Fearless truth-seeking and empathy won the day at the 24th Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival Saturday, with Viera Cakanyova’s Arctic-shot video diary “White on White” taking the Opus Bonum main prize. The top Czech doc fest, which continues online through Nov. 8, when the audience prize will be announced, awarded filmmakers early this year as
Month: October 2020
While there are fewer Japanese titles than usual at this year’s streamlined Tokyo International Film Festival, it’s a varied selection, with numerous international co-productions and films tackling contemporary issues, as well as retrospectives, anime and a few classics. Here are five, new and old, that are worth catching. “Along the Sea”After highlighting the plight of
In his opening message for Wednesday’s Asian Film Awards, Tokyo International Film Festival chairman Ando Hiroyasu quoted “Macbeth”: “The night is long that never finds the day.” Whereas the AFA event was held online, for Tokyo, it seems that dawn has already arrived. Despite initial concerns, this year’s festival will play to cinemas operating at
Kevin Costner paid tribute to Sean Connery, his co-star in “The Untouchables,” calling him “a man’s man who had an amazing career.” Connery died on Friday in his sleep. He was 90 years old. The actor won an Oscar for his role in “The Untouchables” as beat cop Jim Malone, a mentor to Costner’s character
I’ve always loved one detail in the story of how Sean Connery, in 1961, nabbed the role of James Bond. A number of other actors were being considered for the part, like Roger Moore and James Mason. Ian Fleming, who had written 10 Bond novels (the first, “Casino Royale,” was published in 1953), had his
Members of the stunt community have reacted to SAG-AFTRA’s move to create a task force to investigate racist practices that still exist within the stunt community. The move comes after members of the stunt community issued a letter to SAG-AFTRA last month highlighting issues of racism, homophobia, xenophobia and misogyny. Earlier this year, “Stargirl” actor Anjelika
Bruce Springsteen has lent his voice — and his 1984 hit, “My Hometown” — to a campaign ad for democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. The spot, appropriately titled “Hometown,” highlights Biden’s hometown of Scranton, Pa. and the people who work and live there. Clips of factory workers, truck drivers, nurses, firefighters and families are shown
President Donald Trump’s campaign rallies have reportedly resulted in 30,000 COVID-19 cases that caused more than 700 deaths, according to a new study from Stanford University. The article, titled “The Effects of Large Group Meetings on the Spread of COVID-19: The Case of Trump Rallies,” was released on Friday and examines 18 Trump rallies across
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a second national lockdown in England from Nov. 5 as the second wave of coronavirus cases soar across the country. All pubs, restaurants and non-essential retail businesses will close until Dec. 2, after which some areas may go into lower-tier restrictions, depending on the severity of local cases.
In the new PBS series “Roadkill,” Hugh Laurie plays Peter Laurence, a conservative (both with a big and small ‘c’) who fights scandal after scandal to try and remain near the top of the greasy political pole. There have been a handful of recent series depicting right-wing demagogues (think “The Comey Rule” in the U.S.
“Game of Thrones” alum Sophie Turner’s next venture is voicing a member of the royal family. Turner is joining the cast of HBO Max’s animated series “The Prince,” created and executive produced by “Family Guy” producer, writer and actor Gary Janetti. The satire focuses on seven-year-old Prince George, who is voiced by Janetti, and his
Jasmila Žbanic’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?” won the El Gouna Star for best narrative film at the El Gouna Film Festival, carrying a $50,000 prize. The film’s star, Jasna Duricic, also took home the best actress award, for her startling eponymous turn. Based on a true story, the 1995-set drama tells the story of a UN
Ellen Pompeo, featured on Variety’s Power of Women cover story about “Grey’s Anatomy,” has played Meredith Grey since filming the show’s pilot in 2004, when she was 33 years old. Throughout the interview, Pompeo was frank, as is her style, in discussing some of her personal highs and lows from her time on the medical drama. She also said — a bit out
“They Planted Strange Trees,” the new documentary by Hind Shoufani, the Middle East-based Palestinian-American director and poet from the leftist Levantine diaspora, will depict her return to Galilee, after 20 years of absence and her parents’ death, to embrace the vibrant family and community she seeks in her ancestral Christian Arab land. Ossama Bawardi of
Leading Arab producer Ossama Bawardi is in development with Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir’s fourth film, a period drama set in Palestine, with European and Arab characters, in what he describes as “a very competitive Arab market” for Arab films. Speaking to Variety at the El Gouna Film Festival in Egypt, Bawardi spoke about his upcoming
