Berlin Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Oscar contenders and Berlin prize-winners will be among the European films being represented by visiting companies to FilMart that are making use of the European Film Promotion umbrella stand within the annual Hong Kong market. In total 29 European film sales companies are making the trip, including more than a dozen from France under the Unifrance banner. Prominent rights brokers include Charades, Goodfellas, Fandango and Filmax.

Alexei Navalny’s sacrifice for democracy is being recognized in the place where the concept of government by the people first flourished.

Khruangbin have announced details of a UK and European tour to take place in November – see the full list of dates below.In January, the band announced their new album ‘A La Sala’, alongside the single ‘A Love International’. The album comes out on April 5 via Dead Oceans, in partnership with Night Time Stories Ltd., and you can pre-order it here.The newly-announced dates are in addition to an extensive North American tour that begins with an appearance at Coachella Festival on April 14, and runs through to Bonnaroo Festival on June 14.

American Film Market is moving from Los Angeles to Las Vegas. The Independent Film & Television Alliance and its board of directors announced Friday that the AFM, its industry flagship event, will relocate to Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas for its 45th edition, scheduled for Nov.

Pierce Brosnan has spied the next James Bond — and it’s Cillian Murphy.Brosnan, who starred as James Bond in four movies, says that Murphy (“Oppenheimer,” “Peaky Blinders”) is the natural choice to play the dashing secret agent on the big screen.“Cillian would do a magnificent job as James Bond on His Majesty’s Secret Service,” Brosnan said at the Oscar Wilde Awards in LA Thursday night, according to Variety. Murphy was also at the event with his fellow Irish actor.Murphy, who is the odds-on favorite to win Best Actor at the March 10 Academy Awards, has finished filming his next project, the historical drama “Small Things Like These,” which premiered last month at the Berlin Film Festival.He has also expressed interest in filming a big-screen adaptation of his hit BBC gangster series “Peaky Blinders,” which streamed on Netflix.Brosnan starred as James Bond from 1995-2002 in “Golden Eye,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “The World Is Not Enough” and “Die Another Day.”The role was inherited by Daniel Craig, who’s made five Bond movies (2006-2021).Since Craig retired from the James Bond franchise, several names to succeed him have been bandied about, including Idris Elba, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, “Bridgerton” star Regé-Jean Page and “Superman” star Henry Cavill.Murphy stars in “Oppenheimer” as J.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief This month’s Hong Kong International Film Festival will showcase over 190 films from 62 countries and regions, including five world premieres, and 64 Asian premieres. Running 12 days (March 28 – April 8), the festival will open with the Asian premiere of local director Ray Yeung’s “All Shall Be Well,” which won the Teddy Award at the recent Berlin festival.

This year’s Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF, March 28-April 8) will open with the Asian premiere of All Shall Be Well, directed by Hong Kong filmmaker Ray Yeung, which recently won the Teddy Award at Berlin film festival.

Ellise Shafer Former “James Bond” star Pierce Brosnan has made his pick for who should play the iconic spy next: Cillian Murphy. At the Oscar Wilde Awards in Los Angeles on Thursday night, Brosnan was asked by the BBC for his opinion on which actor should play Bond after Daniel Craig retired from the role in 2021.

“The Tonight Show” once Johnny Carson took over in 1962 through the end of his run 30 years later.Lawrence was a top-selling recording artist with hits including “Go Away Little Girl,” which reached No. 1 on the US charts and was awarded a gold record, “Party Doll,” “Footsteps,” “Pretty Blue Eyes,” “I’ve Gotta Be Me” and “Portrait of My Love.”Over the course of their long career, Lawrence and Gormé won a Grammy (for their 1960 album “We Got Us”) and an Emmy in 1979 for “Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin.”Lawrence also snared a Tony nomination in 1964 for his role as Sammy Glick in “What Makes Sammy Run.”Lawrence hosted “The Steve Lawrence Show” in 1965 — which ran for 13 weeks on CBS — and was a regular panelist on “What’s My Line?”He also appeared many times on “The Carol Burnett Show” (solo and with Gormé) and in dozens of episodic TV shows through the years including “Hot in Cleveland, “Night Gallery,” “CSI,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “Frasier” and “Sanford and Son.”He also appeared on the big screen in “The Blues Brothers” and its sequel, “Blues Brothers 2000” and “Stand Up and Be Counted.”Later in his career, Lawrence played Morty Fine, the father of Fran Fine (Fran Drescher), on “The Nanny” in the CBS series’ final season.Lawrence went public with his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2019 and issued a statement that said, “I have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and it’s in the early stages.“I am being treated with medications under the supervision of some of the finest doctors in the field.

EXCLUSIVE: Last month, when Brandt Andersen’s debut feature film The Strangers’ Case won the Amnesty International Film Award at Berlinale, it marked the recognition of a long and impassioned journey for the writer, director and long-time producer as he sought to marry film with his extensive activism background. 

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Kino Lorber has acquired North American distribution rights to Bruno Dumont’s “The Empire,” a sci-fi satire starring Anamaria Vartolomei (“Happening”), Camille Cottin (“Call My Agent!”), Lyna Khoudri (“The Three Musketeers”) and Fabrice Luchini. “The Empire” just world premiered in competition at the Berlin Film Festival, where it won the Silver Bear Jury Prize.

