Month: March 2022

The Film Independent Spirit Awards returned as a live, in-person event on the beach. The traditional blue carpet was rolled out for this year’s indie superstars, who gathered under a tent on the beach in Santa Monica for this year’s festivities on March 6. Hosted by Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman, the awards’ honorary chairperson
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Samsung, the world’s largest maker of connected TVs, is looking to flex more muscle in content distribution through a pact with Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Tennis Channel to carry a new free streaming channel in the U.S. Dubbed T2, the Sinclair-owned channel will feature an advertising-supported 24/7 live stream of matches from major tournaments that might
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Twitter is elevating two veteran content execs to new roles: TJ Adeshola has been tapped as head of global content partnerships for the social network, and Sarah Rosen will oversee U.S. content partnerships. Adeshola, previously head of U.S. sports partnerships at Twitter, takes over the position left vacant after Jen Prince exited last fall to
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Telefonica’s Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest pay-TV/SVOD operator, has launched an in-house overseas sales division, Movistar Plus Internacional, headed up by former Sony and Buendía Estudios exec Maria Valenzuela.  Lorena Molloy, an ex-exec at The Mediapro Studio, has joined Movistar Plus Internacional beginning in March as its head of communication and marketing.  Valenzuela, who began working
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Barcelona-based Scenic Rights, the leading literary rights broker for Spanish-language film and TV series, has officially opened its Mexico City office as it continues to expand its purview across key territories, including Madrid, Los Angeles and most recently, Prague. The Mexico City office opening, delayed twice by the pandemic, kicks off operations on Monday March
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A fortnight ago, documentary filmmaker Vera Krichevskaya was anticipating the Russia release of her latest feature, “F@ck This Job,” a spirited, behind-the-scenes portrait of the country’s last independent broadcaster, TV Rain. But just days before the film’s Moscow premiere, Russian military forces invaded Ukraine. On March 3, TV Rain bowed to political pressure and said
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London-based Beyond Rights has scored sales to Italian broadcasters on more than 500 hours of TV content, including topical doc “The Prince and the Paedophile.” The BriteSpark Films investigation into the friendship between Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, which is also said to uncover new details on Epstein’s other British connection –– including to Ghislaine
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As the invasion of Ukraine continues, seven leading Ukrainian filmmakers allege complicity by the Russian artistic community. They are now calling for cultural sanctions against Russia. Valentyn Vasyanovych, director (“Black Level,” “Atlantis,” “Reflection”) Insidious shelling of residential areas with civilians, as well as blackmail of nuclear weapons – is a manifestation of the powerless rage
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Broadway and recording star Idina Menzel showed her support Sunday for a Ukrainian girl who was shown singing a song from Disney’s “Frozen” from inside a makeshift bunker. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine has now lasted ten days. It has destroyed schools, hospitals and residential buildings causing millions of civilians in Ukraine to
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SPOILER ALERT: This piece contains spoilers for the Season 6 premiere of “Outlander,” which aired on March 6.  Nearly two years have passed since the fifth season of Outlander wrapped, ending on an incredibly solemn and foreboding note. Claire’s brutal assault by Lionel Brown (Ned Dennehy) and his gang of men was eventually avenged by
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Matt Reeves never meant for Colin Farrell to look unrecognizable in “The Batman.” In the finished film, Farrell’s appearance is utterly obliterated in the role of Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot, the scarred and dumpy mid-level Gotham City gangster with the (unwelcome) nickname of “the Penguin.” But when the 55-year-old director — who co-wrote “The Batman” with
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Independent Spirit Awards hosts Megan Mullally and Nick Offerman took a brief moment during the awards ceremony to show support to Ukraine and tell Russian president Vladimir Putin to “fuck off.” The 2022 Spirit Awards took place in Santa Monica, Calif. as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continued overseas. Mullally and Offerman wished those in Ukraine
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SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not watched the “Love Is Blind” Season 2 reunion, streaming now on Netflix. Shake Chatterjee is “Love Is Blind” Season 2’s villain: There’s no arguing that. During the Season 2 reunion, which dropped on Netflix on Friday, he admitted that himself — but blamed the editing. In fact, he
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Popular short-form video app TikTok is blocking Russian users from posting video to the platform because of the country’s new law that threatens to severely punish the publication of “false information.” On Friday, Russia passed a law making it illegal to publish “false information” about Russia’s military. Violators face potential fines, forced labor and up
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True/False, the preeminent non-fiction festival, returned as an in-person event Thursday, drawing documentary notables and fans of their work to a Missouri college town for the first lineup under the artistic direction of Chloe Trayner. There were 31 features and 19 short non-fiction films at the fest, which had more of an international tilt than
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“The Power of the Dog” took top honors from this year’s edition of the Latino Entertainment Journalists Association (LEJA), winning best picture, best director and best editing from the organization. The Latino Entertainment Journalists Association announced its winners on Sunday afternoon, honoring the top achievements of 2021 films. Other major winners during the afternoon included
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