Movies

Italian star Luisa Ranieri, who played the emotionally troubled Aunt Patrizia in Paolo Sorrentino’s “The Hand of God,” has joined the cast of the Johnny Depp-directed film “Modì,” about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani. The film has started shooting in Budapest. Ranieri is starring in “Modì” alongside fellow Italian Riccardo Scamarcio, who plays the bad boy

Dissident Iranian director Jafar Panahi has launched an impassioned appeal for production designer Leila Naghdipari to be released from jail following her recent arrest during demonstrations marking the one year anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death. Naghdipari was one of hundreds of Iranians arrested on Sept. 16 during widespread protests marking the anniversary of Amini’s death

The Spain Film Commission is partnering with Olsberg•SPI to draw up a first ever in-depth study on the economic impact of international shoots in Spain. Profilm, Spain’s association of line producers, will also participate in the venture, its members supplying data for the report. “We have an agreement and vocation for collaboration,“ said SFC president

Belgian director Joachim Lafosse is done being silent.  Just like the family in his latest film “A Silence,” inspired by the real-life case of Victor Hissel: a former lawyer for two victims of killer Marc Dutroux, ultimately charged with possession of child pornography.  “To me, it’s not a dark story, because they do start to

Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each. Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint

India’s Yash Raj Films has unveiled the first footage from “Tiger 3,” starring Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif. Directed by Maneesh Sharma (“Band Baaja Baaraat”), the film is the latest instalment 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

I saw “Reptile,” the new Netflix homicide thriller, at home on a link and decided to watch it with subtitles, since this is the sort of moody cop noir about life in the shadows where there’s a lot of murmuring going on. And I didn’t want to miss a clue. This means, of course, that

In “The Successor” — a provocative psychological thriller with a lot more actual psychology than the genre typically offers — Paris-based fashion designer Ellias Barnès (Marc-André Grondin) stands on the precipice of a breakthrough in his career. He’s poised to take his place as creative director of the haute couture house Orsino, following the death

The WGA emerges from the long slog of a strike and difficult contract talks with a deal that is far richer and more comprehensive than most industry observers would have predicted last spring when the fitful negotiations began. In short, the scribe tribe’s sacrifice of mounting a 148-day work stoppage — coupled with the extra

David Letterman relives his horrible “Airplane!” audition in the new oral history book, “Surely You Can’t Be Serious: The True History of Airplane!,” an excerpt from which was published on Entertainment Weekly. Letterman was brought in to screen test for the lead role of Ted Striker, ultimately played by Robert Hays. “He wasn’t an actor,

Martin Scorsese revealed in an interview with GQ magazine that Warner Bros. wished to turn his Oscar winner “The Departed” into a franchise, much to his disagreement. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a Massachusetts State Police officer and Matt Damon as a Boston gang member who go undercover to infiltrate each other’s organizations. “The

Rodrigo Prieto, the Oscar-nominated cinematographer, will be honored with the 2023 Árbol de la Vida – lifetime achievement award at the 13th edition of the GuadaLAjara Film Festival on Nov. 1. Taking place at the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Downtown L.A., the Mexican D.P. will be honored at the opening night gala celebration.

As the Golden Globes transitions to a for-profit organization, three members have been expelled for conduct violations. Meanwhile, another 15 former members and emeritus members have left the organization. Howaida Hamdy, Munawar Hosain and Aniko Navai were expelled after violating the organization’s code of conduct, Deadline first reported. Hamdy, an Egyptian journalist, was investigated after

Verdi Productions, run by Chad A. Verdi (“The Irishman,” “Bleed for This”), plans to release three films in 2024 that were previously put on hold since actors were unable to promote work during the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. “Workers in the film industry are getting financially destroyed by these strikes, whether it’s actors, writers, directors

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences

“The Hunger Games” film franchise is returning to the big screen after an eight-year hiatus with the upcoming release of “The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” a prequel film starring Rachel Zegler as Lucy Gray Baird and Tom Blyth as a young Coriolanus Snow. With one prequel down, Entertainment Weekly asked franchise director Francis Lawrence

