Movies

Brazilian queer artist Bia Leite has joined “Goddess of the Water,” a project from one of the most sought-after of young Brazilian directors, João Paulo Miranda Maria, whose first feature, “Memory House,” was the only Latin American feature chosen for last year’s Cannes Festival Official Selection. “Memory House” went on to be selected for the

Feature directing debutant Ajitpal Singh’s “Fire In The Mountains,” the lone Indian film in Sundance 2021’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition, is a powerful feminist tale told by a male who learnt to face down his own prejudices. Set in a tourist homestay in the Himalayan foothills of northern India, the film centers around a woman

Some ten months after the coronavirus pandemic began devastating England, with 78,000 dead so far, the country now requires all international arrivals, including U.K. nationals, to present a negative COVID-19 test taken up to 72 hours prior to departure. The devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are expected to follow suit. U.K. Transport

Izabela Kiszka’s boutique sales agency IKH Pictures Promotion has boarded hostage thriller “Prime Time,” which will have its world premiere in Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. The Polish film stars Bartosz Bielenia, who broke through in Oscar nominated “Corpus Christi.” Variety spoke to director Jakub Piątek about his debut feature. “Prime Time,”

If “Redemption Day” were any more generic, the first thing you’d see on screen would be a bar code in place of the opening credits. It’s the handiwork of first-time feature filmmaker Hicham Hajji, making his directorial debut after years of assistant-directing gigs for Hollywood and homegrown productions in his native Morocco. And the best

When creating the intimate romance story of “Wander Darkly,” writer-director Tara Miele and stars Sienna Miller and Diego Luna found a wealth of inspiration from their life experiences. The film, which takes a close look at mortality and life and death, was inspired by Miele’s experience surviving a severe car crash seven years ago. Experiencing

Writer-producer Geoff Johns has multiple projects at WarnerMedia and remains working with the company, despite a claim from actor Ray Fisher that Johns will be parting ways with WarnerMedia following the company’s investigation into Fisher’s allegations of misconduct on “Justice League,” multiple sources confirm to Variety. According to WarnerMedia, more than 80 people were interviewed

Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars from Film Awards Editor Clayton Davis. Following Academy Awards history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Oscar predictions are updated regularly with the current year's contenders in all categories. Variety's Awards Circuit Prediction schedule consists of four phases, running all year long:

Marion Ramsey, known for acting in the “Police Academy” films and gracing the Broadway stage in 1978’s “Eubie!,” died Thursday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 73. Roger Paul of Roger Paul Inc., the agency that managed Ramsey, confirmed the news to Variety. Ramsey had recently fallen ill, but her exact cause of death is

When “Wonder Woman” costume designer Lindy Hemming heard that the follow-up to the 2017 box-office hit starring Gal Gadot was going to be set in 1984, her first question was would the costumes fall under period or fantasy? The answer is a simple one, “both,” Hemming says. Below, Hemming breaks down key looks from “Wonder

Josh Goldstine has officially been named head of worldwide marketing at Warner Bros. Pictures. The veteran feature film marketer emerged as successor to former marketing head Blair Rich in late December, Variety previously reported. Goldstine will report to Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group Chairman Toby Emmerich, and will oversee all theatrical releases. “Josh is an

Rudolph Giuliani’s embarrassing interview in “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm” provided the comedy smash with its most meme-able, headline-grabbing moment. But the former New York City mayor and personal attorney to one Donald J. Trump wasn’t the only member of the 45th president’s circle of friends, family and advisors that team Borat targeted. At one point, the

Paramount’s motion picture group president Emma Watts has bolstered her team with two new co-presidents — Daria Cercek and Michael Ireland. Cercek comes from New Line Cinema and will start her post on Jan. 11. Ireland moved to the iconic Hollywood lot last November from 20th Century Studios. As co-presidents of Paramount Pictures, Cercek and

Prolific producer Stephanie Allain has inked a first-look film producing deal with Endeavor Content. One of Hollywood’s most prolific African American producers, Allain’s filmography includes producing “Dear White People” (the film and series for Netflix), “Hustle & Flow,” Robert Rodriguez’s “El Mariachi & Desperado” and John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice,” “Higher Learning” and the late filmmaker’s

As the industry looks ahead to a post-lockdown future, Time’s Up U.K. is commissioning key research to improve the experiences of women in the workplace, while realigning its priorities in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement. Time’s Up U.K. chair Heather Rabbatts tells Variety that as the industry resets after the worst of

