Movies

Rapidly consolidating as one of South America’s banner film-TV events, Chile’s 10th Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) will split the Sanfic Industria industry section into two parts next year with a fully virtual industry section and marketplace to be held March 18-25 and an in-person festival in August. Five Industria sections will unspool online in

Mentoring emerging cinematographers has always been a key mission at the EnergaCamerimage International Film Festival and this year’s online version of the event features a score of streaming master classes and seminars that inform and offer insights from top filmmakers and technology experts. Streaming through the end of 2020 (online.energacamerimage.pl), the talks and teach-ins are,

Offering melodramatic thrills very much in the “Fatal Attraction” mode, “Fatale” presents Michael Ealy as a married L.A. sports agent whose first-time fall off the fidelity wagon unluckily proves to be with one hell of a “woman scorned.” Its appeal to African-American audiences furthered by villainess Hilary Swank’s character being a crooked cop, this is

Chinese cinema chain JinYi Media has agreed a 12-theater deal with premium large format tech company Imax. The deal involves upgrading seven of Jinyi’s existing Imax sites to use laser technology, and the installation of Imax kit at five new sites. The move reflects China’s current ability to operate cinemas largely normally, and the country’s

“Dune” might not be out for another year, but the action figures from the film are already here for those seeking holiday gifts. Comic book artist and founder of McFarlane Toys Todd McFarlane doesn’t know if the film’s stars — Timothee Chalamet, Stellan Skarsgard and Javier Bardem — have seen the finished product, but as

Gal Gadot provided testimony for WarnerMedia’s investigation into misconduct on the set of “Justice League,” the actor tells Variety. “I know that they’ve done a very thorough investigation, even just by how much time I spent with them,” the “Wonder Woman 1984” star said Thursday during an interview for the Variety and iHeart podcast “The

It’s a tough time to be a journalist. Digital upstarts are faltering and newspapers are running on fumes. The freelance market for glossy magazines has dried up along with their ad sales. That’s left many top reporters looking for a way to support their work. Enter the Vespucci Group. Founded by producers Daniel Turcan and

Frances McDormand is producing and starring in a film adaptation of the novel “Women Talking,” with Sarah Polley directing for MGM’s recently relaunched Orion Pictures. Orion and Plan B announced the project on Thursday. Polley will direct from her own script, based on Miriam Toews’ bestselling novel. McDormand is producing via her Hear/Say Productions. She

Jeremy Bulloch, the British actor who starred as bounty hunter Boba Fett in the original “Star Wars” trilogy, died on Thursday in London of complications from Parkinson’s disease, according to his representatives. He was 75. “We are very sad to announce the death of actor Jeremy Bulloch, earlier today,” his agents at Brown, Simcocks &

Terry Gilliam’s “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote” has endured its latest legal hurdle. The U.K.’s Royal Courts of Justice have ruled in favor of the Jeremy Thomas-owned Recorded Picture Company (RPC), and against France’s Alfama Film Productions and CEO Paulo Branco over a rights dispute relating to Gilliam’s 2018 film, which starred Adam Driver

For Variety’s FYC Fest, three revered cinematographers sit down to discuss their passion, their work being crushed by advances in technology and the future of the art form. Oscar nominee Matthew Libatique (Netflix’s “The Prom”), Tami Reiker (Netflix’s “The Old Guard” and Amazon Studios’ “One Night in Miami”) and Dariusz Wolski (Universal Pictures’ “News of

“The Trial of the Chicago 7” has been selected for the inaugural ensemble tribute by the Independent Filmmaker Project at the upcoming Gotham Awards on Jan. 11, 2021. The film, directed by Aaron Sorkin from his own script, follows the story of the Chicago Seven, a group of anti–Vietnam War protesters who were charged with conspiracy

“When you step into Chris’ world, you know you’re going to be engaged in something you’ve never done before,” “Tenet” production designer Nathan Crowley says on Variety Artisans, presented by Hamilton Watches. Crowley, a five-time Oscar nominee, is no stranger to working with director Christopher Nolan. The two have collaborated on “The Dark Knight” trilogy,

IFC Films has nabbed North American rights to South African Oliver Hermanus’ “Moffie,” a queer war film that is set against the backdrop of a South African border war. The indie studio will release the film in April 2021. Hermanus directs the film and adapted the story from André Carl van der Merwe’s autobiographical 2006

Justin Timberlake stars as an ex-athlete who returns home after serving a prison sentence in the trailer for the new movie “Palmer.” The SK Global film, bought by Apple TV Plus in July, tells a story surrounding lead character Eddie Palmer, an athlete who becomes addicted to painkillers and who gets caught robbing a home.

