Movies

Cinematographer Pushan Kripalani returns to the director’s chair with “Goldfish,” seven years after his acclaimed directorial debut “The Threshold.” In the film, Anamika, a half-Indian half-English woman, returns home to the U.K. to deal with her mother’s dementia and the scars of her childhood. The cast includes Kalki Koechlin (“Sacred Games”), veteran Deepti Naval (“The

Class divisions that assume macrocosmic significance in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness” remain microcosmically scaled in “Pretty Problems,” another cleverly discomfiting, festival-blessed comedy hitting theaters on Oct. 13. Kestrin Pantera’s third directorial feature, which won the Audience Award at SXSW, also places a less-advantaged young couple in an enclave of the very rich. Here, however,

A heavyweight producers panel discussed the modalities of producing independent films in Southeast Asia at a mylab panel on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday. Panelists included: Liza Diño, former chair of Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) who had greenlit several films during her tenure; Indonesia’s Yulia Evina Bhara,

Grappling with free-falling theatrical admissions and misplaced blame by exhibitors on so-called “auteur” movies, the leading lights of the French film industry sounded the alarm about the state of the country’s cinema sector during a dramatic and emotional conference. The jam-packed event on Thursday, called Appel aux Etats Generaux (Call for General Assemblies), was organized

Mirrors reflect who we are, or at least how we want to appear to others. Director Mike Barker’s “Luckiest Girl Alive” uses them as a motif throughout this tale centered on a woman whose pristine, calculated image disguises a mess of insecurities and intense psychological pain. Yet the picture portrayed in author Jessica Knoll’s adaptation

Korean sales firm, Finecut is using the Asian Contents & Film Market on the sidelines of the Busan International Film Festival to launch comic action film “Brave Citizen.” The film, now in post-production, is an adaptation of a webtoon which ranked first in popularity when it was serialized on the platform Comico. It was later

Jordan Peele is looking to push boundaries as a writer, director and producer every time he creates something new. “I’m going to keep trying to come up with original stories, and meet the expectations the audience has for me,” Peele says. “I hope to continue to lift original filmmakers up.” On this episode of the

Attorneys for Kevin Spacey claim that Anthony Rapp manufactured sexual misconduct allegations against the Oscar-winning actor because he was jealous of his success and angry about his own stalled career. “He blames Mr. Spacey for everything that hasn’t gone well in his life,” Jennifer L. Keller, an attorney for Spacey said Thursday during opening arguments

The trailer for Universal Pictures and Nintendo’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” has debuted, bringing with it a first listen of Chris Pratt’s Mario voice. The actor told Variety earlier this year that he “worked really closely with the directors” to craft the perfect Mario voice, adding, “[We tried] out a few things and landed on

“White Noise” might be the quietest high-profile Oscar hopeful in the last decade: The Netflix film from Noah Baumbach, a two-time Oscar-nominated screenwriter whose last film was nominated for best picture, boasts a cast that includes Adam Driver and a 89% score on Rotten Tomatoes. However, buzz is strangely muted for the first film ever to serve

Michaela Coel is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” and she confirmed to Vogue magazine that her character will be the latest queer character in the MCU. Marvel brought its first openly gay hero to the big screen in “Eternals” with Brian Tyree Henry’s Phastos. Now Coel will also be playing

For many involved, from the Wachowskis to cast members Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis and Eddie Redmayne, “Jupiter Ascending” ranks as one of their biggest flops. The 2015 science-fiction epic was ridiculed by film critics and didn’t make it past the $50 million mark at the U.S. box office, despite a budget north of $150 million.

Pulsar Content and XYZ Films have dropped the trailer for “Tropic,” Edouard Salier sci-fi drama which world premiered at Fantastic Fest and will next play in competition at Sitges on Oct. 9. Penned by Salier and Mauricio Carrasco, the film follows Lázaro and Tristán, two twin brothers and best friends who are training together for the

The inaugural Nuart Festival has been set for Oct. 21-30 to celebrate the reopening of the Nuart Theatre following its renovation. The 10-day fest will open with Oscar-winner Sam Mendes’ “Empire of Light” including an eclectic mixture of sneak previews and special screenings of films that made midnight movie history at the Nuart. Among the

In the late 1990s, after teaching herself screenplay structure by way of reading Viki King’s seminal go-to manual “How to Write a Movie in 21 Days,” Andrea Berloff emerged with her first feature script titled “Liberty,” a comedy set in a small-town Ohio dart tournament. “I had no idea at that point that there were

