Movies

As he set out on “The Worst Person in the World,” which premiered July 8 in competition at Cannes, director Joachim Trier wasn’t looking to expand what he informally calls the Oslo Trilogy. Having worked stateside with 2015’s “Louder Than Bombs” and in genre with 2017’s “Thelma,” the Norwegian filmmaker just felt the need for

Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun returns to the sun-scrubbed Sahel region of West Africa for his latest feature, “Lingui, the Sacred Bonds,” which competes for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Set on the outskirts of the capital city of N’Djamena, “Lingui” is the story of a single mother, Amina (Achouackh Abakar Souleymane), whose

New Europe Film Sales has picked up “Reflection,” the next film from Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych, who won best film in the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival for “Atlantis” in 2019. “Reflection” was a hot title in the works in progress section of Les Arcs last year, and is considered as a frontrunner

Paris-Based Loco Films has boarded “The Business Women’s Club,” the next film from Brazilian writer-director Anna Muylaert Muylaert’s “The Second Mother” won a 2015 Sundance Grand Jury Prize and a Berlin Panorama Audience Award, and it notched up fulsome sales for the Match Factory. “The Business Women’s Club” will be introduced to buyers at this

The Playmaker Munich, formerly known as ARRI Media Intl., has picked up Stefan Jäger’s “Monte Verità,” which world premieres in August in the Piazza Grande section of the Locarno Film Festival. The historical drama, written by Kornelija Naraks and based on true events, focuses on Europe’s first eco-community. Set in 1906, “Monte Verità” is centered

Na Jiazuo, one of the few Chinese directors to make it to the Cannes Film Festival this year, says he learned from the best in the business. His “Streetwise” (aka “Gaey Wa’r”) unspools in Un Certain Regard and is eligible for the Camera d’Or, reflecting Na’s status as a rookie feature director. The picture is

SUN VALLEY, Idaho – Only at the Allen & Co. conference are you likely to stumble on the sight of Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg – No. 4 and No. 5 on the Forbes list of the world’s wealthiest people — taking a leisurely stroll on a street as aptly named as Dollar Road. The

Sunshine and noir are antithetical, as probably anyone who knows even a word of French could tell you. Sunshine and film noir, nearly as much so. Yet summer’s here and the time is right for skulking in the murderously foggy streets, thanks to a three-day festival of vintage ’40s and ’50s crime dramas being presented

At a table in his house, Georges, an aging movie star with a reputation for uninsurable off-set shenanigans — played in a staggering coup of against-type casting by Gérard Depardieu — is running lines with his private security guard Aïssa (“Divines” breakout Déborah Lukumuena). While they rehearse, Georges cracks walnuts under heavy whomps from his

At a weekend getaway otherwise populated entirely by fortysomethings, 29-year-old Julie (Renate Reinsve) is subjected to some amateur analysis from a well-meaning elder. “Being young today is different,” the other woman observes, noting the increased pressure millennials face in daily life. “They have no time to think, there’s always something on the screen.” It’s the

Americans are used to watching Americans save the day in movies. That’s the kind of hero Bill Baker wants to be for his daughter Allison — a young woman convicted of murdering her girlfriend while studying abroad — in “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy’s not-at-all-conventional crime thriller “Stillwater.” The setup will sound familiar to anyone who

Actor Thomas Sadoski has joined Patricia Clarkson in an upcoming film about the life of pay equity activist Lilly Ledbetter. Sadoski, of HBO’s “The Newsroom,” has booked the key role of Jon Goldfarb — the civil rights attorney who backed Ledbetter all the way to the Supreme Court in her compensation battle. In 2009, President

A return to Cannes made Matt Damon misty. The actor swooped into the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday night with “Stillwater,” a Focus Features drama directed by “Spotlight” helmer Tom McCarthy. As the credits rolled, Damon — standing by his director and co-stars — started to tear up at the cheers from the crowd. The

“After Yang” takes place far enough in the future that it doesn’t seem unusual for a family to have acquired a virtual big brother for their adopted Chinese daughter. The robot — or “techno-sapien,” as such advanced appliances are politely referred to in the race-blind, android-accepting society writer-director Kogonada neatly imagines — has ceased to

The battle may be won, but “The Tomorrow War” continues. A week after the time-traveling alien invasion thriller premiered on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Studios and Skydance are already in talks to produce a sequel to the film. The current plan is for director Chris McKay, screenwriter Zach Dean, and stars Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski,

“Flux Gourmet,” the new film from Peter Strickland, will be released by IFC Films in North America. The movie, which is backed by IFC Films, Bankside Films, and Head Gear/Metrol Technology, quietly wrapped production. The cast, which has not previously been announced, includes Asa Butterfield of “Sex Education” fame and “Game of Thrones” star Gwendoline

