BBC Picks Up Indie Drama ‘Kindling,’ The First British Pic To Play Shanghai Film Fest In Six Years

Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea International Film Festival has cancelled its swanky Women in Cinema gala event at the upcoming Venice Film Festival in response to the ongoing actors’ strike.

Saltburn, the latest film from Promising Young Woman filmmaker Emerald Fennell, will open this year’s London Film Festival. 

After a historic reign, Queen Elizabeth died at the age of 96 on September 8, 2022. As the first anniversary of her death approaches, there are reports emerging about how the royal family will honor her memory.

Ellise Shafer Diane Kruger is set to receive the Golden Eye Award at this year’s edition of Zurich Film Festival. Throughout the course of her career, Kruger has worked with high-profile directors such as Quentin Tarantino, Wolfgang Peterson and Robert Zemeckis. She is best known for her roles as Helen of Sparta in “Troy” (2004), Abigail Chase in “National Treasure” (2004) and its sequel “Book of Secrets” (2007), Bridget von Hammersmark in Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” (2009), Anna in “Mr.

Ellise Shafer HollyShorts Film Festival, the Oscar-qualifying celebration of short films, has announced the jury lineup for its 2023 edition. The 18-person jury includes Chiwetel Ejiofor (“12 Years a Slave”), Sam Worthington (“Avatar”), Zoey Deutch (“Not Okay”), Alexandra Shipp (“Barbie”), Josh Whitehouse (“Daisy Jones & the Six”), Christina Chong (“Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”), Nelu Handa (“Run the Burbs” showrunner) and Jaime Ray Newman (“Skin”). Variety international correspondent K.J.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Zurich Film Festival will honor the chief executive of German film and TV company Leonine Studios, Fred Kogel, with its Game Changer Award, which is presented to a leading personality from the film industry whose “extraordinary efforts serve to advance the sector.” Kogel set up Leonine four years ago, and it has grown rapidly to become Germany’s leading independent film company, as well as a major TV producer. Its successes as a film distributor have included the release of “The School of Magical Animals,” “Knives Out” and the “John Wick” franchise.

Sophia Scorziello editor Gravitas Ventures has picked up “Halfway to Amarillo,” a neo-western kind of comedy which is set for distribution this November. Written and directed by Burt Binder, “Amarillo” follows an author who, in a bout of writer’s block, finds that his fictional characters have leapt straight off the pages of his novel and are running amok through Los Angeles.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Berlin-based sales agent Pluto Film has boarded “Forever-Forever” (“Nazavzhdy-Nazavzhdy”), Ukrainian filmmaker Anna Buryachkova’s feature directing debut, ahead of its world premiere in Venice Film Festival’s Horizons Extra competition. After transferring from a downtown high school, Tonia (Alina Cheban) befriends a group of badass youngsters, trying to find protection from the people from her past and a place she truly belongs. They spend time together, roaming around Kyiv’s post-socialist suburbs, having fun and getting in trouble.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International The production company behind Netflix drama “The Playlist,” about the creation of music streaming business Spotify, is shutting down after six years. The London-headquartered YellowBird U.K. was set up in 2017 as the British sister company to Stockholm-based “Wallander” producers YellowBird Sweden.

“The Boy and the Heron,” the first film in a decade by Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki, will open the 48th Toronto International Film Festival, organizers announced Thursday.

Few Apple TV+ original series beyond “Ted Lasso” have fanbases like “The Morning Show.” Well, good news for those who love the ensemble news drama: Season 3 of “The Morning Show” arrives soon. How soon? How does about six weeks sound? And Apple TV+ has a brand new teaser for the upcoming season to drum up more hype for the show.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Beta Film has sold more than 100 hours of drama series to PBS Distribution-backed Walter Presents for the U.S., and Channel 4-backed Walter Presents for the U.K. Five seasons of Italy’s gritty crime series “Rocco Schiavone” as well as Canadian mystery dramas “The Wall – The Chateau Murder” and “The Wall – The Orchard” will be available in both territories.

Venice Film Festival artistic director Alberto Barbera is refusing to row back on his decision to invite controversial movie-biz bigwigs Roman Polanski, Woody Allen and Luc Besson to the late summer event, which will take place despite the potential disruption by the ongoing SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. “Luc Besson has been recently fully cleared of any accusations. Woody Allen went under legal scrutiny twice at the end of the ’90s and was absolved,” Barbera said in a new interview with Variety.

The Venice Film Festival revealed the lineup for its 80th edition Tuesday morning, and its Official Competition featured works by five women filmmakers, including Ava DuVernay, who makes history as the first African American woman in selection.

Some star-packed projects are heading to the 19th annual Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. The just-announced lineup includes films featuring, produced or directed by the likes of Tom Hanks, Eva Longoria, Alden Ehrenreich, Queen Latifah, Tom Holland, Keke Palmer, Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, John Travolta and more.

The lessons learned in this pitch-black German-Bulgarian co-production are very grim indeed, a social-realist drama that takes an unexpectedly shocking turn at its harrowing climax. The film’s recent win at Karlovy Vary, where it took the Grand Prix in the Crystal Globe Competition, should give it a welcome boost on the arthouse circuit, but the unwary are warned that Stephan Komandarev’s latest feature packs a punch not seen since Lars Von Trier or Michael Haneke in their provocative prime.

There is growing angst about the potential impact of the confirmed SAG strike on upcoming A-list festivals such as Venice and Toronto, but the industrial action is already having a tangible effect on festivals around the world with the Galway Film Fleadh in Ireland having to pull a Q&A tonight with actor Matthew Modine.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Jane Campion, Laura Poitras, Mia Hansen-Løve and Martin McDonagh are among high-caliber members of the Venice Film Festival’s main jury. The prominent directors, most of whom are Venice regulars – Poitras last year scored the Golden Lion with documentary “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” – will be joined on the Venice jury panel by Palestinian actor Saleh Bakri (“Wajib”); Chinese star Shu Qi (“The Assassin”); Italian director Gabriele Mainetti, who was at Venice last year with “Freaks Out”; and Argentinian auteur Santiago Mitre whose “Argentina, 1985” also launched from the Lido last year. They will join Damien Chazelle who – as previously announced – will serve as president of the Venice competition jury. 

The BBC has revealed that the amount paid to its biggest stars has surged to a six-year high, as Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker topped the talent pay table once again.

In a major plot twist in an enormous scandal gripping the UK’s national broadcaster, the young person at the heart of the BBC presenter sex pictures scandal has thrown doubt on the claims.