Brut Post TikTok Subscriber Milestone
France’s young adult-focused, online news-skewed platform Brut is sounding its own bell after hitting 10 million subscribers on TikTok, making it the top French publisher on the Chinese-owned platform. The subscriber gains also make the platform the second most followed European news publisher on TikTok after the Daily Mail. “Making news on TikTok was a challenge. A successful bet with 10 million subscribers, which makes us the leading news media in France on a platform historically focused on entertainment,” said TikTok Editor in Chief Laurent Lucas in a release. “This symbolic milestone reflects the success of an editorial policy developed especially for new uses of information consumption in France and around the world.” Launched by Guillaume Lacroix and Renaud le Van Kim in 2016, the Paris-based platform employs some 250 people. It has had its financial ups and down over its existence but reported last year that it had gone into profit in the final quarter of 2023. The company is also pushing into the U.S., Africa and India.
‘Wolf Hall’ Composer Debbie Wiseman Honored At World Soundtrack Awards
UK composer Debbie Wiseman will be guest of honour at the 25th World Soundtrack Awards, taking place within the framework of Belgium‘s Film Fest Gent in October. As part of the honor, the Brussels Philharmonic, conducted by maestro Dirk Brossé, will play a selection of works by Wiseman during the presentation of the film music awards. The festival will also present ‘Debbie Wiseman: Music for Film and Television’, its 2025 album with all-new studio recordings of selected scores by Debbie Wiseman. Wiseman’s work spans soundtracks for UK cinema classics such as as Tom & Viv, To Olivia and Wilde, as well as drama shows Wolf Hall, Father Brown and Judge John Deed.
‘Totto-Chan: The Little Girl At The Window’ Triumphs At Anima 2025
Japanese animation director Shinnosuke Yakuwa’s Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window took top honors at Belgium’s Anima 2025 festival over the weekend, winning best international feature as well as the audience award. Based on the memoir of Japanese actress and media personality Tetsuko Kuroyanagi, it is based on her unconventional childhood in World War II Tokyo. Hungarian director László Csáki’s Pelikan Blue, about a real-life fake train tickets scam that allowed hundreds of youngsters to discover Europe by rail, won a special jury mention. Jurors were producer Christophe Jankovic (The Most Precious of Cargoes) and directors Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo (Make it Soul) and Mascha Halberstad (Fox & Hare Save The Forest). Hosting some 150 screenings across three Brussels venues, Anima 2025 drew 30,000 visitors, while industry guests included the members of the team behind Oscar-winner Flow, Claude Barras,Michael Dudok de Wit, Benjamin Renner and Jean-François Laguionie,.
