Juan Sebastian Torales arrived at this year’s Ventana Sur Proyecta showcase for Latin American projects as one of the event’s most buzzed up debutants with his upcoming semi-autobiographical feature “Almamula.” In September, Torales and producer Pilar Peredo, from France’s Tu Vas Voir, pitched the project at San Sebastian’s Co-production Forum, where it won the Eurimages
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Wonder Women, Batmen, Baby Yodas and Ultramen were among the hundreds of cosplayers who showed up in their hundreds at the Singapore Comic Con taking place at the Marina Bay Sands on Saturday. Thousands more queued to get inside the massive event. A bewitching array of almost every well-known comic character on the planet, and
Renowned graphic novel artists Andy Kubert (“Batman”) and Whilce Portacio,(“X-Men”) were on hand to share their vast experience at the Singapore ComicCon on Saturday. The event is a new addition to the annual Singapore Media Festival. Kubert and Portacio said that, despite the popularity of comic books, it is quite hard to break into the
Jan Komasa’s “Corpus Christi,” Poland’s official entry in the Best International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards, has become an arthouse hit at the local box office. The film has also become an international sales success with the number of territories sold rising to 45. The film, which world premiered as part of Venice
Djibouti’s “The Gravedigger,” Morocco’s “Zanka Contact” and Ethiopia’s “Sweet Annoyance” were among the major winners in the post-production and development categories of the second edition of the Marrakech Film Festival’s Atlas Workshops. “The Gravedigger,” by Khadar Ahmed, and “Zanka Contact,” by Ismaël el Iraki, won the top awards – €20,000 ($22,000) and $11,000 respectively –
In today’s film news roundup, Leonardo DiCaprio will present Robert De Niro with his SAG Life Achievement Award, the Oliver Sacks documentary finds a home and UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television gets a new dean. AWARD PRESENTATION Leonardo DiCaprio has been selected to present Robert De Niro the SAG Life Achievement Award at
BUENOS AIRES — With Ventana Sur now firing on multiple cylinders, featuring pix-in post or project competitions for not only art films but also genre pics and animation – two sectors embraced by young creators in Latin America – “Karnawal,” “Restless,” “Summer White” and “Firsts” proved big winners among Ventana Sur’s arthouse and animation competitions,
“1917,” Thomas Newman The 20-year collaboration of director Sam Mendes and composer Thomas Newman has encompassed midlife crisis (“American Beauty”), crime in the Depression (“Road to Perdition”), the Gulf War (“Jarhead”), marriage in the 1950s (“Revolutionary Road”) and two James Bond adventures (“Skyfall,” “Spectre”). Now they’ve tackled World War I, with “1917,” but Mendes’ much-talked-about
Disney is developing a spinoff of its live-action “Aladdin” with Billy Magnussen reprising his Prince Anders character. The unnamed project is in early development for the studio’s recently launched Disney Plus streaming service. Disney has hired Jordan Dunn and Michael Kvamme to write a script centered on the haughty Prince Anders, one of Princess Jasmine’s
When the Academy announces its shortlist for song nominations on Dec. 16, you can be certain that at least one Disney song will be on it and probably more. Disney songs have been nominated 33 times in the past 30 years, winning 12 of the gold statuettes. This year, the studio has at least four
It’s next to impossible for a documentary score to be Oscar-nominated alongside the dozens of fictional narratives entered each year. But it did happen, just once: In 1975, composer Gerald Fried was nominated for his music for “Birds Do It, Bees Do It,” a documentary on the mating habits of animals. Fried, now 91, perhaps
Ron Leibman, an Emmy-winning actor who garnered a Tony for his work in Broadway’s “Angels in America” and played the father of Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel Green on “Friends,” died on Friday. He was 82. Robert Attermann, CEO of Abrams Artists Agency, confirmed the news to Variety. No further details were immediately available. Leibman, a native
Every year, documentaries that examine crimes are made. Some, such as Ezra Edelman’s “O.J.: Made in America,” Joshua Rofe’s “Lorena” and most recently Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg’s “The Preppy Murder: Death in Central Park,” study a single crime decades after the fact in hopes of establishing a greater clarity and understanding of traumatic events.
