2023 Film Independent Forum To Open With Justin Simien Keynote, LA Premiere of ‘Frybread Face And Me’; Kim Yutani, Pamela Ribon & Smriti Mundhra To Receive Inaugural ChangeMaker Award

Ava DuVernay is making history today. In Venice with Origin, which world premieres in the Sala Grande this evening, she is the first African American female filmmaker to ever have been selected in competition at the world’s oldest festival. DuVernay earlier told Deadline’s Dominic Patten, “Venice was a big goal. It feels like a real full-circle moment.”

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, October 4-13) has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year. 

EXCLUSIVE: The International Documentary Association announced the lineup for its prestigious FallDocs 2023 program, featuring a slew of Oscar contending nonfiction films as well as more than two dozen films that haven’t yet nailed down distribution.

Rapper August 08, real name Ray Davon Jacobs, has sadly passed away at the age of 31, his record label Def Jam have announced. Alongside his rap career, August worked as a producer and songwriter at the record label Def Jam and helped pen Justin Bieber's hit song Sorry and co-wrote DJ Khaled's chart-topping hit I'm The One. In a statement, posted to social media, the label said: "The entire Def Jam family mourns the tragic loss of Ray’ August 08′ Jacobs.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of his first narrative feature feature Frybread Face and Me‘s international premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Billy Luther has taken on new agency reps at CAA.

This year’s Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival will open with a double bill of Snow In Midsummer, directed by Malaysia’s Chong Keat-aun, and Be With Me, from Taiwanese filmmaker Hwarng Wern-ying.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief The Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival has announced dual opening night titles, both inspired by faith and local memories, as well as its closing gala presentation. The festival will open with “Snow in Midsummer,” directed by Chong Keat-aun, a former winner of the Golden Horse Film Awards’ best new director prize with “The Story of Southern Islet,” and “Be With Me,” by Hwarng Wern-ying, who previously won Golden Horse prizes for art direction, costume and makeup. The festival, which runs Nov.

Addie Morfoot Contributor The upcoming Woodstock Film Festival will kick off with Chloe Domont’s “Fair Play” and present a lifetime achievement award to James Ivory. The 24th edition of the fest, which runs from Sept.

Shakira is set to receive the Video Vanguard Award at the 2023 MTV VMAs. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday, September 12 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music “Snooze” is one of the most romantic songs on SZA’s chart-topping sophomore album “SOS,” and the song gets a suitably intimate treatment in her new video for the song, which features her snuggling, smoking, swimming arguing and dancing with Justin Bieber, “Power Book II” star Woody McClain, “Beef” hunk Young Mazino and super-producer/songwriter Benny Blanco (who has worked with Bieber, Ed Sheeran and many others as well as his good friend SZA). However, she saves the most intimate dance scenes for … well… you’ll see. Bieber is featured on the song’s extended remix, and he and wife Hailey attended her show in Los Angeles back in March.

How well does a couple know each other? That’s the question behind the upcoming drama “Foe,” which chronicles a marriage’s disintegration with a sci-fi twist. And director Garth Davis has two of the UK’s great young acting talents as his stars: Saoirse Ronan and Paul Mescal.

This Wednesday, Warner Bros.’ Barbie will become the highest-grossing movie at the domestic box office year to date with north of $574.2M, overtaking Universal/Illumination Entertainment’s Super Mario Bros Movie which finaled its stateside run at that amount.

Scooter Braun's client list is undergoing a major update. The manager to the stars has been in the news in recent weeks amid reports that he's no longer working with much of his A-list clientele.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Sara Summa’s European road movie “Arthur & Diana,” which will make its world premiere in the Discovery section of Toronto Film Festival, has been picked up for world sales by Vienna-based Square Eyes. The film is debuting its trailer with Variety.

Part three of “Vanderpump Rules” star Rachel Leviss‘ interview on Bethenny Frankel’s podcast, Just B with Bethenny Frankel, is out and the 28-year-old reality star is not holding back.

Vanderpump Rules star Rachel Leviss' interview on Bethenny Frankel's podcast,, is out and the 28-year-old reality star is not holding back. In early March, Ariana Madix and Tom Sandoval announced the end of their relationship after being together since 2013 when she first joined Vanderpump Rules.

Married at First Sight (MAFS) star Jules Robinson’s shapewear brand FIGUR has officially launched in the UK, and is packed full of pieces that help define and accentuate your shape. FIGUR was created as a response to the body shaming Jules experienced during her time on MAFS Australia, which she spoke openly about during an appearance on This Morning last year.

Tara Karajica At times Bosnia and Herzegovina has looked like it was stuck in a bit of a no-man’s land when it comes to film production, lacking the financial fire-power to press forward, but its TV series business is booming. The Southeast European country boasts two Oscar nominations – Danis Tanović’s “No Man’s Land,” which nabbed a statuette in 2002, and Jasmila Žbanić’s “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” which was nominated in 2021 – and its filmmakers have enjoyed success on the festival circuit, but it still hasn’t upped its meagre level of production, especially in terms of fiction features, with only one or two majority Bosnian films produced a year.

We kind of laughed it off last week when Snooki opened up about her years-long feud with Joy Behar… but it turns out this thing is serious! And STILL going!

Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, has released four short films directed by Global Media Makers (GMM) Fellows selected to participate in its spring 2023 LA Residency. GMM, presented by Film Independent and the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, is an innovative mentoring initiative and cultural exchange program that builds bridges and fosters relationships between international filmmakers from diverse regions of the world and American filmmakers and industry professionals. The films were captured on iPhone 14 Pro with color grading provided by Picture Shop, and this is the seventh iteration of the workshop.