‘The Tinder Swindler’ Director Felicity Morris Says Doc Market Is “Contracting” & Warns Against Chasing Viral Storytelling – Berlinale Series Market

It’s been a busy week for Marvel’s “Daredevil: Born Again” as production is ramping up in NYC. First, it was announced that Jon Bernthal would be returning to the role of Frank Castle, aka, The Punisher, in the Disney+ series alongside fellow former “Daredevil” cast members Charlie Cox and Vincent D’Onofrio in their respective Marvel roles.

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic “Chang Can Dunk” doesn’t go the way you’d expect, and that’s a good thing. Here’s a Disney movie about a 5-foot-8-inch Chinese American high school basketball player who bets his rival that he can dunk by the end of the season. He gets his wish about an hour in (that’s neither spoiler nor surprise, since the title literally tells us that Chang can dunk), but there’s still a long way for the character to go — and grow — in a film that believes maturity isn’t achieved by shortcuts. The result marks the attention-worthy debut of writer-director Jingyi Shao, and exemplifies the sort of movies Disney should be making: It has its values in the right place, but doesn’t pretend its hero is perfect. If there’s a villain in “Chang Can Dunk,” that role is arguably filled by the title character (tenaciously embodied by Bloom Li, who keeps us wondering how to feel about Chang). In time, the obsessive teen’s ultra-competitive personality winds up alienating practically everyone in his life, except demanding single mom Chen (an excellent Mardy Ma), whose tough-love approach only amplifies his resentment.

Elizabeth Taylor On March 8, the eighth annual Icon Mann Honors paid tribute to “The Woman King” director Gina Prince-Bythewood, who was lauded for her hallmark filmmaking and for inspiring culture by breaking new ground in cinema. Striving for a better future in the arts, she addressed the audience that gathered at the Waldorf Astoria in Beverly Hills. “I have always believed our greatness is reflected in our work and the ways that we show the world the incredible breadth of our humanity.” The driving force for her career was further described during her acceptance speech. “From the beginning, I tell stories of Black women and girls and reframe the narrative of who we are and what we can be. I want us to look up on the screen and see ourselves reflected in a way that inspires us and that we can aspire to be. And I’m proud of the Black men that I’ve centered in my work.”

EXCLUSIVE: Wheel Of Time execs Ted Field and Rick Selvage are among producers of feature biopic Les Indépendants about American impressionist Mary Cassatt and her relationship with French painter Edgar Degas.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Kuwaiti-born writer-director Zeyad (also known as “Z”) Alhusaini, whose action movie with comedic undertones “How I Got There” recently won the audience award at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival, has joined United Talent Agency for representation in all areas. The groundbreaking film about two best buddies from childhood, named Salem and Asad, who stumble upon a gun shipment and try to seize this opportunity to get rich quick is set entirely in the Persian Gulf. “How I Got There” provides a relatively realistic glimpse of Kuwait’s present-day melting-pot of cultures, and its underworld of gun-running mercenaries, gangs, and terrorists, plus the local rap scene.

confirmed the news of his death. Shortly after WWII, when Americans feared the impacts of nuclear testing and radiation, Gordon created mutated monster movies that wreaked havoc on the world.

EXCLUSIVE: John Boyega has been set to star in sci-fi romance The Freshening from director Cathy Yan (Birds Of Prey), we can reveal.

Karen Idelson When director Joel Crawford considered including a realistic panic attack in “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish,” he knew it would be an important moment for kids and adults alike. “We know so many people who struggle with anxiety or we struggle with it and have panic attacks ourselves,” Crawford says. “Children can handle these scenes, maybe sometimes better than adults, and it can help everyone to feel seen if we create a scene that feels like it’s drawn from something that really happens.” In the scene, Puss is overwhelmed by fear as he considers that he’s used up eight of his nine lives. Though the character’s signature state of mind is that of a daring, playful and extroverted cat, this new film takes him in a more vulnerable direction.

Adam Sandler will become the 24th recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center Concert Hall.The star-studded affair will feature appearances from key Sandler collaborators like Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Chris Rock, Conan O’Brien and Steve Buscemi.Rather than relax after his major achievement, the “Hustle” star will continue to hustle.Sandler, 56, just announced that he’s extending his ongoing ‘Adam Sandler Live Tour’ with seven additional arena shows from April 13-21.“One more week of fun? Let’s do it!” the funnyman shared on Instagram.Over the course of the week of fun, Sandler will be stopping into Newark’s Prudential Center on April 13 and Buffalo’s KeyBank Center on April 16.And for those who can’t wait to see the “Billy Madison” and “Uncut Gems” star live this April, we’re happy to report you can scoop up tickets as early as today.Although inventory isn’t available on Ticketmaster until Friday, March 3, fans who want to ensure they have tickets ahead of time can purchase on sites like Vivid Seats before tickets are officially on sale.Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.A complete calendar including all upcoming tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.All shows are for ages 16 and up.As noted earlier, Sandler is being awarded with the prestigious Mark Twain Prize for American Humor.Best of all, tickets are available to the one-night-only celebration of all things Sandler.At the time of publication, tickets can be grabbed for $309

