In a new statement shared with the Venice Film Festival, imprisoned Iranian filmmakers Jafar Panahi and Mohammad Rosoulof have said the “hope of creating again” is a “reason for existence.” In the joint statement, distributed to journalists at a Saturday press conference, the directors said: “We are filmmakers. We are part of Iranian independent cinema.
Cairo-based film marketing and distribution outfit MAD Solutions has acquired rights for Arab territories to Venice competition entry “Les Miens” (“Our Ties”), directed by French actor and filmmaker of Moroccan descent Roschdy Zem. “Our Ties” is co-written by Zem with actor/director Maïwenn (“Polisse,” “Mon Roi”), who co-stars. Zem is a French cinema fixture, having starred in pics including
On July 26, the day the Venice lineup was announced, my 14-year-old daughter Emma started hounding me that I had to take her on the red carpet to see Timothée Chalamet. Eventually, I relented, even though I thought the movie, “Bones and All” — about two cannibals who fall in love — would be too
Variety has been given exclusive access to a first-look clip for “Amanda,” Carolina Cavalli’s quirky Italian-cool film in Venice Horizons, starring Benedetta Porcaroli (star of Netflix series “Baby”), and featuring Italian heavyweight Giovanna Mezzogiorno, and Italian “X-Factor” winner Michele Bravi. The film, which is reminiscent of early Wes Anderson, premieres at Venice on Monday, then
In “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed,” the photographer Nan Goldin tells a woeful, revealing, and in its way rather funny anecdote about how in the 1980s, when she first gathered up her photographs — casually transgressive images of her and her friends, who were often drag queens and addicts, along with shots of the
Feature documentary “The Ghost of Richard Harris,” which premieres Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, looks to answer the question: “Who was Richard Harris?” The film also contains the revelation that Harris was offered the role of Gandalf in Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” movies, but chose to take the part of Dumbledore in
PBS International has unveiled the trailer for “Casa Susanna,” Sébastien Lifshitz’s follow up to “Little Girl,” which is having its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the Giornate degli Autori section. Produced by Agat Films, ARTE France and American Experience Films, in association with BBC Storyville, the documentary film will have its North
Play video content TMZ.com The woman who cops say broke into ‘Why Don’t We’ band member Daniel Seavey‘s home and slept in his bed might have a jail bunk in her future … she’s facing criminal charges. According to new legal docs, obtained by TMZ, the L.A. City Attorney charged a 23-year-old woman named Amira
Netflix and the European Producers Club (EPC) have revealed the winners of a pitch contest for fictional series at the ongoing Venice Film Festival. The pitch contest is a joint initiative by EPC and Netflix to help create new opportunities for European women producers. It was launched at Series Mania in March, and open to
With a title like “Women Talking,” audacious actor-turned-helmer Sarah Polley’s fourth feature makes clear that it will be one of those rare films capable of passing the Bechdel test. That barometer, for those who may not know, poses three seemingly easy-to-meet criteria: (1) The movie has to have at least two women in it, (2)
Serena Williams, considered by many to be the greatest women’s tennis player ever, is also the GOAT on Twitter among female athletes. Williams was defeated by Ajla Tomlijanovic of Australia during their women’s singles third-round match Friday at the 2022 U.S. Open. The loss likely marks the end of Williams’ 27-year tennis career, as she
These days, with rappers singing about “wet-ass pussy” and Ana de Armas simulating a presidential blow job in “Blonde,” it’s hard to imagine a world in which a couple four-letter words are enough to get a book banned. In the case of D.H. Lawrence’s notorious 1928 novel “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” it was more than just
WWE exec and pro wrestler Paul “Triple H” Levesque has officially taken the title of chief content officer, and he’s also received a hike in compensation along with three other top company executives. In addition, the company said it promoted chief financial officer Frank Riddick to the position of president, continuing in his role as
After taking a break from his filmmaking career to preside over the French film promotion org Unifrance, Jean-Paul Salomé has made a big comeback with a pair of films with Oscar-nominated French actor Isabelle Huppert. The latest one, “The Sitting Duck,” is world premiering at Venice in the Horizons section. Adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book
Frederick Wiseman, a voracious reader, doesn’t watch television. In fact, he’d never really gotten through a whole series until recently, when he watched HBO’s “The Wire.” “I don’t know why, but it was interesting,” he tells Variety drily. Every couple of years, the 92-year-old master documentarian behind such seminal films as “Titicut Follies” and “Juvenile
This fall, Arab filmmakers will be out in force at such prestigious international fests as Venice and Toronto. Venice alone boasts six features from first- and second-time Arab directors in its official sections, plus an additional six works-in-progress at its Final Cut Production Bridge. Meanwhile, Toronto opens with “The Swimmers,” a drama from U.K. helmer
By ALISSA SIMON Actress, producer and musician Trace Lysette, known for her recurring role as Shea on all five seasons of Amazon’s “Transparent,” and for her appearance alongside Jennifer Lopez and Constance Wu in “Hustlers,” takes her career to a new level with a heart-rending turn in the title role of Venice competition title “Monica.”
