Month: November 2020

Screenwriter-playwright Christopher Hampton, who won an Oscar for “Dangerous Liaisons” and was Oscar nominated for “Atonement,” has penned a screen version of his one-woman play “A German Life,” about the life of Brunhilde Pomsel, the infamous secretary of Nazi Joseph Goebbels. Maggie Smith is set to reprise the role she played to great acclaim at

Paris-based Axxon Films has picked up international rights to Imanol Rayo’s thriller “Death Knell” and Mireia Gabilondo’s comedy “The Hive,” two very different titles set in and produced by Spain’s Basque region. The production, distribution and sales-company is presenting the Spanish pics, both distributed in Spain by Bilbao’s Barton Films, as part of its Ventana

Disney Plus’ “The Mandalorian,” Marvel’s “Avengers” films and Netflix’s “Stranger Things” are the top entertainment franchises, according to a new survey from the National Research Group. Beginning in January 2019, NRG, a global insights and strategy firm, conducted more than 350,000 interviews about 700 entertainment franchises to discover which were considered the most bold, inspiring

Cate Blanchett-produced mini series “Stateless” and Shannon Murphy’s feature film directing debut “Babyteeth” dominated proceedings at the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards (AACTA Awards). At a ceremony on Monday night at The Star in Sydney, immigration drama “Stateless” grabbed 13 awards including best telefeature or miniseries, best screenplay in television and all

The period action animation “Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train” has passed “Titanic” at the Japanese box office, to become the territory’s number two all-time hit, according to figures announced on Monday by distributor Aniplex. Based on a hit comic by Gotoge Koyoharu that has sold more than 100 million copies in all formats, including

Italian film critic and academic Beatrice Fiorentino has been appointed new general delegate of the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, the Lido’s independently run section dedicated to promising first works from around the world. Fiorentino — who was previously a member of the section’s selection committee — had been widely expected to replace her predecessor

Spain’s Luis López Carrasco picked up the Best International Film prize for his documentary “The Year of the Discovery” (“El año del descubrimiento”) on Sunday at Argentina’s Mar del Plata, the only Latin American film fest granted a Category A status by producers assn. FIAPF, placing it in the same league as Cannes, Venice, San

This week, Variety published a digital Guadalajara Film Festival Spotlight, diving into one of Mexico’s most important market and festival events, rescheduled and reorganized after it was forced to cancel in March. FICG 35.2, as it was playfully dubbed, hosted the first-ever Un Festival Mexicano, offering a platform to other events which were canceled or

Spearheaded by Cannes Film Market and Argentina’s INCAA agency, Ventana Sur, Latin America’s biggest movie market, will put through an out-of-the-box reset of market dynamics. Running Nov. 30 to Dec. 4, it will also register the energetic and exciting build up of women on the Latin American film scene, as directors, producers and market playmakers.

Two leading lights on the international Spanish film-TV scene, sales agent Geraldine Gonard, director of Spain’s Conecta Fiction co-production forum, and Luis Collar, a partner and CEO of The Circular Group, a diversified film company, have joined forces to create Feel Content, which makes its public market bow at Ventana Sur. A dedicated sales company,

In a powerful Spanish talent package, “Patria” director Felix Viscarret is set to direct “House of Flowers” Paco Leon and “Nasdrovia” star Leonor Watling in psychological thriller “From the Shadows” (“Desde la Sombra”), adapting a novel by Spanish writer Juan José Millas, winner of most of Spain’s foremost literary awards, including the Planeta, Nadal and

Eric Bana, Isla Fisher, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver, Tim Minchin and Keith Urban have joined the voice cast of Netflix’s animated comedy adventure “‘Back to the Outback,” which will make is global debut in the fall of 2021. The voice cast will also include Miranda Tapsell, Angus Imrie, Rachel House, Keith Urban, Celeste Barber, Wayne

Among Ventana Sur’s most buzzed titles, and a strong indicator of the heft that animation production now carries, “Unicorn Wars” from Alberto Vazquez (“Birdboy: The Forgotten Children,” “Homeless Home”), holds the unique distinction of being the first-ever non Latin American animated film to feature at the Argentine event’s Animation! Sidebar. Having participated at several high-profile

The box office outlook in South Korea, which last year was the world’s fourth largest theatrical market, turned from bad to worse. Gross revenues over the weekend dropped to just $2.24 million, a slump of 40% compared with the already depressed $3.70 million total of the weekend before. In the intervening period cinemas in the

Timothy Leary, the rock-star professor of 1960s acid-head mysticism, had a grin that said a lot about him. He was quite handsome, with that mane of silver-dark hair, the jutting chin and Irish eyes, that gleaming wall-of-teeth smile. He looked like a Kennedy brother who never was — a counterculture guru who could have doubled

“Waikiki” and “Hawaiian Soul” won the Made in Hawai’i awards at the the 40th edition of the Hawai’i International Film Festival. The awards were announced at a virtual gala held Sunday. “Waikiki” is described as a dramatic and visceral allegory for the contemporary issues that plague Hawaii’s people, including mental illness, physical abuse and the