February 11, 2019 4:34AM PT Zhang Yimou’s “One Second,” set during China’s 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, has been withdrawn from the Berlin Film Festival, where it was to premiere in competition. The festival confirmed Monday that the title had been withdrawn. The first announcement of it appeared on the film’s official Weibo site, China’s version of
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It wasn’t Soho House, the Polo Lounge or the Four Seasons that Mark Ronson chose for his post-Grammy “Club Heartbreak” celebration with some of the biggest stars in music. Rather, Adele, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Troye Sivan, Charli XCX and the girls from Haim were among the revelers at Oil Can Harry’s in Studio City,
In an open letter to Berlinale director Dieter Kosslick and German culture and media commissioner Monika Grütters, 160 independent exhibitors are calling for Isabel Coixet’s competition film “Elisa y Marcela” to be shown out of competition. “We, the independent arthouse cinema operators in Germany, do not agree with the fact that ‘Elisa y Marcela,’ by
February 11, 2019 3:25AM PT NBCUniversal International Networks has acquired crime drama “The Murders” across multiple European markets as well as for Africa, it announced Monday. The police procedural, which stars Jessica Lucas (pictured) will air from mid-2019 on Universal TV in the U.K. and Africa, and on 13thStreet in France, Germany, Spain, and Poland.
February 11, 2019 1:50AM PT Former “X Factor” champion Shayne Ward will star in homegrown British horror movie “Skendleby.” Mark Jackson (“The Orville”) and Niamh McGrady (“The Fall”) will also star. Ward triumphed on the second-ever edition of the “X Factor” in the U.K. in 2005 before going on to build an acting career and starring
February 11, 2019 1:21AM PT “The Deer and the Cauldron,” one of the best-known martial arts novel series, is to be reborn as a major feature film franchise. Hong Kong’s Pang Ho-cheung (“Love in a Puff,” “Isabella”) is to produce and direct. Pang plans to shoot three movies, back to back, each with a budget
February 10, 2019 11:55PM PT Yuval Adler’s thriller “The Secrets We Keep” has pre-sold into multiple territories. AGC is financing and selling the title, which stars Noomi Rapace (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) and Joel Kinnaman (“Altered Carbon”), and sealed the deals in Berlin. Amazon has taken the rights in France, Universum in Germany,
February 10, 2019 11:00PM PT The Doha Film Institute has added Oscar-winning production designer Eugenio Caballero and Italian director Alice Rohrwacher to the lineup of top talents who will hold master classes and act as mentors during its Qumra event which blends creative workshop and festival elements. They join previously announced prominent directors Agnès Varda,
You know what happens at the end of every Grammys telecast: Cue the outrage. Except, what are we going to do with our reserves of snark? Because this year, the number of clearly embarrassing or risible major winners this year was zero. About the best huff most of us veteran Grammy watchers will be able to
Anyone who casts an eye over the long-form dramas premiering at this year’s Berlin Intl. Film Festival can find many series that are ripe for picking by new territories — as well as plenty that have already been pounced on by in-the-know buyers. Since it launched five years ago, the Berlinale Series program has become
BERLIN — When Variety conducted the following interview, “Arde Madrid” was a Movistar + Original Series which was sparking good word of mouth from sneak peak screenings over the summer in Madrid. Since then, it has gone on to world premiere to acclaim at the San Sebastián Festival, be renewed for a second season, become
Italian TV and film production company Palomar – which is at the Berlin Film Festival with Claudio Giovannesi’s competition entry “Pirhanas” – last month forged a strategic alliance with France’s Mediawan under which Mediawan took a majority stake in Palomar which, in turn, became a Mediawan stakeholder. The deal marked the first acquisition outside France
BERLIN — A desperate city hunts for a child killer in the six-part drama series “M – A City Hunts a Murderer,” a modern-day interpretation of Fritz Lang’s iconic film which world premieres Feb. 12 as part of the Berlin Film Festival’s TV strand, Berlinale Series. The six-hour limited series is a Superfilm production by John
Already being tipped by some sources as the most beautiful movie in Berlin this year, “So Long, My Son” is Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai’s biggest film to date. Biggest in terms of ambition, budget and scale. He sets out to chronicle 40 years of Chinese economic development and to tell the personal stories of two
Gaumont has closed key deals on Rémi Bezançon’s “The Mystery of Henri Pick,” which is having its market premiere at the European Film Market. The mystery-comedy, which is headlined by French stars Fabrice Luchini and Camille Cottin, was produced by Mandarin Production, the company behind Francois Ozon’s Berlinale competition film “By the Grace of God.”
