Month: December 2019

Disney’s “Frozen 2” and Laika’s “Missing Link” led the 47th Annie Award nominations Dec. 2 with eight each and will battle it out for best animated feature along with DreamWorks Animation’s “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World,” Netflix’s “Klaus” and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” when the ceremony is held on Jan. 25 at

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson will direct “Black Woodstock,” a feature documentary about the Harlem Cultural Festival, Variety has learned. Held in 1969, the outdoor festival featured performances from some of the leading black musicians of the day — a group of heavy-hitters that includes Sly and the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, the

Disney’s “Frozen 2” was the undisputed box office champion this Thanksgiving, generating a record-setting $124 million over the five-day frame. But moviegoers feasted on more than just the further adventures of Princesses Anna and Elsa during Turkey Day. Lionsgate’s murder mystery “Knives Out” and Universal’s romantic drama “Queen and Slim” also beat expectations while countering

Pedro Almodóvar’s “Pain and Glory” will go head-to-head with two other big Spanish films – Alejandro Amenábar’s “While at War” and “The Endless Trench,” from Aitor Aguirre, Jon Garaño and José Mari Goenaga –  at Spain’s 34th Goya Academy Awards, to be held Jan. 25 in Malaga. “Pain and Glory” garnered 16 nominations,” “While at

Co-written by producer Bernardo Pérez and director Santiago Aguirre, “Together” scooped the Cinecolor México & Shalala Estudios Award at the Filmarket Hub’s first ever CDMX Film Pitchbox, which unspooled on Friday at the installations in Mexico City of Cinecolor, the event’s principal partner in the Mexican capitol. The award is worth Pesos 500,000 ($25,000) of

With his new political thriller “Arana” (“Spider”), Chile’s Andres Wood traces the roots of the ultra-nationalist movement that led to Salvador Allende’s downfall and the rise of military dictator General Augusto Pinochet. He represents Chile at the Best International Feature Oscar race for the third time with “Araña.” The drama turns on Inés, Justo and

Katherine Butler is joining The Ink Factory, producer of “The Night Manager” and “Fighting With My Family,” as creative director. She will join the London and LA-based film and TV indie in the newly-created role from producer Raw, where she has served as scripted creative director. She is also a former deputy head of film

Disney’s “Frozen 2” stayed ahead of the competition in its second weekend in China, holding on to the top box office spot with a three-day gross of $26.7 million. According to consultancy Artisan Gateway, the “Frozen” sequel has now earned a cumulative $90.9 million in the world’s second-largest film market after releasing day-and-date with the

BUENOS AIRES  —  Bringing onto the market what looks like by far the biggest new movie at Ventana Sur, Latido Films has acquired international sales rights to Agustí Villaronga’s “Born a King,” starring Ed Skrein, fresh off his star-turn in “Midway.” Latido Films’ director Antonio Saura and Juan Torres, intl. sales head, will introduce “Born

Premiering one film at Berlin and another at Cannes all in one year would already be quite the feather-in-the-cap for any rising young filmmaker, but “Hellhole” and “Ghost Tropic” director Bas Devos took it one step further by making the latter project in the period between the two festivals. “It was a peculiar year to

“The Personal History of David Copperfield” won five awards Sunday at the British Independent Film Awards, as Renee Zellweger walked away with the best actress prize for her star turn as Judy Garland in “Judy.” David Livingstone from “Judy” producer, Calamity Films, accepted it on her behalf. Feature documentary “For Sama” scooped four awards, including

“Babyteeth” director Shannon Murphy has just been confirmed as the director of the television adaptation of the novel “The Strays” – a psycho-sexual drama, set against the hedonistic art world of 1930s Sydney, and 1970s London during the rise of the feminist movement. Murphy has also just finished shooting episodes 5 and 6 of season

Prolific Indian auteur Anurag Kashyap (“Gangs Of Wasseypur”) is working on a raft of projects across formats. Kashyap was head of the jury for the Asian feature film competition at the Singapore International Film Festival this year. Set in the U.K. and India, is a film currently identified as “Project 10,” that Kashyap describes as

Ellen DeGeneres had one of her most awkward interviews in recent memory Wednesday with Dakota Johnson, with a clip of the pair’s exchange about Johnson’s birthday party going viral online. The interview began with what was perhaps supposed to be harmless chat: DeGeneres wished Johnson a happy belated birthday and asked her when specifically it

Sergei Loznitsa’s multi-faceted filmmaking approach, these days focused on documentary, blend archival material and sometimes re-enactments with actors, resulting in unique insights and subtle visual commentary on the Soviet and ex-Soviet sphere. His latest nonfiction film, “State Funeral,” constructed from once-banned footage of the epic events surrounding Joseph Stalin’s death and funeral in 1953, is

December 1, 2019 12:50PM PT While subject predominantly to heaping praise, Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” has faced one criticism: that the most prominent female character in the movie, portrayed by Oscar-winning actress Anna Paquin, speaks just six words in 10 minutes of screentime. Paquin plays Peggy Sheeran, the daughter of Robert De Niro’s Frank Sheeran.

Martin Scorsese’s three-and-a-half-hour long mob epic “The Irishman” became available on Netflix — and therefore its app — Wednesday, but that doesn’t mean the director wants viewers to watch the film on their phones. “I would suggest — if you ever want to see one of my pictures, or most films — please, please don’t

French director Bertrand Tavernier (“Round Midnight”) – who recently concluded a major TV documentary series, “My Journey Into French Cinema” – received a career tribute award Sunday at the Marrakech Film Festival, presented to him by U.S. actor Harvey Keitel, who starred in Tavernier’s 1980 science-fiction thriller “Death Watch.” Keitel began the ceremony by comparing