Yellowbrick, the New York-based online education platform that focuses on developing training and certification programs for careers in arts, entertainment, media and sports, has acquired the Animation Mentor platform that targets animation-specific instruction. Yellowbrick has also landed a seven-figure investment from Sony Innovation Fund by IGV, a venture capital fund led by Sony and others
For those who have been watching “Bachelor in Paradise” this season, things look different down in Mexico. For the first time ever, the summer series is not being led by Chris Harrison. Following the longtime host’s controversial departure earlier this year, the gig is being filled by a rotating slew of celebrities: former boy bander
Kanye West’s first “Donda” listening party in Atlanta last month was a simple event — as much as an album-listening party in a football stadium can be simple — featuring the rapper, clad in a mask, stomping around the stadium floor as his album played. The second listening party, also at Mercedes Benz Stadium earlier this
French actor-turned-director Stéphane Freiss started shooting in Italy Monday on “Face à Toi,” a drama toplining emerging French star Lou de Laâge and Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio (“Three Floors”), set against the backdrop of the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot. De Laâge plays the 25-year-old Esther who has always lived in a very close-knit Jewish Orthodox
Netflix U.K. is growing its stable of unscripted shows with a monster-sized dance competition, an awkward dating show that puts siblings in the hot seat and a reality series that sends a group of “snowflakes” into the wilderness to learn some home truths. The streamer has also set a winter debut for its reality hit
“Love Island” scored a record 2.8 million viewers for ITV2 during the season finale on Monday night, which saw loved-up duo Millie Court and Liam Reardon take home the £50,000 cash prize along with requisite bragging rights. The numbers were 430,000 higher than the last season final, and beat the highest season 7 episode by
My Morning Jacket will release its first new studio album in nearly six years, an 11-track, self-titled affair, on Oct. 22 via ATO Records. First single “Regularly Scheduled Programming” is out now, accompanied by a video directed by frontman Jim James (pictured in center) in tandem with George Mays. The group will support the new
Spotify is flinging open the doors to its podcast-subscription program to anyone in the U.S., as the audio streamer rolls out new monetization options for podcast creators as part of its ongoing battle with Apple. Along with the broader availability, Spotify is expanding monthly subscription options creators can charge to 20 different price points —
Oscar-winner Tilda Swinton is the narrator of “Goliath: Playing With Reality,” a virtual reality experience about a schizophrenic man who finds human connection by playing video games, which is set to have its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival. Directed by Barry Gene Murphy and May Abdalla, “Goliath” is a 25-minute animated
Josh Sapan, a cable pioneer who has headed AMC Networks and its predecessors in the Dolan cable dynasty for more than 25 years, is seguing to the vice chairman role at AMC Networks. Matt Blank, a contemporary of Sapan’s who headed Showtime for 20 years, has been tapped as interim CEO while AMC Networks conducts
In between an Adventist Church and a parish church belonging to the Church of Norway in the coastal town of Haugesund lies the Haugesund Public Library which proved the setting for the first major panel discussion at this year’s Haugesund Festival, which turned on Feminism and Religion. In this Christian-dominated environment, the conversation turned in
Two internationally-acclaimed documentaries from the Nordic region – “Flee” and “Gunda” – are among the five films nominated for a Nordic Council Film Prize. This is the most prestigious film award in the Nordic region, celebrating films with unique artistic visions that actively engage with Nordic culture. It’s the eighteenth year the Nordic Council Film
Since 2011, the Edinburgh Film Festival’s Talent Lab has nurtured a number of rising filmmakers through an assortment of masterclasses, workshops and individual mentoring sessions: Talents like Ben Sharrock (“Limbo”), Eva Riley (a recent winner BIFA winner for “Perfect 10”) and Rob Savage (“Host”) are alumni of the program. In 2019, however, the program yielded
Orange Studio, the Paris-based film and TV arm of France’s leading telco operator Orange, has poached Charlotte Boucon, SND’s longtime international sales topper. Boucon will be head of world sales for Orange Studio starting on Sept. 1 and will report to Kristina Zimmermann, managing director of the French studio. Under the newly-created role, Boucon will
Channel 4 wants to be “braver” and “more ambitious,” said Jo Street, the network’s head of daytime and features. Street made the comments during a “Commissioners” panel at the Edinburgh TV Festival alongside head of drama Caroline Hollick, head of factual, Danny Horan and head of entertainment and events Phil Harris. “I think the next
