Movies

Seven years ago, Kani Lapuerta began working on his first feature-length documentary “Ninxs.” About Karla, a 14-year-old trans girl who lives in Mexico living in a binary society, the project garnered the IDFA Forum Award for Best Pitch at the 35th edition of the Amsterdam-based documentary festival on Nov. 15. Produced by Mexico’s La Sandía

Lea Glob’s documentary “Apolonia, Apolonia,” depicting French figurative painter Apolonia Sokol over the course of 13 years, has won the best film award in the International Competition section as well as €15,000 at documentary film festival IDFA in Amsterdam. The coming-of-age story with Bohemian Paris as its backdrop was pitched at IDFA Forum back in

Bradley Cooper is set to star in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming film, an original feature based on the character of Frank Bullitt, the no-nonsense San Francisco cop played by Steve McQueen in the 1968 action-thriller “Bullitt.” Josh Singer (“The Post,” “Spotlight”) is writing the screenplay for the film, which is currently in development at Warner Bros. Though

Since its premiere in Venice, where it scooped the Special Jury Prize in the Horizons section, Damian Kocur’s feature debut “Bread and Salt” has been enjoying a stellar festival run. But the Polish helmer is already planning his next move, teasing a new project under the working title “A Night Without an End” at the

Mark Mylod has a unique gift: telling stories that show empathy for the ultra-wealthy as they treat the world as their playground. “We, of course, realize that we ourselves are flawed and we can’t help but see, if not the same bank balance, some level of ourselves in those characters in our own follies,” says

The Oscars may have a ratings problem, but don’t expect a major overhaul of next year’s ceremony. “I would say nothing drastic,” Academy president Janet Yang told me Wednesday at the Academy Women’s Luncheon, presented by Chanel, at the Academy Museum. “We like to think [of] improvements and really helping to give the audience a

Awards ceremony commentary: Three weeks from SAG voting officially opening (it opens on Dec. 5), and the nominating committee is making the rounds, and catching up with titles and performances. The latecomers tend to have a huge disadvantage (ask Martin Scorsese and “The Wolf of Wall Street”). We’ll see what big names continue to rise

Over one-third of Marvel fans feel fatigued from the constant stream of content served in theaters and on Disney+ this year, according to a new study released on Thursday by the fan platform Fandom. But the study also shows that Marvel fans are also far more inclined to watch any Marvel project in comparison to

The implosion of cryptocurrency platform FTX and its increasingly infamous founder Sam Bankman-Fried is the subject of a new documentary from premium nonfiction studio XTR. The company behind docs including “They Call Me Magic,” “Meet Me in the Bathroom” and the Emmy and Peabody award-winning “76 Days” is already in production on the untitled FTX

Pixar is finally answering the long-awaited question: What if elements had feelings? The acclaimed studio has released the first trailer for its upcoming 27th feature “Elemental,” set to release next year. Directed by Peter Sohn, who helmed Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur,” “Elemental” is set in a world where the four classic elements — fire, earth, water

Nearly three years after the COVID pandemic sent the world into isolation, audience demand for films recapturing the spirit of lockdown may not be all that high — though perhaps we’ve just started to gain enough distance to evaluate that strange, sad, sometimes warmly intimate time and how it changed us. A highly personal, fine-grained

MARRAKECH – It wasn’t that long ago that filmmakers Maba Ba and Mamadou Dia were touring Senegal with an inflatable screen so that locals could see Dia’s award-winning feature debut, “Nafi’s Father.” Exploring fundamentalism through this story about a fight between an Imam, and his brother over their children’s marriage, the drama won best first feature

Courtney Sexton will return to her longtime former home Participant, where she’s been named executive vice president of documentary film and television. Overseeing all unscripted content at the do-good studio, she will take her office at the top of 2023. She departs CNN Films after a decade, where she most recently served as senior vice

Paramount has released the official trailer for the upcoming sports comedy “80 for Brady,” where former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady meets some lifelong fans played by Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno and Sally Field. Based on a true story, the film follows four girlfriends in their 80s who travel to the 2017

Nostalgia fuels Quentin Tarantino’s career, as his movies bear the DNA of his obsessions, be it blaxploitation (“Jackie Brown”), Shaw Brothers classics (“Kill Bill”) or the Los Angeles of his youth (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”). Yet the last few years have marked a turning point for the auteur. Instead of letting his movies

