Movies

Genesius Pictures and Cornerstone Films, who previously teamed on BAFTA nominated “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” have partnered to form content management company GenStone. GenStone, set up to take an integrated approach to the development and production and distribution of independent films, launches with comedy road movie “Libby and Joan Hit the Road,” written by “Good Luck to

Amazon’s Prime Video is in production on “The Silent Service,” which will mark the streaming platform’s first original movie in Japan. Separately, Amazon confirmed that it has picked up rights to the Japanese national team’s games in the upcoming 2023 World Baseball Classic. “The Silent Service” is a popular manga series written and illustrated by

Gaumont has enlisted distributors in major European markets and beyond for “A Difficult Year,” a topical comedy directed by Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache, the French filmmaking duo behind the smash hit “Intouchables.” Deals were scored on the heels at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous showcase in Paris, where Gaumont unveiled the film’s promo to buyers with Toledano and

Cinema chain Vue International has appointed veteran executive Stella David as its non-executive chair. David has extensive executive experience leading and growing large consumer-facing businesses and currently holds non-executive and independent director roles at Entain plc, Bacardi Ltd, Domino’s Pizza Group plc, and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. David has also held non-executive board positions

Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading the race at France’s 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars. Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel, Roschdy Zem and Noemie Merlant, the actor who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady

The Chinese New Year holidays have brought back scenes not seen in mainland China cinemas for a year – a slew of new release titles and crowds to match. Few records will be broken. But after several months of desertification, the flood of returning cinema-goers may be a relief to the wider industry. The holiday

FESTIVALS Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour‘s feature documentary “Call Me Dancer” will have its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, in competition for best documentary, on Feb. 9, followed by its New York premiere at the Dance on Camera Film Festival at the Lincoln Center on Feb. 10. The film follows Manish

A24 is in final talks to acquire the North American rights to “Talk to Me” after the feature’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival, Variety has learned. The film fetched a figure in the high seven-figure range, according to sources. The Australian horror feature enjoyed a buzzy premiere in the festival’s genre-slanted Midnight Selections lineup,

Julian Sands, best known for his starring roles in “A Room With a View” and “Warlock,” remains missing as the search for the English actor stretches to 11 days. On Tuesday, authorities provided an update on the effort to locate Sands, who had been hiking in the Baldy Bowl hiking area, located roughly 50 miles

Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed worldwide rights to “A Little Prayer” following its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The exact sales price isn’t clear, but sources state the film fetched a figure in the low seven-figure range. The deal reunites Sony Pictures Classics with Angus MacLachlan, who wrote the screenplay for “Junebug,” which

Spain’s Grupo iZen and Argentina-based Non Stop have launched Cacao & Cia, a new shingle aimed at producing content for the global Spanish-speaking market. With offices in Madrid and Mexico, the joint venture will be headed by Non Stop’s Pedro Dávila, who will lead a creative team in close collaboration with Juliana Barrera from iZen

Roughly five minutes into the presentation of the nominees for the 95th Academy Awards, Riz Ahmed announced the category for animated short film. When he read the fourth nominee, its title was so unexpected — “My Year of Dicks” — that Ahmed and co-presenter Allison Williams had to pause their presentation as the audience at the

Ira Sachs’ romantic drama “Passages” has been acquired by Mubi out of the film’s premiere at the Sundance Film Festival. The distributor will bring the film to the Berlin Film Festival’s panorama section for an international premiere in February; additionally, it has set a theatrical release for later in 2023. WME Independent and SBS International

A day after Sundance juror Marlee Matlin walked out of the premiere of “Magazine Dreams” in protest, along with the rest of the festival jury, the Oscar winner talked in-depth about the importance of open captions on film. Speaking at the Variety and Stacy’s Pita Chip Rise brunch, an event celebrating female creators on Jan.

