Month: February 2024

Following the October parliamentary election that saw the defeat of the right-wing Law and Justice party and appointment of leader of the opposition party Donald Tusk as prime minister, Polish filmmakers are cautiously readying for change. “So far, our cinema authorities have not changed. It remains to be seen whether they will change their approach

A lonely widower wrestling with the loss of his wife finds himself in the thralls of a mental health crisis, setting the stage for a moving tale of grief and acceptance in Mamadou Dia’s “Demba,” which premieres Feb. 17 in the Encounters section at the Berlin Film Festival. “Demba” follows its titular protagonist, an archivist

Filmax has taken global distribution rights for “My Friend Eva,” the latest from Spanish director Cesc Gay whose ‘Truman’ proved a notable hit overseas, scoring substantial theatrical returns in several territories.  Set against the backdrops of Barcelona and Rome, this romantic comedy boasts Nora Navas (“Libertad”) Juan Diego Botto (“The Suicide Squad”) and Rodrigo de

“The Zone of Interest” producer Ewa Puszczyńska has teamed up with France’s Elzévir Films and Ireland’s Copper Alley Prods. on “Safe and Silent,” backed by Arte France. “I decided to join the project because of the quality of the script. It made me excited and so was Arte when they decided to come on board,”

Buenos Aires-based sales outfit FilmSharks has closed major territories on dark comedy “Lobo Feroz,” from director Gustavo Hernández (“La Casa Muda”), and on “The Forgotten Killings,” the latest from Ines Paris (“Miguel and William”). Produced by Uruguay’s Mother Superior and Spains’ Bowfinger Intl. Pictures, “Lobo Feroz” is a remake of Israeli film “Big Bad Wolves” from

In the grasslands of Southern Ukraine, between Crimea and mainland Ukraine, a natural history researcher named Yura (Dmytro Bahnenko) is hoping to track down and photograph a groundhog. If he succeeds, the land can be protected as a European reserve. This apparently simple premise — the kernel at the outset of “The Editorial Office” —

There’s a slim overlap in the Venn diagram of Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Patti Smith. Into that nearly infinitesimal space fits Abel Ferrara’s obliquely reflective, geopolitical documentary “Turn in the Wound.” For that alone it deserves attention, though the Ukrainian president and the American poet/punk rocker aren’t Ferrara’s subjects so much as they are his featured

Lionsgate has acquired domestic rights to the Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Lily James and Himesh Patel comedy “Greedy People.” The film explores what happens when the eccentric residents of a small, picturesque island town are faced with a sensational murder and the discovery of $1 million next to the body. This sparks a series of increasingly bad

Since the beginning of the Academy Awards in the late 1920s, Hollywood filmmakers have been making socially conscious films. Many of the best of those have scored the film town’s top honor — Oscar best picture. This year, that winner could be “Oppenheimer,” a film that boldly and starkly dramatizes the creation of man’s most

Before demonstrating himself to be one of Mexico’s most original and exciting new filmmaking talents, Alonso Ruizpalacios washed dishes in a bustling big-city kitchen. That experience informs every second of the “Museo” director’s fourth feature, “La Cocina,” a thrilling in-spirit adaptation of Arnold Wesker’s 1957 play “The Kitchen,” transposed from midcentury London to modern-day New

101 Studios, the film and TV production entity run by David Glasser, has named Gray Krakower as executive vice president of brand partnerships. Karkower joins the company behind “Yellowstone” and many spinoffs in the lucrative Taylor Sheridan universe from Endeavor/IMG. There he served clients as a VP of global licensing and branding, working on accounts

Expanding on the scope of his impressive but constrained 2018 debut (the demonic-possession-meets-therapeutic-improv-exercise “Luz”) while retaining that film’s bird-flipping attitude toward unnecessary niceties like coherent plotting or narrative logic, German director Tilman Singer makes what ought to be his breakthrough with “Cuckoo” an energetically outlandish fusion of stylish atmospherics, old-school reproductive horror and pro-flickknife advertorial.

The producers behind “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse,” “Maestro” and more Oscar-nominated films sat down to break down their respective projects at Variety FYC Fest: The Producers. The conversations were moderated by Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay and senior awards editor Clayton Davis. ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ Producer Daniel Lupi

One of the most reliably charming presences on the circuit all season has been Robert Downey Jr. as he speaks about “Oppenheimer,” particularly Christopher Nolan. While some perceive the filmmaker as introverted, Downey has been regularly bringing out a side of the director that is playful – even downright giggly at times. The two nominees

Claire Foy and Richard E. Grant are set to lead a new period drama directed by Peter Glanz. Titled “Savage House,” the eighteenth century black comedy also stars Bel Powley (“A Small Light”) and Jack Farthing (“The Lost Daughter”). Kila Lord Cassidy (“The Wonder”), Richard McCabe (“Napoleon”), Vicki Pepperdine (“Poor Things”) and Pip Torrens (“The

The Academy’s tendency to award trophies to Holocaust movies has long been whispered about — and even occasionally joked about by cheeky comedians.  In 2009, shortly after Kate Winslet won a Golden Globe for her performance as a former Auschwitz guard in “The Reader,” presenter Ricky Gervais pointed to her in the audience and deadpanned,

Prince William is set to attend the BAFTA Awards solo this Sunday as his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, is still recovering at home after a serious abdominal surgery last month. William has been president of BAFTA – better known as the British Academy of Film and Television Arts – since 2010. Last year he

“I think that the six or seven months I spent with Sofia at this time in my life — as a mother, as a wife, having felt like wanting to quit and give up — she pushed me into knowing you have everything that you need inside of you to continue this next chapter and