Movies

Returning as an in-person event after cancelation last year, the Shanghai International Film Festival has set out an agenda with a clear focus on China. The festival (June 9-16) will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative, China’s economic outreach and development program. With a series of press conferences and film culture

Film and TV finance company FilmHedge has joined forces with Riveting Entertainment Group in a $25 million first-look financing production partnership to significantly expand Riveting Films. The companies will collaborate on a broad slate of feature length films with the first one planned to begin production within the year. The deal was revealed at the

The Sitges–International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia has revealed the opening film for its 56th edition at Cannes’ Fantastic Pavilion: “Hermana Muerte” by Paco Plaza. Produced by El Estudio for Netflix, it was written by Jorge Guerricaechevarría. Shot almost entirely in the Valencian monastery of San Jerónimo de Cotalba, Plaza’s seventh feature is “a horror tale

El Estudio and Morbido are launching The Latin House of Horror, a hugely ambitious feature film slate channelling the voices of a powerful new generation of genre directors – and indeed writers – emerging in Spain and, most especially, Latin America.  The slate is designed to supercharge genre production in Latin America, in ambition, profile

Palestinian-British filmmaker Farah Nabulsi’s upcoming drama “The Teacher,” which is shot and set in Palestine’s Left Bank, has been acquired by top Italian indie distributor Eagle Pictures just as Vincent Maraval’s Goodfellas launches sales on the timely title in Cannes. Goodfellas, formerly known as Wild Bunch, on Thursday will be presenting to buyers the almost

MUBI has acquired all rights for Kevin Macdonald’s John Galliano documentary from Newen Connect. The film “High & Low — John Galliano” has sold to MUBI for North America, U.K. and Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America, Benelux, Turkey and India. The streamer and distributor will reveal its theatrical release plans and streaming dates in the

Brazil is back.  Brazilian President’s Lula Inácio Lula da Silva’s new government, which took office on Jan. 1,  looks set to invest just under $1 billion in 2023 into the country’s audiovisual sector. It’s one of the biggest upticks in government film and TV aid in history, and comes after Lula predecessor Jair Bolsonoro slowed

After 15 years running the Zurich Film Festival, directors Viviana Vezzani and Karl Spoerri stepped down in late 2019 to take their expertise to the next level and launch a film financing outfit. And then the pandemic struck. The Los Angeles- and Zurich-based SPG3 Entertainment was formed in 2020 by Spoerri and Urs Wietlisbach and

Australian helmer-screenwriter-cinematographer Warwick Thornton won Cannes’ Camera d’Or with “Samson and Delilah” in 2009. Now he’s back with his third feature, “The New Boy,” competing in Un Certain Regard. The film turns on the story of an Aboriginal child, who arrives at a remote monastery run by a renegade nun. The new boy’s presence disturbs

It’s already been a good year for the English cinematographer turned writer-director Molly Manning Walker. A film that she shot, “Scrapper,” won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, as well as praise for her vibrant lensing. Now, her first feature, the intimate, near-anthropological “How to Have Sex,” premieres as part of Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section.

Oscar-winning Irish director Terry George (“In the Name of The Father,” “Hotel Rwanda”) is set for Afghanistan-set actioner “Riverman” which will be shot in Saudi Arabia’s NEOM regional production hub. Inspired by true events that unfolded between 2001-2008 during the war in Afghanistan, “Riverman” revolves around a highly decorated Royal Marine named Max who after

Two years ago, Hungarian producer Mónika Mécs had a banner year, bowing Bence Fliegauf’s “Forest — I See You Everywhere” in competition at the Berlin Film Festival before walking the red carpet in Cannes, where Oscar nominee Ildikó Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife” competed for the Palme d’Or. The world — and the global

Here’s a rundown of some of the top Hungarian projects in the pipeline or selling at the Cannes Market: SemmelweisDirector: Lajos KoltaiProducer: Tamas Lajos (Film Positive)Sales: N/ASet in 1847, as a mysterious epidemic rages in a maternity clinic in Vienna, this period drama from the Oscar-nominated cinematographer and director Koltai (“Malena”) stars promising young thesp

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and the momentous burst of rebellion against the Iranian regime prompted by the death of Mahsa Amini are reverberating profoundly at the Cannes Film Festival. At the festival’s opening ceremony on Tuesday night, legendary French actress Catherine Deneuve paid tribute to the war’s victims by reciting a poem from Ukrainian poet Lessia Oukraïnka,

