Movies

Cinematographer Todd Banhazl had to rethink conventional wisdom in shooting Jennifer Lopez starrer “Hustlers.” What sort of approach did you and director Lorene Scafaria discuss in terms of how you were going to shoot the women and create these strong images of strippers? From the beginning, we talked about this idea of control and the

In today’s film news roundup, “A Hidden Life” is shown at the Vatican, “Limerence” finds a home, Dave Baustista’s “My Spy” moves, and the DGA honors two veteran members. VATICAN SCREENING Terrence Malick’s “A Hidden Life” received a rare private screening at the Vatican Film Library this week. The movie centers on Austrian farmer and

Malaysia’s Yeo Yann Yann wiped away tears that weren’t purely of joyous triumph just minutes after receiving the 2019 Golden Horse Award for best actress in Singaporean director Anthony Chen’s “Wet Season.” The film plays in the New Chinese Cinema section of this week’s International Film Festival & Awards (IFFAM). Emotion welled up as she

Beijing Juben Productions has taken over rights to the popular “Wolf Totem” novel from China Film Group and is working on a sequel to be delivered in 2021 or Chinese New Year 2022. It also has a zombie film up its sleeve, as well as a British co-production about Shakespeare and a Chinese drama with

Cult Filipino filmmaker, Mikhail Red will direct “Arisaka,” a film named after a World War II Japanese bolt-action rifle. “It’s a Western based on a famous massacre that happened in the Philippines,” Red told Variety. Philippines production house Ten17P, whose credits include Lav Diaz’s “A Lullaby To The Sorrowful Mystery” and Paul Soriano’s “Mananita,” will

If anyone knows Martin Scorsese, it’s Thelma Schoonmaker. Schoonmaker has worked with the director since 1980’s “Raging Bull,” which won her the first of three Academy Awards, along with six additional nominations. Most recently, she won in 2007 for “The Departed.” In this exclusive clip, Schoonmaker talks about the ideas for editing her most recent

Singapore’s 108 Media has secured the support of the Malaysian authorities to develop horror-action film “Best Served Cold,” based on the short story “Don’t Eat The Rice” by Sabah-based author Jill Girardi and characters in her novel “Hantu Macabre.” The adaptation is by writer-director Aaron Cowan. The film could be one of the first to

Lamia Chraibi, a leading producer of daring films from the Middle East and North Africa region, is developing “Meskoun,” an ambitious pan-Arab genre-bending series with Moroccan filmmaker Hicham Lasri (“Jahilya”) on board as showrunner. Chraibi (“Mimosas”) will produce the 14-episode series with her Moroccan banner La Prod, along with Mohamed Hefzy’s Egyptian company Film Clinic,

Singapore has launched a scheme to help find the next generation of filmmakers from the South East Asia region. Local content producers Blue3Asia and CreativesAtWork, with the support of Singapore’s Infocomm Media Development Authority launched the Leap!, a short film production scheme at the ongoing Asian TV Forum & Market on Thursday. Seven filmmakers from

Netflix is closer to getting into the numbers game than it’s ever been. Scott Stuber, the head of original films at Netflix, says the behemoth streaming company — which has famously kept its viewership and box office data hidden from public display — is working on a comprehensive system of making audience metrics for its

Stephen Graham is set to join Tom Hardy and Michelle Williams in Sony’s “Venom 2,” with Hardy returning as the titular anti-hero. Andy Serkis is set to direct, and Naomie Harris and Woody Harrelson are also on board. Sony had no comment on the casting. The original film was a huge hit for the studio

Eugene Jarecki – two times winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize – for “Why We Fight” (2005) and “The House I Live In” (2012) – is preparing an untitled “Tuareg Project,” that he will shoot in Morocco. The pic will be produced by Addison O’Dea (“Discovery TRVLR”), and line produced by Moroccan producer Zakaria

Patrick Schwarzenegger has a process for reading scripts. On his first time through, he’s just trying to get a sense of the story. Then he goes back and re-reads it through the eyes of the characters. On his third pass, he tries to put everything together thematically. Even with such a specific methodology, Schwarzenegger, the

December 5, 2019 2:48PM PT David Ondříček’s “Zátopek,” a biopic about Olympic champion athlete Emil Zátopek, has wrapped filming. The film stars Václav Neužil, Martha Issová and James Frecheville, who starred in Sundance prize-winner “Animal Kingdom.” Ondříček, one of the most successful Czech directors working today, was selected by Variety magazine for its “10 Directors

December 5, 2019 10:30AM PT Aubrey Plaza will return to the white tent on Santa Monica beach to host the Film Independent Spirit Awards for the second consecutive year. Now in its 35th year, the ceremony honoring the year’s best independent cinema will be held on Feb. 8. The 2020 celebration will broadcast live on

