Movies

Having recently wrapped shooting in upstate New York, the producers of Jamie Sisley’s debut feature “Stay Awake,” a dramatic family comedy about opioid addiction, have revealed key cast details. In the film, Emmy and two-time Golden Globe Award Nominee Chrissy Metz (“This is Us”) plays Michelle, a loving and well-meaning mother of two whose struggle

Though legendary for a callous disregard for the lives of the sailors who criss-cross her stormy surfaces, the sea turns out to be a far milder mistress than Léa Seydoux in Ildikó Enyedi’s handsome but heavy-bottomed “The Story of My Wife,” the Hungarian director’s first return to Cannes since winning the Camera d’Or for her

With the pandemic still impeding world travel, the Cannes Film Festival chose five key cities for its satellite events, with Mexico City, Beijing, Melbourne, Seoul and Tokyo screening a selection of titles world premiering at the French event. From July 8 to 16, Mexico City’s Diana arthouse cinema, of giant exhibition circuit Cinepolis, has hosted

French director Flore Vasseur has opened up about her journey from high-flying entrepreneur in New York City to filmmaker whose feature debut “Bigger Than Us,” co-produced with Marion Cotillard, premiered at Cannes’ new sidebar dedicated to climate change. It all started when the then 24-year old Vasseur witnessed the 9/11 attacks from her office in

Seven young social media stars with a combined reach of some 8.3 million fans worldwide have teamed up to make a movie and an independent leap to bigger screens. Written and produced by British filmmaker Max Marlow and directed by Madison De La Garza (“Desperate Housewives”), “Surprise” is a mystery thriller about a surprise Zoom

Canadian producers C.S. Roy and Stéphanie Morissette (“Les Affamés,” “Vic + Flo Saw A Bear”) have unveiled a first look at “V F C,” an adaptive feature project blending traditional filmmaking with biofeedback audio technology. The project marks C.S. Roy’s directorial debut and stars Elisapie Isaac, the Inuk singer-songwriter, as a female neuroscientist who develops

“Isaac”, the debut feature by Catalan producer-director duo Ángeles Hernández and David Matamoros, has been acquired by France’s top Queer cinema distributor Outplay Films for France, Austria and Switzerland. The deal was put through by the film’s sale agent Alief Films at this year’s Cannes Film Market. Hernández and Matamoros, the co-producers of Netflix horror

Lea Seydoux, one of France’s biggest stars who was expected to be the toast of Cannes with three films in competition, issued a statement on July 14 saying that she won’t be able to attend the festival as she is currently self-isolating after testing positive to Covid-19. “Sadly, I have to self-quarantine in Paris and

Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired all U.S. rights to Pan Nalin’s (“Samsara”) India-set tale “Last Film Show” which world premiered at Tribeca last month. The film is represented in international markets by Orange Studio. The movie follows Samay, a 9-year-old boy living with his family in a remote village in India. One day, he discovers

Miramax and Gunpower & Sky’s science fiction label Dust are teaming up to develop the sci-fi thriller, “The Masseuse.” “We’re fired up that Bill Block and the Miramax team have recognized the wealth of emerging IP and underrepresented filmmaking talent lying within DUST’s ecosystem,” Gunpowder & Sky CEO Van Toffler said. “Miramax was our dream

South America’s economic crisis, aggravated by the pandemic, has spawned an unorthodox crowd-funded Argentine film project, “La Uruguaya” (“The Woman from Uruguay”), which is set to start shooting in the Fall. Project leader-author Hernan Casciari has modeled the financing strategy on his own publishing house Editorial Orsai, which depends on readers to fund the publishing

French studio Gaumont’s Cannes player “Aline, The Voice of Love,” freely inspired by the life of Canadian pop star Céline Dion, was partially filmed in Andalusian provinces of Málaga and Almería in June 2019. Directed, co-written and starring France’s Valérie Lemercier (“Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia,” “Orchestra Seats”), “Aline” screened July 13 out of

Participant is teaming up with leading French sales agent MK2 Films and Endeavor Content to represent worldwide distribution rights on “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” the anticipated feature debut of Lebanese filmmaker Mounia Akl. “Costa Brava, Lebanon” will be headlined by Lebanese star and filmmaker Nadine Labaki (“Capernaum”), alongside Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (“The Band’s Visit”). The

The four Palestinian docs-in-progress showcased as part of the Marché’s Cannes Docs forum bear testimony to the diversity and creativity of a nouvelle vague of Palestinian filmmakers. Covering a broad range of topics – ranging from the plight of refugees crossing the Alps from Italy to France, a family of Bedouins forced to leave their

Chinese authorities in a number of counties nationwide plan to bar residents who have not been vaccinated from entering indoor entertainment venues, like cinemas, as part of its attempt to significantly ramp up its vaccination campaign. Policies restricting the movement and entry of unvaccinated people will been rolled out in various places around the country

