Movies

India’s official entry to the 2023 Oscars, Pan Nalin’s “Last Film Show,” and Rima Das’ acclaimed 2017 festival favorite “Village Rockstars,” are amongst the films screening at the inaugural Nirvana – Festival de la Culture et du Cinema Indiens. Taking place in Saint-Tropez May 26-28, the festival will also screen Shubhashish Bhutiani’s 2016 Venice winner

Now in her eighties, legendary children’s author Judy Blume only recently became keen to the idea of adapting her books for the screen. But when it came to “Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret” — arguably Blume’s most famous title — her arms were crossed. She didn’t want any filmmaker to touch it. “And

“Guardians of the Galaxy” writer-director James Gunn revealed in a recent interview with ComicBook.com that Zoe Saldaña’s Gamora was nearly killed off in 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” a year before the character met her demise in “Avengers: Infinity War.” According to Gunn, it was Marvel executives that talked him out of the

The excitement and buzz continues to build for “The Little Mermaid.” A source tells me that director Rob Marshall and husband, producer John DeLuca, hosted a private screening of Disney’s live adaptation of the 1989 animated classic on Sunday night at New York’s Whitby Hotel. The guest list of about 80 people included Emily Blunt

“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3,” the conclusion to Marvel’s trilogy about an intergalactic crew of misfits, looks to kick off summer moviegoing season with a bang. The superhero adventure is hoping to bring in $120 million in its opening weekend, falling in between the starts of 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” ($94 million) and

Visual effects house DNEG has hired Tom Williams as managing director for episodic content in its VFX division. With over 25 years of experience, Williams comes from MPC where he was serving as president of visual effects. While there, he also held the role of managing director of episodic. Prior to that, he held management

Austin Butler is bald and terrifying in the first look at the villainous Feyd-Rautha from Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune: Part Two.” Butler, a recent Oscar nominee for his performance as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” is one of the high profile new additions to the “Dune” cast along with Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken. Feyd-Rautha

Natasha Henstridge will star in “House of Abraham,” an upcoming thriller that marks the feature film directing debut of award-winning short filmmaker Lisa Belcher. She joins a cast that includes Lukas Hassel (“The Blacklist“) and Lin Shaye (“Insidious”). Hassel wrote the script. The film tells the story of Dee (Henstridge), a desperate woman who arrives at

U.S. actor John C. Reilly will serve as president of the jury of the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes Film Festival. “Salem,” directed by Jean-Bernard Marlin, has been added to the lineup. The other members of the jury will be French director and screenwriter Alice Winocour, German actor Paula Beer, French-Cambodian director and producer

Music Box Films has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Fremont,” the critically acclaimed drama from Iranian-British filmmaker Babak Jalali. The film, which premiered to much acclaim, including from Variety, in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section and later screened at SXSW, stars newcomer Anaita Wali Zada alongside Gregg Turkington and Jeremy Allen White.

Paris-based Playtime has unveiled a strong Cannes film market sales slate, which includes competition titles “About Dry Grasses” and “Homecoming.” “About Dry Grasses” is by Turkish auteur Nuri Bilge Ceylan, who won the Palme d’Or in 2014 for “Winter Sleep.” The film follows Samet, a young art teacher, who is finishing his fourth year of

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor took a few jabs during Monday’s Hot Docs world premiere of Barry Avrich’s “Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella.” The American Justice was in Toronto to celebrate Abella, who served on Canada’s Supreme Court from 2004 until her retirement in 2021. Avrich’s “Without Precedent: The Supreme Life

Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival has decided that Canadian media producer Bonnie Thompson will be the recipient of this year’s prestigious Don Haig Award. Thompson is the producer behind Cam Christiansen’s “Echo of Everything,” a feature length documentary exploring the power of music, which will have its world premiere at Hot Docs’ 30th-anniversary festival, on

Christina Hendricks will lead the psychological thriller “Reckoner,” which will be sold at the Cannes Film Festival this month. The project is written and directed by Nissar Modi (“Z for Zacharian”), who will be making his big screen directorial debut. In the film, an affluent woman’s carefully constructed life is disrupted by a young man

Music Box Films has acquired North American distribution rights to “Fremont,” Iranian/British Filmmaker Babak Jalali’s follow-up to “Land” and “Radio Dreams.” Jalali’s film, which premiered in the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT section and later screened at the SXSW Film Festival, tells the story of mid-20s Afghan refugee Donya (played by real-life refugee Anaita Wali Zada)