Body language is the only one worth paying attention to in Mounia Meddour’s “Houria,” shown at Cairo Film Festival this week. Her protagonist, a talented dancer, dreams of joining the Algerian National Ballet, but a violent attack leaves her broken – and mute. When she meets other women, all trying to overcome their own traumas,

“There’s no such thing as simple. Simple is hard.” – Martin Scorsese   Legend. Master. The OG of modern-day cinema in its infinite glory. Director, writer and producer Martin Scorsese is undoubtedly one of the most influential and greatest filmmakers of all time. His visceral focus and acute devotion to moviemaking have inspired generations of artists

Gwyneth Paltrow knows that the holidays are about bringing families together — even if that includes an ex-lover or a rival media queen. Paltrow’s 14-year-old lifestyle and wellness company Goop released a video on Wednesday promoting its annual gift guides, curated lists of the finest (and, often, most expensive and impractical) presents. Suggesting everything from

Tenerife-based Bendita Film Sales, headed by Luis Renart, has acquired Matías Bize’s “The Punishment,” (“El Castigo,”), ahead of its international premiere at the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival this Saturday.  Produced by Ceneca Producciones and Leyenda Films, it is the second film to see the light in 2022 for the multi-prized director of “In the

Embracer Group, the new owners of Middle Earth Enterprises — the holding company that owns the “Lord of the Rings” among other J.R.R. Tolkien titles — have given the first hint of what they may have planned for the author’s works during a presentation for their Q2 earnings report on Thursday. Among the rights Sweden-based

New works by Palestinian docmaker Amer Shomali (“The Wanted 18”), emerging Egyptian filmmaker Sara Shazli (“Back Home”) and first-time Jordanian director Amjad Al Rasheed are among the 16 projects selected for the 9th Cairo Film Connection, the Cairo Film Festival’s co-production platform. The event features films from 10 countries, including five from the host nation,

As sweet, sticky and snappy as a candy cane, “Christmas with You” provides a refreshing, sugary boost to any Netflix subscriber’s cinematic diet. This holiday offering, centered on a burnt-out pop star searching for creative inspiration and finding love, welcomes its co-star Freddie Prinze Jr. back to rom-coms, a genre from which he’s been absent

China’s Hainan Island International Film Festival will return to operation early next month for a fourth edition. Marco Mueller, former director of the Locarno, Venice and Rome film festivals is set as its new artistic director. Mueller is now based in China and has previously advised Chinese festivals including those in Shanghai and Pingyao. The

Amy Adams is weighing in on Henry Cavill’s surprise return as Superman. “Isn’t it exciting?” Adams, who played Lois Lane to the British actor’s Man of Steel, said Wednesday at the premiere of “Disenchanted” in Hollywood when I asked about Cavill reprising his superhero role. Adams said her husband, artist Darren Le Gallo, told her

Pakistan has reversed its ban on Saim Sadiq’s Cannes-winning Oscar contender “Joyland,” according to a senior advisor to the government. An official statement on the reversal had not been issued yet at the time of going to press. Salman Sufi, the head of Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Strategic Reforms unit, who has been a

Prosecutors will not call Mel Gibson to testify in Harvey Weinstein’s criminal trial, after all. Gibson would have been brought onto the stand to corroborate parts of a story from a Jane Doe in the case, who said she confided in Gibson after she was allegedly sexually assaulted by Weinstein. Jane Doe #3 was Gibson’s

Nazanin Boniadi is calling on Hollywood to do more to bring attention to the political upheaval over women’s rights in Iran. The “Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” star delivered an impassioned speech on Wednesday afternoon at the Academy Women’s Luncheon presented by Chanel, held at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles. “Iranian

Lily Collins, filmmaker Charlie McDowell and notable indie producer Alex Orlovsky have formally established a production entity called Case Study Films. The trio previously collaborated on the 2021 film “Windfall,” a pot-boiler with socioeconomic undertones starring Collins, Jesse Plemons and Jason Segel, which sold to Netflix. Case Study will build film and series content financed

Participant has formed a people and culture department that will operate with Danice Woodley at the helm of continued efforts to facilitate an inclusive workplace and produce equitable content. The new department is a product of merging Participant’s former human resources and culture and values departments, which Woodley is being promoted to lead as executive

Quentin Tarantino has named “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” his best movie ever made. The director was asked to pick his best by Howard Stern during a visit on the radio host’s SiriusXM show. “Hollywood” is Tarantino’s most recent directorial feature. Released in 2019, the film starred Leonardo DiCaprio and Brad Pitt as actors