Movies

Loco Films, the Paris-based world sales and production company, has unveiled the trailer for Yulia Trofimova’s feature debut “The Land of Sasha” which is premiering today at the Berlinale, in the Generation 14plus strand. “The Land of Sahsa” tells the story of an indecisive 18-year-old struggling to pursue his desire to become a painter as

Carla Simón’s first feature “Summer 1993” was a knockout; a Generation Kplus and Best First Feature award winner at the 2017 Berlinale and Spain’s 2018 Oscars submission, winning three Spanish Academy Goya Awards. The director has since become a reference within a new wave of Catalan women filmmakers that have broken out to considerable box

Production label The Number 44 has teamed with podcast company Stak on two projects: a podcast titled “Ten Minutes of Terror” and a black comedy feature based on Stak’s “Jackie the Ripper” podcast. Established by studio and financier Goldfinch, The Number 44 is dedicated to genre content, from horror and thriller to sci-fi and LGBTQIA.

The 67-year-old woman stands alongside an open-backed truck in a city under martial law fearlessly berating the young paramilitary policemen sat impassively behind the wood and steel bars that hold them back – for now. She is somebody’s daughter, probably wife, mother, grandmother. “You’re protecting the dictator, General Min Aung Hlaing!” she shouts wagging her

Filmmaker Ashley McKenzie (“Werewolf”) returns to the Berlinale this year with her second feature, “Queens of the Qing Dynasty,” premiering in Encounters on Tuesday. The writer-director stands out as an emerging Canadian talent, backed by the Toronto Film Critics Assn., who awarded her debut film the $100,000 Rogers Best Canadian Film Award in 2017. An

By way of improvisation, relying heavily on events to naturally develop, Argentine filmmaker Gastón Solnicki presents a meandering ode to the city of Vienna, its customs, cultures, facades, and the near-sacrilege of enacting a smoking ban in cafes city-wide. In, “A Little Love Package,” two main protagonists become the vehicles through which the minutiae of

“Promising Young Woman” scribe Emerald Fennell and “His Dark Materials” scribe Jack Thorne were among those honored at the 29th Writers’ Guild of Great Britain awards on Monday night. The ceremony, which was hosted by WGGB president Sandi Toksvig in London, handed out awards in 16 categories including film, television, radio, theatre, comedy, books, and

Leading Japanese entertainment firms Toho, Toei, Studio Khara and Tsuburaya Productions are joining forces to launch the Shin Japan Heroes Universe, a project modeled on the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shin Japan Heroes brings together such iconic characters as Godzilla, Ultraman and Kamen Rider, as well as the world of anime maestro Anno Hideaki’s Evangelion sci-fi

I try to go into every movie with open eyes and an open mind, but I confess that this Buddhist goal can be seriously tested by the prospect of sitting through a video-game movie. Sorry, but I’ve been burned too often — by “Super Mario Bros.” (the first one out of the gate, back in

Seymour Wishman, a longtime producer, writer, legal expert and president of First Run Features, died on Jan. 29 at a family home in Bridgewater, Conn., his daughter Samantha confirmed to Variety. He was 79. Over the past 38 years, Wishman had served as president of First Run Features. During his time at the N.Y.-based independent

It’s still “Encanto’s” world and everyone else is just living in it. But even with that soundtrack and its song “We Don’t Talk About Bruno” continuing their chokehold on the music charts, there was some fresh blood among debuting albums and singles this week, with Yo Gotti, Mitski and the teaming of Nicki Minaj and

“The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim” — the original anime feature from New Line Cinema and Warner Bros. Animation — is set for release on April 12, 2024 from Warner Bros. Pictures, Variety can report exclusively. Set roughly two centuries before the events of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” and “The Lord

Sarah Vacchiano has joined UTA from FilmNation, signing on to serve as a motion picture business affairs executive for the global talent, entertainment and sports agency. Vacchiano will be based in the company’s Los Angeles office and report to Jim Meenaghan, partner and head of motion picture business affairs and co-head of UTA Independent Film

Isabelle Huppert, this year’s recipient of the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear, has pulled out of attending the festival after testing positive for COVID in Paris. The festival confirmed the French star’s absence on Monday night. “Unfortunately, today Isabelle Huppert has been tested positive for the coronavirus in Paris and therefore she will not be able

DC’s “Wonder Twins” are getting the feature film treatment, with a new live-action movie in the works for HBO Max. Warner Bros has hired Adam Sztykiel, who worked on the upcoming “Black Adam,” starring Dwayne Johnson, to write and direct the movie, based on the DC characters. Temple Hill’s Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will