Marion Cotillard, the Oscar-winning French actor whose latest film “Annette” won a prize at Cannes, will receive a Donostia Award at the 69th edition of the San Sebastian Festival during the opening ceremony on Sept. 17. Cotillard, who won an Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA award for her performance as Edith Piaf in “La Vie
Channel 4’s head of factual, Danny Horan, has spoken out about the network’s latest commission which features “Monty Python” comedian John Cleese hosting a show about cancel culture. “We’re doing that because we felt we needed to address [cancel culture] somehow and he’s got very strong views on that,” Horan said of Cleese during a
Channel 4 chief content officer Ian Katz believes that the impending privatization of the organization will destroy the essence of the U.K. broadcaster. In a conversation with Variety international editor Manori Ravindran at the ongoing Edinburgh TV Festival on Tuesday, Katz talked up the successful programming strategy of Channel 4, including “It’s A Sin” and
Kicking off its 2021 in-person edition this Thursday, Lille’s Series Mania has announced the creation of two new initiatives which will run under its Series Mania Forum banner. This year, the festival is establishing the Woman in Series Award to honor a key female figure in the European TV industry, as well as the launching
“Burn All My Letters,” Swedish filmmaker Björn Runge’s follow up to his Glen Close starrer “The Wife,” has just started shooting “Burn All My Letters.” The decade-spanning love drama stars Bill Skarsgård (“Deadpool”) and is based on Alex Schulman’s bestselling novel of the same name. Sverrir Gudnason (“Borg vs. McEnroe,” “Gentlemen,” “A Serious Game”) has
Hong Kong is to introduce a new film censorship law that could send anyone responsible for illegal screenings to jail for up to three years. Offenders could also be liable to a HK$1 million ($128,000) fine. The new law is intended to codify national security concerns that were introduced into the city’s film classification ordinance
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to the anticipated Danish epic period drama “Margrete-Queen of the North,” helmed by Charlotte Sieling (“The Bridge,” “The Killing,” “Homeland”). The upscale feature, produced by Birgitte Skov and Lars Bredo Rahbek for Scandinavian major SF Studios, is screening at this week’s Norwegian International Film Festival in Haugesund (Aug.21-27).
FESTIVAL Taliban hostage drama “And Tomorrow We Will Be Dead,” by Swiss filmmaker Michael Steiner (“The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch”) will open the 17th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 23 – Oct. 3). The film follows the story of Daniela Widmer (Morgane Ferru) and David Och (Sven Schelker), the Swiss couple were kidnapped and handed over
Director Douglas Mackinnon, whose credits include “Doctor Who,” “Sherlock” and Neil Gaiman’s “Good Omens,” still recalls the moment he realized that London was no longer the center of the universe in terms of U.K. film and high-end TV production. He was in his native Scotland, where he was directing a few episodes of “Outlander,” when
Film can provide a vital lens for documenting histories which have otherwise been overlooked or swept away in the wake of a dominant narrative. During a panel at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, titled “The Whole Picture: Adjusting the Lens of History,” a quartet of filmmakers, artists and archivists gathered to discuss how we document
Jennifer Ngo was working as a journalist in London when massive protests broke out in her native Hong Kong in 2019. She watched news feeds and live streams with a mixture of “heartbreak” at the violence and “hope” that Hong Kongers were taking to the streets in the name of democracy once again. “After 2014
Being your own boss sounds like a dream. But for gig workers, that very premise has turned into a nightmare, as Shannon Walsh makes clear in her latest documentary, “The Gig Is Up.” “I’ve been interested in questions around capitalism and exploitation, and technology has always interested me as well,” says Walsh. “And I’m really
Production of “Taiwan Trilogy,” billed as the biggest film project originated from Taiwan, has been put on indefinite hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic and financial problems, the film’s director Wei Te-sheng (“Cape No. 7,” “Seedig Bale”) said on Monday. Filming of the ambitious movie trilogy, that aimed to retell the history of Taiwan starting
Greetings from Variety Awards Headquarters! Today is Aug. 23, 2021, which means it’s 7 days until final voting ends on Aug. 30; and 27 days until the Primetime Emmys telecast on Sept. 19. We’re less than a month away from the Emmys! Just 27 days away from the big event at the L.A. Live events deck. I know 27 days doesn’t
Disney’s “Luca” is the first Hollywood picture to get a release in China in weeks, but its opening figures didn’t make that big of a splash — at least, not close to enough to douse the continued reign of Donnie Yen action film “Raging Fire.” The animation directed and co-written by Enrico Casarosa swam to