Movies

Pakistani Canadian filmmaker Anam Abbas has won the Canadian Media Producers Assn.’s 2023 Kevin Tierney Emerging Producer Award, it was announced Sept. 7 at the Indiescreen Awards, the opening event of the Toronto International Film Festival’s industry conference at Glenn Gould Studios. Abbas’ latest feature is writer and director Zarrar Kahn’s feature debut “In Flames,”

The Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA are pushing California lawmakers to grant unemployment benefits to striking workers. In California, workers currently do not receive unemployment pay when they are on strike. But state lawmakers are working on a bill, SB 799, that would extend benefits to workers who have been on strike for at

Franchises rarely get better as they go along. Unfortunately, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is no exception to the rule, as the expanded saga of the Portokalos family becomes less compelling, introspective and funny the more time we spend with them. The first film, centered on a woman’s quest to find herself and establish her

A new article from The New York Times on how the “Barbie” movie’s success will pay off for Mattel reveals that executives at the company were first treated to a 147-page script for the film. The screenplay by Greta Gerwig and Noah Baumbach would be shaped into a 114 minute film. Mattel Films head Robbie

Jake Bloom, the larger-than-life Hollywood attorney who negotiated rich deals for clients including Nicolas Cage, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Johnny Depp, died Thursday in Sun Valley, Idaho, his wife Ruth confirmed. He was 81. In 2019, Bloom retired along with his partner Alan Hergott while the firm was still in the midst of litigation with former

After directing “Origin” — the feature adaptation of Isabel Wilkerson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book “Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents” — Academy Award-nominee Ava DuVernay is feeling incredibly content. In fact, when she appears over Zoom from her office at the ARRAY creative campus in L.A. in late August, just a couple days ahead of the

Nia Vardalos is gearing up to release “My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3” in theaters, but helming and starring in a beloved rom-com trilogy was probably not something her first Hollywood agent thought was possible for her. In an interview with MovieMaker magazine (conducted before the SAG-AFTRA strike), Vardalos revealed her first agent told her

Actor Sandra Hüller could be the critical darling of awards season with two acclaimed performances in two high-profile international feature contenders, France’s “Anatomy of a Fall” from Justine Triet and United Kingdom’s “The Zone of Interest” from Jonathan Glazer. The German performer has opted to campaign her work in Glazer’s Holocaust-era drama for best supporting

For around half of the entire last century, there was a semi-official policy enacted by the Swiss state to forcibly separate the children of “itinerant” parents from their families. The program, known as “Kinder der Landstrasse” (“Children of the Road”), was ostensibly designed for the protection of such children from the perils of vagrancy and

“Vogter,” a psychological thriller directed by Gustav Möller, whose previous film “The Guilty” won the Audience Award at Sundance, has been pre-sold by Les Films du Losange to multiple territories. “Vogter,” which was just completed and is now in post, has been picked up for Germany, Austria, Switzerland (Ascot Elite), Spain (La Aventura), Italy (Movies Inspired),

Controversy over Venice title “Green Border” continues to heat up as director Agnieszka Holland gave an ultimatum to Poland’s Minister of Justice Zbigniew Ziobro following his comments about her film. According to the statement shared with Variety, Holland has hired the lawyers Sylwia Gregorczyk-Abram and Michał Wawrynkiewicz. She is demanding a public apology and payment to The Association of Children

French billionaire Francois-Henri Pinault has completed his acquisition of a majority stake in Creative Artists Agency. Through his family investment company Artemis, Pinault replaces private equity player TPG as the primary holder of one of Hollywood’s two talent agency superpowers. CAA, a diversified shop that makes deals on behalf of clients from Tom Cruise to

Two challengers in the SAG-AFTRA election are urging the union to bring in an outside mediator to help resolve the actors strike, which has gone on for nearly two months. Maya Gilbert-Dunbar, who is running against Fran Drescher for president of the union, argued that guild leadership has been too passive, and needs to show

It turns out Halloween isn’t the only time of year for horror. Director Eli Roth is bringing blood, terror and turkey in the first teaser for “Thanksgiving,” a slasher starring Patrick Dempsey, TikTok star Addison Rae and more. The movie comes to theaters in time for the holiday season on Nov. 17. Here’s the creepy

Variety is debuting an exclusive clip from Farah Nabulsi’s thriller “The Teacher,” starring Imogen Poots (“The Father”) and Saleh Bakri (“The Band’s Visit,” “Wajib”). The film will have its world premiere on Saturday at the Toronto Film Festival in the Discovery section. The film is Nabulsi’s feature debut following her Oscar-nominated and BAFTA award-winning short

