Movies

New York’s South Asian International Film Festival has appointed Chayan Sarkar as its new president. A filmmaker, entrepreneur and festival director, Sarkar is also the founder of the Indian International Film Festival of Queensland in Australia. He takes over from SAIFF founder Shilen Amin, who will step down as president, but will remain a member

Anthony Rapp said watching Kevin Spacey play a suburban dad obsessed with a teenage cheerleader in “American Beauty” was a disturbing reminder of his own traumatic experience with the Oscar-winning actor. The two men are locked in a courtroom battle over Rapp’s $40 million civil lawsuit, in which he alleges that Spacey made unwanted sexual

Ryan O’Connell will make his directorial debut with “Just by Looking at Him,” an adaptation of his novel of the same name. In addition to directing and writing the script, O’Connell will play the lead role of Elliot, a gay television writer with cerebral palsy. “The Big Bang Theory’s” Jim Parsons will co-star as Elliot’s

Dwayne Johnson recently told CinemaBlend that “the whole point” of bringing Black Adam to the big screen in his own standalone movie is so that one day he can make a Black Adam vs. Superman movie. Johnson has often been asked by fans which character would win in a fight (“It depends on who’s playing

The Middleburg Film Festival, running Oct. 13-16 in Virginia, will open with Noah Baumbach’s“White Noise,” starring Adam Driver, and the centerpiece “Knives Out” sequel “Glass Onion.” Other films announced for the 10th edition are “The Whale” from helmer Darren Aronofsky and Ray Romano’s “Somewhere in Queens.” More films are expected to join the slate. So

“Future Laobans,” a project directed by Maung Sun and produced by Maung Sun and Ma Aeint claimed the Busan Prize, the top award at the Asian Project Market, on Tuesday. The awards were made at an event held at the Paradise Hotel in Busan’s Haeundae district at the end of three days of quick-fire meetings

Dutch Features Global Entertainment (“Mocro Maffia”), an Amsterdam- and LA-based sales agent, is rebranding as SKOOP Media. The company, which is turning 10 this year, has been expanding its services and portfolio of TV, films and content across all media. Under its new brand name, SKOOP Media will continue developing, financing and distributing high-end European

The Sitges Film Festival, the biggest genre film event in Europe, has unveiled its Sitges Fanpitch and WomanInFan winners as the Catalan fest, one hour’s drive south of Barcelona, rapidly ramps up its industry program. Sitges Fanpitch feature film winners were “Bloody Mary,” “Rain Catcher” and “Krampusnacht.”  “Super-Over” (“Superada”) scooped the Sitges Fanpitch Scripted Series award. Spanish

A distressing new poll from the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain has revealed that almost three-quarters of U.K. film screenwriters feel they’re not properly credited for their work and are being “edited out” of the filmmaking process. A snapshot poll by the trade union has shown that more than 70% of writers feel they hadn’t

PROTEST Oscar and Venice-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras (“Citizenfour,” “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed”) and fellow filmmakers Georgia Oakley (“Blue Jean”), Roberto Minervini (“What You Gonna Do When the World’s on Fire?”) and Ondi Timoner (“Last Flight Home”) were among those who protested against the imprisonment of Iranian filmmakers and other incarcerated artists around the

For the first time in its 37-year history, the SXSW festival in Austin will host South Asian House, an initiative to celebrate South Asians from India, Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, and Maldives as well as accomplished members of the diaspora. The initiative, scheduled for the first weekend of SXSW on March 11 and

An influential panel of buyers from Asia and Europe identified multiple problems in the current, depressed post-pandemic box office landscape for arthouse films and attempted to find solutions at a Platform Busan panel on Monday. The panel included Laure Parleani of Totem Films (France), Kim Heaok of Hark & Company (Japan), Beril Heral of Filmarti

Austin Stoker, a veteran actor who most notably starred in John Carpenter’s sophomore feature “Assault on Precinct 13” and co-starred with Pam Grier in the 1975 blaxploitation feature “Sheba, Baby,” died Friday of renal failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 92. Details regarding Stoker’s death were shared by his wife of

After 22 weeks in cinemas across Ireland and the U.K., writer-director Colm Bairéad’s “An Cailín Ciúin” (“The Quiet Girl”) has crossed €1 million ($971,000) at the box office. The film is Ireland’s entry in the Oscars’ international feature category. Based on Irish author Claire Keegan’s story “Foster,” the coming-of-age film, set in rural Ireland in

