Unresolved Lillehammer Case to Be Explored in Spy Thriller Series ‘Blindspot’ by Maipo, Spiro Films (EXCLUSIVE)

Sophia Scorziello editor The Jewish Film Institute has named six independent films as winners of its fourth annual JFI completion grants. The grants, totaling $85,000, are awarded to projects that underline diverse stories about Jewish identity and experience.

Humza Yousaf has accused Westminster of trying to “shut down” independence by blocking civil servants from working on the policy.

The youngest player in this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup was born in the United States, but she’s not playing with Megan Rapinoe and the rest of the USWNT — she’s playing for South Korea.

At its Max streaming event earlier this year, Warner Bros. Discovery confirmed a new era is coming for Harry Potter fans. The company announced a TV series based on all seven books about the boy wizard written by J.K. Rowling. See below for the most current answers to the most important questions about the project.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Executives at Paramount-owned, Tel Aviv-based Ananey Studios were stunned when they realized that they couldn’t find a single transgender actor to audition for “The Malevolent Bride,” a series they produced with A+E Studios. Within a year, this sudden awareness pushed Ananey’s creative director Elad Sonego (pictured) and Paramount to set up Israel’s first transgender acting school in partnership with Nissan Nativ Acting Studio and Jason Danino Holt, a director and playwright. Since launching in 2022, the school has graduated six actors, including Malki who plays the leading role in “The Malevolent Bride” which was ordered by Kan 11, the public broadcaster. Set in present-day Jerusalem, the series unfolds in a Hasidic community that’s haunted by vengeful spirit and examines the complexities of traditional gender roles in orthodox communities.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Chile’s Santiago International Film Festival (Sanfic) celebrates its 19th edition with a vibrant lineup packed with works from first-time Chilean filmmakers, with six debut features out of nine contenders in the fully in-person festival running August 20-27.  “It was tough. We had at least 30 submissions to the Chilean film selection, which we narrowed down to these nine,” said artistic director Carlos Nuñez, who added that three of them are world premieres.  The selection touts five documentaries – a reflection of the boom in non-fiction filmmaking in recent years. Among them is the poetic “A Brief Space in Time” (“Breve espacio de un tiempo”), which world premieres at Sanfic and turns on a Mapuche couple living off their ancestral Wallmapu land. 

Selome Hailu MTV is launching a new dating series titled “The Love Experiment” that aims to bring the choices and excitement of dating apps to life. The series, which premieres on Aug. 15 at 10 p.m., follows three single best friends who enter a hall of eligible men who are all ready for committed relationships. Inside the “dating utopia,” the women are in control, but they quickly realize that having too many ideal choices is harder than it seems. The stars of Season 1 and are Marcia, age 30; Paige, age 27; and Tamara, age 30. They are all from Atlanta, Ga. Mari Waugh aka Spicy Mari will help guide the women through “The Love Experiment” as a relationship expert. As the CEO and founder of the Spicy Life, Waugh works to encourage singles and couples to communicate and connect more effectively by incorporating passion and adventure in their interpersonal relationships.

Naman Ramachandran Ariel Kavoussi, whose acting credits include Netflix’s “Maniac,” Prime Video’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” and film “Catfight,” has wrapped her feature directorial debut “The Next Big One: A Comedy with Three Potential Problems.” In this dystopian sci-fi black comedy, a high-ranking employee at an omnipotent tech firm must help her depressed, activist brother move into their aunt’s house while a hurricane threatens New York city. Principal photography wrapped in Brooklyn, New York. Kavoussi previously directed shorts and some TV. The lead cast includes Molly Bernard (“Younger”), David H. Holmes (“The Penguin”), Deborah Rush (“Strangers with Candy”) and Kevin Corrigan (“The Get Down”).

