Sold by Charades, and released in France by Memento Films Distribution, “Hogar” (Maternal), the awaited fiction feature debut of Italy’s Maura Delpero, sees different forms of female desire collide and collude. Teen mother Lu takes off from Hogar, a religious residence for single teen mothers, to live with her boyfriend, abandoning Nina, her little daughter;
Movies
August 9, 2019 7:00AM PT Joaquin Phoenix will be honored next month at the Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF announced Friday morning that the three-time Oscar nominee will receive one of the two Actor Awards at the fest’s inaugural Tribute Gala. He joins previously announced honoree Meryl Streep. “Displaying both raw instinct and consummate technical
Set to open Aug. 18 with two of Latin America’s biggest stars, Gael Garcia Bernal and Wagner Moura (“Narcos”), the 15th edition of Chile’s Santiago Int’l Film Festival (Sanfic) promises a focus on women directors and producers as it hosts a Women’s Encounter and Chile’s audiovisual guilds ink a pact to safeguard against sexual harassment
Bollywood youth icons Ayushmann Khurrana and Vicky Kaushal shared the best actor prize at India’s annual national film awards, which were announced Friday. Kaushal won for his mainstream breakout role in the hit war drama “Uri: The Surgical Strike,” which grossed about $50 million worldwide. First-time helmer Aditya Dhar won best director for the film,
Latvia’s Plataforma Filma is taking its smash “Swingers” franchise across Europe, with local versions of the film planned for Poland, the Czech Republic/Slovakia, and the Netherlands, Variety has learned exclusively. Shooting in Poland is set to begin Aug. 16, with the producers targeting a Valentine’s Day 2020 release date. Production for the Czech/Slovak version is
History, memory, and female-driven stories mark some of the main themes in the six Serbian films selected for Locarno’s First Look, a pix-in-post strand that represents one of the high points of the mid-summer festival on the shores of Lake Maggiore. The competitive showcase this year highlights an industry that has become increasingly prolific in
Finland’s Liselott Forsman, a former executive producer of international drama at Finnish public broadcaster YLE , has been appointed new CEO of the Nordisk Film & TV Fond, the dynamic Nordic region film and TV financier. Forsman will take up her position on Oct. 7, succeeding Petri Kemppinen who is relocating to Finland after a
Catherine Breillat is no stranger to controversy. If the French novelist and director has spent a career confronting censorship and social taboos, that has not prevented her from developing a reputation as one of the world’s most iconoclastic and widely acclaimed authorial voices. From her 1976 directorial debut, “A Real Young Girl,” through to 2013’s
Locarno’s Match Me!, its annual networking forum, builds this year to a nine-country focus. Some invited companies are established values: Singapore’s Zhao Wei, Portugal’s Fado Filmes. Most represent emerging voices on the international independent movie production sector. Here’s five points they suggest about that scene, plus a drill down on companies and top projects: 1.Male
August 9, 2019 12:30AM PT Jason Winer’s consistently unfunny romantic comedy lacks energy, sexual chemistry and smarts. It might as well be called “Bored to Death.” Contrary to popular belief that insists upon their demise, first-rate romantic comedies are still alive and well. Sadly, Jason Winer’s perplexing farce “Ode to Joy” — on the misadventures
German director Patrick Vollrath’s first feature “7500,” which world premiers August 9th on Locarno’s Piazza Grande, takes place mostly inside the claustrophobic cockpit of a commercial airliner that is hijacked by Islamic terrorists. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young pilot who contends with the critical situation that turns out to have a humane twist. The hyper-realistic
August 9, 2019 12:01AM PT An agent of lethal corporate espionage suffers a “Bourne”-like identity crisis in this polished but convoluted indie thriller. It takes a very long time for the protagonist of “Ecco” — or its viewers, for that matter — to figure out just who (or what) he is. This espionage/fugitive tale in
The fifth edition of the Locarno Industry Academy will kick off this Aug. 7 and run through to Aug. 13 during the 72nd Locarno Film Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-summer movie event. It’s been four years since the Locarno Academy added an industry section to its curriculum, and in that time the event has not only
Some foreign-language films arrive on the festival circuit so primed and ready for remake treatment that you practically expect a teaser trailer in the closing credits. Such was the case with last year’s “The Accused (Acusada),” an engrossing Argentine courtroom drama just classy enough to secure a Venice competition berth, and just lurid enough to
Irene Anula, a star of breakout Spanish TV hit “Vis a Vis” (“Locked Up”), is attached to topline Aitor Uribarri’s survival thriller “Kintsugi,” which Spain’s Mano Negra Films will introduce to potential co-production partners at the Locarno Festival’s Match Me! forum. Along with “Lady Laura,” starring “Locked Up’s” Itziar Castro and written and directed by
