Movies

Spike Lee is making history at Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-winning director is the first Black president of the jury, where he’ll head the nine artists and actors — including Maggie Gyllenhaal, Tahar Rahim and Song Kang-ho — tasked with voting on the prestigious Palm d’Or. “Cannes is the world’s greatest film festival,” Lee said

If ever there was a year for the Allen & Co. conference to be a fertile ground for dealmaking among the titans of tech and media, it’s this one. The entertainment industry is in an everyone’s-talking-to-everyone moment, as evidenced by the surprise of the WarnerMedia-Discovery merger and Amazon’s move to swallow up a legacy Hollywood

Only four of the 24 films in competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year were directed by women. Statistically speaking, the odds that one will join Jane Campion as the lone woman to win a Palme d’Or are slim — and this in a year when Venice winner Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland” went on to

This year’s Cannes promises to be an edition unlike any other. More movies, fewer guests, plus a slew of logistical hurdles (including a two-month date shift to early July, drawing cinephiles to the Riviera at the height of tourist season) all add up to an epic case of FOMO — fear of missing out —

“The Valet” is switching distributors. The upcoming comedy starring Eugenio Derbez of “Instructions Not Included” fame was originally set up for release by Lionsgate. It’s been sold to the Walt Disney Company, which will release it domestically on Hulu in summer 2022. “The Valet” will be released internationally on Disney Plus as a Star Original.

Pathé, a driving force behind France’s biggest movies slated for 2022 including “Asterix & Obelix, the Middle Kingdom” and “The Three Musketeers,” is developing an untitled two-part film about Charles de Gaulle, the legendary French army officer who led the French resistance against Nazi Germany during World War II and eventually became president of France.

Sean Penn’s “Flag Day,” Leos Carax’s “Annette,” starring Adam Driver and Marion Cotillard, and Wes Anderson’s “The French Dispatch,” with Frances McDormand and Timothée Chalamet, will provide star power at a 2021 Cannes Festival packed to overflowing with established and very often new European and world cinema arthouse talent. The festival films will also drive

“Moonfall” co-producer and sales agent AGC Studios is launching the Christopher Smith-directed supernatural thriller “Consecration.” Stuart Ford’s independent studio will fully finance and co-produce the pic alongside BigScope Films and Moonriver Content. The movie turns on events following the suspicious death of a priest, whose sister goes to the Mount Saviour Convent in Scotland to

Cristina Gallego, producer-director of 2018 Cannes Directors’ Fortnight hit “Birds of Passage,” is set to produce “Kings of the World,” the second feature by Colombia’s Laura Mora. Mora’s “Killing Jesus” marked one of the most notable of recent Latin American debuts. Shooting this month in Medellin and Bajo Cauca, Colombia, “Kings” is set up at

Half a dozen reasons cited by city authorities to shoot in São Paulo. 1. Diversity One of São Paolo’s biggest attractions “is our diversity,” says SPcine president Viviane Ferreira. “By diversity, I mean the variety of locations — urbanistic and architectonic — but also the diversity of cultures, of histories that cross our city every

Game on. In a bold move to reenergize São Paulo’s production scene, city authorities are bowing Brazil’s inaugural rebate scheme for international and local shoots, launching a call for applications on July 6, the first day of this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Since the turn of the century São Paulo consolidated its place as Brazil’s

True Colours has taken international sales on Italian auteur Mario Martone’s new film “The King of Laughter” (“Qui Rido Io”) starring Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) as popular and prolific early 20th century Neapolitan actor and playwright Eduardo Scarpetta. Martone’s latest three works “Leopardi,” “Capri Revolution” and “The Mayor of Rione Sanità” all launched from

There’s no denying that Richard Donner, who died Monday at 91, was one of the most influential architects of the blockbuster era. He directed “Superman,” the 1978 man-of-steel epic that invented the comic-book movie as we know it. He directed all four films in the “Lethal Weapon” series, which may be the quintessential incarnation of

Netflix has picked up global rights to the documentary “Tinder Swindler,” about a notorious con man who lured women using the popular dating app and tricked them out of millions of dollars. Produced by “Three Identical Strangers” and “Don’t F*** With Cats” makers Raw TV, alongside AGC Studios, the doc tells the story of Israeli

Jeff Cohen first met Richard Donner while making “The Goonies,” the 1985 adventure classic about a group of misfit kids hunting for treasure. Cohen played Chunk, a mischevious preteen who loves ice cream and prank calls. Decades later, he credits Donner with coaxing out his performance, but Cohen owes more to the late director than