Nicolas Cage took a questionnaire for Stephen Colbert during a recent visit to “The Late Show” and revealed in typical Cage fashion that his earliest childhood memory is actually being in his mother’s womb. “Let me think. Listen, I know this sounds really far out and I don’t know if it’s real or not, but

Emma Watson hasn’t acted since December 2018, when she wrapped production on Greta Gerwig’s beloved “Little Women” adaptation. Considering the “Harry Potter” star isn’t currently attached to any film or television projects, her acting hiatus could very well hit the five-year mark by the end of 2023. Why did Watson step away from acting? She

Variety has been given access to the teaser (below) for “Murals,” an immersive 3D documentary that has its world premiere on May 18 at Cannes Next, a sidebar to the Marché du Film in Cannes. The experience, which is created in Unreal Engine and displayed on LED screens, centers on murals by Banksy, created following

Laetitia Casta will soon appear on the big screen as the former wife of an abusive southern Italian man whom she is accused of murdering in the thriller “A Dark Story,” directed by Italy’s Leonardo D’Agostini. In “Dark Story” the French star, whose recent credits include “The Crusade” directed by her husband Louis Garrel, plays

The first trailer for director Neil Blomkamp’s “Gran Turismo,” adapted from the popular PlayStation video game racing franchise, has been released. Blomkamp, whose notable directing credits include “District 9” and “Elysium,” departs from his typical science fiction subject matter to take on the sports racing film. Based on a true story, “Gran Turismo” follows a

Leading Chinese film director Chen Kaige is poised to shoot historical epic “Swan Song” as his next feature movie. It will focus on 18th century classical music composer Pyotr Tchaikovsky through critical failure, persecution for his sexuality and a mysterious death during the strife of the soon-to-collapse Russian Empire. Moonstone Entertainment will launch pre-sales on

Animayo, Spain’s leading animation festival, is celebrating its 18th edition with the help of Disney legend Andreas Deja who will be presenting his independently-produced short, “Mushka.” “Having Deja choose Animayo to debut his film in Spain is the greatest honor,” said Damian Perea, founder-director of the festival, which unspools May 3-6 on the island of Gran

Picture Tree Intl. has come on board to handle the international sales of black comedy “Shooting Blanks,” written and directed by Žiga Virc (“Houston, We Have a Problem!”). The Slovenian film looks at what happens when a family goes to war with itself. The film is in post-production. PTI will present a first private market

It’s time to lace up your kicks: Ben Affleck’s “Air” will be available to stream on Prime Video beginning May 12. “Air” debuted April 5 on more than 3,500 screens, which marked an unprecedented theatrical release for Amazon, as the studio affirmed its billion-dollar commitment to making movies for the big screen. The film is

Munich-based sales agency Global Screen has acquired romantic drama “Falling Into Place” for worldwide theatrical distribution. The English-language film is written and directed by Aylin Tezel, one of Germany’s leading young actors, and stars Tezel (“7500”) and Chris Fulton (“Bridgerton”). The directorial debut is set in Scotland on the Isle of Skye and in London.

Contract talks between the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers and Writers Guild of America ended Monday without an agreement, raising the specter of a writers strike starting as soon as Tuesday. “Negotiations between the AMPTP and the WGA concluded without an agreement today,” the AMPTP said in a statement issued Monday night.” The

Emmy-winning TV and film editor John Gordon Wright, who cut notable titles including “Speed,” “The Hunt for Red October,” “X-Men” and “The Passion of the Christ,” died April 20 at his home in Calabasas after a battle with cancer. He was 79. Wright, who worked frequently with directors including John McTiernan and Mel Gibson, received

Jason Reitman has set another feature at Sony Pictures, with the studio ordering a film based on the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live” in October 1975. Reitman and his “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” co-writer Gil Kenan penned the original screenplay for the project, drawing from the pair’s series of interviews with living cast, writers and crew

“I hate dolls,” writer-director Lagueria Davis states early in her debut documentary “Black Barbie.” By turns a celebration and an interrogation (sometime both simultaneously), the film delves into the history of the titular Black doll Mattel released in 1980. That was 31 years after the first Barbie began her rise to becoming the most iconic,

Amazon Studios has landed worldwide rights to the U.S. naval aviation documentary “The Blue Angels,” which is backed by production companies of J.J. Abrams and “Top Gun: Maverick” star Glen Powell. The film, shot with Imax cameras, chronicles a year in the cockpit with one of the world’s top aviator teams, the Navy and Marine