Movies

LevelK has boarded international sales rights to “The Passenger” (“La pasajera”), a high-concept Spanish horror film directed by Fernando Gonzalez (“Downunder”) and Raul Cerezo which will world premiere at Sitges in the Panorama Fantastic section. Produced by Jose Luis Rancaño (“The Night My Mother Killed My Father”), “The Passenger” follows a group of strangers on

BFI London Film Festival has revealed its line-up for its second Works-in-Progress showcase, including a documentary about Hong Kong’s draconian National Security law and a TV narrative feature starring Sir Lenny Henry and Malachi Kirby (pictured above). The showcase will take place on Oct. 9. It consists of seven recently completed or in production/post-production audio-visual

Paul Schrader, who received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Zurich Film Festival on Friday, is planning to start shooting thriller “Master Gardener” in February, with Joel Edgerton and Sigourney Weaver starring, and the third role to be played by a young woman of color. Zendaya was his first choice, but they couldn’t agree on

London-based Modern Films has bought U.K.-Ireland rights for “Silent Land,” the feature debut of Polish filmmaker Aga Woszczyńska, which played in competition at the recently wrapped Zurich Film Festival. Variety has been given exclusive access to the film’s international trailer. Set in Italy, the slow-burn drama follows a couple whose summer holiday goes terribly wrong

According to her dour, navy-suited employers in an old-school London financial institute, young American Millie Cantwell is the most prodigiously gifted fund manager in many a moon: a veritable supernova in her field, destined for great and profitable things. This is doubtless a wonderful thing to hear if you truly want to be a fund

China’s ‘The Battle at Lake Changjin’ was the highest grossing film anywhere in the world over the past weekend, with a $203 million haul. That score was fractionally lower than the combined total earned by “No Time to Die” ($119 million in international markets) and by “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” ($90.2 million in North

James Bond shot his way to the top spot at the South Korean box office, outgunning holdover and new release titles alike. But “No Time To Die” failed to revive Korea’s struggling theatrical market. “No Time to Die” scored $3.30 million over the weekend, grabbing a 63% or nearly two thirds share of the entire

WOODSTOCK, N.Y. — Indie film distributor Neon is hoping to make a statement with its awards consideration plan for the animated documentary “Flee.” Tom Quinn, co-founder of Neon, told Variety that Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s story of a gay refugee who fled to safety in Denmark from his home in Afghanistan as a child, will be

Marvel Studios released new footage of “Eternals” on Sunday, offering a deeper look at the latest entry in the MCU saga. The new teaser showcases the group’s various powers and abilities, while also giving fans a peek at the personal lives of the Marvel’s newest heroes. The clip begins with Sersi (Gemma Chan) explaining the

Swiss productions and co-productions are on the rise, driven in part by federal and regional funders that offer attractive opportunities for domestic and international filmmakers. Quickly recovering from the impact of the pandemic, the local film industry has gotten off to another strong year with local films and international co-productions. Elie Grappe’s Swiss-Ukrainian-French title “Olga”

In Lorena Padilla’s “Martinez,” an aging office worker leads a solitary life centered on his own personal fulfillment, which generally leads to long sits in the park and becoming part of the landscape. Alone. Closed off from human contact. “When I sent the script to Francisco Reyes, who plays Martinez, I only knew him over

Elie Samaha’s Luminosity Entertainment and Mike Karz’s Gulfstream Pictures have snagged the worldwide rights to Abner Benaim’s dramatic thriller, “Plaza Catedral.” The deal, forged by Luminosity partner and co-president Daniel Diamond and Karz, closed just ahead of the film’s world premiere at the Guadalajara Int’l Film Festival (FICG) on Oct. 3. “Plaza Catedral” is in competition

Imagine making two movies at exactly the same time. That’s exactly what Romanian-born, New York-based director Bogdan George Apetri did while making “Miracle,” which played last week in the feature film competition at the Zurich Film Festival shortly after world premiering at Venice. Filmed in Romania, “Miracle” is the second part of a trilogy of

When I saw “The Many Saints of Newark,” I wanted it to immerse me in the lives of New Jersey mobsters in the late ’60s and early ’70s the same way that “The Sopranos” immersed us in the lives of New Jersey mobsters at the turn of the 21st century. The film more or less

James Bond is shaking things up the international box office. “No Time to Die,” the latest 007 adventure that doubles as Daniel Craig’s final outing as the suave British spy, kicked off overseas with a mighty $119 million from 54 foreign markets. Universal Pictures, who is releasing the film internationally, notes that “No Time to