You know who does a really great Céline Dion? Kathy Griffin. Typically withering in her impressions, the comedian clearly has a soft spot for the vocal superstar. She gets the singer’s French-Canadian accent, the unconventional appeal of her open-book private life and that fabulously operatic body language — one hand gesturing toward heaven, the other

From the Marvel Cinematic Universe to the final frontier: “WandaVision” director Matt Shakman has been tapped by Paramount Pictures and Bad Robot to direct the next “Star Trek” feature film, from a screenplay by Lindsey Beer (“Sierra Burgess Is a Loser”) and Geneva Robertson (“Captain Marvel”). J.J. Abrams is set to produce. The cast, however,

A Palestinian citizen of Israel, Sayed Kashua is an award-winning writer, newspaper columnist and creator/showrunner of the hit Israeli TV series “Arab Labor” and “The Writer.” His work is known for testing the limits of a Palestinian-Israeli’s freedom of expression and displays a deep understanding of divided lives along with dark, ironic humor. His novel

Nicolas Cage has played a wide range of eccentrics over the course of his career, but Joe Exotic will not join the actor’s list of meme-worthy roles. The Oscar-winning actor, who is currently earning rave reviews for his performance in “Pig,” revealed that he is no longer scheduled to play the “Tiger King” in a

Wscripted has unveiled its inaugural Cannes Screenplay List of scripts in the English language to option at Cannes. Wscripted is the first online marketplace for sourcing and curating excellent work written by women and women-identifying writers in film TV, and publishing. Among the screenplays on the list are works by Lucy Powers (“The Road to

A24 recently explored a possible sale, with the indie film studio floating an asking price of between $2.5 billion to $3 billion. Sources familiar with the situation tell Variety that the Oscar-winning shop behind “Moonlight” and “Uncut Gems” has engaged with numerous potential suitors for more than 18 months. It’s unclear if those discussions continue

In kinky Cannes Film Festival sensation “Titane,” an accident survivor winds up with a metal plate in her head, wounds ooze blood as black as motor oil and a car-show model dramatically expands the definition of autoerotic climax, getting pregnant after making it in the back seat of a pimped-out Caddy … by herself. Proving

Deadpool has finally crossed over into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Sort of. On Tuesday, Ryan Reynolds posted a YouTube video titled “Deadpool and Korg React,” in which Reynolds’ foul-mouthed mercenary and Taika Waititi’s rock warrior Korg from “Thor: Ragnarok” react to a trailer for “Free Guy” (which stars both Reynolds and Watiti). The promo video

Rio de Janeiro-based Habanero Film Sales has licensed  U.S. rights to political thriller “Pseudo” to the HBO platforms, The pact was negotiated by Leslie Cohen, senior VP content acquisitions HBO/HBO Max, and Habanero CEO Alfredo Calvino. Habanero has also sold the linear and streaming rights to 2019 Argentine horror-thriller “Rock, Paper and Scissors” (“Piedra, Papel

Longtime Disney corporate communications chief Zenia Mucha and general counsel Alan Braverman will step down from their posts at year’s end. The scheduled departures of two top corporate officers will coincide with Bob Iger’s exit from Disney executive chairman after more than 45 years with Disney and ABC. Iger served as CEO for 15 years

A bookending pair of calving scenes, an hour apart and starkly reversed in perspective, tell the whole story in “Cow,” Andrea Arnold’s tough, full-immersion documentary on the life cycle of a bovine servant. In the first, we watch in challenging close-up as a calf, glazed in gelatinous afterbirth, emerges feet first from the womb of

In movies like “A Separation,” “The Past,” and “The Salesman,” the Iranian writer-director Asghar Farhadi has demonstrated a unique ability to take “ordinary” human situations, usually on the domestic front, and play them out in a way that is so minutely authentic yet suspenseful that they give you the sensation that life itself, if observed

As any Celine Dion fan will tell you, the Quebecois singer — also known as Canada’s National Treasure — is something of a comedian. Whether she’s remixing “My Heart Will Go On” with DJ Steve Aoki, using only her voice, or putting her own spin on “Baby Shark” in a “Carpool Karaoke” segment, Dion is

Independent Chilean production company Equeco, founded by producer Pablo Calisto and award-winning director Tomás Alzamora, is celebrating it’s fifth anniversary this year by showing off its impressive lineup of two features in post, one feature project and a finished short film on display at the Cannes Marché du Film, looking to connect with partners abroad.

Isaac Lee’s Exile Content Studio and Diego Enrique Osorno, whose “1994” must rate as one of the best series produced by Netflix in Mexico, have moved into production in Spain on “Montaña,” the first feature-length documentary to emerge from an Exile-Osorno first look deal announced in 2020. Starting its shoot earlier this year in Chiapas,