Movies

German director Oliver Hirschbiegel, whose movie “Downfall” was nominated for an Oscar, shot his latest film “The Painter” in only four days. The docu-fiction, which screens Saturday at IDFA, is a collaboration with German artist Albert Oehlen, who is played by Teutonic thesp Ben Becker (“Comedian Harmonists). Now Hirschbiegel and Oehlen are working together on

The Industry Program of documentary festival IDFA launches Friday as an in-person event, while also offering remote access for those who are unable to get to Amsterdam. Head of industry Adriek van Nieuwenhuijzen and market manager Selin Murat speak to Variety about what participants can expect. What was learned from the digital experimentation put in

In “The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain,” everything that might (hope against hope) go right doesn’t. Everything that could go wrong does, prompted by the disregard, bias or outright bigotry that has been at work when police officers encounter people of color or people with mental illness. Chamberlain was Black and lived with bipolar disorder. Writer-director

“Kurt Vonnegut: Unstuck in Time” is two documentaries in one. It’s a film about the life and work of Kurt Vonnegut, and on that score it covers most of the bases and captures what it was that made Vonnegut the quintessential pop-philosopher novelist of his era — the quips and catchphrases and sci-fi curlicues, the

“Don’t Look Up” is the last shoe to drop for Netflix this awards season, and there’s a 50/50 chance of it making a seismic impact (pun intended). Director Adam McKay assembles a sprawling ensemble that includes Oscar-winners Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”), Meryl Streep (“Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Sophie’s Choice” and “The

Honors were given out in more than 30 categories at Wednesday’s 12th annual Hollywood Music in Media Awards, with singer-songwriters like Billie Eilish, H.E.R., Adam Levine and Rufus Wainwright being celebrated in the live webcast as well as composers including Hans Zimmer, Rachel Portman, Alberto Iglesias and Nicholas Britell. The HMMAs reward songwriters, composers and

CAA has signed documentary filmmakers Rintu Thomas and Sushmit Ghosh, directors of “Writing With Fire,” which won an audience award and special jury award at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival, and was just nominated for best feature honors by the International Documentary Assn. CAA will also represent Black Ticket Films, the social justice-focused production company

Hailee Steinfeld and Jeremy Renner brought some holiday cheer to Hollywood Blvd. on Wednesday night for the launch of their new Disney plus series “Hawkeye.” The dress code for the event was “Marvel holiday chic” and guests were certainly feeling festive, with fans rocking a mix of Christmas sweaters and Santa hats as well as

Annabella Sciorra has been set to star in “Fresh Kills,” an upcoming feature film set in the world of organized crime. Jennifer Esposito is writing and directing the film, marking her feature directorial debut. She will also act in “Fresh Kills” alongside Sciorra. Inspired by Esposito’s upbringing in Staten Island, “Fresh Kills” tells the suspenseful

Fast-growing Korean conglomerate CJ ENM, the distributor of “Parasite,” is in talks to acquire the majority of Endeavor Content in a deal valued between $900 million and $1 billion. CJ ENM came in with most attractive bid for 80% of the production-distribution unit out of a wide field of financial and strategic suitors, a source

Jurnee Smollett has landed the female lead in “The Burial,” a new courtroom drama from Amazon Studios. The “Lovecraft Country” actor will star opposite Jamie Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones in the Maggie Betts-directed project. Based on a true story, the film follows a bankrupt funeral home owner who decides to sue a rival businessman

Brett Morgen, the freewheeling director behind “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” “Jane” and “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” is finalizing a top-secret David Bowie project based on thousands of hours of rare performance footage of the musician, most of it previously uncirculated, sources confirm to Variety. Morgen has been at work on the Bowie

Among its many surprising pieces of entertainment history arcana, the Variety Archives contain stories from the 1930s involving an arena sadly familiar to business managers: government seizures of entertainers’ assets. But these seizures took place not because of any financial malfeasance, but because the artists were Jewish. As early as 1933, Variety was reporting on

Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell’s upcoming movie “Spirited,” a musical rendition of the Charles Dickens classic “A Christmas Carol,” will feature all-new songs from Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Three rising songwriters, Sukari Jones, Khiyon Hursey and Mark Sonnenblick, will write the tunes with Pasek and Paul, the duo behind “La La Land,” “Dear Evan

Actress Kristen Stewart delivers the performance of her career in Pablo Larraín’s “Spencer,” which has thrust her to the forefront of the best actress conversation. But when asked about her thoughts about possibly nabbing her first nom, she bluntly, albeit sarcastically, tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, “I don’t give a shit.” Adds Stewart: “The Oscars

Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up,” the last shoe to drop this awards season, was unspooled before a crowd of BAFTA voters at the Harmony Gold Theatre on Wednesday night. In attendance for a Q&A with the Oscar-winning stars Leonardo DiCaprio (“The Revenant”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver Linings Playbook”) and Meryl Streep (“Kramer vs. Kramer,” “Sophie’s Choice” and

“Bohemian Rhapsody” grossed more than $900 million at the global box office, but the screenwriter says he has not seen a penny of net proceeds, because he was told the film actually lost $51 million. Anthony McCarten, a London-based novelist and playwright who also wrote the scripts for “Darkest Hour” and “The Theory of Everything,”

Universal Pictures has released a trailer for Jennifer Lopez’s “Marry Me,” heading to theaters on February 11, just in time for Valentine’s Day. The romantic comedy follows Lopez as Kat, a music superstar, who marries a complete stranger (Owen Wilson) during a concert after she finds out that her boyfriend Bastian (played by musician Maluma)

Martin Scorsese is making a musical biopic about the Grateful Dead, with Jonah Hill set to star as the iconic rock band’s frontman Jerry Garcia. The project reunites Scorsese and Hill, who worked together on “The Wolf of Wall Street.” In addition to directing, Scorsese will serve as a producer alongside Hill. Though exact plot

The NAACP Image Awards will return with an in-person ceremony on Saturday, February 26, 2022 — and broadcast live on BET. The NAACP announced Thursday that it has added new podcast categories to the mix as well. Nominations for the 53rd NAACP Image Awards will be announced on January 11, while the submission deadline for

Saif Ali Khan is a Bollywood A-lister known for heroic roles, but that hasn’t stopped him from playing against type in recent years. The star of Emmy-nominated Netflix series “Sacred Games” is constantly in motion, with a raft of varying roles coming up, starting with this week’s release of “Bunty Aur Babli 2.” Directed by

Leading French documentary production and distribution banner ZED has signed a deal with Curiosity, the U.S. non-fiction company headed by Discovery Channel founder John Hendricks, to deliver 10 exclusive programs by the end of 2022. They will premiere across Curiosity’s subscription-based platform, and its linear channel. Under the pact, the first 7 original productions set

Christopher Nolan’s next movie “Oppenheimer,” a $100 million-budgeted historical drama about physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the creation of the atomic bomb, could be considered one of an endangered species. These days, it’s rare for traditional studios to pump nine figures into a film that isn’t inspired by popular toys, novels or comic books. Even

The American Cinematheque will be honoring Participant with its inaugural Power of Cinema Award. Led by CEO David Linde, Participant is celebrating 17 years since its founding, and has a body of work that speaks for itself, from the Oscar-winning productions of “Spotlight” and “An Inconvenient Truth,” to say nothing of the 100-plus projects that

Helen Mirren has been selected as the next honoree to receive the SAG Life Achievement Award during next year’s Screen Actors Guild Awards. The prize is considered SAG-AFTRA’s highest honor, and will return after taking a year off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Mirren is the 57th recipient of the SAG Life Achievement Award, which

Gigi Prtizker’s Madison Wells banner has a new look, intended to reflect the company’s commitment to “spotlighting stories for, by and about badass women, as well as people who love pushing boundaries.” Founded in 2015 by Pritzker, Madison Wells’ focus has been on bringing meaningful stories to life via film, television, theatre and podcasting, with

Fremantle Spain has tapped seasoned Spanish TV exec Fernando Jerez to create and head a new production arm En Cero Coma Producciones, dedicated to factual and documentary program production. The launch of the new label forms just part of Fremantle’s wider global strategy to grow its footprint in the high-end factual space, the company said

Leading Italian sales agent and production company The Open Reel has dropped the trailer for up-and-coming Spanish director Jordi Núñez’s debut fiction feature “What We Know,” produced by Valencia’s Pegatum Transmedia, a coming-of-age tale which unravels on the brightly lit beaches of Southern Spain. “What We Know” follows Carla, a cute young waitress who works

Running from Nov. 17 to 28, the 34th edition of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is going to “feel festive,” promises programmer Sarah Dawson, anticipating even more heated discussions than usual. “I do expect this to be a bigger feature. You are in a room full of people, sharing all these different points

At the Media Access Awards on Wednesday, honoree Marlee Matlin summed up the mood by saying that when she came to Los Angeles in 1985, “words like equality and access were so far outside the mainstream of Hollywood, I had to make noise.” Receiving the MAA’s lifetime achievement award “pushes me to be even louder.”