Month: May 2022

One day after dissident Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov’s “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, members of the Ukrainian film industry took to the Croisette to call for a total boycott of Russian movie. Meanwhile, just steps away in the Palais des Festivals, the director’s long-awaited return to cinema’s grandest stage was overshadowed by

Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong made the end of the world seem pretty fabulous on Thursday night, hitting the Croisette for the Cannes Film Festival premiere of writer-director James Gray’s “Armageddon Time.” Gray’s semi-autobiographical film about growing up in 1980s Queens stars newcomers Banks Repeta (as the Gray surrogate) and Jaylin Webb (as his best

Australian native Thomas M. Wright is no stranger to dark material. He portrayed a haunted ex-con in Jane Campion’s series “Top of the Lake,” wrote and directed fierce plays for his Black Lung theater company and examined a twisted relationship in his 2018 directorial debut, the black comedy “Acute Misfortune.” But few of his past

10 exciting Spanish directors to track in 2022: GABRIEL AZORÍN “I’m interested in films that move from intimacy to mystery exploring language without being solemn,” says shorts director Azorín (“Greyhounds”). Backed by Spain’s Dvein Films and Filmika Galaika, “Last Night I Conquered the City of Thebes,” his long-awaited first feature and a friendship tale straddling Roman and

Margot Robbie wants to rob. The actor is attached to star in a prequel to “Ocean’s Eleven,” a heist comedy about con artists who rob hundreds of millions from a Las Vegas casino. The upcoming film is still in development at Warner Bros. and has not been greenlit. Jay Roach, who previously worked with Robbie

Paris-based international sales company The Party Film Sales has nabbed the rights for Antongiulio Panizzi’s hybrid documentary “The Girl in the Fountain,” a double portrait of icons Anita Ekberg and Monica Bellucci, which opened at the Torino Film Festival last November. The story of an actress devoured by her own icon, the film alternates between

Bernardo Quesney’s “History and Geography” and Tomás González Matos’ “Breaking and Entering” are two of the titles screening May 20 at Cannes’ Marché du Film showcase, Sanfic Industria Goes to Cannes.  Two other films round out the selection; Andrew Sala’s “The Barbaric” from Argentina, and Esteban García’s Mexico-Columbia co-production “Back to the Sea of my

“Bernard and Huey” helmer and co-founder of Slamdance Film Festival Dan Mirvish, now behind “18 ½,” knew that making a movie about Watergate would still be “resonant and relevant,” he says. Not just in the U.S., but all over the world. Focusing on the infamous “18½-minute gap” from a taped conversation between Nixon and his

Johnny Depp’s longtime agent testified Thursday that his star power declined over the course of years due to his erratic behavior, and that at one point he asked his agency to give him $20 million because he needed money. Tracey Jacobs, a top agent at United Talent Agency, represented Depp for 30 years until he

When I watch a movie by the writer-director James Gray, I often have the sensation that I’m seeing two films in one: the story being told and the one hovering offscreen — the one that’s all about his aspiration to be something larger than a mere storyteller. Early Gray films like “The Yards” (2000) and

Jessica Chastain surprised audiences at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, when she appeared in an unannounced cameo in the 1980s coming-of-age drama “Armageddon Time” as Maryanne Trump, Donald Trump’s sister. Chastain’s role is small, but effective. As Maryanne Trump, she appears as a guest lecturer at an austere private school where the film’s young