Month: November 2021

Focus, an event for international production professionals from across film, television, animation, documentary, advertising and games, returns to London as a live event Dec. 7-8. Now in its seventh year, the confab combines two days of live events at London’s Business Design Centre, and four more days of online streaming. The industry event, which presents

Leena Alam, one of Afghanistan’s best-known actresses, is in character as she explains facing an unthinkable choice. “Who would know better than me how dangerous it is to be a woman actress with the Taliban? You cannot inflict me with one more drop of fear than I already have,” says the California-based Alam as part

Given it’s been a tough 12 months for cinema, it would be an achievement to appear in just one of the top 10 highest grossing films of the year. Naomie Harris has appeared in two: “No Time to Die” and “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” as MI6 secretary Moneypenny and superhero Shriek, respectively. Now the

It’s mask time again in France. The country’s health minister has unveiled a set of familiar health measures as Europe faces a fifth wave of COVID-19 cases. Among the key measures unveiled by Olivier Veran on Nov. 25 during a televised address, face masks will once again be mandatory in every cultural venue, including movie

In the run-up to its roll-out in cinema theaters around the world, Penelope Cruz and Antonio Banderas starrer “Official Competition” has a official trailer. Variety has had exclusive access to its international subtitled version. Buena Vista International will release “Official Competition” in Spanish cinemas on Feb. 25. Spanish producer The Mediapro Studio and London-based international sales

The Italian theatrical release of Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God” is sparking protests from some of the country’s exhibitors who claim the hand of Netflix is cutting them out of the hot title’s big screen bonanza. “Hand of God,” a Netflix original film produced by Fremantle’s The Apartment, went out on 250 screens in

Chilean directing duo Bettina Perut and Iván Osnovikoff have secured the Best Pitch Forum Award at the 34th edition of IDFA with their documentary “La Casa.” Co-produced by Perut + Osnovikoff and Germany’s Dick Manthey Film, the project impressed with its story of a couple, stuck at home in Santiago due to COVID-19 and sequestered

“Shakespeare in Love” star Simon Callow has joined the cast of indie heist movie “The Pay Day,” Variety can reveal. Callow, who has also appeared in fare as varied as “The Witcher,” “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” will play an “eccentric crime boss” in the caper. He was most

The long-gestating plans for a major studio development in the Northwestern English city of Liverpool are finally going ahead. The £70 million ($93.1 million) redevelopment of the iconic Littlewoods building, which would include major studios, creative office space and new media facilities, has been in discussions since 2018. A report requesting permission for the scheme

Despite its smattering of shortcomings, “A Castle For Christmas” is gently disarming, heartening, holiday-themed escapism that’s as satisfying as a cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter’s night. Director Mary Lambert’s romcom is centered on a divorcée who, after a public meltdown, buys a castle in Scotland, meets a dreamy duke and regains her

Veteran film distributor Sreyashii Sengupta has been appointed Southeast Asia CEO for Continental Entertainment, a new Singapore-based film marketing and distribution firm. The firm was registered in January and is controlled by Shibasish Sarkar, former group CEO of Reliance Entertainment and chairman of NASDAQ-listed SPAC company International Media Acquisition Corp (IMAQ). Continental recently handled its

The Philippines is a vibrant filmmaking region in Asia and that brio is underlined by the brace of projects from the country selected at the Southeast Asia Film Lab, which is part of the Singapore Media Festival. Paul Rembert Patindol (sometimes credited as PR Patindol) was training to be a chemist but he came to

Samantha Ruth Prabhu, one of India’s top actors, has boarded the cast of feature film “Arrangements of Love.” The film is to be directed by BAFTA-winning Welsh director Philip John, whose credits include “Downton Abbey” and “The Good Karma Hospital.” The film is produced by Sunitha Tati’s Indian outfit Guru Films, whose “Oh! Baby,” the

The next generation of Singaporean filmmakers are displaying the rich tapestry of the city-state’s culture at the Southeast Asian Film Lab, which is part of the Singapore Media Festival. Shopping malls are an intrinsic part of Singaporean culture and for Dewi Tan, who is from an anthropology and environmental science background, they are endlessly fascinating.

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four

Sergei Loznitsa’s extensive documentary “Mr. Landsbergis,” clocking in at 246 minutes and depicting Lithuania’s “singing revolution” when the country finally broke away from the Soviet Union, has won the Best Film award in the International Competition section, as well as €15,000, at documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam. It marks the second 2021 release for

A beloved stalwart of the French film industry, actor Sandrine Kiberlain marks her directorial debut with “A Radiant Girl.” After premiering at Cannes’ Critics Week sidebar this past July, the film will now screen at the Torino Film Festival ahead of a domestic release early next year. Set during the fraught summer of 1942 and

Actor Corey Hawkins is incredibly grateful to know Denzel Washington, his legendary co-star in “The Tragedy of Macbeth.” “I love that I get to walk in his footsteps, but I know I can never fill that man’s shoes,” Hawkins tells Variety’s Awards Circuit Podcast. “To share space to sit down in his dressing room, and

“Lucky,” the film project adapted from Alice Sebold’s 1999 memoir toplined by “You” star Victoria Pedretti, has been abandoned, Variety has learned. The movie was dropped after losing its financing months ago, according to a source close to the production. Pedretti is also no longer involved. In “Lucky,” Sebold depicts being viciously beaten and raped