Movies

Young Italian director Chiara Bellosi is at the Berlinale with “Ordinary Justice” which examines the lives of two families on opposite sides of a murder case who intersect on the benches outside the room where the case is being tried. This first work, screening in Generation14Plus, is produced by Carlo Cresto-Dina’s Tempesta Film which discovered Alice Rohrwacher (“The

These days, the horror-fantasy thriller tends to be a junk metaphysical spook show that throws a whole lot of scary clutter at the audience — ghosts, “demons,” mad killers — without necessarily adding up to an experience that’s about anything. But in “The Invisible Man,” Leigh Whannell’s ingenious and entertaining update of a concept that’s

February 24, 2020 10:18PM PT “Blast,” a high-concept thriller produced and represented in international markets by Paris-based company Wide, has sold to several territories at the EFM in Berlin. Vanya Peirani-Vignes’ feature debut, “Blast” takes place Parisian parking lot where Sonia finds herself trapped in her car with her son while her boyfriend’s daughter has

For a feature debut that he describes as a contemporary Western, Greek director Georgis Grigorakis settled on a familiar archetype — “a lonely guy with his horse, with his shotgun” — who, in keeping with the genre’s conventions, is drawn into a confrontation and is prepared to fight to the bitter end in the defense

Tamara Kotevska and Ljubomir Stefanov, the Macedonian directors of the dual Oscar-nominated documentary “Honeyland,” are prepping several new projects, Variety has learned exclusively. The directing duo are looking to build on the success of their debut, a moving portrait of a lone beekeeper struggling to preserve a traditional way of life, which was nominated for

February 24, 2020 10:09PM PT Barcelona-based Rodar y Rodar, producer of Spanish horror titles such as J.A. Bayona’s “The Orphanage” and Oriol Paulo’s “The Body, has thrown its weight behind David Casademunt’s “The Beast,” boarding it as its main producer. “The Beast,” which participated in Filmarket Hub’s 2017 Sitges Pitchbox event as well as Ventana

Italy’s Pepito Prods., at Berlin with competition drama “Bad Tales” by Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, is emerging as a new home for the country’s auteurs.  The company, headed by former RAI head of drama Agostino Saccà in January, scored more than $6 million in Italian cinemas with veteran Gianni Amelio’s “Hammamet,” a biopic of disgraced

Les Films du Kiosque, the Paris-based production company behind Nicolas Bedos’ Cannes-premiering “La Belle Epoque” and Netflix’ hit original “Family Business,” is set to reteam with Bedos on “Masquarade,” and will produce Mabrouk El Mechri’s “Kung Fu Zohra.” El Mechri’s film follows Zohra, a young cashier from the suburbs who is being physically abused by

After its usual slow start, Berlin’s European Film Market came to closely resemble the state of the underlying film industry: unsettled, angry and uneasily attempting to adjust to major change. Where the film festival has new leaders in artistic director Carlo Chatrian and managing director Mariette Rissenbeek, following changes of leadership at Panorama and Forum,

In today’s film news roundup, IFC buys a Liam Neeson comedy and STX takes territories on Karen Gillan and Lena Headey’s “Gunpowder Milkshake.” ACQUISITIONS IFC Films is acquiring U.S. rights to James D’Arcy’s feature directorial debut, “Made In Italy,” starring Liam Neeson and Micheál Richardson. “Made In Italy” will receive a traditional theatrical release in

Diana Serra Cary, the child silent film star known by the nickname Baby Peggy, died on Monday in Gustine, Calif. She was 101. Born on October 29, 1918 as Peggy Jean Montgomery, Cary began her career in the film industry at the early age of 19 months. During a visit with her mother and a

The idea for “Mogul Mowgli” first began in 2017 when British actor, rapper and activist Riz Ahmed met Bassam Tariq, a producer and independent filmmaker, between trips to New York. Almost three years later, the pair is debuting “Mogul Mowgli” in Berlin’s Panorama. The film, which Tariq directed and co-wrote with Ahmed, who also stars,

Anthony Rapp is not surprised that Harvey Weinstein has been found guilty of sexual assault and third-degree rape in New York. The actor — who became one of the first prominent men in the #MeToo movement when he alleged that Kevin Spacey had made a sexual advance toward him when Rapp was 14 — says

David Permut, the Oscar-nominated producer of “Hacksaw Ridge,” has acquired the life rights to the story of John Franzese Jr., the son of the Colombo crime family’s second-in-command, Sonny Franzese. The elder Franzese passed away on Sunday at the age of 103. Franzese Jr. became active in the family business during the 1980s, leading to

