Germany’s Beta Film has been working since October’s Mipcom on finding broadcasters for Russian psychological murder-mystery series “Trigger” to the world, and announced yesterday a trio of new territories which have picked up the show. The series is produced by Sreda, one of Russia’s most important TV production companies, and was commissioned by Channel One
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Getty ImagesJamie McCarthy Plot twist: This morning, I woke up sick and popped some French cold medicine from a friend. “You’ll feel sooo much better,” she cooed in her Paris accent, but after I swallowed the pills, I felt nothing at all. Not my body. Not my breath. Not the basic rules of gravity, either,
The emotionally powerful documentary “Merata: How Mum Decolonized the Screen,” which is screening at Berlinale, tells the intimate story of legendary Maori filmmaker Merata Mita, who helped to kick-start indigenous cinema from that corner of the world. Directed by her son, Hepi Mita, it’s also a personal journey through their family life, as Hepi explores
The documentary “Anthropocene: The Human Epoch,” which screens as a Berlinale Special, exists as one part of a multimedia project, conceived by a trio of passionate and dedicated filmmakers: Jennifer Baichwal, Nicholas de Pencier and Edward Burtynsky. The Canadian production enlisted Oscar-winner Alicia Vikander for voice-over duties and serves as one component of a vast
Eminent Indian filmmaker Zoya Akhtar’s new film, “Gully Boy,” had its world premiere at Berlin as part of the Berlinale Special screenings strand. Set in Mumbai’s Dharavi area, one of Asia’s largest slums, the film is loosely based on the lives of street rappers Divine and Naezy, whose music Akhtar first heard in 2014. Akhtar
The proposed $640 million expansion of Britain’s iconic Shepperton Studios has taken another step forward. The proposal received local planning approval Tuesday from the Spelthorne Borough Council, despite some objections from area residents. The Pinewood Group’s £500 million (about $640 million) application to increase Shepperton’s capacity for film and high-end television production now goes to
Sky Vision has secured a raft of international deals with major partners for “8 Days” and “Bullets,” the two high-end drama series it is showcasing in Berlin. The buyers include HBO Europe and RTL in Germany. “8 Days” is produced by Neuesuper for Sky Deutschland and is the pay-TV broadcaster’s latest original drama. Bowing on Sky
Receiving Variety‘s Achievement in International Film Award, Berlin Film Festival chief Dieter Kosslick bid a fond farewell to the event Monday as the end credits loom after his good humored and productive 18-year epic reign. Speaking at the prize-giving event Monday at the Audi Berlinale Lounge – which overlooks the entrance to the fest’s main
“Bullets,” a Finnish, German and Belgian co-production from creator-producer Minna Virtanen and Antti Pesonen, held its market premiere screening on Monday at Berlin’s Drama Series Days, the TV component of the European Film Market. In the series, ex-terrorist Madina Taburova, presumed to be dead, emerges in Helsinki looking for political asylum. Intelligence agent Mari Saari
Based on Thomas Engström’s best-selling series of books, Swedish-German series “West of Liberty” hopes to impress at this year’s Berlinale Drama Series Days. Directed by Barbara Eder, the series was co-created by Sara Heldt and Gunnar Carlsson, with Heldt co-writing alongside Donna Sharpe. Sold by ITV Studios Global Entertainment, the series’ six episodes turn on
Chile will be one of the two countries in focus at Spain’s 3rd Conecta Fiction, a highly popular co-production and networking meeting, and pioneer in building bridges between the European and American TV drama industries. Officially announced Tuesday at the European Film Market in Berlin, Chile’s choice highlights the growing relevance of Chilean TV, which
BERLIN — When news breaks that an asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, a Berlin family is among the many taking flight. In the next eight days, their struggle for survival will probe deeper questions about what binds them, and what might tear them apart. Created by Rafael Parente and Peter Kocyla, “8
Miranda Lambert Dumps Salad On Woman’s Head … Lettuce Explain 2/13/2019 1:00 AM PST EXCLUSIVE Miranda Lambert had a heated exchange with a couple dining at a Nashville steakhouse, and things got so nasty she dumped a salad on a woman she says was provoking her … TMZ has learned. Sources close to Miranda say the
Political turbulence is making it tough for filmmakers in Turkey with ambitions to make movies that can travel globally. But despite many impediments, Turkish auteurs are still managing to maintain a significant presence on the festival circuit. The past year has seen auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan back at Cannes with “The Wild Pear Tree”; newcomer
Stuttgart-based sales company Sola Media is moving into production with a new animated feature as the company seeks to take a more active role in development. The firm has boarded the CGI animated feature “Dreambuilders,” directed by Kim Hagen Jensen and produced by Nynne Selin Eidnes of Copenhagen-based First Lady Film. Sola Media managing director
