Movies

Two early and critical precursors to the awards season have announced their voting dates and annual galas. First, the National Board of Review will reveal its 2021 honorees on Tuesday, Nov. 30, with their awards presentation and gala scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 11, hosted by NBC News’ Willie Geist. They will be followed by the

All awards and nominations lead to the coveted Academy Awards ceremony. As the industry’s leader in awards analysis, predictions and the entertainment business, you can find the key upcoming dates for this year’s awards season. All critical dates are in bold. Oscar nominations will be announced on February 8, 2021, with voting set to take

Juan Marisé’s “Camionero,” Laura Baumeister’s “Daughter of Rage” and Ion Bors’ “Carbon” triumphed Wednesday at San Sebastian Festival’s prize ceremony for winners at its main industry competitions: the Europe-Latin America Co-production Forum and WIP Latin America and WIP Europa pix-in-post showcases. Also among victors were Juan Andrés Arango’s “Where the River Begins,” María Zanetti’s “Alemania,”

Brazilian writer-director Anita Rocha de Silveira made a striking feature debut six years ago with “Kill Me Please,” a uniquely antic yet unnerving cocktail of adolescent sexual awakening, giallo thriller elements and art-house ambiguity. Its boldness extends to the slightly bigger canvas and slightly older heroines in “Medusa.” Again offering a queasily satirical take on

Exactly one week ahead of her next conservatorship hearing, Netflix has released a trailer for its upcoming Britney Spears documentary, which will launch the day before the pop star heads to court. “Britney vs. Spears” will debut on Netflix on Sept. 28. The next day, Sept. 29, marks the most significant court hearing, to date

In 2016, Esteban Arango enrolled in Hola Mexico Film Festival’s mentorship program, Tomorrow’s Filmmakers Today, with a short film — a coming-of-ager about two brothers from Colombia who love metal music and feel disillusioned by the American dream. Arango and his co-writer, Erick Castrillon, needed guidance on adapting the piece into a full-length project, and

Moby will executive produce and provide music for “Meat the Future,” a new documentary about the revolutionary new practice of “cultivated” meat. In addition, conservation legend Dr. Jane Goodall has signed on to narrate the film, which is directed by Liz Marshall, the award-winning filmmaker behind “The Ghosts in Our Machine” and “Water on the

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.” It sounds like Michelle Obama will appear on the final season of “Black-ish.” After star Anthony Anderson teased the possibility when I caught up with him at the Television Academy’s pre-Emmy party for performer nominees, sources tell me that the former first lady’s appearance isn’t a done deal just yet, but they’re

In its fourth “Hashtag” section, #letSEXplore, Zurich Film Festival will explore sexuality and desire. Through films that have already generated heated discussions (Ninja Thyberg’s “Pleasure,” Radu Jude’s Berlinale winner “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn”) as well as those that deserve to be rediscovered, starting with Alex Liu’s documentary “A Sexplanation” (pictured), set to celebrate

Nothing is scarier than holiday shoppers in search of a deal. In that spirit, Screen Media has acquired “Black Friday,” an alien invasion holiday horror film ahead of its world premiere at Fantastic Fest this week. Directed by Casey Tebo (“Happy Birthday”) and written by Andy Greskoviak, “Black Friday” stars Bruce Campbell of “Evil Dead”

MGM Motion Picture Group president Pamela Abdy and chairman Michael De Luca are to open the Zurich Summit on Saturday with a keynote conversation with CAA Media Finance co-head Roeg Sutherland. Billed as a boutique conference, the two-day Summit gathers around 100 film producers, sales executives and creators in film, TV and entertainment as well

In telling the story of champion alpine ski racer Franz Klammer, one of Austria’s most revered and beloved sports heroes, director Andreas Schmied forewent the usual biopic tropes, focusing instead on a few fateful days that culminated in his victory at the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck. It was that focus that ultimately convinced Klammer to

In the Icelandic musical adventure “12 Hours to Destruction,” writer-director Nanna Kristín Magnúsdóttir revels in a wholeheartedly youthful story of a school band battling nasties to save their dance. The film, part of the Finnish Film Affair’s Nordic Selection of works in progress being held this week in Helsinki, is an ambitious project, produced by

Pop singer Kikka, a.k.a. Kirsi Hannele Viilonen, who passed away in 2005 at just 41 years old, will finally get her due in the upcoming biopic being produced by Helsinki’s Komeetta. Founded by producers Daniel Kuitunen and Kaisla Viitala, the production company’s slate already includes Zaida Bergroth’s “Maria’s Paradise,” shown in Toronto in 2019, and

