Movies

The International Documentary Association has announced the shortlists for best feature and best short at the 36th annual IDA Documentary Awards. The shortlist for possible nominees includes “Boys State,” “Crip Camp,” “Welcome to Chechnya,” “Gunda” and more. Up to 10 nominees in each of the feature and short documentary categories will be selected from the

Munich-based world sales company Global Screen has picked up worldwide distribution rights to adventure movie “The School of the Magical Animals,” based on the bestselling kids’ book series by Margit Auer. Global Screen will present a teaser trailer and begin presales on the movie at the upcoming American Film Market. The live-action film with CGI

For an industry that relies on theatrical releases for up to 80% of its revenue, it was perhaps inevitable that 2020 would be a challenging year for the Russian film biz, as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered cinemas throughout the spring and summer, and theaters subsequently reopened at reduced capacity. But Evgenia Markova, head of the

In a milestone move, production-distribution powerhouse Fremantle has unveiled its first fully-financed high-end factual original, “Arctic Drift,” the story of Mosaic, the biggest Arctic climate research expedition. A two-hour documentary, described by Fremantle international CEO Jens Richter as “a scientific adventure film,” “Arctic Drift” is being launched on the market this week as Fremantle drives

Russian production and distribution company Central Partnership is hoping for a scorching run at the box office with the upcoming release of “Fire,” a big-budget, high-octane actioner about heroic smokejumpers racing against disaster. Variety has been given exclusive access to the first trailer for a film slated to hit Russian theaters on Christmas Eve. Central

Slovak documentarian Tereza Nvotova, who has confronted corruption and politics in past films such as 2017’s “The Lust for Power,” found herself beached in New York during the COVID-19 outbreak in the spring, unable to return legally to her home in the Czech Republic with her partner, American actor Jacob Pitts. Then she got an

Slovak director and artist Tomáš Rafa, whose documentary “Refugees Are Welcome Here” has its world premiere in Ji.hlava Film Festival’s Between the Seas section, will also bring his new project “Polish Rainbow” to the festival’s East Silver Market. “Polish Rainbow,” which is focused on Poland’s conservative stance on reproductive and sexual rights, couldn’t be more

Bong Joon-ho’s “Parasite” predictably dominated the Asian Film Awards. The dark comedy, which won Cannes 2019 and four Oscars, added four further prizes on Wednesday, including best film and best screenplay. The AFA event this year shifted from its previous base in Hong Kong and Macau to Busan. And it moved its dates from March

While expanding a short film into a feature may not be a new invention, what matters is how the filmmaker innovates, fashioning a full garment out of the scrap of existing cloth. In “Come Play,” writer-director Jacob Chase takes the titular creature of his five-minute short “Larry” and imagines him as the primary instigator in

“Spell” adds to the significant recent growth of African American horror cinema, though really only in casting terms. Otherwise, this reasonably suspenseful if implausible tale is just another variation on the familiar formula of “city folk” making a big mistake going to the country, where every primitive peril awaits them. Here, instead of homicidal hillbillies

Nearly a quarter-century has gone by since cult horror classic “The Craft” tapped into a pre-Harry Potter fascination with witches, giving teenage audiences a sense of how empowering it might feel for four young women, persecuted by date-rapey D-bags and openly racist prom queens, to invoke a little black magic in their desire to get

Tencent Pictures, the film-making arm of Chinese tech giant Tencent, has the potential to be hugely influential on its home turf due to parent company’s domination of social media and gaming. Tencent’s massive scale – market capitalization over $700 billion makes it one of the world’s largest corporations – means it has the potential for

As an openly gay actor, Ryan Spahn was determined to tell his story. “Nora Highland” was originally developed to be an Off-Broadway play, but when the pandemic forced a shutdown, Spahn had to rethink. The story explores the casting process surrounding an iconic gay character in a new Broadway revival. A fundraising event with actors

MGM has delayed “Respect,” the Aretha Franklin biopic starring Jennifer Hudson, by seven months from Jan. 15 to Aug. 13 in the latest shuffle of a major title amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The studio also announced Tuesday that it has removed “Tomb Raider 2,” starring Alicia Vikander, from its March 19 release date. “Respect,”

As the lights dimmed in the Grand Theatre Lumiere in Cannes on Tuesday evening, and the opening notes to Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Carnival of Animals” echoed over the loudspeakers, one could almost imagine themselves back in the normal swing of things. In some respects, the opening night of the three-day ‘Special Cannes’ program felt very

