Movies

Hundreds of thousands of fans lined up Tuesday to buy digital collectibles tied to Warner Bros.’s upcoming “The Matrix Resurrections” movie at $50 apiece — and quickly swamped the systems of Nifty’s, the nonfungible tokens (NFT) marketplace hosting the sale, prompting the company to pause the sale. Within an hour of opening the “Matrix” NFT

Slovak filmmaker Peter Kerekes’ “107 Mothers,” which premiered in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section and was selected as the Slovak entry for the Best International Feature Film category of the 94th Academy Awards, has won the Arab Critics’ Award for European Films. The award was presented on Wednesday at the Cairo Film Festival, which runs

Los Angeles-based Outsider Pictures has picked up worldwide sales rights to Colombian Nina Marín’s feature debut “Tierra quebrá” (“Broken Land”), inspired by the magical realism literary genre. Produced by Óscar Alvarado at Marine Films, a company based in the northern Colombian city of Valledupar, “Broken Land” delivers a female story with women carrying the story

Ibero-America’s toon kids content sector has launched a call at Ventana Sur for more bridge building arenas and channels aimed at boosting co-productions, especially ambitious projects that require a greater number of partners. Ibermedia, the multi-million dollar Ibero-American audiovisual fund, is seen by representative TV networks and indie producers as an opportunity to create juts

A new documentary will chronicle the wrongful rape conviction of Anthony Broadwater. From Red Badge Films and Red Hawk Films, “Unlucky” will follow the story about the Syracuse man who spent more than 16 years in prison, and another 20 being labeled as a registered sex offender, before being exonerated of the 1981 rape of

TRAILER Variety has been given exclusive access to the international trailer for “Into Dust,” an upcoming dramatic short from Academy Award-winning filmmaker Orlando von Einsiedel (“Virunga,” “The White Helmets”) produced by Grain Media, Rideback and Fuse Entertainment. The short will launch this Friday on streaming platform WaterBear and be available to watch on Apple TV

In a broad sweep of platform pick-ups, Netflix, Warner Media’s HBO Max and Movistar Plus, Telefonica’s pay TV/SVOD service in Spain, have all acquired drama thriller “High Tide” (“Marea Alta”). From Argentine writer-director Veronica Chen, the feature premiered in World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival. Pay TV service SomosTV has taken

Actor Alec Baldwin has given his first in-studio interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos following the tragedy that occurred on the set his movie “Rust” in October. The actor sat down on Tuesday with Stephanopoulos, who described the one hour twenty minute discussion as “raw” and “intense.” “I’ve done thousands of interviews in the last twenty

Opening this year’s Horizons of Arab Cinema section at the Cairo Film Festival, the omnibus film “Becoming” shows just how far the Saudi filmmaking community has come in supporting female filmmakers. Playing in an Out-of-Competition slot, directors Sara Mesfer, Fatima Al Banawi, Jawaher Alamri, Hind Al Fahhad and Noor Alameer collaborated to create this 70-minute

Brazilian Gregorio Graziosi’s “Tinnitus” is co-written by Andrés Julian Vera and Marco Dutra, a Locarno best director winner for “Good Manners”; its DP is Rui Poças, whose credits include Lucrecia Martel’s “Zama” and upcoming “Tabu.” Its score is from David Boulter, who played keyboard on Claire Denis’ “Bastards,” collaborated on the score of her “High

The European Film Awards scheduled to have been held in Berlin, Germany, on Dec. 11 will no longer take place as an in-person event. The 34th European Film Awards ceremony was previously re-formatted as a distanced live event, with attendance limited to nominees and award recipients. “Due to the ongoing and unexpected developments of the

Buenos Aires-based sales agency Meikincine has acquired the international rights to “Sublime,” the first feature film from Argentine director Mariano Biasin, A coming-of-age drama, the title screened at Buenos Aires’ Cinemark Puerto Madero cinema to sales agents, fest heads and buyers on Tuesday. It did so as part of Ventana Sur’s Copia Final pix-in-post section,

“Now, we’re producing over 100 projects, we’ve calculated we’ll be working on nearly 130 projects next year to supply both our platform networks,” The Walt Disney Company LatAm’s Leonardo Aranguibel commented at a Ventana Sur panel on Tuesday. How can Disney try to ensure quality at such a massive production levels? “We look for the

Legendary Croatian-born NBA player Dražen Petrović will be portrayed in Danilo Šerbedžija’s upcoming biopic film “Higher Force – The Drazen Petrovic Story” (working title). The film was penned by Ivan Turkovic Krnjak (“Lovebox”) and is being produced by Ljubo Zdjelarević and Ivor Šiber at Zagreb-based Kinoteka. The film will shoot next year in Croatia, Germany,

