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It’s been over a year since the passing of Ryuichi Sakamoto, but new music from the legendary composer is on the way. Today, his estate and Milan Records have announced a posthumous album titled Opus (due on August 9th), and released the lead single, a meditative new rendition of “Tong Poo.”

Taken from a “final, private piano concert” Sakamoto performed in 2022 at his Nhk 509 Studio in Tokyo, Opus features reimaginings of songs from throughout his career, including film scores, Yellow Magic Orchestra hits, and more. Due to his ailing health, the performance was completed across multiple sessions, which were all filmed by Sakamoto’s son Neo Sora; the resulting concert film/documentary will premiere on June 30th on The Criterion Channel with the title Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus.

In a statement written before his death, Sakamoto explained that Opus was “conceived as a way to record my performances — while I...

To call Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus a concert film would be correct and also drastically inadequate. What unfolds onscreen is no mere performance, no mere gesture, but a face-to-face between presence and absence. Beginning its theatrical run just before the one-year anniversary of Sakamoto’s death from cancer, at 71, the handsome film is a testament to the artistic spirit and, above all, an act of love — by the performer, who was facing mortality and thinking of legacy, and by the director, Neo Sora, who is Ryuichi Sakamoto’s son.

The performances captured in Opus were filmed over a week in September 2022, at a studio in Tokyo’s Nhk Broadcasting Center that Sakamoto believed offers the finest acoustics in Japan. He and Sora embarked on this project while Sakamoto was still well enough to perform. Other than the unseen filmmakers, there is no audience. Alone at a Yamaha grand, a bright...

Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto gave his final performance in Japan knowing he was about to pass away. Now, the iconic composer’s legacy is captured in documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” directed by his son Neo Sora.

Sakamoto collaborated with auteurs like Luca Guadagnino and also scored Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-winning turn in “The Revenant.” On March 28, 2023, Sakamoto died after a years-long battle with cancer. Despite retiring from live performances, Sakamoto returned to the stage one final time in late 2022 to play 20 pieces presented in a curated order. The first footage of the film includes Sakamoto performing the score of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Sheltering Sky,” among other pieces.

“Opus” was filmed at the Nhk Broadcast Center’s 509 Studio, which Sakamoto said had the “finest acoustics in Japan.” Cinematographer Bill Kirstein shot the film using three 4K cameras, with Sakamoto first recording his pieces on an iPhone from his home to...

Jeremy Thomas with Anne-Katrin Titze on his next mission, Christopher Hampton’s adaptation of Jonathan Coe’s Mr. Wilder and Me to be directed by Stephen Frears and starring Christoph Waltz as Billy Wilder: “We’ve got all the locations in Corfu and Paris where the drama is set. Now I’m looking for eight million dollars more …”

In the first instalment with producer extraordinaire Jeremy Thomas we discuss his work and admiration for Nicolas Roeg, Wim Wenders, and Matteo Garrone.

Jeremy Thomas with Glenn Kenny and Michael Almereyda at the Posteritati Gallery reception Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Karel Reisz’s Everybody Wins (written by Arthur Miller) came to Jeremy’s mind; the connection between Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (winning nine Oscars), Paul Bowles and The Sheltering Sky; Jonathan Glazer (Sexy Beast) plus Glazer’s Martin Amis adaption of The Zone Of Interest (a Main Slate selection of...

To capture the breadth and depth of the musical career of Japanese composer and recording artist Ryuichi Sakamoto seems impossible, but somehow “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” almost accomplishes this herculean challenge. A document of Sakamoto’s final performance before his death from cancer last March, the film provides no commentary or context for the enormity of his body of work, yet somehow encompasses it all as he performs a curated set list in a Japanese recording studio for an audience of one — himself. Far more than a showcase of his talent and productivity, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” lets Sakamoto deliver an elegy, and in the process, an autobiography of his creative journey, as captured through the precision and poetry of director Neo Sora’s camera.

Working from a set list personally selected by Sakamoto from his discography, Sora — Sakamoto’s son — recorded his subject’s performances over the span of a week,...

Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final performance is captured in posthumous documentary “Opus,” directed by his son Neo Sora.

Sakamoto, who was behind the scores of films like “The Last Emperor” and “The Revenant,” died in March at age 71 after a years-long battle with cancer. His last piano performance was staged for “Opus,” which is set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival.

In the concert film, Sakamoto performs 20 compositions; the teaser trailer shows Sakamoto playing the score of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Sheltering Sky.”

Sakamoto issued a statement about “Opus” prior to his passing, saying that the film was “conceived as a way to record my performances — while I was still able to perform — in a way that is worth preserving for the future.”

