Month: November 2022

Ken Brendemihl has been appointed as chief operating officer at Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, the specialty theater chain that popularized the dine-in cinematic experience. In his new role, Brendemihl will oversee the team expansion and infrastructure needed to achieve the company’s goal of doubling Alamo Drafthouse’s theatrical footprint across the country in the coming years. He

Sarah Polley will receive the Director of the Year Award for “Women Talking” at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, which will take place in-person on Jan. 5 at the Palm Springs Convention Center. The Palm Springs Film Festival runs through Jan. 16. “Sarah Polley continues her outstanding work as a writer and director in

In July 1995, six western tourists and their guides were kidnapped in Kashmir, India, by the terrorist group Al Faran. The episode is believed by many to have marked the beginning of modern terrorism. Amongst those captured was 27-year-old Norwegian actor Hans Christian Ostrø, whose brutal murder sent shock waves throughout the world. A poet,

The British government has launched a consultation into U.K. film and TV tax reliefs. The proposals in the consultation aim to “simplify and modernize the reliefs, boost growth in the sectors and ensure the reliefs remain sustainable,” according to the consultation summary. The main proposals likely to affect the industry are the suggestion of merging

Founded in 2008 by a quartet of Harvard and MIT economics graduates, the charitable startup GiveDirectly has become one of the world’s fastest-growing nonprofits by virtue of its simple but innovative approach to raising funds for underprivileged communities. Allowing predominantly Western donors to make direct, unconditional cash transfers to poverty-stricken East African individuals via their

After uncovering archival footage filmed by her psychologist father in ‘90s Germany, director Zora Kuettner began investigating his radical treatment of mental illness, and the stories she spent her entire life listening to. The result is “Don’t Call Me Mad,” an examination of not only Dr. Kuettner’s visionary treatment methods, but how his past influenced

Production has started on “The Roundup: Punishment,” the fourth film in Korea’s smash hit “Outlaws” action franchise – even before the third film has been completed or released. The new film stars and is produced by breakout Korean American star Don Lee, known locals as Ma Dong-seok, who previously appeared in Marvel’s “The Eternals.” Distributor

The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered a pair convicted of uploading so-called ‘fast movies’ to YouTube without permission to pay JPY500 million ($3.5 million) to 13 film production companies. The victorious plaintiffs include major producers and distributors Toho, Toei and Shochiku.    The fine was a first for this type of offense. The two defendants, an

Fifteen years from its inception, YouTube retains the power to shock and disorient — particularly when wielded by children who have lived their whole lives in its era. A found-footage documentary composed entirely of social media videos by teenagers weathering hostile education and a climate of terror in contemporary Russia, “Manifesto” contains one vignette after

Legendary Hungarian director Béla Tarr is at peace. “It’s time for the old guys to leave. Retire, enjoy the sun,” he tells Variety in Cairo. Tarr, in town to collect his lifetime achievement award and lead a workshop for young filmmakers, stopped making feature films after 2011 “The Turin Horse.” He has no intention of

Blumhouse founder Jason Blum and his fellow horror maestro James Wan (the vision behind Atomic Monster) were the talk of the town on Wednesday when news broke that they were in advance talks to merge their production companies. So when the duo had a quick run-in on the red carpet on Thursday night at the

Netflix is poised to unveil several of its series and two of its movies at the International Film Festival of India. The festival gets underway on Sunday and runs to Nov. 28. Streaming platforms and film festivals can have uneasy relationships – due to its relationship with French cinemas, Cannes refuses to program Netflix films

Widely translated since its initial publication 16 years ago, Colombian novelist Hector Abad Faciolince’s “Oblivion: A Memoir” was an acclaimed reminiscence of his father Hector Abad Gomez. That crusading academic’s public criticism of institutionalized inequities led to his 1987 murder by paramilitary assassins. Retitled “Memories of My Father” for a belated U.S. release (selected for

“Enchanted,” the 2007 Disney musical comedy in which Amy Adams played a goody-two-shoes princess who is exiled from her fairy-tale animated kingdom and transported to the live-action world of New York City, was one of the last really good fish-out-of-water comedies — a genre that kicked into gear in the ’80s with movies like “Splash”

When Emmanuelle (Clarisse Albrecht) first arrives in the Dominican Republic, her world immediately finds a welcome peace and a splash of color. She has left her drab and gray home life in France behind, if ever so briefly. But once she’s arrested for drug trafficking — just as she’s set to fly back, no less —

Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan’s most recognizable auteur filmmaker is making his first film in Japan since his 2018 Cannes Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters,” distributor Gaga announced on Friday.  Titled “Monster” and now in post-production, the film is also only Koreeda’s second films to be scripted by another writer, Sakamoto Yuji, whose credits include the 2021 hit

The term “romantic comedy” these days covers a lot of light entertainments that only notionally meet the genre requirements: They pivot on relationships while just glancing at romance, and are packed with dialogue that’s zappily delivered but not all that funny. “The People We Hate at the Wedding” is one such nonromcom. Sporting a game

The prosecution has rested its case in the People vs. Harvey Weinstein. The Los Angeles trial is expected to last a total of two months, heading into December. On Thursday, the jury was told they would reconvene after Thanksgiving when the defense begins with its case on Nov. 28. Weinstein — who was already convicted