February 26, 2020 9:10AM PT Film executive Danielle DiGiacomo is joining the upstart distribution company Utopia as head of content, Variety has learned. In this new role, she’ll be acquiring movies and developing release strategies for the boutique label, which last year released titles such as the drama “Mickey and the Bear” and Errol Morris’
Movies
Cohen Media Group has acquired North American rights to the Holocaust drama “Persian Lessons,” following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, where it has become a buzz title. The film was produced after the lead producers met at a Variety “10 Producers to Watch” event in Cannes in 2018, and decided to work
February 26, 2020 7:22AM PT Producer and outgoing board of governors member Margaret Ménégoz has taken over as interim president of the Cesar Academy. The new president is to oversee a transition period until a new board is announced in April. Ménégoz, who has produced films for Michael Haneke, Eric Rohmer and Andrzej Wajda under
The twin pillars of Alfred Döblin’s epochal 480-page 1929 German-language novel and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s deeply influential 15-hour miniseries, first broadcast in 1980, together create an overarching shadow from which Burhan Qurbani’s relatively svelte three-hour contemporary reworking of “Berlin Alexanderplatz” struggles to escape. Although promising a deep-cut dash of contemporary topicality by reimagining the main
Mohammad Rasoulof’s “There is No Evil,” which is having its world premiere at the Berlinale on Feb. 28, has been sold by Films Boutique to major distributors across Europe. The sixth feature from Rasoulof, the critically acclaimed Iranian auteur facing censorship challenges back home, “There is No Evil” made a big impression on buyers and
Nineteen-year-old Claudia lives with her mother, brother and four-year-old son in a public housing complex in Vienna, with no job, no prospects on the horizon, and the present slipping by in a series of uneventful days. But in “Running on Empty,” which premiered Feb. 25 in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival, director Lisa
With relations between Russia and the U.S. growing frostier amid renewed allegations of election interference by Moscow ahead of the 2020 presidential polls, the new head of Russian movie support agency Roskino is banking on a thaw, as the country unveils a host of measures to lure foreign productions and boost the growing Russian film
BERLIN — Teaming two of the most energetic players on the new Spanish-language content scene, El Estudio and Infinity Hill are teaming to produce “Amor es Amor,” Rob Schneider’s Spanish-language movie debut as both an actor and director. A comedy, “Amor es Amor” turns on Enrique Juarez, an up-and-coming Mexican telenovela actor on the verge
Stunned to discover that her son has vanished while studying abroad in Athens, an Iranian woman sets off on a desperate search across the Greek capital to find him. Navigating a foreign and forbidding landscape, she’s forced to also travel deep within herself, uncovering buried truths and offering a chance for her own reinvention. “Pari”
Japanese pay-TV leader Wowow is to expand into theatrical releasing. The company made its theatrical buying debut this week at the Berlin Film Festival’s accompanying European Film Market. With linear channels and a movie-driven on-demand service, Wowow is already one of the leading consumers of movie content in Japan, and boasts 2.8 million subscribers. These
After rocking a quiet Tuesday afternoon with news of leadership changes at the very top of the Walt Disney Corporation, attention has turned to respective divisions at the Hollywood superpower — and to what the side-stepping of Bob Iger and ascension of new CEO Bob Chapek might mean for the future. This includes Disney’s Goliath
In today’s film news roundup, Eric Bana and Melissa Leo launch movie projects, Paradigm names four agents, Michael B. Jordan is being honored and Hilary Swank’s “Fatale” gets a release date. PROJECT LAUNCHES Eric Bana’s Pick Up Truck Pictures and Robert Connolly’s Arenamedia have secured rights to the “Mike the Bike” motorcycle story. Bana will
Global film and TV executives, including “Elizabeth” producer Alison Owen and “Shakespeare in Love” producer David Parfitt, have spoken out about Harvey Weinstein’s guilty verdict, calling it a “seismic” victory that will bring about immutable change. Monday’s long-awaited outcome to the U.S. trial, which saw Weinstein convicted of sexual assault and third-degree rape, has been
February 25, 2020 3:00PM PT “If Beale Street Could Talk’s” Stephan James and Chiwetel Ejiofor are set to star in the adaptation of “The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace” with Antoine Fuqua on board to produce. Ejiofor will also direct the pic with Fuqua and Rebecca Hobbs producing for Fuqua Films, along with
On-the-beat editing for the documentary “Miles Davis: Birth of the Cool” comes courtesy of Lewis Erskine who brings rhythm to the images apace with that perfect flow of the jazz icon’s horn. The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2019 and earned a nomination at the NAACP’s 2020 Image Awards for outstanding documentary
