Movies

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will be announcing its shortlist on Tuesday in nine Oscar categories. The categories and number of films to be revealed include documentary feature (15), documentary short subject (10), international feature (15), makeup and hairstyling (10), original score (15), original song (15), animated short film (10), live action

A24 has acquired U.S. rights to “Pleasure,” an explicit drama about the adult film industry, following its premiere at the virtual Sundance Film Festival. A24 will release the full uncensored film, as well as an R-rated version, later this year. Directed by Ninja Thyberg, “Pleasure” takes a look at the Los Angeles porn industry through the

Film Independent announced that “Saturday Night Live” cast member Melissa Villaseñor will host the 2021 Film Independent Spirit Awards. The ceremony will air exclusively on IFC and AMC Plus on April 22 at 10 p.m. “As someone who considers herself a pretty dependent person, I’m truly honored to host the Film Independent Spirit Awards,” Villaseñor

Streaming services dominated the nominations for the 26th Critics’ Choice Awards, with Netflix garnering four best picture nominations, a record-setting number for any studio in the history of the CCA. “Da 5 Bloods” from Spike Lee, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” from George C. Wolfe, “Mank” from David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s “The Trial of the

Director Christopher Stoudt is making a documentary about Four Seasons Total Landscaping, a small business in Philadelphia that was unexpectedly thrust into the national spotlight after Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani accidentally hosted a press conference outside the company’s garage door instead of the Four Seasons Hotel. Described as “apolitical” with a “feel-good tone,” “Four Seasons

Reese Witherspoon and Hello Sunshine’s president of TV and film, Lauren Neustadter, will be honored as producers of the year next month at The Caucus for Producers, Writers & Directors’ 2021 Caucus Awards. The Caucus also announced on Monday morning that Gail Katz, who is a professor of cinematic arts at USC as well as

Sony Pictures International Productions (SPIP) is joining forces with Ben Stassen, a veteran Belgian animation director and producer, and his producing partner Matthieu Zeller on “Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness,” an ambitious 3D-animated adventure film based on the Dark Horse comics. Stassen and Benjamin Mousquet will direct “Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness,” whose

Michael B. Jordan’s production company Outlier Society has expanded its existing partnership with Amazon Studios to include a first-look film deal and an overall television deal. Up first, Amazon Studios has set a release date for Jordan’s high-octane thriller “Tom Clancy’s Without Remorse.” The film, which Amazon acquired from Paramount Pictures last year, will debut

Metrograph Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to “Sisters With Transistors,” a documentary about the women who were the pioneers of electronic music. The film will debut virtually on Metrograph’s website on April 23. Directed by Lisa Rovner, “Sisters With Transistors” had its world premiere at the 2020 South by Southwest Film Festival and later played

Picture Tree International has acquired international rights to “Mission Ulja Funk,” which has been selected for Berlin Film Festival’s youth-centric Generation KPlus competition. The film, which is the debut feature of German writer/director Barbara Kronenberg, is about the 12 year old girl Ulja, who sets out on a road trip in a stolen hearse to

Generation, the Berlin Film Festival’s section for youth-centric movies, has unveiled its lineup, with a majority of its films directed by women. Sixty per cent of the films are directed by women, and many of them feature “strong willed” female protagonists, the festival said, such as “Ninjababy,” in which Rakel is six months pregnant, but

Ace Italian cinematographer Giuseppe Rotunno, who was instrumental to the making of masterpieces such as Luchino Visconti’s “The Leopard” and Federico Fellini’s “Amarcord,” but also worked in Hollywood and was an Oscar nominee for Bob Fosse’s “All That Jazz,” has died. He was 97. Rotunno, who was nicknamed Peppino, died on Sunday in his Rome

There are many good ideas in writer-director Juja Dobrachkous’s feature debut, which is why it’s doubly frustrating she seems not to have had a strong counselor to help reign in all the self-indulgence. One can start with the title, “Bebia, à mon seul désir,” a famously ambiguous motto featured on a medieval tapestry which roughly

The eminent Armenian composer Komitas, born Soghomon (Westernized as Solomon), clumsily flits in and out of Arman Nshanian’s “Songs of Solomon,” his figure used as a historical marker in a drama designed to draw attention to the Hamidian massacres perpetrated against the Armenians in the 1890s. Despite the shocking number of deaths, estimated at between

Playing at Göteborg and Rotterdam this past week, Magnus von Horn’s sophomore feature “Sweat” has collected plaudits and prizes ever since it launched as part of the Cannes Festival’s 2020 official selection last summer. Since June, the Polish language film – which offers an up-tempo character study of a twentysomething fitness influencer – has collected

