Month: September 2023

The BAFTA Children and Young People Awards have been rebranded and will be incorporated into the annual film, games and television ceremonies. The org’s support for the children’s media industry and its year-round learning programs will now take place under a new brand, Young BAFTA. New categories for children’s content will be introduced to BAFTA’s film,

In Giorgio Diritti’s film “Lubo,” based on Mario Cavatore’s novel “Il seminatore,” Franz Rogowski seduces as Lubo, a Yenish traveling performer, father and husband, who has to join the Swiss army in 1939. He is one hell of a charmer, although his passion has dark undertones. “Our take is more playful, but the book put

Seated before a photo of filmmaker Sarah Moldoror, panelists at this year’s Women in Film roundtable shared strategies for greater industry parity, while reflecting on recent successes and standstills in that ongoing pursuit. Variety has been give access to the video of the panel discussion. Organized by Magaajyia Silberfeld and Winta Ghebre, and moderated by

“Finestkind,” the name of both Brian Helgeland’s new film and the high-line fishing boat Tommy Lee Jones captains within it, is one of those words that New Englanders find hard to define, but seem to have no trouble using in a sentence. It means quality — of fish, of people, of principles — and it

Fran Drescher has been elected to a second term as president of SAG-AFTRA, as the union’s first studio strike in 43 years nears the two-month mark. Drescher was elected with 81.4% of the vote, defeating Maya Gilbert-Dunbar, who took 18.6%. Joely Fisher took 70.3% in her race for a second term as secretary-treasurer. Her opponent,

A lot of the young men who became stock traders in the 1980s saw themselves as rebels. With their Porsches and drugs and (by the decade’s end) their idolization of Gordon Gekko, they put the kill into making a killing. They were the new swingers of greed. Of course, they weren’t really rebels, but it

When lay minister Thomas Munro (Guy Pearce) first reaches the shores of New Zealand in 1830, he does so on a white horse. A religious British man riding into a far-off land on his milky stallion is the picture of a white savior if there ever was one. But director Lee Tamahori has other plans

With “American Fiction,” Cord Jefferson, best known for penning television episodes of “Succession” and “Watchmen,” helms one of the finest directorial debuts seen since Sam Mendes’ “American Beauty.” In the style that feels like an audacious blend of Alexander Payne’s “Sideways” and Nicole Holofcener’s “Can You Ever Forgive Me,” he shepherds an audacious dramedy anchored

The creative team behind “Dumb Money” drew parallels between the battle between Reddit investors and Wall Street tycoons over GameStop and the actors and writers strikes that are roiling Hollywood at the Toronto Film Festival premiere. “We just watched a film about the system being rigged. It’s rigged on Wall Street and it’s rigged in

Sony Pictures’ “Dumb Money” could be the most frightening horror movie this year, and the Oscars would be smart to embrace it. From the critically acclaimed director Craig Gillespie, his smart and at times tragic look at the GameStop stock story of 2021 entertained the audiences of the Toronto Film Festival on Friday night where

The Writers Guild of America urged members Friday to stay strong, and argued that the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers will have to soften its hard-line stance in order to end the four-month strike. The WGA suggested that legacy studios that want a “fair deal” with writers will have to either assert their

A studio head once told me that CAA’s top three leaders – Bryan Lourd, Kevin Huvane and Richard Lovett – had claws beneath their velvet gloves. It was a backhanded compliment, as the CEO was praising the trio’s devotion to their incredibly famous clients while also bemoaning their hard-driving negotiating style. Those gloves will now

According to Jerry Seinfeld, Rolling Stone’s recent exposé on Jimmy Fallon includes an “idiotic twisting of events.” The magazine published a report on Sept. 7 in which several former “Tonight Show” staff members claimed the series had a toxic work environment, which included alleged outbursts from Fallon himself. Two employees said they witnessed Fallon berate

Michel Franco’s heartbreaking drama “Memory” earned a strong eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival on Friday night as stars Jessica Chastain and Peter Sarsgaard wiped away tears. Franco, Chastain and Sarsgaard embraced as the audience cheered them on, with each taking their turn in the spotlight to accept the applause. After the crowd

Pope Francis is apparently a huge Sylvester Stallone fan. The “Rocky” star visited the Vatican on Sept. 8 and met the Pope alongside his wife, Jennifer, and his three daughters, Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet. A video of the meeting shared by Vatican News shows Stallone and Francis quickly throwing some fake punches with each other

Freestyle Digital Media has acquired the North American VOD rights to “State of the Unity,” the 2022 deep-dive documentary about the history of music in America. The feature film will be available via internet, cable and satellite platforms starting Oct. 6. The project started back in 2016, following the Brooklyn band The Bergamot on their

Justice for Nickelback? “Hate to Love,” a documentary about one of the most ragged on bands of all time, had its world premiere on Friday afternoon at the Toronto Film Festival and (maybe?) shed new light on the Canadian rockers. But given their reputation on some corners of the internet, Cameron Bailey, the CEO of

Prolific showrunner Greg Berlanti is donating nearly $1 million to current and former employees affected by Hollywood’s ongoing labor strikes and urging “other industry workers in a fortunate enough situation” to do the same. An email from the “Love, Simon” director circulated Friday afternoon and was addressed to any Berlanti staffer in recent years who

“Memory” feels like the “Silver Linings Playbook” of Michel Franco’s career: an unexpectedly accessible romance between two damaged human beings, from an independent director who’s been known to put characters through some of life’s most punishing indignities. The previous film of Franco’s that it most resembles is “Chronic,” though the tough-love auteur spares us the

“On the Go,” a spirited, freewheeling road movie capturing the first lead performance in a movie of ‘Elite’ star Omar Ayuso, has clinched its first major sales, selling to Salzgeber for Germany, Austria and Switzerland, and to Cineplex for Taiwan.   Paris-based MPM Premium picked up world sales rights to “On the Go” in the run-up