Movies

Indian director Suman Sen (Oscar-nominated short film “The Silent Echo”) is at the 2023 Taiwan Creative Content Fest with his in-development debut feature film “Solo” (aka “Solo”). The film will center around a story about a mundane 62-year-old diabetic insurance worker, Biplab, who is tormented by everyday trivialities. Feeling frustrated and hopeless about the community

Taiwan director and screenwriter Hsu Chao-jen is pitching “Mr. Tiger” at the 2023 Taiwan Creative Content Fest (TCCF), which launches in Taipei on Tuesday. The film “Mr. Tiger” will be an adaptation from one of the United Daily News Prize winning story “Grandfather Tiger,” originally penned by Taiwan novelist Wu Ming-yi. The story will be

American-Taiwanese actor and director Peter Ho (“Wind and Cloud”) is at the 2023 Taiwan Creative Content Fest with in-development film project “Appetite for Desire.” The completed picture is intended to be a 120 minute film that tells the story of clout-chasing YouTubers Yong Cheng and Gao Wei who are introduced to a mysterious dish called

TAICCABOSSAs Taiwan seeks for creative, industrial and political reasons to make a bigger mark for itself on the international stage, its Taiwan Creative Content Fest is diversifying, expanding and making greater efforts at cross-border outreach. Homme Tsai, chair of industry support body TAICCA spoke outline the event’s strategy and novelties in a conversation with Variety.

Shannon Wilcox, a character actor who appeared in 1984’s “Songwriter” alongside Willie Nelson and in five episodes of “Dallas,” died Sept. 2 in Los Angeles. She was 80. Wilcox’s death was confirmed by her talent agent Peter Young. Wilcox worked on such films as 1982’s “Six Weeks” with Dudley Moore and 1991’s “Frankie and Johnny”

Gary O. Martin, a former Sony Pictures executive who served as president of studio operations and production for several decades, died of natural causes on Thursday at his home in Sherwood Forest, Calif. He was 79 years old. Martin’s death was confirmed by a publicist for his family members. After coming to Sony — then

In the weeks leading up to the release of “The Marvels,” much of the buzz has been centered around the film’s runtime. At a reported 105 minutes, “The Marvels” is the shortest movie in the history of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Given the increasingly bloated lengths of recent movies, the short “Marvels” runtime has become

Pat E. Johnson, known for choreographing fights and training actors for “The Karate Kid” films, has died of natural causes at his Los Angeles home. He was 84. Johnson’s niece Colleen Mary Johnson Summerville confirmed the news on Facebook, writing, “It is with a sad heart I’m sharing my Uncle Pat has passed this Sunday

Freestyle Digital Media, the digital film distribution division of Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group, has picked up North American VOD rights to teen dance drama “Break the Stage.” Adapted from the novel of the same name by Erik V. Wolter, the pic tells the story of Tia Lewis, a troubled African-American teen at an urban

Zachary Quinto recently took to Instagram to make public a personal email he sent to SAG-AFTRA president Fran Drescher in which he gave her his unwavering support should the union not accept the AMPTP’s current “best and final” offer. The SAG-AFTRA strike will continue if the offer is rejected, so Quinto wanted to reassure Drescher

The Hammer Museum has revealed its lineup for MoMA Contenders 2023, the annual film series organized by The Museum of Modern Art. Ten films will screen at the Hammer’s Billy Wilder Theater from Nov. 29 – Dec. 14, followed by Q&As with talent involved with the films. The films being presented are some of the

Bleecker Street has acquired U.S. rights to “Ezra,” a family comedy starring Robert De Niro, Rose Byrne and Bobby Cannavale. The movie, directed by Tony Goldwyn, premiered at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival and will be released theatrically in 2024. “Ezra” follows Max Brandel (Cannavale), a once successful late-night comedy writer turned less-successful stand-up comedian,

A middle-aged man grappling with his thwarted ambitions grows obsessed with a beautiful young woman. The fallout threatens to unravel the fraying seams of his precarious, frustrated life in Stergios Paschos’ “The Last Taxi Driver,” which world premieres in the main competition this week at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. Produced by Athens-based Filmiki, Paschos’

Marvel Studios is set to launch a new banner titled “Marvel Spotlight” with the upcoming release of the limited series “Echo,” starring Alaqua Cox as Maya Lopez. The character made her Marvel Cinematic Universe debut in “Hawkeye,” but knowledge of that series and the MCU at large won’t be a requirement to watch “Echo.” Brad

A first trailer has been unveiled for Pakistani-U.S. director Iram Parveen Bilal‘s Pakistan-set “Wakhri: One of a Kind,” which will have its world premiere at the upcoming Red Sea Film Festival. Bilal was named one of the directors to watch by the Alliance of Women Directors in 2020. Her previous film, “I’ll Meet You There,” was in the

