Movies
Banana Balloon’s “Answer Me” wins Best of Show In ONE Screen Short Film Festival
Mumbai: “Answer Me”, created by Banana Balloon Shenzhen on behalf of Tencent Sustainable Social Value, is the top winner in the global ONE Screen 2023 Short Film Festival, the premiere short film festival produced by The One Club for Creativity celebrating global filmmakers from both commercial advertising and film industries.
“Answer Me”, which highlights Tencent SSV’s commitment to digital education and online teaching for rural areas of China, was named Best of Show, Best of Region-Asia Pacific, and awarded three Craft awards: one each in Screenplay, Directing, and Casting. In addition, Banana Balloon won a Craft award in Cinematography for “The Third Ear”, also on behalf of Tencent SSV.
Other top winners include director Joaquin Salim, working with Capitolio Caracas, for “Aleros [Pompeii]” for the band La Vida Boheme. The music video won Best of Region-Latin America, and Craft awards in Remote Production and Editing.
Best of Region-North America honors went to Havas New York for “You Don’t Know the Half of it” on behalf of The Harris Project. The work also won a Genre award in Drama. There was no Best of Region-Europe winner selected this year.
Other ONE Screen 2023 Genre winners are as follows.
1 Branded Content Film: Grits Richmond “A Father’s Affirmation” for Reebok
2 Branded Entertainment Film: Anonymous Content Culver City “We Are Ayenda” for WhatsApp
3 Comedy: Sea Wolf New York “Coddle No More”
4 Experimental Film: Stink Films London “Inside the Blind Iris” for Sadler’s Wells
5 Fiction: Emma Branderhorst Amsterdam with IJswater Films Amsterdam “Spotless”
6 Music Video: Stink Films Berlin “MoMA PS3” for Nemorum
7 Non-Fiction/Documentary: Todd Antony Photography London “We Are Flying Stars”, self-promotion
8 Student Film : Constanze Radak from University of Applied Sciences Salzburg “Doubts” for Student Master project
Other ONE Screen 2023 Craft winners are as follows.
1 Animation: Spoon Tokyo “Scuffing Song” for Otsuka Pharmaceutical, Pocari Sweat Returnable Bottle Project
2 Emerging Filmmaker: Theo James Krekis London “Pram Snatcher” for BFI London
3 Music Composition: OPPO Shenzhen “See More in a Snap” for OPPO Find N2 Flip
4 Sound Design: Bensimon Byrne/Narrative Toronto “Others” for Casey House
5 Type on Poster: Sunday Afternoon New York “Human Response Exhibit”, self promotion
ONE Screen is a global festival focuses on all forms and aspects of short films – narrative fiction, comedy, commercials, branded content, music videos, spec work, passion projects, animation, sound, movie poster design, title sequences and more — and has a mission to celebrate and award filmmakers from around the world working in both the film and ad industries, with no limitation and total artistic freedom, all on one screen.
Hollywood
Paramount Skydance secures financing for Warner Bros Discovery deal
Debt syndication and new loans push $111 billion merger closer to close
WASHINGTON: Paramount Skydance has taken a major step towards its planned acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, securing fresh financing and completing the syndication of its bridge loan facility.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company confirmed that the bridge facility has now been distributed among a group of 18 banks, reducing total commitments to $49 billion from an earlier $54 billion. The move spreads risk across lenders and signals growing confidence in one of the year’s largest media deals.
Alongside this, the company has finalised permanent financing arrangements, including $5 billion in senior term loans and a $5 billion revolving credit facility. A previously planned $3.5 billion credit line has been dropped as part of the restructuring.
The loans are secured against key assets, including Paramount Global, Skydance Media and Warner Bros post-merger, underlining the scale and complexity of the transaction.
The financing push follows a competitive bidding process earlier this year, which saw interest from players such as Netflix before Paramount Skydance emerged as the frontrunner. The deal, valued at $111 billion, is expected to close in the third quarter, subject to regulatory approvals.
Adding to the momentum, the company has also secured significant equity backing, including investments from Middle Eastern funds, with support from billionaire Larry Ellison, who has guaranteed the equity portion of the transaction.
Commenting on the development, Paramount Skydance chief strategy officer Andy Gordon said, “Our successful debt syndication and new debt facilities represent another important milestone towards the completion of our acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery.”
Once completed, the combined entity is expected to carry net debt of just under $80 billion, reflecting the sheer scale of the merger.
As Hollywood continues to consolidate in the streaming era, this deal could reshape the competitive landscape, with Paramount Skydance betting big on scale, content and financial muscle to take on global rivals.
