Filmmakers Sara Dosa and Lars Ostenfeld, whose docs “Fire of Love” and “Into the Ice” are vying for the top Dox:Award at Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival, have opened up about the creative challenges of making films about science and climate change during a morning talk at the fest’s industry events. Dosa’s “Fire of Love,”
Emergence from pandemic lockdowns and the promise of in-person festivals has excitement brewing for the future of film, and the genre industry is no exception. The official selection of the 2022 Frontières Platform at the Marché du Film – Festival de Cannes is in, and it displays bullish trends for the future of genre. “There’s
In a move that suggests the golden age of true-crime content is also being established in Spain, Madrid-based Onza Distribution has pounced on worldwide rights outside the country to smash hit series “Crímenes” (“Crimes”), by Catalan journalist Carles Porta. Broadcast since 2020 on Catalunya’s public broadcaster TV3 under the Catalan title of “Crims,” the true-crime
Dubai-based cryptocurrency-based content platform MContent has partnered with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) Middle East to launch its documentary “Ripple vs SEC Saga” in a virtual theater in the metaverse. Produced by MContent and Amsterdam-based Insight TV in tandem with Villain Studios, “Ripple vs SEC Saga” (first look image above) delves into the ongoing case being brought by the
The words “War of the Roses” take on a lighter meaning in “The Rose Maker,” a sweet, gently scented French diversion that is likely to teach you far more than you already knew about hybridizing flowers, even if it doesn’t have a whole lot else to say. Following veteran rose farmer Eve Vernet as she
WarnerMedia Kids & Family EMEA has acquired broadcast rights to “Jade Armor,” a banner martial arts action comedy animated series from France’s TeamTO, one of Europe’s foremost kids entertainment production companies. As part of Cartoon Network’s declared commitment to broadcasting more animation targeting girls, “Jade Armor” will be released on both HBO Max and Cartoon
Fremantle’s global head of documentaries Mandy Chang insisted on Thursday that “the golden age of documentary is a cliché” and urged filmmakers to avoid “a two-tier system of haves and have nots,” where independent documentaries are crowded out by splashier commercial projects bankrolled by streaming platforms. “Mainstream docs are popular, but not all documentaries are
Will Packer, who co-produced last Sunday’s 94th Academy Awards ceremony along with Shayla Cowan, spoke in depth Friday morning on “Good Morning America” about Will Smith slapping Chris Rock. The incident occurred during the Oscars, after Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head while presenting the documentary feature category. Packer said he
Few people can say their comfort zone is in playing strong women, but for Gillian Anderson, it ’s become something of a personal brand. The American-British actor, who was once best-known for her skeptical FBI agent Dana Scully in Fox’s long-running sci-fi hit “The X-Files,” has gone on to play detective Stella Gibson in “The
The U.K. government has halted its insurance scheme for film and television. Known as the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme, the £500 million ($657 million) plan was first unveiled in July 2020, was and extended for a further six months in Oct. 2021. The scheme supported 95,000 jobs and led to a record £5.6
Up until a few short years ago, French scripted dramas offered terrestrial viewers and international buyers the same steady promise: Be they criminal investigators or 17th-century dukes, rarely would a series’ cast skew too young. “Traditional French broadcasters served a somewhat older set of viewers,” says Series Mania artistic director Frederic Lavigne. “And they oriented
Indian filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma, renowned for his landmark films in the gangster genre, is debuting in the streaming space with MX Player series “Dhahanam” (Funeral). MX Player is India’s largest AVOD service and recently set a content deal with BBC Studios. It has more than 300 Monthly Active Users globally and has achieved the
The battlegrounds in the streaming wars are shifting fast, just as real-life battle lines are being dug out in Eastern Europe. Russia has drawn near-universal condemnation because of its unprovoked attack on its neighbor Ukraine, launching a war with the country. The conflict has also rattled world markets and made investors nervous about geopolitical instability
Producer Lorenzo Mieli, who has brought to the screen top Italian TV series such as “The Young Pope” and “My Brilliant Friend,” is launching two new crime shows with innovative elements: “The King” and “Bang Bang Baby.” Both stem from his bent to push boundaries of genre storytelling that is “borne from authenticity,” he says.
