Movies

IFC Films and the AMC Network-owned digital platform Shudder purchased North American rights to “Watcher,” an eerie thriller that premiered at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. IFC Midnight, the company’s genre division, plans to release the film in theaters and on VOD (beginning with the horror-centric streamer Shudder) in 2022. The exact date has not

Howard Hesseman, a prolific character actor who became a beloved TV mainstay through his roles on sitcoms “WKRP in Cincinnati” and “Head of the Class,” died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Los Angeles of complications from colon surgery he had undergone last summer. He was 81 years old. Hesseman’s death was confirmed to Variety by his longtime

Presenting two films at Rotterdam Film Festival this year, his sixth feature as a director “Hold Me Tight” and musical comedy “Tralala” by his regular collaborators Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, Mathieu Amalric admitted he found it hard to shake off the role of a singer-songwriter in search of the Virgin Mary. “It might have been

Thandiwe Newton wants to know why the BFI London Film Festival did not accept “President,” the award-winning documentary she produced about the 2018 Zimbabwe presidential election. The Camilla Nielsson-directed film chronicles young presidential hopeful Nelson Chamisa’s unsuccessful bid to unseat Pres. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country’s former vice president who staged a military coup that ousted

In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard. Two of Abner Benaim’s films, documentaries “Invasion” (2014) and “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name” (2018), were Panamanian

Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”) and Jamie Dornan (“Belfast”) sat down for a virtual chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors, presented by Amazon Studios. For more, click here. Since their first meeting, Jamie Dornan and Kirsten Dunst have followed similar trajectories. They initially played off one another in Sofia Coppola’s 2006 film “Marie

In the wake of the Weinstein scandal and in an effort to quash the endemic issue of sexual harassment hardly limited to any one country, France’s Nation Film Board (CNC) launched a three-point plan that would require beneficiaries of financial support from the public film body to undergo sensitivity training sessions, to author detailed preventions

On average French films allocate under 3% of their total budget on VFX, according to a report on employment in the French VFX sector presented at PIDS Enghien in Paris by the French film and TV agency CNC. The report, produced with market research firm Audiens, found that for films budgeted at over €15 million

Hiventy, one of France’s leading post-production companies, is seeing rising demand across its range of services, including film processing, dubbing and subtitling, post-production, film restoration and BluRay mastering. It has operations in France, Poland, Singapore, Vietnam, Kenya and Nigeria. Hiventy has one of the few film lab services in Europe. CEO Thierry Schindele says that

As international streamers arrive on the scene with strict sustainability requirements and European climate laws force a 55% reduction in greenhouse gases over the next decade, the French collective EcoProd has taken a more proactive role assisting the local production industry. Launched in 2009 by the Ile-de-France Film Commission, in partnership with social protection group

Building on the critical success and renewed public interest drummed up by the Canal Plus series “The Bureau,” and inspired by the U.S. Defense Department’s various Hollywood liaison offices, France’s Ministry of Armed Forces launched its own outreach post, opening the Mission Cinéma in 2016. Meant to be a one-stop-shop for all production needs, the

Speaking at a panel organized by Paris Images Online, Hélène Dudragne, film commissioner at Film Paris Region, confirmed that four new studios are to be built in Paris and the surrounding area. The announcement came on the heels of a round-table – and weeklong industry gathering – where all too many conversations circled back to

“Don’t Look Up” has hit a nerve in a way that’s rare for films to do. That’s partly because it addresses an urgent, hot-button topic — climate change — with a film that’s partly a cry for help, partly a black comedy. The movie, written and directed by Adam McKay, with a story by David

In today’s high-tech world, there are as many ways to make an animated film as there are film genres. Each year’s top animated features span everything from family fare to real-life documentaries and everything in between, and today’s animation directors have as many, or as few, tools at their disposal to tell their stories as

Warner Bros. and HBO Max have nabbed “Am I OK?,” a romantic comedy starring Dakota Johnson as a woman grappling with her sexuality. The movie premiered this week to mostly positive reviews at the virtual Sundance Film Festival. Tig Notaro and Stephanie Allynne co-directed “Am I OK?,” which was written by Lauren Pomerantz and produced

