Wim Wenders Talks SAG-AFTRA Strike at Lyon’s Lumiere Festival, Says U.S. Studios’ Obsession With Sequels ‘Kills Imagination and the Idea of Cinema’

in the person of its president, Fran Drescher) and the major Hollywood studios (AMPTP). It’s a rinse-and-repeat following on the heels of the writers’ guild (WGA), which ended its strike in early October after five months as TV scribes headed back to their writers rooms to crank out late-night monologues or plan for new episodes of their series.“I’m thrilled it’s over,” former “Parks and Recreation” co-star Jim O’Heir told me from Kansas City, where he’s starring in a play (“Catch Me If You Can”) during his strike-enforced downtime from television.

Wim Wenders returned to the Croisette at the Cannes Film Festival in a big way this year with “Perfect Days.” The German director’s first film since 2017’s “Submergence” wowed audiences at the festival, with the movie nabbing the Prize Of The Ecumenical Jury and the Best Actor Award for star Kōji Yakusho. Now, after further screenings at Telluride, TIFF, London, and NYFF this Fall, it’s time for US audiences to see “Perfect Days” for themselves.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Jasmina Kuhnke, a German-born writer, actor, author and activist, has signed with CAA for representation, Variety has learned exclusively. Kuhnke’s debut novel, “Black Heart,” is a bestseller. The semi-autobiographical book recounts her experience growing up on the outskirts of the Ruhr region in Germany in the ’90s, and how she grappled with racism.

Japan has dominated this year’s Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA), with German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ latest Tokyo-set pic and Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car follow-up taking the top prizes. 

The 20th edition of the Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its selection, opening with Richard Linklater’s comedy Hit Man. (scroll down for full list of films)

The Usual Suspects and Miller’s Crossing, has given his views on ‘de-aging’ technology and the “terrifying” advent of artificial intelligence in the entertainment industry.“I think the de-aging process is at a very exploratory stage,” he told NME in an exclusive interview, before commenting on Martin Scorsese’s 2019 Netflix mob epic The Irishman, which aged down Robert De Niro and Al Pacino up to 50 years by using first-of-its-kind motion capture technology created from AI software. “I didn’t think it quite worked in The Irishman,” Byrne said, “but it will get better and it will get incredibly sophisticated.”He continued: “The advent of AI is going to affect every single facet of life from now on, it’s especially going to affect the truth.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Berlin-based DCM Film Distribution has acquired Kristoffer Borgli’s surrealist comedy “Dream Scenario,” starring Nicolas Cage. In the A24 satire, which premiered in Toronto before opening this year’s Zurich Film Festival, Cage plays a college professor whose life is turned upside down when millions of strangers suddenly start seeing him in their dreams. “We love ‘Dream Scenario,’” says Carl Rickmers, DCM’s newly appointed director of film acquisitions and sales.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Marrakech International Film Festival has announced its full jury, signaling that the event is forging ahead with its 20th edition despite the Israel-Hamas conflict — which has caused cancellations of several other fests in the region — and the earthquake that hit the country in September. Joining Jessica Chastain – who is the fest’s previously announced jury president – will be Iranian actor Zar Amir; French actor Camille Cottin; Australian actor and director Joel Edgerton; British director Joanna Hogg; U.S. director Dee Rees; Swedish-Egyptian director Tarek Saleh; Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård and French-Moroccan writer Leïla Slimani.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Paramount+ in France has acquired “French Roulette – A Mother’s Ordeal,” Vincent Garenq’s (“Guilty”) limited series set in the 1970s. Under the deal, Paramount+ will have exclusive first-window rights in France to the series, which is represented internationally by France TV Distribution, and will premiere it on Dec.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Shawn Levy, whose limited series “All The Light We Cannot See” is premiering on Netflix on Nov. 2, was supposed to have a packed year, between the filming “Deadpool 3” and Season 5 of “Stranger Things” of which he’s an executive producer and director. With both productions paused due to the SAG-AFTRA strikes, Levy has instead been busy promoting “All the Light We Cannot See,” an adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel.

Thierry Frémaux is best known internationally as the long-time head of France’s Cannes Film Festival, which is organized out of its offices in Paris’s trendy Marais neighborhood.

Tokyo’s International Film Festival returned this evening for its first completely unrestricted, post-COVID-19 edition with a well-attended screening of Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days. 

Wim Wenders introduced the cast and crew of “Perfect Days” at an outdoor stage, giving the opening ceremony of the 36th Tokyo International Film Festival a moment of European cool. Inside the Tokyo Takarazuka Theater, Wenders was brought on stage twice more. “I had a dream that with ‘Perfect Days,’ I’d make a film that would play at the Cannes Film Festival. I dreamed that it would win the best acting prize.

Close to 40 years after Wim Wenders won the Cannes Palme d’Or for Paris, Texas, its enigmatic ending continues to spark debate in cinephile circles.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Taylor Swift’s movie is presiding over Martin Scorsese’s in North American theaters, but the “Mean Streets” director has outstripped the “Mean” singer at the international box office. Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” a crime epic starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro, has generated $21 million from 63 overseas markets. In terms of weekend ticket sales, it’s pacing ahead of Swift’s “The Eras Tour,” which added $10.5 million in its second weekend of release.

Concerned that a prolonged actors strike would bring long-term, irreparable harm to the industry, Hollywood’s biggest stars on a Zoom call this week with SAG-AFTRA leaders pledged to commit $150 million over three years to remove a cap on union dues to bring more coin to guild coffers, and they suggested a streamer residual structure that would put actors on the bottom of the call sheet before them, in hopes that getting money faster would help more struggling actors qualify for benefits.

Actress Charlotte Gainsbourg made a moving presentation of her documentary Jane By Charlotte, capturing her complex relationship with her late mother Jane Birkin, ahead of a screening at the Lumière Film Festival on Saturday.

Wim Wenders and Thierry Frémaux signalled their support on Saturday for the Hollywood actors strike as the industrial action hits its 100th day.

Lise Pedersen With typical modesty and humor, Wim Wenders opened his masterclass at the Lumière Film Festival in Lyon by answering the question: ‘Do you feel like a survivor in the history of cinema?’ with a ‘Yes, in a funny kind of way, I do sometimes feel like a dinosaur.” Expanding on his answer, the 78-year old director, who is being awarded the festival’s Lumière Award lifetime achievement prize later today, said he had been lucky enough to experience great changes in cinema throughout his lifetime and that he felt more like he had experienced rather than survived cinema –“vécu plutôt que survécu,” as he said in his fluent French. Looking back on his 1984 cult movie “Paris, Texas,” for which he won the Palme d’Or in Cannes, the German director explained it had been the culmination of one of his greatest lessons in life.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Netflix has dropped a teaser for J.A. Bayona’s highly anticipated survival thriller “Society of the Snow,” which will represent Spain in the Oscars international feature film race. The film world premiered on closing night of the Venice Film Festival and is playing this week at the Lumiere Film Festival in Lyon.