Chinese filmmaker, artist and influencer Yi Zhou has launched a cluster of companies that have begun making feature movies for the metaverse. Zhou, who departed China in 2011, trained in Paris and London, before settling in Rome for several years where she worked as an installation artist, fashion influencer for Chinese streaming site Tudou (now
“Grey’s Anatomy” writer Elisabeth Finch has taken a personal leave of absence from the show following claims that she had exaggerated her medical history — some of which was allegedly used as inspiration for episodes of the medical drama. Questions about Finch’s medical history were first reported by The Ankler on March 17. Finch’s ailments,
For his landmark 700th vanity card, Chuck Lorre chose physics. Lorre’s 700th card happened to coincide with the 100th episode of “Young Sheldon,” which he co-created and executive produces with Steve Molaro. And so, given the scientific nature of the character of Sheldon Cooper, it made sense to share a physics equation that adds up
The COVID-19 pandemic was hard on everyone, not least of all Judd Apatow. Among the many casualties was his last movie, “The King of Staten Island,” which was supposed to open the SXSW film festival, but had to cancel after America went into lockdown. When faced with such challenges, creative people create. Some made bread.
Harry Styles has used his solo career to lean into the music of bygone decades before, with his first two albums heavily drenched in the rock singer-songwriter stylings of the ’70s. His new single, too, has a flair for music as it was — but it’s far from a rerun of those previous albums. “As
Fresh off the heels of Jane Campion’s best director win at the Oscars, Kathryn Bigelow is also heading to Netflix for her next project. Bigelow, who became the first woman to win a directing Oscar in 2010 for “The Hurt Locker,” will direct “Aurora,” based on David Koepp’s upcoming thriller novel of the same name,
The way to officially close the door on a crazy awards season (and even-crazier 94th Oscar ceremony), is to crack open the window and take a look ahead at what the studios and production companies could have in store for global cinema in 2022. As Variety transitions to Emmy season, with the first official predictions
Dean Devlin’s new Syfy series “The Ark” has found its core cast members as production gets underway, Variety has learned exclusively. Christie Burke, Richard Fleeshman, Reece Ritchie, Stacey Read and Ryan Adams will all appear as series regulars in the show, which is now shooting at PFI Studios in Belgrade, Serbia. The show was first announced
What’s the value of winning an Oscar? For Apple, the historic Oscar best picture win for original film “CODA” on Sunday has produced immediate results — drawing 25% new viewers to the Apple TV Plus streaming service, and pushing viewing of the film up more than 300% compared with the week prior. Apple’s Academy Award-winning
Bruce Willis’ “The Sixth Sense” co-star Haley Joel Osment and director M. Night Shyamalan both took to social media to praise the actor after he announced on March 30 that he’s stepping away from the profession following an aphasia diagnosis. Aphasia is a language disorder caused by brain damage that affects a person’s ability to
Jim Carrey has not yet seen Matt Reeves’ “The Batman,” but he does have “mixed emotions” nonetheless about Paul Dano’s dark interpretation of the Riddler. Carrey infamously played the Riddler in Joel Schumacher’s 1995 superhero movie “Batman Forever,” starring Val Kilmer as the Caped Crusader. Carrey’s Riddler was a flamboyant prankster in a neon-green bodysuit,
Academy Award-nominee Eddie Murphy is in talks to play funk legend and Parliament-Funkadelic leader George Clinton in an upcoming biopic. Dubbed the Godfather of Funk, Clinton is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer, as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner and widely regarded as one of the most important innovators of the
Oscars producer Will Packer has addressed Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the ceremony on Sunday night. In a preview clip of Packer’s upcoming interview on “Good Morning America” with T.J. Holmes, he revealed that the Los Angeles Police Department was on the scene on Sunday night and ready to arrest Smith if Rock wanted
“Black Bird,” a limited series starring Taron Egerton and Paul Walter Hauser, will premiere on Apple TV Plus this July 8, the streamer announced Thursday. Based on James Keene and Hillel Levin’s true crime memoir “In With The Devil: A Fallen Hero, A Serial Killer, and A Dangerous Bargain for Redemption,” “Black Bird” stars Egerton
As anyone who’s even fleetingly dipped into the vast, storied genre of the British spy thriller can attest, there are a few different games afoot in “Slow Horses.” What looks at first like a story of restless, demoted spies finding their purpose gets quickly twisted up in MI5 politics. Then, a couple of hours into
When the Nashville chapter of the Recording Academy held its annual pre-Grammys celebration for Tennessee-based nominees in early March, one of those contenders, Yola, filed a report from the party on Instagram. “The vibes were strong,” she wrote, “and so was the melanin!” Looking at the nominations in the country, folk and American roots categories,