Movies

Films from Maze Pictures, producer of Colin Firth-starrer “The Happy Prince,” and from Basis Berlin, behind Oscar-nominated doc feature “Of Father and Sons,” figure among the six pix in post to be highlighted at Locarno’s First Look on German Cinema, which is shaping up as one of the festival’s industry highlights. Maze and Basis Berlin

Berlin-based sales agent Pluto Film has acquired Michal Blaško’s suspense drama “Victim,” about a woman seeking justice in a racist society, ahead of its world premiere in Venice’s competitive Horizons strand. The Slovak-Czech-German coproduction tells the story of Irina (Vita Smachelyuk), a single mother from Ukraine living in a town in the Czech Republic. When

“Satan’s Slaves: Communion,” from genre-film meister Jojo Anwar is poised to be the first film from Indonesia to release in the large screen Imax format. Anwar himself took to Instagram to make the announcement and tout the film’s release on Saturday. “Confirmed. Bigger. More thunderous! More fun! Satan’s Slaves: Communion is the first Indonesian film

Shimada Yoko, the Japanese actor who earned a Golden Globe for her role as Mariko in 1980s miniseries ‘Shogun,’ has died, age 69. Japanese media reported that she died of multiple organ failure due to colorectal cancer, in a Tokyo hospital on Monday (July 25, 2022). Born in 1953 in Kumamoto, a city on the

The Skip City International D-Cinema Festival in outer Tokyo wrapped its 19th edition on Sunday with prizes going to “Softie, by French director Samuel Theis, and “Double Life,” by female Chinese director Enen Yo in the separate Japanese film competition. The festival, long a launch pad for emerging Japanese and world filmmakers, held in-person screenings

SAG-AFTRA has unanimously passed a resolution that will allow accredited intimacy coordinators to join the union. The decision came over the weekend when the board met virtually. SAG-AFTRA President Fran Drescher said, “The role of intimacy coordinators greatly improves safety and well-being on sets and in productions requiring intimate scenes.” She added. “Their value is

Even in a fast-moving film like Jordan Peele’s “Nope,” there are some easter eggs you just can’t ignore — and one that has caught more than a few viewers’ eyes is the bizarre preponderance of characters wearing T-shirts featuring alt-rock bands from the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. It starts with the character Angel (Brandon

Aaron Latham, a screenwriter, journalist and author whose story in Texas Monthly inspired the 1980 smash “Urban Cowboy,” died July 23 in Pennsylvania of complications from Parkinson’s disease. He was 78. Latham was married to “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl. He died at Bryn Mawr Hospital in Bryn Mawr, Pa. Stahl and the couple’s daughter,

The “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” teaser trailer nabbed 172 million views in its first 24 hours, becoming one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s top trailer debuts for a superhero movie, a source close to Marvel confirmed the viewership number to Variety. The “Wakanda Forever” teaser’s viewership nearly doubled the 88 million views the original “Black Panther”

Adam Fogelson has been named vice chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, the studio announced Monday. He joins the studio from STX Entertainment, where he was in charge of the struggling company’s motion picture group. At STX, Fogelson launched the successful “Bad Moms” franchise, as well as the critical and commercial hit “Hustlers.” Other

Two Arizona studio projects are preparing to break ground next year, now that the state has approved a $125 million incentive for film and TV production. Acacia Filmed Entertainment unveiled its plans Monday to build 14 soundstages on a 70-acre site in the Scottsdale area. The other project, Desert Studios Complex, is slated to be

Spoiler Alert: Do not read if you haven’t seen “Nope,” now in theaters. Jordan Peele’s latest film “Nope” is set on the outskirts of Hollywood, focusing on people working in the margins of showbiz desperate to crawl into the center. From main sibling duo OJ and Emerald Hayward (Daniel Kaaluya and Keke Palmer), horse trainers

Paul Sorvino, who distinguished himself in a long line of stage and screen performances including “Goodfellas” and “Law & Order,” died Monday of natural causes, according to his rep. He was 83. His wife, DeeDee Sorvino, posted on Instagram, saying “I am completely devastatedThe love of my life & the most wonderful man who has

Avalon Fast was a young director to watch at this year’s Fantasia, bringing her 2022 feature “Honeycomb” to the Canadian fest as well as upcoming horror “CAMP,” presented in Frontieres’ official selection. Set to be produced by Michael Peterson (Peterson Polaris Corp), Peter Kuplowsky (Lowsky Productions), Taylor Nodrick and Fast herself, it will see a

Director Andy Mitton takes on night terrors and social distancing in his new horror movie “The Harbinger,” fresh off its world premiere at Fantasia. Recently picked up by XYZ Films, it was produced by Jay Dunn and Richard W. King. Originally set to follow his well-received 2018 release “The Witch in the Window” with “Walk

