Movies

“Dope Queens,” a new indie film celebrating San Francisco’s famed Tenderloin neighborhood, has set its lead cast. Alexandra Grey (“Empire,” “Gossamer Folds”), Pierson Fodé (the upcoming “The Man From Toronto,” “Dynasty”) and Trace Lysette (“Hustlers”) will star in the project from writer-director Grafton Doyle. Described as a romantic thriller, the film will follow three friends

Chinese film authorities on Wednesday granted both “Dune” and “No Time to Die” one month longer in local theaters, giving the Hollywood blockbusters a full two months on the big screen in the world’s largest film market. The former will now run through Dec. 21 and the latter through Dec. 28. Films are given a

Producer Maurice Fadida and his Kodiak Pictures have acquired the adaptive rights to a series of best-selling novels by author Douglas E. Richards. The books follow the character Nick Hall in a series of sci-fi thriller tales, starting with the title “Mind’s Eye.” They were first published in the U.S. in 2014 by Paragon Press,

Peter Dinklage to Be Honored at Gotham Awards The Gotham Film and Media Institute announced that Peter Dinklage will receive a Performer Tribute and the Actors Fund will receive the Gotham Impact Salute 2021 Gotham awards ceremony on Nov. 29 at Cipriani Wall Street. Dinklage first gained notice in the 2003 film “The Station Agent”

For Kris Bowers, “not much can beat the feeling of being in the room when a group of musicians pours their heart into a piece of music — especially when it’s your own.” It’s an emotion the Emmy-winning composer and jazz pianist hopes to capture with “Reel Change: The New Era of Film Music,” a

Jane Campion will be honored with the director of the year award for her work on “The Power of the Dog” at the Palm Springs International Film Awards, taking place Jan. 6-17. Based on Thomas Savage’s 1967 novel of the same name, “The Power of the Dog” stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a masochistic cattle rancher

Tereza sleeps alone in bed near the opening of “Tereza37,” Danilo Serbedzija’s placidly paced Croatian drama with edges both witty and shrewdly dark. It’s an image that stands as a fitting visual foreword to Serbedzija’s film, as Tereza is often solitary at home despite being married; her husband is regularly absent, gone out to the

The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees approved its Basic Agreement on Monday, ending the most protracted and contentious bargaining process in the recent history of the TV and film production union. But the ratification — which passed even though a bare majority of members voted against it — leaves a lot of hard feelings

Serious in intent, but melodramatic in style, the patriotic historical saga “Heliopolis” directed by Djaffar Gacem neatly uses the alliances of a fictional Muslim family to explicate events leading up to the brutal killings of indigenous Algerian civilians and the summary execution of native political leaders by French settler militias and soldiers in 1945. Algeria’s

Trans star and producer Jesse James Keitel has joined an upcoming docuseries highlighting trans entrepreneurs. Titled “T-Town,” the series explores the historically underrepresented lives of dynamic trans entrepreneurs who are launching their own businesses, building up communities, and empowering a new generation to live their truth. Currently seeking distribution, the project was developed by Colby

One of the most intriguing, and certainly dark and disturbing, scores of this season is Jonny Greenwood’s music for “The Power of the Dog,” filmmaker Jane Campion’s Western starring Benedict Cumberbatch as a surly, complicated cowboy in early 20th-century Montana. It’s one of three scores the Radiohead musician-songwriter has in end-of-year awards contention. Pablo Larrain’s

Raymond Ablack, Laura Hopper, Sean Amsing and Emilio Solfrizzi have joined the cast of Netflix’s new rom-com “Love in the Villa.” Starring Kat Graham and Tom Hopper, “Love in the Villa” follows a young woman who takes a romantic trip to Verona, Italy after a break up. When she arrives to find that that villa

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” Jane Campion is not a fan of superhero movies. “I hate them,” the Oscar winner told me at the AFI Fest screening of her new drama, “The Power of the Dog.” “I actually hate them.” Campion offered her thoughts when I asked if she would be interested in

Something strange happened to Penélope Cruz as she rehearsed on the set of “Parallel Mothers.” Whenever the crew would come to collect the doll she was using as a stand-in for a flesh-and-blood baby, Cruz tensed up. She became combative. It didn’t matter that it was only a toy — she refused to surrender her

Disney and Pixar have released a new trailer for the animated feature “Turning Red,” and it showcases new music from Grammy-winning singer and songwriter Billie Eilish and Finneas. “Turning Red” is set to be released on March 11, 2022, and it’s a coming-of-age story featuring a 13-year-old girl, Mei, set in the early 2000s. Director

