Movies

Principal photography has wrapped on “Ali & Ava,” the fourth feature from writer-director Clio Barnard (“Dark River,” “The Selfish Giant”), starring Adeel Akhtar (“Four Lions”) and Claire Rushbrook (“Secrets & Lies”). The contemporary British love story follows Ava (Rushbrook), a respected matriarch on a predominantly white Bradford estate masking the scars left by an abusive

Netflix continued to make strides in its European expansion on Thursday, unveiling a swanky multi-floor Paris office and announcing 20 new French shows and movies in the pipeline. Located in the heart of the city and staffed with 40 employees, Netflix’s office launch attracted French industry figures, including producers and filmmakers working with or looking

Jan Naszewski’s Warsaw-based sales company has boarded Finnish-Iranian Hamy Ramezan’s debut feature “Any Day Now,” to be shown as a work in progress at Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market, WHICH RUNS Jan 30.-Feb 2. Ramezan’s drama, produced by Aamu Film Company (“The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki”), already enjoys a strong buzz from

One of the unintended consequences of the boom in global production is a corresponding surge in film and TV tourism. A spate of research in recent years has shown that viewers of popular films and TV shows are increasingly deciding to visit their locations, or to make a trip to the country where they were

As the Nordisk Film & TV Fond prepares to celebrates its 30th anniversary, at this month’s Göteborg Film Festival, CEO Liselott Forsman has outlined her vision for the upcoming yearm which sees the fund boasting a record high budget of NOK 127 million ($12.8 million), up from last year’s total of NOK 97.75 million ($11.4

Speaking at an industry round-table at the Paris-based Production Forum on Thursday, Dominique Boutonnat, president of France’s National Film Board (CNC), announced a new plan to update local production studios in order to make them more internationally competitive. The modest plan, which involves new funding, training sessions and additional research, follows a March 2019 report,

Writer-director Mark Jenkin, whose feature debut “Bait” was nominated for two BAFTAs last week, has set his next project, “Enys Men” (“Stone Island”), with Film4. Jenkin will direct from his own script. Denzil Monk is producing for Bosena. Johnny Fewings is executive producing, with Kate Byers and Linn Waite as associate producers. Film4 will co-finance the

CineAsia, the long-running convention for the film exhibition and distribution sectors, has ditched Hong Kong, its home for the past decade. It was forced to cancel the 2019 edition in December, due to the political unrest in the city. New York-based organizer, the Film Expo Group, announced on Friday by email that the 2020 edition

January 16, 2020 11:50PM PT An old camcorder tape harbors a jumble of ersatz ’80s home movies and broadcast clips in this lukewarm comedy-skit assembly. Its slim premise involving a couple of 13-year-old boys having fun with a camcorder in the late ’80s, “VHYes” is maybe a little too faithful to their sensibility — being

January 16, 2020 11:30PM PT Square-peg lawyer Justin Long plunges down a rabbit’s hole of druggy disorientation in a surreal black comedy-lite. A sort of “After Hours” update with a lot more drugs and time ellipses, “The Wave” throws Justin Long down a rabbit’s hole of sometimes hallucinatory, sometimes mortal peril when his button-down protagonist

In today’s film news roundup, Jon Bernthal is cast in “King Richard,” FilmFreeway sets a Toronto Film Festival deal and “Phoenix, Oregon” gets distribution. CASTING Jon Bernthal is in talks to star as tennis coach Rick Macci in Warner Bros.’ “King Richard” opposite Will Smith. Reinaldo Marcus Green is directing the drama, written by Zach

January 16, 2020 5:13PM PT Christian Bale and David O. Russell are in talks to team on an untitled film that’s being developed at New Regency through its overall deal with Disney and Fox, Variety has confirmed. New Regency executives are aiming for a spring production start. If the project comes together, Russell would direct

Huayi Brothers, one of China’s leading film studios, has come on board sci-fi film project “Moonfall” as mainland Chinese distributor and as an executive producer. To be directed later this year by action adventure maestro Roland Emmerich, the project was one of the hottest properties when first offered to buyers last year during Cannes. But

UPDATED: Taika Waititi, director of “Thor: Ragnarok” and “Jojo Rabbit,” is in early talks to develop a new “Star Wars” movie, Variety has confirmed. There are no further details about how far those negotiations are with Waititi, nor what his involvement might ultimately be. But hot off of six Oscar nominations for “Jojo Rabbit,” Waititi is

Unifrance’s MyFrenchFilmFestival (MFFF) is back this year, giving thousands of fans of French-speaking cinema from around the world an opportunity to see films reaching the end of their festival runs. This year’s competition received a late boost when Delphine Girard’s “A Sister,” one of the 10 shorts in competition, was nominated for the best live-action

