A brand new music festival headlined by Idlewild and The View has this week been given the green light by Perth and Kinross Council (PKC).
03.05.2024 - 13:53 / variety.com
Jennie Punter The demise of disco was greatly accelerated by the cultural impact of the infamous Disco Demolition Night of 1979 in Chicago’s Comiskey Park. While rockers have used the word in a pejorative sense for years, DJs, artists, impresarios, and aficionados know that disco—both the genre and the subculture—not only has deep roots but has lived on under various aliases, inspiring the evolution of music and keeping people moving in various funky ways.
Le freak, c’est toujours chic! These are the ideas, plot points and storylines that Toronto filmmakers Omar Majeed (“Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam”) and Peter Mishara explore in their documentary feature “Disco’s Revenge,” which had its world premiere Thursday in Hot Docs’ Pop/Life strand. The film, which screens again Friday is set for release in 2024, distributed theatrically in North America by Elevation Pictures (Canada) and Republic Pictures (U.S.), and internationally by Paramount Global Content Distribution.
“Disco’s Revenge” is anchored in the expansive storytelling of legendary American record producer, guitarist, composer and Chic founder Nile Rodgers, who has an executive producer credit on the film, and the personal recollections of Brooklyn DJ Nicky Siano, who was 17 when he started The Gallery, one of the key clubs of New York’s underground disco scene. Billy Porter appears throughout the film as a kind of philosophical spirit guide, with music luminaries Nona Hendryx, Grandmaster Flash, Fab Five Freddy, Earl Young, Jellybean Benitez, Kevin Saunderson, Sylvester and Martha Wash also in the mix.
A brand new music festival headlined by Idlewild and The View has this week been given the green light by Perth and Kinross Council (PKC).
Celtic fans are over the moon after watching Brendan Rodgers’s men blast their way to another Premiership title.
Paolo Sorrentino embraced the stars of his latest film “Parthenope,” including Gary Oldman, Celeste Della Porta and Stefania Sandrelli, as the film received a 9.5-minute standing ovation at Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night. Tears streamed down the face of Della Porta, who plays the title character, and Sorrentino looked visibly moved as he addressed the crowd. “For me, this movie is a celebration of the journey of my life,” he said.
When it comes to whether AI is friend or foe, particularly in regards to its place in the film industry, David Cronenberg is both intrigued and terrified. “What do we do? I have no idea,” the Canadian horror sci-fi maestro said Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival, the day after the world premiere of his new film The Shrouds.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Wake up, fans of “The Sandman,” we’ve got some Season 2 news for you: The Netflix adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s epic graphic novel series has cast the final three siblings in the “Endless Family” of Tom Sturridge’s Dream — Esmé Creed-Miles as Delirium, Adrian Lester as Destiny and Barry Sloane as “The Prodigal.” In “The Sandman” comic book series, The Prodigal is the estranged Endless sibling named Destruction, but Netflix has taken care to label Sloane’s role as “The Prodigal,” which is the way the character is referred to throughout the first volumes of the story. The three new castings point to “The Sandman” Season 2 covering the graphic novel’s iconic installment, “Season of Mists.” The trio of new “The Sandman” Season 2 actors will join the Endless siblings returning from Season 1: Death (Kirby), Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston) and Dream, The Sandman himself.
Annika Pham The Swiss/French “Dog on Trial” is set to disrupt, move and entertain the Croisette from what is revealed in a first clip from sales outfit MK2 Films, exclusively shared with Variety. The film world premieres at Cannes Un Certain Regard May 19. Writer/actor-turned-director Laetitia Dosch, who delivered what Variety reviewer Peter Debruge called a ‘blazing-wildfire performance’ in the 2017 Camera d’or winner “Jeune Femme”, is herself taking a chance this year on the coveted award. Meanwhile Cosmos the Dog (aka Kodi in the film) will battle for the leather dog collar Palme Dog win.
Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer “Grand Theft Auto 6″ has been slated for a fall 2025 release by Rockstar Games. The news was announced Thursday when Rockstar parent company Take-Two Interactive reported its fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2024 earnings, revealing the company posted a $2.9 billion loss for the Jan. 1-March 31 period.
Addie Morfoot Contributor The May 17 release of the 2024 Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue celebrates the swimsuit franchise’s 60th anniversary. A new documentary highlights the woman who founded the issue in 1964 – Jule Campbell.
Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor The Emmy race just got a bit more spicy. Three popular YouTube web series have found their content creators taking a chance on themselves, which could significantly impact the Emmy race in some categories. The spicy chicken wing interview series Hot Ones, hosted by Sean Evans, has successfully petitioned to be included in the outstanding talk series category.
Christopher Vourlias Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa arrives at the Cannes Film Festival this week with his latest documentary, “The Invasion,” worried that the world’s attention has largely drifted from the Ukraine conflict in the two-plus years since Russia’s brutal and unprovoked invasion. The film premieres with a special screening May 16. Yet from the movie’s powerful opening sequence, which follows a funeral procession for four soldiers killed in battle, Loznitsa reminds us that the war continues to extract a devastating cost from its victims.
Eurovision Song Contest 2024.This year’s competition, which was ultimately won by Switzerland’s Nemo, was surrounded by controversy for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.A statement shared by the EBU to both The Mirror and The Irish Times read: “We regret that some delegations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö didn’t respect the spirit of the rules and the competition both onsite and during their broadcasts. We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention.It continued: “The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the ESC in Malmö to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.A post shared by European Broadcasting Union (@ebu_hq)“Individual cases will be discussed by the event’s governing body, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group made up of representatives from participating broadcasters, at its next meeting.”The statement’s release comes after the slew of controversies that took over this year’s edition of the song contest.
Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large At the NBCUniversal upfronts, they saved the best for almost last: “Late Night with Seth Meyers” host Seth Meyers hit the Radio City Music Hall stage to throw out a few quips before introducing NBCUniversal ad sales chief Mark Marshall. Meyers came out swinging: “Hello and welcome to the NBC upfronts. If you’re looking for the Fox News upfronts, that’s happening outside a lower Manhattan courtroom,” he said to chuckles.
Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Substance,” Coralie Fargeat’s buzzy horror movie starring Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore, has sold to one of France’s biggest distributors, Metropolitan FilmExport, ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The Match Factory is handling international sales on the female-powered movie, and MUBI just acquired the rights in North America, U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Latin America and Benelux, where they will release the film theatrically this year. MUBI has also acquired the movie for Turkey and India.
Husband and wife David and Victoria Beckham both took to their Instagram stories to share beautiful photos of the Northern Lights on Friday 10 May.The couple posted photos of the stunning natural light display, with one image featuring David with his arms outstretched, looking up at the purple and pink streaked sky, and another featuring the stunning night sky with the caption: “This is incredible!” The Northern Lights – also known as aurora borealis – are more commonly spotted in areas such as Alaska, Canada, Iceland and Scandinavia, but on Friday they were clearly visible throughout the UK, with many people taking to social media to post their photos of pink, green and pink lights in the sky. In case you missed the natural phenomenon, it is expected the lights will also be visible tonight (Saturday 11 May), with the Met Office saying there is a good chance of sightings in Scotland and the north of England, Ireland and Wales, especially if the skies are clear.
Eurovision is set to take place tonight (May 11) – check out the full running order and list of contestants below.Altogether, 37 countries entered the contest and were split in half to compete for a place in the finals across two semi finals on Tuesday (May 7) and Thursday (May 9). Tonight, 26 of them will perform in the final, with Big Five nations France, Spain, Germany, Italy, the UK and the host nation Sweden all going straight through.Representing the UK this year is Olly Alexander, who will be performing his song ‘Dizzy’ which has been compared to the likes of the Pet Shop Boys’ ‘It’s A Sin’.According to Eurovision World, the favourites to win the competition is Croatia, whose entry Baby Lasagna currently has a 42 per cent chance at snagging the crown this year with their song ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’.The full running order for Eurovision 2024 is:1. Sweden | Marcus & Martinus – ‘Unforgettable’2. Ukraine | alyona alyona & Jerry Heil – ‘Teresa & Maria’3. Germany | ISAAK – ‘Always On The Run’4. Luxembourg | TALI – ‘Fighter’5. Netherlands | Joost Klein – ‘Europapa’6. Israel | Eden Golan – ‘Hurricane’7. Lithuania | Silvester Belt – ‘Luktelk’8. Spain | Nebulossa – ‘ZORRA’9. Estonia | 5MIINUST x Puuluup – ‘(nendest) narkootikumidest ei tea me (küll) midagi’10. Ireland | Bambie Thug – ‘Doomsday Blue’11. Latvia | Dons – ‘Hollow’12. Greece | Marina Satti – ‘ZARI’13. United Kingdom | Olly Alexander – ‘Dizzy’14. Norway | Gåte – ‘Ulveham’15. Italy | Angelina Mango – ‘La Noia’16. Serbia | TEYA DORA – ‘RAMONDA’17. Finland | Windows95man – ‘No Rules!’18. Portugal | iolanda – ‘Grito’19. Armenia | LADANIVA – ‘Jako’20. Cyprus | Silia Kapsis – ‘Liar’21. Switzerland | Nemo – ‘The Code’22. Slovenia | Raiven – ‘Veronika’23. Croatia | Baby
Coronation Street and The Crown actor James Laurenson has sadly passed away at the age of 84 after a remarkable 50-year career in TV and film. Laurenson made his film debut back in 1969 with a minor role in Ken Russell's Women In Love, and also starred in The Crown in 2016. In the popular Netflix series about the Royal Family, he appeared as Doctor Weir – a Scottish physician and homeopath who served as the royal physician.The talented actor also made history by performing the first gay kiss on television alongside Ian McKellen.This groundbreaking moment occurred in a 1970 TV adaptation of Christopher Marlowe's Edward II, three years after homosexuality was decriminalised.
Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent New Dubai-based distribution and production studio The Plot Pictures is headed for the Cannes Marche du Film after snapping up Middle East, North Africa and Turkey (MENAT) rights to a slew of indie titles across different genres. They include “Locust,” a first feature film from Taiwanese American multidisciplinary artist Keff that is playing in Critics Week, and Nick Hamm’s epic “William Tell.” The Plot Pictures CEO Pratixa Shah and head of sales Ozge Conduroglu – who was previously with Starz Play Arabia – are assembling a slate spanning “different genres, regions, and languages,” as Shah put it in statement.
The Traitors and Married at First Sight stars have been spotted in a popular Glasgow eatery.
Anitta didn’t think much about her death. Despite growing up in the notorious favelas of Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian multi-hyphenate just knew that her life would be as glamorous as she always imagined: she would sing, dance and act her way to global stardom.
The Wanted's Max George and Siva Kaneswaran have thrilled their fans by revealing that they will be reunited on stage later this year. The pair will be embarking upon tour dates across India in May, with Max sharing the news on Instagram with a video that showed where they will perform and when.