Month: January 2023

Katy Perry, “Avatar” star Stephen Lang and filmmaker Baz Luhrmann are set to participate in the 20th annual G’Day USA Arts Gala that celebrates Australians who are prominent in the U.S. entertainment industry. The event spearheaded by the American Australian Association, an advocacy group that looks to strengthen industry ties between Hollywood and Australia, is

Jacques Audiard, the Oscar-nominated French director (“A Prophet”), is finally getting ready to shoot his next film, “Emilia Perez,” this spring with a cast led by Karla Sofia Gascón, Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña. After “Paris, 13th District,” an intimate black-and-white film about millennial love, Audiard is aiming to build a larger canvas for “Emilia

Awards season is upon us, and while Hollywood is honoring 2022’s best films and performances, the Razzie Awards shine a light on the “worst” movies and actors of the year. Leading the field is Andrew Dominik’s controversial Marilyn Monroe biopic “Blonde,” with eight nominations. While Ana de Armas is not up for worst actress, the

“Queer Canadian female teen werewolf movie” may sound mighty specific as a subgenre, yet 23 years after John Fawcett’s delicious cult item “Ginger Snaps,” along comes “My Animal” to ensure it’s no longer in a category of one. A sleek, sensuous debut feature from accomplished short film and music video director Jacqueline Castel, this chilly

Barcelona-based indie studio Filmax is hailing into Content Americas selling the semi-autobiographical series “Selftape,” made by members of a new generation of women TV writers and directors now building in Spain. Described as fiction with autobiographical overtones, the series revolves around the real-life Spanish actresses and sisters, Joana Vilapuig and Mireia Vilapuig who, in a personal

Sean Penn, Jesse Eisenberg, Canadian actor-director Matt Johnson, South Korean auteur Hong Sangsoo, and Korean-Canadian director Celine Song are headed to the upcoming Berlin Film Festival. Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian and executive director Mariëtte Rissenbeck on Monday unveiled the main Competition and Encounters selections for the fest’s 73rd edition, which will feature a rich mix of

When the writer-director Nicole Holofcener is on her game, in movies like “Lovely and Amazing” and “Enough Said,” the snap and sparkle of her dialogue is like neurotic champagne. It gives you a lift; the conflicts percolate around in it like bubbles. That snarky effervescence is a Holofcener signature, and so is her commitment to making

UPDATE: S.S. Rajamouli’s “RRR,” starring Ram Charan and NTR Jr, which is now the highest grossing Indian film of all time in Japan, continues to do blockbuster business in the country. Dolby Vision prints of the film were released on Jan. 20 and more Imax screens were added, leading to a surge in admissions. Jan.

One of the many things that sets “A Thousand and One” apart from other, similarly tough-minded stories of urban struggle, poverty and marginalization can be felt practically from the start, as director A.V. Rockwell introduces Inez (R’n’B performer and choreographer Teyana Taylor) walking the pavement along a painted brick wall in early-’90s Harlem. The way

Age-old stories of entertainment industry corruption and suffocating stage-parenting are given a freshly off-kilter perspective in writer-director Justin Chon’s “Jamojaya,” which zeroes in on a few days in the life of a rising Indonesian rapper as he attempts to cut professional ties with his former manager, who also happens to be his father. In many

A surprising microcosm of larger political currents surfaces in Rebecca Landsberry-Baker and Joe Peeler’s documentary “Bad Press.” They observe the chilling effect of institutionalized corruption within the Muscogee Nation, whose tribal government leaders appear inclined not just to cover their own misdeeds, but to actively block any journalists from reporting on them. Following events over

ProducerLAND, a curated training and networking program for producers from South Asia, is bowing Ascent – a project accelerator designed to help experienced producers by providing them with global expertise and support to maximize their project’s potential.  Ascent is an immersive three-module program where six selected producers will develop their projects for international markets and audiences. The

Filmmaker Alison O’Daniel appears in the Next section of the Sundance Film Festival with “The Tuba Thieves,” an innovative feature commentary on deafness. Here, she writes about the agony of closed-captioning at film festivals, and the long-overdue adoption of open captions for all movie theaters worldwide. I am the writer-director of “The Tuba Thieves,” a

In 2019, while filming a project along the US-Mexico border in Texas, directors Sam Osborn and Alejandra Vasquez came across one of the first fully sanctioned University Interscholastic League State Mariachi Festivals, where high school mariachi bands perform at the same competitive level as students in cheer, football, and marching band. The duo was surprised

The in-person return of Sundance sparked joyous reunions on the ground in Utah this week, but it’s not all celebrations. The industry confronted a troubling milestone on Sunday in Park City: the 50-year anniversary of the historic Roe v. Wade decision that gave women the constitutional right to an abortion. Last June, the U.S. Supreme

Jennifer Connelly starred in one of the biggest movies of 2022, “Top Gun: Maverick,” as badass bar owner Penelope Benjamin, who has a love connection with Tom Cruise’s Maverick. Cruise’s name has been kicked around as a potential dark horse best actor Oscar nominee, and Connelly told Variety that the nod would be well-deserved due

Vivica Fox knows “Kill Bill” fans are ready for “Vol. 3.” “People are hungry,” she said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance. “Quentin [Tarantino], let’s go!” Fox portrayed Vernita Green in Tarantino’s 2003 martial arts revenge drama “Kill Bill Vol. 1” and the 2004 sequel “Vol. 2,” opposite Uma Thurman and Lucy Liu. The first