“Opus” is filmed at the Nhk Broadcast Center’s 509 Studio, which Sakamoto said had the “finest acoustics in Japan.” Cinematographer Bill Kirstein shot the film using three 4K cameras,...

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final performance before passing in late March was captured for a concert film titled Opus, set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5th.

Recorded without an audience in December 2022, the film solely features the late Japanese composer and electronic music pioneer on his piano as he plays 20 handpicked pieces spanning his entire career, from his initial success as co-founder of Yellow Magic Orchestra to his film scores for The Last Emperor to his final album, 12. Sakamoto performs several works as solo piano performances for the first time, including The Wuthering Heights, Ichimei — Small Happiness, and a new arrangement of the 1978 Yellow Magic Orchestra track “Tong Poo.”

Watch a teaser from the film of Sakamoto performing a selection from his music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1990 romantic drama The Sheltering Sky over at Deadline.

In a posthumous statement about the concert film, Sakamoto said, “The...

Ryuichi Sakamoto’s final performance before passing in late March was captured for a concert film titled Opus, set to premiere at the Venice Film Festival on September 5th.

Recorded without an audience in December 2022, the film solely features the late Japanese composer and electronic music pioneer on his piano as he plays 20 handpicked pieces spanning his entire career, from his initial success as co-founder of Yellow Magic Orchestra to his film scores for The Last Emperor to his final album, 12. Sakamoto performs several works as solo piano performances for the first time, including The Wuthering Heights, Ichimei — Small Happiness, and a new arrangement of the 1978 Yellow Magic Orchestra track “Tong Poo.”

Watch a teaser from the film of Sakamoto performing a selection from his music for Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1990 romantic drama The Sheltering Sky over at Deadline.

In a posthumous statement about the concert film, Sakamoto said, “The...

From the Nc-17 ménage à trois of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Dreamers” to James Spader having intercourse with Rosanna Arquette’s leg wound in David Cronenberg’s “Crash,” producer Jeremy Thomas loves a controversy onscreen.

Cinema raconteur Mark Cousins pays homage to the Oscar-winning producer in his 2021 Cannes Classics selection, “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas.” The film follows Cousins on Thomas’ annual pilgrimage to the Cannes Film Festival — literally, the producer drove for decades from England to the fest — and a five-day road movie through France. Together, they remember Thomas’ most acclaimed and provocative films as a producer, from his Oscar-winning “The Last Emperor” to “Crash” and its scandalous opening at the festival in 1996, Nicolas Roeg’s “Bad Timing,” Jerzy Skolimowski’s “Eo,” plus Cronenberg’s “Naked Lunch,” Jonathan Glazer’s “Sexy Beast,” and Terry Gilliam’s reviled child abuse fairy tale, “Tideland.”

The film includes Thomas’ stories of movie stars like Marlon Brando,...

Choirs Of Angels

Sakamoto Ryuichi, the Japanese film composer and music supervisor who died in March, has been posthumously named as the recipient of the Jecheon Film Music Award at the 19th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival (Aug. 10-15). Sakamoto won Academy Awards and Golden Globes for his score for “The Last Emperor” and has other credits including “The Sheltering Sky,” “Railroad Man,” “The Revenant,” “Call Me By Your Name” and “The Fortress.”

Abrai Joji from Commons the music label established jointly with Sakamoto, and Yutaka Toyama from Promax, which had produced Sakamoto’s concerts since 1986, will visit the festival. Additionally, a tribute concert will be held on Aug. 12 at the Jecheon Stadium.

Sports Production Fund

U.K. pay TV operator Sky has launched the New Focus Fund, designed to uncover fresh talent in sports content creation. Developed in recognition that traditional routes into sports media can be limited, and often attract narrow talent pools,...

The Japanese composer won the Academy Award for ‘The Last Emperor’.

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who won an Oscar for The Last Emperor and a Bafta for Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, has died aged 71.

He died on Tuesday (March 28) after first being diagnosed with cancer nearly three years ago.

A statement from his management, Commmons, said: “While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow. He lived with music until the very end. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to his fans and all those who have supported his activities,...

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Japanese composer who helped introduce electronic music to the world as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra before going on to write some of the most beloved movie scores of the past half century, died on Tuesday at the age of 71 after a battle with cancer.

“While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow,” Sakamoto’s management, Commmons, wrote in a statement announcing his death. “He lived with music until the very end. We would like to express our deepest gratitude to his fans and all those who have supported his activities, as well as the medical professionals in Japan and the U.S. who did everything in their power to cure him.”

Born in Tokyo in 1952, Sakamoto first rose to prominence in the Japanese music community in the mid-1970s. After years...

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Oscar-winning composer, musician, actor, singer, producer, writer and activist from Japan, has died. He was 71.

