Month: September 2023

Italy’s Roberto Stabile, head of special projects, Directorate General for Cinema and Audiovisual-Ministry of Culture at Cinecittà, breezed through the San Sebastian Film Festival on Tuesday to tout Italy’s drive to amp up the distribution of Italian movies around the world. In a brief presentation at the city’s Museo de San Telmo, he held forth about
0 Comments
Agora, the industry section of the Thessaloniki International Film Festival, has selected 10 films from seven countries for its works in progress strand. The strand selects projects in post-production stage, which have a link to the Mediterranean region and Southeastern Europe, and presents them to sales agents, distributors, producers, streaming platforms and festival programmers with
0 Comments
Underscoring its historical importance, a further production marking the 50th death anniversary of Chile’s socialist president Salvador Allende could well be in the works. The historical drama, provisionally titled “The Meeting,” details a historical encounter between the doomed president, whose downfall heralded the rise of the infamous military dictatorship of General Augusto Pinochet in 1973.  Producers
0 Comments
Months after controversy erupted around a political tweet by star soccer player turned sports pundit Gary Lineker, the BBC has published revised social media guidelines for its presenters. Post that controversy, the BBC commissioned a review by former TV executive John Hardie, which looked at the corporation’s guidance covering “individual use of social media” in relation
0 Comments
The world of detective Charlie Chopra, based on characters created by Agatha Christie, is set to have a prolonged life in India as a franchise. “Charlie Chopra & The Mystery Of Solang Valley,” based on Christie’s 1931 novel “The Sittaford Mystery,” was adapted as a series for Indian streamer SonyLIV by renowned filmmaker Vishal Bhardwaj.
0 Comments
Leading German film and TV group Telepool, which is owned by Will and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook, has restructured the leadership of its world sales and distribution arm Global Screen. Julia Weber, its long-time head of sales and acquisitions, is leaving, with Brianne Bonney becoming head of TV sales. Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann, CEO at Telepool, commented:
0 Comments
Mediawan Rights has unveiled the first teaser of the anticipated “Zorro” series reboot which is directed by Javier Quintas (“Money Heist,”“Sky Rojo”) and is set to premiere on opening night of Mipcom. Produced by leading Spanish company Secuoya Studios, the show marks the IP’s big television comeback almost two decades after its last live-action adaptation. The Spanish-language
0 Comments
James Cameron appeared Wednesday at Los Angeles genre festival Beyond Fest for a Q&A about “The Abyss” after a screening of the film’s seldom-seen two-hour and 51-minute Special Edition. Unbeknownst to attendees (but later confirmed by festival programmers), the DCP presentation turned out to be the 4K transfer Cameron announced last year, physical and streaming
0 Comments
Japanese-British singer and “John Wick 4” star Rina Sawayama has revealed the trauma that was the inspiration behind her second album “Hold the Girl.” In an interview on the BBC Three and the BBC World Service “In Conversation” program, Sawayama said that the album emerged after extensive sessions of sex and relationship therapy. “This is
0 Comments
The Zurich Film Festival boasts a strong lineup of international films, among them Bradley Cooper’s “Maestro,” Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things” and Emerald Fennell’s “Saltburn,” and high-profile guests that include Jessica Chastain, Diane Kruger, Ethan Hawke, Todd Haynes and Wim Wenders. The ZFF this year screens a record number of world and European premieres — 52
0 Comments
The “Saw” films have always been rightfully tagged as torture porn, but they come on as flesh-ripping morality plays. Each victim, strapped into his or her loopy-ingenious electro-medieval Rube Goldberg slicer-dicer-chopper-gouger, is being put through the agonies of the damned only because of some sin that he or she committed in the real world. The
0 Comments
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 10, Episode 2 of “The Masked Singer,” which aired Sept. 27 on Fox. “Black-ish” star Anthony Anderson was revealed as Rubbie Ducky on Wednesday night’s episode of “The Masked Singer.” The Fox competition show’s Season 10 was back to kick off regular season
0 Comments
SPOILER ALERT: This recap contains spoilers from the Season 45 premiere of “Survivor.” Every episode of “Survivor” contains a healthy handful of platitudes about how wild the game is, and the Season 45 premiere is no different. But when Jeff Probst says that he doesn’t know if he’s ever seen so much energy from a
0 Comments
SPOILER ALERT: This column contains spoilers from “Dig,” the series finale of FX’s “Reservation Dogs,” now streaming on Hulu. Death has always loomed over “Reservation Dogs,” the coming-of-age comedy that concludes its run on FX this week. When the show began, its teenage protagonists were still actively mourning their friend Daniel (Dalton Cramer), who died by
0 Comments
Engaging in a love affair with a movie star might fulfill your wildest fantasies if you happen to indulge in romantic daydreams about a glamorous life, but in the hilarious and heartfelt comedy “Starstruck,” Jessie (series writer/creator Rose Matafeo) has already been down that road. In the show’s first season, she finds herself in a
0 Comments
Jim Ryan, president and CEO of Sony Interactive Entertainment, is retiring next year after almost three decades with the company’s PlayStation business. Ryan will step down from the post in March 2024, Sony announced Wednesday. In October 2023, Sony Group president, COO and CFO Hiroki Totoki will assume the role of chairman of Sony Interactive
0 Comments
Ken Caldwell, a nearly 40-year veteran of Disney, is retiring from the company at the end of the year. He most recently served as executive vice president and general sales manager of North American theatrical sales and reported to Tony Chambers, the executive VP of theatrical distribution. In his role, Caldwell oversaw domestic distribution encompassing
0 Comments
After premiering at the Venice Film Festival, Netflix’s awards season pony “Maestro,” the Leonard Bernstein biopic from sophomore director Bradley Cooper, in which he also stars, is gearing up for its next major stop at the New York Film Festival on Monday. Ahead of its New York bow, the streamer invited a small group of
0 Comments