Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” took home multiple awards at the 14th Music Supervisors Guild Awards, held March 3 at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre. The event celebrates outstanding achievement in the craft of music supervision, acknowledging work across film, television, documentaries, advertising, trailers and video games. George Drakoulias of “Barbie” won best music supervision for a film budgeted
Month: March 2024
After a years-long investigation, the European Commission levied a fine against Apple of €1.8 billion — about $1.95 billion — for “abusing its dominant position on the market for the distribution of music streaming apps” to iPhone and iPad users. The EU said Monday its investigation into Apple, which was kicked off by a complaint
Mexican director Lila Avilés, whose meteoric rise on the international stage, with just two feature films, both of which have represented Mexico at the Oscars, is among eight women storytellers selected by Mattel to be immortalized with Barbie dolls in their likeness. Avilés joins Academy Award-winning actors Helen Mirren and Viola Davis along with Canadian
Indie Spanish film studio Filmax has picked up international sales rights to “Alumbramiento” (‘Birth’), the sophomore feature by Pau Teixidor (“Purgatorio”), set up at Aquí y Allí Films, the production house run by Pedro Hernández Santos and behind “Something is About to Happen,” and “Life and Nothing More.” Co-written by Teixidor and Lorena Iglesias (“Towards Bruce
“Midnights” fans, rejoice: “Maroon” is one of the four bonus acoustic songs included in the Disney+ version of “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour.” At the end of a trailer Disney+ dropped on Monday, the first few notes of “Maroon” can be heard, revealing that the track is one of the surprise acoustic songs included in
Incoming BBC chair Samir Shah has indicated the corporation’s finances and independence are at the top of his priority list. In an internal memo, Shah said his role as chair was to “protect and champion the BBC” and ensure its future. Of all his responsibilities in the role, the TV executive said “arguably the most
Malaga-based writer-producer Ezekiel Montes is teaming with director Sergio Siruela on “Aullar,” a thriller centering on a father-daughter relationship. Elena Martínez, who worked with Montes on the appreciable 2021 crime thriller “A Dead Man Cannot Live” and Rafa Russo’s 2023 drama “Devoción,” stars in the film as a strong and independent woman struggling to make
FESTIVALS AND MARKETS The 2024 BFI London Film Festival has announced its dates, with the biggest film festival in the U.K. set to be held Oct. 9-20. The late-in-the-year slot has traditionally given the event the opportunity to program some of the most notable films from the summer festivals while also showcasing some of the
UPDATE: Actor turned right-wing political activist Laurence Fox‘s misogynistic rant on episode of “Dan Wootton Tonight” on U.K. channel GB News has fallen afoul of media regulator Ofcom. Comments made during the program by Fox targeting female political journalist, Ava Evans, prompted 8,867 complaints to Ofcom with viewers expressing concerns that his remarks were sexist,
The estate of the late Sinéad O’Connor has denounced Donald Trump’s use of the singer-songwriter’s performance of “Nothing Compares 2 U” at his campaign rallies. Trump most recently played the song at events in Maryland and North Carolina in the past week. In a statement to Variety, O’Connor’s estate and label Chrysalis Records demanded that
Ireland appears to be everywhere on screen at the minute — and it isn’t just a trend. Where 2022 and 2023 had “The Banshees of Inisherin,” Paul Mescal, “The Quiet Girl” and short film “The Irish Goodbye” making noise throughout awards season, plus John Carney’s “Flora and Son” being snapped up in Sundance by Apple
Seriesmakers, a joint initiative of Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival, and European film-TV powerhouse Beta Group, has revealed the 10 top-notch project lineup of the second edition of its novel and high-powered mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut. This year’s Seriesmakers features in development drama series from Oscar winner Kevin Macdonald
Rolling off “The Three Musketeers,” Pathé and Dimitri Rassam’s Chapter 2 (a Mediawan company) have unveiled the teaser and poster for their next period epic, “The Count of Monte-Cristo,” starring Pierre Niney (“Yves Saint Laurent,” “Black Box”) in the title role. Based on Alexandre Dumas’ literary masterpiece, the film tells the story of a young
The anticipated goldrush for African creators sparked by Netflix’s 2016 entry into the market hasn’t entirely come to fruition, though the influx of investment from local and global streaming platforms has nevertheless been transformative for Africa’s screen industries. Budgets, production values and outputs are rising, and breakout hits — such as Netflix’s Nigerian thriller “The
Giants of U.K. TV and streaming have combined for the fourth iteration of The TV Collective’s groundbreaking Breakthrough Leaders program. The program aims to identify and empower 50 exceptional individuals from Black, Asian and global majority (a collective term for people of Indigenous, African, Asian, Latin American descent, who constitute some 85% of the global
