While the war in Ukraine has upended global geopolitics and ratcheted up tensions between Russia and the West, the impact has been especially profound across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where many inhabitants have themselves been the victims of Moscow’s aggression in the past. In Kazakhstan, which shares the world’s longest land border with Putin’s
Three decades after the fall of the Soviet Union, an emerging generation of filmmakers born and raised in the independent countries of Central Asia is giving an exhilarating charge to the region’s cinema and helping to put their unheralded industries on the map. Leading Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva says these “children of independence” are
Siberian-born entrepreneur Arsen Tomsky is not your typical tech mogul. The CEO of the California-based technology company inDrive got his start far from Silicon Valley, when he designed a ride-hailing app in his native Yakutsk to compete with the cartels that controlled the local taxi industry. One decade later, Tomsky launched the Alternativa Film Project,
Oscar winners Dustin Hoffman and Helen Hunt are attached to star in Peter Greenaway‘s drama “Lucca Mortis,” which has started filming in the Tuscan city of Lucca. The new film by the 81-year-old iconoclastic British filmmaker and artist — known for arthouse hits such as “The Draughtsman’s Contract,” “The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and
Greek non-profit creative incubator Oxbelly has revealed the participants of its 2023 retreat for writers in episodic, fiction and poetry. Founded by producer and Faliro House founder Christos V. Konstantakopoulos, Oxbelly is known for its screenwriters and directors labs — which run under the artistic direction of Athina Rachel Tsangari — and draws a number
Lena Dunham and her husband Luis Felber have co-created a romantic comedy series titled “Too Much” for Netflix. Megan Stalter and Will Sharpe are set to star. “Too Much” follows Jessica (Stalter), a New York workaholic in her mid-30s who is reeling from a broken relationship that she thought would last forever and slowly isolating
Variety Hitmaker of the Year SZA, Karol G and Peso Pluma are among the big honorees in the Recording Industry Association of America’s year-end tally and its “Class of 2023,” recognizing the top albums, singles and first-timers who earned their first Gold & Platinum certifications in 2023. Highlights include: SZA has the most certifications with
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie,” a feminist phenomenon that traces its origins to toy store shelves, dominated nominations for the 2024 Golden Globe Awards. Its 10 nods makes the movie the second most-nominated in the 81-year history of the show, tying it with “Cabaret.” “Barbie” was followed closely by “Oppenheimer,” Christopher Nolan’s look at J. Robert Oppenheimer
The 2024 awards season is starting up, and the Golden Globes nominations are ready to be unveiled. The film and TV nominees will be announced on Monday, Dec. 11, at 8 a.m. ET/5 a.m. PT. Wilmer Valderrama and Cedric the Entertainer are slated to announce the nominees, which will initially be revealed on CBSNews.com/GoldenGlobes. Ten
Denzel Washington being cast in Antoine Fuqua’s upcoming Netflix movie as ancient Carthaginian general Hannibal is sparking some controversy in Tunisia, the home country of the great military commander. According to French newspaper Courrier International, there are complaints about depicting the Carthaginian general as a Black African being made in the media and the Tunisian parliament.
Pham Thien An’s “Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell,” which previously won the Golden Camera at Cannes, has won the Asian Feature Film Competition at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival. Yoon Eun-Kyung won best director for “The Tenants,” which also won the FIPRESCI award. “Dreaming & Dying,” by Singaporean director Nelson Yeo earned a special
The German film industry is eagerly awaiting the appointment of the Berlin Film Festival’s new director, expected to be announced tomorrow, and as the guessing game surrounding the choice shifts into high gear, one thing looks increasingly clear: the new head will face considerable financial and political challenges at the Berlinale. Speculation in the local
Mia McKenna-Bruce (BIFA winner for “How to Have Sex”), Louisa Connolly-Burnham (“Vampire Academy”) and Michael Fox (“Downton Abbey”) will star in “Sister Wives.” The film is a love story that follows two young women living in a strict, fundamentalist, polygamous society. Kaidence and Galilee find themselves bound to one another, under the same roof, in
Aimee Lou Wood and David Morrissey have been tapped for the lead roles in new BBC comedy “Daddy Issues.” Wood is best known for her turns in “Sex Education” and “Living” (the latter opposite Bill Nighy) while Morrissey has starred in “The Walking Dead,” where he played The Governor, and James Graham’s series “Sherwood.” The