Actor and rapper Nashawn Breedlove, who faced off against Eminem in an “8 Mile” rap battle, has died in New Jersey. He was 46. He died Sunday in his sleep, according to TMZ, and the cause of death is unknown. His mother Patricia confirmed his death on Facebook, writing “Nashawn was a rapper, singer, songwriter,

Yeti has launched a $200,000 grant to support emerging documentary filmmakers. The global outdoor brand’s Pretty Wild fellowship will support four directors as they create short docs that give a fresh perspective on the beauty, grandeur, and vulnerability of the outdoors and the people and stories that live there. Fellows will be offered mentorship, $50,000

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will bestow a replacement Oscar for supporting actress winner Hattie McDaniel to Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts during a ceremony titled “Hattie’s Come Home” in Washington D.C. on Oct. 1. Taking place at the Ira Aldridge Theater,

Jessie Buckley, Jeremy Allen White and Riz Ahmed find themselves caught in a love triangle in the new Apple film “Fingernails,” which debuted its first trailer Tuesday morning. Directed by Christos Nikou and produced by Cate Blanchett, the sci-fi film is set in a not-so-distant future. The story follows Anna (Buckley) and Ryan (White) who

The creator of “The Creator,” Gareth Edwards, started his filmmaking career teaching himself VFX at home. He’s an innovator on that front, devising ways to generate creepy CG monsters for “Monsters” more than a dozen years ago, then overseeing deceptively massive blockbusters, like “Godzilla,” ever since (deceptive because much of that stunning scale comes from

The National Film Board and the City of Paris have set strict guidelines for film and TV shoots before, during and after the Olympic and Paralympic Games, which will unfold July 26 to Sept. 8. While the sporting celebration will span roughly six weeks, the restrictions impacting filming will stretch over nearly a year, starting this

Cannes darling “May December” has unveiled its first trailer starring Natalie Portman, Julianne Moore and Charles Melton. Directed by filmmaker Todd Haynes, the film first premiered back in May and is set for a limited theatrical release before hitting Netflix. “May December” is based loosely on the true story of Mary Kay Letourneau, an American

Signature Entertainment has acquired U.K. and Ireland rights to writer-director Warwick Thornton’s Australian drama “The New Boy” from The Veterans. The film follows a nine-year-old Aboriginal orphan boy who arrives in the dead of night at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun, disturbing the delicately balanced world. Debutant Aswan Reid leads the film

The state government of Australia’s New South Wales has reversed some of its recently announced plans to cut subsidy to the film and TV industries. NSW Minister for the Arts, John Graham said on Tuesday that three important screen industry programs – the post digital and visual effects (PDV), the digital games development rebate program and the ‘Made in

It’s FOMO no more for global Taylor Swift fans. The singer and AMC Theatres announced Tuesday morning that the “Taylor Swift | The Eras Tour” concert film will open in more than 100 countries worldwide on Oct. 13, the same day previously announced for the its North American bow. Tickets for showings in most of

SAN SEBASTIAN – Top International business execs gathered on Tuesday at a rooftop venue, glistening in the Basque sunlight, for the second Creative Investors Conference at this week’s San Sebastian International Film Festival.  The second panel of the day at this two-day confab, The Global Film Industry: State of the Union 2023 round table, was moderated

A first trailer has been unveiled for Indonesian filmmaker Yosep Anggi Noen’s “24 Hours With Gaspar.”  The film will world premiere at the Busan Film Festival where it is in the prestigious Jiseok competition. Set in 2032 and based on the novel of the same name by Indonesian author Sabda Armandio, the film follows Gaspar,

The Montpellier Mediterranean Film Festival’s Cinemed industry section has teamed up with Beirut-based cultural nonprofit Aflamuna on a new initiative, under which 10 film and doc projects from a wide range of Arab countries will soon be unveiled to prospective partners. The new program, called Cinemed and Aflamuna Professional Encounters, features 10 Arab works in

Baz Luhrmann is set to preside over the main jury of the third edition of Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival. The event, which is rapidly becoming the top fest and market in the region and a key driver in Saudi Arabia’s ongoing effort to build a film and TV industry, will run Nov.