Movies

The Deauville American Film Festival has unveiled the competition lineup of its 2021 edition, which includes Sean Baker’s “Red Rocket” and Michael Sarnoski’s “Pig.” Under the leadership of artistic director Bruno Barde, the festival’s competition will also showcase Pascual Sisto’s John and the Hole,” David Bruckner’s “The Night House,” Justin Chon’s “Blue Bayou,” Josef Kubota

Universal Pictures will handle the distribution of “Redeeming Love” in U.S. and Canadian theaters. Directed by D.J. Caruso (“xXx: Return of Xander Cage”), the film is an adaptation of Francine Rivers’ bestselling novel. The film stars Abigail Cowen (“Fate: The Winx Saga”), Tom Lewis (“Gentleman Jack”), Logan Marshall Green (“Upgrade”), Famke Janssen (“X-Men: Days of

Lee Won-tae’s thriller “The Devil’s Deal” reveals how revenge can twist anyone into something else when political hopeful Jeon Hae-woong (Cho Jin-woong) breaks bad after a stolen election. Betrayal and murder punctuate the film, set in the economic skin game of early ’90s Busan. Debuting at Fantasia, “The Devil’s Deal” is produced by Seo Kang-ho

In “Dreams on Fire” writer-director Phillipe McKie marks his feature debut with a heady vision of the Japanese urban dance scene and one woman’s journey to find her place in it. Equipped with little more than her passion for dance, Yume (Bambi Naka) leaves an unsupportive home life to make her way in the Tokyo

Set for its world premiere on Aug. 11 at the Fantasia Int’l Film Festival in Montreal, Uruguay’s “Ghosting Gloria” (“Muerto con Gloria”) presents a genre mash-up of comedy, romance and some spicy paranormal encounters with a poltergeist. Guido Rud’s FilmSharks snapped up worldwide sales and remake rights to the pic in June last year. He’s already sold

FESTIVAL The 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept. 1-11) will include an out of competition screening of “Ennio” by Giuseppe Tornatore, director of the Oscar winning “Cinema Paradiso.” “Ennio” is a comprehensive portrait of two time Oscar winning composer Ennio Morricone, among the most influential and prolific musicians of the twentieth century, who has scored

Thai filmmaker Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke’s (pictured center) dark comedy film “A Useful Ghost” has scooped the top prize at the Locarno Film Festival’s Open Doors awards ceremony. This year’s Open Doors co-production forum featured nine projects from Southeast Asia and Mongolia looking for international partners, and also represented the close of the forum’s three-year cycle focusing

The 55th Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Aug. 20-28) will honor Michael Caine and Johnny Depp. Two time Oscar winner Caine is this year’s festival special guest and will be presented with a Crystal Globe for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the festival’s opening ceremony. At the festival, Caine will personally present the

Indian film director Sanjay Leela Bhansali has seen it all – from being physically attacked on the sets of “Padmaavat” to walking the red carpet at a triumphant Cannes screening of “Devdas” – in his 25 years of filmmaking. A graduate of the prestigious Film and Television Institute of India, in Pune, Bhansali equally consumed

Indian filmmaker, singer and actor Farhan Akhtar is returning to direction after a decade with feature film “Jee Le Zaraa,” starring Bollywood A-listers Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt. The film is due to start shooting in Sept. 2022. “It’s a road film, a slice-of-life film, with three women on the road,” Akhtar

Endeavor Content senior vice president Kristen Figeroid has exited the agency as others in the unit’s sales and distribution unit prepare to head back to WME, sources close to the situation told Variety. Figeroid joined Endeavor Content in 2018 as senior VP of sales and distribution. Her departure last week was amicable, one insider noted,

Mark Tarlov, who produced the John Waters-directed films “Pecker,” “Serial Mom” and “Cecil B. Demented,” died on July 31 at his home in Manhattan due to cancer, his family announced. He was 69. Starting his career in entertainment in 1979, Tarlov worked in business affairs at Warner Bros. before executive producing his first feature, “Christine,”

AMC Theatres has reached a formal agreement with Warner Bros. to show the studio’s 2022 slate on the big screen for an exclusive 45-day window. The news is not surprising, because Warner Bros. has had a similar plan in place with Cineworld, the owner of Regal Cinemas, since April. However, the announcement is comforting to

New blockbuster films like “Fast 9” and “A Quiet Place Part II” bolstered revenues at AMC Entertainment, even as the reemergence of a new and highly contagious variant of coronavirus threatened to undue the theater industry’s recent gains. A better-than-expected earnings report sent shares of the company surging in after-hours trading, though that enthusiastic response

Gravitas Ventures has acquired the North American distribution rights to “Paper Tiger,” written and directed by Paul Kowalski. The drama/thriller film will be released on VOD/digital on Aug. 24. Starring Lydia Look, Alan Trong and Elaine Kao, “Paper Tiger” follows an immigrant mother who fears her mentally-ill teenaged son is turning into a school shooter.

