Month: April 2024

FRENCH CONCESSION Vietnamese French director and screenwriter Tran Anh Hung has been named as president of the jury for the upcoming Shanghai International Film Festival. The festival, which runs June 14 to 23, said that his works “blend the expressions of Eastern and Western cultures, with sensitivity, delicacy, and a romantic style.” His films include:

Jerry Seinfeld said in an interview with The New Yorker while touting his feature directorial effort “Unfrosted” that “P.C. crap” and the “extreme left” is making television comedy go extinct. Seinfeld is a sitcom icon thanks to his eponymous NBC sitcom that ran between 1989 and 1998, but he says viewers no longer flock to

Universal Studios Hollywood premiered “The Fall Guy Stuntacular Pre-Show” at the “WaterWorld” set on Saturday. The live stunt performance, featuring Ryan Gosling and “The Fall Guy” director David Leitch, came six days before “The Fall Guy” hits theaters May 3. The “Stuntacular Pre-Show” premiere was staged as the stunt performers’ final dress rehearsal and dedicated

Filmmakers Joe and Anthony Russo were responsible for some of Marvel’s biggest box office hits, from “Captain America: Civil War” to “Avengers: Endgame,” but they don’t necessarily believe superhero fatigue is to blame for the studio’s recent struggles. Marvel had a tough 2023 with two flops: “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.” Speaking

China- and Netherlands-based sales firm Fortissimo Films has picked up the international rights to new Chinese animation feature “The Umbrella Fairy.” It will launch the film next month at the Cannes Market. “The Umbrella Fairy” tells the story of Qingdai, a royal umbrella’s fairy. As Qingdai fails her mission to guard a sword’s fairy who

Studiocanal and Editions Albert René have signed an exclusive development agreement for the sixth live-action film of the adventures of beloved French comic book character Asterix. Created in 1959 by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo, Asterix is celebrating its 65th anniversary in 2024. The series follows the adventures of Asterix and Obelix and their friends

Berlin-based sales agency M-Appeal has acquired worldwide rights to the LGBTQ romantic comedy “Perfect Endings,” directed by Daniel Ribeiro. The Brazilian film is set to make its world premiere later this year. “Perfect Endings” centers on filmmaker João. After a decade-long relationship ends, he finds himself at a crossroads in both his personal and professional

Beta Cinema has added Andres Veiel‘s upcoming documentary film “Riefenstahl,” about controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, to its Cannes lineup. The film is an exploration of Riefenstahl’s legacy, delving deep into her complex relationship with the Nazi regime. With unprecedented access to Riefenstahl’s 700-box personal archive, the documentary navigates between her sanitized narrative and incriminating evidence

Archie Yates, breakout star of Taika Waititi’s “Jojo Rabbit,” leads debutant Jordan Murphy Doidge’s coming-of-age drama “Clout | A Cautionary Tale.” Yates scored a nomination at the Critics Choice Awards in the best young actor/actress category for “Jojo Rabbit.” In “Clout,” co-written by Tom Duthie, Tristam Thomas and Doidge, Yates plays boarding school teen Oskar who

Mike Leigh, the veteran director of “Vera Drake,” “Another Year” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” will be honored at Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival with its Career Achievement Golden Bee Award. Leigh will also host a masterclass at the festival, the second edition of which is taking place June 22 to 30 in Malta’s capital city of Valletta. The

Sunrise Films has acquired Luna Carmoon’s “Hoard” for the U.S. and Canada. The film debuted at Venice in 2023, where it won three prizes. It went on to an extended festival run including at the BFI London Film Festival, Athens, Mumbai and Goteborg. Sunrise Films is a new production and internationally focused distribution company that

“Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In,” a Hong Kong-produced action thriller, took the top spot at the mainland China box office over the latest weekend. But it was a quiet session and came ahead of a welter of new releases targeting the May Day public holiday. The film, which is among those that have a

Phoebe Dynevor and Bella Ramsey star in the new short film “More Flames,” from Adam McKay‘s Yellow Dot Studios and Climate Spring, which marks the launch of the #FlipTheScript campaign aimed at changing the narrative around the climate crisis. Alongside Dynevor and Ramsey, “More Flames” also features Amar Chadha-Patel (“Slip,” “Willow”) and was written and

Prolific Philippines-based Epicmedia Productions has come on board “The Passport,” a Malaysian coming of age story about a Tamil family and their punk rock daughter. Production is by Malaysia’s Sixtymac Pictures. Currently at financing stage, the project will mark the directing debut of Ananth Subramaniam, whose short films have played at BiFan and Fantasia, and

Epsilon Film, the recently launched world sales company led by former Global Screen executives Julia Weber and Alice von Einem, has revealed its Cannes Market lineup. Heading the slate is animated feature film “Mimi&Harold – Out of Frame,” produced by Ulysses Filmproduktion, the company behind international sales and box office hit “The Amazing Maurice,” as

Filmmaker and journalist Subina Shrestha’s “Devi”—about Devi Khadka’s journey from surviving wartime rape to fighting alongside rebel guerrillas in Nepal’s civil war to working for justice in her country’s transitional justice movement—lands at Toronto’s Hot Docs as international awareness of and concern about the safety, rights, and health of women in conflict zones around the

Memento International has boarded “The Ugly Stepsister,” the ambitious feature debut of Norwegian director Emilie Blichfeldt. The company will kick off sales at this year’s Cannes. Combining comedy and horror, the film is a daring and unexpected take on the world-famous tale, seen through the eyes of the Cinderella’s stepsister, Elvira. The gory film follows