Movies

Mubi, the London-based streamer and theatrical distributor that’s been on a buying spree this week in Cannes, has acquired the rights for North America, U.K., and a host of other territories for Kira Kovalenko’s “Unclenching the Fists,” which took home the top prize in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, Variety can reveal.

CANNES — At a banner ceremony for female filmmakers, Russian writer-director Kira Kovalenko’s sophomore feature “Unclenching the Fists” won the top prize for best film in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival this evening. The film, a powerful study of a young woman attempting to assert her independence in a North

Alex Wolff has never been unacquainted with fame. After starring in Nickelodeon’s “The Naked Brothers Band” movie and series when he was a kid alongside his older brother Nat, he quickly rose to stardom as a young actor and musician. More than 15 years later, Wolff has appeared in a wide array of feature films,

Returning director Adam Robitel had production designer Edward Thomas raise the stakes for the sequel to 2019’s “Escape Room.” The new challenges in “Escape Room: Tournament of Champions,” in theaters July 16, include a subway train, a gorgeous vacation beach that soon turns into quicksand and a high-security bank. Thomas found an old art deco

Justin Kurzel’s exceptionally disturbing, horribly plausible “Nitram” opens with an excerpt from a 1979 Australian news report on firework accidents. A boy of about 12 is being interviewed from his Hobart hospital bed, and when the posh, compassionate voice of the presenter asks if the injuries he sustained will discourage him from playing with fireworks

Netflix is implementing some important leadership changes as it works to create more broadly entertaining film projects. As part of that shift, executives Kira Goldberg and Ori Marmur have both been promoted and will head up a team tasked with developing and producing big-budget and four-quadrant films. Their team will be autonomous from the one

One has to imagine that conceptualizing a shark attack scene must be relatively easy. There’s a reason that these animals have (unfairly, as any marine biologist will tell you) become such evergreen villains in nature thrillers, and the basic cinematic architecture of an attack scene hasn’t changed all that much since “Jaws.” But the scariest

Nicolas Cage knows how to get the best performances out of his co-stars — even if that co-star is a pig. The Oscar winner reveals what it took to get Brandy, the pig that plays his truffle-hunting porker in the new Neon drama “Pig” to act on cue. “Brandy was very payment oriented, she liked

Bill Murray is among the cast of Wes Anderson’s new film that will begin production in Spain in August, Variety has learned. Sources close to the project have confirmed Murray’s casting. The actor has appeared in nine of Anderson’s movies to date, excluding the new pic. The as-yet-untitled film also stars Tilda Swinton, as she

Magnolia Pictures has nabbed U.S. rights to “Anais in Love,” a French-language comedy that marks the feature directing debut of Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet. The film is a Cannes Critics’ Week selection and centers on a spirited young woman who falls in love with the novelist wife of the man with whom she’s having an affair. Anaïs

Action star Sammo Hung will take the helm of the production of “Seven Little Fortunes,” a feature film re-telling Hung’s childhood story where he and a generation of Hong Kong action movie icons such as Jackie Chan were coached by their mentor, Peking opera master Yu Jim-yuen. Co-produced by Yuen Biao Films Production, Beijing Renxing

DOCUMENTARY Channel 4 in the U.K. have commissioned Flicker Productions to produce “Football Trolls” (working title), an hour-long documentary on the relationship between social media, racism and soccer, hosted by former Newcastle and Tottenham midfielder-turned BT Sport pundit Jermaine Jenas. The commission comes amid outcry about racial abuse suffered by England players Marcus Rashford, Jadon

“Fists in the Pocket” director Marco Bellocchio has long woven elements of autobiography into his work, threading personal themes of siblings, madness and suicide through his most intimate films. Far less apparent until now was how the maestro sublimated himself behind the fiction, using cinema to address such elements on screen so as to avoid

When Regina King was asked to take part in this year’s Oscars as a presenter, the “One Night in Miami” director had no idea what she was in for, and found out just 24 hours before the ceremony that she would in fact be opening the whole show with a “country mile” jaunt into the

Sales agency Finecut has secured a flurry of Asian and European deals for supernatural horror film “The Medium,” which is directed by Thailand’s Banjong Pisanthanakun and produced by Korea’s Na Hong-Jin. From Europe, buyers include France’s The Jokers Films, and Koch Films for German-speaking Europe. Within Asia the film has been licensed to Edko Films

