Movies

“When business in brothels is slow, that means the economy is on the ropes.” Those words, uttered by the indelible madame at the heart of director Eva Stefani’s “Days and Nights of Demetra K.,” offers a fitting introduction to the way in which the ups and downs in the life of a single sex worker

BlockFilm, a Canada-based financing platform, is bringing private investors and content creators together via a safe financing online platform using digital security tokens, the company announced today. Digital security tokens using blockchains to connect private investors with content creators are something fairly new that has been used in real estate, for example, says Pauline Couture,

In the remote hamlet of Giromeri, a small village in the mountainous Epirus region of northern Greece close to the Albanian border, the declining population numbers close to 50 permanent residents. But every year the villagers gather during the Easter holidays to preserve their time-honored customs, celebrate life, and commemorate the dead, rituals that play

A team of veteran British media types will use this year’s Cannes Film Festival to shoot interviews and footage for feature-length documentary film “Cannes Uncut.” The picture is intended to be completed by next year and will mark the iconic festival’s 75th anniversary. The finished film will mix interviews and current footage with archive material.

Film Bazaar, South Asia’s largest co-production market, has joined hands with the Cannes Film Market to present seven projects looking for co-producers and financiers on July 9. Film Bazaar, an annual event that takes place in Goa, India, is organized by the country’s National Film Development Corporation (NFDC). The selected projects are the ones that

John Malkovich and Lilly Krug will star in upcoming action-thriller “Shattered,” directed by Luis Prieto (“White Lines”). Krug (“Swing”) plays a con-artist, Cameron Monaghan (“Shameless”) as the millionaire who falls in love with her and Malkovich (“The New Pope”) a creepy landlord whose curiosity overwhelms him. Frank Grillo (“The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard”) plays Krug’s character’s

Leading Korean film sales company Finecut has added mystery-horror movie “Guimoon” to its pre-Cannes and Cannes Market slates. The film was specially shot in order to be released in ScreenX and 4DX special versions, as well as conventional 2D presentations. Now in post-production, after lensing in 8K, the film is set to be delivered by

There’s a good story in “Wolfgang” that captures how a chef goes with the flow. It was a bustling night at Spago (the only kind of night Spago had in the ’80s), and in walked Joan Collins, at the apex of her “Dynasty” fame. She always ordered one of Wolfgang Puck’s most popular dishes: smoked

Having her for 72 years just isn’t enough, we need even more. Meryl Streep has been a staple of the film industry, often described as our greatest living actress, and shows no signs of slowing down. With three Oscars (supporting actress for “Kramer vs. Kramer” and lead actress for “Sophie’s Choice” and “The Iron Lady”),

Skilled comedian Iliza Shlesinger is proving to be quite the formidable force for Netflix. After carrying a handful of raucous standup comedy specials, headlining an uproarious sketch show and popping up in supporting roles in “Spenser Confidential” and “Pieces of a Woman,” she returns to the streamer, ascending to leading lady status in her self-penned

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After a year of grounded flights, video conference calls, and countless other workarounds to help the global film industry through the coronavirus pandemic, the organizers of the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival are ready to roll out the red carpet for the 23rd edition. With travel restrictions in Europe and across much of the globe easing in

One year after the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival was among the world’s first industry events to pivot to an online edition because of the coronavirus pandemic, planning for the 2021 follow-up “has been feverish, to say the least,” says festival director Orestis Andreadakis. But with open-air cinemas across Greece reopening this spring, and life in this

Jesse Eisenberg, Adrien Brody, and Riley Keough have been cast in director John Trengrove’s English-language feature debut “Manodrome.” Launching sales at the virtual Cannes market, the South African director of “The Wound” presents a nihilistic thriller following Ralphie (Eisenberg), an Uber driver and aspiring bodybuilder who is inducted into a libertarian masculinity cult and loses

The “Transformers” movie franchise will take on the “Beast Wars” storyline from the late 1990s in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura and director Steven Caple Jr. announced on Tuesday. Production is just starting on the feature, but Di Bonaventura and Caple still did reveal a fair amount about “Rise of the

Dermot Mulroney is set to star in the upcoming indie thriller “Breakwater.” The veteran actor, of “My Best Friend’s Wedding” and “August: Osage County” fame, will team with writer-director James Rowe on the feature. “Breakwater” will see Mulroney star as prison inmate Ray Childress, who charges a just-released fellow prisoner with finding his daughter. The

Latido Films has closed a seven-country theatrical release agreement with Spanish distributor Versión Digital for Victor Escribano’s debut documentary “7 Lakes 7 Lives,” produced by two-time Spanish Academy Goya-winning director and producer José Luis López Linares. Having passed through the Malaga Film Festival and now on its way to Cannes, the touching documentary will be

Amazon’s $8.5 billion deal to acquire MGM will be subject to an antitrust review by the Federal Trade Commission, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous sources. Last month, Amazon announced a definitive agreement to acquire MGM and its well-stocked library of 4,000 movies and 17,000 TV shows, including the storied James Bond film franchise.

