Movies

XYZ Films has unveiled the first clip from Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection “In Flames,” a Pakistani-Canadian horror film directed by Zarrar Kahn. The film, produced by Anam Abbas and executive produced by Shant Joshi, Todd Brown and Maxime Cottray, is part of XYZ’s New Visions slate. As revealed by Variety, XYZ had boarded the title last year. In

Clive Owen has joined “Star Wars” star Daisy Ridley in the London-set action-thriller “Cleaner.” Directed by “Casino Royale” helmer Martin Campbell, the project follows a group of activists who ambush an energy company’s annual meeting at the Shard — one of London’s most recognizable skyscrapers — and takes 300 people hostage. However, the cause is

TF1 Studio/ Newen Connect has picked up international sales rights to “Sarafina!,” the iconic South African musical-dance-drama that premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 1992. “Sarafina!” was the first major film to be made in South Africa after the release of Nelson Mandela from his 27-year prison term. The film tells of the strength

Globo Filmes, the powerful film production arm of Brazil’s Globo, Latin America’s largest media company, has unveiled 11 new movie projects which join the biggest production slate of any company in Brazil. Directors of new titles, all co-productions, range from star auteur Gabriel Mascaró (“Divine Love,” “Neon Bull”), and celebrated doc director Eryk Rocha (“Cinema

Spain’s Nostromo Pictures, producer of “Through My Window,” one of the most-watched non-English movies ever on Netflix, is producing “Control Room,” a female-led sci-fi action movie pitched by producer Adrián Guerra as “‘Aliens’ meets ‘The Guilty.’” Based on an original screenplay from Julien Deladrière, “Control Room” is directed by Luiso Berdejo, helmer of “The New Daughter,” starring

Amanda Nell Eu’s “Tiger Stripes,” which had its premiere this week in Cannes Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, is being celebrated as a punchy female-driven debut feature and as the first film by a Malaysian woman director in any section Cannes. The story focuses on a small group of 11 or 12-year-old girls. When one of

“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” is a dutifully eager but ultimately rather joyless piece of nostalgic hokum. It’s the fifth installment in the “Indiana Jones” franchise, and though it has its quota of “relentless” action, it rarely tries to match (let alone top) the ingeniously staged kinetic bravura of “Raiders of the Lost

“Black Flies,” the Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan film about emergency medical first responders, smacked the Cannes Film Festival in the face with a brutal world premiere on Thursday. Splattered brains, dead dogs, an addict giving birth with a needle dangling from her arm — these and a litany of other horrors confronted Penn and

Hundreds of fish lie dead on a riverbed. A lone (lonely?) cow ambles around late at night in a forest. A flock of birds fly in discordant unison up above. The arresting images of nature gone awry in Francisca Alegría’s “The Cow Who Sang a Song Into the Future” are but the first clues that

Cinema Italiano is on a roll, as reflected by the fact that this year Italy has scored three Cannes competition slots. Despite the persisting sore spot that sees the country still lagging behind other European territories in terms of post-pandemic box office returns, Italy “continues to produce and invest heavily in film and is overcoming

Festival reviews just love to hype a breakout performance, to the extent that one worries about becoming the little critic that cried breakout. But here goes: Talia Ryder, lead actor in “The Sweet East,” is a star. There’s something of Kristen Stewart about her, not merely in terms of physical resemblance, but more in her

Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator” sequel has rounded out its cast with the additions of May Calamawy (“Moon Knight,” “Ramy”), Peter Mensah (“Avatar”) and Matt Lucas (“Wonka,” “Bridesmaids”), as well as legacy cast member Derek Jacobi, who will reprise his role from the 2000 blockbuster. “Kraven the Hunter” and “The White Lotus” star Fred Hechinger is now

“White Men Can’t Jump” holds a special place in a lot of moviegoers’ hearts; while not the enduring sports classic that writer-director Ron Shelton delivered with his baseball mash note “Bull Durham,” the buddy comedy vividly captures the world of pick-up basketball players, and features three standout performances by Wesley Snipes, Woody Harrelson and Rosie

It turns out Indiana Jones can be a softie. On Thursday night at the Cannes Film Festival, Harrison Ford fought back tears several times at the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” the fifth (and perhaps final) chapter of one of the most celebrated franchises in movie history. No expense was spared

The Directors Guild of America is disputing a Writers Guild of America strike rule that forbids writer-directors from making minor script changes. The conflict revives a decades-old battle — which went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 — over the WGA’s jurisdiction. Though the Supreme Court ruled against the WGA, the