Following the news of legendary director Richard Donner’s death, heartfelt tributes are emerging from all over Hollywood, including from Steven Spielberg, Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. Donner, who directed the original “Superman” film, the 1985 classic “The Goonies” and the “Lethal Weapon” series, died on Monday at the age of 91. Fellow director Spielberg, who

Director-producer Richard Donner, best known for helming the “Lethal Weapon” film series, “The Goonies” and the original “Superman” film, died on Monday. He was 91. Donner’s production company confirmed news of his death to Variety, though the cause was not disclosed. Though not his first bigscreen effort, his big feature break came with 1976’s “The Omen,”

IFC Films will be out in force at the Cannes Film Festival with three highly-anticipated films set for the competition: Jacques Audiard’s black-and-white drama “Paris, 13th District,” Mia Hansen-Løve’s English-language melodrama “Bergman Island” and Paul Verhoeven’s subversive period drama “Benedetta.” This comeback Cannes edition will also mark Arianna Bocco’s first year on the ground as

On Monday afternoon, Olivia Wilson had arrived from her home in Tennessee to the Cannes Film Festival, where she’ll be working as an intern at the American Pavilion. But before she got to enjoy the flashiest film festival in the world, she had to spit over and over again in a plastic tube to make

Barry Alexander Brown, the filmmaker and editor long known for his association with Spike Lee, is to receive two lifetime achievement honors this year during the Cannes Film Festival. Lee is present in Cannes as president of the competition jury. The AFI World Peace Initiative and the Better World Forum will honor Brown and Lee

Cannes, the world’s most stylish, flamboyant, and glamorous celebration of cinema, returns this week after COVID canceled the 2020 edition. The world is still in the grip of a global pandemic, so this year’s festival should look a lot different than previous iterations, with hand sanitizer and masks becoming the accessory of choice on red

Quentin Tarantino has announced that he purchased Los Angeles’ Vista Theatre. During the most recent episode of Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Tarantino discussed the future of moviegoing, commenting that some of the big movie chains that have shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic “deserved to go.” “I never like any theater closing, but

Thierry Frémaux, artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival, opened up about his discussions with Netflix and the challenges of holding the festival during the pandemic in a pre-festival press conference on Monday. Answering repeated questions about the streaming giant, which does not have a presence at the festival, from the assembled phalanx of global

A screening of “Black Widow” in the Hamptons over the 4th of July weekend attracted a star-studded crowd. The guest list included David Harbour, who plays The Red Guardian in the latest installment of the MCU, and Drew Barrymore, Ellen Pompeo, Chris Ivery, Brooke Shields, Chris Henchy, Gayle King, Don Lemon, Tim Malone, Zachary Quinto,

Cinemas and theaters across England will return to full capacity from July 19, U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Monday. In addition, live events such as sports and concerts will be allowed to operate as in pre-COVID times at capacity and the one meter social distancing rule will be scrapped. People in England will

Sony Pictures Television has announced a first-run feature film slate deal with Turkish pay TV operator Sinema TV that expands the two companies’ existing library content deal. Under this new agreement, Sinema TV will now get first pay-TV window rights to fresh Sony Pictures theatrical titles such as “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” “Uncharted,” “Ghostbusters:

A24 has taken all North American rights to “Lamb,” which world premieres on May 13 in Cannes in the Un Certain Regard competitive sidebar. Jan Naszewski’s sales agency New Europe Film Sales confirmed the A24 pickup on Monday. A24 will release the film, which stars Noomi Rapace (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo,” “Prometheus”), later

Altitude Film Sales has sold forthcoming Oliver Stone documentary “JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass” in a number of territories including Australia, Italy and Spain. Thirty years after Stone’s wildly successful “JFK,” the director returns with an in-depth look at the assassinated president’s death with new, recently-declassified evidence as well as testimonies from witnesses, historians

Documentary “The Most Beautiful Boy in the World,” about the teenage actor in Luchino Visconti’s “Death in Venice,” has been sold to numerous territories by Berlin-based sales agency Films Boutique. The Swedish film, directed by Kristina Lindström and Kristian Petri, premiered in Sundance in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. It receives an online market screening

In 2002, “Ogu and Mampato in Rapa Nui” became Chile’s first animated feature since the silent “Vida y milagros de Don Fausto” in 1924. Less than two decades later, five animated Chilean features in various stages of production are pitching at the Cannes Marché du Film. That kind of growth would be surprising if it