The Abu Dhabi Film Commission is understandably proud that Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures filmed at the Liwa desert, the large oasis area in the Western Region of the Emirate that doubled as the desert world of Arrakis, and in the past also served as a set for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” “Dune”

Polish filmmaker Aga Woszczyńska – together with co-writer Piotr Litwin – started to work on the script of her first feature film “Silent Land” in 2016, and notes that since then, her film – which centers on the world’s response to migrants – has sadly become even more timely. Set in Italy, the slow-burning drama

India’s Viacom18 Studios and media personality Karan Johar’s Dharma Productions have partnered for a theatrical, broadcast and streaming distribution slate. The two entities will collaborate on a range of Hindi-language films, which are in various stages of production and are expected to release over the next 18 – 24 months. Films under the deal include

If we have learned anything from movies of recent years, it is that moving into one’s dream house will surely lead to terror and death. That improbable yet familiar arc is traced again in “Intrusion,” wherein the domesticity under threat belongs to a wide-eyed Freida Pinto. Director Adam Salky and writer Christopher Sparling’s thriller will

TrustNordisk has closed key deals on John Andreas Andersen’s anticipated Norwegian disaster film “The North Sea.” Now in post-production, the ambitious movie is produced by Fantefilm Fiksjon, which previously delivered the Scandinavian blockbusters “The Quake” and “The Wave” that TrustNordisk sold around the world. The film, the trailer for which has just been unveiled by

The trouble with unimaginable horror is precisely that: It cannot be imagined. For Alfred Wetzler and Rudolf Vrba, two Slovakian Jews who escaped from Auschwitz in 1944 to bring evidence of the systematic genocide within the camp, the hardest part of issuing The Vrba-Wetzler Report was simply being believed. Director Peter Bebjak’s “The Auschwitz Report,”

Selected by Variety as a talent to track, Spain’s Jaione Camborda is developing her sophomore effort, “The Rye Horn,” a story that takes place in ‘70s Galicia. After a terrible event, midwife María is forced to become a fugitive and, to wrestle back her freedom, flee Galicia for Portugal along an old smugglers’ route. Camborda attended Prague’s

Following a dismal summer, China’s box office over this year’s three-day Mid-Autumn Festival holiday hit its lowest point since 2014. Chinese citizens had to work on Saturday, Sept. 18, but enjoyed a three-day vacation for the holiday from Sept. 19-21. Cinemas are operational, but at reduced capacity due to the pandemic. The cumulative box office

“It’s not that Mama doesn’t like this house — this house doesn’t like Mama,” explains Tsidi to her young daughter Winnie about the roomy, comfortable Cape Town pad in which they’ve recently taken up residence. Tsidi knows the place well. For as long as she can remember, it’s been home to her mother Mavis, which

A battalion of producers and stars worked the opening night red carpet of the Beijiing Intl. Film Festival Tuesday for the world premiere of their mammoth Chinese war film “The Battle of Changjin Lake,” which is expected to rank amongst China’s highest grossing films of the year. The nearly three-hour-long historical epic is a grind

Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival Releases 2021 Lineup The Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival (HSDFF) has released the lineup of films and honorees for its 30th edition, which will take place Oct. 8-16. The opening night presentation will be a screening of Samuel D. Pollard and Rex Miller’s “Citizen Ashe,” a biographical piece about the

Endeavor has no plans to exit the content creation business once it completes the required sale of its production unit. Mandated by the franchise agreement the company signed with the Writers Guild of America in February, the forthcoming sale of Endeavor Content will see Ari Emanuel’s shop part with 80% of its interests in making

“Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings” from Marvel Studios will hit Disney Plus on Nov. 12 — along with a slew of other new content — as part of a celebration of the two-year anniversary of the streamer’s launch. The first Disney Plus Day marks the date the streaming service first bowed in

The Critics Choice Association (CCA) announced the first annual Celebration of Latino Cinema, which will take place on Dec. 9. The event will honor Latino figures who have made significant contributions to film in 2021. At the event, which will be presented virtually, Rita Moreno will receive the Icon Award. Her documentary “Rita Moreno: Just

The International Association of Theatrical Stage Employees called on Monday for a strike authorization vote, setting in motion potentially the biggest labor showdown in Hollywood since the last writers’ strike 14 years ago. Some 60,000 IATSE members could end up walking off the job, most of whom are based in Los Angeles. A strike, if

Meredith Stiehm has been elected president of the Writers Guild of America, West, succeeding David Goodman, who stepped down after four years on the job. Stiehm ran unopposed, as did her slate of officers. Michele Mulroney was elected vice president and Betsy Thomas was elected secretary-treasurer. “It is an honor to serve the membership as