While Western cinema all too often equates film noir with retro pastiche and period fare, Chinese filmmakers continue to sustain the genre in bracingly contemporary, socially relevant ways — often sneaking a wealth of political and economic commentary past censors and straight into their sleek underworld narratives. Zhang Ji’s remarkable debut feature, “Fire on the
Mystery-themed content is a key strand of the E-IP market set to take place next month alongside the Busan International Film Festival. The pitching and intellectual property trading event (Oct. 11-14, 2021) is the only component of Busan’s Asian Content and Film Market this year that will be operated as a hybrid combining both online
“Gensan Punch,” the upcoming film by celebrated Filipino director Brillante Mendoza (“Kinatay,” “Ma’ Rosa,” “Alpha: The Right To Kill”), has been set as an HBO Asia Original movie. It will become available on regional streaming service HBO Go in the next few months. Ahead of that, the film will have its world premiere next month
Indian director Jiju Antony’s “A Miracle of Love,” selected at Busan’s Asian Project Market, is informed by the filmmaker’s own life experience. “The script is heavily inspired by an episode from my personal experiences in raising my son who’s living with autism,” Antony tells Variety. “There are thousands of defining moments in our journey with
Feature debutant Natesh Hegde’s “Pedro,” which has its world premiere at Busan’s New Currents strand and has subsequent play dates at the BFI London Film Festival, explores the theme of outsiders in society. The titular Pedro is a taciturn electrician in a forest village in the foothills of western India. He also does odd jobs
The Busan festival has experienced its share of fandom in previous editions, with everything from frenetic crowds at guest visits in Haeundae, an overflowing BIFF Square in Nampodong, through to star-struck teenagers camping in the entrance to the Grand Hotel. None of these are particularly appropriate in the age of COVID and social distancing. With
Busan’s Asian Film Maker of the Year Award has become almost indistinguishable from a lifetime achievement award. But that need not diminish either the recipient or the festival. Im Kwon-taek is arguably the best-known South Korean film director to have straddled both the modern era and the earlier time when the country and the film
“The Rapist,” which has its premiere next month at the Busan International Film Festival is the hardest hitting film that Indian filmmaker Aparna Sen has ever made. A chronicler of different aspects of Indian life, Sen has previously won global acclaim for her eclectic body of work, which includes “36 Chowringhee Lane” (1981), “Paroma” (1985)
Leading Indian actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui (“Sacred Games”) is buzzing. He has just been nominated for a best actor international Emmy for Sudhir Mishra’s Netflix film “Serious Men.” Siddiqui’s next big international splash is with Bangladeshi director Mostofa Sarwar Farooki’s “No Land’s Man,” where he plays the lead. The film has its world premiere at the
As a strike authorization vote looms, some IATSE members have decided to cancel their streaming subscriptions in hopes of sending a message that would hit the studios in the pocketbook. Workers in the below-the-line entertainment unions are gearing up to vote to authorize a strike this weekend, amid anger over long production hours without adequate
Greetings from Variety Awards Headquarters! Today is Sept. 27, 2021, which means it’s been a little more than a week since this year’s Emmy telecast on Sept. 19. It’s 246 days until the end of next year’s Emmy eligibility period, on May 31, 2022. We did it! We made it to the other side of another crazy,
George Frayne IV, who led the band Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, a group that combined elements of the rock counterculture with a love for roots music in the early 1970s, died Sunday at age 77. Frayne had been receiving treatment for cancer for several years. “Early this morning, as I lay my
Channel 4 and BBC alumna Babita Bahal is joining Fremantle in the newly created role of group head of diversity, equity and inclusion, reporting to group HR director Nicky Gray. Bahal was head of creative diversity at U.K. broadcaster Channel 4 where she was instrumental to key projects including the channel’s recent “Black to Front”
In the world of rock ’n’ roll, sometimes you’ve got to dream big. Indeed, Jack Black and Kyle Gass frequently proclaimed their duo Tenacious D to be “the greatest band on earth” on their eponymous HBO series, which stretched six episodes out between 1997-2000. On the show, Black and Gass utilized nothing more than acoustic
The planned spinoff of “The Boys” has officially been ordered to series at Amazon, Variety has confirmed. In addition, Michele Fazekas and Tara Butters will take over as showrunners following the exit of Craig Rosenberg. Rosenberg is an executive producer on “The Boys” but departed the spinoff over creative differences. Set at America’s only college exclusively