Samuel Goldwyn has acquired U.S. rights to Christina Rosendahl’s World War II-set drama “The Good Traitor” and Ole Christian Madsen’s Danish terrorist drama “The Day We Died” (“Powder Keg”) from REinvent. Based on true events, “The Day We Died” is headlined by “Game Of Thrones” star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. The film follows the journey of four

LionTree CEO Aryeh Bourkoff is a master dealmaker. But the prominent investment banker isn’t content to simply facilitate M&A transactions. His loftier goal is to help rewrite the narrative for Big Media at a time of massive transition in the industry. As Bourkoff explains on the latest episode of the Variety podcast “Strictly Business,” the

As anticipated, the Japanese government on Thursday declared a state of emergency for Tokyo due to th resurgent coronavirus outbreak. Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide made the announcement at an evening press conference., explaining that the decree applies in the Japanese capital and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa for a period of

Paramount Pictures is getting in on the business of Monty Python. The studio has acquired “Spamalot,” the upcoming movie adaptation of the hit Broadway musical. The film was previously set up at Fox, but the project was sidelined when Disney acquired Rupert Murdoch’s film empire in 2019. “Spamalot,” which has been a mainstay in the

Awards season has begun in earnest now that it’s January and several critics groups have weighed in, giving love to contenders such as “Nomadland,” “Mank” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” But work in other films is also deserving, and some of the most striking aspects of the contenders are in cinematography, production design,

Alex Garland is set to reunite with A24 for his latest film, titled “Men.” Jessie Buckley is in talks to star in the film, playing a woman who goes on a solo vacation to the English countryside after the death of her ex-husband. Rory Kinnear has also been tapped to join the project, which is

This will be the last year for the IFP Gotham Awards, as the organization behind the event — Independent Film Project — is formally changing its name to the Gotham Film and Media Institute, or the Gotham for short. The rebrand, which coincides with the award show’s 30th anniversary, is intended to reflect the organization’s

Sugar23 has raised $30 million in financing and unveiled a bench of top executives that it hopes will help the company expand more aggressively into everything from talent management to podcasting. Founded in 2017 by Academy Award-winning producer, manager and entrepreneur Michael Sugar, the company is hoping to be something of a catch-all service provider

The drama “If Not Now, When?” owes more to “Waiting to Exhale” than to the women-centric films of Tyler Perry. That’s a good thing, as well as intentional on the part of its first-time feature directors, actors Meagan Good and Tamara Bass. In Perry’s lessons in female fortitude and resilience — a successful brand of

“Joker” proved to be the top U.K. home entertainment title of 2020 as consumers stayed home during the pandemic, the British Association for Screen Entertainment (BASE) revealed Wednesday. “Joker” sold more than 1.4 million copies across disc, electronic sell through (EST) and TVOD (transactional video-on-demand). Based on data from the Official Charts Company, Futuresource Consulting

A naïve teenager comes of age amid the carnage of World War I’s Eastern Front in this propulsive adaptation of Aleksandrs Grins’ 1934 patriotic classic “Blizzard of Souls.” With its muscular direction by former documentarian Dzintars Dreibergs, atmospheric cinematography and careful attention to period detail, this account of a troop of Latvian Riflemen fighting first

Grammy winner Angélique Kidjo has released the music video for “How Can I Tell You?” from the new documentary “Nasrin.” The song is written by Lynn Ahrens (lyrics) and Stephen Flaherty (music). The film chronicles the life of activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, who fought for women’s rights in Iran, as well as the rights of children

With his latest film “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” Sacha Baron Cohen has proven he is a master of comedy — not to mention, a master of disguise. Since he first broke out his zany characters on “The Ali G Show” more than two decades ago, countless audiences have simultaneously laughed and cringed at the Golden Globe

Producing movies and television during a pandemic has been agonizing for filmmakers, but not for Doug Liman — the veteran director behind “Mr. and Mrs. Smith” and numerous adventures with Tom Cruise. On Jan. 14, Liman will release “Locked Down” on HBO Max, a tale of a relationship soured in quarantine in the early days

French sales company Wide Management has boarded Charles Officer’s crime-noir “Akilla’s Escape,” which world premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. The film is headlined by poet-musician-actor Saul Williams, who also collaborated with Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack to create the original score. Williams stars in the film as Akilla Brown, a 40-year-old drug trader