Movies

After a massage therapist, known as Jane Doe No. 3, testified about being assaulted numerous times by Harvey Weinstein, the convicted rapist’s lawyer questioned her on the stand for hours, focusing on what he called her “hazy” memory of the alleged incidents and why she was engaging in a book deal with Weinstein’s company if

As the Hollywood Foreign Press Association continues to march toward a possible comeback, whether the talent and studios participate or not, the mere mention of a Golden Globe nomination will be useful in this wide-open Oscar season. As the early season precursors begin to trickle in like the Gothams and the Hollywood Music in Media

Paul Haggis, the Oscar-winning director of “Crash,” declared himself to be “a broken person” in a New York civil court on Friday, while continuing to deny that he raped a film publicist at his Soho apartment in 2013. “I’m a very flawed human being,” Haggis said, capping a three-day testimony in which he admitted to

Multi-hyphenate Selena Gomez’s candid documentary, “My Mind & Me,” is now available to viewers in the U.S. on Apple TV+. Directed by Alek Keshishian, the 95-minute film follows Gomez’s journey to stardom, as well as the mental and physical health struggles that have come with being in the spotlight from a young age. Gomez’s early

After gathering acclaim and awards around the world, beginning with a winning debut at Cannes, Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland” has trained its sights on the next big prize – the international feature Oscar. “Joyland,” set in Lahore, Pakistan, revolves around Haider, the youngest son of the middle-class, patriarchal Rana family. As the Ranas yearn for the

Filmmaker Alek Keshishian went through over 200 hours of Verite footage and more hours for AppleTV+ “Selena: My Mind and Me.” Through it, the director who helmed “Madonna: Truth or Dare” had unprecedented access to singer and superstar Selena Gomez. What began as a behind-the-scenes of Gomez on her first tour in 2016, evolved into

Netflix will no longer distribute and Blumhouse Productions will no longer produce “Absolute Dominion,” a science-fiction martial arts drama from filmmaker Lexi Alexander. Netflix greenlit the movie earlier this year, with Jason Blum and his Blumhouse Television banner on board to produce. It’s unclear why the two companies departed “Absolute Dominion,” but the filmmaking team

A producer on one of the highest-grossing of Spanish films in the last decade, Alex de la Iglesia’s “Perfect Strangers,” Madrid-based Nadie es Perfecto is ramping up production as it rebrands and, following the hire of ex-Netflix exec Juan Mayne, focuses on broadening its bridges with Mexico and Latin America.  In one move, Christopher Hool

The ninth annual Miami Film Festival GEMS will present Iranian filimmaker Jafar Panahi with the Precious Gem Award. The award will be presented virtually before Friday’s screening of “No Bears.” The festival, sponsored by Miami Dade College, runs Nov. 3-10 at MDC’s Tower Theater. “I thank all the people involved in the Miami Film Festival,

It’s no longer the summer movie season, but November is a blockbuster month for streaming. Viewers are getting a double dose of both Florence Pugh and Harry Styles, as Olivia Wilde’s much-publicized thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” arrives on HBO Max in addition to Pugh’s “The Wonder” on Netflix and Styles’ “My Policeman” on Amazon Prime

Radiant Films Intl. has unveiled a first-look image of thriller “Unit 234,” pictured above. Isabelle Fuhrman, who had a breakout role in 2009’s “Orphan,” and reprised the role in this year’s hit “Orphan: First Kill” essays the lead. Pic follows Fuhrman, and employee of a remote storage facility, who discovers an unconscious man in a

Viva Kids has acquired U.S. distribution rights to “Argonuts,” a family animated feature from TAT Productions, the team behind “The Jungle Bunch,” “Terra Willy” and “Pil’s Adventures,” which had a worldwide theatrical gross totalling $6.8 million. Viva previously released “Terra Willy” and “Pil’s Adventures” in 2020 and 2022, respectively. Grégoire Melin’s Paris-based Kinology is handling

Ajoomma, a drama film that riffs on Asian obsessions with Korean pop culture, has racked up new sales deals in the region. Structured as a Singapore-South Korea co-production, the film is directed by He Shuming. It tracks a middle-aged woman from Singapore as she journeys to Korea in search of her pop idols and has

Merci Seville, an annual Spanish film distributors forum,  returns for its second Independent Film Market at the Seville European Film Festival, with a broad agenda and some hugely urgent issues to debate, led by how to get audiences back into the country’s cinema theaters.   A joint venture with Adicine (Association of Independent Film Distributors), Merci Seville

Brazil’s Sergio Machado, renowned for lauded dramas “The Violin Teacher” and “Lower City,” debuts his latest film “River of Desire” (“Orio do Desejo”) at Estonia’s 26th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, where it competes in the official selection. Produced by TC Filmes and powerhouse production company Gullane, producer of such acclaimed Brazilian classics as “Carandiru,”

