Movies

While Americans’ attention is consumed with the issue of abortion, halfway across the world, director Kore-eda Hirokazu (“Shoplifters”) focuses on the alternative for mothers who carry their pregnancies to term, but can’t raise the children on their own. A warm and unexpectedly nonjudgmental look at the Korean gray market for adoption, “Broker” was inspired by

Hollywood tributes are pouring in for Ray Liotta, the distinctive “Goodfellas” actor who died suddenly at 67 years old. The actor was in the Dominican Republic at the time of his death shooting the movie “Dangerous Waters.” Liotta went to sleep and never woke up, the actor’s publicist confirmed. Liotta is forever known for his

Ray Liotta, the acclaimed actor known for “Goodfellas,” “Field of Dreams” and many more roles, has died at 67, Variety has confirmed with his publicist. He died in his sleep while he was in the Dominican Republic shooting an upcoming film, “Dangerous Waters.” Playing the real-life mobster Henry Hill, Liotta shot to stardom in Martin

Amber Heard told jurors on Thursday that she has been humiliated by the defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp, and deserves to reclaim her voice. Heard was the final witness called in the trial, which has been underway for the last six weeks in Fairfax, Va. Both sides rested their rebuttal cases on Thursday. Closing

Veteran Hollywood multi-hyphenate George Gallo (“Bad Boys,” “The Comeback Trail”) is attached to direct “Gambino,” a high-end biopic about organized crime boss Carlo Gambino that Gallo is co-writing with two-time Oscar winner Nick Vallelonga (“Green Book”). The ambitious project, announced in Cannes, is being lead produced by Julius R. Nasso, also a Hollywood veteran, best

Revered cinematographer Darius Khondji loves to shoot on film but has made his peace with digital, he revealed in a masterclass at Cannes on Thursday. “It’s just so sexy to shoot on film, the texture is beautiful, it looks great on skin tones,” Khondji said. Khondji said that digital can be very beautiful too but

The “Elvis” team was on hand in Cannes for a little more conversation about Baz Luhrmann’s boisterous musical drama — but how Tom Hanks landed on his mysterious European-American accent as Colonel Tom Parker in the movie will remain a mystery for now. The Oscar-winning actor received the first question from journalists at the Thursday

In a historical first, the Cannes Festival and its market, the Marché, hosted the inaugural Venezuela Film Hub (VFH), surprising many international participants by its presence, given the mostly abysmal news coming from the South American country, crippled by the government’s economic mismanagement and U.S. sanctions. Spearheaded and fully financed by The Visionist Advisers, a

In the first leg of what it hopes is an industry revolution, Zurich-based A Film Company has raised north of $2 million in crowd investment from 560 people across 19 counties to co-finance “Mad Heidi,” an action-adventure horror comedy reimagining of the Swiss icon. The OTT re-set includes portraying the Swiss icon Hedi as she’s

Global streamer and distributor MUBI has struck again, this time snapping up select markets for Lukas Dhont’s keenly anticipated “Close.” MUBI has acquired the U.K., Ireland, Latin America, Turkey and India for the Cannes competition title, which will have its world premiere on Thursday at the festival. The film stars Lea Drucker, Émilie Dequenne, Kevin

When Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, director Maksym Nakonechnyi – whose debut feature “Butterfly Vision” world premiered in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard – was developing his next film – a comedy about flat-Earth conspiracy under the working title “The Earth Is Flat – I Flew Around It and Saw It.” But he is putting it

In a panel discussion provocatively entitled “Content Scramble for Africa,” guests at the Cannes Film Market’s Cannes Docs sidebar were invited to interrogate the sustainability of current forms of collaboration between the African continent and the Global North in documentary filmmaking. Moderated by IDFA programmer Sarah Dawson, the panel included Laurent Bitty, president of Africadoc-Côte

The Saudi Film Commission has announced its long gestating incentive for film productions in the kingdom which consists of an up to 40% cash rebate. Ever since it lifted its 35-year-old religion-related ban on cinema in 2017, Saudi has been experiencing a boom in all aspects of film industry activity,  becoming West Asia’s top-grossing territory

Any number of directors could have shot Andrea Seigel’s straightforwardly moving screenplay for “The Silent Twins” and turned out a straightforwardly moving film in the process. It’s hard to imagine any of those movies looking, sounding or feeling quite like the one Agnieszka Smoczyńska has made, however. Based on the desperately sad true story of

On the heels of Critics’ Prize wins for Andres Ramirez Pulido’s “La Jauria,” Variety can reveal an exclusive clip from the Colombian film. The pic on Wednesday won the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar dedicated to first and second features. It also picked up the SACD prize. “La Jauria” centers

