Month: September 2020

Every four years, a few months before the presidential election, a batch of strategically timed movies materialize in hopes of engaging voters and influencing the outcome. Some are merely opportunistic, others downright propagandistic, but few have a shelf life past that first Tuesday in November. A warm, softball profile of Pete Souza, who had the
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Navarre has never had such a prominent presence at the San Sebastian Festival as in this year’s lineup. Five linked-to-Navarre productions – three films, a TV series and a documentary – will screen at the Festival, highlighting its status as a standout hub for the Spanish audiovisual industry. Navarre’s higher-profile at San Sebastian, the biggest
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After successful streaming premieres in Latin America and the U.S. as an Amazon Prime Video Exclusive, Argentina’s Meikincine, one of Latin America’s leading sales agents for independent, festival fare, has sold Chilean political thriller “Jailbreak Pact” in South Korea and Taiwan, and is in advanced negotiations in several other key territories. Shopping the film at
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Memento International has unveiled the trailer for “Persian Lessons,” the anticipated WWII drama directed by Vadim Perelman (“House of Sand and Fog”), ahead of its theatrical roll-out in Germany later this month. Alamode Films Distribution will release the film in Germany on Sept. 24 in Germany and will present it on the opening night of
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“Forgotten We’ll Be,” the latest film from  director Fernando Trueba, an Academy Award winner (“Belle Epoque”) and nominee (“Chico and Rita”), has been sold to Italy, the film’s sales agent Film Factory Entertainment striking a deal for Italian distribution with Lucky Red, a classic arthouse and independent film distributor. Details of the deal come just
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Braving COVID-19, Spain’s 68th San Sebastián Film Festival bowed on-site on Sept. 18, launching a somewhat slimmed edition that maintains, however, all its main sections. Following, seven more takes on the highest-profile film event in the Spanish-speaking world as it finally kicks off: Depp, Dillon, Gershon Confirm Attendance Stars are rallying round this year’s San
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Spain’s northern region of Navarre has fortified its position as a hub for the audiovisual industry in recent years and, mirroring trends seen elsewhere in the country, seen particularly strong growth in TV production in the past year, in spite of the current COVID-19 pandemic. Why is another matter. In 2019, Netflix produced more hours
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Venice’s Special Jury Prize-winning “Dear Comrades!,” a Russian historical drama directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, has been sold by Films Boutique to Southern Europe. “Dear Comrades!” was acquired for Italy by Paolo Del Brocco at Rai Cinema and for Spain by the Barcelona-based distributor Vercine. The film, which sheds light on the Novocherkassk massacre, was produced,
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In its sixth year and first-ever virtual format, the Television Humanitarian Awards, presented by The Creative Coalition, honored television industry figures and 2020 Emmy Award nominees who engage in advocacy work. Streaming exclusively on Variety’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, the event included dinner deliveries, VIP breakout rooms and an award ceremony.  Following an introduction from
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Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross now have an Emmy to add to their Oscar and Grammy awards, having won Thursday night for their score for HBO’s “Watchmen.” The Reznor-Ross team were previously honored with an Academy Award for “The Social Network” and a Grammy for their score for “The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.” (They
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Kesha, Anthony Hamilton, Los Lobos and more will perform in the Biden for President campaign’s new online concert series. The campaign announced that “Team Joe Sings” will launch Sept. 17 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET. The weekly performances will take place every Thursday through Election Day, featuring a new group of artists supporting the
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Following news reports detailing issues of alleged misconduct at “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” and TMZ’s newsroom, WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar and WarnerMedia Studios and Networks Group head Ann Sarnoff each sent out a memo to staff addressing the issues and vowing to hold themselves accountable. BuzzFeed first reported details of the internal memos. Kilar wrote
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For the team behind “Antebellum,” the film couldn’t be coming at a more important moment in history, addressing America’s original sin of slavery through the lens of the horror-thriller film. “I think this film highlights what it’s like for Black women to carry the burden of deconstructing and dismantling systemic and white supremacy on our
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Under a lowering sky, in front of a makeshift movie screen hastily erected on a Kazakh hillside, a loose-limbed, unkempt young man performs a shambolically graceful version of Gene Kelly’s “Singin’ in the Rain” for an audience of one rapt viewer. This scene is Adhilkan Yerzhanov’s “Yellow Cat” in miniature: a film that apes its
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Ronnie Wood has always seemed like he’d be nothing if not an enjoyable hang. That proves to be very much the case with “Somebody Up There Likes Me,” a documentary about the Rolling Stones guitarist from British director Mike Figgis (“Leaving Las Vegas”), who has clearly been hitting it off for quite a while with
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Night 4 of the Creative Arts Emmys was headlined by Quibi winning prizes at TV’s top awards. The short-form content producer went home with two statuettes on Thursday night, both of which went to actors from the series “#FreeRayshawn.” Legendary “Matrix” star Laurence Fishburne won his third individual Emmy for his portrayal of  Lt. Steven
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Former Writers Guild of America East president Michael Winship has been re-elected to the guild’s governing council as a freelance rep along with four other incumbents: Monica Lee Bellais, Lisa Takeuchi Cullen, Kaitlin Fontana and A.M. Homes. Gina Gionfriddo and Eric Saleh were also elected to open freelance seats. Jason Kim and Benjamin Rosenblum were also seeking freelance
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Quibi, in its awards-season debut, picked up two trophies at the Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Thursday night. Both were for “#FreeRayshawn,” a police drama from from executive producer Antoine Fuqua: Laurence Fishburne and Jasmine Cephas Jones won the acting awards in the Emmys short-form category. It was Fishburne’s third career Emmy win, and the
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In today’s TV news roundup, ABC announced premiere dates for dramas including “Grey’s Anatomy” and “The Good Doctor,” and Amazon Prime Video announced the premiere date for “Savage X Fenty Show Vol. 2.” CASTING ABC confirmed the casting of Chloe Jo Rountree, Jecobi Swain and Jordyn Curet for its “Home Economics” pilot. The series, written
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The complex wrangling over what happens next to TikTok — which has become a geopolitical football punted around by the Trump administration — continues apace. As a separate entity TikTok, the popular short-form video app, would file for an initial public offering on a U.S. stock exchange within a year after majority control is transferred
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