Movies

Energetic Italian sales agent Open Reel has closed world sales rights to Valentin Merz’s “De noche los gatos son pardos,” which will world premiere in this year’s Locarno Festival International Competition.  One of two first features in Locarno’s main competitive section, “De noche los gatos son pardos” (“At Night All Cats Are Black”) returns to

Trinity Cine Asia has acquired upcoming Hong Kong comedy “Chilli Laugh Story” for distribution in the U.K. and North America. The work-from-home story of the director Coba Cheng’s relatives sees a locked-down family starting an online business during the pandemic. It stars Sandra Ng, who also produces, Ronald Cheng, Gigi Leung and Edan Lui, a

SUN VALLEY, Idaho — The moguls have arrived. On Tuesday, dozens of titans of the business, media and tech worlds came out to play at the Sun Valley Lodge in Idaho for the start of Allen & Co.’s annual meeting of movers and shakers. The invitation-only conference will include three days of seminars and meetings

Adapted from the novel by Jennifer E. Smith, director Michael Lewen’s “Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between” captures adolescent interactions and intelligence through an empathetic lens. But even though this Netflix original doesn’t condescend to its targeted teen audience, it fails to surmount basic issues dealing with narrative credulity and the outcome’s predictability. The story centers

Hilary Swank (“Million Dollar Baby”), Jack Reynor (“Midsommar”) and Olivia Cooke (“House of the Dragon”) are set to star in the upcoming opioid-themed thriller “Mother’s Milk.” The film, which recently wrapped production in New York, comes from director Miles Joris-Peyrafitte, who co-wrote the script with Madison Harrison. Prior credits from the director include Sundance Special

101 Studios, Grain Media and the Miami Herald are partnering on a documentary about the horrific collapse of the Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Fla., that killed 98 people in 2021. The film, about one of the deadliest building failures in modern history, will be based on the Herald’s Pulitzer Prize-winning reporting. “Surviving

Shari Hanson has been elevated to executive VP of physical production and visual effects for Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Animation. Under her new title, she will continue to work on Paramount’s live-action films and will expand her portfolio to include titles produced at Nick Animation. Hanson’s promotion comes as Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Studios work

Gravitas Ventures has secured worldwide rights to “Canvas,” an animated horror film that debuted at the Annecy Festival. The movie, written and directed by Ryan Guiterman, stars Marama Corlett, Steve Key, Isabel Ellison, Sam Encarnación and Ell Peck. Gravitas will release the pic on demand on Aug. 9. The movie follows a demon known as

Chris Evans has joined the cast of “Pain Hustlers,” teaming up with Emily Blunt in the upcoming Netflix production. The package was the hottest sale at this year’s Cannes market, commanding a price tag in excess of $50 million. In addition to Blunt, the movie was a desirable property because it is directed by David

Yemeni film “The Burdened,” directed by Amr Gamal, won the Works in Progress Post-Production Development Award in Eastern Promises, the industry section of the Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival on Tuesday. The story, written by Gamal and Mazen Refaat, centers on Ahmed, Isra’a and their three children in Aden, Yemen in 2019. Both parents lose

Plot details for Margot Robbie’s “Barbie” movie have been under tight lock and key, but rumors have circulated for months that the movie features several actors as different iterations of Barbie and Ken. That rumor has been seemingly confirmed by Emma Mackey, the “Sex Education” breakout and  “Death on the Nile” star who told Empire

In the movies, as a rule, family vacations go wrong far more often than they go right: We may crave rest and relaxation when we travel, but it’s less interesting to watch others do the same. Rarely, however, have a few days at the beach degenerated quite so tensely and toxically as they do in

French actor Judith Chemla posted photos of her bruised face on her Instagram account on Sunday and said they were taken a year ago after she was allegedly assaulted by her then-boyfriend Yohan Manca, a filmmaker with whom she shares a daughter. In her emotional post, Chemla said she was finally revealing these photos because

“Tinder Swindler” production outfit AGC Studios has launched a new division for non-fiction and unscripted content, headed by former Magical Elves executive Joel Zimmer. AGC Unwritten will develop, finance, produce and distribute the company’s burgeoning unscripted slate, with Zimmer serving as president. The intention is for the non-scripted arm to match AGC’s busy operations in

James Cameron’s first “Avatar” movie clocked in at 162 minutes (that’s nearly two hours and 40 minutes), and it sounds like the Oscar-winning director is going even longer for the upcoming sequel, “Avatar: The Way of Water.” According to Empire magazine, the next “Avatar” movie is “currently coming in at around three hours.” Cameron does