Delphine Girard’s 16-minute Belgian thriller “A Sister” gave this year’s MyFrenchFilmFestival (MFFF) shorts competition a shot in the arm earlier this week, when the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. Shot from the backseat of an unnerving rural car ride and across the desks of an emergency call center,

Jan Kounen’s comedy “My Cousin,” starring Vincent Lindon and François Damiens, will be one of the biggest French releases of the year. The film screens Friday at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous in Paris. In an exclusive interview with Variety, he talks about his key motivations for the project. “My Cousin” is about two cousins (Lindon and

Variety has unveiled its sixth edition of 10 Europeans to Watch, spotlighting 10 rising talents from across the continent who are poised for breakthroughs in 2020. The selection includes emerging actors, directors, writers and producers. The group will be feted at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival. They are: U.K. actor Sam Adewunmi, star of Sundance

January 16, 2020 11:19AM PT Following an extensive review period, Apple will release one of its first-ever original films, “The Banker,” in theaters this March. “We created Apple TV Plus as a home for stories that matter and believe ‘The Banker,’ inspired by the brave actions of Bernard Garrett Sr. and Joe Morris, two African

Debut filmmaker Marine Levéel’s “Magnetic Harvest” arrives at the MyFrenchFilmFestival, the online film festival that runs Jan. 16-Feb. 16, capping a whirlwind year of awards and recognition. It first premiered at the Angers Film Festival, scooping the audience prize, before competing at the Hof Film Festival and France’s prestigious Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival. Produced

January 16, 2020 10:34AM PT Margot Robbie’s superhero team-up “Birds of Prey” is heading for an opening domestic weekend in the $50 million range, early tracking showed Thursday. Robbie stars as Harley Quinn in the Warner Bros. film, the eighth title in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and a spinoff of 2016’s “Suicide Squad.” It’s

Just as the camera’s focus navigates viewers’ eyes, sound tells them where to target their attention within the frame. Sound design, editing and mixing often go under the radar in the slew of Hollywood awards ceremonies occurring throughout January and February, but they are just as important to how an audience will interpret and enjoy

After hanging up Iron Man’s suit last April, Robert Downey Jr. is discovering that it’s hard to find a follow-up franchise. “Dolittle,” the former Marvel star’s attempt to launch a kid-friendly series, is looking like a box office dud, one that shows that even his considerable charms have limits. Saddled with horrific reviews (The Atlantic’s

January 16, 2020 10:00AM PT The ‘camgirl’ world of the ’90s gets a commanding closeup from emerging writer-director Numa Perrier and leading lady Tiffany Tenille. There’s intimacy. And then there’s claustrophobia. Numa Perrier, the writer-director-co-star of “Jezebel,” delivers both in her nuanced debut feature. The semi-autobiographical story of a young woman finding her way as

When rapper Stormzy landed a headlining slot at the Glastonbury Festival last summer, black British music took center stage and set the cultural agenda in the U.K. The film and television industries haven’t had many of those defining moments — and there was outrage as BAFTA recently unveiled an all-white acting nominations list for its

When Bong Joon Ho appeared on the cover of Variety with Neon founder and CEO Tom Quinn, the “Parasite” director’s comments about Marvel movies went viral. He said he had no interest in making a superhero film because he “can’t stand people wearing tight-fitting clothes.” In fact, just seeing such outfits is “mentally difficult” for

Alamo Drafthouse, the cinema chain that popularized in-theater dining, is partnering with speciality film festival Fantastic Fest to bring greater attention to independent genre movies. Under the new pact, Fantastic Fest will offer Alamo Drafthouse ticket buyers “bonus content” when they watch movies from the film festival. That includes bringing in the talent behind the

New films by Thomas Vinterberg, Charlotte Blom and Jonas Poher Rasmussen will be presented at the Goteborg Film Festival’s Nordic Film Market. In total, 16 films in post-production will be presented to industry participants in at the Nordic Film Market as part of the Work-in-Progress section. Half of the lineup is made up of first

Netflix has hired director Nils Boekamp to oversee documentary for the German-speaking market out of Berlin, as the streaming giant’s German ambitions gather pace. A spokesperson confirmed to Variety that Boekamp has joined the streaming giant, and will oversee documentary efforts for the German-speaking DACH region, which includes Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  Boekamp is a

When “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” star Adèle Haenel revealed that as a child actor she had been a victim of sexual harassment, the French star kicked off an industry-wide reckoning that began in November 2019 and continues to this day. As the industry continues to grapple with these necessary questions, the Paris-based Production