SERIES The U.K. premiere screening of Ninja Thyberg’s feature debut “Pleasure” and a masterclass with “Herself” director Phyllida Lloyd have been added to the Sundance Film Festival: London program. “Host” director Rob Savage joins the previously announced horror panel, “Scare Tactics – Making Modern Horror,” which also includes “Censor” director Prano Bailey Bond. “Pleasure,” a

Philadelphia-based Breaking Glass Pictures (BGP) has snagged North American rights to fantasy narrative drama “Nocturna: Side A – The Great Old Man’s Night” and its complementary docu-fiction hybrid, “Nocturna: Side B – Where Elephants Go to Die” from U.K. world sales agent Alief. Breaking Glass plans a fourth quarter 2021 release for the “Nocturna” films. As envisioned

Filmax has acquired the Spanish and international rights to a psychological thriller about a woman in the middle of a marital crises who is stalked by an unknown entity on return to her hometown. Called “Visitor,” the film is the directorial debut of Alberto Evangelio, a producer and director of shorts and branded content, as

Sam Abbas Releases Trailer For LGBTQ Feature ‘Alia’s Birth’ Sam Abbas has released the trailer for the LGBTQ feature “Alia’s Birth,” which will release exclusively in theaters this December. The film will feature a live home-birth with a resuscitation as well as a live set by queer superstar Nicole Moudaber in a New York warehouse

Just over half a year since its launch, upstart European sales company Feel Content is heading to the Cannes Film Market with a slate of six Spanish-language features from Spain and Latin America. Feel Content is the joint endeavor of Geraldine Gonard, director of Spain’s Conecta Fiction co-production forum, and Luis Collar, a partner and

Paris-based company Indie Sales has boarded Blandine Lenoir’s “Angry Annie,” headlined by “Call My Agent!” star Laure Calamy, Zita Hanrot (Netflix’s “The Hook Up Plan”) and India Hair (“Mandibules”). Inspired by true events, the film takes place in France in 1974 and tells the story of Annie, a working mother of two teenagers who accidentally

Erotic thriller “Personal Trainer” has chiseled out its cast. The feature debut for director Stephen Riscica has cast legendary French actor Fanny Ardant, as well as “Visitor” star Haaz Sleiman, Omar Sharif Jr. and Adam Davenport in lead roles. Scatena & Rosner Films is handling international sales for the feature, kicking things off at the

Memento International (“Call Me By Your Name”) has closed a raft of sales on Leah Purcell’s Australian revenge tale “The Drover’s Wife,” and Alex Camilleri’s “Luzzu” which world premiered at SXSW and Sundance, respectively. After selling North American rights to “The Drover’s Wife” to Samuel Goldwyn, Memento has sold “The Drover’s Wife” to the U.K.

Menemsha Films has acquired all rights for North America and Canada to revenge drama “Plan A” from Munich-based world sales agency Global Screen, which is e-attending the Pre-Cannes Screenings and will host a screening for the film on Wednesday. Other deals were concluded with Signature Entertainment for U.K., Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, while Twelve

In a press conference hosted by festival director José Luis Rebordinos, the San Sebastian Film Festival announced it will drop its gendered prizes for its 69th edition, to be held on-site and partly online from Sept. 17-25. Rebordinos also confirmed this year’s official competition sections and unveiled the festival’s main poster, which features a smiling

In a landmark agreement that will have seismic repercussions across the Indian media landscape, the Times Group has agreed that it will not publish or air anything defamatory to the Hindi-language film industry, popularly known as Bollywood. After the death of popular actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June 2020, several Indian channels, including Times Now

The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) has launched a new service that will generate more international co-productions. The Producers Connection, the latest addition to the festival’s co-financing and co-production section IDFA Forum, will serve as a bespoke platform for fostering international co-production. It will run parallel to the Forum’s selection of Pitches and Rough