Sakamoto died on March 28 of cancer, recording company Avex said in a statement posted to Twitter Sunday that thanks his medical teams in Japan and the U.S. and asks for fans to respect the privacy of his family at this time.

“While undergoing treatment for cancer discovered in June 2020, Sakamoto continued to create works in his home studio whenever his health would allow him to. He lived with music until the very end,” the statement says, noting a private funeral among close family has already taken place.

During a career that saw him scoring more than 40 films, including The Last Emperor (1987), Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983) and The Revenant (2015), Sakamoto also received two Golden Globes, a Grammy Award and a BAFTA.

Born in Tokyo in 1952 to a clothes designer mother and literary editor father,...

Ryuichi Sakamoto, keyboardist for the pioneering Japanese electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra and Oscar-winning composer of films like The Last Emperor and The Revenant, has died at the age of 71.

Sakamoto’s Twitter announced his death Sunday, noting that the influential artist died on Tuesday, March 28; while no cause of death was provided, Sakamoto battled two forms of cancer over the past decade, and announced in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with stage 4 rectal cancer.

pic.twitter.com/mYLMEN6HrZ

— ryuichi sakamoto (@ryuichisakamoto) April 2, 2023

Commmons, the record label Sakamoto founded,...

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the highly influential Japanese pianist, composer, and electronic music producer, has died at 71, Kyodo News reports.

Sakamoto had first revealed a throat cancer diagnosis in 2014, which went into remission after successful treatment. In 2021, he announced that he was battling rectal cancer, and a 2022 update shared that the cancer had reached stage 4.

Ryuichi Sakamoto was born on January 17th, 1952 in Tokyo, Japan and studied at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, where he graduated with a master’s degree in music composition. He was an early adopter of synthesizers and his experimentation in early works, specifically with the Roland Mc-8 Microcomposer and Tr-808 drum machine, became foundational for contemporary electronic music.

As both a solo artist and as a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra, the electropop trio formed with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi, Ryuichi Sakamoto pioneered early incarnations of synth pop as well as various offshoots of electronic music.

Exclusive: In an eye-catching independent deal, Charles S. Cohen’s Cohen Media Group, owner of Landmark Theatres and UK cinema group Curzon, has added to his arthouse fleet with the acquisition of blue-chip international sales company HanWay Films, co-owned by stalwart Brit producer Jeremy Thomas and his partner Peter Watson.

HanWay will continue to be branded as an independent label selling independent features and Peter Watson will continue to serve as president of the company together with Gabrielle Stewart as CEO. All other staff will remain in tact, we’re told.

Philip Knatchbull, CEO of Curzon, negotiated the transaction on behalf of Cohen Media Group. Financial details weren’t disclosed.

Based in London, a sale of HanWay has been discussed for a number of years. HanWay execs said today the deal would allow growth and the ability to get involved in projects earlier. The company’s current slate comprises a...

Today we have a trio of stylish posters for Ashley Abel's short film, In The Darkness of Being, that come at the audience in three different ways, all courtesy of design house Melt. Maybe it is from watching too many episodes of TV's Hannibal or True Detective, but the antlers, particularly at this scale, indicate to me stylish, psychological horror. Red text and the central figure reinforce this notion. Specifically, only half the rack of antlers, which here I find even more unsettling for some reason. Below that, a vastly different approach. One that indicates a certain exoticism. The key art is particularly evocative of Bernardo Bertolucci's The Sheltering Sky, a marital and travel nightmare of wealthy New Yorkers in Northern Africa after World War II....

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Los Angeles Philharmonic took a major step forward over the weekend with its “Reel Change” series devoted to contemporary film composers.

By inviting Icelandic composer Hildur Guðnadóttir (“Joker”) and Americans Kris Bowers (“Green Book”) and Nicholas Britell (“Moonlight”) to curate programs of their music, and those of composers that inspired them, the Phil is formally acknowledging the importance of media music as a legitimate part of the contemporary musical scene.

Symphony programmers are notorious for ignoring film music unless it’s on a “pops” program or a live-to-picture event, which in recent years have proven extremely lucrative. The L.A. Phil has rarely programmed, much less celebrated, music for visual media on a subscription concert.

And the fact that the series included a woman and a person of color was more than a token nod to diversity, as this trio is among the most sought-after of modern composers for film,...

Exclusive: Cohen Media Group and Curzon have jointly acquired all U.S., U.K. and Irish distribution rights to Mark Cousins’ Cannes Film Festival documentary The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas about the Oscar-winning producer of The Last Emperor.

A theatrical release is expected later in 2021 for the movie, which is a David P. Kelly Films production.

In The Storms Of Jeremy Thomas, filmmaker and writer Mark Cousins (The Story Of Film: An Odyssey) accompanies legendary producer Thomas on the latter’s annual pilgrimage to the Cannes Film Festival.

Each year for the last 45 years, Thomas has made the journey to Cannes. This time Cousins is along for the off-beat grand tour on sea and land, chatting with Thomas as they take in landmarks and people connected to the producer’s films and life, from the Paris locations of Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Dreamers,...

At the age of just 36, British producer Jeremy Thomas won the 1987 Best Picture Oscar for his work in bringing Bernardo Bertolucci’s sumptuous epic “The Last Emperor” to the screen.

His has been a golden movie career ever since, producing films from “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” to “Sexy Beast,” “Stealing Beauty,” “Naked Lunch” and “Only Lovers Left Alive.” But as Mark Cousins’ affectionate yet thoughtful documentary “The Storms of Jeremy Thomas” shows, Thomas has always leax a charmed life — “there was once was a prince,” is how the narration begins — and now Cousins is along for the ride.

Quite literally. Because one of Thomas’ annual traditions is to drive from his Oxfordshire home all the way down to Cannes to arrive at his usual suite at the Carlton Hotel in time for opening night. Cousins joins him in the passenger seat, taking his cameras (and us) with them on Thomas’ pilgrimage to the 2019 festival.

As Disney quietly disappears huge swathes of film history into its vaults, I'm going to spend 2020 celebrating Twentieth Century Fox and the Fox Film Corporation's films, what one might call their output if only someone were putting it out.***Robert Aldrich was an in-between-days kind of filmmaker, flourishing as television was conquering cinema, graduating from being an assistant director to Lewis Milestone and Joseph Losey. Hollywood was already in decline/transition as he found his footing. Aldrich rarely knew the security of a studio contract, was usually a struggling independent, was pushed around by stars and producers, and went into a career decline in the seventies with a series of projects which either failed to find an audience or failed to deserve one. Some of these films have enthusiastic admirers, but Aldrich was unable to realize passion projects like The Sheltering Sky, which he had hoped to film from Paul Bowles' novel,...

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a composer and conductor who has scored several well-known films, including “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983), “The Last Emperor” (1987) and most recently “The Revenant” (2015). His career began with a pioneering electronic music group in the late 1970’s and he has always maintained a unique aesthetic. Director Stephen Nomura Schible, who has also directed one of Sakamoto’s concerts, gives us an inside look into the life of this maestro.

“Ryuichi Sakamoto: Coda” is screening on Mubi

The film begins with Sakamoto examining a piano that was recently recovered from the site of the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. The piano was hit by the tsunami and floated away, with evidence of tide marks showing its journey. Sakamoto looks over the salvaged instrument that he is still able to play. This leads us into the two major concerns of his life: music and anti-nuclear activism. Following the meltdown at...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options—not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves–each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Bad Vacations

I imagine your summer plans didn’t go as expected, but in at least a few films in a new Criterion Channel series, some characters have it worse off than having to quarantine inside. Titled Bad Vacations, the collection includes Bonjour tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958), La collectionneuse (Éric Rohmer, 1967), The Deep (Peter Yates, 1977), House (Nobuhiko Obayashi, 1977), Long Weekend (Colin Eggleston, 1978), The Green Ray (Eric Rohmer, 1986), The Comfort of Strangers (Paul Schrader, 1990), The Sheltering Sky (Bernardo Bertolucci, 1990), Funny Games (Michael Haneke, 1997), Fat Girl (Catherine Breillat, 2001), La Ciénaga (Lucrecia Martel, 2001), Unrelated (Joanna Hogg, 2007), and Sightseers (Ben Wheatley, 2012).

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

Epicentro (Hubert Sauper)

“This is utopia, bright and burning.

To celebrate the release of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – available on limited edition Blu-ray 15th June from Arrow Academy – we have a copy up for grabs!

David Bowie stars in Nagisa Oshima’s 1983 Palme d’Or-nominated portrait of resilience, pride, friendship and obsession among four very different men confined in the stifling jungle heat of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java during World War II.

Produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was the first English-language film by Oshima, a leading light of Japanese New Wave cinema, and provided breakthrough big-screen roles for comedian Takeshi Kitano and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also composed the film’s hauntingly memorable BAFTA-winning score. This powerful wartime drama was adapted from Laurens van der Post’s autobiographical novel ‘The Seed and the Sower’ (1963) by screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell To Earth).

Order today: https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence-blu-ray/FCD2013

To be in with a chance of winning,...

To celebrate the release of Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence – available on limited edition Blu-ray 15th June from Arrow Academy – we have a copy up for grabs!

