Movies

The protracted chill between Moscow and the West might be putting a Cold War-style freeze on diplomatic relations globally, but all signs in recent years point toward a Russian film industry drawing closer to its counterparts across the world, with international co-productions steadily on the rise. The Russian government’s announcement last year of a cash

Many people are calling out “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling for a series of anti-trans tweets on Saturday afternoon. Rowling’s latest controversy began when she commented on an article from global health website Devex titled “Opinion: Creating a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.” “‘People who menstruate.’ I’m sure there used to be

Josh Trank, director of the 2015 reboot of “Fantastic Four,” has revealed that he wanted to cast a Black actress as the superhero Sue Storm, but got “heavy pushback.” Kate Mara was cast as Sue Storm, a.k.a. the Invisible Woman, one of the founding members of the Fantastic Four along with her brother Johnny Storm,

Danny Hicks, who played Jake in “Evil Dead 2,” revealed that he’s been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and has approximately one to three years to live. Hicks made the announcement on his Facebook page on Friday morning. “To all of the people that I never got to meet, and the 6,018 die hard fans

Actor Justice Smith took to his Instagram to show his solidarity and support for Black queer lives and Black trans lives while also coming out as queer. Smith, who has appeared in “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu,” “The Get Down” and “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” shared that he and “Queen Sugar” actor Nicholas Ashe are a couple.

Faith — the old-fashioned kind, call it spiritual or religious — is a feeling of earthly but ethereal belief. Yet most of the movies that get lumped into the category known as “faith-based” have a ploddingly literal, you-gotta-see-it-to-believe-it quality. They’re about having faith in something beyond the here and now, yet they tend to hinge

China’s national film administration says that Chinese authorities are actively doing the preparatory work needed to re-open cinemas soon, local reports said Friday.  The Securities Times cited a notice from the National Film Administration as saying that the relevant government departments are in the midst of organizing film selections, making hard drives of films to

Protesters gathered on Friday at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to support the Black Lives Matter movement. The protest comes one day after David Oyelowo, who starred in the 2014 best picture nominee “Selma” as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., revealed that Oscar voters were angered by the cast wearing T-shirts that

Movies are slowly starting to trickle back into theaters, emphasis on the word “slowly.” For the time being, audiences’ options are still better at home, as this week’s crop of new films includes outrageous new genre fare — such as “Becky,” from the directors of “Cooties,” which plays a bit like a hard-R version of

Paramount Pictures has announced that it is offering free digital rentals of Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” for the rest of the month. The news comes less than 24 hours after star David Oyelowo said that Oscar voters told the studio that they would not support the film after the cast wore T-shirts that said “I Can’t

As theaters tentatively start to reopen around the U.S. without the usual glut of studio product to fill their screens, there’s an opportunity for filmmakers who previously might not have edged their way very deeply into U.S. cinemas to find a wider audience. That’s particularly true of Canadian filmmaker Bruce McDonald, whose fantasy crime comedy

This year’s Pride Month celebrations won’t look anything like they’ve looked in the 50 years since the first took place in 1970 in New York City, butt doesn’t mean there’s not a whole lot of LGBTQ Pride going around. From Billy Porter and Lena Waithe to Laverne Cox and Wilson Cruz, Variety checked in with

These days, searching for solace amid a global pandemic and nationwide protests, film critics frequently find themselves referring to “the movie we need right now,” lavishing that cliché description on anything that offers the slightest comfort or context in a world turned upside-down. Let me assure you, Netflix’s “The Last Days of American Crime” is

After six decades in limbo, China last week passed its first civil code, a wide-ranging legislative package that defines a number of important citizens’ rights. While activists had hoped it would include provisions to legalize gay marriage — particularly as officials acknowledged its inclusion was one of the most requested revisions during the open public

The fifth annual International Film Festival and Awards Macao (IFFAM) is set to take place Dec. 3-8, with online submissions opening June 15. In a year when the coronavirus pandemic has shut down numerous film festivals and left cinemas shuttered worldwide, the theme for this year’s IFFAM will be “A Celebration of Life and the

Vanessa Saal has stepped down from her position as managing director, sales and distribution at London-based international sales, finance, and production company Protagonist Pictures, which has a stellar record representing arthouse hits like Pawel Pawlikowski’s “Cold War,” Taika Waititi’s “Hunt for the Wilderpeople,” Sean Baker’s “The Florida Project,” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “The Lobster.” As well