Originally planned to shoot in early 2020, before COVID-19 lockdowns made that an impossibility, director Thomas Torrey’s “All the Names We Buried” is pitching in the Proof of Concept section of the Frontieres Platform at the Cannes Marché du Film, looking to reignite the project’s pre-COVID buzz and recuperate lost financing. In a move likely

International sales agency M-Appeal has closed two deals at Cannes Marché du Film for Marcela Lordy’s feature “The Book of Delights,” licensing to Film Movement in North America and At Entertainment in Japan. Adapted from Clarice Lispector’s Brazilian novel “Uma Aprendizagem ou Livro dos Prazeres,” “The Book of Delights” is the erotic story of Lóri,

Forma Pro Films is planning to launch one of Europe’s largest LED Unit studios in Latvia this summer, Variety has learned. The virtual production facility will utilize the latest state-of-the-art technology in real-time rendering, live camera tracking hardware, and LED screens to enable what the company describes as “a completely new way” of producing films,

Buenos Aires-based Film Sharks Int’l. has sold the streaming rights to Spanish sci-fi dystopian comedy “Some Time Later” (“Tiempo Despues”) to U.S. Spanish-language OTT platform Pantaya, HBO Max Central Europe and Amazon Spain. The absurdist comedy is the swan song of beloved Spanish director Jose Luis Cuerda who died from a stroke early last year

ICM Partners’ senior vice president of administration Erin Oremland is resigning her post after nearly two decades. The well-liked agency fixture has accepted an SVP role in the treasury management solutions division at City National Bank, whose client base is largely comprised of Hollywood business managers. The institution also estimates it helped secure 10,000 Paycheck

“Kingsman” director Matthew Vaughn has signed up an all-star cast for his new film franchise “Argylle,” which will be produced by Vaughn’s U.K.-based studio MARV. Henry Cavill (“Man of Steel”), Sam Rockwell (“Moon”), Bryce Dallas Howard (“Jurassic World”), Bryan Cranston (“Breaking Bad”), Catherine O’Hara (“Schitt’s Creek”), John Cena (“Bumblebee”) and Samuel L. Jackson (“Avengers: Endgame”)

A giant screen Imax theater will soon join the screening options in Cannes. The new venue was demonstrated Thursday and will open to the public later this summer as part of the new Cineum Cannes multiplex. The venue is operated by Compagnie Cinématographique de Cannes which will seek official venue status for the theater, allowing

“Black Widow,” the Disney and Marvel standalone superhero adventure starring Scarlett Johansson, launched internationally on Wednesday and collected $4.9 million in ticket sales from 11 overseas markets. The comic book adaptation, the first Marvel movie to grace cinemas in two years, had the strongest start in the United Kingdom, where it generated $1.7 million on

“We are all brothers in Islam. Anyone with a problem can come to talk.” With these words, a local imam offers supposed comfort and counsel to troubled single mother Amina (Achouackh Abakar Souleymane), not considering that addressing her as his “brother” might not be the most welcoming invitation. Least of all for the problem Amina

“Clara Sola,” the debut feature from Swedish-Costa Rican director Nathalie Álvarez Mesén, looks set for a French release. Luxbox has sold the rights in France to Paris-based art-pic distribution outfit Epicentre Films. News of the deal comes the same day that the magical realist is premiering in the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

An indie filmmaker announced plans on Thursday to build a new film studio in Savannah, Ga., which he hopes will turn the coastal city into a hub for major studio filmmaking. David Paterson, partner at Arcady Bay Entertainment, said the new studio will be the first one in the city built specifically for film and

Kevin Hart’s Laugh Out Loud and the Sundance Institute are pairing up to put Black women at the forefront of comedy, with a new screenwriting fellowship program called “Women Write Now.” Designed to champion the next generation of Black women in comedy, the new initiative focuses on providing one-on-one mentorship opportunities to Black women screenwriters,

“Red Notice,” the upcoming comedic action thriller starring Dwayne Johnson, Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot, is debuting on Netflix this fall. Johnson announced Thursday morning to his social media platforms that “Red Notice” will premiere on Nov. 12. “You’re officially on notice,” he wrote on Twitter in a message adorned with siren, fire and globe

In the days since legendary filmmaker Richard Donner’s death at age 91, his longtime wife, Lauren Shuler Donner, has taken comfort in the outpouring of love and support from the “Superman” director’s fans and colleagues. “Each one is more remarkable than the next,” Shuler Donner tells Variety about the stories she’s heard about her late