David Bowie stars in Nagisa Oshima’s 1983 Palme d’Or-nominated portrait of resilience, pride, friendship and obsession among four very different men confined in the stifling jungle heat of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java during World War II.

Produced by Jeremy Thomas, it was the first English-language film by Oshima, a leading light of Japanese New Wave cinema, and provided breakthrough big-screen roles for comedian Takeshi Kitano and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who also composed the film’s hauntingly memorable BAFTA-winning score. This powerful wartime drama was adapted from Laurens van der Post’s autobiographical novel ‘The Seed and the Sower’ (1963) by screenwriter Paul Mayersberg (The Man Who Fell To Earth).

Order today: https://arrowfilms.com/product-detail/merry-christmas-mr-lawrence-blu-ray/FCD2013

Please note: This competition is...

Part of our on-going series, Notebook Soundtrack Mixes.Ryuichi Sakamoto can be found at home in a vast array of places. There is always a grounding within his music wherever you are in the world or, in his movie soundtracks, with whatever character you are following on screen. Subtle hints of Sakamoto’s signature sound always bubble to the surface. The notion of Eastern and Western sound distinctions do not matter to Sakamoto; instead, the play and fusion between these differing worlds and sounds has always been of more interest, to Sakamoto it’s all about the emotion produced—a universality that eventually moves the sound beyond place. The musician and composer needs no introduction. He is the master of so many musical universes: The Sakamoto whose work with Ymo and solo experimental productions shaped the future sounds of what would become electro and hip hop, an early pioneer of electronic music.

Exclusive: Jeremy Thomas’s Brit sales and production firm HanWay is rebranding catalog label HanWay Select to The Collections as part of a drive to highlight and propel its significant library of more than 350 movies.

HanWay has struck a deal with UK distributor Arrow Films to handle distribution and restorations in the UK of the Jeremy Thomas collection, with films including multi-Oscar winning epic The Last Emperor, John Malkovich-Debra Winger romance The Sheltering Sky and David Cronenberg’s Naked Lunch. Arrow recently re-released HanWay’s David Bowie-starrer Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence.

HanWay is currently restoring around five titles a year with recent updates including David Cronenberg’s Crash, which screened at Venice. Upcoming is Gary Oldman’s Nil By Mouth.

We also understand the company is close to striking a deal with a well known filmmaker to bring around 20 movies into The Collections fold.

The catalog drive...

As part of their release slates for the months June and July 2020 Arrow Academy will release the classic Nagisa Oshima “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence” starring David Bowie and Hideo Sekigawa’s powerful documentary “Hiroshima”

Synopsis for “Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence”

David Bowie stars in Nagisa Oshima’s 1983 Palme d’Or-nominated portrait of resilience, pride, friendship and obsession among four very different men confined in the stifling jungle heat of a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in Java during World War II.

In 1942, British officer Major Jack Celliers (Bowie) is captured by Japanese soldiers, and after a brutal trial sent, physically debilitated but indomitable in mind, to a Pow camp overseen by the zealous Captain Yonoi (Ryuichi Sakamoto). Celliers’ stubbornness sees him locked in a battle of wills with the camp’s new commandant, a man obsessed with discipline and the glory of Imperial Japan who becomes unnaturally preoccupied with the young Major,...

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who has worked with David Bowie in various guises and scored movies by greats such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodovar, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival.

Sakamoto, an electronic music pioneer whose Yellow Magic Orchestra, formed in 1978, anticipated both techno and rap music debuted in film in 1983. That year he worked on Nagisa Oshima’s “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” for which in addition to writing the score, which won a BAFTA, he played Captain Yonoi alongside the character played by David Bowie named Major Jack “Strafer” Celliers.

Four years later Sakamoto won an Oscar and a Golden Globe for scoring Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor” (1987) in which he also appeared on screen.

Three years later, in 1990, Sakamoto won a second Golden Globe for another Bertolucci film “The Sheltering Sky.” Other highlights of his long distinguished film career comprise collaborations with Almodovar on “High Heels,...

Ryuichi Sakamoto, the Oscar and Golden Globe-winning composer renowned for scores ranging from 1983’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” to 2015’s “The Revenant,” has signed on with Kobalt for a publishing deal that covers most of his catalogue around the world, with the exception of his native Japan.

“Kobalt is an exciting company,” Sakamoto said in a statement. “Together with their clients they are building the future of the music industry that works for creators and rights holders alike. I’m happy to join them in this pursuit.”

Sakamoto first came to prominence as a member of the electronic group Yellow Magic Orchestra in the late 1970s, before making the leap to film in a big way with his acclaimed work on “Mr. Lawrence,” in which he also appeared as an actor. He won his scoring Oscar for “The Last Emperor” in 1987 and went on to do “The Sheltering Sky” and...

