Movies

Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment has signed a multi-year, first-look deal to create scripted features exclusively for Apple. Imagine Entertainment’s previous films include 2001’s “A Beautiful Mind,” which won best picture at the Oscars; “Hillbilly Elegy,” which earned Glenn Close a Golden Globe nomination for best supporting actress; “Rush”; “J. Edgar”; “Frost/Nixon”; “American

“Natural Light,” Dénes Nagy’s World War II-set drama which just won the Berlinale Silver Bear for best director, has been sold by Paris-based Luxbox to key markets including the U.K. with Curzon. Rolling off the EFM, Luxbox has also unveiled deals on the critically acclaimed movie for Portugal (Alambique), Poland (Aurora), Czech Republic and Slovakia

I worry a lot about my parents these days. It used to be the other way around; they’d be the ones nitpicking at me, always finding something to fuss about whenever I visited home. It used to drive me up the goddamn wall: Why have you decided to waste your life on acting? Why don’t

The Sundance Institute will establish an Asia outpost of the Sundance Film Festival whose first iteration is set to take place in-person in Jakarta, Indonesia this summer, it announced Thursday. Sundance Film Festival: Asia will seek to “support, connect, promote and celebrate” Asia’s independent film community, as well as showcase a number of 2021 Sundance

Mubi has acquired “Ghosts,” a Turkish drama by emerging helmer Azra Deniz Okyay that won the grand prize at Venice Critics’ Week. The Mubi deal covers the U.K., Ireland, Italy, Scandinavia and Turkey. The film is represented in international markets by MPM Premium and is part of the company’s New Visions label. “Ghosts” takes place

Daveed Diggs has been living with “Hamilton” since its first workshop in 2013. He won a Tony Award for his dual performance as Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in 2016. And now in 2021, he finds himself up for a SAG Award for Disney Plus’ filmed version of the show. It’s a bit surreal for the

Young U.S. model and actor Lola Sultan (“Bernie the Dolphin”) is attached to star alongside Australia’s Abbie Cornish (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Bright Star”) in family action-adventure film “Dakota,” which is set to start shooting this month in Italy.  “Dakota” is being directed by Kirk Harris (“Bernie The Dolphin”) and produced by Italy’s Iervolino

After a year of upheaval, France’s Cesar Awards will host its 46th edition under new leadership on Friday with more diversity and parity within its 4,292-strong membership. Across the administration board and general assembly, however, there’s still a dearth of Black creatives. More women and visible minorities have joined the ranks of Cesar Awards’ voting

New York-based The Writers Lab has launched The Writers Lab U.K. and Ireland, with a script development program for women over 40. The initiative is supported by Dirty Films, the production company headed by Cate Blanchett, Andrew Upton and Coco Francini with development producer Georgie Pym. The Writers Lab is the only program devoted exclusively

Sarah Gavron’s “Rocks” is nominated for seven BAFTAs as well as a BAFTA EE Rising Star Award for its lead Bukky Bakray. Variety sat down with Gavron, nominated in the directing and British film categories, Theresa Ikoko, nominated alongside co-writer Claire Wilson for debut and original screenplay, Bakray, leading actress nominee, and Lucy Pardee, casting

In the pantheon of love-them-or-hate-them auteurs, Quentin Dupieux resides somewhere in the middle — neither as provocative as a Gaspar Noé nor as clever in his absurdity as a Yorgos Lanthimos. His latest, “Keep an Eye Out,” isn’t actually his latest: Distributed abroad three years ago, its stateside release follows those of 2019’s “Deerskin” and

In today’s Global Bulletin, a two-parter on the BBC’s controversial 1995 interview with Princess Diana sells around the world; “Catfish U.K.” plans to premiere four episodes on MTV U.K. this spring; and Women in Film and Television U.K. is to expand its mentoring programs for mid-career women to Scotland and Wales. U.K. production funding and

Berlinale Competition entries from two actors turned directors, Maria Schrader and Daniel Brühl, were among titles on the Beta Cinema slate at the European Film Market to prove popular among international distributors. Schrader, an Emmy Award winner as the director of “Unorthodox,” premiered comic-tragic tale “I’m Your Man,” starring Dan Stevens (“Downton Abbey”), Maren Eggert

Oh great, another movie about dead girls and the grizzled cop/greenhorn cop duo tracking their killer. At least “Limbo,” from Soi Cheang (the “Monkey King” franchise) looks slick — often literally, with photogenic rain showers making its trashed Hong Kong slum locations as reflective as silver. The monochrome gloss smoothes over the joints between chunks

