects originating in Hong Kong and outside of Hong Kong respectively.
The Technicolor Bangkok awards of $20,000 (approx. HKD 156,000) each were given to Blood Maple and the Passion of the Kid (Thailand) by Chartchai Ketnust and Veritigo (Vietnam) by Chuyen Bui Thac.
The Locarno Open Doors award – 5,000 Euros (HKD 50,000) – were presented to Help By Li Ying and Winter Vacation by Li Hong-qi. Both the projects are from the Chinese mainland. The projects will be invited to participate at the Locarno International Film Festival’s Open Door’s award section in 2009. Two round trips and hotel accommodations will be provided to each project.
The Paris Project award –Euros 5,000 (HKD 50,000) – was presented to And Protect, Protected by Baomi Kawase (Japan). This includes one round trip and hotel accommodation at the Paris Cinema International Film Festival to participate in the Paris Project 2009.This year’s line-up included film projects from 11 territories.
The HAF is one of the leading hubs of film-financing in Asia. This year it saw a 38 per cent increase in applicants for places in the forum, with guest registrations numbering over 900. This year’s Forum has also organised close to 500 successfully concluded meetings.
Hindi
Rashmika Mandanna, Shanaya Kapoor and Naila Grrewal climb IMDb’s Indian celebrity rankings
Upcoming films and returning shows are driving fan interest across Bollywood and streaming
MUMBAI: Bollywood’s popularity contest has a new weekly scorecard, and the numbers are telling. IMDb’s Popular Indian Celebrities list for this week places Shanaya Kapoor at number six, buoyed by buzz around her film Tu Yaa Main. Naila Grrewal slots in at seven on the back of the returning comedy series Maamla Legal Hai, while Rashmika Mandanna climbs to eighth, riding mounting anticipation for Cocktail 2.
The list, available exclusively on the IMDb app for Android and iOS, tracks trending Indian entertainers and filmmakers each week, drawing on data from more than 200m monthly visits to the platform worldwide.
Further down the rankings, Raaka is keeping two of its biggest names in the spotlight. Deepika Padukone holds 11th position, with Allu Arjun close behind at 13th, as the film continues to find traction with audiences.
The list offers fans a weekly pulse on who is breaking through, who is holding steady, and who is fading. It is a barometer as unsparing as the box office itself.