Leticia Dolera writes, directs and stars in eight lively episodes that bring us up close and personal with three women in crisis, in all their unfiltered, delusional and conflicted glory. A pregnant woman who lets out the odd fart, carries a pool float around with her so she can sit down without martyring herself to haemorrhoidal misery and apologises, mortified, after doing a poo in mid-labour. A lesbian painter, channelling Jane Bowles (or perhaps Debra Winger in Bertolucci’s The Sheltering Sky), takes Mdma to get through a friend’s daughter’s birthday party and, in her altered state, attempts to seduce one of the other mothers. A married woman with two daughters secretly gulps down her birth control pill, despite her husband’s grim determination to impregnate her with a longed-for son, who will be named Rafa (as in Nadal). Three women, subtly drawn with flashes of wit and not a trace of.

Collection includes items from his first to most recent films.

Jeremy Thomas, one of Britain’s most prominent independent producers and founder of Recorded Picture Company, has donated a significant portion of his personal collection of films and materials to the BFI National Archive.

The archive’s content spans Thomas’ entire career as a producer and executive producer from his first film, Phillipe Mora’s Mad Dog Morgan (1976) to High Rise (2015), directed by Ben Wheatley.

The contents of the donation consist of 35mm prints, production material and international posters from some of his most prominent works, including the Oscar-winning The Last Emperor...

Before touching down on what Beyoncé has called her “love letter to Africa,” it’s important to see what may have brought her to the mother of mankind, with its wide vistas and sonic planes, for “The Gift” in the first place — beyond, of course, voicing Nala in the film and whatever international marketing tie-ins are to come. Despite “The Lion King’s” own Disney-fied trajectory from animated film to quasi-live-action travelogue, the journey that Bey has taken is one of her own design, with a little help from her family.

“Lemonade” was Beyoncé’s strutting, wrathful, Southern-inspired declaration of spite and self-worth in the face of a cheating man; “Homecoming,” a nod to her Houston roots, marching anthems and healing; “Everything is Love,” her and Jay-Z’s continental breakfast free-for-all dedicated to reunion and spending sprees. After all that, “The Lion King: The Gift” is one for her kids,...

Exclusive: Here’s a fun project steeped in Cannes and cinema lore. Documentarian Mark Cousins, whose latest movie The Eyes Of Orson Welles played at Cannes last year, is making a film about the life and work of Oscar-winning producer and Croisette regular Jeremy Thomas who will be at the festival this year with Takashi Miike’s First Love.

The Last Emperor producer Thomas makes a land and sea pilgrimage to the Cannes Film Festival every year, traveling from London in an old sports car often with one or two close friends in tow. This year Cousins is along for the ride and will be filming as they go.

Their off-beat grand tour will take in landmarks and people connected to the producer’s life and films. From the locations in Paris used in Bertolucci’s The Dreamers, to Lyon, the birthplace of cinema, and on to the Riviera festival.

A film festival dedicated to late film director Bernardo Bertolucci at the Italian Cultural Institute in Tirana wound up with the screening of his "Little Buddha" drama.

The tribute to Bertolucci, who died in November last year, kicked off in January in the Institute's CineClub ? Incontri in Biblioteca, with the screening of the film "La Commare Secca" ('The Grim Reaper).

Bertolucci's epic movie "1900" was screened in two different installments on two nights in February, and was followed by "The Last Emperor" in March and "The Sheltering Sky" in April.

Bertolucci's best-known films also include "The Conformist", "Last Tango in Paris" and "The Last Emperor", for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director and the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

-By Ians...

Exclusive: Oscar-winning producer Jeremy Thomas (The Last Emperor) is relocating his revered Recorded Picture Company and HanWay Films labels from Soho to a new west London home.

The Hanway Street office has served as the HQ for Rpc and HanWay for more than 25 years, during which time Thomas has produced movies including Crash, Sexy Beast, The Dreamers and Dogman and HanWay has sold films such as Match Point, Shame, Brooklyn, Carol and Colette.

Staff will relocate next week from the iconic building to a new home in Basing Street, Notting Hill (pictured above), right next to the former Island Records recording studios which played host to a who’s who of music industry greats from Bob Marley to Queen, The Rolling Stones to The Eagles and Paul McCartney to Madonna. Queen recorded songs there including We Are The Champions and part of Bohemian Rhapsody. The studios were built in a former church,...

With 2018 now ending, Gold Derby celebrates over 30 celebrities who died in the past 12 months. Tour our photo gallery above as we feature tributes to these entertainer losses from this past year.

Just a few of the people honored in our special photo gallery:

Actress and director Penny Marshall died December 17 at age 75. She became one of the biggest stars on TV in the 1970s and early 1980s with “Laverne and Shirley.” She then directed such blockbuster films as “Big,” “A League of Their Own” and “Awakenings.”