Bradley J. Fischer, whose credits include “Zodiac,” “Black Sawn” and “Suspiria,” is joining Brian Oliver’s New Republic Pictures as president and chief content officer. Fischer has signed a multi-year pact with Paramount-based New Republic. Fischer and Oliver will produce all New Republic projects, including film, television and streaming. Fischer will continue to produce his pre-existing projects,

When Alfre Woodard was 22, she drove from Boston to Los Angeles, only stopping in her Tulsa, Okla., hometown. The four-time Emmy winner, now 67, has been acting ever since. Woodard’s career began in theater, despite her inability to sing or dance, with help from late choreographer Lester Wilson. An early play, “So Nice, They

“Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” director Joe Johnston is in negotiations to helm Disney’s upcoming reboot of the film franchise, “Shrunk,” with Josh Gad in talks to star. Gad pitched the story idea to Disney earlier this year, and the studio jumped on board the idea of reviving the classic 1989 pic starring Rick Moranis.

In her first film role, Julia Fox blazes into “Uncut Gems” as Julia, the ambitious but loyal mistress of Adam Sandler’s jeweler. It’s a complex character the audience can’t always read. To play Julia, Fox says she had a couple inspirations. “My younger self, for sure,” she admits. “Looking at myself retrospectively, how I survived,

Hua Mulan readies to put her life on the line for her community and family in a new trailer for Disney’s live-action “Mulan.” Based on Disney’s 1998 animated classic, “Mulan” tells the story of a woman (portrayed by Yifei Liu) who poses as a man to fight in the Chinese army. The footage, dropped Thursday,

France’s Marmita Films has joined Sardinha em Lata, Caretos Film and Basque Films as a co-producer on the upcoming Portuguese 2D-stop motion hybrid feature “My Grandfather’s Demons.” Having impressed as a project at Seville’s 3D Wire – now Weird Market – where it won the La Liga Feature Project Award, Nuno Beato’s “My Grandfather’s Demons”

With wins for Mexico, Chile and Iran in the past three years — and South Korea dominating conversation in the international film Oscar race this year — the Academy has been taking some time off from its usual Europhilia in the category. This year, however, a number of standout contenders look to ensure the Continent

It’s become a Bavarian rite of summer. With Germany and the rest of continental Europe swooning through the dog days of August, local audiences flock to the cinema to catch the latest capers of detective Franz Eberhofer, the star of a crime comedy franchise based on a series of best-selling novels. As temperature soar, so

“I grew up watching foreign-language films,” director Alfonso Cuarón quipped after his “Roma” won the Oscar for foreign-language film last year. “Learning so much from them and being inspired. Films like ‘Citizen Kane,’ ‘Jaws,’ ‘Rashomon,’ ‘The Godfather’ and ‘Breathless.’” For foreign-language committee co-chairs Larry Karaszewski and Diane Weyermann, who had taken over the position that

Tapping into Morocco’s recently launched tax rebate, Karim Debbagh’s leading Tangier-based line producer Kasbah Films already has three major international productions in the pipeline for 2020. These include “Cherry” with Tom Holland, “The Forgiven” with Ralph Fiennes, a big-budget South Korean film “Kidnapped.” “Cherry” is an American crime drama film directed by Anthony and Joe

For his debut feature “Karnawal,” Juan Pablo Félix and his Bikini Films partner and executive producer Edson Sidonie recruited around the world for help in bringing to the big screen an original story about a young dancer, screening this week in Ventana Sur’s Primer Corte. Joining Argentina’s Bikini Films, Brazil’s 3 Moinhos Produçoes, Chile’s Picardía

The Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival will be part of Amigos de la Liga (Friends of the League), a new partnership initiative set up by La Liga, the animation alliance created to promote the Ibero-American animation sector worldwide, comprising Spain’s Quirino Awards, Argentina’s Animation! and Mexico’s Pixelatl Festival. The announcement was made at a panel

Joan Gomez’s “El Arbol Rojo” (“The Red Tree”) is playing at Ventana Sur’s Films in Progress as it approaches the finish line of a years-long, international marathon of labs, markets and festivals which have gone a long way to establishing the film as one of the Argentine market’s most talked about in-progress titles. As a

Leading Argentine sales agent Meikincine has signed on to sell David Albala’s highly anticipated fiction debut “Jailbreak Pact,” (“Pacto de fuga”) on the international market. Chile’s Storyboard Media produces the feature, with co-founders Carlos Núnez and Gabriela Sandoval executive producing and Calibre 71 and Enlazo Capital Films co-producing. Fox will distribute theatrically in Chile starting

Memento Films Intl. has picked up world sales rights for “This Is Not a Burial, It’s a Resurrection,” director Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese’s fiction feature debut, which will have its international premiere in Sundance next month. Memento acquired the film through Artscope, its world cinema arthouse label. “This Is Not a Burial” is the story of