Movies

Chosen as this year’s recipient of the President’s Award at Karlovy Vary Film Festival, Ethan Hawke discussed his career, projects – including a potential new film with his long-time collaborator Richard Linklater – and the ongoing pandemic. At a roundtable discussion with journalists, Hawke opened up about his next possible movie project with Linklater. The

The recent horrors in Afghanistan have once more exposed the callousness with which too many residents of Europe and the U.S. speak of refugees, whereby displaced human lives become numbers, coldly counted and ranked on a long list of national priorities: not people to be saved, but problems to be solved. If there’s room for

On the one-year anniversary of Chadwick Boseman’s death, several of his friends, collaborators and admirers took to social media to honor him and his work.  Boseman, famous for playing the titular role in Marvel’s “Black Panther” among many other films, died of colon cancer at age 43 on Aug. 28, 2020. His passing came as

Migration drama “As Far as I Can Walk,” directed by Stefan Arsenijevic, won the top prize at the 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Saturday, commended by the critics for its nuanced portrayal of the realities of refugees’ lives. The joint Serbia/France/Luxembourg/Bulgaria/Lithuania production, starring Ibrahim Koma and Nancy Mensah-Offei and inspired by a Serbian

Matthew Mindler, a child actor known for his role in the 2011 film “Our Idiot Brother,” was found dead on Saturday after being reported missing from his university. He was 19. His college, Millersville University in Pennsylvania, announced the news in an email to its student body on Saturday. “It is with a grieving heart

The upcoming Venice Film Festival is set to become a focal point for discussion on the crisis underway in Afghanistan and how it is impacting filmmakers and Afghan artists in general as the Taliban take power. As previously reported by Variety, Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi, who is the first woman president of the country’s national

Sneaking up on the Karlovy Vary Film Festival audience following its Cannes debut, Valdimar Jóhannsson’s Icelandic-Swedish-Polish drama “Lamb” has some surprises in store. Luckily, according to its first-time director, the reviews of the film that sees Noomi Rapace as a woman living in complete isolation with her husband in rural Iceland, dreaming of becoming a

By Jaime Lee Curtis’ own admission, she’s had a hell of a career, filled with all sorts of opportunities. “I’m an actor. I write books for children. I create websites and podcasts. I have sold yogurt that makes you poop. I’ve done Hertz commercials with O.J. Simpson,” she says. “I’ve been able to do so

Afghan filmmaker Sahraa Karimi, who was at the Venice Film Festival in 2019 with female-centric drama “Hava, Maryam, Ayesha,” will soon be traveling back to the fest to raise awareness about the plight of filmmakers in her country after the Taliban’s reclamation of power. Karimi is also head of state-run company Afghan Film –– the

From RZA to Jon Favreau, artists, filmmakers, journalists and activists gathered on Aug. 26 for Variety‘s inaugural Truth Seekers Summit, in partnership with Rolling Stone and presented by Showtime Documentary Films. The summit explored the art of documentary and investigative storytelling. Here are 10 takeaways from the two-day event. RZA Was Inspired By Robert De

Actor, disability-inclusion advocate and double hand amputee John W. Lawson has been cast as Stanny in Paramount Players’ untitled “Pet Sematary” prequel, written and directed by Lindsey Beer. “I have myoelectric hands… or what people commonly call ‘cyborg,’” Lawson jokes. “But most of the time, it’s just my hooks.” This news makes the “Pet Sematary”

Three and a half years into Time’s Up’s short lifespan, the nonprofit is making more of a case for why it might not be able to achieve its goals rather than becoming a victory for women seeking safer workplaces. It’s clear the organization started with good intentions. Springing out of the immediate chaos, confusion and

When the first trailer debuted for “Candyman” — director Nia DaCosta and producer Jordan Peele’s “spiritual sequel” to the 1992 horror classic — there was a great deal of buzz about the use of a slowed-down remix of Destiny’s Child’s “Say My Name” alongside the original movie’s haunting score. But upon further reflection — the

Romanian director Radu Jude, fresh off his Golden Bear win at Berlin with “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” wouldn’t mind trying his hand at “Starship Troopers” next, he revealed during a Karlovy Vary Film Festival talk shared with Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa. Basing it “more on the book than the film,” he said, mentioning

Returning after not one but two cancellations caused by the pandemic, Karlovy Vary Film Festival moves into its final days, with artistic director Karel Och already looking back on the 55th edition, pushed back to Aug. 20-28. “It was a good decision to postpone,” he tells Variety, noting that the streamlined program, with 25 fewer