Bhutanese filmmaker Dechen Roder’s new film, “I, The Song,” which is selected at the Venice Production Bridge’s gap financing market, will commence principal photography in December. Roder’s debut feature “Honeygiver Among the Dogs” premiered at Busan in 2016, and went on to have a successful festival run including at Berlin, Locarno, Hong Kong, Taipei and
Iconoclast, the international production group behind Romain Gavras’ Venice competition film “Athena,” is setting a wide-ranging slate of projects with emerging filmmakers from different audiovisual fields, including Leo Berne from the artists collective Megaforce, and Elias Belkeddar and Said Belktibia from the collective Kourtrajmé. The company is also producing the next projects of Harmony Korine and
Feature debutant Makbul Mubarak’s “Autobiography,” which premieres in Venice’s Horizons strand on Saturday, is a deeply personal tale informed by his own experiences. The film, which is being sold by Alpha Violet, follows young Rakib (Kevin Ardilova), whose father is in prison and whose brother works abroad. He works as the housekeeper in a mansion
For Argentina’s Santiago Mitre, his courtroom drama “Argentina 1985,” a Golden Lion contender at the 79th Venice Film Festival, is an examination of the machinations of power from within, as were his past four features. But unlike those films, “Argentina 1985” is based on a real event, the trial of Argentina’s military leaders who ruled
In early 2021, Armie Hammer’s world began to unravel. The actor with a seemingly perfect life had recently announced a divorce with his wife of 10 years with whom he shares two young children – and then explosive social media posts regarding Hammer’s sexual proclivities spiraled into a media firestorm. Hammer was swiftly dropped from
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” is as big a TV show as TV shows have ever been, with a record-setting budget spent on recreating J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth during the Second Age, and a cast of nearly two dozen series regulars and dozens more featured players deployed to enact its sprawling tale
Hot off of its Venice Film Festival premiere, a concept album for Cate Blanchett’s “Tár” is set to be released on Oct. 21. The film bowed to rave reviews and a six-minute standing ovation. The Focus Features film, releasing Oct. 7, stars Blanchett as the fictional Lydia Tár, a globally renowned, gay and sometimes tyrannical
Jeremy Strong had thoughts to share about a late 2021 New Yorker profile that revealed insights into his method acting, telling Vanity Fair at the Telluride Film Festival on Friday that the story felt like a “pretty profound betrayal of trust.” “The noise and the fog after it: I think it’s something that, I guess,
“Sunroof” is capping off the summer as a No. 1 song on radio’s Top 40 format. The pop song that could started out as a rough voice memo from newcomer Nicky Youre, sent to equally green producer Dazy, and went on to become ubiquitous after catching fire on TikTok. From there, “Sunroof” cracked the top
The “History of a Pleasure Seeker” pilot is not moving forward and will not be be picked up to series at Hulu, Variety has learned exclusively. The show was first ordered to pilot at the streaming service back in March 2022. It was based on the Richard Mason novel of the same name. Per the
Amazon has introduced a new weapon in the battle against internet trolls: delays. Starting around the time of the launch of the distaff baseball dramedy “A League of Their Own,” which premiered its full first season on Aug. 12, Amazon Prime Video quietly introduced a new 72-hour delay for all user reviews posted to Prime
Jane Fonda announced on Instagram that she has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and has started chemotherapy treatments. “This is a very treatable cancer,” Fonda wrote in the post. “80% of people survive, so I feel very lucky. I’m also lucky because I have health insurance and access to the best doctors and treatments. I
Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle recently kicked off their joint comedy tour in Liverpool, England at the M&S Bank Arena, and the two comedians held nothing back while addressing the 2022 Oscar incident where Will Smith slapped Rock across the face. Rock was presenting an award and made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald