As part of the Marché du Film at Cannes, Byron Allen’s Freestyle Digital Media has acquired the North American rights to thriller The Ghost Trap, The Hollywood Reporter can exclusively reveal. It focuses on a young lobsterman who is forced to choose between right and wrong when
Renovo Media Group has launched a new studio and facility in Clear Lake, Iowa, set to be led by Lisa Crnic as president, Aaron Wiederspahn as head of scripted, and Ben Parrish as head of unscripted. The group is led by chairman David Kingland. Renovo Media Group will develop,
Hollywood actors had barely inked a new labor deal with major studios and streamers last November when the lights in Ontario film studios flickered on and local talent and technical crews eyed a quick return to work on American shoots. But the homecoming for Hollywood after the
New York arthouse distributor Kino Lorber is expanding its streaming service, Kino Film Collection, currently available on Amazon Prime, to include a stand-alone SVOD which will feature hundreds of titles from its extensive back catalog, including features from the likes of
Reflecting the breadth of Mediawan CEO Pierre-Antoine Capton’s vast network and friendships, an impressive roster of film industry players flocked to celebrate him as he received Variety‘s International Visionary Award at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday. Attendees included
(Baby) It’s cold outside. Strings of gaudy rainbow lights twinkle from gables. In cozy living rooms, grandmothers and great aunts doze in their chairs while middle-aged siblings bicker and booze it up around the dining table. Little kids squirm in makeshift beds trying to stay
Tennis champion Naomi Osaka’s company Hana Kuma has boarded Leonardo Van Dijl’s debut feature “Julie Keeps Quiet” ahead of its world premiere May 18 in Cannes Critics’ Week. The film is being sold by New Europe Film Sales. Osaka and her longtime agent and business partner
Even Dr. Phil is getting in on TV’s frenzied battle for sports rights. The daytime mainstay has long been known for doling out common-sense advice without any bull. Now that’s about to change. Starting in July, a significant chunk of Professional Bull Riders events will be seen
When it comes to the indie movie business, you don’t get more old-school than Kino Lorber. The New York outfit, founded as Kino International in 1977, has been the first source of independent cinema for U.S. audiences. It was the first to distribute films from Yorgos Lanthimos,
AGC Intl., the international sales arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, is launching sales in Cannes on director Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary feature “Nobu,” about world renowned chef and hotelier Nobu Matsuhisa. Nobu’s path to success was strewn with obstacles, adversity and
Signature Entertainment has acquired the U.K. and Irish rights to Sylvester Stallone (“Tulsa King”) action thriller “Alarum” from Highland Film Group. The feature is produced and financed by Convergence Entertainment Group (“Cash Out”) and is directed by Michael Polish (“Force
Less than 24 hours after the world premiere of Cannes favorite Andrea Arnold’s new competition entry Bird, the filmmaker joined her cast for the festival press conference inside the Palais on Friday. The wide-ranging session covered Arnold’s creative influences, casting choices
On Friday afternoon, at the most anticipated press conference of the 77th Cannes Film Festival, legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola fielded questions about his latest work, Megalopolis, which had its world premiere at the fest in competition on Thursday night, deeply
Francis Ford Coppola shared his thoughts on the current studio system during the Cannes Film Festival press conference for his self-financed epic “Megalopolis,” saying that they might not be around much longer. “I fear that the film industry has become more of a matter of
Variety will present a Women in Cinema Panel at the Cannes Film Festival in tandem with the Red Sea International Film Festival featuring top talents from Egypt, India, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Senegal. The panel will take place at La Plage Des Palmes on Saturday, May 18, at
Buenos Aires-based production, sales and distribution company FilmSharks has picked up all worldwide rights to the new crime thriller by Argentina’s Sebastian Schindel, “A Silent Death” (Una muerte silenciosa”), to which it has sold Latin American theatrical rights to Disney’s
Set to receive the honorary Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, George Lucas is no stranger to the Croisette. The legendary filmmaker — whose first feature, THX-1138, screened at Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight in 1971 — brought Willow to the festival in 1988.