As befits its title, “Assassin Club,” begins with an elaborate action-heavy murder. Throughout the almost two hours it takes to unfold, the audience witnesses a few more. These intrigues unfold in a few European locales, though the locations are hardly striking, just places where the illusion of globetrotting can be created on a budget. It’s

Eddie Murphy is readying his magnifying glass, as the actor is in talks to star as Inspector Clouseau in MGM’s upcoming “Pink Panther” film, Variety has confirmed. The reboot of the classic property will be directed by “Sonic the Hedgehog” filmmaker Jeff Fowler. Chris Bremner (“Bad Boys for Life,” “The Man From Toronto”) is writing

The story template of “Homecoming” is a standard one: Years after an unexplained trauma, a family returns to the place they once called home, where hidden truths come to light and bitter conflicts arise over the course of one seemingly idyllic summer. Yet for all the secrets and lies that shape the narrative of Catherine

It makes sense that Martin Scorsese would demand and receive final cut. That’s the perk of directing some of the most iconic films in Hollywood history. But even the most exhaustively realized lowlife saga could use a snip here and there. And as Scorsese’s stature has grown, his movies have gotten longer and longer, making

Economists are fretting about a recession. Media stocks are in the toilet. Layoffs are being enacted monthly as a spirit of cut, cut, cut grips Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Oh, and screenwriters are on strike, while directors and actors are threatening to join them when their contracts expire next month. But for the media moguls

Stacey Offman, Jigsaw Production’s exec VP of development and production, is exiting the company to work as an independent producer, Variety has confirmed. Longtime Jigsaw producer Erin Edeiken to serve as head of production for Alex Gibney’s shingle going forward. Offman, who is exiting on May 19, joined Jigsaw Productions in 2012. In her 11-year

In film after film, from “Nobody Knows” to “Shoplifters,” Japanese master Kore-eda Hirokazu has proven himself to be among the medium’s most humanistic directors, inclined to see the best in people, especially children. So how to reconcile the way “Monster” makes us feel? Returning to his native Japan after helming two relatively disappointing features abroad

A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of Oscar-nominated film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theater director Ivan Vyrypaev, accusing the two of “spreading false information” about Russia’s war in Ukraine. According to the Associated Press, both men — who each reside outside Russia — will be placed in custody once they are either detained by

When audiences consider 3D as a medium, the abiding image seems to be of items popping out from the screen — a limb here in “Jaws 3D,” a dildo there in “Jackass 3D” — and perhaps that is indeed how most filmmakers have used the medium. Not enough directors have capitalized on the ability of

The Intl. Emerging Film Talent Assn. returns to Cannes for the 13th year with a series of events to showcase new faces from underrepresented regions. The lineup will include screenings of films centering on refugees, a cash award for a documentary and spotlights on Arab and Sudanese cinema. For the sixth year, IEFTA is collaborating

In November 2001, Ludacris was set to release his third album, “Word of Mouf.” At the same time, however, his debut on film, “The Wash,” was also about to hit theaters. Luda’s role in the DJ Pooh-directed comedy starring Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg was small. But “The Wash,” along with his goofball antics in

The Writers Guild of America strike is clearly taking a toll on production, as the Los Angeles permitting agency reported a 69.5% decline in on-location permits last week. FilmLA, which handles permitting for many jurisdictions around L.A. County, reported that there were 111 permits last week for TV and feature films. That includes reality TV,

While the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, French director Thomas Cailley was imagining another kind of coronavirus, one he’d cooked up before the crisis, but which suddenly took on new real-world relevance. In “The Animal Kingdom,” a mysterious malady is sweeping France, unlocking something at a genetic level that causes people to transform

It’s good to be Ludacris. Twenty years after his first appearance in the “Fast and Furious” action-adventure franchise, 2003’s “2 Fast 2 Furious,” the Atlanta rapper and actor is set to get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame the same week “Fast X” premieres. Such attention is nothing new to Chris “Ludacris” Bridges.

Every time two cowboys point their guns at one another on screen, there’s something homoerotic at play. Hollywood Westerns may be loath to admit as much, but not so Pedro Almodóvar, who casts Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal as lonesome cowboys reunited after 25 years in “Strange Way of Life.” Commissioned by Saint Laurent Productions

India’s Richa Chadha and the U.K.’s William Moseley will headline the cast of India-U.K. co-production “Aaina.” The film, set between London and India, is a drama about the impact of the cycle of violence, both within cultures and on human beings in the form of PTSD. It marks the feature directorial debut of Markus Meedt,