From dragon scales to the five elements of Chinese philosophy, production designer Sue Chan worked to incorporate numerous element into the set details of Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” From ancient worlds to San Francisco and a magical village protected by dragons, Chan and her team were faced with the mammoth
Audiences on the Lido may be forgiven for thinking they’ve seen the Ukrainian entry in the competition, “Reflection,” before in Venice. Director Valentyn Vasyanovych’s somber study of the toll in the war against Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine is shot in his trademark series of static, single-frame shots, like “Atlantis” – which won the Venice
Sony has altered release plans for “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” for the fifth — and hopefully final — time. In a surprise move, the comic book adaptation, starring Tom Hardy as the journalist turned alien symbiote, will debut in theaters earlier than expected on Oct. 1. The “Venom” sequel was scheduled to premiere in
“Happening” does not extravagantly announce itself as a period piece, though gradually you figure it out. The young women on whom it’s focused speak in a way that sounds more or less contemporary, if you’re not thinking too hard about it. And if their outfits are a little dated, the film is shot in such
Amid the dramas and controversies spawned by the long-awaited release of Drake’s “Certified Lover Boy” album, the biggest may have been the surprising presence of a songwriting credit on the song “TSU” for fallen R&B superstar R. Kelly, who is currently on trial for sex trafficking and racketeering charges amid allegations of sexual abuse against
“The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains” has just opened at the Vogue Multicultural Museum, making its first U.S. stop on an international tour in the heart of Hollywood. Down on the corner, and in surrounding blocks, you can find tourist shops selling “Dark Side of the Moon” T-shirts (mostly unlicensed, probably) — but it’s
British wunderkind Phoebe Waller-Bridge has exited Amazon’s “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” series. Multiple sources confirmed to Variety that Waller-Bridge, best known for her indie TV hit “Fleabag,” has left the project due to creative differences with fellow star and executive producer Donald Glover. According to those close to the project, Waller-Bridge’s departure is amicable and
The previously postponed Beijing International Film Festival is to make a 2021 comeback and will be held later this month in the Chinese capital. The festival is normally held in late April, but organizers took the precautionary move of shifting it to August this year. They were only days out from the opening night when
Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani, who is at the Venice Film Festival gap financing market with the documentary “Kabul Melody,” says the lives of more than 150 students of Kabul’s National Institute of Music (ANIM) are at risk after armed Taliban guards shuttered the school and smashed all the musical instruments inside. A few days after
This year’s seventh edition of the Ibero-American Platino Awards (Premios Platinos) will honor Mexican actor, director, producer and festival organizer Diego Luna with the Platino Award of Honor. An itinerant award show by design, this year’s Platinos will be held on Oct. 3 in Madrid. At just 41 years old, Luna will be the youngest
Marvel’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” capped off Labor Day weekend at the box office with a bang. The superhero action adventure, starring Canadian actor Simu Liu, had an even bigger debut than expected, collecting $90 million in its first four days of release and setting a new high watermark for the
8:02 AM PT — Amelia’s mom is also throwing shade at Scott, on last week’s episode of ‘RHOBH’ Lisa Rinna said she wished that Amelia was dating Harry Styles and not Scott … and yesterday Lisa posted a photo of Harry performing. Waiting for your permission to load the Instagram Media. Scott Disick had to
New features by some of the most prominent filmmakers from the Asia-Pacific region including The Philippines’ Brillante Mendoza, Bangladesh’s Mostofa Sarwar Farooki and Japan’s Ogigami Naoko are among the seven titles competing for the Kim Jiseok Award at the upcoming 26th Busan International Film Festival (Oct. 6-16, 2021). Works by Royston Tan from Singapore, China’s
When it comes to exploring relationships, Ingmar Begman’s iconic television series-turned-movie “Scenes from a Marriage” is still as relevant today as it was when it first aired almost fifty years ago. Which is why, when showrunner Hagai Levi (“In Treatment,” “The Affair”) was first approached about re-making the series, which plays out of competition at
SOCCER Sky and London’s Tottenham Hotspur, featured in the 2020 edition of Amazon Prime Video’s hit “All or Nothing” documentary series, will work together to make the club’s Sept. 19 fixture against London rivals Chelsea Football Club the world’s first net zero carbon major soccer match, ahead of next month’s UN COP26 Climate Change Conference