Ventana Sur’s Blood Window has just announced the six Latin American titles which will feature in its Work In Progress sidebar offering, in what promises to be another year of spine-tingling genre fare not for the faint-hearted. Titles cap the most powerful Blood Window lineup in its history, galvanised by new sections Fant.Latina, focusing on

Emphasizing its consolidated position as an important bridge between European creators and cinemagoers, the Seville Festival is expanding its reach with an ambitious sidebar, Essential Voices, to bring together decisive European filmmakers for a discussion forum. At the same time, the SEFF continues strengthening its industrial heft with the announcement of Sevilla Cinema Lab, an

Quentin Tarantino flirted for a period of time with directing a “Star Trek” movie, but that doesn’t mean he’d ever take the leap into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The filmmaker, who’s currently making the press rounds in support of his new book, “Cinema Speculation,” told the Los Angeles Times that directors in the MCU are

The Organization of Ukrainian Producers (OUP) has sold broadcast rights for four of their documentaries – “HopeBahnhof. Berlin,” “9 Lives,” “A Home Lost” and “Mariupol. Unlost Hope” to 20 countries. “A Home Lost,” which details the emotions of Ukrainians who lost their home as a result of the Russian occupation, will premiere this week on

Michael Morris’ debut feature “To Leslie” has won Film of the Festival at the 30th Raindance Film Festival in London and Andrea Riseborough won Best Performance for the film. Israel’s Moshe Rosenthal won Best Director and Best Screenplay for “Karaoke.” Korean director Hee-il Leesong’s “Swallow,” starring actor and musician Woo Ji-hyun, which had its world

On the heels of its world premiere at Locarno’s Cineasti del Presente and coinciding with upcoming festival bows at Seville and Mar del Plata, auteur-focused distribution house Alief has shared in exclusivity with Variety the trailer and key art for Santiago Fillol’s first solo feature, “Matadero.” An ode to class struggle and unflinching ego, the film simultaneously

Charlotte Wells’ “Aftersun” and Georgia Oakley’s “Blue Jean” led the nominations at the 2022 British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) with 16 and 13 nods respectively. Sebastián Lelio’s “The Wonder” followed with 12 nominations, Oliver Hermanus’ “Living” nine and Peter Strickland’s “Flux Gourmet” seven. From this year, the awards are permanently going gender neutral for acting

Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness,” Ali Abbasi’s “Holy Spider,” and tributes to the French New Wave are among the most common programming choices for this year’s Month of European Film, a variegated showcase for continental cinema that will run across the continent from Nov. 13 – Dec. 10. Piloted by the European Film Academy, the

Hong Kong is launching two new film and streaming support schemes, one for cross-border productions, the other for development of streaming content. The maximum total value of the two schemes is $15 million. The measures, both under the purview of the city’s Film Development Fund, are intended to shore up an industry that the local

“Girls Will Be Girls,” a female-led drama written and directed by debutant Shuchi Talati, has commenced principal photography in the state of Uttarakhand in northern India. The film is set in an elite boarding school in a small Himalayan hill town in northern India and follows the story of a 16-year-old girl, whose rebellious coming-of-age

Los Angeles-based Premiere Entertainment Group has acquired worldwide sales rights to romance murder mystery “Nightalk,” directed by Canadian filmmaker Donald Shebib. The film, which premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, stars Ashley Bryant and Al Mukadam. The steamy thriller follows a female cop (Bryant), who goes undercover on a phone-sex app to solve a murder

Just how far can Luffy stretch? That’s a question “One Piece” fans have been asking for years of the Gum-Gum hero with the go-go-gadget arms. Sure, there are limits to Luffy’s flexibility, but if you look at the pirate adventure series to which he belongs — one that’s been serialized for 25 years running, generating

Germany’s Little Brother Films & Engizek Films have snapped up all German-speaking rights to the much-anticipated animated feature film “Dalia and the Red Book.” The six-figure deal was closed at AFM after new footage was screened, according to FilmSharks’ Guido Rud, who negotiated the pact with Ekrem Engizek & Timo Joh. Mayer.  Inspired by classics “The NeverEnding

Indonesian genre kingpin Joko Anwar (“Gundala,” “Impetigore”) continues his run of hits with “Satan’s Slaves 2: Communion,” a juicy if slightly overstuffed sequel to his 2017 supernatural horror hit “Satan’s Slaves.” Set in a brutalist concrete apartment block that looks like hell on Earth even before ghouls and zombies start terrorizing the first film’s surviving

Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav mentioned the potential to do “something” with controversial “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling on another title in the Wizarding World franchise “going forward” during the company’s Q3 earnings call Thursday. The remark was made as part of a lengthy statement about the importance of franchises like DC’s “Superman,” “Batman” and “Aquaman” films, as well