Yoko Okumara: Growing up in Minneapolis as a Japanese-American immigrant kid. Directing was the farthest thing from my mind and my imagination couldn’t go there. It’s not like I ever saw a Scorsese film and was like, “I could be him someday.” Nobody who looked like me did this job, so, to me, it was really the love of the camera.

on their official website.The story goes that Mattinson, who was born in San Francisco in 1935, was transformed when his mother took him to see Walt Disney’s “Pinocchio” at the age of 6. He knew what he wanted to do.Mattinson’s first job at Disney was as an in-betweener on “Lady and the Tramp.” Following that, he became legendary animator and Imagineer Marc Davis’ assistant on “Sleeping Beauty,” working on the character of Maleficent.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director Bryan Cranston said in an interview with CNN’s Chris Wallace that Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan could be received as a “racist remark,” and he asked both Wallace and viewers at home if they’ve ever taken time to consider why that is the case. “The ‘Make America Great Again’ – my comment is: Do you accept that that could possibly be construed as a racist remark?” Cranston said. “And most people, a lot of people go, ‘How could that be racist? Make America Great Again?’ I said, ‘So just ask yourself from, from an African American experience, when was it ever great in America for the African American? When was it great?’”

EXCLUSIVE: Greenwich Entertainment has acquired North American rights to Jennifer Peedom’s visually stunning documentary River, “a profound cinematic and musical reflection on how rivers have shaped both the planet’s elaborate landscapes and all human existence.”

Her No. 1 fan? Keri Russell revealed whether her 11-year-old daughter, Willa, fell in love with Felicity after watching the pilot — and what she thought of her acting skills.

Charna Flam Disney+ has unveiled the trailer for “Chang Can Dunk” from filmmaker Jingyi Shao, one of Variety’s “10 Directors to Watch” for 2023. The coming-of-age sports film — which begins streaming March 10 — follows Chang (Bloom Li), an unpopular high schooler who loves basketball and Pokémon. Chang finds himself wagering a bet with the school’s all-star player, Matt (Chase Liefeld), that he will be able to make a slam dunk — in 12 weeks time. The film also stars Zoe Renee, Ben Wang, Dexter Darden, Anthony Lopez, Nile Bullock, Mardy Ma and Angel Oquendo.

K.J. Yossman Skin is a subject Israeli-American director Guy Nattiv touches on frequently in his work. He has directed no fewer than two (unrelated) films titled “Skin,” one feature-length, one short. The former, which premiered in Toronto in 2018, saw Jamie Bell win rave reviews as a white supremacist who tortuously has his tattoos lasered off after managing to break away from the Neo-Nazi cult that raised him. The latter, which Nattiv produced alongside his wife, Jaime Ray Newman, won the Oscar for live action short in 2019. Now Nattiv returns with “Golda,” his first feature since Toronto and another character study, this time of Israel’s fourth prime minister, Golda Meir, who is played by Helen Mirren. The film, which also stars Liev Schreiber and Camille Cottin, is set during the 1973 Yom Kippur war, when a coalition of Arab states launched a surprise attack on Israel on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

Jessica Kiang It is not unprecedented to have a Sundance-premiering film play in the Berlinale competition. Yet director Celine Song’s journey with “Past Lives,” which received raves in Park City and makes its international bow in Berlin, feels like a fresh phenomenon. She’s a first-time filmmaker. Her movie has no big names. And it is unapologetically personal. Breakthrough status suits Song, who told Variety, “Everything I do, I have to believe it is the first time I’m doing that kind of thing.” Her recent resumé bears that out: Since her Off Broadway play “Endlings” closed early due to the pandemic, she has written for Amazon’s “The Wheel of Time” and mounted a production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” entirely within the Sims 4 universe on Twitch. 

Elizabeth Banks is ready for another installment after Cocaine Bear.

If only they’d known! Maren Morris, Luke Combs and Tori Kelly are among the stars who’ve been turned down by singing competition shows before their big breaks.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International After breaking into NASA to make his last movie, “Operation Avalanche,” one would think that “BlackBerry” — a film that, on paper, sounds like a standard book adaptation about a Canadian boom-and-bust story — would be a walk in the park for Matt Johnson. For anyone else, it might have been. But short-cuts don’t compute for the Toronto-based helmer. His outright rejection of Hollywood’s camera tricks in place of a wild do-it-yourself approach has made him one of the most radical new voices emerging from Canada. In “BlackBerry,” which world premieres on Friday, Johnson tackles the story of one of Canada’s greatest modern inventions, the BlackBerry mobile phone — tracing its spectacular ascent into a global phenomenon that brought email to users’ fingertips, to its tragic downfall in the wake of corporate mismanagement and the dawn of Apple’s iPhone.