Christian Conservatives Out Here DEFENDING That Youth Pastor Who Dated A 14-Year-Old!

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Series Mania, Europe’s biggest TV fest, and German film-TV powerhouse Beta Group has revealed the 10 projects in the first edition of Seriesmakers, unveiling what must be one of the most talent-packed project lineups at any festival, film or TV, in 2023, A mentoring program for filmmakers making their TV creator debut, Series Mania features in development drama series from “Compartment No 6’s” Juho Kuosmanen, ‘Bang Gang’s’ Eva Husson and “Birds of a Passage’s” Ciro Guerra and Cristina Gallego. Also in the mix is “Amigas,” the first TV project of Beatriz Seigner (“Los Silencios”), one of Brazil’s foremost young movie directors, “The Invisible Ink,” teaming Cannes best first feature winner César Díaz (“Our Mothers”)and New Uruguay Cinema founding father Fernando Epstein; and Indian arthouse filmmaker Pushpendra Singh, who scored with Berlin Encounters’ title “The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs.”

Production designer Christian M. Goldbeck gave a shout-out to All Quiet on the Western Front‘s director Edward Berger and his team of APDs following the film’s Oscar win for Best Production Design.

Lewis Capaldi has postponed all remaining dates on his ongoing European tour, telling fans he's "f***ing gutted" to be doing so. Taking to Twitter, the Scots singer said he'd been diagnosed with bronchitis earlier this week after losing his voice whilst performing at his concert in Stockholm.

Cristiano Ronaldo may not be featuring in the Champions League these days but his impact in the competition has not been forgotten at the highest level.

Gary Lineker, 62, and Piers Morgan, 57, have a history of former spats, and have argued about almost everything from pay cheques to BBC license fees. However, perhaps to many people's surprise, Piers put in a word of support for his so-called frenemy on Twitter yesterday, telling him he was his "defence". The Match of the Day host exclaimed: "There is no huge influx.

Gary Lineker ‘controversy’ is rumbling on into a third day, and there’s more “bad news” for the presenter – now, his old Twitter foe Piers Morgan is defending him. The Match of the Day presenter criticised Home office policy and compared it to Nazi Germany this week, resulting in a BBC spokesperson stating that he will be “reminded of his responsibilities on social media” by the broadcaster. Lineker commented on a Twitter video put out by Home Secretary Suella Braverman tweet, which saw her discuss government plans to stop migrant boats crossing the Channel.

Piers Morgan has defended Gary Lineker’s criticism of the UK Government’s new asylum policy, arguing that the Match Of The Day host is “not a news reporter”. The Talk TV host said Lineker’s remarks were “clearly incendiary” but that his opinions “should not matter to the BBC’s news output”. Lineker, 62, has faced criticism from members of the Tory party including Downing Street and the Home Office after comparing the language used to launch the policy with 1930s Germany.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that centre-back Joe Gomez will miss Sunday's clash with Manchester United at Anfield through injury.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights for German director Christian Petzold’s new film Afire, following its award-winning world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: The Match Factory has unveiled a slew of deals for German director Christian Petzold’s Berlin Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize winner Afire.

London TV Screenings, one of the fastest growing TV markets in the world.  But will buyers buy? Fielding a questionnaire from Variety, five acquisition execs from Europe outlined their interests. Questions were answered by buyers at three of Europe’s principal public broadcasters, still a massive presence on the market: Sebastian Lückel, head of acquisition and co-production at ARD Degeto, the production-acquisition arm of Europe’s biggest public broadcaster, Germany’s ARD; Mignon Huisman, head of series acquisitions at NPO, the Dutch state TV service; Sven Van Lokeren, head of international fiction series acquisition at VRT, serving the Flemish community in neighboring Belgium. 

The competition winners of the 73rd Berlinale are about to start rolling in as the festival draws to a close Saturday evening.

Geri Horner is a doting mum to two children, daughter Bluebell and son Monty, and while she shares her son with husband Christian, her daughter has a different father.In 2005, the Spice Girls singer dated screenwriter and director Sacha Gervasi, who is known for films like The Terminal and Hitchcock. Although the pair went their separate ways after just six weeks, Geri ended up giving birth to their daughter in May 2006.Want to know more about Sacha? Then read on…WATCH: Geri Horner celebrates England's win alongside daughter BluebellSacha has written and directed many films that have been critically acclaimed, including Anvil! The Story of Anvil, which focuses on Canadian rock group Anvil, and My Dinner with Herve, a biopic based on the life of The Man with the Golden Gun star based off of interviews he had done with Sacha.Ahead of getting into the film business, Sacha was a journalist with The Mail on Sunday, and he even proved his own musical ability by being the drummer for a band fronted by Gavin Rossdale, the ex-husband of Gwen Stefani.READ: Geri Halliwell and husband Christian joined by surprise royal guests during romantic date nightSacha is also related to some high-profile names with his grandfather being journalist Frank Gervasi, who reported on the German conquests of Belgium, the Netherlands and France during World War II.Frank would go on to marry singer Georgia Gibbs, known for songs like Kiss of Fire, although she is not Sacha's biological grandmother.