Abramorama has acquired worldwide distribution rights for Jonathan McHugh’s directorial debut “Long Live Rock…Celebrate The Chaos” and plans a March 12, 2021 release. “Long Live Rock” was filmed at various rock festivals around America showing the scope of just how massive these crowds are. Attesting to the power of destination music festivals such as Coachella

In today’s Global Bulletin, Italy’s Oscar contender “Notturno” named European Movie of the Year; U.K. extends furlough scheme; “Zappa” doc gets European distribution; BBC Studios and Bilibili team for culture series “Ancients”; Paul Moore to take over as chair of U.K.’s Creative Diversity Network; Fremantle takes format rights to “The Great Giveback”; and “RuPaul’s Drag

Topic Studios has signed a first-look deal with The Population, formed by “Nomadland” producer Mollye Asher, “I Carry You With Me” producer Mynette Louie and Derek Nguyen. The deal, announced Thursday, expands the relationship between Topic and Louie, currently collaborating on a scripted limited drama series for television. Topic Studios produced the ACLU documentary “The Fight,”

“Chaos Walking,” a sci-fi adventure starring Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, has delayed its big-screen debut. The Lionsgate film, which has already been postponed several times, will premiere in theaters on March 5. It was initially scheduled to release on March 1, 2019, before it was pushed to Jan. 22, 2021, to accommodate reshoots. Doug

Noomi Rapace, who shot to global prominence as Lisbeth Salander in the “Millennium” trilogy, will lead the cast of acclaimed “Border” director Ali Abbasi’s adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” Swedish-Danish-Iranian filmmaker Abbasi made his feature debut in 2018 with “Shelley,” which was selected for the Panorama competition at the Berlin Film Festival. “Border” won Un

Mini-studio, Level Forward has acquired North American virtual theatrical rights and impact distribution privileges for “I’ll Meet You There,” a portrait of three generations of a Muslim-American family. The company will roll out the film from Feb. 3, 2021. The film was one of ten chosen from 1,305 submissions for SXSW’s narrative feature competition earlier

Japanese police on Wednesday formally charged 42-year-old local man Shinji Aoba with murder relating to the arson attack in July last year at Kyoto Animation. The blaze, set using gasoline, killed 33 people on the scene and three more in hospital. A further 33 were injured. The charges include murder, attempted murder, arson, trespass and

When filmmakers gather these days, the conversation tends to turn to how the coronavirus pandemic has decimated movie theaters — as well as to the related topic of Warner Bros.’ bombshell decision to stream its entire 2021 slate on HBO Max the same day they’re to be released theatrically. During a panel among screenwriters for Variety‘s inaugural FYC Fest, Judd Apatow (Universal’s “The King of Staten Island”), Aaron Sorkin

During a FYC Fest documentary roundtable, Variety‘s Matt Donnelley discussed the state of documentary filmmaking with panelists including “Time” director Garrett Bradley, “Boys State” director Amanda McBaine, “Rebuilding Paradise” director Ron Howard, “The Dissident” director Bryan Fogle, “Welcome to Chechnya” director David France and “Crip Camp” director Nicole Newnham. “So much of filmmaking, regardless of the

Documentary and docuseries creators have found themselves amidst a rapidly expanding market for their work. During the FYC Fest documentary roundtable, Variety‘s Matt Donnelley discussed the state of documentary filmmaking with panelists including “Time” director Garrett Bradley, “Boys State” director Amanda McBaine, “Rebuilding Paradise” director Ron Howard, “The Dissident” director Bryan Fogle, “Welcome to Chechnya”

Arts Alliance is opening Garden Studios, a 62,000-square-foot facility located in Park Royal, West London, in the first quarter of 2021. Garden Studios will offer four sound stages, workshops, technical facilities and fully equipped offices. At the center of the facility is a virtual production stage with state-of-the-art, sustainable technology, which is currently available for

Before taking the world by storm in “Normal People,” Paul Mescal played the Phantom in “The Phantom of the Opera” at his school — and his mask kept falling off mid-production. “The Midnight Sky” star Tiffany Boone knew she was hooked on acting when, at age eight, she played an elf in the play “The

Florence Pugh is producing and starring in the murder mystery “The Maid” for Universal Pictures, based on Nita Prose’s debut novel of the same name. Universal announced Wednesday it had acquired the rights to the “The Maid,” set for publication in 2022 via Penguin Random House in the U.S. and Canada, and HarperFiction in the

Apple has been in prolonged conversations to acquire two John Lasseter-produced titles from Skydance Animation, “Luck” and “Spellbound,” multiple insiders with knowledge of the discussions told Variety. The two films would anchor what sources called a larger agreement between David Ellison’s animation division and the streamer, which has yet to be reached. WME is also

To celebrate Variety’s 115th anniversary, we went to the archives to see how some of Hollywood’s biggest stars first landed in the pages of our magazine. Read more from the archives here. On July 5, 1950, Variety reviewed the floor show at Ciro’s London, mentioning “a nice dance routine by Diana Monks and Audrey Hepburn.” When