Apple TV+ has released the trailer for the upcoming comedy film “The Family Plan,” starring Mark Wahlberg, to be released on Dec. 15. Directed by Simon Cellan Jones, Wahlberg stars in the film as Dan Morgan, a married man with three children. While making a living as a car salesman, his secret history as a

Katrina Kaif stars alongside Salman Khan in Yash Raj Films’ “Tiger 3,” the latest film in producer Aditya Chopra’s spy universe. The spy universe kicked off with the Tiger franchise, starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif, beginning with “Ek Tha Tiger” (2012) and “Tiger Zinda Hai” (2017) and continued with “War” (2019), starring Hrithik Roshan

Copenhagen-based Elk Film’s hunger for global reach with quality creative docs was fully-achieved with the art world mystery “The Lost Leonardo,” one of the most buzzed about documentaries of 2021, released in the U.S. by Sony Pictures Classics. Elk Film’s co-founders, director/producer Andreas Dalsgaard (“The War Show,” “Afghan Muscles”) and editor Nicolás Nørgaard Staffolani (“Cold

The project formerly known as “KH234″ that reunites the talents of actor Kamal Haasan and director Mani Ratnam, has revealed a title and first footage. The pair previously teamed on gangster epic “Nayakan” (1987). The film was a watershed in both their careers. It was a box office blockbuster, won Haasan best actor at India’s

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced the bulk of its lineup from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), signaling that the event is forging ahead with its third edition despite the Israel-Hamas war that has caused cancellations of several movie celebrations across the Arab world. The fest’s third edition, set to run

Hollywood might have ground to a halt in recent months during the recent labor strikes, with the role of artificial intelligence in the moviemaking business a key stumbling block between studio bosses and both the writers and actors guilds. But two-time Academy Award winner Alexander Payne (“Sideways”) quipped at the Thessaloniki Film Festival this week

The 31st edition of the Camerimage Film Festival, Europe’s top cinematography event, will welcome a host of stellar guests to the Gothic Polish town of Torun, including Adam Driver, Sean Penn and Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences CEO Bill Kramer. Driver and Penn will screen their latest films, respectively, the high-octane biopic “Ferrari”

Marina Cicogna, Italy’s first major female film producer who shepherded films by Pier Paolo Pasolini, Franco Zeffirelli and Elio Petri, including Petri’s Oscar-winning “Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion,” has died. She was 89. Cicogna died on Nov. 4 in her Rome home after a long battle with an unspecified form of cancer, according to

Pia Lundberg, a Swedish film industry veteran, is set to succeed Jonas Holmberg as the new artistic director of Göteborg Film Festival, Scandinavia’s leading film-TV event. Lundberg most recently served as counsellor for cultural affairs at the Embassy of Sweden in London for the last five years. A former journalist, Lundberg also served as head of international at

Doug Jones, a veteran film programmer, curator and exhibitor at several U.S. film festivals, has died. He was 53. Jones most recently worked as a consulting programmer for the South by Southwest Film and TV Festival, as well as a programmer for the Vidiots Foundation, a relaunched Los Angeles nonprofit video store and cinema. The

“The Boy and the Heron” supposedly the final feature film by Japanese animation maestro Miyazaki Hayao, placed on top of the south Korean box office for a second weekend. It held off challenges from a clutch of new releases, including “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” and “Talk to Me.” “The Boy and the Heron” collected

SAG-AFTRA may take another day to respond to the studios’ “last, best and final” offer, as the union’s negotiating committee continues to weigh its next move. The studios last talked to union leadership on Saturday afternoon, when a large group of CEOs sought to make clear that they will not make further concessions. After that

In a recent interview with GQ, Danny DeVito discussed the possibility of reuniting with his “Twins” co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger on a project. DeVito shared that he and Schwarzenegger want to work together again, but this new project would be separate from “Twins,” the 1988 comedy where the two portrayed fraternal twin brothers separated at birth.

Taraja Ramsess, a stuntman known for his work in “Avengers: Endgame” and “Black Panther,” died on Oct. 31 in Atlanta. He was 41. Ramsess died in a car accident alongside his two daughters Sundari and Fujibo, who were 13 years old and eight weeks old, respectively. His mother Akili Ramsess confirmed the death of Ramsess

“Poor Things,” starring Emma Stone and Mark Ruffalo, has already generated a substantial amount of Oscars buzz, becoming a major contender for next year’s awards season. What less people might know about the film is that it was shot in Budapest, Hungary — a location that appealed to the “Poor Things” filmmakers for its “abundant