SEERaise a beer to Penny Marshall, who talked like a Bronx truck driver and directed mass-appeal films like a pro

Bernardo Bertolucci died on November 26 at age 77. His 1987 film “The Last Emperor” swept the Oscars, including for Best Picture and Best Director. Other movies in his career included “Last Tango in Paris,” “The Conformist,” “The Sheltering Sky” and “Little Buddha.”

Screenwriter William Goldman died...

Reel-Important People is a monthly column that highlights those individuals in or related to the movies that have left us in recent weeks. Below you'll find names big and small and from all areas of the industry, though each was significant to the movies in his or her own way. Bernardo Bertolucci (1941-2018) - Filmmaker. He won two Oscars for writing and directing The Last Emperor, which also won Best Picture. He was also nominated for helming The Conformist and Last Tango in Paris. His other movies include The Dreamers, Stealing Beauty, 1900, Little Buddha, The Sheltering Sky and Before the Revolution. Early in his career, he served as assistant director for Pasolini's Accattone! He died on November 26. [THR] Dominique Blanchar (1927-2018) - Actress. She co-starred in...

It was such an intense experience filming The Sheltering Sky.

Bernardo was old-school in that he had the ability to inspire and help you understand where he wanted you to end up but without telling you how to get there. But he also had a great sense of humor. He would make fun of me sometimes because we were very close. I think it was because I dove in, I was so immersed in the character — he would toy with that.

But the moment of shooting the movie I remember most — I have a picture of it actually, though ...

It was such an intense experience filming The Sheltering Sky.

Bernardo was old-school in that he had the ability to inspire and help you understand where he wanted you to end up but without telling you how to get there. But he also had a great sense of humor. He would make fun of me sometimes because we were very close. I think it was because I dove in, I was so immersed in the character — he would toy with that.

But the moment of shooting the movie I remember most — I have a picture of it actually, though ...

Martin Scorsese says that Bernardo Bertolucci, the Italian director who passed away Monday, both “inspired” and “opened many doors” for him as a director.

In the wake of Bertolucci’s death, Scorsese said in a statement that he first saw Bertolucci’s 1964 film “Before the Revolution” in Italy and came out of the theater “in a daze, speechless.”

“I was truly stunned and moved by the level of sheer artistry and talent up there on the screen, I was shocked by the freedom of the picture, I was somewhat mystified by so many of the cultural references and cross-references, and, as someone who wanted to make films, I was inspired,” Scorsese said.

Also Read: Hollywood Remembers Bernardo Bertolucci as a 'Giant of Italian Filmmaking'

He also applauded Bertolucci’s “The Conformist,” “Last Tango in Paris,” “The Last Emperor” and “The Sheltering Sky” as films that had a profound influence on...

’When I think of Bertolucci – the man, the artist – the word that comes to mind is refinement.’

Martin Scorsese has paid tribute to Bernardo Bertolucci, who died earlier on Monday (26) aged 77.

Bertolucci’s publicist said on Monday that the great director behind such films as Last Tango In Paris and The Last Emperor died of cancer.

“In 1964, I went up to Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center for the 2nd New York Film Festival to see a new film from Italy. It was called Before the Revolution and it was by a young director named Bernardo Bertolucci,” said Scorsese. ”I...

Bertolucci on location for "Last Tango in Paris" with Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider in 1972.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Bernardo Bertolucci, the acclaimed Italian director, has died in Rome at age 77. The cause of death was not immediately revealed. Bertolucci won an Oscar for his direction of the 1987 film "The Last Emperor" and also received acclaim for his earlier films that included "The Spider's Stratagem" and "The Conformist". A left-wing Marxist through much of his life, Bertolucci also directed the 1976 epic "1900" which was steeped in political overtones. His most famous and notorious film was "Last Tango in Paris" (1972), which was non-political but highly controversial. It's graphic sexual content was the cause of international controversy and resulted in Bertolucci being charged with obscenity in his native Italy. The film starred Marlon Brando in the tale of a depressed, middle-aged American ex-pat who indulges in a series of anonymous sexual encounters with a teenage Parisian girl (Maria Schneider.

Refresh For Updates The Last Emperor and The Dreamers producer Jeremy Thomas, collaborator with Bernardo Bertolucci on five films, has called the late filmmaker “a monumental figure.”

Multi-Oscar winner Bertolucci passed away this morning in Rome aged 77 following a battle with cancer. Thomas traveled to say goodbye to his old friend and collaborator this past weekend.