Every so often, a piece of art emerges that changes the game. Sometimes it is so subtle that it is missed in the moment. Years later, people look back and speak of that art as “a classic.” That is what we’re experiencing with “If Beale Street Could Talk,” Barry Jenkins’ first film after his Oscar-winning
BERLIN — Barbara Lennie and Eduard Fernandez, two of the most admired actors of their generation in Spain, are attached to star in “Nada,” the first drama series from Aquí y Alli Films, one of Spain’s most successful young production houses. Founded by Pedro Hernández in 2010, Aqui y Allí’s movie credits include 2012 Cannes
BERLIN — Netflix is set to unveil three new genre-spanning original series in Berlin on Wednesday. The U.S. streaming giant’s latest slate includes showrunner-director Christian Ditter’s fast-paced German thriller “Biohackers” and Norwegian horror series “Bloodride,” from writer-director Kjetil Indregard (“Maniac”). Netflix will also officially announce “Unorthodox,” from “Deutschland 83” showrunner Anna Winger, which Variety reported
New Locarno artistic director Lilli Hinstin is starting to put her stamp on the Swiss event dedicated to indie cinema with the appointment of a new team and the introduction of a reconfigured midnight movie strand to the fest’s Piazza Grande section. The new still unnamed strand of midnight screenings unspooling in Locarno’s 8,000-seat Piazza
Dave Grohl, who’s no stranger to stages of all sizes seemed a little overwhelmed as he sat for a one-on-one conversation with Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino at the Pollstar Live conference earlier today (Feb. 12). The three-day confab held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel brings together professionals working in the live entertainment industries for
BERLIN — Wide has closed deals in major territories for two Berlinale players, Alexander Gorchilin’s dark Russian drama “Acid,” which screened in Panorama, and Tamer Jandali’s “Easy Love,” which opened the Perspektive Deutsches Kino program. “Acid” (pictured) is the gritty directorial debut of Gorchilin, a 26-year-old Russian theater actor and protégé of celebrated filmmaker Kirill
BERLIN — Verida is a modern girl who works in a beauty salon, stays glued to social media, and gossips with her friends. But she’s engaged to be married to a man she’s never met, and like many girls her age in modern-day Mauritania, she’s forced to gain weight to meet the demands of a
February 12, 2019 7:57PM PT In this week’s edition of the Variety Movie Commercial Tracker, powered by the TV advertising attention analytics company iSpot.tv, DreamWorks Animation claims the top spot in spending with “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.” Ads placed for the fantasy film had an estimated media value of $7.98 million
February 12, 2019 7:27PM PT An attack involving rapper Rich the Kid and his entourage took place outside of the Westlake Recording Studio in West Hollywood, Calif., Tuesday afternoon, Variety has confirmed. Usher was also inside the studio at the time of the incident, but was not involved. A man who was seen running away
SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “Songbird Road Part Two,” the 12th episode of the third season of “This Is Us.” The tragic story of Nicky Pearson came to a dramatic but open-ended close on the 13th episode of the third season of “This Is Us,” in an episode entitled “Songbird
Perhaps the last thing one would expect, in a film that, among other things, playfully weighs the artistic expressiveness of cinema against that of literature, is for the film to come down pretty definitively on the side of the written word. But that is just one of the mischiefs that Peter Parlow’s 76-minute lower-than-lo-fi “The
Spike Lee has tapped Chadwick Boseman to star in his next film, “Da 5 Bloods.” Netflix is in talks to distribute the movie, with Delroy Lindo and Jean Reno also in negotiations to star. Lee will also write the film with Kevin Willmott, based on an original screenplay by Danny Bilson & Paul DeMeo, and rewrite
The third week of the Television Critics Assn. press tour continued Tuesday with presentations from Discovery, Inc. that featured talent across HGTV, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Food Network and Discovery Channel, while Acorn TV and Starz also brought some new spring series, including the former’s “Manhunt” and “Queens of Mystery” and the latter’s “Now Apocalypse,”
The most daring stylistic flourish in Esther Rots’ forensically first-person, raw-nerve drama seems at first like a mistake. Over crisp images of a happy Dutch family — bearded Dad, his pregnant, laughing wife and their blond, tousle-haired daughter driving around in a well-kitted-out camper van — a baritone sings a comic operetta, in English, about
Almost two years and showrunner changes since the first season of “American Gods” wrapped up on Starz, the second season is set to debut in a way that is a “really great way back to the book,” according to series star Ian McShane. “We needed to get back to the line in the book,” he