‘Passages’ Sundance Film Review: Ira Sachs’ Polyamorous Drama Excites & Frustrates

EXCLUSIVE: Uncoupled, has been saved. I hear Showtime is picking up Season 2 (and potentially beyond) of the comedy series, from Emily in Paris creator Darren Star and Modern Family veteran Jeffrey Richman, a couple weeks after the MTV Entertainment Studios-produced show was canceled by Netflix. At the premium network, soon to be renamed Paramount+ with Showtime, Uncoupled is designed to fit into one the three main content lanes recently outlined by new Showtime boss Chris McCarthy, “Metro Cultures”, which spans “culturally diverse takes” like The L Word and The Chi.

Diverse festival notables from Hannah Ha Ha to The Blue Caftan join a spattering of specialty horror titles led by Consecration, and the U.S. theatrical debut of Gaspar Noé’s controversial Irréversible: Straight Cut.

Paramount and Prime Video have struck a Star Trek deal for the former’s international streamer outside Canada.

EXCLUSIVE: German distributor-producer DCM, whose releases have included Spencer, Moonlight and The Artist, is teaming up with Berlin-based producer Flute Film on a film version of Édouard Louis’ acclaimed 2016 novel History Of Violence.

Abacus Boards Dan Reed’s Andrew Tate Doc

EXCLUSIVE: Picture Tree Int’l (PTI) has boarded sales on German Sophie Scholls – The Final Days Oscar-nominee and hitmaker Marc Rothemund’s heart-warming family drama Weekend Rebels, inspired by the true story of a father who forged a special bond with his autistic son through the search for a perfect soccer club.

Ladies and gentlemen, Sam Smith! The hitmaker commanded attention at the 65th annual Grammy Awards in an all-red look. 

EXCLUSIVE: Ron Ninio, executive producer of Showtime drama Your Honor, is lining up an espionage drama as his next series.

Berlinale Adds Disney Tribute Film, Donna Summer Docs To Line-UpThe Berlinale has added Love to Love You, Donna Summer and 100 Years of Disney Animation – A Shorts Celebration to its 73rd edition line-up running February 16-26. Both titles will screen in the Berlinale Special sidebar. Co-directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Roger Ross Williams and Brooklyn Sudano’s the Donna Summer film tells the story of the disco star through unpublished film extracts, home video, photographs, artwork, writings, personal audio and other recording. Academy Award winner and Walt Disney Animation Studios President Clark Spencer fronts the Disney film, sharing his favorite shorts from the studios’ 100 years of filmmaking. In other news, the festival has announced it will pay tribute to French cinematographer Caroline Champetier with its Berlinale Camera 2023 award. She has chosen Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents, on which she did the cinematography, for a screening as part of Berlinale Special program.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is breaking Nielsen streaming records in the U.S. The film became the most-streamed movie in a measurement week from December 26 to January 1 (its first full week on Netflix), surpassing Hocus Pocus 2 and Wonder Woman 1984.

EXCLUSIVE: Robert Eggers and his Lighthouse starWillem Dafoe have found their next project to collaborate on as Dafoe is in talks to join Eggers’ Nosferatu movie at Focus Features. Lily Rose-Depp, Bill Skarsgard and Nicholas Hoult are already on board with Eggers writing and directing. Jeff Robinov, John Graham, Robert Eggers, Chris Columbus and Eleanor Columbus are producing.

Kylie Jenner has done it again! The TV personality stepped out in another eye-catching look during Haute Couture Fashion Week in Paris.

Mubi has taken the U.S., UK, Ireland and Latin America on the Ira Sachs directed title Passages which made its world premiere in the premiere section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Angus MacLachlan wrote 2005’s terrific indie Junebug, which put Amy Adams on the big-time map and earned her a Supporting Actress Oscar nomination in a heartbreaking performance. It also put MacLachlan on the map with his first screenplay, and it was an auspicious start. Since then he has added directing to his credits including Goodbye to All and Abundant Acreage Available but tonight returned to the Sundance Film Festival with his latest, A Little Prayer, shot and set in his hometown of Winston-Salem, NC.

The Sundance Institute has named Caroline Monnet as the recipient of the 2023 Merata Mita Fellowship.

In a very expected turn of events, Netflix’s Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery debuted atop Nielsen’s U.S. streaming charts for the week of December 19 to December 25.

Netflix is not proceeding with a second season of Uncoupled, its comedy series from Emily in Paris creator Darren Star and Modern Family veteran Jeffrey Richman.