Ahead of its world premiere at this year’s San Sebastian Horizontes Latinos strand, Buenos Aires-based production house Historias Cinematográficas has shared with Variety an exclusive first look at the trailer for Lucía Puenzo’s energetic new film “Los Impactados,” with Variety. Produced by Historias Cinematográficas, the Puenzo family production house led by Academy Award winner Luis Puenzo (“The Official

Capstone Global is selling “Don’t Move,” starring Kelsey Asbille (“Yellowstone,” “Fargo,” “Wind River”) and Finn Wittrock (“American Horror Story,” “The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,” “Ratched”). Capstone shared a first-look exclusive still of the horror thriller, which is currently in post-production, produced by Raimi Prods. “Don’t Move,” written by T.J. Cimfel and David

Jamie Foxx suits up for the latest trial – er, trailer – of Prime Video’s “The Burial.” The court room dramedy, which also stars Tommy Lee Jones, Jurnee Smollett and Alan Ruck, is set to premiere Sept. 11 at the Toronto International Film Festival. “The Burial” is adapted from Jonathan Harr’s 1999 New Yorker article

In “Summer Qamp” documentary filmmaker Jen Markowitz follows a group of LGBTQ+ youth while they attend Camp fYrefly, a summer retreat in rural Alberta, Canada. During the five-day camp, Markowitz, who identifies as they/them, captured queer, non-binary and trans teens in an environment they weren’t used to: A place that was free from judgment. Removed

To capture the breadth and depth of the musical career of Japanese composer and recording artist Ryuichi Sakamoto seems impossible, but somehow “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” almost accomplishes this herculean challenge. A document of Sakamoto’s final performance before his death from cancer last march, the film provides no commentary or context for the enormity of his

Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson is much beloved internationally for films such as “Show Me Love” (1998), “Together” (2000) and “Lilya 4-Ever” (2002). His filmography also includes the mostly English-language drama “Mammoth” (2009) with Michelle Williams and Gael Garcia Bernal, and “We Are the Best!,” (2013), a delightful adaptation of his wife’s graphic novel. His new

Controversial hacker and Wikileaks associate Jacob Appelbaum is the subject of a secretive new documentary screening Sept. 10 for buyers in Toronto.   Appelbaum headlines “Nobody Wants to Talk About Jacob Appelbaum,” from Canadian filmmaker Jamie Kastner (“The Skyjacker’s Tale”). Variety has seen a near-final cut of the film.   Made with direct access to

Indian filmmaker Kiran Rao’s sophomore effort, “Laapataa Ladies” (“Lost Ladies”), bows as a Centrepiece selection at the Toronto International Film Festival. Set in 2001 in rural India, the film follows two young brides wearing identical crimson veils who get swapped during a train ride to their husbands’ villages after their weddings. It is based on

Film Constellation has sealed a first raft of pre-sales in key territories on French female-led revenge feature “Animale,” directed by Emma Benestan (“Fragile”) and starring César winner Oulaya Amamra (“Divines”). The pre-sales include Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy (Plaion), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nos Lusomundo), former Yugoslavia (MCF Megacom) and Middle East and North Africa (Falcon).

The red carpets and lavish afterparties that send the media flocking to the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) will be a lot less star-studded this year. That’s a necessary consequence of the actors and writers strikes that are roiling the movie business, leaving major studios and streamers without the kind of celebrity heat they typically

A Sensory Storytelling in XR panel which took place at the Venice Immersive Island, part of the Venice Film Festival, sketched new directions being taken in Switzerland. Chaired by Laetitia Bochud, of Virtual Switzerland, the panel featured a range of experts from different parts of the creative field. Director Zoe Roellin, whose piece “Perennials” is

Indonesian production firm is setting its sights on becoming a diverse studio operation with the injection of high-profile management and the acquisition of a significant new animated series “Nussa.” It will also display its credentials at next month’s Busan International Film Festival where two of its feature films are selected. Its “24 Hours with Gaspar,”

“The Red Suitcase,” which world premieres in the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons strand, is a rare Nepal-Sri Lanka co-production. The producers have released a first clip from the film. The film marks the feature directorial debut of Fidel Devkota, who previously directed the short “The Last Yak Herder of Dhe” (2014) and documentary short “Wind

Cinemalovers has acquired all rights in Germany and Austria for “Mami Wata,” which world premiered in the World Cinema – Dramatic section of the Sundance Film Festival, and won the cinematography award. The film, written and directed by C.J. “Fiery” Obasi, with cinematography by Lílis Soares, is based on West African mermaid folklore and mythology.

Italian genre specialist Stefano Sollima – who is known in Hollywood for “Sicario: Day of the Soldado,” “Without Remorse” and the TV series “Gomorrah” – is in the Venice competition for the first time with Rome-set crime drama “Adagio.” This beautifully shot picture features an ensemble cast of Italian A-listers comprising Pierfrancesco Favino (“Nostalgia”), Toni