Month: March 2021

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences has begun inviting talent to present at the upcoming 93rd Oscars. With those invitations, more details have emerged about how producers intend to keep the ceremony COVID-safe. The ceremony will likely be an open-air production at Los Angeles’ historic Union Station. The Academy had previously announced that

It’s easy — and understandable — for a movie about parents coping with the death of a child to slide into a glum depressive haze. Yet one granddaddy of the genre is neither glum nor depressing; it turns parental despair into something spine-tingling. “Don’t Look Now,” Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 classic of fractured anxiety, may or

Egypt has had a serious problem with sexual harassment for a long time: Speak to nearly any woman in the capital and you’ll hear horror stories of verbal and physical abuse. Just last year, Cairo topped a survey of the world’s most dangerous cities for women, and the third most dangerous for sexual violence. Public

“Nahuel and the Magic Book” and “A Costume for Nicholas” and TV shows “Petit Season 2” and “I, Elvis Riboldi,” are nominated for the 4th Quirino Ibero-American Animation Awards. The Awards will be held in the Spanish Canary Island city of La Laguna, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife over May 27-29. Targeting family audiences, German

The toughest of the five senses to transmit through the screen, smell compels writer-director Grégory Magne’s “Perfumes,” an enchanting journey into life’s assorted aromas. Smell is also at the center of Anne Walberg’s existence and profession as “a nose” — meaning, someone blessed with highly advanced olfactory receptors, like a sommelier, but for fragrance. A

Kenneth Brangh’s upcoming drama “Belfast” will be released theatrically on Nov. 12. Written and directed by Branagh, the film stars Caitriona Balfe, Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, Ciaran Hinds and newcomer Jude Hill. “Belfast” tells the story of one boy’s childhood amid the music and social tumult of the late 1960s. Dornan and Balfe play a

After a story in Variety in November exposed the fact that registered sex offender — and noted cinematographer — Adam Kimmel has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2007, the organization has taken action and removed him. An Academy source confirmed to Variety that Kimmel is no longer a

Francois Ozon, one of France’s most prestigious and prolific filmmakers, will next direct Isabelle Adjani and Denis Menochet (“Custody”) in “Petra Von Kant,” a film adaptation of Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s cult play “The Bitter Tears.” “Petra Von Kant” will star Menochet as Fassbinder, while Adjani will play the German director’s muse, according to Satellifax, which

When someone insists they’re “fine,” it’s seldom the case. Take Danny, the recently widowed mom in the low-budget charmer “I’m Fine (Thanks for Asking),” which directors Kelley Kali and Angelique Molina’s made on coronavirus stimulus check funds. Having lost her apartment during the COVID-19 crunch, Danny roller skates around a neighborhood of housing projects, fast-food

Leading documentary festival Hot Docs has selected the 20 projects that will be presented during the online edition of its project market, Hot Docs Forum, which runs May 4-5. Among the projects’ 25 filmmakers, 10 helmers are Black, Indigenous or People of Color, and 20 directors are women. The projects represent 16 countries. Lisa Valencia-Svensson,

Utopia Media, the fledgling sales and distribution company co-founded by filmmaker Robert Schwartzman, has picked up North American rights to artist Amalia Ulman’s debut feature ‘El Planeta.’ The dark comedy was one of the buzz titles at Sundance’s World Dramatic competition. Danielle DiGiacomo, Utopia’s Head of Content commented: “Amalia Ulman’s “El Planeta” is a pure, transportive

In a drive for authenticity, Chile’s Parox, producer of “Invisible Heroes,” has attached Katherina Harder to direct “Silver Bridge” (Puente de Plata), a Latin American drug trade origins saga billed by Parox and Harder as a feminist romantic melodrama. Produced by Alvaro Cabello and Parox founders Sergio Gándara and Leonora González, “Silver Bridge” weighs in

The talented and amazing Kurt Russell celebrates his 70th birthday on March 17. A staple of the Hollywood industry for over five decades, Russell navigated being a teen idol and graduating to become one of the most bankable and skilled actors of his generation. To celebrate, we chose 10 of the best performances of his