Saurav Vishnu’s award-winning documentary short “Tailing Pond” is being expanded into a six-part documentary series with the involvement of “Sex and the City” actor Cynthia Nixon. Nixon narrated the documentary short, which investigates the horrifying effects of uranium extraction on the health of the indigenous population of Jadugora, Jharkhand in East India, where thousands of

Abacus Media Rights has clinched rapid sales in more than half the world’s major territories on “Killing Escobar,” proving the enduring market appeal of one of Latin America’s most powerful IPs, Pablo Escobar – if producers find a new and unique way into his story. In the case of “Killing Escobar,” this comes via the

Emmanuel Mouret’s “Love Affair(s),” Samir Guesmi’s “Ibrahim” and Elie Wajeman’s “Night Doctor” won top prizes at Colcoa, the French film and TV festival. The festival, which marked its 25th edition, wrapped at the DGA on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles on Nov. 7. It was attended by 14,000 people. The festival, programmed by Francois Truffart,

The U.K. mod revival of the late 1970s and 1980s was a retro-minded movement, albeit meshed a little with then-current trends: a bit of contemporary punk, a bit of midcentury Teddy Boy grease, all swirled together with a swagger that peaked in 1979’s time-capsule rock opera “Quadrophenia.” An anodyne Manchester-to-Brighton road movie that somewhat wishfully

Breakout “House of Gucci” star Madalina Ghenea is set to lead shark survival thriller “Deep Fear” alongside Ed Westwick. Ghenea, who plays classic movie star Sophia Loren in the fashion film, will take on the role of accomplished yachtswoman Naomi who embarks on a solo trip through the Caribbean to meet her boyfriend Jackson (played

Taskovski Films has acquired two further documentaries: Ruslan Fedotov’s “Where Are We Headed,” which plays in International Competition at IDFA, and Pilar Moreno and Ana Endara Mislov’s “For Your Peace of Mind, Make Your Own Museum,” which plays in the festival’s Envision Competition. The sales agency recently picked up “Turn Your Body to the Sun,”

Filmmaker Bandar Albuliwi staged a rally outside of Barclays Center in Brooklyn on Sunday afternoon to bring attention to Halyna’s Law, proposed legislation he is supporting to ban real guns and live ammunition on film sets. Albuliwi’s demonstration was a response to the death of Halyna Hutchins, the cinematographer who was fatally shot when a

Mel Brooks Awarded With the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Career Achievement Award The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (LAFCA) has announced that legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks will receive the LAFCA Career Achievement Award. Brooks began as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety show, “Your Show of Shows” and went on to create

The second trailer for “Spider-Man: No Way Home” premiered on Tuesday, a little over a month ahead of the Sony Pictures and Marvel Studios co-production’s exclusive theatrical release. As is so often the case for Peter Parker (Tom Holland), he winds up being the architect of his own misery. To undo the chaos caused in

The new feature “Violet” opens with a horrifying montage, something that wouldn’t seem out of place in an arthouse horror flick, though the film that follows is a domestic drama. “Family Ties” actress Justine Bateman made her feature directing debut on the film, now available on demand. Bateman brought on video artist and DJ Mike

Maggie Gyllenhaal is having one of her most impactful years in Hollywood yet. The New York native has received critical acclaim for her directorial debut feature “The Lost Daughter,” which has ushered her into the awards race, capable of nabbing three possible nominations for directing, adapted screenplay and perhaps even best picture. In celebration of

Cheryl Boone Isaacs has been named founding director of the newly established Sidney Poitier New American Film School at Arizona State U. Boone Isaacs will be director of the three-campus film school starting Jan. 1. She will lead from the ASU California Center in Los Angeles as well as from Tempe and Mesa. “Cheryl Boone Isaacs has

Colleagues of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins, the DP fatally shot on the set of “Rust” in New Mexico last month in an apparent accidental discharge of a prop gun, paid tribute to her vision and skill at the EnergaCamerimage Film Festival, an event dedicated to the art of cinematography, on Sunday. Hutchins, who was 42 and

Augustine Frizzell is set to direct “The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue,” a feature film adaptation of V.E. Schwab’s fantasy novel. Frizzell will also write the script with her husband, filmmaker David Lowery. Schwab was initially on board to pen the screenplay from an initial draft by Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage. Though she’s

Melissa McCarthy says Monday night’s InStyle Awards at the Getty Center was her first big public outing since the onset of the pandemic. “I went into a CVS like two months ago and was like, ‘Uhhh, I don’ know what to do,’” she said from the stage after being presented with this year’s Icon Award