Blumhouse’s “The Invisible Man” finally revealed itself at its premiere at the TCL Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard on Monday. Playing to a packed auditorium, the horror film ratcheted up the tension in the room with its intense, near-silent opening sequence and continued to send waves of screams up the rows of the theater as
Universal Pictures is developing an untitled action-comedy based on an original idea from “Broad City’s” Lucia Aniello and Paul W. Downs with Kevin Hart attached to star. Aniello and Downs will write the script as well as executive produce. Malcolm D. Lee is on board to direct the film with Will Packer and James Lopez
Don Johnson, James Badge Dale, Zsane Jhe, James Cromwell and “The Crown” breakout Erin Doherty are set to join John Boyega in Netflix’s “Rebel Ridge,” a thriller from “Green Room” writer-director Jeremy Saulnier, Variety has learned. Like the 2013 crime drama “Green Room,” Saulnier’s upcoming movie is said to be a high-velocity thriller that explores
February 25, 2020 12:02PM PT Director Colin Trevorrow announced via Twitter on Tuesday that “Jurassic World 3” has started principal production, and he also slyly revealed that the sixth film in the “Jurassic” franchise has a new title: “Jurassic World: Dominion.” The new title — which appears on the slate for the film in Trevorrow’s
Stéphanie Chuat and Véronique Reymond’s “My Little Sister” (“Schwesterlein”) premiered at the Berlin Film Festival on Tuesday to strong critical and audience receptions, with particular praise heaped on lead actors Nina Hoss and Lars Eidinger. In his Variety review, Guy Lodge praised: “This is bright, unaffected naturalism with a fluidly roving camera, but also a
Following the massive success of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy, Universal and author E. L. James are reteaming on the scribe’s next novel as the studio has optioned the rights to “The Mister,” James’ 2019 best-selling romance. Rights for the book, which recently hit the market, sparked a heated bidding war. James, who produced
February 25, 2020 8:30AM PT IFC Films has acquired U.S. rights to “Undine,” a reimagining of an ancient myth from Christian Petzold. The deal continues the relationship between the indie distributor and the German auteur — the two previously worked together on Petzold’s “Phoenix.” “Undine” debuted at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival. IFC Films
February 25, 2020 7:44AM PT Neon has acquired North American rights to “Gunda,” directed by “Aquarela” helmer Victor Kossakovsky and executive produced by Joaquin Phoenix. The film made its world premiere in the Encounters section of the Berlin Film Festival. It is one of the few films in the festival this year to have closed
Three distant mountains; three chatty encounters between long-acquainted women; three comically tiresome intrusions from self-important men shot only from behind. Prolific South Korean arthouse staple Hong Sangsoo has dealt in playful, internally rhyming triplicate before, but never with such a gently sardonic female focus, and seldom as straightforwardly as in his airy, charming Berlin competition
Before being found guilty by a jury and handcuffed on his way to jail, Harvey Weinstein was accused of sexual misconduct, harassment, assault or rape by at least 100 women. On Monday morning, the possibility of Weinstein being imprisoned seemed impossible, to some. How could one of Hollywood’s most powerful men end up behind bars?
February 25, 2020 7:00AM PT National Geographic Documentary Films has bought the documentary “Saudi Runaway,” which follows a young woman in Saudi Arabia attempting to flee the country before her arranged marriage. The deal was announced on Tuesday prior to “Saudi Runaway” screening at the Berlin Film Festival. Directed by Susanne Regina Meures, the movie had
Actors Gerard Butler (pictured above with Soho House’s Dominic Hofer and Studio Babelsberg’s Christoph Fisser), Daniel Brühl and Tom Wlaschiha, who played Jaqen H’ghar in “Game of Thrones,” were among the guests at the Studio Babelsberg Night Friday at Berlin’s Soho House. Other actors at the party included Thomas Kretschmann, Emilia Schuele, Elyas M’Barek, Iris
Breaking Through The Lens, an initiative launched three years ago to promote emerging female directors, has unveiled the shortlist of projects vying to participate in the 3rd edition of its pitching platform set to take place during the Cannes Film Festival. The selected projects, which will be pitched to over 100 financiers and key industry
February 25, 2020 4:24AM PT Tiberius Film, headed by Oliver Fink, has acquired rights for Germany to drama “Blind,” starring Demi Moore and Alec Baldwin, at Berlin’s European Film Market, as well as horror film “Death of Me” and action-horror movie “The Driver.” “Blind” tells the story of a writer who loses his wife and
Hillary Clinton has said that the jury’s verdict in the trial of Harvey Weinstein, formerly one of her primary Hollywood donors, “really speaks for itself.” “It is obviously something that people have looked at and followed, because it was time for an accounting and the jury clearly found that,” said Clinton, who was speaking Tuesday