TNT’s “Rich & Shameless” seven-part film series will launch this summer, but the first installment, “The Crime Against Pam & Tommy,” is debuting this Saturday. And the sooner the better for director Jenny Popplewell, who wants the movie to “settle the truth” for Pamela Anderson about her sex tape with ex Tommy Lee, which Popplewell

It’s hard to imagine anyone better suited to the lead role of Graham Moore’s “The Outfit” than Mark Rylance — the story of a Savile Row tailor (technically a “cutter,” but we’ll come back to that) who works more or less exclusively for an Irish mobster in 1956 Chicago. Rylance’s character, Leonard Burling, knows the

It’s been nearly seven years since the devastating November 2015 terrorist attacks on Paris that left 137 dead, and while the effects of the tragedy have been indirectly felt in a surge of French films centered on terrorism, security fears and cultural conflict, filmmakers have largely shied away from direct dramatizations of the events and

Memento International has closed major sales on Ursula Meier’s Berlin contender “The Line,” and “Boy from Heaven” by Tarik Saleh, the Swedish-Egyptian helmer of “The Nile Hilton Incident.” A religious and political thriller, “Boy From Heaven” is set in Cairo, in a Koranic school following the collapse of a grand imam which marks the start

How you respond to the news that “Robe of Gems” director Natalia López Gallardo is making her feature debut after editing work by the likes of Amat Escalante and Carlos Reygadas may ultimately guide your response to the film as a whole. Though the first-time writer-director forges her own cinematic path here and is very

Remember “It’s Pat” or “Coneheads”? While those movies based on “Saturday Night Live” skits are perhaps better left forgotten, 30 years later, “Wayne’s World” remains a classic 1990s absurdist comedy. It made phrases like “We’re not worthy!,” “Party on,” “Not!” and “Bonus!” enduring parts of the culture and became a surprise box office hit. Mike

If there’s a word in American life that should probably be retired (or at least used a lot less often), it’s “rebel.” Back in the ’50s, when Marlon Brando was rebelling against “whatever ya got,” the rebel was a rare breed. But the rock revolution opened the door to a generation of rebels — the

Nothing tops falling in love, but as any fan of romantic comedies knows, there are always a few detours and roadblocks on the way to happily ever after. That’s the fun of the genre, and it’s the reason why so many of these films, from “When Harry Met Sally” to “My Best Friend’s Wedding,” remain

The first trailer for Adrian Lyne’s erotic psychological thriller “Deep Water” has debuted, bringing with it confirmation that the movie will go straight to streaming with a Hulu release next month. The movie, based on the novel by Patricia Highsmith, stars Ben Affleck and Ana De Armas as a married couple who play twisted mind

Projects from France-Iran and India were the big winners at this year’s Berlinale Co-Production Market, which is part of the European Film Market. The Eurimages Co-Production Development Award, endowed with €20,000 ($22,628), went to the producers of Caractères Productions from France, and Honare Khiyal from Iran for their project “My Favourite Cake” by directors Behtash

Denis Villeneuve recently told MovieMaker magazine that he is “deeply pleased” with “Dune” landing 10 Oscar nominations, second only to Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog” as the most nominated film at the 94th Academy Awards. While “Dune” broke into the best picture race and landed nominations in every craft category, Villeneuve himself got

Known Associates Entertainment, the production company behind the South African adaptation of the Colombian telenovela that inspired “Ugly Betty,” is planning to break ground on a Hollywood-style film studio outside Johannesburg that will boost capacity in one of the world’s hottest shooting locations. Cradle Film Studios will be built across the road from the Cradle

Emmy-winning “The Crown” star Josh O’Connor will be the protagonist of Italian auteur Alice Rohrwacher’s next film “La Chimera,” which is set in the world of archeological looting and is currently shooting in and around Southern Tuscany. O’Connor, who in “The Crown” played the young Prince Charles, in “La Chimera” is playing a young British

TrustNordisk has sold “Nothing to Laugh About,” Petter Næss’s Norwegian drama comedy which played at the Zürich Film Festival in 2020. Næss is best known for his Oscar-nominated film “Elling” and has been working in TV and theatre in recent years. Set in Oslo, Norway’s capital, the heartfelt dramedy is about a 40-year-old stand-up comedian

Penzing Studios is in expansion mode, and has begun hosting film and TV shoots in the former airbase 30 KM west of Munich. The refurbished airplane hangars already feature a full-scale virtual production stage with additional sound stages set to open in June and a major investment planned. Developers plan to invest an additional €100