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The Berlin International Film Festival’s jury press conference, headed by Hollywood star Kristen Stewart, concluded on Thursday, but remarks made by legendary Hong Kong filmmaker Johnnie To at the event are still reverberating a world away.

When the festival juror were asked by a journalist in the crowd to share their views on why cinema remains important in today’s world, To, considered on the greatest filmmakers Hong Kong has produced, responded: “For me, cinema has always been in the vanguard. When totalitarian rule emerges, when people lose their freedoms, cinema is the first to take the hit. In most cases, cultural production will be forcefully suspended, since the cinema speaks directly to the audience. That’s why dictators always target the cinema. I think Hong Kong… No, sorry. I think all the countries and peoples fighting for freedom across the globe should support the cinema. Because the cinema...

Exclusive: Awkwafina is about to blow our minds by pairing two unlikely things: Chinatown restaurants and the Califronia punk scene from the 1970s and ’80s. The Crazy Rich Asians breakout and Jumanji: The Next Level star is collaborating with Topic Studios to develop a yet-to-be-titled feature film inspired by the Topic.com article “How Chinese Food Fueled the Rise of California Punk. Awkwafina is set to star and produce alongside Topic Studios.

Written by Madeline Leung Coleman, the article explores how, during the recession of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Chinatown restaurants from Sacramento to San Francisco started renting their banquet halls for rehearsal space and booking the young bands of nascent West Coast punk as dinner entertainment to bring in additional business. The article puts shine on these Chinese and Filipino restaurants and how they became some of California’s most important venues and the focal point of...

Turner Broadcasting System executives pledged to become more aggressive about developing original series for their general entertainment networks Thursday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour. TBS chairman and CEO Phil Kent emphasized the importance of adding a few original series in the coming years to top-rated basic cable channels TBS Superstation and TNT, the latter of which currently subsists entirely on acquired drama series, sports and original and theatrical movies. "We know that a big part of our mission going forward is to accelerate our efforts in the original-series business, and we're starting to spend a lot of time out here now doing that," said Kent, who declined to elaborate on any specific projects in development. Despite its ratings momentum, TNT has been criticized in recent years for making few strides on the original-series front. Two short-lived series, Bull and Witchblade, met with mixed results; a third, Breaking News, never made it to air despite the completion of a full season of episodes.