While at Series Mania Festival, Larry Tanz, Netflix‘s VP of EMEA Content, unveiled ambitious new shows commissioned from France and the Netherlands, including an untitled thriller series starring Isabelle Adjani, and “Amsterdam Empire,” a Dutch crime series starring and executive produced by Famke Janssen. The untitled French thriller series revolves around a young mother on
Paris-based film sales agency Cat&Docs has acquired “Kamay,” the debut feature documentary from filmmakers Ilyas Yourish and Shahrokh Bikaran. The film will world premiere at Visions du Réel, which runs in Nyon, Switzerland, April 12-24. Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer (below). In “Kamay,” the filmmakers pick up the story of a
Net profits at Tencent Music Entertainment, China’s largest digital music company, climbed 36% to reach $735 million (RMB5.22 billion) in 2023 – despite revenues declining by 2% to $3.91 billion. Fourth quarter profits were worth $198 million (RMB1.41 billion), earned from revenues 7% down at $971 million (RMB6.89 billion). The final figures cap a year
The U.K.’s foremost film college has launched a new intimacy coordinator certificate to help meet the rising demands of the industry. With shows such as “Normal People” and “I May Destroy You” having helped bring the work of intimacy coordinators to the forefront of conversations in recent years, The National Film and TV School has
BYE-BYE BUNYA Australian TV producer Bunya Entertainment says that Sophia Zachariou will step down as co-managing director, after a five-year stint. Bunya Entertainment is one part the Bunya Group of companies and was established by Zachariou, David Jowsey and Greer Simpkin in 2019. Zachariou is currently in post-production on “The Office” (Amazon) and “Ladies in Black” (ABC) and will deliver
Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel has unveiled the program for its 55th edition, which includes 10 first films out of 15 in the main international competition, cementing its reputation as a springboard for emerging talent. The official selection includes 165 films from 50 countries, with gender parity for the second-year running, and no
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the series finale of “Young Royals,” now streaming on Netflix. Long live the (former) Crown Prince! In the series finale of Netflix’s queer romance “Young Royals,” Wilhelm (Edvin Ryding) officially abdicates the throne as the future king of Sweden, effectively handing the crown to his cousin/sometimes rival August
Germany’s Beta Film (“Babylon Berlin”) sets its sights on the Croisette for the world premiere of Dutch Royal drama “Máxima,” selected to screen out-of-competition at Canneseries on April 9. In tow, Delfina Chaves (“The Secret of the Greco Family”), who portrays the titular character in the series that Variety recently likened to Emmy-Award-Winning Netflix Drama “The Crown.”
Prime Video has revealed a title and the extended cast for the Indian instalment of “Citadel,” the espionage action series created by the Russo brothers. The Indian series within the “Citadel” universe will be called “Citadel: Honey Bunny.” As previously announced, Varun Dhawan and Samantha Ruth Prabhu will lead the cast. Prabhu will play Honey and Dhawan portray
Alfred Herrhausen, born in 1930, was the chairman of Deutsche Bank. But to the team behind German series “Herrhausen – The Banker and the Bomb,” premiering at Series Mania, he was a “visionary.” “He was a humane banker, always looking into the future. What you see in this show is a person who tries to
Grainne Brunsdon has been promoted to chief operating officer within federal funding and policy body Screen Australia. She was the organization’s director of content, where she led production investment and development, distribution support, and business initiatives for the last two years. Starting the new job from April 1, Brunsdon succeeds Michael Brealey, who departed the
Based on the book by Magnus Montelius, Swedish series “8 Months” seemed more like a fantasy than political thriller. Not for long. “I read this book on vacation and I was intrigued by the idea that you could use a political consultant to find a new foreign minister. The only problem was that it was
LILLE — Creating a major and ambitious new player on the Spanish-language film-TV scene, Amaya Muruzábal – showrunner, screenwriter, and executive producer on Amazon MGM Studios’ just-out big hit “Red Queen” and creator and executive producer on milestone production “Hernán” – is launching her own film-TV production house, M Content. M Content is founded with
“’I sacrificed my love on the altars of fame,’ Leonard Cohen said in the ‘70s,” “So Long, Marianne” showrunner Øystein Karlsen notes. Cohen was referring of course to his ‘60s decade-long relationship with Norway’s Marianne Ilhen, which shaped him for life. One of the highest-profile and most anticipated world premieres in Series Mania main competition,
Spinning audiences back to the mid-1970s, UFA Fiction‘s latest period series “Disko 76” is set in a pivotal time in the industrial heartland of West Germany as a new American pop music craze takes over the airwaves and dance floors. The six-part series, which premiered at the recent Berlinale Series Market, continues its international