's stylist Dara Allen emerged on Miu Miu’s autumn/winter 2024 catwalk. The stylist—who first came up through Tumblr before modeling for Marc Jacobs and Helmut Lang, and was hired as fashion director at Mel Ottenberg’s Interview magazine—is, at least in part, the reason why Schafer is considered one of the best-dressed women in the world.Consider the feathered bralette that Schafer wore to the , taken from Ludovic de Saint Sernin’s erstwhile tenure at Ann Demeulemeester; the she wore to the London premiere of The Hunger Games, which had been plucked from Prada’s spring/summer 2009 archive; and the paint-encrusted bodycon she wore to the film’s Berlin debut, pulled from Daniel Roseberry’s spring/summer 2023 couture proposal at Schiaparelli.

Last week The G screened at Glasgow Film Festival. The film, which stars Dale Dickey, took viewers by surprise, offering them...Written and directed by Ciaran Lyons, Tummy Monster premiered this week at Glasgow Film Festival.

Atom Egoyan has revealed that he was so traumatized by the negative reception to his Ryan Reynolds-starring thriller The Captive at the Cannes Film Festival that he will never return again with a film.

Beabadoobee has shared a blissful cover of ‘It’s Only A Paper Moon’, created for Jack Antonoff‘s soundtrack to The New Look series. Check it out below.Shared today (March 6), the song was created for the series, which is available to stream now on Apple TV+ and focuses on renowned fashion designers like Coco Chanel as they navigated the horrors of the Second World War.Originally, the song was shared back in 1933 with music by Harold Arlen and lyrics by Yip Harburg and Billy Rose.

Avatar: The Last Airbender strikes again.

Lise Pedersen Paris-based outfit Cat&Docs has acquired world sales for “Immortals,” the sophomore feature film by Swiss director Maja Tschumi (“Rotzloch”), which will compete in the main competition at leading European documentary festival CPH:DOX. “We’re excited to bring this exceptional and important documentary to the international market.

EXCLUSIVE: After a five-year run at the company and the recent acquisition of Oscar nominee Io Capitano, Robert Aaronson has been promoted to Executive Vice President of Cohen Media Group (CMG).

Bob Dylan appeared to respond to a heckler who shouted “play something we know!” at one of his recent live shows – check out the footage below.The legendary singer-songwriter performed at the Broward Center For The Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last Friday (March 1) as part of his current ‘Rough And Rowdy Ways’ tour.Early on in the 16-song set, however, Dylan was interrupted by a dissatisfied audience member. In a fan-shot video, a woman can be heard shouting at the musician to “play something we know!” during the introduction to a live rendition of his 1971 song ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’.A fan on X/Twitter later shared the clip, writing: “This is WILD.

Berlin Film Festival 2025 Dates 

After a successful return as a physical event last year, Hong Kong International Film & TV Market (Filmart, March 11-14) is taking place again this year against a complicated backdrop, both in terms of market realities and the shifting geopolitics of the region. 

Callum McLennan Featuring famed directors such as Argentina’s Ariel Rotter and Spain’s Benito Zambrano, who have not only played but won at Berlin and San Sebastian respectively, Malaga’s 19-pic out of competition strand is a testament to the buyer-driven pulling power of Malaga , thanks to its significant market. Multiple other name auteurs pack out the selection, which also includes a far stronger line is broad audience comedies than most festivals would risk.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Exhuma,” a locally produced occult drama-thriller, expanded its domination of the South Korea box office on its second week of release. That left the newly-released “Dune 2” several sand dunes behind in second place. “Exhuma,” about two shaman, a feng shui master and a mortician who attempt to undo the mysterious events happening to a U.S.-based Korean family, earned $17.2 million between Friday and Sunday, representing a 69% share of the overall box office market.

Paolo Taviani, the iconic Italian director who helmed numerous films with his brother Vittorio, has died. He was 92.

Outgoing Berlinale head Carlo Chatrian has distanced himself from the criticism made of the fest’s closing ceremony speeches earlier this week.

Ellise Shafer Outgoing Berlinale artistic director Carlo Chatrian has spoken out about the political discourse surrounding the festival’s closing ceremony this year. As the Berlinale handed out prizes on Saturday night, several winning filmmakers took the opportunity in their acceptance speeches to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Following its world premiere in the competition section of the Berlin Film Festival, Beta Cinema has revealed first sales across Europe and to Australia and New Zealand for Andreas Dresen’s “From Hilde, With Love.” The drama about anti-Nazi activists in Berlin, which is led by “Babylon Berlin’s” Liv Lisa Fries and introduces Johannes Hegemann in his first big screen appearance, will be released in France by Haut et Court, in Italy by Teodora and throughout Scandinavia by Angel Films. Beta Cinema also closed deals for Benelux (September Film), Portugal (Outsider), former Yugoslavia (Discovery), Hungary (Cirko) and Czech Republic (Film Europe). Palace Film picked up the film for Australia and New Zealand.

EXCLUSIVE: William Spetz, writer, creator and star of the critically acclaimed Swedish series Tore, has signed with TFC Management.

Babylon Berlin has landed a new U.S. home on a newly-merged streaming service created as Kino Lorber’s MHz Choice and Topic combine.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Kino Lorber’s MHz Choice and Topic will merge into one streaming service, parent company Kino Lorber announced Thursday. The combined product will become the exclusive U.S. streaming home of hit German series “Babylon Berlin” in April.