Mexico’s Santiago Mohar Volkow Talks Madcap Rotterdam Title ‘A History of Love & War’: ‘Comedy Is Always Challenging Because It’s Constantly Risking Ridicule’

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired U.S. rights to Copa 71, a documentary about the pioneering “Unofficial Women’s World Cup” that created a sensation in 1971 but has since been virtually erased from history. Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine (Billie) directed the film, which is executive produced by tennis greats Serena and Venus Williams and soccer star Alex Morgan.

New York’s Museum of the Moving Image has revealed the full lineup for First Look 2024, the 13th edition of the festival that showcases “new and innovative international cinema,” both fiction and nonfiction.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Ahead of his return as host of Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart stopped by “CBS Mornings” to explain why it was finally time to return to his old job. Stewart hosted the network’s flagship news show from 1999 to 2015. He’ll now be hosting only Monday episodes throughout the 2024 election cycle.

Despite the progress that the guilds made with studios last year, DGA President Lesli Linka Glatter says the fight isn’t over.

J. Kim Murphy “Talk to Me” was the runaway winner at this year’s main awards from the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts.

In today’s episode of Bingeworthy, our TV and streaming podcast, host Mike DeAngelo flies high for Apple TV+’s Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks-produced series (“Band of Brothers,” “The Pacific”), “Masters of the Air.” The series follows a group of airmen with the 100th Bomb Group that risked their lives in World War II, flying bombing missions in Europe (read our review here).

Naman Ramachandran Award-winning artist Justin Anderson’s debut feature “Swimming Home” has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. Variety has secured access to the first clip from the film. The film, an adaptation of Deborah Levy’s 2012 Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel, centers on poet Joe (Christopher Abbott) and war photographer Isabel (Mackenzie Davis), whose marriage is dying when Kitti (Ariane Labed), a naked stranger found floating in the pool at their sunny holiday villa in Greece, is invited to stay.

EXCLUSIVE: Gaz Alazraki, Alisa Tager, Mark Alazraki and Moises Chiver have partnered to create Maquina Vega, a new production company with offices in Los Angeles and Mexico City, which will provide a pipeline between the English and Spanish-speaking worlds.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor The 53rd edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, taking place between Jan. 25 – Feb.

Naman Ramachandran Bollywood megastars and real-life power couple Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt will star alongside Vicky Kaushal in filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali‘s “Love & War.” Kapoor debuted as a leading man with Bhansali’s “Saawariya” (2007). Bhatt headlined Bhansali’s “Gangubai Kathiawadi,” which bowed at the 2022 Berlinale. They starred together in Disney’s sci-fi mythological superhero film “Brahmastra Part One: Shiva” (2022).

Naman Ramachandran Top Indonesian star Laura Basuki headlines auteur Razka Robby Ertanto’s “Yohanna,” which has its world premiere in competition at International Film Festival Rotterdam. The film follows young nun Yohanna, whose encounter with the underworld of child labor in the eastern island of Sumba, one of the poorest places in Indonesia, restores her sense of purpose in life.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent MIAMI — Buoyed by a near celebratory inaugural edition last year – the first time many execs attending had seen one another post-Pandemic – the 2nd Content Americas neared its final bend to lift-off on Tuesday, with a bullish attendance and a market still reacting to the Netflix Corrective of 2022 when it began to measure the cost of its dramatic expansion worldwide. Delegates, as of Monday, were approaching 2,000, nearly 25% up on 2023’s 1,600. That includes 150 exhibition companies and a significant increase on buyers – 950, doubled from last year.

Anna Marie de la Fuente A bio-series about iconic ranchera singer Chavela Vargas starring “La Reina del Sur” lead Kate del Castillo is in the works. Colombia’s Caracol Televisión and indie Miracol Media are co-producing “Chavela,” which will trace the tumultuous life and career of the legendary singer.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Ben Lobato, co-showrunner of Alice Braga-starrer “Queen of the South,” a top-three Nielsen ratings performer for USA Network, has boarded “Hot Sur,” a fast-moving thriller set up at Pablo and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula and at Fremantle Mexico, the burgeoning Mexican production hub of the global production-distribution giant. Lobato will showrun the TV series, which will be helmed by Gabriel Ripstein, writer-director of acclaimed Mexican Amazon Original “An Unknown Enemy.” Shaping up as one of the biggest new projects being brought on the market at Content Americas, “Hot Sur” will be presented at Content Americas Copro Pitch on Tuesday, one of the TV market and forum’s industry centerpieces. In it, Maria Paz, an undocumented Mexican immigrant looking after her bipolar sister, becomes a fugitive after being falsely accused of murder.

The upcoming 74th Berlin Film Festival looks set to be its starriest edition in years with Kristen Stewart, Adam Sandler, Cillian Murphy, Lena Dunham, Sebastian Stan, Amanda Seyfried and Rooney Mara among the talent due to attend this year.

EXCLUSIVE: HanWay Films will represent international sales at next month’s EFM on Berlinale Competition title La Cocina. Fifth Season co-financed the film and is co-representing North America with WME.

Anyone with more than a passing interest in the weird and wonderful will have seen, if not heard of, the Patterson-Gimlin footage, the cryptoozological equivalent of the Zapruder film. Shot in 1967 in the forests of Northern Carolina, it purports to show a large, ape-like creature with an elongated forehead striding purposefully into the trees. Unlike an ape, the creature walks upright, and, unlike the furtive behavior of any other forest creature, it has the casual air of the average human being popping over to the 7-11 to pick up a gallon of milk. Most people who see the footage wonder what the hell this damn thing is, but the sibling directors of Sasquatch Sunset have a couple more questions that they’d like answered. Like, where is it going? And what does it do all day?

women’s soccer. The 27 year old Mexican-American player has extended her contract for three years with Houston Dash for $1.5 million total. She’s now the highest paid athlete in the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).Lionel Messi makes a little girl in El Salvador cry in heartwarming videoTom Brady soon to be Ivanka Trump and Jeff Bezos’ neighborA post shared by María Sánchez (@mariagsanchez17)Sanchez’s new contract has an option for a fourth year on the team.

Holly Jones Ahead of its international bow in World Cinema Dramatic competition at the Sundance Film Festival, Beverly Hills-based United Talent Agency’s Independent Film Group has pounced on domestic sales representation for the unconventional narco narrative “Sujo,” from “Identifying Features” creators Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez. UTA joins Paris-based outfit Alpha Violet (“Apples”), which handles international sales as well as co-producing the new Sundance title.

The move in recent years to make the Oscars a truly global event in terms of the membership drive by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has paid off particularly well this year: Eligible voters from a record 93 countries submitting ballots in the Academy Awards’ nominating round, which ended Tuesday at 5 p.m. PT.