Located 14 miles north of San Francisco with a population of just over 14,000, the community of Mill Valley has evolved into a West Coast epicenter for showcasing independent and international films. As the Mill Valley Film Festival prepares to celebrate its 45th year with screenings of films by Rian Johnson (“Glass Onion: A Knives

RLJE Films has acquired U.S. rights to “The Friendship Game,” a new horror-thriller from Scooter Corkle, the director of “Hollow in the Land.” The film revolves around a group of teenagers who encounter a strange object that tests their bonds to each other with increasingly destructive consequences. Damien Ober, a writer on the Netflix series

Amber Midthunder has signed with CAA for representation amid a breakout year following her performance in the hit Hulu film “Prey.” Directed by Dan Trachtenberg, Hulu touted the “Predator” prequel — the fifth film in the action-thriller franchise — as its most-watched TV or movie premiere ever. Set in the Comanche Nation in 1717, the

Tom Felton once said that working with Alan Rickman was “terrifying in the most pleasant way,” and now fans know at least one reason why. In a video published to Instagram to promote his upcoming memoir, “Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard,” Felton remembered Rickman channeling Severus Snape after

Viggo Mortensen is set to write, direct and act in the period western “The Dead Don’t Hurt,” which will also star Vicky Krieps (“Bergman Island,” “Phantom Thread”). The movie will begin shooting on Oct. 12 in Canada. Billed as a “western love story” set in the 1860s, the film is a Talipot Studio, Recorded Picture

Kamila Andini, Indonesian filmmaker and member of the jury at this year’s Busan International Film Festival, said that she would look out for “Asian texture” among the films presented in the festival’s premiere New Currents competition section. French director Alain Guiraudie said that he would be seeking “new colors” and “new flavors.” He added that

Manta Comics is to release a webcomic adaptation of “A Hard Day,” a Korean action thriller film from 2014 originally directed by Kim Seong-hun. In Manta’s adaptation, the protagonist Ko Gunsoo has been recreated as a female detective, and the story begins when she accidentally hits a homeless person with her car shortly after her

Most of the first act of “Avatar 4” has been completed and most of the film has been designed, producer Jon Landau revealed at a press conference during the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday. “We’ve completed most of the first act of ‘Avatar 4’ and there were logistical reasons why we needed to do

James Cameron will be using a “simple hack” to bring high-frame rate projection to standard cinemas for his upcoming “Avatar: The Way of Water.” Previous attempts to distribute high frame rate versions of films globally have been largely unsuccessful with theatre owners and audiences, due to high projector upgrade costs and a perceived lack of

Jared Leto is set to star in and produce a biopic of Karl Lagerfeld, the iconic fashion designer whose career spanned more than 50 years. Lagerfeld, who died in Feb. 2019, is best known for his powerful role as artistic director of Chanel. First reported by WWD, a sister publication to Variety, the project has

Along with “Return to Seoul” and Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Broker,” Singaporean comedy film “Ajoomma” joins a growing list of recent foreign movies set in Korea or probing contemporary Korean culture.  “Ajoomma,” which premieres at the upcoming Busan International Film Festival on Friday in the New Currents competition section, tells the story of stereotypical Singaporean middle–aged woman (or “auntie”).

After its world premiere in Toronto, Nandita Das’ “Zwigato” has its Asian premiere in Busan’s A Window on Asian Cinema strand. An acclaimed actor with credits including “Fire,” “Kannathil Muthamittal” and “Kamli,” Das made her directorial debut with “Firaaq” (2008), which debuted at Toronto. Her next film as director, “Manto” (2018), bowed at Cannes. “Zwigato,”

Celebrated filmmakers Anthony Chen (“Wet Season”), Anurag Kashyap (“Dobaaraa”), Ifa Isfansyah (“Losmen Bu Broto”), Joko Anwar (“Impetigore”) and Ho Yuhang (“The Ghost Bride”) are serving as directing mentors for the ongoing Malaysian Development Lab for Fiction Feature Films (mylab) initiative at the Busan International Film Festival. The directing mentors will work with the filmmakers of

The Sundance Institute has announced this year’s grantees for the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, with a total of $1,396,500 in unrestricted grant support bestowed upon 35 projects. “As we celebrate the DFP’s 20th anniversary, it’s an exceptional achievement that Sundance has been able to provide documentary filmmakers robust and sustained financial support, from development through

Do-re-mi-fa dys-en-ter-y! A musical adaptation of the classic computer game “The Oregon Trail” is in the works from the team behind “Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile.” In an interview with Collider, filmmakers Will Speck and Josh Gordon shared that they have been collaborating with their “Lyle, Lyle” songwriting team Pasek and Paul (Benj Pasek and Justin Paul),