Dolly de Leon, who recently earned rave reviews for her work in Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness,” has signed with Jennifer Beaton at Gersh. The signing comes after de Leon scored some serious Oscar buzz after “Triangle of Sadness,” a darkly comic exploration of class and inequality, which debuted at Cannes, where it won the

After 15 years, Todd Field is finally back. The “In the Bedroom” and “Little Children” director’s third feature, “Tár” has debuted its first trailer. The movie is likely to world premiere at the upcoming Venice Film Festival. Although plot details remain slim, “Tár” is set to star Cate Blanchett as the fictional Lydia Tár, an

Sarah Paulson is set to star in Searchlight Pictures’ “Dust,” a horror thriller that was originally intended as a vehicle for Claire Foy. The film, like other recent Searchlight releases such as “Fire Island” and “Good Luck to You, Leo Grande,” will stream on Disney’s DTC platforms as a Hulu Original in the U.S., with

Sundance Institute, the nonprofit organization that puts on the yearly film festival in Park City, has announced the entrants for its Producers Lab and Producers Summit. Both events, the former taking place from July 25 to 28 and the latter from July 29 to 31, will be held in person at Utah’s Sundance Mountain Resort.

Opening up to works from over the whole of Latin America, this year’s Sanfic Industria Series Lab will highlight series currently in development from Uruguay’s Fernando Epstein, Argentina’s Laura Farhi and Peru’s Paola Terán. Epstein’s “The Invisible Ink” proved one of the big winners at June’s Conecta Fiction, marking the first TV work from the

The first trailer for “Till,” based on the true story of Mamie Till-Mobley looking for justice after the murder of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till in 1955, has been released. The trailer touches on many key parts of the family’s story, from Emmett on summer vacation visiting relatives in Mississippi, to the unfounded accusation that

Pronouns matter more than gore or suspense in “They/Them,” a tepid flip-the-script horror movie whose title doubles as its logline when you say the “slash” out loud. Set at a janky gay conversion camp, this Blumhouse-produced, Peacock-released LGBT empowerment exercise presents itself as a cross between “Friday the 13th” and “But I’m a Cheerleader.” Alas,

“Irma Vep” star Alicia Vikander has reminisced about her early years in the spotlight in a new interview with The Times of London, saying she was “the most sad at the height of [her] fame.” The 33-year-old Swedish actress, who broke through internationally with Nikolaj Arcel’s Oscar-nominated “A Royal Affair” in 2012, became a global

Marathi-language Indian romance film “Toh, Ti ani Fuji” (“Him, Her and Fuji”) will start principal photography across across India and Japan from September. The film, written by Irawati Karnik (“Anandi Gopal”) and to be directed by Mohit Takalkar (“Medium Spicy”), revolves around a passionate love affair that turns toxic due to a change in priorities,

Noah Baumbach’s black comedy “White Noise,” with an ensemble cast comprising Greta Gerwig, Adam Driver and Jodie Turner-Smith, is set to open the upcoming Venice Film Festival. “White Noise,” which will world premiere in competition at Venice on Aug. 31, marks the first time a Netflix original film opens the fest. Baumbach’s Don DeLillo adaptation

Production has begun on “The Roundup: No Way Out,” a sequel to record-breaking Korean action film “The Roundup.” Korean American actor Don Lee (“The Eternals”), also known as Ma Dong-seok, returns to the franchise as star and producer. The cast of “No Way Out” also includes Lee Jun-hyuk (“Along with the Gods: The Two Worlds,”

Queer romantic comedy “Three Nights a Week,” set amid the Parisian drag queen scene, will open the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week which has unveiled its lineup of nine titles, all of which are world premiers. The section’s out-of-competition opener is directed by Florent Gouëlou who, besides having a master’s degree in cinema from La

British independent comedy feature “The Effects of Lying” has completed post-production and will be screened for distributors at BAFTA. Based on a script by James Hey (“Doctors”), and directed by Isher Sahota (“Hollyoaks”), the film follows a dutiful husband and loving father whose life falls apart when decades of festering secrets are exposed and he’s

Underscoring the Atlàntida Mallorca Film Fest’s commitment to fostering young, upcoming talent, its five-year-old Talent Lab (AMTL) for projects in development will be complemented by a new Works in Progress (WIP) section for projects in post. The new WIP aims to give young creators the tools and opportunity to bolster the promotion of their audiovisual

With a knack for forming tight bonds with rightfully-elusive subjects, Spanish filmmaker Kike Maíllo, who shot to fame with sci-fi debut “Eva,” takes an engrossing and sympathetic look into haute-crime as it pertains to one of the world’s preeminent art forgers, Oswald Aulestia Bach. In “El Falsificador,” Maíllo hones in on the deviance, excess, and