Sundance: In Chilling ’20 Days In Mariupol’ Director Mstyslav Chernov Documents Russia’s Brutal Attack On Ukrainian Civilians

EXCLUSIVE: France tv distribution has boarded international sales on French philosopher and writer Bernard-Henri Lévy and director-photographer Marc Roussel’s documentary Slava Ukraini and will launch the title at the EFM.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to make an appearance at the Berlinale, Variety has learned. A spokesperson for the Berlin Film Festival, which kicks off on Thursday, confirmed that the Ukrainian leader “will be present at Berlinale in some kind of form,” although “which and when is not confirmed yet.” Zelenskyy is the subject of one of the festival’s most high-profile projects: Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s top-secret documentary “Superpower.” The details of the film have remained sparse for over a year, when it was first revealed that Penn had been in Ukraine when the war with Russia broke out.

Malina Saval Associate Editor, Features Sean Penn went to war and a movie broke out. That is, in effect, the story behind the making of the documentary “Superpower,” a gripping cinematic portrait of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on the eve of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s military invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.  Co-directed by Penn and Aaron Kaufman, who helmed the 2021 documentary “Crusaders: Ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses Speak Out,” “Superpower” bows Feb. 17, out of competition, as a Berlinale Special Gala at the Berlin Film Festival. Fifth Season and Vice Studios are behind the film, with Fifth Season selling worldwide rights. “Superpower” was not conceived as a war story. Rather, Penn and Kaufman, as well as producer Billy Smith, endeavored to chart the trajectory of Zelensky’s unusual career trajectory — from actor-comedian-producer playing a history teacher elected as Ukraine’s president in the satirical TV series “Servant of the People,” to a rising political star elected as the real-life president of Ukraine in 2019. The intent was to relay a tale about an everyman — in Zelensky’s case, a Ukrainian, Russian-speaking Jew born under Soviet rule in the late 1970s — who finds himself at the helm of a fledgling democratic nation burning to embrace freedom. A Ukrainian president elected on an anti-corruption platform who, very soon post-election, finds himself in the crosshairs of an American president’s impeachment. 

Russian journalist Marina Ovsyannikova has recounted her dramatic escape from Moscow, a week before she was due to face trial for interrupting a live broadcast on Russian TV to criticise her country’s invasion of Ukraine

Alec Baldwin is already facing involuntary manslaughter charges and a potential five years in prison if found guilty for the 2021 fatal shooting of Halyna Hutchins, and now the parents and sister of the slain of Rust cinematographer have filed a lawsuit of their own.

The one and only! Chris Rock became a certified Hollywood star in the ’90s — and he hasn’t slowed down since.

EXCLUSIVE: Russia’s nearly year-long war in Ukraine has claimed the lives of more than 7,000 civilians, including 438 children, according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. But the impact of the invasion goes much further than those numbers, of course – the bloodshed has sent more than five million Ukrainians fleeing across the Polish border, reportedly half of them teenagers or younger.

Abacus Boards Dan Reed’s Andrew Tate Doc

Jordan White can’t stop scoring against the team he grew up supporting.

Mediaset CEO Pier Silvio Berlusconi has given his verdict on an upcoming video appearance by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at Italy’s iconic Sanremo song festival, adding fuel to an ongoing political debate around the operation.

EXCLUSIVE: A pair of Nordic networks have boarded Those Who Stayed, the Ukraine invasion anthology series we first told you about last year.

Liev Schreiber urged a crowd of D.C. lawmakers, ambassadors and media figures for continued support for Ukrainians as the one-year anniversary nears of Russia’s attempted invasion.

Boris Johnson has claimed that Vladimir Putin threatened to murder him in a rocket attack last year, the Mirror reports. The fomer UK PM alleges in a new three-part BBC documentary that the Russian President warned him: “I don’t want to hurt you, but with a missile, it would only take a minute.”

It’s probably impossible to rank Donald Trump scandals. We’d be here all day! But this is definitely one of the biggest from a rule of law perspective. It’s just, you know, a bit late to the game. But you know what? We know about it now!

Although trans rights are now the subject of a simmering culture war in America and the U.K., that conflict is largely predicated on the increasing visibility of trans women at a time where self-ID is controversially becoming the norm. Stories of trans men, however, tend to go under the radar, and this remarkable New York-set debut from Chilean-Serbian director Vuk Lungulov-Klotz goes some way to redressing that imbalance. Featuring a pitch-perfect performance from Puerto Rican/Greek actor Lío Mehiel, so far mostly known for the Apple show WeCrashed and a number of shorts, U.S. Dramatic Competition entry Mutt feels like an important but — for reasons about to be explained — perhaps interstitial film in the history of LGBTQ+ cinema, being fully cognizant of the fact that it is set and was made in a between-time that reflects the lead character’s existential sense of limbo.

Z painted on the side fire at apartment buildings. A gurney gets scrubbed down in an attempt to wash off the blood of a 16-year-old. Doctors use a defibrillator in an attempt to revive an 18-month-old boy.

The Berlinale staunchly condemns Russia’s ongoing war of aggression, which violates international law, and expresses its solidarity with the people in Ukraine and all those who are campaigning against this war. The festival also stands with the courageous protesters in Iran as they defend themselves against a violent, undemocratic regime.In expressing this solidarity, the festival will not exclude filmmakers, artists, industry representatives or journalists because of their Russian or Iranian nationality.

Working on their fitness! Gisele Bündchen and Joaquim Valente were once again spotted together in Costa Rica two months after their initial outing.

EXCLUSIVE: Taissa Farmiga (The Gilded Age) will exec produce and star in the Ukrainian drama Anna, from producer Uri Singer (White Noise).