After being delayed a year due to the pandemic, Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated musical remake of the best picture winner “West Side Story” had its first screenings this week before critics, journalists and varying awards and guild voters. The social media reaction has been loud and palpable throughout the Oscar chamber, which could bring about

Sterlin Harjo is a Native filmmaker and a name you might recognize — he’s directed an episode of “The Magicians” and he’s the mastermind behind FX’s popular “Reservation Dogs.” Harjo is a Native creative bringing Indigenous stories to life. It’s something he’s always been doing, though Hollywood hasn’t always held its doors open for filmmakers

Laurane “LaLa” Sheehan, a longtime corporate entertainment publicist and events planner, died Nov. 11 of a sudden heart attack. Sheehan was a senior accounts supervisor at Maggie Begley Communications for 30 years, where she worked with clients including LAIKA, Locksmith Animation, the Gotham Group, the Oneida Indian Nation, Vista Group, Movio, Cinedigm, Anheuser-Busch, children’s author

Queer and transgender communities in Singapore are – and remain – marginalized by a prevailingly conservative and paternalistic culture. But that does not mean that they must stay silent or remain unseen. Film and theater director, producer and activist Glen Goei and film director Quen Wong are behind “Some Women,” an autobiographical documentary film by

Travis Bickle, Michael Corleone, and Daniel Plainview all represent a dark part of ourselves. They are also understandable, complicated characters. Oftentimes they dip their toes in evil affairs. But regardless they represent a deep part of our humanity. At its height, Film can be like a beautiful piece of music that brings a tear to

Björn Andrésen was just 16 when he landed the role that would change his life. The Swedish teenager was handpicked by legendary Italian auteur Luchino Visconti to star as Tadzio in the 1971 film adaptation of the 1912 Thomas Mann novella “Death in Venice.” In the film, Andrésen’s youth and striking looks obsess Dirk Bogarde’s

In a bid to further address the burgeoning, albeit underserved Latino kids’ market, Exile Content Studio has tapped Stephen Davis, former executive VP and chief content officer of Hasbro, for the position of Chairman of Exile Kids. Davis, who has been advising Exile since he retired from Hasbro about a year ago, will be working

The Critics Choice Association announced the honorees and presenters for the inaugural Celebration of Latino Cinema, taking place virtually on Dec. 9 at 5:30 p.m. PT / 8:30 p.m. ET. Writer, producer, actress and comedian Cristela Alonzo will host the event.  The director award will go to Reinaldo Marcus Green, director of “King Richard,” the

The weapons expert who supplied firearms for use on the movie “Rust” told investigators he believed he knew how live rounds got mixed in with dummy rounds, according to an affidavit released on Tuesday. The Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office has been investigating the cause of the shooting on the set of the film on

Peacock has acquired “Right to Try,” the Octavia Spencer-produced documentary short about trying to find a cure for HIV. Directed by “The Late Late Show With James Corden” producer Zeberiah Newman, the film tells the story of veteran casting director Jeffrey Drew’s participation in an experimental treatment trial to cure him of his HIV. Variety

Currently shooting her upcoming Netflix series “Lidia,” about Italy’s first female lawyer, Lidia Poët, actor Matilda De Angelis was joined by her agent Gianni Chiffi for a masterclass at Torino Film Festival. “When we decided to open our agency in 2014, Matilda was the first person we met. She was about to begin her cinematic

France’s Autour de Minuit, FKLG and Canal Plus are teaming to co-produce Théo Grosjean’s “Freaked Out” (“Flippé”), an animated series for adults whose first season was presented – and received an upbeat reception – at September’s Toulouse’s Cartoon Forum. The producers are currently in talks to greenlight a second season. The two-minute episode comedy series

Three days after the death of Stephen Sondheim and 60 years after its first film debut, “West Side Story,” Stephen Spielberg’s expansive remake of the classic movie musical, premiered in New York City. A momentous occasion for the revival of a beatified American film, the premiere, attended by Spielberg, executive producer Rita Moreno, and the

Emmy-winning actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has officially added producer to his resume, with the launch of his production company House Eleven10. Abdul-Mateen and House Eleven10 have also inked a creative partnership with Netflix, with the actor starring in and producing films for the streamer under the new production banner. Named as an homage to his

Cameron Bailey has been named chief executive officer of the Toronto International Film Festival. TIFF’s board of directors announced his promotion on Tuesday, on the heels of word that Universal Music Canada head Jeffrey Remedios had been named new chair of the board. Bailey has been affiliated with the festival for 25 years and is

The Whistler Film Festival is back with a hybrid offering that includes online and in-theater screenings, alongside various talent programs, masterclasses, workshops and its Content Summit. The fest will kick off opening night with the Canadian premiere of Maggie Gyllenhaal’s “The Lost Daughter,” starring Olivia Colman, Ed Harris and Dakota Johnson. This year, the festival