Two-time Oscar-winning director Asghar Farhadi has been fully cleared by an Iranian court of allegations of plagiarism pertaining to his film “A Hero” that launched from the 2021 Cannes Film Festival. Farhadi’s former student Azadeh Masihzadeh had accused the filmmaker of stealing the idea for “A Hero” from a documentary she made during a filmmaking workshop
Elliot Page heads to the U.K on Thursday to open the BFI Flare, London’s LGBTQIA+ film festival, for the European premiere of “Close to You.” Written and directed by Dominic Savage (behind the recent acclaimed “I Am…” anthology series that has starred the likes of Kate Winslet and Letitia Wright), the film — which bowed in
Sales agency Utopia Docs has shared the international trailer in exclusivity with Variety for “Canuto’s Transformation,” winner of the best film and outstanding artistic contribution awards in the Envision section of the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam. After IDFA, the film was selected at Taiwan Documentary Festival, Cinelatino Toulouse, Jean Rouch Film Festival and Tempo
The honors were evenly distributed at the 2024 Hong Kong – Asia Film Financing Forum awards with no film project winning more than two prizes. Zhang Zhongchen’s work-in-progress “The Land is Our Navel” (China), that tracks a surreal journey beginning in a village, will be one of five projects invited to go to Cannes. It
Hong Kong’s Film Development Council has unveiled the first shortlisted projects under its new scheme to develop content for streaming platforms. The Content Development Scheme for Streaming Platforms was announced last year. It aims to nurture cross-sectoral production teams and expand new distribution market and takes the form of a competition to recruit participating teams
Argentina’s right-wing populist president Javier Milei is forging ahead with his administration’s plans to defund the country’s film-TV institute INCAA, which will adversely impact national film festivals such as the Mar del Plata and federal aid for national film releases, state-run cinemas and film schools, among others. It also jeopardizes the prominent Buenos Aires-based film
Taylor Swift fans who’ve been hankering to finally see her filmed performance of “Cardigan” won’t have to wait until her “Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version)” supercut premieres on Disney+ Friday evening. A portion of “Cardigan” is being made available as an exclusive clip on Apple’s App Store. The “Cardigan” clip was given a late-night release on
Warner Bros.’ “Dune: Part II” continued its reign at the U.K. and Ireland box office for the second weekend in a row with £5.9 million ($7.5 million), according to numbers released by Comscore. Denis Villeneuve’s anticipated sequel has an all-star cast including Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Zendaya, Charlotte Rampling
FOR THE AGES Revered Indian actor Waheeda Rehman, who was accorded the Dadasaheb Phalke award, India’s highest film honor, last year, has donated her personal memorabilia to the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF) for preservation. Rehman, the 86-year-old grande dame of Indian cinema, has worked with most of the legendary filmmakers of her country during her career and the
In 99% of Hollywood movies, the goal is to make the stunt work invisible. Audiences are supposed to believe that the star — or better yet, the character he plays — put his own life at risk jumping off buildings, blowing up cars or duking it out with squads of bad guys. In “The Fall
Fresh off her recent stint hosting “Saturday Night Live,” Sydney Sweeney made her way to Austin and SXSW for the world premiere of her new religious horror film “Immaculate” — and on Tuesday night, she had the crowd screaming (and laughing at their own reactions) at the Paramount Theatre. The jump scares, in particular, had
NBCUniversal is testing a new game for the Paris Olympics. The Comcast-backed media conglomerate has for years launched every Summer Games with primetime coverage of the Opening Ceremonies that typically feature a top sportscaster like Mike Tirico or Bob Costas alongside a popular news anchor such as Savannah Guthrie or Katie Couric. In 2024, the
DC Young Fly, Issa Rae and “A Black Lady Sketch Show” joined the list of early winners at the 2024 NAACP Image Awards. DC Young Fly picked up two awards during the second of three nights of virtual Image Awards ceremonies, hosted by Khleo Thomas. He was named outstanding host in a reality/reality competition, game
Neil Young is bringing his music back to Spotify — because, he said, Apple and Amazon have “started serving the same disinformation” in podcasts that was the reason he quit Spotify more than two years ago. And Young said he can’t boycott Apple Music and Amazon Music, because then his music would have “very little
United Talent Agency has been accused of breach of contract and fraud in relation to its 2021 acquisition of the consultancy firm MediaLink. MediaLink founder and UTA partner Michael Kassan, whose exit from the company nearly a week ago has not yet been reported, claims that UTA CEO Jeremy Zimmer and two other top executives
