A24’s Alex Garland Movie ‘Civil War’ To Make World Premiere At SXSW

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Toronto’s Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival, has unveiled the full lineup of films that will screen in its Special Presentations program. The festival runs April 25 to May 5. World premieres include “Red Fever,” which sees Cree filmmaker Neil Diamond travel to the four corners of Turtle Island and across Europe to explore the world’s fascination with Native Americans; “American Cats: The Good, the Bad, and the Cuddly,” in which “Full Frontal With Samantha Bee” correspondent Amy Hoggart explores the controversial practice of declawing cats; “The Ride Ahead,” an expansion of co-director Samuel Habib’s short film “My Disability Roadmap” (which got an Honorable Mention in the International Shorts section of Hot Docs in 2022), exploring a typical 21-year-old itching to move out, start a career and find love—all while navigating life with a disability; “Lost in the Shuffle,” which follows world champion magician Shawn Farquhar as he simultaneously devises a new trick and delves into a medieval murder cold case; and “Le Mans 55: The Unauthorized Investigation,” which explores the tragic Le Mans race in 1955 where more than 80 spectators were killed.

Universal‘s bender of a weekend continued past Oscars into Monday night with the enthusiastic SXSW premiere of Monkeypaw’s Dev Patel feature directorial debut, Monkey Man, which blew the roof off Austin’s Paramount Theatre.

Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is the subject of a new documentary feature announced today at SXSW. Matthew Stafford: Locked In will debut Thursday, April 18 on the Rams’ digital platforms, local broadcast stations, and on NFL Network. 

Cillian Murphy is officially an Oscar winner!

Cynthia Littleton Business Editor Daisy Ridley took a moment during the post-premiere Q&A for her indie thriller “Magpie” at SXSW on Saturday night to reflect on the journey of bringing the film to life. “I remember the first day on set when I saw the trailers saying ‘Oh my god, we’re making a film.’ Now, I feel like, ‘Oh my god, we’re here,’ ” Ridley said after “Magpie” had its world premeire at the State Theater in Austin, Texas. “Magpie” hails from Bateman’s Werewolf Films, 55 Films and Align.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Toronto-based sales agent Syndicado Film Sales has acquired international rights to German director Caroline von der Tann’s Naples-set doc “The Gospel According to Ciretta” ahead of its world premiere at the Thessaloniki Intl. Documentary Film Festival.

EXCLUSIVE: Ahead of its world premiere at SXSW on Saturday (March 9), feature doc Plastic People: The Hidden Crisis of Microplastics has found an international distributor in the UK’s Rainmaker Content.

If Alex Garland’s upcoming political thriller, “Civil War,” looks violent, disturbing, and harrowing, you’re not the only one. The film centers on a journey across a dystopian future America and follows a team of military-embedded journalists as they race against time to reach D.C.

Kirsten Dunst is looking back at her time on the Spider-Man set, wishing she would’ve stood up for herself.

A Victoria Cross awarded to a brave World War One naval gunboat commander who died while leading a charge under fire could fetch £220,000 at auction. Lieutenant-Commander Edgar Cookson was killed by Turkish marksmen while trying to force his way through enemy lines during advances on the city of Kut, in Iraq.

The champagne may be flowing at the kickoff for the 27th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival – for more reasons than one.

Room to Read, a global education nonprofit tackling illiteracy and gender inequality, announced a partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery for the premiere of , the first nonprofit-led animation and live-action film project to promote gender equality through the stories of young women around the world.

Christopher Vourlias Akin Omotoso, the filmmaker behind Disney Plus’ Giannis Antetokounmpo biopic “Rise,” has been attached to direct “The Plot to Save South Africa,” an adaptation of Justice Malala’s gripping book about a 1990s white supremacist plot that almost plunged the young democracy into civil war. “The Plot to Save South Africa” will be produced by Johannesburg-based production outfit Ochre Moving Pictures, which signed a deal with Netflix last year to adapt multiple books for the streaming service alongside Omotoso.

It’s 50 and counting for Dragon’s Den.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Taskovski Films Sales has picked up documentary “My Sextortion Diary,” directed and produced by Patricia Franquesa. The film, which explores Franquesa’s reaction to an attempted digital blackmail that occurred in 2019, will have its world premiere at SXSW. Variety debuts the trailer, below.

Dune: Part Two. On Sunday the Euphoria star—who plays a desert alien warrior princess in the sci-fi blockbuster—graced the red carpet in yet another : a cream-colored gown with a large skeletal cutout from Stéphane Rolland Couture.Sandy locations reportedly inspired the collection from which Zendaya’s dress was pulled, which corresponds nicely with the movie’s setting on the dusty fictional planet of Arrakis.

Joseph Quinn‘s busy film slate gets even busier. Deadline reports that one of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars adds another upcoming movie to his roster: an untitled war pic from A24, with Alex Garland and Ray Mendoza co-directing.

EXCLUSIVE: Even after landing one of the highly-coveted roles in Marvel’s new Fantastic Four movie, Joseph Quinn isn’t done setting up a very robust film slate as sources tell Deadline he is in talks to join A24’s new untitled war pic that Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland are co-directing. Charles Melton is also on board to star.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent In early Series Mania business, Europe’s Beta Film has pounced on international distribution rights to “30 Days of Lust,” a half-hour dramedy from Munich’s Trimafilm, in which a couple, high-school sweethearts but now knocking 30, experiment with 30 days of free sex. Beta Film has also shared in exclusivity with Variety a first clip from the eight-part series which world premieres in International Panorama Competition at next month’s Series Mania, a section whose value is rising fast as companies seek to leverage TV festival selection as a sign of distinction in a still hugely crowded fiction TV marketplace. In the clip, from the early going of Ep.

The trailer for A24′s new movie, Civil War, just dropped.