Month: February 2021

Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s directorial debut “Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)” has been acquired by Searchlight Pictures and Hulu after its Sundance premiere, where it won both the Grand Jury prize and Audience award. “I’m so honored to be allowed to manifest my dreams after all this time,” Thompson said

Nearly six years ago, “Rams,” a touching humanist drama from Iceland directed and written by Grímur Hákonarson, won hearts — and prizes — at the Cannes Film Festival. Now, in trots “Rams,” an Australian remake, directed by Jeremy Sims (“Last Cab to Darwin”). Adapted with winning cultural specificity by former newsman Jules Duncan, it’s longer

Non-fiction film and television studio XTR and documentary production company Optimist are partnering up for a feature documentary about the GameStop, WallStreetBets and short squeeze movement. “This story is still evolving daily,” director Chris Temple said. “It’s so important to have a strong, nuanced documentary that can capture this landmark moment as it unfolds, through

Although he occasionally uses a broad brush dipped in primary colors while fashioning his admiring portrait of Bob Zellner, the grandson of a Ku Klux Klansman who improbably evolved into a civil rights activist during the early 1960s, filmmaker Barry Alexander Brown shrewdly and intelligently avoids most of the “white savior” clichés common to such

With COVID-19 still raging around the world, a melancholy love story about a 2021 viral pandemic that ravages people’s relationships, romances and sense of self is perhaps not the easiest sell at the moment. Such timeliness proves both a blessing and a curse for “Little Fish,” writer-director Chad Hartigan’s heartfelt tale about a couple struggling

Authorities on Thursday ordered Beijing cinemas to cut their max capacity to just 50% over the upcoming Chinese New Year holiday to combat the spread of COVID-19, Chinese reports said, slashing prospective returns in what is typically, far and away, their most profitable week of the year. Cinemas in China’s capital received urgent word from

A film driven by themes of addiction and grief, “Eight for Silver” features a French village in the 19th century under threat by a wild, possibly supernatural animal. Still, the cast assured they had a good time on set. “We actually had a lot of fun making it,” Kelly Reilly explained at Variety’s Studio presented by

Lionsgate’s revenues fell during the most recent fiscal quarter, as the media company behind the “Hunger Games” and “John Wick” franchises recorded a loss of $13.9 million. The company did manage to beat Wall Street’s expectations, however, with its earnings bolstered by the growing popularity of its Starz service and through lucrative licensing deals for

In a movie where the female protagonist finds her inner strength after joining an army of girls, it was only right the cast and crew reflected its story. “The idea of working with all women, I’ve never done that before and I hope to do that forever and way more because it was the best

Writer-director Deon Taylor will direct the upcoming film “Freedom Ride,” based on first-person accounts of the original freedom riders, including the late Congressman John Lewis. Taylor and his Hidden Empire Film Group partner Robert F. Smith will executive produce the project, joining a producing team that includes civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump and his company,

Michelle Williams is on board to portray another classic Hollywood icon, in the Peggy Lee biopic “Fever” for director Todd Haynes, Variety has confirmed. MGM is in talks to back the film. Marc Platt, Reese Witherspoon, and Killer Films’ Pamela Koffler and Christine Vachon are producing. Doug Wright (“Quills”) is writing the screenplay. Billie Eilish, her

Focus Features has elevated Kiska Higgs to president of production and acquisitions. In her new role, she will oversee the studio’s films and team across development, production and acquisition for domestic and international titles. Higgs will continue to work from the Focus Features headquarters in Los Angeles. Higgs, who previously served as executive VP of

Emerald Fennell’s pitch meetings for “Promising Young Woman” were telling, to say the least. Explaining her 2017 process to fellow director Olivia Wilde (of “Booksmart” fame), Fennell recalled the stunned faces of male studio executives after she detailed the brutal, pre-title sequence of her film. “One guy said, ‘Oh, I got it. So she’s a