Sydney Sweeney debuted her new HBO Films drama “Reality” at an intimate premiere Monday at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. “Usually whenever I’m scared or challenged by something, I know I should do it,” the Emmy nominee told Variety on the red carpet about tackling the role of controversial real-life American

Bizkaia is seeing a boom in production with freshly implemented tax incentives luring industry leaders from Europe and abroad to the region for ever-more-ambitious audiovisual projects.  The incentives, which kicked off Jan. 1, offer an up-to-70% deduction tax break for national and international co-productions of film and TV projects, with no included cap. Already enticing

Founded in 1953, bought by Julio Fernández in 1987 and now run by his brother Carlos Fernandez and daughter Laura Fernández, Filmax is one of its biggest true-blue independent studios in Spain, involved in film and TV pro- duction, and movie distribution, international film and TV sales and exhibition. Founded in 1953, bought by Julio

Alain Attal and Hugo Selignac have formed a producing duo known for delivering original, starry French films that probe uneasy subjects that earn B.O. gold and critical laurels. Attal is in Cannes with Un Certain Regard title “Rosalie,” while Selignac has “Omar à la Fraise” in Critics’ Week. The pair is now about to hit

It is somehow emblematic of modern China — at least of its seamier side, as frequently explored in director Wang Bing’s unsparing documentaries — that the street on which his long, oppressive new film “Youth (Spring)” takes place should be called “Happiness Road.” A collection of clothing manufacturing workshops, arranged like a mall around a

Christopher Manning will make his feature directorial debut with “James Ivory: In Search of Love and Beauty,” a biographical documentary about Oscar-winning director and screenwriter James Ivory. The film will chronicle the life and work of the filmmaker, who is still going strong at age 94, having earned acclaim and an Academy Award for adapting “Call

In all my time as an actor, I’ve never experienced a more fraught environment than the one we are in now, and because I keep seeing canaries die in the coal mine, I’m a little curious about the air we’re breathing. The latest troubling indicator: a respected casting agency’s controversial offer to tape auditions for

Vincent Cassel (“Black Swan,” “The Shrouds”) and Caterina Murino (“Casino Royal”) will show off their acting range in “The Opera!,” an €11 million film starring famed opera singers Mariam Battistelli and Rame Lahaj. Pulsar Content is repping the hot project which is produced by Showlab and RAI Cinema, with Dolce&Gabbana on board to co-produce and

The “Old Guard” sequel starring Charlize Theron doesn’t even have an official release date, but a third installment may already be brewing. “There’s an ending to No. 2 that kind of demands a No. 3, which makes me very happy,” producer Marc Evans told me at the premiere of “The Mother,” Netflix’s new Jennifer Lopez

Katie Holmes has come on board as a filmmaking mentor to work with Saudi Arabia’s Film AlUla, the entity located in a sprawling area of desert, giant boulders and ancient artifacts that is becoming a local filmmaking hub and starting to attract international productions and talents. The program, announced during the Cannes Film Festival, is

Fans of the Tumblr comic series “Nimona” can finally take a peek at Netflix’s upcoming animated feature film adaptation. “Nimona,” set in a techno-medieval landscape where magic and technology combine, follows shape-shifting teenager Nimona (Moretz) as she tries to prove the innocence of wrongly convicted Knight Ballister Boldheart (Ahmed). Joining Moretz and Ahmed in the

The Critics Choice Association has set dates for its upcoming 2023-2024 awards season, with the 29th annual Critics Choice Awards taking place on Sunday, Jan. 14, 2024. Returning to the Fairmont Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles, the ceremony will be aired live on The CW and will continue its combined film and television awards

Dr. Stacy Smith and the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, in collaboration with the Adobe Foundation, have launched The Inclusion List, a first-of-its-kind data website that ranks the most inclusive theatrically-released films, distributors and producers from 2019 to 2022. The Inclusion List is a data-driven ranking system that analyzes theatrically-released films based on their levels of

Catherine Corsini, whose Cannes competition entry “Homecoming” has been at the center of a firestorm due to a sexually suggestive scene between two minors, admitted during the press conference that she will work an intimacy coach and “will be more careful to make actresses more at ease” on future films. The scandal over the inclusion

Ukraine’s cinema union issued an open letter on Thursday calling on participants of the Cannes Film Market to halt all business with Russia. The statement asserted that releasing films in Putin’s pariah state is akin to “support for terrorism” amid its ongoing war of aggression in the Eastern European nation. The letter, which was written