Radoslaw Smigulski (right), general director of the Polish Film Institute, hosted Friday’s Polish Party at Berlin’s Ewerk, where the guests included Agnieszka Holland (left), director of Berlin competition film “Mr. Jones,” and European Film Academy chairwoman. Among the guests were filmmakers Sergei Loznitsa and Olga Chajdas, Antoine le Bos, founder of Groupe Ouest, Philip Ilienko,
Ariana Grande’s beef with the Recording Academy appears to be growing despite her win Sunday night for best pop vocal album. In a series of since-deleted tweets, the “Thank U, Next” artist expressed frustration that the family of her late ex-boyfriend Mac Miller was invited to the Grammys despite the fact that Miller would lose
XXXTentacion, who was shot to death in June 2018, was rejected from the Grammys’ in memoriam segment on Sunday night. According to a source, representatives for the late rapper requested repeatedly that the Recording Academy recognize the artist, whose “Sad!” was one of the most consumed songs of 2018. But because of the rapper’s history
February 10, 2019 9:40PM PT 21 Savage may not have been able to attend the Grammys, but his absence was still on the minds of his colleagues and fellow nominees. The two time Grammy nominated rapper made headlines after he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Atlanta for allegedly overstaying his visa.
Carlo Chatrian, the incoming artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival, is bringing the core of his Locarno fest programming team with him when he takes up his new post in the German capital in June, Variety has learned. Set to be part of Chatrian’s Berlinale team are the Locarno Film Festival’s outgoing head of
The eight selected projects set to participate in this year’s inaugural edition of the FICG TV Pitchbox, have been announced by the event’s organizers, Filmarket Hub. In timing and location, part of Mexico’s Guadalajara Festival, the event has the potential to become an important pit-stop in Latin America’s already vibrant circuit of TV events. Chile
Last year, the Grammys came under fire for a relative dearth of female winners and performers onstage and, furthermore, for Recording Academy chief Neil Portnow saying that women needed to “step up” in order to be recognized. “I guess this year we really stepped up,” best new artist winner Dua Lipa quipped in her acceptance speech. But
mk2 films has scored major sales across its slate, including on Céline Sciamma’s female-driven period drama “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” an 18th century-set drama that is expected to premiere in Cannes. Other sales standouts on mK2’s slate include “Arab Blues,” “Varda by Agnes” and “The Whistlers.” “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” marks
Childish Gambino made history at this year’s Grammys with hip-hop’s first ever wins in the song of the year and the record of the year categories. “No matter where you’re born or what country you’re from, you connect with ‘This Is America,’” said producer Ludwig Göransson during his acceptance speech. “It speaks to people, kind of
Munich-based sales company Morefilms is moving into production with Nazi war criminal thriller “Life Through a Dead Man’s Eyes.” The film, which is set to begin production this fall, has pre-sold to Dubai-based Gulf Film for the Middle East and was also acquired by Der Filmverleih in Stuttgart for Germany. Morefilms has now also boarded
Paris-based Slot Machine is re-teaming with Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa, whose film “Donbass” won Cannes’s Un Certain Regard directing prize, on his long-gestating project “Babi Yar,” which will mark his most ambitious film to date. The film will chronicle the September 1941 massacre of 30,000 Jews by Nazi troops over a three-day period. Marianne Slot,
A major presale has been signed for “Bella Germania,” and fittingly for a sweeping tale of Italian immigrants in Germany, it has been picked up by RAI. The Italian pubcaster will play it on its flagship free-TV station RAI Uno and is expected to launch it this summer. Spanning several generations, “Bella Germania” comprises three
February 10, 2019 9:00PM PT Italian director Alice Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”) will direct two of the eight episodes of RAI and HBO’s Elena Ferrante adaptation “The Story of a New Name,” the second season of “My Brilliant Friend,” according to sources. A representative for Wildside, the show’s production company, had no comment. Director Saverio
February 10, 2019 8:37PM PT Longtime music executive Angelica Cob-Baehler, who died in November at age 47, was remembered during the Grammys in memoriam segment on Sunday night. A public relations and management strategist who worked at Atlantic Records, Columbia and Epic Records before segueing to broader roles at Capitol Records and The Firm, Cob-Baehler’s clients
The Grammy Awards proudly positioned 2019 as the Year of the Woman, but in the end, after more than 140 trophies were handed out, did parity pan out? In terms of the final female count on stage, it was no contest. Between the opening surprise of Michelle Obama, Kacey Musgraves (who performed twice), Janelle Monae,