The public, the private and the deeply personal run on parallel tracks in French director Alice Diop’s documentary “We,” a series of vignettes of life along the RER B, a railway line running through the suburbs and exurbs of Paris out to the surrounding countryside. But as it gains momentum, this deceptively cunning documentary —

Khat is Ethiopia’s biggest cash crop, making serious business from a spiritual high: When chewed, the leaves of the flowering green plant act as a stimulant, believed in certain corners of Sufism to aid prayer and enable transcendence. Others make less lofty demands of it, simply chewing the leaves to mellow out, making days of

Explaining the Israeli Occupation of Palestine invariably involves a history lesson in bad-faith treaties coupled with emotionally charged testimony from maltreated Palestinians and, sometimes, self-righteous swagger from settlers. While acting as a necessary record of crimes against humanity, these tend to neglect the rationale behind the Occupation, and how the daily actions of soldiers reinforce

When Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi made his return to fiction after time away in the realm of documentary, he dispensed with the idea that stories must conform to feature length. “Happy Hour,” the sprawling ensemble drama that sparked interest in him among cinephiles, ran more than five hours, and while his latest, “Wheel of Fortune

Actor and producer Priyanka Chopra Jonas (“The White Tiger”) and singer, songwriter and actor Nick Jonas will announce the Academy Award nominations in all 23 categories in a two-part live presentation on Monday, March 15, the Academy announced today. This will be conducted via global live stream on Oscars.com, Oscars.org and the Academy’s digital platforms

As coronavirus cases continue to decline across the U.S. and President Joe Biden vows that the nation is on track to have enough vaccine supply “for every adult in America by the end of May,” Hollywood is inching closer to reopening. Entertainment is among the industries most crippled by the pandemic. Nationwide lockdowns forced the

In “Time,” an awards contender in the documentary feature race, director Garrett Bradley follows the story of Fox Rich, an author, abolitionist and mother who spend two decades fighting for her husband Robert Richardson’s release from prison. As Bradley was piecing Rich’s story together, she learned Rich had 100 hours of family footage. That footage

Michael B. Jordan will pull double duty on the newest “Creed” installment, starring in and directing “Creed III.” MGM announced today that Jordan will make his directorial debut with the new film, which is set to be released in theaters on Nov. 23, 2022. Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad are expected to return for the

AMC Entertainment reported a net loss of $4.6 billion in 2020, a shocking illustration of the toll that the coronavirus pandemic took on the world’s largest theater chain and the exhibition sector. With many locations shuttered for months and Hollywood blockbusters largely sitting out 2020, revenues for the company fell 77.3% to $1.2 billion, down

Movie theaters in Los Angeles county are poised to reopen at limited capacity as soon as Saturday. The county had to meet several requirements, such as distributing two million vaccine doses to underserved populations and having fewer than 10 new cases a day per 100,000 people. Gov. Gavin Newsom says California should hit the vaccine

FilmLA received 777 film permit applications, an increase of 43.1% compared to the prior month. A late-month surge in production established last month as the third busiest FilmLA has experienced since last June, although activity remains around 40% below normal for this time of year. Over the last 37 weeks, FilmLA has processed approximately 5,533

Horror was the perfect genre for filmmaker Jayro Bustamante and his crew to tell the story of Guatemala’s history of genocide and violence against women in “La Llorona,” shortlisted for an Oscar in the international film category. Cinematographer Nicolás Wong Díaz and costume designer Sofía Lantán helped Bustamante use a Latino folkloric “wailing woman” tale

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures has unveiled a robust series of programs in the run-up to its planned opening on Sept. 30, highlighting film artists including Spike Lee, Hayao Miyazaki and Satyajit Ray. The museum held a virtual tour for media Wednesday to discuss the programming and museum’s progress, hosted by Academy governor Laura

“Cherry,” “Mank,” “News of the World,” “Nomadland” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” are among the films nominated by the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) in the feature film category. The ASC nominees for feature film, documentary and television cinematography represent the organization’s picks for the most compelling visual filmmaking over the past 14

Filmmaker Spike Lee has nearly 100 credits to his name. From documentaries to movies to short films (“don’t call them music videos”), Lee has covered it all. And through his films, he tackles issues of race, class, and history. Lee who started as an independent filmmaker burst onto the scene with 1986’s “She’s Gotta Have

Radu Jude’s “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn,” which won the Golden Bear for best film at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, has sold to major territories for Heretic Outreach, Variety has learned exclusively. The Romanian writer-director’s latest feature is an irreverent satire about a schoolteacher, Emi (Katia Pascariu), who finds her reputation under threat