Month: August 2021

Universal Pictures will handle the distribution of “Redeeming Love” in U.S. and Canadian theaters. Directed by D.J. Caruso (“xXx: Return of Xander Cage”), the film is an adaptation of Francine Rivers’ bestselling novel. The film stars Abigail Cowen (“Fate: The Winx Saga”), Tom Lewis (“Gentleman Jack”), Logan Marshall Green (“Upgrade”), Famke Janssen (“X-Men: Days of

In “Dreams on Fire” writer-director Phillipe McKie marks his feature debut with a heady vision of the Japanese urban dance scene and one woman’s journey to find her place in it. Equipped with little more than her passion for dance, Yume (Bambi Naka) leaves an unsupportive home life to make her way in the Tokyo

Lee Won-tae’s thriller “The Devil’s Deal” reveals how revenge can twist anyone into something else when political hopeful Jeon Hae-woong (Cho Jin-woong) breaks bad after a stolen election. Betrayal and murder punctuate the film, set in the economic skin game of early ’90s Busan. Debuting at Fantasia, “The Devil’s Deal” is produced by Seo Kang-ho

Set for its world premiere on Aug. 11 at the Fantasia Int’l Film Festival in Montreal, Uruguay’s “Ghosting Gloria” (“Muerto con Gloria”) presents a genre mash-up of comedy, romance and some spicy paranormal encounters with a poltergeist. Guido Rud’s FilmSharks snapped up worldwide sales and remake rights to the pic in June last year. He’s already sold

Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s (pictured center) dark comedy film “A Useful Ghost” has scooped the top prize at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors awards ceremony. This year’s Open Doors co-production forum featured nine projects from Southeast Asia and Mongolia looking for international partners, and also represented the close of the forum’s three-year cycle focusing

FESTIVAL The 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept. 1-11) will include an out of competition screening of “Ennio” by Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the Oscar winning “Cinema Paradiso.” “Ennio” is a comprehensive portrait of two time Oscar winning composer Ennio Morricone, among the most influential and prolific musicians of the twentieth century, who has scored

The 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Aug. 20-28) will honor Michael Caine and Johnny Depp. Two time Oscar winner Caine is this year’s festival special guest and will be presented with a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the festival’s opening ceremony. At the festival, Caine will personally present the

Indian film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has seen it all – from being physically attacked on the sets of “Padmaavat” to walking the red carpet at a triumphant Cannes screening of “Devdas” – in his 25 years of filmmaking. A graduate of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India, in Pune, Bhansali equally consumed

Indian filmmaker, singer and actor Farhan Akhtar is returning to direction after a decade with feature film “Jee Le Zaraa,” starring Bollywood A-listers Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt. The film is due to start shooting in Sept. 2022. “It’s a road film, a slice-of-life film, with three women on the road,” Akhtar

Endeavor Content senior vice president Kristen Figeroid has exited the agency as others in the unit’s sales and distribution unit prepare to head back to WME, sources close to the situation told Variety. Figeroid joined Endeavor Content in 2018 as senior VP of sales and distribution. Her departure last week was amicable, one insider noted,

Mark Tarlov, who produced the John Waters-directed films “Pecker,” “Serial Mom” and “Cecil B. Demented,” died on July 31 at his home in Manhattan due to cancer, his family announced. He was 69. Starting his career in entertainment in 1979, Tarlov worked in business affairs at Warner Bros. before executive producing his first feature, “Christine,”