Movies

Eileen Muza is the only year-round resident of Cisco, Utah, a ghost town established all the way back in the 1880s and commemorated in Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise.” Tourists, who would occasionally stop by, saw sad remains of the past. Eileen saw potential. “One person’s throwaway is another person’s treasure,” says Emily Kaye Allen,

After two years of being forced online by the pandemic, the 11th edition of India’s Dharamshala Film Festival is back with a physical edition. Highlights include the India premieres of Cannes jury prize winner and Pakistan’s Oscar entry, Saim Sadiq’s “Joyland,” and Gianfranco Rosi’s Pope Francis documentary “In Viaggio.” Nestled in the foothills of the

Andrea Kleine was supposed to perform at The Chocolate Factory Theater in New York when the pandemic put a halt to her plans. Together with her partner, musician Bobby Previte, she decided to move into the venue and continue as planned. This time, without an audience. “When we first moved into the theater, we were

Ashley Avis was looking to put a modern spin on “Black Beauty,” Anna Sewell’s classic novel about one horse’s struggles and hardships. So when it came time to adapt the book for a new generation of moviegoers, Avis opted to have her equine protagonist be a wild mustang from the Onaqui Mountains of Utah. The film debuted on

James Gunn spent his summer thinking about the future. Three months before Tuesday’s shock announcement that he and longtime manager-turned-producer Peter Safran would take the reins at DC Films, the director showed up to July’s San Diego Comic-Con as a Disney employee, in town to give a first look at the sequel “Guardians of the

ASG Global has announced the launch of ‘Picturehouse 441,’ a new series featuring intimate virtual Q&As with various filmmakers and actors. The inaugural edition of the series, created by Adam S. Gordon and Joshua A. Handler, includes Pixar’s Pete Docter and Jonas Rivera discussing 2009’s “Up,” followed by a Q&A on Nov. 2 at 1

Issa Rae’s Hoorae Media has named veteran financial executive Malick Diop as chief financial officer. As CFO, Diop will be responsible for setting the financial and risk management operations for all of Rae’s business entities, including Hoorae Media and its divisions — Hoorae TV and Film; the “audio everywhere company,” Raedio; and ColorCreative, its management

Melisa Onel found that her international relations degree did not open many career paths and turned to the arts instead. She’s worked in theater, photography, documentaries short film and, increasingly, in features. Her latest feature film “Suddenly,” which has its world premiere in Tokyo on Wednesday, has the accomplished feel of someone who has found

The judge in Harvey Weinstein’s case is allowing one additional woman to testify in the former Hollywood producer’s rape trial: one of Weinstein’s former assistants, Rowena Chiu. Chiu will be a supporting, uncharged witness in the trial — meaning that the charges Weinstein faces in the case do not stem from her account. But, the

“Trying to forget last night,” Haleigh Breest texted a friend the morning after Paul Haggis allegedly raped the former publicist. “He definitely fucked me. He tore me.” “He was so rough and aggressive,” she added, declaring, “Never again.” Breest has been testifying this week in New York City as part of a sexual assault civil

For 10 American docu teams, this year’s Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival will be opening new doors for collaboration and support that are completely unknown to most indie filmmakers in the West. The New Visions Forum: U.S. Docs section, building on a successful launch last year, is a financing, co-production and networking event dedicated to

While Kate Winslet left the “Avatar: The Way of Water” cast and crew stunned by holding her breath underwater for seven minutes while filming the long-awaited sequel, Zoe Saldaña was certainly no rookie. Cameron had his cast train with “the world’s best breath-hold specialists” so that he could film extended long takes underwater. Winslet held

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine took many by surprise, including Oksana Moiseniuk, the director of Ji.hlava Film Festival’s opener “8th Day of the War.” “Nobody was ready for it. On the sixth day of war, I understood I was living in a documentary,” Ukrainian director tells Variety. Moiseniuk, who has been living and working in the

Jules Bass, the animator, producer, director and composer whose work included stop-motion holiday television specials like “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” “Frosty the Snowman” and “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town,” died at the age of 87 on Tuesday at an assisted living facility in Rye, New York, publicist Jennifer Fisherman-Ruff confirmed. The three prominent holiday

James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way of Water” press tour has officially kicked off with a new interview in The New York Times in which he was joined by stars Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldaña and Sigourney Weaver. The long-awaited “Avatar” sequel takes place 15 years after the original, so it was important for Cameron to depict

This year’s Gotham Awards are taking place Nov. 28 at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. “Pose” star Angelica Ross and Executive Director of The Gotham Film & Media Institute Jeffrey Sharp announced the nominations live from Variety‘s YouTube channel on Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT. “Tár” leads the field with five nominations, including three