After more than twenty years of horrifying and damning accusations, as of today R. Kelly is officially a convicted felon, having been found guilty by a New York jury of multiple counts of racketeering and sex-trafficking, with more trials to come in other jurisdictions. Almost immediately after the verdict was read, observers began asking: Now
Eva Amurri is the latest addition to the cast of the upcoming Fox country music drama series “Monarch.” Amurri has been cast as the younger version of Dottie Cantrell Roman, who will be played in the present day by Susan Sarandon, Amurri’s mother. Amurri will make her debut in the premiere episode. She joins previously
After almost a two-year hiatus, the Tony Awards came back, but the siren song of Broadway’s biggest and best wasn’t enough to draw a large TV audience. The 9-11 p.m. portion of the Tony Awards that aired on CBS tanked, drawing only 2.62 million viewers per Nielsen’s time-adjusted and corrected Live+Same Day fast overnights and
Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO and chief content officer, revealed what he said was the “most comprehensive look so far” at the streamer’s top 10 TV shows and movies. Sarandos, in an appearance at Vox Media’s Code Conference at the Beverly Hilton, shared two slides. One showed the most popular Netflix shows based on its proprietary
Hannah Waddingham has signed with CAA for representation in all areas, Variety has learned exclusively. She continues to be repped by manager Nick Todisco at Atlas Artists, U.K. agent Peter Brooks at CAM, and publicist Annick Muller at Wolf Kasteler PR. Waddingham currently stars in the critically-acclaimed Apple comedy series “Ted Lasso” in the role of
HBO Max announced that the cast of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin” now includes Sharon Leal, Elena Goode and Lea Salonga as series regulars and Zakiya Young and Carly Pope in recurring roles. Previously announced cast members of the “Pretty Little Liars” reboot include Chandler Kinney, Bailee Madison, Maia Reficco, Malia Pyles, Zaria, Mallory Bechtel,
Jack White made sure the opening of his Third Man Records Store in London over the weekend was a memorable event, playing a special set for an invite-only audience in the store’s Blue Basement performance space before moving outside and rocking neighbors with a short set on artist Damien Hirst’s nearby balcony. White — now
China’s box office slowed to one of its lowest points of the year this week, bringing in a total of just $24.6 million over the three-day weekend, the last before the break-out of patriotic National Day holiday blockbusters arriving Sept. 30, according to data from consultancy Artisan Gateway. That leaves China’s $5.3 billion year-to-date box
The talks that led to CAA acquiring ICM Partners came together in secret over a short period of time — so much so that longtime insiders at both agencies learned of the deal moments before the news was formally announced on Monday. To CAA’s trio of leaders — Bryan Lourd, Richard Lovett and Kevin Huvane
Netflix has ordered a spinoff of the YA comedy series “On My Block.” The new series, titled “Freeridge,” hails from “On My Block” co-creators Lauren Iungerich, Eddie Gonzalez, and Jeremy Haft along with “On My Block” co-producer Jamie Uyeshiro and “On My Block” co-executive producer Jamie Dooner. All are credited as co-creators and executive producers
Singer R. Kelly was found guilty of leading a decades-long scheme to recruit women and underage girls for sex in New York on Monday, with the jury declaring him guilty of all all nine counts of the racketeering and sex-trafficking charges against him, according to the New York Times. The jury, consisting of seven men and
In light of allegations that Britney Spears was under surveillance with her conservators monitoring her phone and bugging her home, the pop star’s attorney has filed a supplemental motion to remove and suspend her father, Jamie Spears, from her conservatorship. In the new court filing, the singer’s attorney, Mathew Rosengart, calls for the immediate suspension
Gravitas Ventures Acquires North American Rights to Documentary ‘Lady Buds’ Gravitas Ventures, a Red Arrow Studios company, acquired North American rights to the documentary “Lady Buds,” directed, produced and written by Chris J. Russo. “Lady Buds” tells the story of six women in cannabis who left their livelihoods behind in the underground market to forge
Courtesy of Fendi and Versace In a world where luxury houses battle it out to stay on top, smart designers are joining forces. So far we’ve seen Gucci “hack” Balencaiga for its Aria collection. Raf Simons joined Miuccia Prada to co-design for the foreseeable future. And yesterday, Fendi and Versace presented a dual runway, a
Check out the Licorice Pizza Official Trailer starring Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman! Let us know what you think in the comments below. ► Visit: http://www.fandango.com?cmp=MCYT_YouTube_Desc Want to be notified of all the latest movie trailers? Subscribe to the channel and click the bell icon to stay up to date. US Release Date: November 25,2021