After the BBC’s “Deep Blue,” “Earth” and Terence Malick’s “Voyage of Time,” Berlin-based Sophisticated Films is partnering Finland’s MRP Matila Röhr Productions on their mythological natural history feature “Tale of the Sleeping Giants.” Sophisticated Films’ managing director Sophokles Tasioulis will serve as associate producer, in charge of marketing and sales outside Finland. “Tale of the

Things got meta at this year’s Goteborg Film Festival as Swedish emergency nurse Lisa Enroth, famously isolated for a week on an inhospitable island with no phone, no family and limited outside contact including little more than one outgoing daily video diaries, screened Alistair Morrison’s COVID-19 lockdown isolation documentary “Time to Pause,” with a special

The first look at M. Night Shyamalan’s next movie is finally here. The teaser is one of the few film trailers that debuted during the Super Bowl, which is conspicuously light on movie spots this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic shaking up every studio’s release calendar. “Old” centers on a group of people who

Not even remotely interested in seeing Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes or The Weeknd do their thing at Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium? We’ve got you. Instead of watching the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs go helmet-to-helmet for a shiny Vince Lombardi, head to these platforms and channels to get your Sunday evening fix of

Baltasar Kormakur (“2 Guns,” “Everest,” “Adrift”) and his banner, RVK Studios, are teaming up with Icelandic author Olaf Olafsson on the film adaptation of the writer’s bestselling novel “Touching” (“Snerting”). Olafsson, a former executive VP at Time Warner, is a prolific and critically acclaimed author whose books – notably “Absolution,” “The Journey Home,” “The Sacrament”

Swedish helmer-writer Ronnie Sandahl’s “Tigers” – a rare glimpse inside the world of professional soccer following a protagonist who struggles with the pressures of success – came away the biggest winner at Sweden’s 43rd Göteborg Film Festival, scoring the best Nordic film kudo, this year worth approximately $48,000. The film’s lead actor, Erik Enge, also nabbed

Boutique German sales agent Patra Spanou Film has pounced on “Destello Bravío,” acquiring international sales rights to the feature debut of Spain’s Ainhoa Rodríguez’s which screened this week in main competition at the Rotterdam Film Festival. “Destello Bravío” is produced by Rodríguez’s Tentación Cabiria, based out of Extremadura in southwest Spain, in co-production with Eddie

Indian drama “Pebbles,” by Vinothraj P.S., won the main competition Tiger Award at this year’s International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) on Sunday. Taking the top prize in the Big Screen Competition sidebar was Argentine filmmaker Ana Katz’s “The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet.” Set against a backdrop of grinding poverty and drought-stricken villages in southern

On the heels of Donald Trump’s resignation from SAG-AFTRA on Thursday, the union has passed a resolution banning the former president from ever applying for readmission. The decision was made via a Zoom conference on Saturday, citing “his antagonism of the union’s journalist members and disregard for the values and integrity of the union,” according

Roy Christopher, the multiple Emmy-winning production designer behind numerous awards shows as well as “Murphy Brown,” “Frasier,” and “Wings,” died on Feb. 2. He was 85. A rep confirmed to Variety that Christopher died in his sleep. After graduating from California State University Fresno in 1957, Christopher began his career as an art director, working

Matthijs Wouter Knol took over as director of the European Film Academy at the start of the year, having served as director of the European Film Market since 2014. He speaks to Variety about how the academy seeks to protect and promote European cinema as the film industry continues to morph. Among the priorities of

We don’t know yet which commercial will win the Super Bowl ad wars on Sunday, but Cadillac’s “Edward Scissorhands” sequel — starring Timothée Chalamet as Edgar Scissorhands, Edward’s son, and Winona Ryder reprising her role as Kim from Tim Burton’s 1990 movie — is an excellent bet. The ad, for the Cadillac LYRIQ, will air

Danish helmer Janus Metz’s next feature project after Amazon Studios’ “All the Old Knives,” starring Laurence Fischburne and Chris Pine, will be the Danish drama “Bastard Love,” produced by Jesper Morthorst (“Silent Heart,” “Rita”) and Lise Orheim Stender (“Heartstone,” “Venus Effect”) for Motor. “Bastard Love” will be Metz’s sophomore Scandinavian feature film after the multi-awarded

Robert C. Jones, the acclaimed film editor behind 1960s and ’70s classics “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” and “Love Story” who garnered a screenplay Academy Award for the war drama “Coming Home,” has died. He was 84. His daughter, Leslie Jones — who is also an Oscar-nominated film editor — confirmed to Variety that Jones died

Roberto Olla, executive director of Eurimages, has revealed that the Strasbourg-based public funder has hired diversity consultants to help facilitate fairer funding for under-represented filmmakers. Speaking at the International Film Festival Rotterdam this week on a panel titled “Reality Check: Funding Our Inclusive Futures,” Olla said that the co-production funding body, which comprises 41 member