The economy gained 2.5 million jobs in May, while the unemployment rate dropped to 13.3%, according to the Labor Department. The slight improvement in an otherwise bleak economic picture was due to the reopening of businesses in several states. Unemployment levels leapt to 14.7% in April, as the coronavirus pandemic ground American life to a

Production has been completed on “Ahimsa – Gandhi: The Power of the Powerless” a new feature length documentary about Mahatma Gandhi and the concept of non-violence. It features the song “Ahimsa” performed by U2 and A.R. Rahman, with the written by Bono and Rahman. The film was produced to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the birth

Paris-based sales company Luxbox has acquired world sales rights to “Toll,” an involved, discomforting social drama that marks the highly-anticipated feature film debut of Brazilian-based writer-director Carolina Markowicz, hailed especially for her short “The Orphan,” which won Cannes 2018 Queer Palm. Produced by Karen Castanbo at Brazil’s Bionica Films – and part of its remarkably

Whoopi Goldberg has teamed up with Extinction Rebellion and “Searching for Sugar Man” producer Passion Pictures for an environmental short entitled “The Gigantic Change.” The three-minute animated short film is set in 2050 and looks back on how people united to save the world from the climate crisis. The date is significant as 2050 is

Lionsgate has set a June 24 re-opening of its Chinese theme park, which has been closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Lionsgate Entertainment World, touted as the world’s first “vertical” theme park, is located in Novotown on China’s Henqin Island near Hong Kong and Macau. The park features immersive attractions based on Lionsgate movie

In today’s film news roundup, Kazakh action-adventure movie “Tomiris” and Scottish music film “Beats” find U.S. homes and the Lulu Wilson thriller “Becky” opens at more than 40 drive-ins. ACQUISITION Arclight Films and Well Go USA have bought U.S. distribution rights to the historical action-adventure “Tomiris,” centered on Queen Tomiris during the 6th Century B.C.

Director Nate Townsend opens “Wake Up: Stories From the Frontlines of Suicide Prevention” with an attention grabbing re-enactment of Ryan Candice’s frantic attempts to quell his severe anxiety hours before taking his own life. However, the most powerful moments can be found within the interviews and facts that bolster the project’s compassionate purpose. Playing as

As if to illustrate the hypothetical “So you think you’re having a bad day?,” Canadian thriller “Hammer” puts its characters through a Rube Goldbergian obstacle course of peril in the immediate hours after a hijacked drug deal. The pileup of disasters is such that this tale might easily have been spun as some kind of

The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and O Cinema will work with Magnolia Pictures to make “I Am Not Your Negro,” “Whose Streets?” and “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” available to watch for free. The effort comes in the wake of protests that are sweeping across the U.S., as tens of thousands

Strand Releasing has acquired North American rights to Ray Yeung’s “Twilight’s Kiss” (“Suk Suk”) which world premiered at Busan and played at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. Sold by Films Boutique, “Twilight’s Kiss” tells the story of two closeted married men in their twilight years, Pak, a 70 year-old taxi driver who refuses to retire,

Netflix, Disney Sony, Cartoon Network Studios, Dean DeBlois and Aardman are reading presentations at France’s Annecy Film Festival — as 2020’s Annecy, even online, once more proves to be the biggest animation fest in the world and the international event with the largest Hollywood and now global platform presence. Put together, Annecy’s latest big wave

Nonprofit organization Gold House has announced the cast of “The Joy Luck Club” will host a virtual reunion to discuss the seminal 1989 novel, along with the author Amy Tan, which was adapted into the 1993 film of the same name. Lauren Tom, Ming-Na Wen, Rosalind Chao, Tamlyn Tomita and Tan will join moderators Aileen

Camille Degeye’s feature debut “Sphynx” won the Next Step Award as part of the program launched by Cannes’ Critics’ Week to help the directors of the 10 shorts which played during the last edition make their feature debut. Degeye, who developed the script of “Sphynx” during the sixth session of Next Step in December, received

Several months ago, Variety’s editors came up with a plan for this year’s Pride issue: We would tell the stories of couples in the entertainment industry. But as the coronavirus tore through the United States, separating millions of families and friends, the idea of celebrating love took on a greater meaning. Since April, portrait photographer