British filmmakers Sean Cronin and Peter Stylianou’s latest feature, “Drained,” has wrapped post-production and is being sold by Cronin’s Magnificent Films at the Cannes Film Market. Cronin is also an actor who has appeared in “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation” and “Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.” He has played villains in some 89 films, […]
An epic drama series about Iran’s last monarchy is in the works, Variety has learned. Inspired by “The Crown,” Netflix’s sweeping dramatization of the British royal family, “The Last Shah” is set to span four decades beginning during World War II, when the young monarch, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ascended to the throne, and ending in […]
FREE ASSOCIATION The 27-member European Film Agency Directors Association and the Asian Film Alliance Network, which was established this time last year and currently has seven members, have agreed to work together on topics of common interest and to jointly develop a better world film ecosystem. At a meeting this week held on the sidelines […]
Federation Spain, the Madrid-based arm of top indie European studio Federation Entertainment, has inked to co-produce Xavier Rull’s feature debut “My Stalker,” selected for this year’s Frontières Platform in Cannes. Structured as a Spain-Mexico-U.S. co-production, “My Stalker” is set up at Monster Box, the horror indie outfit recently launched by Rull with awarded Mexican filmmaker […]
German Films celebrated its 70th anniversary at Cannes on Sunday, with its guests looking back but also looking forward. “It has gotten much better,” Managing Director Simone Baumann told Variety at the event. “We’ve had Oscar-winning ‘All Quiet on the Western Front,’ Oscar-nominated ‘The Teachers’ Lounge’ [for best international feature], films by Wim Wenders and with Sandra Hüller! […]
Over the last century, the small but mighty island Republic of Malta has cemented itself as an appealing global destination for major film productions, with features such as Ridley Scott’s “Gladiator,” Robert Altaman’s “Popeye,” and Steven Spielberg’s “Munich” shooting there. Scott recently wrapped production on the long-awaited follow-up to his 2000 Roman epic, and the […]
At first, the violence seems limited to news reports. Every time a gangster is gunned down or a car bomb goes off in the streets of Corsica, the local channel flashes footage of the crime scene. So long as the killings are confined to television, it’s easy for 15-year-old Lesia to pretend they’re neither real […]
Kevin Costner got candid about partly self-financing his new movie, “Horizon: An American Saga,” at a Cannes Film Festival press conference on Monday. Costner put much of his own fortune into making the $100 million-plus film, including mortgaging his ranch. He directs and stars in the film, which he also produced and co-wrote. When asked […]
A new Italian distribution and international sales company called PiperFilm is launching in Cannes, having scored rights for Italy to Paolo Sorrentino’s Cannes competition title “Parthenope.” Former Vision Distribution managing director Massimiliano Orfei is president of PiperFilm, while Luisa Borella, who is also a former top-level Vision Distribution executive, serves as the new media company’s […]
London’s Raindance Film Festival is making a significant calendar shift for its 32nd edition, moving from its traditional fall slot to a new summer schedule. Raindance kicks off with the U.K. premiere of Tilman Singer’s “Cuckoo,” a horror feature starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens that previously played at Berlin and SXSW. Closing the festival […]