Daniel Craig paid tribute to Sean Connery, calling his fellow 007, “one of the true greats of cinema.” Connery died overnight in his sleep. He was 90. In a decades-long career, Connery won an Oscar for “The Untouchables” and appeared in such hits as “The Rock,” “The Man Who Would Be King,” “Time Bandits” and
Claudia Huaiquimilla’s “My Brothers Dream Awake,” Thais Fujinaga’s “The Joy of Things” and Flavia Neves’ “Fogareu” will screen in Primer Corte or Copia Final, the two art film pix-in-post showcases at this year’s Ventana Sur, the biggest movie market in Latin America. The Cannes Festival and Film Market’s biggest initiative outside France, Ventana Sur will
Sean Connery, who starred as the iconic James Bond and thrilled audiences in countless other memorable roles, has died at 90. Hollywood immediately started paying tribute to the silver screen legend, remembering him for Bond as well as his other iconic roles and effortless cool. Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli wrote via
Sean Connery, the Scottish-born actor who rocketed to fame as James Bond and became one of the franchise’s most popular and enduring international stars, has died. He was 90. Connery, long regarded as one of the best actors to have portrayed the iconic spy, was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2000 and marked his
Twitter, in another policy flip-flop, unblocked the New York Post’s account Friday after a 16-day freeze over the newspaper’s series of disputed stories on Hunter Biden. “How Tweet It Is: Twitter Backs Down, Unlocks Post’s Account,” the newspaper gloated in the headline on its story on the issue. The Post had accused Twitter of holding
Slovak director Viera Čákanyová, about to present her documentary “White on White” at Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival – which sees her conversing with A.I. during her stay at a Polish Antarctic station – will come back to the topic of artificial intelligence in “Brand New World.” This time opting for a broader social perspective,
The viral anthem that accompanied Harvey Weinstein’s trial, “Un Violador en Tu Camino” (A Rapist in Your Way) was heard again at Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival on Tuesday during an online conversation with Chilean feminist collective Las Tesis. Taking place as part of the festival’s Inspiration Forum and moderated by documentary filmmaker Martina Malinová.
Following its successful retrospective dedicated to Taiwanese documentary cinema in 2017, Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival decided to focus on South Korea this time, securing “99.9% of the original program” after the event was forced to move online due to the pandemic. “Our colleagues in South Korea told us that this is the most comprehensive
Stars, directors and other local film folk turned out in impressive numbers on Saturday afternoon for the opening ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival. The glitzy red carpet was replaced with a series of more static photo ops on a stage in central Tokyo, with plexiglass partitions keeping the talent separated. The festival has
Exclusive Lori Loughlin‘s started her 2-month stint of hard time, and while the place she’s incarcerated in certainly ain’t the Ritz-Carlton … it doesn’t sound TOO terrible. As we reported … Aunt Becky surrendered Friday to begin serving her sentence at California’s FCI Dublin — a low-security prison — and we’ve obtained its handbook outlining
Japanese film sales company Free Stone Productions has expanded both its new movie line-up and its stock of library titles ahead of next week’s TIFFCOM and the American Film Market. Its back catalog has grown with the addition of the Zero Pictures roster. Zero has been active since 2001 and is a production company and
In 2003, the Canadian documentary “The Corporation” offered what it took to be a bold new thesis about the way corporations work. The film seized on an enormous legal-cultural quirk: that corporations, in terms of how the government and financial sector deal with them, are in many technical ways treated as “individuals” — that is,
The SAG-AFTRA National Board is creating a task force to investigate allegations of racist practices in the stunt community. SAG-AFTRA President Gabrielle Carteris said, “We have heard the personal stories of paintdowns, wiggings, harassment, and bias and we stand together to say ‘no more’. This board recommitted itself to our mission of diversity, equity and
The cast of “Hocus Pocus” reunited to conjure up funds for the New York Restoration Project, a nonprofit founded by Bette Midler that aims to create a greener and more sustainable New York City. The virtual Hulaween benefit, “In Search of The Sanderson Sisters, A Hocus Pocus Hulaween Takeover,” took place Friday, with stars of
“Sisterhood”, a new 40-episode Chinese-language drama series has started shooting at Iskandar Malaysia Studios, amid a continuing wave of COVID19 infections in the South-east Asian country. Producers have had to comply with COVID-19 shooting guidelines from Malaysia’s National Film Development Corporation (FINAS), including online production meetings, mask mandates for production staff, mandatory contact tracing via
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