 The company behind “Hoop Dreams” and Academy Award-nominated “Minding the Gap” has named Amir George its new artistic director. George takes over on Nov. 1 at Kartemquin Films, the non-profit, Chicago-based documentary production collective. He is the first person of color to hold one of two top leadership positions at the 56-year-old company and the

At the 20th Morelia Film Festival to debut their first feature produced in Mexico, “Maquíllame Otra Vez,” brothers Pablo and Juan de Diós Larrain of Chile-based film-TV powerhouse Fabula have announced the official launch of their Mexican city production office with Carlos Taibo at the helm. Fabula has also named Eduardo Castro as their line producer,

Sony Pictures Entertainment has acquired the VFX company Pixomondo from Mayfair Equity Partners, a dedicated technology and consumer investor. Pixomondo specializes in virtual production and VFX and is known for its work on “Game of Thrones,” “House of the Dragon” and the upcoming “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” It will maintain three LED soundstages and seven

“Lord of the Rings” star Elijah Wood is to return to New Zealand in the leading role of “Bookworm,” a family adventure-comedy to be directed by Ant Timpson (“Turbo Kid,” “The Greasy Strangler,” “The ABCs of Death,” “Come to Daddy”). The project is being launched next week at the American Film Market by sales agent

Julianne Nicholson will star alongside Nicolas Cage in A24’s comedy “Dream Scenario.” Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, comedian Kate Berlant, Dylan Baker (“The Resort”) and Dylan Gelula (“Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt”) have also been cast in the film, written and directed by Norwegian filmmaker Kristoffer Borgli. Almost nothing is known about “Dream Scenario,” except that it’s reportedly

Music supervisors at Netflix, who are seeking representation by IATSE, on Monday filed papers seeking a union-certification election with the National Labor Relations Board.   IATSE, a labor union, represents over 160,000 technicians, artisans and craftspersons in the entertainment industry, including live events, motion picture and television production, broadcast, and trade shows in the United States and Canada.

LBI Entertainment has signed actor, screenwriter and producer Lena Góra for management. Góra most recently starred in, co-wrote and produced the film “Roving Woman,” which was directed by Michal Chmielewski and executive produced by Wim Wenders. The film, which also stars John Hawkes, follows a woman who breaks up with her partner, steals a car

The nominations for this year’s Gotham Awards, the ceremony’s 32nd iteration, will be announced on Tuesday at 9 a.m. PT. “Pose” star Angelica Ross will announce the nominations live via Variety’s YouTube channel on Tuesday, Oct. 25 at 9 a.m. PT/12 p.m. ET. The awards ceremony itself is set to take place on Nov. 28 at

Leading European animation outfit nWave Studios has closed a multi-year output deal with prominent Scandinavian distributor Scanbox for Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway and Iceland. The agreement will cover the Nordic distribution of three upcoming features to be produced by nWave Studios, kicking off with “The Inseparables,” which is based on an original idea by Joel

The bold assertion laid out by the organizers of the Tokyo International Film Festival is that this year’s fully in-person edition is not only bigger than before, it’s also better. That applies at an organization level as the festival adds more screens and foreign participants after the COVID hiatus. It applies at a film quality

TrustNordisk has scored a raft of deals on Christoffer Sandler’s Swedish romantic dramedy “So Damn Easy Going” which played at several festivals, including Goteborg and Seattle film festivals. The heartwarming coming-of-age love story revolves about Joanna, an 18-year-old girl whose mind is like a flashing amusement park at peak season. She needs ADHD meds to

Ralph Fiennes, who played Lord Voldemort in the ‘Harry Potter’ series, has defended the books’ author, calling the relentless abuse and death threats aimed at J.K. Rowling “disgusting” and “appalling.” “J.K. Rowling has written these great books about empowerment, about young children finding themselves as human beings,” Fiennes told the New York Times during a

The 26th edition of the Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival will screen 300 films, including a retrospective on American Oscar-winning innovator Shirley Clarke, and what fest organizers describe as the largest-ever retrospective of Filipino cinema outside Asia. The fest, running Oct. 25-30, will include work on the Russian invasion of Ukraine and a conference on

Picture Tree Intl. has picked up the global sales rights to Austrian horror movie “Smother” by up-and-coming director Achmed Abdel-Salam. The Glitter and Doom production is tentatively set for a local theatrical release in early 2023. After the sudden death of her estranged father, Michi, a young mother and former alcoholic, decides to stay in