Production has wrapped in both Singapore and Japan on Nicole Midori Woodford’s supernatural art house drama “Last Shadow at First Light.” It stars Nagase Masatoshi, Tsutsui Mariko (“Harmonium,” “A Girl Missing”), Peter Yu (“A Land Imagined”) and newcomer Shirata Mihaya. The story examines the intangible nature of trauma and the ripples of its aftermath through

Henry Muñoz III is the first to admit that he was a surprise bidder for Funny or Die when the digital comedy brand was put up for sale last year. “It was kind of a surprise to me too,” Muñoz jokes on the latest episode of Variety podcast “Strictly Business.” The entrepreneur and activist sees

Just before the Cannes Film Festival midnight-show premiere of the David Bowie documentary “Moonage Daydream,” the film’s writer, director, and editor, Brett Morgen, didn’t simply stroll down the red carpet. As Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” blared from the promenade speakers, Morgen danced — and pranced and pogo-ed, and flashed a cheeky madman grin, and by the

Early in “Stars at Noon,” Yank journalist Trish gazes wistfully at a yellowed black-and-white photo of Nicaraguan resistance fighters, framed and tacked to the wall of the grim Managua hotel room where she’s having businesslike intercourse. “Young rebels used to be so sexy,” she sighs. It’s a direct jab at the unformidable army lieutenant on

On Saturday, film and TV funder Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg celebrated the six films that it funded running in the official program of the Cannes Film Festival. These were Ruben Östlund’s “Triangle of Sadness,” in Competition, Ali Abbasi’s “Holy Spider,” in Competition, Emily Atef’s “More Than Ever,” in Un Certain Regard, Mia Hansen-Løve’s “Un beau matin,” in

The audience at the Cannes Film Festival was trembling for Austin Butler as the King in Baz Luhrmann’s world premiere of “Elvis.” The film received an uproarious 12-minute standing ovation, the longest of this year’s festival so far. As the the cheers went on and on, a teary-eyed Butler hugged an equally-emotional Priscilla Presley, who

Film Constellation, the London-based company behind Cannes’ Un Certain Regard highlights “Joyland” and “Harka,” is set to ramp up its production pipeline with the launch of a dedicated banner in Paris and a raft of ambitious new projects. Named Constellation Productions, the new outfit is on board to co-produce Oscar-nominated Quebecois director Jeremy Comte’s debut

XYZ Films has acquired writer-director Michelle Garza Cervera’s hotly anticipated breakout feature “Huesera” for theatrical release in North America and has released the first teaser and poster for the film. “Huesera” is one of the first slate of titles under its new distribution arm and an early pick-up ahead of the Tribeca Film Festival, where

“The Three Musketeers,” Pathé Films’s $75-million two-part adventure epic saga based on Alexandre Dumas’s masterpiece, has been bought in major international territories rolling off a busy Cannes market. Pathé unveiled a sprawling 15-minute promoreel for both “The Three Musketeers” – D’Artagnan” and “The Three Musketeers – Milady” at Cannes Marché du Film. Both movies are

In revisiting the tale of fugitive lovers on the run in California’s High Desert, the makers of “The Last Manhunt” sought to correct a story that has remained very much alive for the indigenous Chemehuevi people of the region for more than 100 years. Produced by Jason Momoa’s On the Roam and directed by Christian

Sony Pictures Classics has acquired Sylvain Chomet’s “The Magnificent Life of Marcel Pagnol,” an animated feature about the life of the legendary author Marcel Pagnol. Chomet is the BAFTA-winning, four-time Oscar-nominated filmmaker of “The Triplets of Belleville” and “The Illusionist” which were both distributed by Sony Pictures Classics. The deal covers all rights for North

Johnny Depp again denied on Wednesday that he had been violent toward his ex-wife, Amber Heard, calling her testimony in the ongoing defamation case “insane” and “horrible.” Depp’s lawyers called him to the stand to respond to a variety of matters that had come up over the six-week trial, as they continued to present their

Berlin-based sales outfit M-Appeal has closed further deals for Jan Gassmann’s “99 Moons” in Italy (Teodora Film), France (La Vingt-Cinquième Heure) and Japan (AT Entertainment), following the film’s world premiere in the Cannes’ ACID sidebar. “99 Moons” follows the passionate and turbulent relationship of Bigna and Frank, two people from different worlds who become entwined

Andres Ramirez Pulido’s “La Jauria” won the Grand Prize at Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival’s sidebar dedicated to first and second features. The Colombian film also won the SACD prize. The feature debut follows Eliú, a country boy who is wrongly accused of a crime and incarcerated in an experimental rehabilitation center for tough

Freida Pinto is presented as the ideal bride for a picky bachelor in the  trailer for “Mr. Malcolm’s List,” directed by Emma Holly Jones and starring Pinto, Sọpẹ Dìrísù, Zawe Ashton and Oliver Jackson-Cohen. Suzanne Allain adapted the screenplay from her own novel of the same name, a period piece that lovingly pays homage to