Entertainment News Boom

After dazzling the in-person audience at the Toronto Film Festival, writer-director Kenneth Branagh broke down crying over his loosely autobiographical film “Belfast.” Following what was easily the most rapturous response to a festival entry at Toronto’s Roy Thomson hall this year, Branagh was overcome in a Q&A describing the inspiration behind the film. “I started

Ben Best, the co-creator of HBO’s “Eastbound & Down” who also played Clegg in the series, has died. He was 46. Rough House Pictures, which produced “Eastbound & Down,” confirmed the news of Best’s death on Instagram with the caption, “It’s with heavy hearts we say goodbye to our good buddy Ben Best. We lost

German-Jewish artist Charlotte Salomon, who was murdered in Auschwitz at age 26, and her autobiographical masterwork “Life? or Theatre?,” which was created in a two-year burst in the early 1940s, are the subjects of “Charlotte,” a unique animated biopic drama that marks a career turning point for Toronto producer Julia Rosenberg. Rosenberg first encountered “Life? or

Indian studios T-Series and Reliance Entertainment have partnered for a slate of more than 10 films with a total investment of INR10 billion ($136.2 million). The films will be across across genres and will be a mix of big budget tentpoles as well as mid and small budget films. They are in various stages of

The world premiere of Danis Goulet’s first feature, “Night Raiders,” in Berlin generated positive reviews and led to a U.S. sale to Samuel Goldwyn. But to the Toronto-based, Cree-Métis filmmaker it all felt a little abstract. “I haven’t seen an audience reaction, so Toronto feels like the premiere,” she told Variety during a break from directing the Netflix

Mirjana Karanović, an actor best known for her starring role in Emir Kusturica’s “When Father Was Away on Business” and Jasmila Žbanić’s Golden Bear winner “Grbavica,” is preparing to direct her second feature, “Mother Mara.” This follows her directorial debut, “A Good Wife,” which competed in Sundance’s World Cinema – Dramatic section in 2016, and

“Citizen Ashe,” a new documentary about tennis star Arthur Ashe, is as interested in its subject’s political evolution as it is in his heroics on the court. Ashe was one of the top tennis players in the world for much of the 1960s and ’70s, winning the U.S. Open and the Australian Open and becoming

For the first time in its 46-year history, a Tanzanian film is part of the official selection of the Toronto Film Festival, as Amil Shivji’s “Vuta N’Kuvute” (Tug of War) prepares to bow at the Canadian fest on Sept. 13. Set in colonial-era Zanzibar, “Tug of War” is the story of a young freedom fighter

Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook Inc. could become the latest celebrity-backed media company to secure a splashy deal. The company, which produces the popular “Red Table Talk” on Facebook Watch and is backing the upcoming “King Richard,” is in negotiations to sell itself to the unnamed media venture run by former Walt Disney

Melanie Laurent, one of France’s most acclaimed actors-turned-filmmakers, has been having a banner 2021, headlining Alexandre Aja’s hit Netflix movie “Oxygene,” sitting on Spike Lee’s Cannes jury, and world premiering her sixth directorial effort “The Mad Women’s Ball” at Toronto. The ambitious period movie marks Amazon’s first French movie original. Laurent (“Inglourious Basterds,””Beginners”) shot the

Belgium’s Fien Troch, who won best director in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons section in 2016 with “Home,” returned to the Lido last week to pitch her fifth feature, “Holly,” in the Venice Gap-Financing Market. The project, which is budgeted at €2.5 million, is produced by Antonino Lombardo’s Belgian outfit Prime Time. The Dardenne Brothers’ company,

Playwright Stephen Karam hasn’t just made a movie out of his Tony-winning play “The Humans”; he’s made an A24 movie, with all the idiosyncrasies and directorial self-indulgences that implies. Over the course of just eight years, A24 has established itself as a distributor for which out-there creative gambits aren’t merely permitted, but outright encouraged. The

Late in “The Starling,” at a stage when Melissa McCarthy’s grieving mother has never felt more distant from her withdrawn husband, she receives a pep talk from Kevin Kline’s wise confidante about the titular bird. When starlings mate, he explains, they build and protect their nest together: “They’re just not meant to exist in the

Eight months after winning the documentary Oscar for “Free Solo,” directors Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin began working on their next documentary project: National Geographic’s “The Rescue.” The directing duo used never-before-seen footage and exclusive interviews to tell the story of the dramatic 2018 rescue of 12 Thai boys and their soccer coach from

Barry Levinson is back at the Toronto International Film Festival with “The Survivor,” the incredible story of Harry Haft, who managed to survive Auschwitz by boxing his fellow prisoners. After moving to America, Haft boxed professionally, having a memorable bout with Rocky Marciano, but continued to be haunted by his experiences in the concentration camps.

Canadian actor Sarah Gadon told Variety Saturday she was “really happy” with the decisions of Venice’s main jury this year, on which she served alongside Bong Joon-ho, Saverio Costanzo, Virginie Efira, Cynthia Erivo, Alexander Nanau and last year’s Golden Lion winner Chloé Zhao. The jury gave the Golden Lion to French director Audrey Diwan’s powerful

Waxing, waning COVID restrictions continue to force filmmakers to develop workarounds if they want to work at all. While one can admire their enterprise, it would be fibbing to pretend most such efforts to date have been very interesting as art or entertainment, beyond the novelty of whatever conceptual gimmick allowed them to keep cast