Annabella Sciorra hailed the guilty verdict against ex-mogul Harvey Weinstein, which included a “criminal sexual act” and third-degree rape, on Monday. Weinstein was also acquitted on two counts of predatory sexual assault that centered on Sciorra’s testimony — indicating that the jurors did not believe, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Weinstein had raped and assaulted

Feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem has spoken out about Monday’s criminal judgment against Harvey Weinstein, which saw the disgraced mogul convicted of rape and a criminal sex act. “Given the fact that this wave of feminism started in a time when the law treated (white) virgins as the only probable victims of rape —

February 24, 2020 1:49PM PT SAG-AFTRA president Gabrielle Carteris has hailed the verdicts in the Harvey Weinstein case, with the disgraced ex-mogul found guilty of committing a criminal sexual act and third-degree rape. “Justice was served today and Harvey Weinstein was held accountable for his crimes,” Carteris said. “But it is only a beginning. We

“Siberia” is the sixth film Abel Ferrara has made with Willem Dafoe, and by the end of it, were it not for vivid memories of past collaborations with Harvey Keitel and Christopher Walken, it would be hard to conceive of him ever having cast anyone else. Ferrara and Dafoe were always an obvious fit —

February 24, 2020 12:54PM PT Due to the coronavirus, Paramount Pictures is delaying its plans for a three-week shoot of Tom Cruise’s “Mission: Impossible 7” in Venice, Italy. The studio issued an announcement Monday that cited the Venetian government’s missive to halt public gatherings. Italy has more than 150 confirmed cases of the disease. “Out

As Harvey Weinstein sat in court when his verdict was being called, it was difficult to see the reaction on his face as the former powerhouse producer was surrounded by a swarm of court officers — but Weinstein’s attorney says the fallen mogul was stunned by the guilty verdict. “The words he said over and

A Generation Kplus entry, “Las niñas” (Schoolgirls) is a coming-of-age story and a generational portrait of Spanish women who would now be in their forties. This tale of sexual awakening takes place in a Catholic education center at the beginnings of the 90’s when Spain’s democracy was 15 years old. Spain had experienced galloping modernity;

Kino Lorber has picked up U.S. and English-speaking Canadian distribution rights for Hubert Sauper’s award-winning documentary “Epicentro.” Described as an “immersive and metaphorical portrait of post-colonial Cuba,” the pic won the World Documentary Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Sauper previously directed the 2006 Oscar-nominated “Darwin’s Nightmare” and 2014’s “We Come as

February 24, 2020 9:08AM PT Hulu has nabbed exclusively U.S. streaming rights to “Parasite,” the film that made history as the first foreign-language film to win best picture at this year’s Oscars. Under a deal with indie studio Neon, “Parasite” will be available on Hulu beginning Wednesday, April 8, the Disney-controlled streamer announced. The movie

February 24, 2020 8:19AM PT Fears of the Coronavirus spreading across the world sent major stock indices tumbling on Monday morning. Shares of Disney and Amazon were down more than 4% in early trading as reports that the deadly virus has hit South Korea and Italy spooked investors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down

The most defining and far-reaching decision made by German Chancellor Angela Merkel during her 15 years in office is the focus of a new film making its debut at Berlin’s European Film Market. “Merkel — Anatomy of a Crisis,” directed by Stephen Wagner, stars Imogen Kogge as the German leader during the dramatic days leading

If you’ve ever felt frustrated when a website asks you to select photos of traffic lights in order to prove that you’re not a robot, or struggled for a way to keep all your internet passwords straight, then digital-age satire “Delete History” was made with you in mind. Like the spam folder on your Google

Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who has worked with David Bowie in various guises and scored movies by greats such as Bernardo Bertolucci, Pedro Almodovar, and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, will be honored by the Locarno Film Festival. Sakamoto, an electronic music pioneer whose Yellow Magic Orchestra, formed in 1978, anticipated both techno and rap music debuted

Picturehouse Entertainment has picked up U.K. distribution rights for the Sundance prize-winning documentary “The Reason I Jump” from MetFilm Sales. Picturehouse’s Clare Binns and Paul Ridd and MetFilm’s Vesna Cudic negotiated the deal following the film’s world premiere at last month’s Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Audience Award. Directed by

“How I Met Your Mother” and “Sex Tape” actor Jason Segel has said it was a “magical midlife crisis” that inspired his new AMC series “Dispatches From Elsewhere,” in which the actor was able to take creative control and work outside of studio constraints. Segel, who was speaking Monday as part of a keynote address

“Little America,” an upcoming Sylvester Stallone-starring sci-fi-action thriller, has proven to be a strong attraction for sales powerhouse AGC International. With Rowan Athale writing and directing, the project was introduced earlier this week at the Berlin Film Festival’s European Film Market. Athale (“Wasteland,” “Outside the Wire,” “Way Down”) was in Berlin and met with distributors.