Saudi Arabia’s nascent Red Sea International Film Festival has revealed 14 Arabic feature films selected to receive production and post-production funding from its Red Sea Fund. The announcement was made at the Venice Film Festival where the Red Sea festival and Saudi Arabia’s fledgling film industry have a substantial presence. Among the beneficiaries of the
“The Bridge” creator Hans Rosenfeldt is set to adapt Astrid Lindgren’s bestselling book “Ronja the Robber’s Daughter” into a fantasy series for NENT Group. The Swedish-language series will be directed by Lisa James Larsson (“Victoria”), and produced by Bonnie Skoog Feeney and Mattias Arehn (“Beartown”) at Filmlance, a Banijay company. Sara Askelöf for NENT Group
“Planet Earth” producer Jonny Keeling has been appointed the new head of the BBC’s Natural History Unit (NHU), Variety can exclusively reveal. He takes up the new role in December. Keeling, who is currently series producer on “Planet Earth III,” will be responsible for all of the NHU’s creative and commercial activity, reporting to BBC
“Mister Crocodile,” “Corgi, A Royal Family” and “Piggy Builders” are among 84 TV series animated projects set to unspool at the 2021 Cartoon Forum which takes place in Toulouse, southern France, over Sept. 20-23 in an entirely in-person format. 21 countries from Europe will introduce animated projects at pitching sessions and industry networking, the backbone of
“Parasite” director Bong Joon Ho, this year’s Venice jury president, famously accepted his 2020 Golden Globe for best foreign film by assuring audiences that “once you overcome the one-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films.” This is especially true at this year’s festival, where in addition to the
Premiering out of Venice’s Horizons Extra sidebar on Tuesday, ”My Night” marks the feature debut of Antoinette Boulat, a leading casting directors behind recent films like “The French Dispatch,” “Bergman Island” and “Non-Fiction,” now making the jump behind the lens. A veteran of the French industry, Boulat co-wrote and directed this intimate character study that
Machine Gun Kelly‘s first time directing a movie is already eventful — a parking lot attendant is accusing him of battery … something folks on the movie set say simply did not happen. Law enforcement sources tell us the L.A. parking attendant filed a police report claiming MGK was upset over a delay in getting
Lorenzo Vigas, who made film festival history by being the first Venezuelan-born filmmaker to snag the Venice Golden Lion in 2015, is back on the Lido with “The Box” (“La Caja”), the final part of a trilogy that began with his Cannes Critics’ Week short “Elephants Never Forget” and continued with his Venice-winning feature debut,
In Donbass, young Ukrainian soldiers still fight against pro-Russian separatists. Loup Bureau’s “Trenches,” world premiered in the Out of Competition strand of the Venice Film Festival, is a fascinating journey into their troubled existences. Variety spoke to the French journalist about the challenges posed by the making of this complex war documentary. Bureau started developing
Aditya Vikram Sengupta’s debut feature, “Labour of Love,” bowed at Venice Days in 2014 where it won the Fedeora Award for best director of a debut film, en route to winning several international awards and at home in India. He’s back on the Lido with “Once Upon a Time in Calcutta,” his third feature, which
Lebanese director Mounia Akl’s long-gestating first feature, “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” which screens in Venice Horizons, is about her relationship with Beirut and Lebanon “and the complexity of this love/hate relationship that is becoming more and more complicated as our country is falling apart,” she says. The country’s complications came literally crashing into the pic’s production
French sales and co-production company Charades has forged an alliance with Italy’s I Wonder Pictures to jointly seek out projects by under-the-radar Italian cinema directors that they can board as co-producers and distribute in Italy and around the world. The pact between Charades, a prominent Paris-based indie outfit headed by veteran sales agent and former
“Madeleine Collins,” a psychological thriller headlined by “Benedetta” star and Venice jury member Virginie Efira, has been sold by Charades to a raft of buyers. The movie had world premiere in the Venice Days section on Saturday and was warmly received by critics across the board. Helmed by Antoine Barraud, “Madeleine Collins” stars Efira as
Film Movement has acquired U.S. rights to Italian director Mario Martone’s “The King of Laughter” (“Qui Rido Io”) ahead of its world premiere Tuesday in competition at the Venice Film Festival. The film, being sold internationally by Italy’s True Colours, toplines Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) as popular and prolific early 20th century Neapolitan actor
Emerging Cambodian filmmaker Kavich Neang has a deep personal connection with the White Building, an iconic structure that was demolished in 2017. Neang’s fiction film “White Building” has its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival’s Horizons strand, and the filmmaker has also explored the subject in the Rotterdam-winning documentary “Last Night I Saw You