Month: August 2021

Climate change activist Greta Thunberg has said more stories need to be told about the climate change crisis. Speaking at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Tuesday alongside Norwegian crime writer Jo Nesbo, Thunberg encouraged attendees to turn their attention to the environment in their work. “I know so many — whether it is artists, storytellers,
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Drummer Charlie Watts, whose adept, powerful skin work propelled the Rolling Stones for more than half a century, died in London on Tuesday morning, according to his spokesperson. No cause of death was cited; was 80. A statement from the band and Watts’ spokesperson reads: “It is with immense sadness that we announce the death
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The Production Guild of Great Britain (PGGB), in partnership with the British Film Commission, has revealed the participants for its inaugural Diversity and Inclusion Mentor Scheme. The program has has matched 15 emerging talent mentees with experienced industry mentors working in U.K. film and high-end TV production. Professor Lyndsay Duthie, PGGB CEO, said: “This first
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Mimi Plauché, the artistic director of the Chicago International Film Festival, has been named Knight of the Order of Arts and Lettres from the French Minister of Culture, Roselyne Bachelot-Narquin. Plauché will receive the honorary distinction, one of the four ministerial orders of the French Republic, at a gala event held on Sept. 13 in
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Yellowbrick, the New York-based online education platform that focuses on developing training and certification programs for careers in arts, entertainment, media and sports, has acquired the Animation Mentor platform that targets animation-specific instruction. Yellowbrick has also landed a seven-figure investment from Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, a venture capital fund led by Sony and others
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French actor-turned-director Stéphane Freiss started shooting in Italy Monday on “Face à Toi,” a drama toplining emerging French star Lou de Laâge and Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio (“Three Floors”), set against the backdrop of the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. De Laâge plays the 25-year-old Esther who has always lived in a very close-knit Jewish Orthodox
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Netflix U.K. is growing its stable of unscripted shows with a monster-sized dance competition, an awkward dating show that puts siblings in the hot seat and a reality series that sends a group of “snowflakes” into the wilderness to learn some home truths. The streamer has also set a winter debut for its reality hit
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Spotify is flinging open the doors to its podcast-subscription program to anyone in the U.S., as the audio streamer rolls out new monetization options for podcast creators as part of its ongoing battle with Apple. Along with the broader availability, Spotify is expanding monthly subscription options creators can charge to 20 different price points —
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Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton is the narrator of “Goliath: Playing With Reality,” a virtual reality experience about a schizophrenic man who finds human connection by playing video games, which is set to have its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. Directed by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla, “Goliath” is a 25-minute animated
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Two internationally-acclaimed documentaries from the Nordic region – “Flee” and “Gunda” – are among the five films nominated for a Nordic Council Film Prize. This is the most prestigious film award in the Nordic region, celebrating films with unique artistic visions that actively engage with Nordic culture. It’s the eighteenth year the Nordic Council Film
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Since 2011, the Edinburgh Film Festival’s Talent Lab has nurtured a number of rising filmmakers through an assortment of masterclasses, workshops and individual mentoring sessions: Talents like Ben Sharrock (“Limbo”), Eva Riley (a recent winner BIFA winner for “Perfect 10”) and Rob Savage (“Host”) are alumni of the program. In 2019, however, the program yielded
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Orange Studio, the Paris-based film and TV arm of France’s leading telco operator Orange, has poached Charlotte Boucon, SND’s longtime international sales topper. Boucon will be head of world sales for Orange Studio starting on Sept. 1 and will report to Kristina Zimmermann, managing director of the French studio. Under the newly-created role, Boucon will
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Channel 4 wants to be “braver” and “more ambitious,” said Jo Street, the network’s head of daytime and features. Street made the comments during a “Commissioners” panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival alongside head of drama Caroline Hollick, head of factual, Danny Horan and head of entertainment and events Phil Harris. “I think the next
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Channel 4’s head of factual, Danny Horan, has spoken out about the network’s latest commission which features “Monty Python” comedian John Cleese hosting a show about cancel culture. “We’re doing that because we felt we needed to address [cancel culture] somehow and he’s got very strong views on that,” Horan said of Cleese during a
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Channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz believes that the impending privatization of the organization will destroy the essence of the U.K. broadcaster. In a conversation with Variety international editor Manori Ravindran at the ongoing Edinburgh TV Festival on Tuesday, Katz talked up the successful programming strategy of Channel 4, including “It’s A Sin” and
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“Burn All My Letters,” Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge’s follow up to his Glen Close starrer “The Wife,” has just started shooting “Burn All My Letters.” The decade-spanning love drama stars Bill Skarsgård (“Deadpool”) and is based on Alex Schulman’s bestselling novel of the same name. Sverrir Gudnason (“Borg vs. McEnroe,” “Gentlemen,” “A Serious Game”) has
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Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to the anticipated Danish epic period drama “Margrete-Queen of the North,” helmed by Charlotte Sieling (“The Bridge,” “The Killing,” “Homeland”). The upscale feature, produced by Birgitte Skov and Lars Bredo Rahbek for Scandinavian major SF Studios, is screening at this week’s Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund (Aug.21-27).
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