“Thor: Love and Thunder” has a pleasing, let’s-try-it-on-and-shoot-the-works effervescence. Like most Marvel movies, the fourth entry in the Thor saga would seem to have weighty matters on its mind, starting with Thor’s hammer, the smashed fragments of which have been reassembled — and, more to the point, claimed — by Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), Thor’s

Tom Wlaschiha (“Game of Thrones,” “‘Stranger Things”) and Jazzy de Lisser (“Game of Thrones”) have joined the cast of Viaplay’s major English-language original feature “Hilma.” The film is written and directed by Lasse Hallström, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Cider House Rules” and “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” The biopic, which explores the life of revolutionary

RIGHTS U.K.-based distributor DCD Rights has acquired Grammy-nominated feature documentary “Music, Money, Madness… Jimi Hendrix Live In Maui.” The 90-minute documentary chronicles guitar legend Jimi Hendrix’s visit to Maui in July 1970 and details how he became ensnared in “Rainbow Bridge,” an ill-fated independent film produced by his manager, Michael Jeffery. Jeffery secured a $300,000

While promoting the French release of his 2020 film “Rifkin’s Festival,” Woody Allen said he was planning to shoot his next movie in Paris. The New York-based director told the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche that he was aiming to relocate to Paris in September to lens his next project which he said will

The British Independent Film Awards (BIFAs) have made all acting prizes gender neutral from this year. In the BIFAs’ 25th year, the traditional best and supporting actress and actor awards have been replaced by best lead performance, best supporting performance, best joint lead performance — for two (or exceptionally three) performances that are the joint

Netflix has greenlit Swedish comedy film “One More Time” with Hedda Stiernstedt (“Beforeigners”) in the leading role. Jonatan Etzler will make his directorial feature debut with the film, which is set to hit Netflix in 2023. In “One More Time,” Stiernstedt plays 40-year-old Amelia who is hit by a bus on her birthday. When she

An Italian judge has ended filmmaker Paul Haggis’ 16-day house arrest in a hotel after being charged with sexual assault, his lawyer told news agencies. Haggis’ lawyer Michele Laforgia told The Associated Press that Haggis remains in Italy while prosecutors decide whether to pursue their investigation into claims that he allegedly had sex with a

However many books and movies take it as their subject, a historical travesty on the incomprehensible scale of the Holocaust must always contain within it an uncountable number of untold stories. Given this wealth of untapped dramatic potential, it’s all the more perplexing that American director Jake Paltrow should choose to refer to his family’s

The once vibrant Hong Kong film industry is struggling to recover from the effects of COVID and related problems, a local report has warned. The report identified problems with theatrical box office, local production, co-production with mainland China and film investment. The Motion Picture Industry Association and Hong Kong Box Office Ltd. regular half year

Although James Cameron has been deeply entrenched in the development of sequels to his 2009 blockbuster “Avatar” for more than a decade, the director has shared that he’s considering leaving the world of Pandora behind for other projects down the line. The first “Avatar” sequel, subtitled “The Way of Water,” is set to hit theaters

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you intend to watch the film. Berlinale Silver Bear winner Tomasz Wasilewski isn’t afraid of the subject of his latest film “Fools,” even though he focuses on an incestuous relationship between a mother and a son, played by Dorota Kolak and Łukasz Simlat. “It was never my intention to

Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. and Canadian distribution rights to Christophe Cognet’s “From Where They Stood,” a searing WW2-set documentary which premiered at the Berlinale. Represented in international markets by MK2 Films, “From Where They Stood” went on the win the Spirit of Freedom Award for best documentary at last year’s Jerusalem Film Festival. Produced

If there were an award to bestow for the most accomplished living American pop songwriter who never doubled as a recording artist, the frontrunner would almost definitely be Mike Stoller, 89, half of one of the most famous writing duos of all time, Leiber & Stoller. Even if the memory of Elvis Presley were completely

FESTIVALS The world Premiere of local filmmaker Tearepa Kahi’s action-drama “Muru” will open the Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin chapters of the New Zealand International Film Festival, while American filmmaker Sara Dosa’s Sundance-winning documentary “Fire of Love” will open all the other festival locations, which include Gore, Hamilton, Hawke’s Bay, Masterton, Matakana, Nelson, New Plymouth,

Kakao Entertainment, part of Korean tech group Kakao, confirmed Monday that it is to produce a film version of “Solo Leveling,” a hit webtoon. The picture will be produced on its behalf by Japan’s A-1 Pictures (“Sword Art Online,” “The Seven Deadly Sins,” “Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Erased,” and “Your Lie in