“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” roared to $90.1 million in its debut, setting a new pandemic record. It’s an impressive result, one that provides a lifeline to struggling movie theaters and (once again) proves Marvel’s might at the box office. The much darker “Venom” follow-up comes from Sony Pictures and is separate from Disney’s Marvel

As its title suggests, “Nothing to Laugh About” addresses a serious subject. The Norwegian film, directed by Petter Næss, centers on a 40-year-old successful stand-up comedian whose entire life changes in one single day: not only is his show cancelled, but he splits up with his girlfriend and also has to deal with a devastating

Weaving together fiction, archive and documentary, Marten Persiel’s “Everything Will Change” is a dystopian movie that addresses one of the most urgent issues of our time – the extinction of wildlife. Set in 2054, when wildlife has disappeared, it’s the story of three friends who go on a journey to discover what happened to their

“A Tale of Love and Desire” is the story of a young Arab man in Paris whose first love is accompanied by the discovery of a very different Arab culture than the one he knows, one that is sensual and liberating. The film screens as part of the Zurich Film Festival’s New World View section,

Following his directorial debut “Next Door” – which saw him poke fun at his international success as a movie star Daniel, forced to deal with a stalkerish neighbor on his way to a secret audition for a superhero movie – Daniel Brühl will be next seen in Matthew Vaughn’s spectacle “The King’s Man” as Erik

The 17th Zurich Film Festival concluded Saturday with wins for Jonas Carpignano‘s “A Chiara” and Fred Baillif’s “La Mif,” with Renato Borrayo Serrano’s “Life of Ivanna” named best documentary. The jury, led by Daniel Brühl, and featuring director Stéphanie Chuat, former Berlinale chief Dieter Kosslick and producer Andrea Cornwell, decided to award “A Chiara” with

Chile’s Picardia Films, headed by director-producer Diego Rougier, has boarded “The White Room” (“La Habitación Blanca”), the next feature by Argentina’s Ana Piterbarg who caught international attention with Viggo Mortensen starrer “Everybody Has a Plan,” her 2012 feature debut distributed by Fox Intl. Productions. Written and to be directed by Piterbarg, “The White Room” is

Daniel Craig’s swan song as James Bond is set for a record-breaking overseas opening. After a long series of delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, “No Time to Die” exploded at the international box office on Friday, grossing $27.2 million across 54 markets to reach a running total of $51.4 million. Industry projections predict a

In director Ivan Lowenberg’s second feature, “I Don’t Want to Be Dust” (“No quiero ser polvo”), a middle-aged woman is struggling to feel relevant to an indifferent husband, a shlub of a son and, well, life, in general. She’s sharp enough to see through the fake mysticism of New Age-ish gurus and the airy platitudes

Mexican producer-director Iria Gómez Concheiro is unveiling at Guadalajara “Here Be Dragons,” a co-production between her own label Ciudad Cinema – alongside exec producer Rodrigo Ríos Legaspi – and Colombia’s Trilce Cinema, with Alejandro Rey and Claudia Sánchez. Set in a vaguely anachronistic 2040, “Here Be Dragons” is a sci-fi drama-adventure movie which follows 18-year

On Friday evening, halfway through the march of this year’s New York Film Festival, the legendary director and writer Jane Campion joined Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst, Kodi Smit-McPhee and Netflix CEO Ted Sarandos in premiering her newest film, “The Power of the Dog,” to a New York audience.  Friday’s event spilled over into Central Park’s

Irene Jacob (“Three Colours: Red”), a critically acclaimed film and theater actor, is set to preside over the Lumière Institute in Lyon, succeeding to Bertrand Tavernier, the revered French filmmaker who died in March. Tavernier led the institution for nearly four decades and worked closely with Thierry Fremaux, the Lumière Institute’s managing director, and Cannes

The expanding Antalya Film Forum dedicated to fostering a new generation of Turkish directors seems poised to really have the goods this year for buyers and festival programmers who would like to know what’s coming down the pike. The Antalya Film Festival’s industry section – which will run online Oct. 6-8 — features a fresh

In Netflix’s new movie “The Guilty,” Jake Gyllenhaal plays Joe, a street cop demoted to desk duty after an incident gone wrong. We meet him in the early hours of the morning when California is in the midst of another wildfire disaster and Joe is confined to answering 9-1-1 calls. When he receives a call

Turkey’s Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival, which historically has always been the country’s prime local cinema catalyst, stands as testimony that despite impediments due to the pandemic and the country’s economy Turkish filmmakers are in fine fettle. “At the start of the year people said: ‘You will not be able to assemble 10 [Turkish] films