Movies

After this year’s blackout, the 80th annual Golden Globes Awards ceremony will return to NBC’s airwaves, along with a streaming option via Peacock, on Jan. 10.  In 2021, the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., which is made up of journalists from Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, faced intense scrutiny from Hollywood insiders

Austin Butler is set to receive the Breakthrough Performance Award for his performance in “Elvis” at the Palm Springs International Film Awards. “Austin Butler commands the screen with a larger-than-life performance as Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann’s spectacular film Elvis. The heart and soul of the movie, Butler’s dedication to this role shows in the

Slamdance has announced its feature lineup and “Free LSD” as the closing night film for the 29th Slamdance Film Festival This year’s lineup was chosen from 7,600 submissions — 1, 522 of which were features — and represents projects from 13 different countries. The selections for the Narrative Features and Documentary Features competition categories are

Rumors have been circulating for months alleging that Phoebe Waller-Bridge will be taking over the “Indiana Jones” franchise from Harrison Ford following the upcoming fifth installment, officially titled “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Those rumors intensified so much after the sequel’s first trailer debuted online on Dec. 1 that director James Mangold took

Ukraine’s fight for survival against Russia’s war machine isn’t only taking place in the frozen trenches of its Eastern front. Far from the frontlines around Kharkiv and Kherson, in the capital of Kyiv, there is a cultural front at work, too. On Dec. 1 – officially the first day of winter – in a snow-covered

Variety’s “Actors on Actors” series returns for a new season, featuring the biggest stars in this year’s films. The four episodes will debut on PBS SoCal on Thursday, Jan. 12, starting at 8:00 pm, and they will encore on KCET and public television stations across the country and the WORLD Channel (check local listings). All

Mohamed Al Salman’s debut feature, “Raven Song,” had its world premiere at the Red Sea Film Festival on Friday, screening in Official Competition. The pic is about 30-year-old Nasser, who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, but whose life is turned upside down when he meets an enigmatic young woman. The Saudi Film Commission

Borat returned on the evening of Dec. 4 at the Kennedy Center Honors (via The Guardian) to eviscerate Kanye West for his outspoken antisemitism. Borat creator Sacha Baron Cohen attended the Kennedy Center Honors to pay tribute to U2, but he used his time to bring Borat back to life. Borat’s first target was President

“He is so, so talented,” gushes director Adil El Arbi when speaking to Variety about Brendan Fraser. The actor played villain Firefly in the now discarded Warner Bros. Discovery film “Batgirl,” directed by El Arbi in collaboration with his long-time partner, Bilall Fallah. “The way he played that character… It was one of the most

Lauded “Capernaum” director Nadine Labaki was presented with the Variety International Filmmaker Award at the sophomore edition of the Red Sea Film Festival. During an in-depth conversation with Variety’s senior vice president of global content and executive editor Steven Gaydos, the Lebanese filmmaker and actor spoke about her passion for uplifting female voices to the

A truncated Panama Int’l Film Festival (IFF Panama) wrapped Dec. 4 on a high note, with the debut doc-feature “Nación de Titanes” by Panamanian Joaquín Horna Sosa snagging the Audience Award, a good indication of its box office potential. One of only four Panamanian features in competition, “Nación de Titanes” follows six wrestlers during Panama’s

“I spend a lot of time in director jail, then my friend Brad Pitt comes down and talks to the parole board and convinces them to let me out. Then I just go out and re-offend again, I’m incorrigible,” said director Andrew Dominik when speaking to an audience at the Red Sea Film Festival about

Egyptian superstar Yousra over the course of a four-decade career has starred in a multitude of Arabic film and TV milestones comprising classic movies such as Youssef Chahine’s “Alexandria: Again and Forever” and Marwan Hamed’s “The Yacoubian Building,” and hit Ramadan series “Public Opinion Case,” which was instrumental in changing Egypt’s rape victim legislation. But

“Cinema is not pages and it’s not minutes: it’s the way you look at the minute that passes,” Syrian director Ameer Fakher Eldin is talking about the 55-page script of “Yunan,” his follow up to “The Stranger” (Al Garib), which played at Venice Days in 2021. Eldin knows from the experience of editing his first

Pathé and Chapter 2 have unveiled the official poster and international teaser trailer for “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan,” the first film of a two-part epic saga starring François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris, Pio Marmaï and Eva Green. The adventure film, which has already been sold by Pathé in most major territories around the world,

Variety won 22 National Arts and Entertainment Journalism Awards at a ceremony in Universal City Sunday night, including a staff win for for entertainment website of the year. The 22 trophies represented the most scored by any publication at the event. Also scoring top honors were deputy music editor Jem Aswad, winning online journalist of the