Faye Bradley Hong Kong Design Institute has announced the opening of a new virtual production studio at Shaw Studios, one of the biggest and most comprehensive film facilities in the Greater Bay Area. It is intended to support professional education in the sector and enhance filming facilities in the city. The new studio boasts state-of-the-art
Netflix has ordered the limited series “Untamed” with Erica Bana attached to star, Variety has learned exclusively. The six-episode series hails from writers Mark L. Smith and his daughter, Elle Smith. The series is described as a character driven mystery thriller in which Bana plays Eric Inman, “a special agent for the National Parks Service
Chinese creatives are refining a new trend in entertainment: the super-short streaming series. Each episode in the series typically lasts less than two minutes, making them easily consumable on mobile devices. Each series consists of 20 to 100 episodes in total, and covers a wide range of genres such as comedy and romance. “The mini-drama
Korean American writer and director Josh Kim journeys to the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum with “Camellia Girl,” which is in development. His track record notably includes Thailand’s 2015 Oscar entry “How to Win at Checkers (Every Time),” the HBO Asia horror-drama series “Forbidden” and a body of shorts for Apple, Google, NPR
Kristen Stewart has responded to critics of her recent Rolling Stone cover, which prompted controversy upon its release. As a guest on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” Stewart was asked why she believes the cover, which shows her with her hand inside her jockstrap, has received such negative attention. Colbert initiated the conversation after
The third installment of the “Venom” franchise finally has a title, “Venom: The Last Dance.” Sony has also moved up the film’s release date to Oct. 25, 2024, from the previously-announced Nov. 8 date. Plot details are still under wraps, but Tom Hardy will return as the lethal protector Eddie Brock/Venom in the film, also starring Juno
Sydney Sweeney is one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, but fans are sure to be shocked by her wild new horror movie that pushes her creativity in front of and behind the camera to new extremes. “Immaculate” is the third project that director Michael Mohan and Sweeney have collaborated on, after the 2018 series “Everything Sucks!”
Chinese television production company Linmon Pictures is deepening its ties with the Thai entertainment industry, announcing two upcoming projects: “Under the Skin,” a Thai remake of popular Chinese series, alongside “The Fairest Lady,” marking Linmon’s debut Thai production. The projects were announced at a panel discussion on March 12 at Hong Kong’s FilMart. During last
Jerry Foley, who served as director of “The Late Show with David Letterman” from 1995 until the end of its run — died March 10 at the Albany Medical Center in Albany, N.Y. A family friend said he died following a ski accident in Vermont. He was 68. Foley, who was the brother of director
Arvin Chen, the American-Taiwanese director, is two months into shooting “Coolie,” one of the most ambitious independently produced TV series originating from Asia, and is currently shifting filming from the Dominican Republic to Panama (see first-look image above). “Having directed some episodes of [Apple TV+’s] ‘Pachinko,’ which was also a period piece in three languages
“The Echo of the Leopard,” which has been selected for the 22nd Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum, marks a confluence of the talents of Hanna Jalali and Moeinoddin Jalali, who are based in both Ukraine and Iran. The filmmakers are graduates of the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University.
Philippines horror film “Legend of the Tall Grass” (aka “Talahib”), directed by Alvin Yapan, has been picked up for international sales by U.S.-Thai finance, production and sales firm EST N8. Set in an abandoned subdivision, the story follows police officer Bong and police inspector Roman as they investigate a string of paranormal killings amidst the
Dominic Sangma‘s “Rapture” (“Rimdogittanga”), which was a nominee at the recently concluded Asian Film Awards, has been snapped up for French distribution by Capricci, it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart. The film revolves around a 10-year-old boy who suffers from night blindness and for whom every night is terrifying when his village
Indonesia’s KawanKawan Media has wrapped principal photography on feature “Tale of the Land,” it was revealed at Hong Kong rights market FilMart. KawanKawan is the production company behind Makbul Mubarak’s Venice winner “Autobiography” and Amanda Nell Eu’s Cannes-winning “Tiger Stripes.” “Tale of the Land” participated at FeatureLab Torino Film Lab in 2017, followed by the
“Vanderpump Rules” stars Scheana Shay and her husband, Brock Davies, have been cast as guest stars in an upcoming “Lopez vs. Lopez” episode, set to air on April 23. In the NBC comedy series starring George Lopez and his daughter Mayan Lopez, Shay and Davies join Season 2 as characters named Erica and Justin, respectively.