BRIDGE STRETCHING DOWN UNDER Australian streamer Stan has acquired rights to both seasons, totaling 20 episodes, of the Malaysian adaptation of Scandinavian crime series “The Bridge.” The agreement, brokered by Lyle Bettson-Barker, SVP Australia and New Zealand from Banijay Rights, represents the first time that Stan has acquired a Malaysian drama series. The Asian version
A first trailer has been unveiled for feature directing debutant Shuchi Talati‘s “Girls Will Be Girls,” world premiering at Sundance’s world cinema dramatic competition. The film is set in an elite boarding school in a small Himalayan hill town in northern India and follows the story of Mira, a 16-year-old girl whose sexy, rebellious awakening is
Top Indian celebrity management firms Matrix IEC and Bling Entertainment are merging, bringing their roster of A-list talents under one roof. Matrix was founded by Reshma Shetty and Vivek Kamath. It represents popular actors including Abhishek Bachchan, Alia Bhatt, Dulquer Salmaan, Farhan Akhtar, Katrina Kaif, Madhuri Dixit Nene, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Ram Charan, Shahid Kapoor,
Two Hollywood films “Wonka” and “Migration” opened in Chinese cinemas over the latest weekend. But neither did enough business to appear among the box office top five. Instead, the weekend crown went to “The Invisible Guest,” a Chinese remake of the 2016 Spanish mystery thriller about a woman who must work with a police officer
Jack Hogan, a retired actor who starred in the WWII drama series “Combat!” from 1962 until 1967, died of natural causes on Dec. 6 at his home on Bainbridge Island, Washington, his son West told Variety. He was 94. Hogan played PFC William G. Kirby on the ABC series “Combat!,” starring Rick Jason, Vic Morrow
Fact-based political thriller “12.12: The Day” dominated the Korean box office for the third successive weekend and advanced its takings haul beyond $50 million. It was far ahead of “Napoleon,” which opened a disappointing third. The Kim Sung-soo-directed picture earned $11.4 million between Friday and Sunday, accounting for 75.8% of nationwide weekend cinema revenues, according
The Singapore Film Commission (SFC) celebrated its 25th anniversary during the 34th Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) with a lavish party attended by the great and the good of the industry. Though the local box office for Singaporean films has yet to regain its pre-pandemic heights, they are doing well internationally with 2023 alone seeing
As the 50th anniversary of hip-hop comes to a close, the Recording Academy has one last trick up its sleeve to honor the pillars of the culture. The Academy joins forces with CBS for “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” an aural spectacular that’s as much an ode to the culture as it
As expected, Ariana Grande has signed with Brandon Creed and his new Good World Management firm, sources close to the situation confirm to Variety. The news comes four months after sources confirmed that the singer had parted ways with longtime manager Scooter Braun who, apart from a period of several months in 2017, had managed her since
As the 50th anniversary of hip-hop comes to a close, the Recording Academy had one last trick up its sleeve to honor the pillars of the culture. The Academy joined forces with CBS for “A Grammy Salute to 50 Years of Hip-Hop,” an aural spectacular that’s as much an ode to the culture as it
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Anna “Chickadee” Cardwell, the eldest daughter of reality TV star Mama June Shannon, died on Dec. 9 due to complications from stage four adrenal carcinoma. She was 29. Shannon announced the news in an Instagram post: “With the breaking heart, we are announcing that [Anna Cardwell] is no longer with us. She passed away in my home
“Wonka,” a look at how the famous chocolatier Willy Wonka honed his ability to satisfy a sweet tooth, opened to $43.2 million to top the international box office. The fantasy film stars Timothée Chalamet in the title role and opens domestically next weekend. The Warner Bros. release got off to a hot start overseas, debuting in
Here’s one TV-news shake-up that won’t have the anchors scrambling to call their agents. CNBC on Monday is set to debut a new look, one that will radically change the stock tickers that have scrolled along the network’s screen for years — along with many other elements. Indeed, says Robert Poulton, the vice president and
Tony McNamara was a voracious reader as a kid growing up in a rural town outside Melbourne, Australia. But he never once considered becoming a writer. “I was always failing English,” he says. “I couldn’t get my head around grammar. Still can’t.” And yet today, McNamara, 56, is the Oscar-nominated screenwriter behind some of the
James Cameron reflected on the making of “Titanic,” the most expensive film of its time, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times for the film’s 4K remastering home video release. The complex engineering and resources needed to create the unprecedentedly large sets and sequences contributed to the high cost of making the film. “The