Spain’s Gadea Films is initiating early production on “Sara,” a docu-feature chronicle of the journey of a filmmaker, Spain’s Patricia Franquesa, to encounter Sara Bahai, the first female taxi driver in Afghanistan. Produced by Laia Zanon and Franquesa at Gadea, who teamed for development with Alice Tillet at Oya Films and Kristian Mosvold at Substans
MADRID — A co-producer on Dutch comedy-thriller “El azul bajo sus pies” (“Beyond the Blue Bridge”), Spain’s Tourmalet Films is preparing its biggest feature yet, “Siete Picos,” as it introduces “Killing Crabs” at Locarno’s Match Me! co-production forum. Launched in 2011, the Madrid and Tenerife-based independent film house Tourmalet broke through two years later co-producing
MoviePass, the struggling movie ticket subscription service, has been accused of changing user passwords in order to prevent heavy users from logging in. Business Insider reported on Aug. 6 that CEO Mitch Lowe ordered employees to change the passwords of users without their knowledge last year as the company temporarily ran out of funds in
In today’s films news roundup, “Lucy in the Sky” and “Villains” get release dates, “The Angry Birds 2” is moved up a day, Tony Todd gets a part and Art House Theater Day is set. RELEASE DATES Fox Searchlight has set an awards-season release date of Oct. 4 for Natalie Portman’s astronaut drama “Lucy in
Lionsgate has posted revenues and operating income above Wall Street projections for its first fiscal quarter of 2019, amid growth from premium cabler Starz and a strong performance from “John Wick: Chapter 3.” Lionsgate reported revenue of $963.6 million — $1 million above consensus estimates — and operating income before depreciation and amortization of $67.3
Revered Singaporean production outfit Zhao Wei Films is presenting a raft of diverse projects at Locarno Film Festival’s Match Me! forum. Boo Junfeng, whose “Sandcastle” and “Apprentice” were Cannes selections in 2010 and 2016 respectively, returns with the suspense drama “Trinity.” Formerly known as “Dominion,” the multi-territory co-production will follow an anti-gay pastor who becomes
The four-month stalemate between the Writers Guild of America and Hollywood’s talent agencies is generating plenty of passion among guild candidates. Wednesday night’s WGA West membership meeting at the WGA Theatre in Beverly Hills provoked accusations of electioneering — using guild resources for campaigning — against President David Goodman, who is seeking re-election, and WGA West
August 8, 2019 10:55AM PT The New York Yankees will play the Chicago White Sox in a special Major League Baseball game at the field site of the Kevin Costner film “Field of Dreams.” The game will take place in Dyersville, Iowa, on Aug. 13, 2020. Staged with the help of Universal Studios, which distributed
Bruce Springsteen was the guest of honor at the Wednesday night (Aug. 7) premiere of “Blinded by The Light” at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Springsteen walked the red carpet with his wife, Patti Scialfa, and stopped to take a photo with stars Viveik Kaira and Aaron Phagura, writer/director/producer Gurinda Chadha, and
The first trailer for Shia LaBeouf’s semi-autobiographical drama “Honey Boy” has landed. The trailer kicks off in 2005, with Lucas Hedges as a young adult version of LaBeouf being yanked backwards during a stunt for an action film. After several quick shots of Hedges engaging in questionable behavior, he’s arrested and tossed in the back of
Is Nate Parker back? That question figures to be one of the prominent storylines of the Venice Film Festival after the fest announced Wednesday that it would screen “American Skin,” Parker’s first project since his debut feature, “The Birth of a Nation.” That film tanked at the box office three years ago amid renewed scrutiny
Shia LaBeouf is a changed man. The 33-year-old actor has a notorious history of bad behavior that has landed him in jail as well as court-ordered rehab. But those days may finally be over. He credits his work on his new indie “The Peanut Butter Falcon” with Zack Gottsagen, an actor with Down’s syndrome, with
Joe Watts, the stuntman who was injured on the set of “Fast & Furious 9,” has been moved out of intensive care. Watts, an experienced stunt performer, sustained head injuries last month in a fall on the set of the Universal Pictures movie, which was shooting at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, near London. He was taken
Berlin-based sales agent M-Appeal, specialists in independent arthouse fare, has acquired world sales rights on Armando Capó’s anticipated fiction feature debut, “August,” world premiering in the Discovery sidebar at Toronto Intl. Film Festival before heading to San Sebastian’s Horizontes Latinos for its European Premiere. The Cuban-Costa Rican-French co-production has received plenty of festival attention through
The Toronto International Film Festival has unveiled its documentary, discovery, and midnight programs. The lineup of 25 nonfiction works in the documentary category cover an array of topics and subjects — ranging from immigration to corruption in politics to Truman Capote’s rarefied social circle. The announcement comes as documentaries have become one of the most