MALAGA — Opening last Friday with “Dragonkeeper,” also in competition, Spain’s Malaga Festival, its biggest dedicated event for movies from Spain and Latin America, is studded by latest films by Isaki Lacuesta – “Saturn Return,” reportedly fun, broad audience and radical – David Trueba – “The Good Man,” small scale but almost certainly ingratiating – and
Two Spanish female stars who have broken out to huge global audiences in Netflix hits – “Nowhere” and “A Perfect Story” lead Anna Castillo and Ester Expósito, highly prominent in “Elite” in early seasons – are set to star in dramedic vampire thriller “Death to Love,” (“Que muera el amor”), the first series created by
Filmax has acquired international rights to Spanish thriller “Nina,” the new feature written and directed by Andrea Jaurrieta (“Ana by Day”) that bows at this week’s Málaga Film Festival as one of its higher profile titles in main competition. Loosely based on the play of the same name by José Ramón Fernández, which borrows elements
South African rural community thriller “Snake,” the closing film of the 6th Joburg Film Festival, is a feature that wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for streamer money. Based on the heart-wrenching 2011 book by Tracey Farren, who also penned the screenplay, a powerless farm girl Stella, played by 9-year-old Lamiyah Barnard, becomes the
“Oppenheimer” collected more trophies on Sunday night as it topped the feature competition at the 71st annual Motion Picture Sound Editors Golden Reel Awards. During a ceremony held at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles, the team from Christopher Nolan’s drama about the father of the atomic bomb won a pair of awards in
Hoyte Van Hoytema has taken top honors at the 38th annual American Society of Cinematographers Awards for his work on “Oppenheimer.” Van Hoytema topped a field that included Edward Lachman for “El Conde, Matthew Libatique for “Maestro,” Rodrigo Prieto for “Killers of the Flower Moon” and Robbie Ryan for “Poor Things.” The awards were handed
Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” topped the dramatic feature editing category at the American Cinema Editors’ 74th ACE Eddie Awards, while “The Holdovers” won the category for best edited comedic feature during Sunday’s ceremony at UCLA’s Royce Hall. Jennifer Lame edited “Oppenheimer,” which also took top honors at last week’s SAG Awards and Producers Guild Awards. The
Chris Mortensen, an award-winning journalist who reported on the NFL for ESPN for decades, died Sunday. He was 72. Mortensen’s family confirmed the news to ESPN. While a cause of death was not revealed, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 throat cancer in January 2016. “Mort was widely respected as an industry pioneer and universally
Hollywood union leaders warned of the possibility of another strike this summer if the studios cannot reach a deal before crew contracts expire on July 31. Speaking to a rally of more than 2,000 crew members on Sunday at Woodley Park in Encino, Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of the Teamsters, said
Will Shortz, the longtime crossword puzzle editor of the New York Times and NPR’s “puzzlemaster” for more than three decades, suffered a stroke last month and has spent the last several weeks rehabilitating. Shortz revealed the injury in a recorded message aired on on NPR’s “Weekend Edition Sunday” on March 5. He has been absent
Mark Dodson, a voice actor known for “Gremlins” and “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” died Saturday. He was 64. Stellar Appearances, Dodson’s talent agency for personal appearances, shared the news on Facebook. “Mark worked on dozens of movies, video games, commercials and advertisements adding his unique voice and sound to each character and script
The #MeToo movement has claimed another casualty. Spain’s Málaga Film Festival, unspooling March 1-10, has canceled the participation of U.S.-born director Julio Hernandez Cordon’s vampire drama “The Day is Long and Dark” (“El día es largo y oscuro”) at the festival, citing “complaints regarding acts of gender violence.” In a press release issued on Feb.
“Dune: Part Two” is turbocharging the international box office. Director Denis Villeneuve’s otherworldly sequel has generated $97 million from 71 overseas markets, bringing its global tally to a promising $178.5 million. Those worldwide revenues include $81.5 million from North American theaters, where it landed the biggest domestic opening weekend of the year. The movie, starring
MALAGA — Antonio Chavarrías’ “Holy Mother,” Celia Rico’s “Little Loves” and Diogo Viegas’s “Alice’s Diary” play at this year’s 3rd Spanish Screenings Content, the Malaga Festival’s part of the Spanish Screenings XXL, Spain’s biggest international industry platform in its history, featuring over March 4-7 and – when it comes to Málaga – the monumental number of
Producing successful Black female-fronted comedy in South Africa is no joke but Black female producers and writers Reabetswe Moeti-Vogt and Zoe Ramushu are determined to bring about change in front of and behind the lens. Their film “Real Estate Sisters” screened this week at the 6th Joburg Film Festival in South Africa. “Real Estate Sisters”