Millions of families might not ever have built that snowman, if an executive’s early creative note on the Disney blockbuster “Frozen” had been followed. Jennfier Lee, the chief creative officer of Walt Disney Animation and the co-director of “Frozen,” confessed that the beloved character Olaf — a plucky snowman who accompanies his human friends on

“Mystery Road: Origin” dominated the television section of the Australian Academy of Cinema Television Arts (AACTA) Industry Awards, which were presented on Monday. The Baz Luhrmann-directed “Elvis” dominated in the film section of the Australian craft awards. The main AACTA awards with a focus on performance and talent will be presented on Wednesday. “Mystery Road: Origin”

Period thriller “The Night Owl” held on to top spot at the South Korean box office for a second weekend. It delivered a strong week-to-week performance that saw off competition from a volley of new release titles and lifted the overall market. The locally-made “Owl” earned $4.35 million between Friday and Sunday, only an 11%

Charlotte Wells’ directorial feature debut, “Aftersun,” took home the most awards of any nominated film at the 25th annual British Independent Film Awards (BIFA), nabbing seven victories out of 16 nominations. The film spans a 20-year period, beginning with 11-year-old Sophie (Frankie Corio) on a father-daughter vacation to Turkey and culminating with her reflection on

“Emancipation” producer Joey McFarland has apologized after facing criticism for bringing a photograph of the enslaved man known as “Whipped Peter,” which served as an inspiration for the film, to the Los Angeles premiere. “I wholeheartedly apologize to everyone I have offended by bringing a photograph of Peter to the ‘Emancipation’ premiere,” McFarland wrote in

During the Torino Film Festival, the Circolo dei Lettori hosted an event during which Alpi Film Lab handed out the Scarabeo Post-Production Award, followed by a panel discussion on the first results achieved by the program. TFL’s program coordinator, Angelica Cantisani, and Alessandra Stefani, of Scarabeo Entertainment, invited on stage director Sophie Beaulieu and producer

During the Torino Film Festival, the Circolo dei Lettori hosted a panel discussion on the future of arthouse cinema, moderated by Torino Film Lab’s head of studies, Francesco Giai Via. The event saw the participation of Israeli producer and TFL mentor Eilon Ratzkovsky (“7 Days in Entebbe”), and Andrea Romeo, CEO of Bologna-based production and

The Weeknd has teased new music tied to the soundtrack for James Cameron’s much-anticipated sequel “Avatar: The Way of Water.” On Sunday morning, the Canadian singer uploaded a short clip displaying the film’s logo and Dec. 16 release date. In the background, a choir can be heard, supported by a booming drum beat — reminiscent

Italy’s National Film Museum has revealed ambitious restyling and renovation plans set to change the future of the museum. The revamp will focus on two main areas: the renewal of the facilities and a partial reshaping of the visitors’ experience. The plan’s estimated costs are in the region of €30 million-€35 million ($31 million-$36 million).

Orlando Zurro, played by Michele Placido, has never left his Italian mountain village. At 75, he runs his little farm alone. His wife died a long time ago, and their only child, Valerio, dreaming of other ways of living, emigrated to Belgium at 20. Since then, father and son have not spoken to each other.

Spike Lee attended the first-ever public screening in Saudi Arabia of “Malcolm X” on Saturday during the Red Sea Film Festival. The film shot key scenes in Mecca, over 30 years ago, but has never been screened in the kingdom, due to the 35-year ban on cinemas that only ended in December 2017. On Sunday,

Neom, the Saudi Arabian region that is aiming to become a major film and TV production hub, has lured its first Bollywood shoot “Dunki,” starring Shah Rukh Khan, and booked 200-episode-a-year Saudi soap opera “Exceptional,” produced by MBC, that will be keeping one of its new sound stages busy for a long stretch. “Dunki,” which

In her speech at the Dec. 2 inauguration of the Panama Int’l Film Festival (IFF Panama), Panama’s Minister of Culture, Giselle Gonzalez, revealed that the country would likely have a major studio facility in the future and pledged more support for the festival, which has suffered major pandemic-induced budget cutbacks. In an exclusive interview with Variety in

Southern Californian director Jamie Dack’s coming-of-age drama “Palm Trees and Power Lines” was crowned best film as the 40th edition of the Torino Film Festival wrapped Saturday. The award is worth €18,000 ($18,967). Dack, winner of the Sundance Film Festival directing award in the U.S. Dramatic section, also received Torino’s prize for best script, shared