A radical vision of Indian womanhood collides with scattered storytelling in director Konstantin Bojanov’s “The Shameless,” a provocative queer drama laid low by its oblique narrative. Following two women destined for a life of sex work, the drama is lucid in its politics, but
In another sign that the #MeToo movement is transforming the birthplace of cinema, France’s film producers and actors unions on Friday unanimously approved new measures aimed at preventing gender-based and sexual violence and harassment within the industry. Several French
French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch is in Cannes for the third time with “Everybody Loves Touda,” launching out of competition. The film tells the story of a young poet and singer steeped in an ancient Moroccan form of folk song called aita, but forced to perform trashy pop
Spanish sales, distribution, and production company Filmax has picked up international rights to the upcoming kids and family animated feature “The Light of Aisha” and is sharing the project with buyers at this year’s Marché du Film. The CG-animated film tells the story of
Lily Gladstone took a break from jury duty at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday to present Ron Howard with Variety’s Profile in Excellence Award. Howard was the guest of honor at the annual Welcome to Cannes Party, hosted in partnership with the Gotham Film & Media Institute
Andrea Arnold’s initial inspiration for her Cannes competition entry “Bird” was perhaps not what many people might have been expecting. “A very long time ago, I had the image a tall, thin man with a long penis, standing on a roof,” she explained at the press conference for the
Logical Pictures is launching a new Africa venture that will see the production, financing and distribution outfit expand its global footprint into the fast-growing African market. According to the group’s head, Frédéric Fiore, the move will help position Logical Pictures as
Paulo Carneiro’s third feature, “Savanna and the Mountain,” is world premiering at this year’s Cannes in the Director’s Fortnight section. The film depicts a David-and-Goliath struggle between rural folk from Covas de Barroso in the North of Portugal and London-based Savannah
Paul Dano, Alicia Vikander, Jude Law, Zach Galifianakis and Tom Sturridge team up in Olivier Assayas’ political thriller “The Wizard of the Kremlin”, based on Giuliano da Empoli’s bestseller by the same name. Produced by Olivier Delbosc’s banner Curiosa Films and Gaumont – who
The Swiss/French “Dog on Trial” is set to disrupt, move and entertain the Croisette from what is revealed in a first clip from sales outfit MK2 Films, exclusively shared with Variety. The film world premieres at Cannes Un Certain Regard May 19. Writer/actor-turned-director
AWARDS NEWS Hit crime thriller “The Pig, The Snake and The Pigeon” received 13 nominations for the upcoming Taipei Film Festival’s Taipei Film Awards. These include nominations for best feature, best director, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and best
On Sept. 12, 2022, the day before Jean-Luc Godard died by assisted suicide at 91 in his home in Rolle, Switzerland, the Godfather of French New Wave completed his final 18-minute film, “Scénarios,” which premieres on today in Cannes. “Scénarios” — which comprises two components
Los Angeles-based Flourishing Films has boarded Singapore- and India-based Mumba Devi Motion Pictures’ “Grand Sugar Daddy” and “Not Today” at the Cannes Film Festival’s market. Flourishing is focused on expanding access to Black, diverse and female-driven filmed content
The first feature from director-writer Constance Tsang, the Cannes Critics’ Week title Blue Sun Palace, is set in Flushing, Queens, where Chinese migrants Amy and Didi work in a massage parlor and struggle to get by. But viewers could be forgiven for not recognizing the
After nearly two years of planning, the digital platform “The Gleaners and I: Revisiting Agnès Varda’s Edit” is about to go live. Supported by Martin Scorsese, the pedagogical platform will open the treasure trove of Agnès Varda’s archives, making never-before-seen footage
“La Mesías” star Carmen Machi, Almodóvar muse Rossy de Palma and Blanca Portillo, a Cannes best actress co-winner for Almodóvar’s “Volver,” are set to star in “The Prey” (“Dia de Caza”), billed as a contemporary revision of Carlos Saura’s 1965 pic “The Hunt,” quite possibly his
If the best revenge is living well, it is a truism that has not yet taken root for Hamid (a riveting Adam Bessa), the dark, scarred heart of Jonathan Millet’s brooding, gripping “Ghost Trail.” Outside his soon-to-be-revealed mission, Hamid barely has a life at all, placing him
It’s been 20 years since the Czech Republic hosted its first pavilion at the Cannes Film Festival’s Marché du Film, with a Czech delegation arriving at the prestigious French fest just days after their country had joined the European Union. The timing was both propitious and
When the creative team behind Prime Video’s splashy fantasy series “The Wheel of Time” began scouring the globe for locations five years ago, it ran into a problem not uncharacteristic of that period of peak TV: It was all but impossible to find a production hub that could both
Pinocchio is entering the Poohniverse. The frequently adapted children’s story is set to become the latest standalone film introduced into the extremely bloody and gory world of “Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey,” the IP-bludgeoning microbudget slasher that that sparked
Italy’s film industry is fighting to stay vibrant amid disruption caused both by politics and market forces.After reaping the rewards of a protracted growth spurt, local producers are facing a forced slowdown as the country’s right-wing government dithers with modifications
The persistent vibrancy of Italian cinema, despite increasing financing difficulties, is undisputable if you look at the range of the country’s current output and what’s percolating in the pipeline. It spans from highly sophisticated new works by maestros such as Paolo
Chilean actor Alfredo Castro (“The Club,” “Tony Manero”) will make his directorial debut with the psychological thriller “Los Trabajadores de la Muerte,” which translates to “the workers of death.” Based on Diamela Eltit’s novel of the same title, the film is penned by Castro
Arab cinema continues to break new ground with a fresh crop of social dramas, several of which depict female empowerment in different forms. These range from the tale of a young woman who fakes being dead so she can leave everything behind, to a rape-revenge thriller titled
Sola Media has closed sales for multiple territories for “The Sloth Lane,” which will world premiere at the Annecy Intl. Animation Film Festival. Sola will be presenting a first look at the trailer at the Cannes Market. The story, which centers on an adorable family of sloths
Saudi Arabia leads this year’s Arab cinema contingent at Cannes with pioneering director Tawfik Alzaidi’s “Norah” launching internationally from Un Certain Regard plus a clutch of films in other sections by directors from Egypt, Palestine and Morocco. They collectively reflect
This year marks a milestone for India at the Cannes Film Festival, with nine films from the country across its various strands. The majority of the Indian films on the Croisette are by or about women. This includes Payal Kapadia’s “All We Imagine as Light,” the first Indian
As Cannes collectively wonders whether Iranian director Mohammad Rasoulof will be on the red carpet Friday to premiere his latest work, “The Seed of the Sacred Fig,” one thing is sure. Iranian cinema is bursting with mounting rage against the regime’s repression. And this rage
The Cannes Film Festival has long been like a second home for Romanian filmmakers, and actor-turned-director Emanuel Pârvu will continue that tradition when he ascends the steps of the Lumière Theater on May 17 for the premiere of “Three Kilometers to the End of the World,”
There are a slew of programs in the U.S. that offer production incentives in the form of tax credits, rebates and grants. Texas’ recently increased statewide film grant, along with its extensive infrastructure and programs, is designed to ensure Hollywood-in-Texas is a success
Quiver Distribution acquired North American rights to Andy Fickman’s “Don’t Turn Out the Lights.” The film follows a group of friends on a road trip who realize something terrifying and unworldly is threatening their lives. The filmmakers said that movie is based on a “true