Month: February 2019

Viacom will roll out an ambitious internal corporate initiative dubbed Spark that aims to engage and energize the company’s 10,000 employees with an expansive slate of conference-style programming. Viacom president-CEO Bob Bakish calls Spark “a multi-market next generation town hall.” The sessions kick off Tuesday with a 50-minute Q&A with Bakish and Viacom vice chair
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A chill air blows through the small Quebecois village of Irénée-les-Neiges following a young man’s suicide, bringing with it unexpected and largely unwelcome visitors. Denis Côté’s “Ghost Town Anthology” has superficial parallels to Robin Campillo’s “They Came Back,” in which the dead return, but in keeping with the maverick Canadian’s style, his film is a
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Heading into the weekend, Warner Bros. expected everything would be awesome. Instead, executives on the Burbank lot are feeling a pain not unlike the sharp sting you suffer from stepping on a tiny plastic toy. The studio’s animated sequel “The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part” fell short of expectations, earning $34.4 million when it
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Is “happy Monday” an oxymoron? Definitely before coffee. And probably before scrolling down. You’ll see a roundup of yesterday’s Fashion Week wins, including a literal truckload of crystals, a puffy coat for party dresses, and also Batman. Rebecca Minkoff Double Bags It Iskra Lawrence, double bags, and flower power at Rebecca Minkoff Getty Images “My
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February 11, 2019 5:55AM PT The Berlin Film Festival will move to late February in 2020, landing after the BAFTA and Oscar ceremonies. The dates for Berlin’s 70th anniversary edition were announced Monday with the festival moving to a later Feb. 20-March 1 slot. Traditionally the BAFTA Film Awards have landed on the middle Sunday
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February 11, 2019 5:24AM PT The BFI London Film Festival has announced the dates for this year’s festival. The 63rd edition of the London Film Festival will run Oct. 2-13. The festival will once again be led by Tricia Tuttle, who was appointed director of BFI festivals at the closing night of last year’s iteration
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February 11, 2019 4:34AM PT Zhang Yimou’s “One Second,” set during China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has been withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival, where it was to premiere in competition. The festival confirmed Monday that the title had been withdrawn. The first announcement of it appeared on the film’s official Weibo site, China’s version of
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In an open letter to Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick and German culture and media commissioner Monika Grütters, 160 independent exhibitors are calling for Isabel Coixet’s competition film “Elisa y Marcela” to be shown out of competition. “We, the independent arthouse cinema operators in Germany, do not agree with the fact that ‘Elisa y Marcela,’ by
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February 11, 2019 3:25AM PT NBCUniversal International Networks has acquired crime drama “The Murders” across multiple European markets as well as for Africa, it announced Monday. The police procedural, which stars Jessica Lucas (pictured) will air from mid-2019 on Universal TV in the U.K. and Africa, and on 13thStreet in France, Germany, Spain, and Poland.
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February 11, 2019 1:50AM PT Former “X Factor” champion Shayne Ward will star in homegrown British horror movie “Skendleby.” Mark Jackson (“The Orville”) and Niamh McGrady (“The Fall”) will also star. Ward triumphed on the second-ever edition of the “X Factor” in the U.K. in 2005 before going on to build an acting career and starring
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February 10, 2019 11:00PM PT The Doha Film Institute has added Oscar-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero and Italian director Alice Rohrwacher to the lineup of top talents who will hold master classes and act as mentors during its Qumra event which blends creative workshop and festival elements. They join previously announced prominent directors Agnès Varda,
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You know what happens at the end of every Grammys telecast: Cue the outrage. Except, what are we going to do with our reserves of snark? Because this year, the number of clearly embarrassing or risible major winners this year was zero. About the best huff most of us veteran Grammy watchers will be able to
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Anyone who casts an eye over the long-form dramas premiering at this year’s Berlin Intl. Film Festival can find many series that are ripe for picking by new territories — as well as plenty that have already been pounced on by in-the-know buyers. Since it launched five years ago, the Berlinale Series program has become
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Italian TV and film production company Palomar – which is at the Berlin Film Festival with Claudio Giovannesi’s competition entry “Pirhanas” – last month forged a strategic alliance with France’s Mediawan under which Mediawan took a majority stake in Palomar which, in turn, became a Mediawan stakeholder. The deal marked the first acquisition outside France
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Gaumont has closed key deals on Rémi Bezançon’s “The Mystery of Henri Pick,” which is having its market premiere at the European Film Market. The mystery-comedy, which is headlined by French stars Fabrice Luchini and Camille Cottin, was produced by Mandarin Production, the company behind Francois Ozon’s Berlinale competition film “By the Grace of God.”
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Radoslaw Smigulski (right), general director of the Polish Film Institute, hosted Friday’s Polish Party at Berlin’s Ewerk, where the guests included Agnieszka Holland (left), director of Berlin competition film “Mr. Jones,” and European Film Academy chairwoman. Among the guests were filmmakers Sergei Loznitsa and Olga Chajdas, Antoine le Bos, founder of Groupe Ouest, Philip Ilienko,
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