Filmmaker Olmo Schnabel has assembled a cast of heavyweights for his directorial debut – a romantic thriller about two young men exploring the underbelly of New York and one other.  “Pet Shop Boys” will mark the first time behind the camera for Schnabel, son of Oscar-nommed director Julian Schnabel. Already wrapped, the project is led

Seven years before its Jan. 23 world premiere in Park City — the first-time that a homegrown Nigerian feature has scored a coveted slot in the World Cinema Dramatic competition at Sundance — C.J. Obasi’s “Mami Wata” began with a vision. The director was sitting on a West African beach, in between projects and contemplating

Chilean director Christopher Murray travels all the way to Chile’s Chiloé Island in “Sorcery,” where a teenage Huilliche girl, Rosa Raín (Valentina Véliz Caileo), witnesses the murder of her father by a German settler. At first, she seems helpless. But when she encounters much-older Mateo (Daniel Antivilo), he makes her aware of her roots and

When the dust settled on Tuesday’s Oscar nominations, for the first time in its 10-year history, independent studio A24 emerged as the most nominated single studio, with 18 total nods across six movies. That includes best picture nominee “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which lead all films with 11 total nominations, as well as “The

Only an elite group of 17 artists so far have achieved EGOT status, winning an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. The rare and coveted EGOT is not easy to come by, so it’s not surprising that fewer than two dozen have achieved this status. And while the artists don’t get a final EGOT trophy when

City National Bank is making changes in its entertainment banking team, promoting longtime leader Martha Henderson to vice chair of entertainment banking while JaHan Wang takes the reins of the team as executive VP. Henderson, widely known and respected in the industry, has been the engine of City National Bank’s expansion in the showbiz sector.

Tuesday’s Oscar nominations brought the jaw-droppers many expected. Some met with joy, and others with heartbreak. Social media and awards pundit circles have been touting Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert’s “Everything Everywhere All at Once” as an undisputed front-runner for most of the awards season. With a leading 11 nominations, it’s in an excellent position

This year’s 15-film shortlist for the best international feature Oscar was, by Academy standards, a reasonably diverse one. Four Asian films, two from the Americas and one from Africa helped to counter the branch’s traditional Eurocentric bias; of the remaining European selections, meanwhile, three came from filmmakers of color. So, there was some disappointment today

After a day of filming on “The Inspection,” Bokeem Woodbine would occasionally stroll into his hotel lobby and see the young actors who play Marines under his supervision “carrying on and having a great time.”  In person, director Elegance Bratton says, Woodbine is both “effortlessly funny” and a true gentleman, “caring and regal in his

The trailer (below) has debuted for Lukas Nathrath’s “One Last Evening,” which has its world premiere in the Tiger Competition of International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film was the winner of the First Look Award, part of the industry section of the Locarno Film Festival. Beta Cinema is handling international sales. The film is set

APPOINTMENT Deborah K. Bradley has joined A+E Networks in the newly formed role of executive VP of global content sales, reporting into Mark Garner, executive VP of content sales and business development. Based in Atlanta, Bradley will oversee the team responsible for licensing original and existing content to A+E Networks’ global streaming partners and all U.S.

Though many prognosticators do their best to try and predict who will be nominated for Academy Awards, there are always a few shockers — both good and bad — when the names are finally announced. This year’s nominations for the 95th annual Academy Awards saw its fair share of shockers. Actors like Andrea Riseborough, Brian

John Carney’s “Flora and Son” has sold to Apple Original Films following its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this weekend. The sale closed at $20 million, one source familiar with the film told Variety. Another insider disputed this, and said the number was just approaching $20 million. The “Sing Street” filmmakers big-ticket deal follows

The 2023 Oscar nominations were a mixed bag in terms of diversity — with no Black actors nominated in the lead acting categories and women shut out for best director — but there was one particular milestone worth applauding. With nods for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu (all for “Everything Everywhere All at

North Korea is a place of fearsome fascination. It’s the most brutal regime on earth, led by a dynastic dictator, Kim Jong-un, who has proved to be even more ruthless and obsessed with nuclear weapons than his father, Kim Jong-il. We all have a certain vision of North Korea, a country sealed like a prison,

Perhaps humbly anticipating a slightly less prestigious premiere than in competition at Sundance, Randall Park’s “Shortcomings” opens with an amusingly broad parody of “Crazy Rich Asians” (starring original cast member Ronnie Chieng alongside Stephanie Hsu) playing at a Berkeley-based Asian American film festival. As the credits roll, the audience hoot and holler their approval —