“Free Chol Soo Lee” has been acquired by global distributor, streamer and production company MUBI. The documentary, which premiered last week at the Sundance Film Festival, will come to U.S. theaters in 2022, with release plans in other territories (Latin America, Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Turkey, the U.K. and other parts of North America) to

One of the most controversial movies to emerge from this year’s Sundance Film Festival is a documentary called “Jihad Rehab,” which follows a group of former Guantanamo Bay detainees. Directed by American filmmaker Megan Smaker — a former California firefighter who spent five years in Yemen — the film follows several Yemeni men who were

When “King Richard” star Aunjanue Ellis and “The Harder They Fall’s” Regina King paired off for Variety‘s Actors on Actors, presented by Amazon, Ellis asked King to dish on one of her favorite performances from her fellow actor — Marcee Tidwell in 1996’s “Jerry Maguire.” “You’re taking me back to a long time ago. I

In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard. Maria Schrader, an Emmy winner for directing the Netflix series “Unorthodox,” is also a Berlin Silver Bear winning

Aunjanue Ellis (“King Richard”) and Regina King (“The Harder They Fall”) sat down for a virtual chat for Variety’s Actors on Actors, presented by Amazon Studios. For more, click here. Regina King and Aunjanue Ellis have shared the screen twice, in 2004’s “Ray” and 2018’s “If Beale Street Could Talk.” In both outings, the actors

Another weekend, another easy No. 1 spot at the box office for “Spider-Man: No Way Home.” Columbia Pictures’ monster MCU hit is continuing to run circles around its competition, staying atop the domestic box office in its seventh weekend of release. “No Way Home” is projected to rake in an additional $10.4 million over the

Personal and political turmoil face a serene camera in “Klondike,” a vision of the ongoing war in Donbass war that brooks no compromise in depicting the severe impact of the conflict on the region’s civilians — in particular, the innocent women to whom the film is dedicated. Ukrainian writer-director Maryna Er Gorbach largely assumes the

It’s always a kick to encounter a documentary about a subject after you’ve seen the deluxe scripted and acted Hollywood version. “Lucy and Desi,” Amy Poehler’s film about Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz — their love, their showbiz partnership, their revolutionary influence on the creative landscape of television, their meshing and clashing spirits — is

A coalition of Hollywood crafts unions announced on Friday evening that they have reached a tentative agreement on a new three-year contract. The coalition of five bargaining groups represents about 7,500 electricians, drivers, plumbers, laborers, animal trainers and others. The three-year agreement must still be approved by a vote of the membership. No details of

Netflix has acquired worldwide rights to the Sundance award-winning documentary “Descendant,” by filmmaker Margaret Brown (“The Order of Myths,” “Be Here to Love Me: Townes Van Zandt,” “The Great Invisible”). Higher Ground, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company, will present the Participant feature alongside Netflix later this year. The film follows members of

The first thing you need to know about “The Requin” is that its title refers to any shark of the Carcharhinidae family — although no one in this movie ever uses that term. The second thing you need to know is that no sharks, requin or otherwise, appear until nearly an hour into writer-director Le

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read unless you have watched Apple and A24’s “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which is now playing in select theaters and streaming on Apple TV Plus. In “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” Denzel Washington plays the titular Lord Macbeth — a Scottish nobleman whose last grasp at power ultimately leads to his downfall.

Orven Schanzer, a film editor whose career in the entertainment industry spanned 45 years, died in Los Angeles on Jan. 5, 2022 of respiratory arrest. He was 97 years old. Born Oct. 13, 1924 in Kansas City, Kan., Schanzer served in World War II before beginning a career in film on the post-production side at

Showtime Documentary Films has acquired “2nd Chance,” about the life and legacy of Richard Davis, from director and Oscar-nominated screenwriter Ramin Bahrani (“The White Tiger,” “99 Homes,” “Chop Shop”). The feature length-documentary centers on Davis, the charming and brash inventor of the modern-day bulletproof vest, who shot himself 192 times to prove his product worked.

The sense of a city as a complex, ailing ecosystem is rendered with unusual vividness in “All That Breathes.” Shaunak Sen’s documentary has no formal interviews, onscreen text or omniscient narrator to provide relevant stats on Delhi, where air pollution is reportedly twelve times worse than in Beijing, which ranks second on the global list.