“Good Trouble” star Sherry Cola is joining the cast of Adele Lim’s upcoming R-rated comedy about a group of four friends traveling through Asia in search of one of their birth mothers. Cola will appear opposite Ashley Park (“Emily in Paris”) as one of the film’s leads. The movie, which is being produced by Lionsgate

The story goes that the legendary singer Aretha Franklin thought long and hard about exactly which multitalented performer had both the musical chops and the acting depth to play her in “Respect,” a big-screen biopic chronicling her rise. But years after she was handpicked by Franklin herself and ultimately made the film, Jennifer Hudson can’t

Lionsgate has elevated Marisa Liston to oversee the movie studio’s marketing efforts. Liston has been working in the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group marketing department since March and has been named president of worldwide marketing. In her new role, she will spearhead promotion for the studio’s upcoming films, including “The Protégé” starring Michael Keaton, “American Underdog” with

2021 has been a prolific year for actor and comedian Lil Rel Howery. After the success of films like “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Fatherhood” with Kevin Hart, plus starring opposite Ryan Reynolds in the upcoming “Free Guy,” Howery is launching a new audio-only comedy album, titled “Lil Rel – Humbly Vulnerable: I Said

Bam Margera filed a lawsuit on Monday against Paramount, Johnny Knoxville and director Spike Jonze, alleging that he was wrongfully fired from the upcoming fourth installment of the “Jackass” film franchise. Margera, one of the stars of the original TV series and the subsequent films, was fired last fall, after allegedly testing positive for Adderall,

Roberta Kaplan, a prominent lawyer who co-founded Time’s Up, has resigned from the organization after she was named in the New York Attorney General’s investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s sexual harassment allegations. Her resignation comes after a group of former Time’s Up staffers and Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund clients published an open letter to

In a competitive situation, Amazon Studios has landed the rights to the pitch “Coyote Blue.” The action film will be written by Derek Kolstad, the screenwriter behind “John Wick” and “Nobody,” with “This Is Us” Emmy winner Sterling K. Brown attached to star. Hanelle M. Culpepper (“Star Trek: Picard”) will make her feature directorial debut.

It was a bold move for Stefan Ruzowitzky (“The Counterfeiters” among many others) to conceive of a gritty Expressionist detective-thriller set in the aftermath of World War I, shot almost entirely on blue screen. Whether it’s also fully successful is open for debate. Thematically, the idea was to tackle the impotent rage of the Austro-Hungarian

Serbian director Srdjan Dragojevic, best known for Thessaloniki awarded “Pretty Village, Pretty Flame” and Berlin prize-winner “The Parade,” is at the Locarno Film Festival with dark comedy “Heavens Above,” which is in the International Competition lineup. He speaks to Variety about the film, which has Pluto Film attached as its sales agency, and looks ahead

Outfest announced on Monday that Elliot Page will be honored at this year’s edition of the LGBTQ film festival with the Achievement Award. “The Umbrella Academy” star came out as transgender on his social media platforms last November. Page, in a heartfelt message wrote, “I love that I am trans. And I love that I

ANIMATION Legendary U.K. animation studio Aardman (“Chicken Run,” “Wallace & Gromit”) is teaming with filmmaker Gurinder Chadha (“Bend It Like Beckham”) on a new feature film project for family audiences. Described by the company as an “exuberant, warm-hearted musical,” the currently untitled Bollywood-inspired feature will follow Bodhi, a young Indian elephant from Kerala who dreams

In an unprecedented move, multi-Oscar nominated American composer and pianist Philip Glass (“The Hours”) has contributed key music to Mexican documentary “Cartas a Distancia” (“Letters from a Distance”) by Juan Carlos Rulfo. Credit goes to Glass’s decades-long friendship and collaboration with the documentary’s lead composer and music producer Leonardo Heiblum, whose notable list of film

Eminent British director and producer Ridley Scott (“Gladiator,” “Blade Runner,” “Alien”) will receive the inaugural Cartier Glory to the Filmmaker award at the 78th Venice International Film Festival (Sept. 1 – 11). The award is dedicated to a personality who has made a particularly original contribution to the contemporary film industry. The ceremony for Scott

Described by Spain’s San Sebastian Festival as “one of contemporary cinema’s most talented and versatile actors,” American actor Johnny Depp will receive San Sebastian’s highest honor, its Donostia Award, in a ceremony taking place on Sept. 22 at the festival’s Kursaal Auditorium. Depp is already one of San Sebastian’s favorite sons, having figured as one

After a muted 2020 due to COVID-19, the Norwegian International Film Festival in the picturesque coastal town of Haugesund will be back in full force over Aug. 21-27, with attendance expected to bounce back to pre-pandemic levels, both for the on-site festival and parallel hybrid confab New Nordic Films, according to festival director Tonje Hardersen.