The aspirants for best original song from a film this year include Pharrell Williams, a performer-writer who’s familiar in the theme-song field; Regina Spektor, a singer-songwriter who’s just getting her feet wet with big-screen assignments; Diane Warren, whose name is nearly synonymous with the category; and Cynthia Erivo, who surprised everyone by being someone to
At the Marrakech Film Festival to give a masterclass, Italian master Luca Guadagnino spoke about the way he envisioned the sequel to “Call Me By Your Name,” as well as shared memories about his childhood and his vision of filmmaking. Guadagnino said that while the script of “Call Me By Your Name” is “strongly faithful”
“Ghostbusters: Afterlife” is the official title of Jason Reitman’s upcoming franchise reboot, Sony Pictures announced on Friday. Reitman has co-written the screenplay with Gil Kenan and will direct. The film will be produced by his father, Ivan Reitman, who directed and produced the original 1984 film. In addition to the title, Sony also revealed the
December 6, 2019 10:57AM PT Disney has issued a warning that visuals and sustained flashing light sequences in “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” could affect those with photosensitive epilepsy. The studio is working with the Epilepsy Foundation, which also issued a warning on Friday about the potential health risk. “Out of an abundance of
“Scarface,” which opened Dec. 9, 1983, made money at the box office but wasn’t immediately profitable. However, in the 36 years since, the film has been embraced as a classic. The project started as a 1930 pulp novel by Armitage Trail, inspired by gangster Al Capone, whose nickname was Scarface. On April 6, 1982, Variety
When Mark Tildesley read Anthony McCarten’s script for “The Two Popes,” he saw how integral the Sistine Chapel was to the narrative. As the film’s production designer, he knew he couldn’t film inside the Vatican, which meant he’d have to reproduce the location. “We did visit it with a leading expert — [producer] Enzo Sisti. His
For cinematographer George Steel, the key to “The Aeronauts,” director Tom Hooper’s $80 million film starring Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne as balloonist-scientists who soar to 35,000 feet to break records in 1862, was to take the viewer along for the ride. When Variety visited the cast and crew on set in London, Steel was crouched
Variety looks back on some of the biggest scandals, feuds and apologies of 2019: College Admissions Scandal Wealthy parents including Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin were charged with bribing school officials to get their unqualified kids into prestigious universities. Shane Gillis Executives at “SNL” hired, then fired, Gillis in September, before the new season started,
It’s always a joy to see Nina Arianda on screen, whether playing Stan Laurel’s wife in “Stan & Ollie” or the supportive and encouraging Agnes Stark in “Florence Foster Jenkins.” She’s a familiar face to theater crowds, having won a Tony Award for her stunning, take-no-prisoners performance in “Venus in Fur” in 2012. She also
Young Moroccan writer-director Alaa Eddine Aljem chose to tackle a sensitive subject in his first feature, absurdist comedy “The Unknown Saint,” which is basically about “the relationship between faith and money,” he says. He spoke to Variety about using sophisticated humor to push boundaries in the Arab world and reflected on the journey of his debut, which after
Exactly one month ahead of his criminal trial, Harvey Weinstein appeared in court for a bail hearing that was necessitated by changes in the law. The former head of Miramax and the Weinstein Company, once alternately feared and celebrated as one of the most powerful men in movies, hobbled into the downtown courthouse limping and
BARCELONA – A Netflix original produced by Spain’s Filmax, “Days of Christmas” marks the new series of Pau Freixas, one of the highest-profile creators on Spain’s vibrant drama series scene. A three-part miniseries, “Days” will be made available worldwide by Netflix on Dec. 6. The story takes place over three different Christmas days, the first
BUENOS AIRES — Ventana Sur hosted two of the country’s leading screenwriters to relay the benefits of utilizing a writers’ room while conceptualizing fiction projects, delivered to a packed auditorium on Tuesday afternoon as part of the Fiction Factory series held at the UCA Campus in Puerto Madero. Director Daniel Burman, known for films such
Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm and producer of scores of movies, will receive a prestigious BAFTA fellowship, the British Academy’s highest honor, in February. Across a 40-year career, Kennedy has produced pictures that have garnered 25 Oscars and more than 100 BAFTA nominations and 27 wins. She will be honored with the fellowship at BAFTA’s
Showbox’s political drama “The Man Standing Next” has secured releases in multiple territories in Asia. The film was picked up by Falcon for Indonesia, The Klockworx for Japan, Viva Communications for the Philippines, Shaw Renters for Singapore and by Moviecloud for Taiwan. Release dates in each territory have yet to be confirmed. Set 40 days
A year ago, 76-year-old actor Zhao Shuzhen shot her first American movie, “The Farewell,” based on writer-director Lulu Wang’s very personal family story. In November, Shuzhen found herself making her first visit to the States, where she earned standing ovations from audiences and posed for pictures with stars like Robert Pattinson at parties. Then she
Spider-Man’s involvement in the MCU came under threat earlier this year when rights-owner Sony was seemingly unable to reach an agreement with Marvel to allow the web slinger to continue appearing in Marvel films. The two companies eventually managed to work out their dispute, and it may have been due in part to franchise star