Month: September 2023

A new study has found that women directors are getting more screentime at festivals than ever before. Though the gap still exists between major studio films by male and female directors, the space in between continues to shrink, and in some areas, has disappeared entirely in regards to independent films at festivals. In the wider

Chris Keyser, a tuxedoed 23-year-old, stood at a lectern at the Oxford Union to defend the moral superiority of the United States over the Soviet Union. It was 1984. Keyser, now a leader of the Writers Guild of America strike, was then a Harvard Law student. He was also a seasoned debater, often taking the

Elysian Film Group, Anonymous Content and Bleecker Street have jointly acquired the U.K. rights to “The Boy and the Heron,” the first film from legendary animator Hayao Miyazaki in a decade. Elysian Film Group will release the film in U.K. cinemas later this year. “The Boy and the Heron” premiered to strong reviews at this year’s

In response to the rise of antisemitic tropes in mainstream pop culture, the Anti-Defamation League has launched a Media and Entertainment Institute to engage Hollywood insiders and tastemakers in dialogue on general societal perceptions of Jewish people and how they are portrayed in media and entertainment. From Kanye West’s recent outbursts to neo-Nazi demonstrations in

Italian producer and director Ginevra Elkann, whose delicate first feature “If Only” opened the 2019 Locarno fest garnering critical praise, is at the Toronto Film Festival with her tonally different follow-up, “I Told You So.” The movie features a group made up mostly of women who are having a mental meltdown amid an unprecedented January

Hot off “Dicks: The Musical’s” premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, A24 has released the song “All Love is Love” from the film. Performed by Aaron Jackson, Josh Sharp, Bowen Yang, Nathan Lane, Megan Mullally and featuring vocalist Lauren Evans, “All Love Is Love” is one of the musical’s many songs that could be

When Michel Franco began penning the script for his latest drama, “Memory,” he knew the premise — an unlikely connection between Sylvia, a woman struggling to overcome addiction and sexual abuse, and Saul, a man with early onset dementia — but where the story ended up was entirely unexpected. “I saw it very clearly in

Caution! Kaisa El Ramly’s upcoming feature “Gateways & Dreams” has debuted a trailer, so watch out for moving vehicles. The tragicomic road movie, produced by Helsinki-based Inland Film Company and co-produced by Sweden’s Läsk, focuses on multiple characters stuck in their cars on one summer’s day, as well as one hitchhiker and a very special

Signature Entertainment has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to action comedy “Bride Hard,” starring Rebel Wilson (The Pitch Perfect franchise). In the film, badass secret agent Sam is tasked with one of her hardest missions to date – being maid of honor for her childhood best friend. Out of her comfort zone, and with fellow

Cages can’t contain the sheer amount of imagination on offer in “Sing Sing” — not just in the way director Greg Kwedar and his writing and producing partner Clint Bentley conceived of the prison-set drama, but also as an animating force among its characters. Apart from Colman Domingo and a few others, most of the

“Knox Goes Away” is a silky and entrancing thriller directed by its star, Michael Keaton — but as soon as I heard the film’s premise, I’ll admit I was skeptical. Keaton plays an underworld hit man who is diagnosed with dementia. That sounds a bit trendy, and more than that it sounds like a stunt

TATA TAKES BITE OF APPLE IN INDIA Indian channels aggregator, Tata Play Binge, is soon to incorporate Apple TV+, a first-of-its-kind collaboration for Apple TV+ in India. The move means that series such as “Ted Lasso,” “Shrinking,” “Silo,” “Hijack,” “Foundation,” “Tehran,” “Servant,” “Platonic,” “Severance,” “The Morning Show,” “Bad Sisters,” “Slow Horses” and “Prehistoric Planet,” and Apple

Early in his career, comedian Kumail Nanjiani did a bit about a new drug called “cheese,” which, if you break down the ingredients, turns out to be Tylenol PM mixed with heroin. “So really, it’s heroin,” he joked. “Heroin’s doing the heavy lifting.” That line was going through my mind as I watched “Pain Hustlers,”

While it’s easy to imagine lawyers screaming “objection, your honor!” to the exaggerated courtroom theatrics of “The Burial,” good luck convincing audiences that this David v. Goliath legal showdown between a small-time Southern funeral home operator and an unethical Canadian billionaire should have played out any other way. Demonstrating talents far beyond her 2017 indie

Japan has unveiled details of a location production incentive scheme that it hopes will attract more film and TV shoots to the island nation. The scheme offers reimbursement of up to 50% of qualifying expenditure in Japan, with an upper limit of JPY1 billion ($6.4 million) on the disbursement. The scheme is the product of

Entertainment workers have moved to take more than $44 million out of their individual retirement accounts as they endure months without work due to the strikes. Nearly 3,000 workers have filed for hardship withdrawals, according to an update circulated on Friday by the Motion Picture Industry Pension and Health Plans. The average withdrawal is about

Actor Noah Centineo touched down at the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend to rally support for Saeed Roustaee, an Iranian filmmaker sentenced to prison by his government over the latter’s film “Leila’s Brothers.” Over Friday cocktails at festival headquarters, the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the “Black Adam” star appealed to top representatives from film festivals

A “Murder, She Wrote” movie is in the works at Universal Pictures, with “Dumb Money” writers Lauren Schuker Blum and Rebecca Angelo and producer Amy Pascal attached, Variety has confirmed. Blum and Angelo joined the project prior to the writers strike, and will not resume their work on the screenplay until the Writers Guild of

Anna Kendrick’s directing debut “Woman of the Hour” has been acquired by Netflix after its Toronto premiere on Friday. The streamer is paying in the $11 million range for the ripped-from-the-headlines thriller, making it the first major sale of the festival. The deal covers the U.S. and several international territories including France, Italy, Japan and