Month: September 2020

AGC Studios will fully finance an untitled biopic about Lang Lang from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard. The film about the world-renowned pianist will be produced by Howard’s longtime partner Brian Grazer, as well as Imagine Entertainment President of Features Karen Lunder and AGC Studios Stuart Ford. The screenplay by Michelle Mulroney and Kieran Mulroney, the

Dementia is a syndrome that brings with it a unique grief: the only kind that can be shared, for a time at least, between the mourned and their mourners, until the latter are left to it themselves, awaiting a second, more sudden, farewell. Its liminal nature — blurring conceptions of life and death, self and

WME has signed actress, director and producer Eva Longoria. The multi-hyphenate joins the agency from CAA, where she will be repped in numerous categories. Longoria was the breakout star of ABC’s resonant primetime soap “Desperate Housewives,” and for nearly two decades has risen as a prolific television producer and director, brand ambassador, and activist. She

South by Southwest, the giant annual music, film and digital festival in Austin, Texas that was canceled due to the pandemic just days before it was to begin in March, has made its first announcements for 2021: A digital festival, with “plans for a 2021 physical event.” The digital experience, “featuring conferences keynotes and sessions,

The gym in the basement of Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s apartment complex was small and dank, with low-tech equipment and fluorescent lighting, not a promising setting for what we hoped would be one of the most important shoots of our documentary about Justice Ginsburg’s life. After the justice had surprised us by agreeing to our request

Pathé has sold Roger Michell’s Venice title “The Duke,” starring Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent to Sony Pictures Classics for the U.S., Latin America and Scandinavia. Written by Richard Bean and Clive Coleman, the comedy drama follows a 60-year-old taxi driver who, in 1961, stole Francisco Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the

U.K. broadcasters ITV and Channel 4 win International Emmys; Sundance Now buys Stan’s “The Night Caller”; ZDF wraps factual series; GoQuest takes Czech drama “Rats”; UKTV joins Creative Diversity Network; and “Chef In Your Year” format bows in Chile. “Undercover: Inside China’s Digital Gulag” by the U.K.’s Hardcash Productions and ITV, has won the International

“Gull,” Kim Mi-jo’s poignant South Korean drama, follows a woman whose life becomes increasingly difficult when she seeks justice against the man who raped her. The 61-year-old O-bok works as a seafood vendor in a Seoul street market that has been slated for redevelopment. One evening, after drinks with her colleagues, she is raped by

An emerging generation of new Basque filmmakers is making its mark in the San Sebastian Festival, building on the foundations of now consolidated creative and industrial infrastructures. Only time will tell if the Basque Country can follow in the footsteps of Catalonia, another richer region of Spain, and launch a modern day new wave. Expectations

Colin Firth and Stanley Tucci star as a couple traveling through England in an old RV visiting friends and places from their past in “Supernova.” Check out the trailer for the film above, shared exclusively with Variety. Written and directed by Harry Macqueen (“Hinterland”), “Supernova” is billed as a modern love story centered on Sam

Director of 2017 Cannes Critics’ Week short film winner “The Disinherited,” Laura Ferrés will direct her awaited feature debut “The Permanent Picture,” which is a co-production between Barcelona-based Fasten Films and Le Bureau, based out of Paris and London. International sales will be handled by The Bureau Sales, the sales arm of the French-British label.

Headlined by Penélope Cruz and Antonio Banderas, The Mediapro Studio’s “Official Competition,” one of the year’s highest-profile international Spanish productions lensing in Spain, has resumed shooting. Compounding the difficulty of going into production for a second time, the film features an international cast including Argentine heavyweight Oscar Martínez, a former San Sebastian, Venice and Argentine

In its first year out, the San Sebastian Film Festival’s Works in Progress Europa showcase has selected five films that explore such timely themes as imprisonment, neo-colonialism, exploitation and morality. Running Sept. 22-24 – and taking place both on site and online, attracting a powerful lineup of companies, especially from Spain and France – WIP