Month: June 2022

They were all so incredibly young. Caetano Veloso opened Salvador’s Vila Velha Theater, a milestone event for the city, at the age of 21. Pianist Francisco Tenório Jr., the subject of Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal’s “They Shot the Piano Player,” recorded one record as band leader, in March 1964, when he was 23 years

Oscar-winning director Michel Hazanavicius (“The Artist”) has unveiled his first-ever animation film project at the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival. Entitled “The Most Precious of Cargos,” it is an adaptation of the eponymous best-selling book by acclaimed French playwright and children’s books author Jean-Claude Grumberg, who is co-writing the film with Hazanavicius. Told in the form of a classic fairy tale in

HBO Max’s animated prequel series “Gremlins: Spirit of the Mogwai,” which world premiered on June 16 at France’s Annecy Animation Festival, begins with a hint of “The Sound of Music.” A young Gizmo stands in his bucolic grassy homeland, hidden down a huge hole in snowbound high Himalayas, chanting from a circular stone dias, replete

Having already topped its pre-pandemic heights, the massive attendance at this year’s Annecy edition is indicative of the flourishing post-pandemic boom that the whole audiovisual industry is feeling. Amidst this promising landscape, Colombian animation has made a strong appearance in both Annecy’s Official Selection and its MIFA market alongside an event presented by BAM –

Swiss animator and director Raphaëlle Stolz (“Le Salsifis du Bengale”) has debuted her new short film “Miracasas” at Annecy, where it is in competition with 37 other animated short films as part of the official selection. Stolz employs a flowing and impressionist animation style to tell the story of Ernesto, an almost-dead soldier carried to

The enthralling documentary “Turn Every Page: The Adventures of Robert Caro and Robert Gottlieb” opens with white-on-black credits accompanied by the staccato pecks of a typewriter, which will be music to some viewers’ ears. Robert Caro, the author at the center of the documentary, writes towering books of nonfiction — “The Power Broker,” his 1,280-page

Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis” is far from being just about Elvis, when it comes to the music in the film and on a forthcoming soundtrack album. Besides the vintage Presley cuts included, the movie is providing the opportunity for the most high-profile multi-artist soundtrack in years. The lineup of participating artists was announced in May —

The title of Rose Troche’s film, “My Fake Boyfriend,” may be clunky, but it captures the outrageous premise of this latest gay romantic comedy. When stuntman Andrew (Keiynan Lonsdale, of “Love, Simon” fame) is stuck in a toxic relationship with a self-absorbed narcissist, his best friend Jake and his girlfriend Kelly (Dylan Sprouse and Sarah

Guy Ritchie, who directed Disney’s “Aladdin” in 2019, is set to direct the upcoming live-action adaptation of the 1997 film “Hercules,” Variety has confirmed. As Variety previously reported, “Avengers: Endgame” directors Joe and Anthony Russo’s AGBO is producing the film being developed by Disney, which hired action specialist Dave Callaham to write a first draft.

Roberta Whiteman, a longtime editor for Variety who specialized in international coverage, died June 17 at a hospice facility near Vero Beach, Fla., where she lived. She was 62. Known as Bobbie, the British native was a skilled copy editor and news editor who was an unfailingly sunny presence in Variety‘s newsroom for nearly 13