Billed as the second installment of an elemental triptych, “Afire” comes after Christian Petzold’s 2020 film “Undine” where Paula Beer gave a Silver Bear-winning performance at Berlinale as the titular character, an urban historian and a mythical water spirit. As if the transition between them needed any smoothing out, the new film also relies on aquatic imagery to reinforce the claustrophobic premonition of smothering fires.

A cottage in the woods: isolated, idyllic and unavoidably reminiscent of some half-forgotten fairy tale. Unfortunately, Leon (Thomas Schubert) is not a country person. When his friend Felix’s car breaks down on the forest road on the way to the family holiday house where they both plan to work in peace and quiet, all Leon can hear are unnerving crackles in the undergrowth. Wild boar. Leon is definitely not a wild boar kind of guy.

Guy Lodge Film Critic If any writer has ever retreated to a remote, idyllic rural pad with the intention of getting some work done, and proceeded to have a productive and creatively fulfilling time, it has certainly never happened in the movies. Leon, the callow young novelist at the center of Christian Petzold’s canny, many-layered new film “Afire,” is the latest in a long line of onscreen scribes to learn that lesson. But over the course of a hot, rainless summer by the Baltic coastline, the elusiveness of his imagined masterwork turns out to be far from his greatest problem: Writer’s block spills over into bitter social paralysis, exposing every facet of life he doesn’t yet know how to live, let alone write about. All the while, the surrounding woodsy landscape wilts and scorches, the threat of natural disaster lending an urgent pull to this dry, elegant comedy of manners — so dry, in fact, it’s just a breath of wind away from tragedy.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Despite representing Germany at this year’s Academy Awards for best international feature, “All Quiet on the Western Front” writer-director Edward Berger doesn’t feel national pride for the country. “I don’t feel that because of the history,” Berger tells Variety. “I could never say I’m proud to be German. Those words don’t fit into our mouths, and rightly so. I would have a hard time thinking I would represent the country because I can’t speak for the entire country.” On this episode of Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast, Berger discusses “All Quiet on the Western Front’s” nine Oscar noms — the second most of the year — and employing the most artisans of any non-English movie in history. Finally, he shares why he feels a responsibility to accurately portray Germany’s role in some of humanity’s most devastating wars. Listen to the full podcast below.

Jem Aswad Senior Music Editor Guns N’ Roses return to the road on a major 2023 world tour produced by Live Nation, headlining stadiums, festivals, and arenas throughout the summer and fall. The band launch this jaunt on June 5 in Tel Aviv, Israel at Park Hayarkon and will continue across Europe through July 22, wrapping in Athens, Greece. The band will continue onto North America, starting on Saturday, August 5 in Moncton, NB at Medavie Blue Cross Stadium, and will visit historic venues across the country such as Fenway Park in Boston, MA on August 21 and Wrigley Field in Chicago, IL on August 24. The tour concludes in Vancouver, BC at BC Place on Monday, October 16.  Check out the full confirmed itinerary below.

Guy Lodge Film Critic Giacomo Abbruzzese’s debut feature is a hazily seductive, frequently dreamlike study of life in the French Foreign Legion, fixated on masculine bodies in synchronized and sometimes violently clashing motion. It is also called “Disco Boy.” You almost certainly wouldn’t choose that subject, tone and title for a film if you didn’t want viewers’ minds to immediately wander to “Beau Travail,” Claire Denis’ seminal Foreign Legion cine-ballet, with its climactic solo number set to a thumping Eurodance classic; even if you somehow made that error, you wouldn’t compound it with electro-scored terpsichorean interludes of your own. Choosing homage this direct for a first feature is a brazen move, but notwithstanding its openly derivative qualities, “Disco Boy” doesn’t want for boldness or surprise — Abbruzzese’s hot, fluxional command of sound and image keeps us curious.

Ed Meza @edmezavar German cinema looks set for a major boom this year with a strong lineup of diverse works that span historical dramas, coming-of-age tales, high-octane nostalgia, animation and sci-fi fun. The Berlin Film Festival is bowing a muscular selection of local titles, among them “Afire,” by Berlinale mainstay Christian Petzold (“Undine”), screening in competition. The films centers on a group of young people staying at a holiday house near the Baltic Sea during a hot, dry summer, exploring volatile emotions that start to sizzle when a wildfire spreads through the surrounding forest. Likewise vying for the Golden Bear is Margarethe von Trotta’s biopic “Ingeborg Bachmann: Journey Into the Desert,” starring Vicky Krieps (“Corsage”) as the radical Austrian author. The film examines her relationship with Swiss writer Max Frisch and her 1964 journey of self-discovery through the Egyptian desert.