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Katcy Stephan Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired worldwide rights to the documentary film “Somm: Cup of Salvation,” an exploration into the world of wine. “Cup of Salvation” is the fourth film in the “Somm” documentary series. It follows a father and daughter on a mission to resurrect the forgotten grapes of their Armenian homeland.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor A muse, a mother, a fashionista, an actor, a rock ‘n’ roll icon — it’s hard to describe exactly why Anita Pallenberg remains such a compelling figure more than a half-century after the captivating blonde sang backing vocals on the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” and starred in movies like “Performance” and “Barbarella.” The new documentary “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg” delves into both the beautiful and tragic moments of her eventful life with the help of a treasure trove of home movies and interviews, as well as an unpublished memoir penned by Pallenberg and narrated by Scarlett Johansson. The footage is coupled with interviews of the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richards, with whom she had a significant relationship, their children Marlon and Angela Richards, director Volker Schlondorff, who cast her in some of his films, and her former friends and associates.

Jordan Moreau All hope seemed to be lost when the zombie cowboy faced off against the putrid walrus in the final boss battle of “Dungeons & Dragons The Twenty-Sided Tavern,” which opens at Stage 42 on May 5 in New York City. The cowboy, played by actor Madelyn Murphy, only had one health point left — the result of some unlucky dice rolls and a run-in with a group of dagger-wielding thieves in the first act.

Angelique Jackson Longtime Vanity Fair editor Britt Hennemuth is departing his role as the publication’s West coast director to join Universal Pictures. Hennemuth has been named senior vice president of production development and special projects at the studio, where he will work with Universal’s creative team to “develop and oversee production on projects, foster connections with talent, and draw upon his extensive media expertise to advise other departments.” He will report directly to Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer, who announced the new hire on Friday.

Annika Pham In a move to consolidate its bullishly expanding audiovisual industry, Spain’s Canary Islands have just scrapped a prior €50 million ($53.5 million) cap on total annual tax incentives tapped by movies and series shooting in the archipelago. Announced April 30, the ground-breaking measure was applauded by local industry heavyweights who have been lobbying national and regional authorities, “This couldn’t be better news for the Canarian audiovisual sector, and by extension, for the Spanish audiovisual sector,” said Rubén Zarauza, president of the Audiovisual Cluster of the Canary Islands, and co-head of Amuse Studios, the Spanish branch of France’s Amuse Animation group.

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.

Rudie Obias editor If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission. The Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix 2024 features some of the world’s best race car drivers coming to the Magic City, including Max Verstappen, Sergio Pérez, Lando Norris and others. The race takes place at Miami International Autodrome at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida starting on Friday, May 3 with a start time of 12:25 p.m.

Selome Hailu Netflix has split the upcoming fourth season of “Emily in Paris” into two parts, premiering on Aug. 15 and Sept. 12.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Indie Sales has acquired Japanese director Momoko Seto’s “Dandelion’s Odyssey,” an ecological fable animated by Guionne Leroy (“Toy Story”) and scored by Nicolas Becker (“Sound of Metal”) and Quentin Sirjacq. Shot from Japan to Iceland, “Dandelion’s Odyssey” is an adventure set in a dystopian world and is reminiscent of “Microcosmos,” with plants and animals as the main characters. The feature boasts a mix of timelapse photography, as well as live-action shooting and 3D animation.

Naman Ramachandran Indian actor Prosenjit Chatterjee is a veteran of more than 250 films, but his most recent endeavor “Shesh Pata” is one of the special ones. Chatterjee is a superstar in the eastern Indian Bengali-language film industry and a sought-after actor in the Hindi-language Bollywood industry as well. He scored global hits in 2023 with his pivotal roles in Prime Video series “Jubilee” and Netflix series “Scoop.” The same year, he starred in Bengali blockbuster “Dasham Avatar.” For “Shesh Pata,” Chatterjee reunited with director Atanu Ghosh, with whom he’d done successful films “Mayurakshi” (2017) and “Robibaar” (2019).

Selome Hailu Hasan Minhaj is ready to laugh about it all. At the Netflix Is a Joke comedy festival on Thursday, Minhaj hosted a showcase highlighting various comedians. At the end of the lineup was Ronny Chieng, who joked, “I’m surprised that Hasan’s able to do this show.

Alex Ritman Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy have joined the cast of magical family adventure feature “The Magic Faraway Tree,” based on Enid Blyton’s beloved children’s classic. The film — from Neal Street Productions, Elysian Film Group and Ashland Hill Media Finance — has been adapted by BAFTA winner Simon Farnaby (“Wonka” and “Paddington 2”) and will be directed by Ben Gregor (“Britannia,” “Cuckoo”). Palisades Park Pictures are handling sales in Cannes.

Brent Lang Executive Editor FilmNation and Charades are teaming up to present “Alpha,” the new film from Julia Ducournau, to buyers at Cannes. It’s the same place where Ducournau caused a sensation with 2021’s “Titane,” her subversive and divisive body horror film, which won the Palme d’Or, the festival’s top award.

Naman Ramachandran Indian filmmaker Imtiaz Ali‘s Netflix original film “Amar Singh Chamkila” is a hit for the streamer, bowing at No. 1 across South Asia and No. 5 on its global Top 10 chart.

Ellise Shafer Another “Gavin and Stacey” Christmas episode is officially happening. James Corden and Ruth Jones, the creators and stars of the classic British sitcom, took to Instagram on Friday to share a photo of them holding the script for an episode titled “the finale.” “Some news… It’s official!!!” Corden and Jones wrote.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor London- and Paris-based production, finance and sales outfit Film Constellation has boarded international sales on Titus Kaphar’s drama “Exhibiting Forgiveness.” The film received strong reviews after its January premiere at Sundance in the U.S. Dramatic Competition section, and was picked up for North American distribution by Roadside Attractions, with plans for a wide theatrical release in the fall and awards campaign.