“Borrego,” a survival thriller starring Lucy Hale, Nicholas Gonzalez (“Good Doctor”) and Leynar Gómez (“Narcos”), has just started shooting (pictured) in Almeria in Spain. Nancy Cartwright (“The Simpsons”) also stars in “Borrego” and is producing the film with Monica Gil-Rodriguez through their banner Spotted Cow Entertainment. “Borrego” is based on Jesse Harris’s critically acclaimed short,

Demons of the mind come alive in a cavernous Los Angeles hotel in “The Night,” a scary and stylish psychological horror thriller by Iranian American director Kourosh Ahari. Featuring excellent performances by Shahab Hosseini (“A Separation,” “The Salesman”) and Niousha Jafarian (“Here and Now”) as a married couple with a baby daughter and a frayed

Director and producer Miloslav Šmídmajer, whose documentary “Milan Kundera – From Joy to Insignificance” features in the Work in Progress section of the Ji.hlava Film Festival this week, has lined-up multiple new projects, he tells Variety. Šmídmajer’s upcoming films include Czech-Ukrainian-Slovakian co-production “The Man Who Stood in the Way,” about one man who challenged Leonid

Diane Weyermann, the content chief for Participant Media, has stepped down as co-chair of the international feature film’s executive committee, Variety has confirmed. Weyermann decided to leave her role as co-chair of the executive committee due to her professional relationship with the documentary “Collective,” which has been selected to represent Romania in this year’s International

Hilal Baydarov, the sole juror of Ji.hlava’s main competition, the Opus Bonum section, has a back story with the fest dating to its screening of his 2018 film “Birthday” in the Docu Talents from the East section. He later found a collaborator at the festival who worked with him on two films that traveled to

Layoffs hit Sony Pictures’ marketing and distribution teams on Tuesday as the Hollywood studio combined parts of its domestic and international film and television operations. Roughly 35 positions have been eliminated in the consolidation, according to insiders. In addition, veteran executive Andre Caraco has decided to step down as co-president of global marketing, ending a

“Crazy Rich Asians” screenwriter Adele Lim and Japanese director Hikari have come abroad the romantic dramedy “Lost for Words” for Working Title. “Lost for Words” is based on an original idea from Oscar-winning screenwriter Richard Curtis, who wrote the previous draft and will be staying on the project as a producer. The project centers on

Erik Feig’s Picturestart and Mike Jackson and John Legend’s production company Get Lifted Film Co. are teaming to bring the critically acclaimed S.A. Cosby novel “Blacktop Wasteland” to the big screen. The former Lionsgate film honcho and the EGOT-chasing Legend have tapped “Mudbound” co-screenwriter Virgil Williams. who was nominated for an Academy Award for the

In “Living Water,” the feature doc debut of Czech anthropologist Pavel Borecky, the forces of tradition and progress, conservation and recklessness are at war in the otherwise remarkably peaceful state of Jordan. The film makes its world premiere in the Testimonies section of the Ji.hlava Film Festival, which runs Oct. 27-Nov. 8. With a long

Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Fremaux has detailed a three-prong contingency plan should next year’s festival, due to run May 11–22, be forced to delay due to ongoing uncertainty around COVID-19. Speaking with Variety ahead of the ‘Special Cannes’ opening event on Tuesday, which showcases four Cannes 2020 titles over the course of three days

Jennifer Lopez and Armie Hammer will tie the knot in Lionsgate’s action-comedy “Shotgun Wedding.” The film finds Lopez as Darcy and Hammer as Tom, a couple who gathers their families together for a destination wedding. Things start to go south, however, after the two get cold feet. But that’s not the worst thing about the

Celine Dion, Sam Heughan and Priyanka Chopra Jonas have been cast in Sony’s Screen Gems romantic drama, tentatively titled “Text for You.” The film is an English remake of the German-language film “SMS Fur Dich,” based on Sofie Cramer’s novel. The story centers on a woman who, after tragically losing her fiancé, starts to send

Michelle Sobrino-Stearns has been elevated to President and Group Publisher of Variety. In her new role, Sobrino-Stearns assumes oversight of all editorial and business operations globally, including strategic planning and financial management. Her elevation comes as Variety has achieved seven consecutive years of revenue gains and innovation, marking the strongest period of growth in the

Maddie Hasson and Genesis Rodriguez have signed on to star in “Fixation,” a female-driven psychological thriller from director Mercedes Bryce Morgan. Hasson stars as Dora, a young woman at the center of an unusual murder trial. As the film progresses, Dora is subjected to a psychiatric evaluation, and as the tests become more personal —

Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to the thriller “Born to Be Murdered,” starring John David Washington and Alicia Vikander, and will release the film in 2021. “Born to Be Murdered” is set in Athens and the Epirus region of Greece where a vacationing couple, played by Washington and Vikander, fall trap to a violent