The British producer, founder of iconic UK production firm Recorded Picture Company, told me, “He was like a brother to me. We spoke very regularly. It is a tough day. He was a wonderful man, one of the greats and the best of collaborators. He was a monumental and inspirational figure, the last of the great Italian filmmakers from that era.”

Thomas and Bertolucci worked together on five films: The Last Emperor, The Sheltering Sky, Little Buddha, Stealing Beauty and The Dreamers. Bertolucci first contacted the UK producer after seeing his film Merry Christmas...

Don Kaye Nov 26, 2018

The controversial and visionary director of Last Tango in Paris and The Last Emperor is gone.

Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci, a giant of European cinema, has passed away at the age of 77. Bertolucci died in Paris on Monday morning (Nov. 26) after a battle with cancer. He had been confined to a wheelchair for the last decade following unsuccessful surgery for a herniated disc.

Bertolucci was best known for his 1987 film The Last Emperor, which won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Director. Yet his works also included such controversial and groundbreaking films as The Conformist (1970) and Last Tango in Paris (1972). The former was a masterful political drama while the latter was a raw examination of sexual and emotional torment. 

Born in Parma in 1941, Bertolucci was the son of a poet and teacher and grew up around the arts. When he was 20 years old,...

His films also included Last Tango In Paris and The Conformist.

Bernardo Bertolucci, director of The Last Emperor and Last Tango In Paris, has died aged 77.

According to his publicist, Bertolucci died of cancer Monday morning (26 November).

The Last Emperor, his biopic of China’s final ruler Pu Yi backed by UK producer Jeremy Thomas, won nine Oscars in 1987, winning in every category it was nominated in including best picture and best director.

1976 erotic drama Last Tango In Paris, starring Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider won Bertolucci international renown earlier in his, but proved controversial thanks to its infamous rape scene.

Bernardo Bertolucci, a towering figure of world cinema, has died aged 77.

The influential Italian auteur, perhaps best known for epic The Last Emperor, which won nine Oscars, and groundbreaking works such as Last Tango In Paris and The Conformist, has passed away in Rome following a battle with cancer his publicist has confirmed.

Bertolucci was a key figure in the extraordinary Italian cinema of the 1960s and early 1970s but also made a successful transition to big canvas Hollywood filmmaking with 1987’s The Last Emperor, whose Oscars included Best Picture and Best Director for Bertolucci.

Bertolucci was born in the Italian city of Parma in 1941, the son of a poet and teacher. His father was friends with future avant-garde filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, then a novelist and poet, and Pasolino hired the 20-year-old Bertolucci as his assistant on his 1961 debut, Accattone. Bertolucci made his own directorial debut on 1962 feature La...

The esteemed Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto was back in the news over the summer, when the New York Times reported that he was so irked by the song selection at a favorite Manhattan restaurant, he politely wrote to the chef and offered to take charge of the playlist. Something about the story felt typically Sakamoto: the confidence, the sensitivity, the unswerving belief that music demands to be taken a little more seriously.

The 66-year-old is being honored as Asian Filmmaker of the Year at Busan, in recognition of a soundtrack oeuvre stretching back to Nagisa Oshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” in 1983. He’s the first composer to receive the prize, and it’s hard to argue with the choice. Other Asian film composers may have amassed larger bodies of work, but few can rival Sakamoto’s international clout, cultivated over a career that’s embraced pop stardom, avant-garde experimentation and political activism.

Sakamoto won a Bafta for 1983 drama ‘Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence’.

Busan International Film Festival (Biff) has named Japanese musician Ryuichi Sakamoto as its Asian Filmmaker of the Year Award recipient.

A musician, artist, producer, anti-war and environmental activist, Sakamoto first started composing for films with Oshima Nagisa’s 1983 drama Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence, for which he won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (Bafta) award.

His original scores for Bernardo Bertolucci’s The Last Emperor (1986), The Sheltering Sky (1990) and Little Buddha (1993) picked up a slew of awards including at the Oscars, the Grammies, the Golden Globes and Baftas.

Enduringly brilliant music composer Ryuichi Sakamoto has been named Asian Filmmaker of the year by the Busan International Film Festival. He won an Oscar for best original score for Bernardo Bertolucci‘s “The Last Emperor” in 1986.

He will receive his prize in October during the Busan festival’s opening ceremony. He will also perform and provide the score.

The festival hailed Sakamoto for his “sheer amount of time, effort, and passion.” It described him as “deeply admired and loved by the public as an artist who remains a prominent musician in the history of world cinema.”

Over a career spanning 40 years, Sakamoto has ranged from pioneering electronic music through to rock, opera and classical genres. His first music for film was for Nagisa Oshima’s “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” in 1983. He picked up Golden Globe and BAFTA awards for “The Sheltering Sky” in 1990 and repeated the feat for “Little Buddha...