Nicole Kidman is diving into «new territory» with creator Taylor Sheridan's latest Paramount+ series, Special Ops: Lioness.Inspired by a real-life U.S. military program, the series follows the life of Joe (Zoe Saldaña) while she attempts to balance her personal and professional life as the tip of the CIA's spear in the war on terror.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Cesar-winning French actor Roschdy Zem (“Days of Glory”) and “Fauda” star Laëtitia Eïdo are co-starring in “Fatum,” a timely action film directed by Florent-Emilio Siri (“Hostage”) and scored by Oscar-winning Alexandre Desplat. “Fatum,” which started filming on July 4 in Morocco, is produced by Mathias Rubin at Récifilms (“November,” “Möbius”). Orange Studio is co-producing and has French distribution rights, as well as handles international sales. The film is also co-produced by France 2 Cinéma which pre-bought it along with Canal+, Disney+ and Palatine Etoile 21. Zem, one of France’s most bankable actors who previously won a Cannes prize with “Days of Glory” and recently won a Cesar Award with “Oh Mercy!” stars in “Fatum” as Elyas, a former Special Forces soldier who has become solitary and paranoid since serving Afghanistan. Elyas is recruited to provide the security for Amina (Eido) and her daughter Nour who fled the Emirates and found refuge in a French castle. When a commando tracks down Amina and Nour, Elyas once again becomes the fearless soldier he was on the frontlines to rescue the pair.

EXCLUSIVE: Woody Harrelson (True Detective) and Owen Wilson (Loki) have been cast as leads in feature thriller Lips Like Sugar, which will be directed by Grammy-winner Brantley Gutierrez and has been written by Anthony Tambakis (Warrior). 

Timothy Olyphant) and Sam Browne (Claire Danes) and their teen son Jared (Ethan Stoddard), who has a habit of losing his possessions (including his phone). He also makes an online acquaintance, another boy his age named Nicky (Lucian Zanes), who his parents don’t know about. Sam’s father, Chef Jeff (Dennis Quaid – donning a bewildering ponytail hairstyle) is a celebrity chef.

Flying Lotus (aka Steven Ellison) has already made a name for himself in the music business as a Grammy Award-winning rapper, producer, and composer. But the multi-hyphenate dabbles in film production, too, like his 2017 feature debut “Kuso,” which had its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter ESPN Films is working on a docuseries about the legendary Gracie family, Variety has learned exclusively. Titled “Gracie,” the series will delve deep into the family’s history and dissect how they became the founders of Brazilian jiu jitsu, which serves as a major cornerstone of modern mixed martial arts (MMA). The official description of the series states: “Featuring larger-than-life personalities, triumphs and tragedies, deep loyalties, passionate loves and deadly feuds, ‘Gracie’ will explore the essence of family, honor, legacy, and humanity’s innate desire to fight. Told through the eyes of key Gracie family members, the series will dive deep into an epic family saga that takes audiences from Scotland and Japan, to Brazil and America.”

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Shout Studios acquired North American rights to “The Kill Room,” a thriller starring Uma Thurman, Samuel L. Jackson and Joe Manganiello. The distribution and production division of indie Shout Factory has emerged victorious in a bidding war at Cannes Film Festival. Shout Studios plans to release the film in theaters this fall. “The Kill Room” was directed by Nicol Paone and written by Jonathan Jacobson. The dark comedic-thriller follows an art dealer (Thurman) who teams with a hitman (Manganiello) and his boss (Jackson) for a money laundering scheme. The plan accidentally turns the hired killer into an overnight avant-garde sensation, forcing the dealer to play the art world against the underworld.

Netflix has confirmed that Sex Education is ending after season 4.

Daniel Radcliffe is fine with sitting on the sidelines for Max’s upcoming Harry Potter TV series.

With the recent news that HBO’s streaming service, Max (previously known as HBO Max), is developing a new “Harry Potter” series, what are the odds that the original Harry will be making an appearance?

Brent Lang Executive Editor Magnet Releasing, the genre arm of indie distributor Magnolia Pictures, has acquired North American rights to “Sleep.” The horror-thriller, which sounds designed to make you rethink your thoughts about sleepwalking, recently had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival’s critics week. It was directed and written by Jason Yu, who worked with Korean filmmaking legends Bong Joon-ho and Lee Chang-dong before making his feature directing debut with “Sleep.” Magnet will release the film early next year. The director’s previous collaborator, Bong, called “Sleep,” “the most unique horror film and the smartest debut film I’ve seen in 10 years.” So that’s some high praise from the director of “The Host” and “Parasite.”

Eric Roberts (“Babylon,” “Suits”) has joined Spyder Dobrofsky’s upcoming feature, “Down Below.” The psychological horror film, “centers around a young sheriff and a criminal suspect who find their lives intertwined when both become haunted by a sinister force on Christmas Eve,” per the official logline. Roberts portrays a police psychologist, who’s having difficulty with his patient, a suspended cop due to an act of violence against a civilian. Roberts is joined by Hutch Dano and Christopher Livingston.