Film Clips

EXCLUSIVE: The Human Rights Watch Film Festival recently announced it’s closing down, and the future of Hot Docs remains uncertain at best. But there’s some hopeful news for the troubled film festival space: the return of the Margaret Mead Film Festival in New York.

Katcy Stephan Ben Schnetzer has joined the cast of the upcoming Lily James-led film inspired by the story of Bumble founder and former CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd, from 20th Century Studios and Ethea Entertainment. Schnetzer recently completed the film “The Yellow Tie,” a biopic on the famed Romanian conductor Sergiu Celibidache. He plays the young version of the legendary classical music conductor, with John Malkovich co-starring as the older version.

Universal Pictures has tapped renowned British filmmaker Andrew Haigh (All of Us Strangers) to write and direct a Leonardo da Vinci film based on Walter Isaacson‘s bestselling 2017 biography of the artist, Deadline can confirm.

Tatiana Siegel Universal Pictures has found its director for the high-priority Leonardo da Vinci film. “All of Us Strangers” helmer Andrew Haigh has signed on to direct and adapt Walter Isaacson’s acclaimed biography of the Renaissance man. Based on thousands of pages from Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks and new discoveries about his life and work, Isaacson’s book became one of the hottest literary properties when it hit the market in 2017.

Ellise Shafer For British rapper Skepta, music was just the beginning of his creative pursuits. Earlier this year, the multi-hyphenate released his first short film, “Tribal Mark,” in the U.K., followed by a SXSW screening and premieres in L.A. and New York last month.

Ted Sarandos To Speak AT RTS London Convention

Alex Ritman In the coming months, British actors’ union Equity and producer trade body Pact are expected to kick off negotiations to thrash out new contracts that will cover the vast majority of U.K. TV and indie film. There’s going to be several major sticking points on the table, many that are near-identical to those that dominated the lengthy and fraught talks between SAG-AFTRA and the AMPTP in the U.S.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Visinema Studios, the family division of leading Indonesian entertainment company Visinema Group, is set to make its debut in live theater with “Keluarga Cemara: The Musical.” “Keluarga Cemara” (aka “Cemara Family”) has previously existed as a classic Indonesian novel about a family facing up to financial hardship, but emerging resilient and optimistic. It has since been adapted as two feature films “Keluarga Cemara” and “Keluarga Cemara 2,” which attracted over two million theatrical admissions, and the recent “Keluarga Cemara: The Series” which played on Disney+ Hotstar Indonesia. The stage show will be presented with cultural institution Galeri Indonesia Kaya and the Teater Musikal Nusantara.

Martin Freeman defends his new film, Miller’s Girl, from the criticism it has received for the age gap between him and his co-star, Jenna Ortega.

Ellise Shafer Mike Leigh, the veteran director of “Vera Drake,” “Another Year” and “Happy-Go-Lucky,” will be honored at Malta’s Mediterrane Film Festival with its Career Achievement Golden Bee Award. Leigh will also host a masterclass at the festival, the second edition of which is taking place June 22 to 30 in Malta’s capital city of Valletta.

The subject of a timely new Variety profile praising his versatility, British actor Dan Stevens is having a moment. The actor is currently competing with himself at the box office with two different films: MonsterVerse installment “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” for Warners and directing duo Radio Silence’s new vampire movie “Abigail” for Universal.

The Cannes Film Festival has revealed the lineup for its new strand dedicated to immersive works. Among the eight projects in competition are the French premiere of Evolver, which will feature Cate Blanchett in voiceover, and the European premiere of Maya: The Birth of a Superhero with Indira Varma and Bridgerton’s Charithra Chandran as English voices. Meanwhile, the non-competitive works boast a stellar cast including Colin Farrell as the English voice in Gloomy Eyes, Jessica Chastain, Millie Bobby Brown, and Patti Smith in Spheres. 

Ellise Shafer The Cannes Film Festival has announced the selections for its Immersive lineup, including projects voiced by stars like Cate Blanchett, Colin Farrell and Jessica Chastain. According to a press release, the Immersive competition includes “collective location-based virtual reality and mixed reality experiences, and projection mapping and holographic works.

James Cameron has backed a new UK film studio and said it could act as a base for his technology training center, but the £750M ($927M) Marlow Film Studios still requires a planning greenlight and is proving controversial in its local area.

Tom Holland and his brother Harry Holland were pictured arriving at the opening night of the Sands: International Film Festival of St Andrews. The Scottish film festival is set to take place over three days.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Variety has been granted exclusive access to the trailer (below) for Portuguese director Miguel Gomes‘ “Grand Tour,” which will have its world premiere in Cannes Film Festival’s Competition section. Variety can also exclusively reveal that that distribution on “Grand Tour” will be handled in France by Tandem, and in Italy by Lucky Red, and that Gomes’ next film will be “Savagery.” “Grand Tour” kicks off in 1917 in Burma. It centers on Edward, a civil servant for the British Empire, who runs away from his fiancée Molly the day she arrives to get married.

A new film and TV studio funded via a portion of a £24M ($30M) government investment has become the latest to launch in the UK.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent NBCUniversal Studio Group chair and chief content officer Donna Langley will be celebrated at the Cannes Film Festival, where she will receive the Women in Motion Award from Kering‘s chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault, Cannes president Iris Knobloch and director Thierry Fremaux. The awards ceremony will take place at a glamorous gala dinner hosted by Kering on May 19, which will bring together major talent and executives attending the festival.

Universal Studios chief Donna Langley is heading to this year’s Cannes Film Festival where she will be handed Kering’s annual Women In Motion Award.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat’s documentary “Sugarcane” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 26th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the abuse and death of Indigenous children at a Canadian-based Indian Residential School, the docu premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (SFF), where it picked up the U.S. documentary directing kudo.