The creative mandate for the VFX team on “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile” was to deliver a premium film with a singing and dancing CG character that both adults and children could believe was real. Based on the children’s book by Bernard Weber, the film follows Josh (Winslow Fegley), a young boy struggling to fit in, his

“Last Film Show” (“Chhello Show”) India’s contender in the Oscars international feature category, will release across India on Oct. 14. Cashing in on the fact that it is in contention at the 95th Oscars, the distributors – Roy Kapur Films in partnership with PVR – are pricing previews on Oct. 13 across 95 Indian cinemas

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you haven’t watched “Smile,” now playing in theaters. “Do you want to talk about grief and trauma?” Paramount’s horror film “Smile” has disturbed audiences with its violent death scenes, unsettling grins and grotesque monster, but star Sosie Bacon is cheerful speaking to Variety after its release. The movie has

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. “Barbarian” is hitting streamers just in time for your Halloween movie marathon. Zach Cregger’s bloody feature film will arrive on HBO Max on Oct. 25. Alongside a 4k Ultra HD release, the digital version

Kevin Smith is a diehard Marvel movie and Star Wars fan, but that doesn’t mean he’d ever want to be behind the camera to direct an installment in one of these franchises. Smith, who once had to publicly battle toxic fans who hated his Netflix animated series “Masters of the Universe: Revelation,” recently told The

Geena Davis writes in her new memoir, “Dying of Politeness,” about a “bad” experience she had with Bill Murray when the two were making their 1990 crime comedy “Quick Change,” which Murray co-directed with Howard Franklin. Davis details an uncomfortable first meeting with Murray in a hotel suite, followed by a time on set when

20th Century Studios has announced the ensemble cast of “A Haunting in Venice,” director Kenneth Branagh’s third effort in the Hercule Poirot films based on Agatha Christie novels. The new ensemble behind the supernatural thriller film is headlined by Branagh reprising his role as Poirot, with Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan, Michelle Yeoh, Kyle Allen, Camille

Eileen Ryan, the actor and mother of composer Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn, died at her home on Oct. 9. She was 94. Ryan’s acting work included portraying Sean and Chris’ grandmother in 1986’s “At Close Range,” as well as appearing in 1995’s “The Crossing Guard,” directed and written by Sean.

Jury selection in Harvey Weinstein’s trial is officially underway. Weinstein, who was convicted of rape and sexual assault in his New York trial in 2020, faces 11 new charges in Los Angeles in a trial that began Monday morning at the criminal courthouse in downtown L.A. Nine women are expected to testify in a trial

Paul Thompson, a prosecutor in the Los Angeles County D.A.’s sex crimes unit, is leading the case against Harvey Weinstein, which got underway on Monday morning. But Thompson was not initially assigned to the case. The case was originally given to Lowrie Mendoza, a deputy district attorney who has prosecuted sex crimes for the last

Scottish actor Alastair Mackenzie, recently spotted in “The Crown” and “Andor,” Jessica Frances Dukes and Debi Mazar have been added to the cast of Filip Jan Rymsza’s feature film “Object Permanence.” They join previously announced star Millie Brady, who plays Brooke Brooks: a former supermodel who becomes a successful lifestyle mogul and is the first

Jamie Lee Curtis revealed on “The View” that she has “already written to Disney” regarding another “Freaky Friday” movie. Curtis starred opposite Lindsey Lohan in the body-swapping comedy, which Disney released in 2003 to $160 million at the worldwide box office. The actor recently told a crowd in Mexico City while promoting “Halloween Ends” that

Aubrey Plaza has opened up about “weirding out” Robert De Niro when the pair worked together in 2016’s “Dirty Grandpa.” The actor and producer addressed years of swirling rumors about “being weird” and spoke about her commitment to her films at every stage of the process during a London Film Festival ScreenTalk session hosted by

101 Studios has made a series of key executive hires. Eliot Goldberg has joined as the company’s head of unscripted and documentary programming, while Ellie Duque has been tapped as exec VP of brand partnerships. Both executives will work out of the company’s Beverly Hills office. Joanna Balin has been tapped as director of unscripted

Apple Original Films has acquired international rights for the animated short film “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.” After becoming the first streaming service to win the Academy Award for best picture for “CODA,” the streaming platform has its eyes set on animated shorts. Based on the internationally bestselling book of the

Children’s literature loves few things as much as a mighty monster who remains, against all outward appearances, defiantly benign — one who sets out to soothe young nightmares after initially stoking them, ultimately proving that fears and anxieties aren’t limited to little folk. Boris, the cheerfully dorky title character in Ruth Stiles Gannett’s 1948 book