“Catch Me a Killer” comprises many firsts: It is a series about South Africa’s first-ever criminal profiler, the first-ever woman to occupy such a position and, now, the first-ever series entirely shot in South Africa to be in International Panorama competition at Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV festival. Abacus Media Rights(AMR), an Amcomri Entertainment company,
Five upcoming Spanish TV fiction projects, involving top local production and distribution companies, feature in Coming Next from Spain, a showcase of series unspooling March 19 at Series Mania. Atresmedia TV’s “Sanctuary,” Movistar+ Plus’ “Fine Arts,” Filmax‘s “Dating in Barcelona” Season 2, The Good Mood-Mediawan’s “The Other Life” and Onza Distribution‘s “Heartless” will be presented
“The Boy and the Heron,” the Oscar-winning animated feature film by iconic Japanese director Miyazaki Hayao, is finally to be given a release in cinemas in mainland China. The picture is scheduled to release in China on April 3, 2024, according to Alibaba Pictures. Tickets are already available on booking sites such as Maoyan and
Top Bollywood star Ajay Devgn‘s Indian visual effects studio NY VFXWaala has set a strategic partnership with Sweden’s Goodbye Kansas Studio. NY VFXWaala has secured a major stake in Goodbye Kansas, through an offshore subsidiary, while simultaneously launching a joint venture studio in India. “Shaitaan,” starring Devgn, is currently in cinemas and is one of
Geno Michellini, a familiar voice to Los Angeles rock fans as the afternoon DJ during the ’80s and ’90s on KLOS, died March 2 at age 77. The death was not widely reported until Monday. An official obituary written by friends David Forman and Frank Martin said he “passed peacefully at home of natural causes
IATSE resumed negotiations with the major studios on Monday, with a day spent focused on items relevant to the International Cinematographers Guild, Local 600. IATSE began talks earlier this month, as it seeks to address artificial intelligence, see wage increases to make up for inflation, and close a significant shortfall in its pension and health
For decades, there have been studies and conversations regarding the perils of obesity, and though being overweight doesn’t inherently make someone unhealthy, it can cause severe medical issues. While those who struggle with excess weight are often told to eat fewer calories and exercise daily, millions of people are still categorized as obese. Now, in
Dua Lipa has much different expectations leading into her upcoming third album “Radical Optimism” than with her last, “Future Nostalgia.” “It was a record that I envisioned coming out at a time when people could have been out and dancing and in clubs and enjoying a disco record in that way. And it was the
Beth Peters, an actor and singer who had a recurring role on “General Hospital,” died on March 14 in central Florida after a short illness. She was 92. In the early 1980s, Peters appeared in eight episodes of the popular ABC soap opera as the character Mrs. Whitaker. In an obituary for Peters provided to
A tale of disability, abuse, expectations and family secrets, “She Looks Like Me” from director Torquil Jones has a headstart on most documentaries, given its subject matter’s winding twists and turns. Some key details end up obscured — there’s enough real-life material here to fill an entire miniseries — but the film has an alluring
MGM Resorts came to Bruno Mars‘ defense on Monday after rumors circulated about the Grammy winner’s debt with the casino. In the last week, a report from NewsNation made claims that Mars had racked up over $50 million in gambling debt at MGM. They cited an anonymous source close to the situation that said Mars allegedly
The upcoming Starz series “The Hunting Wives” has added four new series regulars to its cast. Chrissy Metz, Jaime Ray Newman, Katie Lowes and George Ferrier have all joined the series, alongside previously announced cast members Malin Åkerman, Brittany Snow, Dermot Mulroney and Evan Jonigkeit. The official description for “The Hunting Wives” reveals that the
Thirty years after its release, the supernatural superhero thriller “The Crow” is getting the remake treatment from director Rupert Sanders and star Bill Skarsgård. But Alex Proyas, the director of the original 1994 film starring Brandon Lee, doesn’t think that’s a good idea. “I really don’t get any joy from seeing negativity about any fellow
After making their first narrative feature “Nyad,” which debuted last year and earned Oscar nominations for the film’s stars Annette Bening and Jodie Foster, Academy Award winning directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi (“Free Solo”) are returning to their documentary roots with “Photographer.” The six-part National Geographic docuseries features seven photographers — Cristina Mittermeier
Rian Johnson and Ram Bergman’s company T-Street has signed a two-picture producing deal with Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group. Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy, who took over as the studio’s co-chairs and CEOs in 2022, orchestrated the deal. It marks the producers’ first collaboration with Warner Bros., having previously worked with Lionsgate on the box office hit “Knives Out,”