Despite an apparent last-minute sense of concern by Karlovy Vary fest organizers over international press coverage of Johnny Depp and his ongoing legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard over domestic abuse allegations, the rocker/actor/producer made his appearances without much fuss and introduced the docu he co-produced, “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan”

Following Tina Tchen’s departure, Time’s Up has named Monifa Bandele the interim CEO, Variety has learned. Bandele, a political strategist and activist, was previously chief operating officer for Time’s Up, which she joined in October 2020. Prior to Tchen stepping down yesterday, Time’s Up was in the process of bringing on an outside consulting firm

Asian and Pacific Islander non-profit collective Gold House announced the launch of a Gold Open for Marvel Studios’ “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” in partnership with GoFundMe. Gold House’s Gold Open premieres, launched in partnership with CAPE (Coalition of Asian Pacifics in Entertainment) are an initiative that aims to drive box office

Javid Sina, an Afghan refugee based in Sweden, has had a life punctuated by borders. First in Iran, where he spent his childhood, and where as an Afghan he was abused, unable to go to school, and forced to educate himself through the books his family kept at home, from Dostoyevsky to Rumi. Then migrating

“The Man Who Sold His Skin” and “Coda” stood out among films which picked up awards at the closing ceremony of the 49th Norwegian International Film Festival Haugesund. For the festival’s grand reopening to the international market, after a restricted 2020 edition due to the COVID-19 pandemic, attendance surpassed pre-pandemic levels with an all-time-high number

Discussions around increasing diversity and representation across the film industry have been multiplying in the past few years after global movements like #MeToo and Black Lives Matter spurred systemic change. Confronting these issues head-on was one of the main topics of discussion in Haugesund at this year’s Norwegian Intl. Film Festival, notably through the panel

Kristen Stewart’s Princess Diana drama “Spencer” has been acquired by Amazon Prime Video for distribution in France, Variety has learned. The highly anticipated movie, directed by “Jackie” filmmaker Pablo Larrain, will have its world premiere in competition at the Venice Film Festival next week. STXInternational represents the rights for France, alongside the U.K., Italy and

Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique has acquired Bretten Hannam’s drama “Wildhood,” which world premieres in the Discovery section of Toronto Film Festival. The Canadian film stars Philip Lewitski, Joshua Odjick and Avery Winters-Anthony. Gabor Greiner, COO of Films Boutique, said: “ ‘Wildhood’ is an amazing film for many reasons — besides coming from a Mi’kmaw

Paintings are a window into the soul of “Candyman,” the story of a budding artist who becomes fascinated with the urban legend of a killer with a hook for a hand. In Nia DaCosta’s update of the 1992 horror film, opening Aug. 27, the artist’s work starts to consume him and begins affecting his life.

Sheffield Doc/Fest, one of the world’s top gatherings for the documentary industry, is in turmoil as its entire programming team appears to have been quietly terminated following the exit of artistic director Cintia Gil last week. On Friday, in an emotional statement, the festival’s group of seven programmers — Juliano Gomes, Qila Gill, Carlos Pereira,

After a month of brutal headlines, Time’s Up CEO Tina Tchen resigned on Thursday, leaving behind deep questions about the organization’s mission and values and whether it can continue in its current form. Tchen, a former corporate attorney who served as Michelle Obama’s chief of staff, pursued a theory of change that relied on cozy

SALES WestEnd Films has launched a global sales campaign for Guillem Morales’ (“The Miniaturist”) revenge thriller “The Duchess of Malfi,” produced by Miriam Segal’s Good Films Collective (“Postcard Killings”). Based on John Webster’s classic Jacobean play, the feature adaptation was penned by Luke Garrett (“Ruby Strangelove Young Witch”). Casting for the period drama is led

The 17th Zurich Film Festival will host the Swiss premiere of “No Time to Die,” the 25th James Bond film, on Sept. 28. It’s the first time a Bond movie has been in the official selection of a festival, its artistic director, Christian Jungen, said. The festival will also stage a retrospective of the other

Helsinki-based sales outfit The Yellow Affair, behind Hulu’s transgender TV drama “Rūrangi,” has boarded the Finnish pic “The Grump: In Search of an Escort.” The third installment in “The Grump” series about the stubborn elderly Finnish farmer, the pic is produced by Markus Selin, Jukka Hele and Hanna Virolainen for Finnish production powerhouse Solar Films,

Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Shirin Neshat and Shoja Azari’s satirical, surrealistic film “Land of Dreams,” which opens the Horizons Extra section of the Venice Film Festival. The filmmakers won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival for their first feature film, “Women Without Men.” “Land of Dreams”