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Comedy wasn’t always Noam Shuster Eliassi’s purpose in life. But as true callings sometimes do, stand-up found this immensely charismatic and funny intellectual eventually. After all, the magnetic subject of Amber Fares’s urgent, eye-opening and enormously compassionate documentary “Coexistence, My Ass” has always been opinionated, sporting a great sense of humor since childhood. But growing

With a handsome actor like Joel Edgerton, audiences typically find themselves looking at his face, or those ice-blue movie-star eyes. But in “Train Dreams,” I found myself looking at his hands, great big mitts, with thick fingers and knuckles like gnarled roots that don’t get that way on their own. Over the years, I’ve seen

Jennifer Lopez brought major star power to the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance ahead of the world premiere of her new musical, “Kiss of the Spider Woman.” She was joined in the interview by the film’s director, Bill Condon, best known for writing the Oscar-winning “Chicago” and for directing “Dreamgirls,” and co-star Tonatiuh. Lopez was

Bill Murray concedes he hasn’t been proactive about finding work as an actor. The “Groundhog Day” and “Lost in Translation” star has appeared in just a few independent films, such as 2024’s ensemble crime comedy “Riff Raff” and Naomi Watts-led drama “The Friend,” in recent years. “I’ve been lazy,” Murray said at Sundance Film Festival

Two documentaries premiering at Sundance this weekend are set thousands of miles apart — in Nairobi, Kenya and Texas, respectively – but at the heart of their stories is the same thesis: the importance of libraries to any healthy democracy. And, in each of the film’s most compelling scenes, also a plea: to save them.

U.S. filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer, now based in Denmark, worries his “home country is perhaps becoming a dictatorship.”   “It remains to be seen. The question we all face, each and every one of us, is this: ‘Is it too late for us?’ I encourage you to look up and see that above you, there’s still a

Dave Franco and Alison Brie are set to rock the Sundance Film Festival with their horror movie “Together,” and the duo joined the Variety Studio presented by Audible at Sundance to discuss their latest onscreen collaboration. Franco and Brie have been married since 2017. “We love it and we want to keep going,” Franco said

Like many Americans in the early aughts, documentary filmmaker David Osit watched “To Catch a Predator,” a hidden camera reality TV show that followed journalist Chris Hansen working in coordination with law enforcement while conducting sting operations that exposed adult men who were hoping to have sex with minors. “I found it fascinating and weird

The snow-covered Park City feels a world away from Tunis, where Amel Guellaty shot her feature debut “Where the Wind Comes From,” playing Sundance as part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition strand. This real-life journey somewhat echoes that of the film’s main characters, Alyssa (Eya Bellagha) and Mehdi (Slim Baccar), who embark on an

If “To Catch a Predator” taught us anything, it was about the hollow authority asserted by a man in a well-cut suit. Between 2004 and 2007, NBC’s pedophile-baiting “Dateline” spinoff captured the imagination of the American public, announcing itself as not just reality-based entertainment but a protective public service — largely on the strength of

Benedict Cumberbatch was the toast of the town at Sundance during the Variety Cover Party presented by United Airlines. The actor, who graced the cover of Variety‘s 2025 Sundance issue, was honored at the event for his dramatic turn as a grieving father in “The Thing With the Feathers.” The party was held shortly before

“Flight Risk,” an action thriller directed by Mel Gibson and starring Mark Wahlberg as a balding, unhinged pilot, landed in first place with $12 million from 3,161 North American theaters in its opening weekend. It’s the second consecutive Lionsgate release, following “Den of Thieves 2: Pantera,” to debut at No. 1 as the studio takes

Variety & Audible’s Cocktails and Conversations panel at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival brought together journalist Ronan Farrow, Audible’s chief content officer Rachel Ghiazza and actors Juliette Lewis, André Holland and Mamoudou Athie to discuss storytelling for modern audiences. The panel discussion was moderated by Variety Executive Editor Brent Lang. Farrow, who signed a deal

The story around Isaiah Saxon’s feature debut, “The Legend of Ochi,” took a drastic turn, as so many Hollywood stories did, with this month’s Los Angeles fires. Saxon lost his home in the blaze, and the film’s theatrical release was pushed back. However, having spent years developing and working on the fantasy feature, Saxon is

In “The Thing with Feathers,” Benedict Cumberbatch plays a London creator of graphic novels who, quite suddenly, finds himself a widower (his beloved wife collapsed on the kitchen floor and died). In an early scene, we see him try and sustain an atmosphere of everyday normality as he puts breakfast together for his two young

What is it with 30-something Quebecoise filmmakers and their interest in exploring the tired porn trope of unsatisfied wives finding their sexual needs met by hot handymen? In 2023, Monia Chokri’s OK dramedy “The Nature of Love” was selected for Cannes and even won a César for best foreign film. Now, helmer Chloé Robichaud (“Sara

If you don’t know a great deal about bunnies apart from their cuteness, a piece of rabbit-centric trivia you will learn in writer-director Katarina Zhu’s debut feature “Bunnylovr” might just break your heart. Turns out, when bunnies experience a considerable amount of stress or a sudden burst of fear, they might go into a state

The Bob Dylan song choices Timothée Chalamet picked for his “Saturday Night Live” musical appearance were… well, completely unknown to most of the viewing audience. The actor’s dip into more obscure choices delighted many Dylanologists who tuned in, even as his picks defied expectations that he would recreate songs he performed as Dylan in “A

In her feature film work, Palestinian-American writer-director-actor Cherien Dabis has been telling intimately specific familial stories since “Amreeka” (2009). That was the filmmaker’s elegant, modestly scaled and altogether brilliant debut about a Palestinian mother and son, moving from the occupied West Bank to Chicago upon winning a green card lottery. Dabis wasn’t able to seize