Month: December 2021

CNN fired Chris Cuomo, its most-watched anchor, on Saturday,  in the wake of revelations he had helped his brother, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, while he faced multiple accusations of sexual harassment — a breach of journalistic ethics and in ways of which CNN management had not previously been aware. The WarnerMedia-backed news outlet,
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BTS delivered a heartfelt video speech at Variety‘s Hitmakers event on Saturday, after being awarded record of the year for “Butter.” While accepting the honor, RM reflected on what the success of the hit song means to them, and described what it was like to perform their first shows since 2019 this past week. “We’d
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A couple anniversaries have passed since the breakup that inspired fast-rising singer-songwriter Giveon’s platinum-certified 2020 hit “Heartbreak Anniversary.” But the Long Beach, Calif., native’s distinctive, soulful vocals and poignant lyrics have led to several other, happier dates on the calendar that he can celebrate in the years to come. Chief among them: the day “Peaches”
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For a band from England, Glass Animals, Variety’s Group of the Year, has spent so much time touring the United States, it may as well be American. “I feel comfortable here, and I get to eat all the food I grew up with, like Hot Pockets,” says Dave Bayley, the quartet’s ringleader and songwriter-­producer, on
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“Spencer” director Pablo Larraín has thrown his weight behind Chilean Oscar entry “White on White” (“Blanco en Blanco”), hailing it as a “really interesting, strange and highly violent film.” “White on White” also addresses issues that are “highly unsettling and complex and which haven’t been resolved or at least discussed at sufficient length,” Larraín adds.
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Ventana Sur’s genre-dedicated sidebar Blood Window hosted a special panel this year, The Phenomenon of Fantasy Genre in an Ibero-American Environment: New Content, Formats and Trends. There, filmmakers, producers, festival heads and other industry professionals met, discussed and debated the state of genre filmmaking in Latin America and Spain, coming to a positive consensus concerning
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The Film Musicians Secondary Markets Fund, which collects and distributes residuals to union musicians who play on films and TV shows, will mark its 50th anniversary in 2022. It’s become a financial lifeline for many musicians, from helping them to achieve financial security to being a primary income source during their retirement years. Every July
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As is fitting for the days after Thanksgiving, moviegoers are largely turning out for leftovers this weekend. “Encanto,” “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” and “House of Gucci” will retain the top three spots at the domestic box office, replicating the final standings of last weekend’s rankings. Disney’s “Encanto” is projected to gross $12.3 million from 3,980 locations in
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Variety‘s annual Hitmakers event, presented by Peacock and comedy series “Girls5eva,” takes place Dec. 2, returning to an in-person red carpet and invite-only brunch after last year’s virtual event. A red carpet pre-show hosted by Variety‘s Marc Malkin, Angelique Jackson, Elizabeth Wagmeister and Clayton Davis begins at 11:30 a.m. PT, with the awards ceremony following
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Riz Ahmed has boarded Egyptian-American director Dina Amer’s “You Resemble Me,” a bold exploration of the roots of Islamic radicalization through the story of Hasna Aït Boulahcen – who in 2015 was wrongly believed to be Europe’s first female suicide bomber – ahead of the pic’s premiere in the Middle East and North Africa region
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Lucy Animation Studio’s Colombian cartoon “Halloween” was one of two feature films, alongside Star Toons Animation’s “Chaskis – Mensajeros del sol,” honored with the MIFA/Annecy Award from this year’s Ventana Sur Animation! sidebar. Teams representing the two films will receive full accreditation to Annecy 2022 and its MIFA marketplace, where they will pitch as part
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The most colorful contributor to this year’s Ventana Sur Blood Window Works in Progress section, where it won the Chemistry Award for post-production services, is “Niobe,” a high-octane dark comedy thriller set in a fictitious South American country run by a group of ruthless men. Pajé Produções Culturais founder Fernando Mamari produces and directs the
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Since 2004, Israeli documentary filmmaker Avi Mograbi has sat on the board of Breaking the Silence, a whistleblower organization that collects and publishes testimonies about life in the Occupied Territories, all while exploring similar subjects via oft-irreverent films. And as Mograbi’s still ongoing festival tour with his latest film, “The First 54 Years – An
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Argentina’s “Ayelén and the Forest Shadow,” Uruguay’s “The Eagle Heist,” Mexico’s “Journey to the Land of the Tarahumara,” Brazil’s “Berg’s Books”and Spain’s “Upiro” proved top winners at a Ventana Sur prize ceremony which in its very form stressed just how much the biggest film-TV market in Latin America has expanded. Prior to the pandemic, prize
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