Saul Williams spent nearly a decade bringing his directorial debut “Neptune Frost” to the screen, but not even the multi-talented, multi-disciplinary artist could have scripted the mad dash it took to take his passion project from the rolling hills of East Africa to the Croisette in Cannes. Shot on location in Rwanda over the course

Wim Wenders and Orian Williams (“Control,” “Shadow of the Vampire”) are executive producing an upcoming feature from debut director Michał Chmielewski based on the mysterious disappearance of Connie Converse, the singer-songwriter who vanished without a trace in 1974. “Roving Woman” is produced by Marta Lewandowska (“Erotica 2022”) of Friends With Benefits and Lena Góra, who

Neon has picked up U.S. rights to hot Cannes title “The Worst Person in the World,” directed by Norwegian writer-director Joachim Trier (“Reprise,” “Oslo, August 31st”), from French sales agent mk2 Films. The romantic comedy, which is playing in competition, rounds out Trier’s Oslo Trilogy, which began with “Reprise” in 2006 and continued with “Oslo,

Leading arthouse sales agency The Match Factory has announced a host of sales on Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Drive My Car,” which premiered in Cannes Competition on Sunday and is a favorite with the critics. The Japanese drama has sold to the U.K. (Modern Film), Benelux (September Film), Italy (Tucker Film), Spain (Elastica/Filmin), Portugal (Leopardo), Greece (Ama

“Fear Street Part 3: 1666” isn’t just the best of the Netflix horror trilogy; it also recasts the prior two entries, “1994” and “1978,” in a more favorable light by deepening the mythology and underscoring just how crucial it is to watch all three chapters consecutively. Taken on their own, any one of these films

A California film producer was arrested on Thursday on charges that he used his production company, PaperChase Films, as a front for an international prostitution ring. Dillon Jordan, who produced “Skin” and “The Kindergarten Teacher,” was indicted last month on prostitution and money laundering charges. The indictment was unsealed on Thursday. The charges allege that

“You have to change it because you didn’t choose it.” The defiant mantra that evolves over the course of Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch’s scrappy but heartfelt hip-hop street-musical “Casablanca Beats,” his third time in Cannes but first time in competition, could be a rallying cry for any youth activism group, anywhere in the world. But

The afterlife of the Weinstein Co. continues. On Thursday, Spyglass Media — which acquired the Weinstein Co.’s film and TV library in a bankruptcy auction three years ago — announced that it had sold the bulk of the feature film library to Lionsgate Entertainment. The sale is part of a broader partnership, under which Lionsgate

Paul Debevec, a longtime graphics researcher at USC and a recent member of the Google Research team, has joined Netflix as director of research, a newly created role on the streamer’s Data Science and Engineering team. Debevec will oversee R&D around new technologies in computer vision, computer graphics and machine learning with applications across multiple

Sony Pictures Classics announced Thursday it has acquired rights for North America, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia and the Middle East for “Compartment No. 6,” the Finnish film that premiered in competition in Cannes. Acquired from Totem Films, it’s the second feature directed by Juho Kuosmanen, and is based on the novel by Rosa

“She Said,” a dramatic retelling of the sexual harassment investigation that took down Harvey Weinstein and sparked the #MeToo movement, is coming to theaters next year. The movie, from Universal Pictures, will be released on Nov. 18, 2022. “She Said” will star Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan as New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and

Antonio Banderas is the latest actor to join the cast of “Indiana Jones 5.” Banderas will be joining Harrison Ford, who returns as the titular protagonist, along with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen, Boyd Holbrook, Shaunette Renée Wilson and Thomas Kretschmann. The upcoming adventure film, which began shooting at Pinewood Studios near London in June, marks

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars and Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar and Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville paints a raw and personal image of Anthony Bourdain in his new documentary, “Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain” which opens in theaters on Friday. In the documentary, editors Eileen Meyer and Aaron Wickenden weave in narration by Bourdain pulled from audio clips, show outtakes, video interviews and audiobooks. However, when

Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Memoria” starts with a bang, which is not at all typical of the infamously understated Thai auteur, making his return to Cannes competition 11 years after winning the Palme d’Or for “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.” Nor is working with an internationally recognized movie star, which the director does this