Naman Ramachandran The Royal Shakespeare Company‘s theater adaptation of “The Buddha of Suburbia” had hard acts to follow, coming after an acclaimed novel and TV series. Hanif Kureishi‘s Whitbread Award-winning 1990 novel is one of the seminal works of British literature.

Carlos Aguilar When filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed first hears the recorded voice of her late mother Sheila Turner Seed, who died when she was only 18 months old, a long-buried sense of connection is instantly reawakened. Seed, also a photographer, has spent years trying to construct a portrait of Turner from the substantial archival materials she left behind following a career as an adventurous, globe-trotting journalist.

K.J. Yossman Abi Morgan’s compulsive legal drama “The Split” is set to return for a two-part special. “The Split” is focused on high-powered divorce attorney Hannah Defoe and her family.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic “Unfrosted,” the first movie directed by Jerry Seinfeld (who also stars in it), is an agreeably flaked-out piece of surrealist vaudeville. It’s a comedy about the creation of the Pop-Tart, back in 1963. That makes it sound like part of the new wave of mass-market product biopics — movies like “Flamin’ Hot” (about the creation of Spicy Cheetos), “Blackberry” (about the invention of the smart phone), and the one I think of as the “Citizen Kane” of the genre, “The Founder,” with Michael Keaton as Ray Kroc, the man who changed the world by taking over and franchising McDonald’s.

Carlos Aguilar Fears of a future where artificial intelligence overpowers flesh-and-blood humans have always been a paramount tenet of sci-fi storytelling. And when these sentient robots closely resemble human behavior and exterior appearance (as in “Blade Runner” or “AI Artificial Intelligence”), then the conundrum of whether they should be granted human dignity rather than being seen as disposable presents itself.

Brillante Mendoza‘s film “Pula” has set a world premiere on Netflix. The narrative unfolds in the devoutly Catholic town of Pula and examines themes of faith, fanaticism, and vigilante justice. In the film, the tranquil life of Senior Master Sergeant Danilo Faraon (Coco Martin) and his family get upended by a tragic event that shakes the foundations of their close-knit community.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Takano Tofu” claimed double honors on the closing night of the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy. It won the Golden Mulberry audience award and the MyMovies Purple Mulberry award. Directed by Mihara Mitsuhiro, “Takano Tofu” is a melodrama about an elderly tofu-making craftsman, who is stuck in his ways but is also experimental and who is kindly, but whose stubbornness brings suffering on those around him.

Steven J. Horowitz Senior Music Writer In the promotional blitz running up to her third album “Radical Optimism,” Dua Lipa continuously waxed intellectual about self-realization and the freedom that comes from growth, spurred by situations both good and bad. “I think it’s important that we just learn to walk through the fire and not hide away from it,” she told Variety in March.

Max Gao SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “With So Little to Be Sure Of,” the sixth episode of the final season of ABC’s “Station 19.” Boris Kodjoe is ready to start his next chapter. Since wrapping production last month on the final season of ABC’s venerable firefighter drama “Station 19,” the 51-year-old actor — who rose to fame in the early aughts in the Showtime drama “Soul Food” — has set his sights on broadening his horizons.

William Earl “Tarot” has the makings of a classic sleepover horror movie, fine-tuned for an astrology-obsessed Gen Z. When a group of friends accidentally read their horoscopes with the help of a cursed set of Tarot cards, scary symbols like “The Magician” and “The High Priestess” come to life and start haunting the group. Blending elements of classic supernatural slashers and the “Final Destination” movies, the film stars a game group of twentysomethings, including Harriet Slater, Jacob Batalon and Larsen Thompson. Here, Thompson, who has also appeared in spooky projects such as the 2018 film “Bloodline” and the 2022 series “The Midnight Club,” reveals the tricks of the trade for surviving as an actor on the set of a horror film. 1) How to play dead A lot of that, of course, is holding your breath.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Hulu’s “We Were the Lucky Ones,” based on the book by Georgia Hunter, tells the true story of the Kurcs, a Jewish family who lived in Poland at the onset of World War II. The series follows the Kurcs as the events of the war and the Holocaust separate parents and children, tearing families apart. As casting director Fiona Weir read the script for the first episode, showrunner Erica Lipez stressed that despite the grim setting, it ultimately was a celebratory story — and it was important she get the family dynamics right.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Lempicka,” a musical about Art Deco painter Tamara de Lempicka, will play its final Broadway performance on Sunday, May 19. The show has struggled to draw crowds since opening on April 14. Last week, for instance, “Lempicka” had its weakest showing yet, earning $288,102 and playing at 71% capacity.

Jenelle Riley Deputy Awards and Features Editor Hannah Marks started acting when she was 6 years old, after seeing her mother’s acting reel. And she’s pretty much worked nonstop, from roles in the films “Accepted” and “The Runaways” to the cast of “Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency.” In fact, just last year she took her first vacation — though she confesses to recording several self-tapes during it.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large When “Curb Your Enthusiasm” began its run on HBO all the way back in 2000, creator/star Larry David had a very specific rule: He wouldn’t let the show’s cast read the episodic outlines. “The first three seasons I did not even see an outline,” “Curb” star Cheryl Hines tells Variety‘s Awards Circuit Podcast. “I wasn’t allowed.