​​AfroBerlin: Black German Filmmakers Association Discuss Their Creation, Working With Incoming Berlinale Head Tricia Tuttle & Why They Believe The Festival Needed “New Leadership”

Todd Longwell Sound doesn’t get a lot of high-profile recognition during movie awards season, outside of a single category at the Oscars. That’s why the 60thCinema Audio Society Awards – which will be held on March 2 at the Beverly Hilton – are such an important date on the entertainment industry calendar.

In this week’s episode of The Discourse, host Mike DeAngelo powers up to discuss the Netflix film, “Code 8: Part II” with producers and stars Stephen Amell (“Arrow,” “Heels”)and Robbie Amell (“Upload,” “The Witcher”). In the sequel to “Code 8,” Connor (Robbie Amell) is out of prison and working as a janitor at a community center, having cut ties with his former criminal associate Garrett (Stephen Amell).

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Ivo (Minna Wündrich) spends her days tending to terminally ill patients. In her capacity as a palliative care nurse, she’s not responsible for saving them — that’s the doctors’ concern — though this 40-ish single mother does her best to listen to their complaints and ease their pain.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter A remake of the ’90s classic “Don’t Tell Mom The Babysitter’s Dead” is coming to theaters in spring. Nicole Richie and June Squibb will lead an ensemble including Jermaine Fowler (“Superior Donuts”), comic Ms. Pat, Olympian Gus Kenworthy, and newcomers Simone Joy Jones, Donielle Tremaine Hansley, Miles Fowler, Iantha Richardson and Tyriq Withers.

the “Reign with Josh Smith” podcast Tuesday.The “Dune: Part Two” star, 40, said the person in question was an “absolute idiot of a co-star” who was “number one on the call sheet”“I did a film with an absolute idiot of a co-star and it doesn’t matter who it was. I’m going to try and not give this away,” she recalled.Ferguson clarified that it was not her “The Greatest Showman” or “Mission: Impossible” co-stars Hugh Jackman or Tom Cruise.“I remember there was a moment when this human being was being so insecure and angry because this person couldn’t get the scenes out,” she shared. “And I think I was so vulnerable and uncomfortable that I got screamed at.”“But because this person was number one on a call sheet, there was no safety net for me.

Tatiana Siegel As Hollywood agencies and production companies increasingly turn to artificial intelligence to evaluate screenplays, a group of writers and creatives have come together to design a so-called barrier against the incursion. Shane Black (“Iron Man 3”), Jim Herzfeld (“Meet the Parents”) and Akela Cooper (“M3GAN”) are among two dozen industryites who collaborated on the development of a new tech platform, dubbed the Gauntlet, in an effort to keep humans assessing screenplays at the gate-keeper stage rather than AI.

EXCLUSIVE: An eclectic collection of upcoming projects ranging from Guy Ritchie‘s debut TV series to Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Famous Five to an Italian-language series for Netflix are tied together by one constant: Moonage Pictures.

Following her Palme d’Or winning legal drama, “Anatomy Of A Fall,” French filmmaker Justine Triet quickly went from admired writer/director to much-coveted Academy Award nominee. ‘Anatomy’ was only her second feature-length film in competition at Cannes, following 2019’s “Sibyl,” but it launched her into the stratosphere afterward, earning five Oscar nominations this year, including Best Picture and Best Director (Triet also set a record this year, becoming the first female French filmmaker to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Original Screenplay).

Last week, Internet rumors from former blog writer Jeff Sneider said Tom Cruise hoped to find a role in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming and supposed final film, “The Movie Critic.” The casting was apparently not final, and if it did happen, it may have to be a minor role or small cameo, as Cruise would be busy with his next “Mission Impossible” film for most of the year.

Mark Ruffalo is opening up in his new interview.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Black Tea,” Abderrahmane Sissako‘s lushly lensed romance drama set in China, has been bought by major distributors in key territories ahead of its world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival. Gaumont, which co-produced the film, has sold it to Caramel (Spain), Academy two (Italy), Pandora Films (Germany, Austria), Cineart (Benelux), Films4you (Portugal), Provzglyad (CIS), Mozinet (Hungary), Another World Entertainment (Norway), Film Bazar (Denmark), MCF Megacom (Former Yugoslavia, Albania), Filmstop (Latvia, Estonia), MB Taip Toliau (Lithuania), Imovision (Brazil), AV Jet (Taiwan), Falcon (Indonesia), Pathé BC (Sub-Saharan Africa, Maghreb) and New Cinema (Israel).

“This might sound very irresponsible, but I don’t know what I’m doing,” South Korean filmmaker Hong Sangsoo told a Berlinale presser this afternoon when quizzed on his unique directing style. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Kirsten Niehuus, head of German film fund Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, is confident that the changes to film funding proposed by the German government recently will have a “very positive effect on the production scene in Berlin-Brandenburg.” The proposed changes to the funding system were presented last week to German lawmakers in the Bundestag by commissioner for culture and media Claudia Roth (see here). Speaking to Variety Saturday at a party Medienboard hosted at Berlin’s Holzmarkt, Niehuus said the changes “will mean that we would have a tax system in place that could compete, for instance, with Budapest or Prague, so that not so many German productions would go and shoot somewhere else, and more foreign productions would come and shoot in Germany.” Looking at the media landscape across Germany she notes that one major challenge is the decision by high-end outlets such as Paramount+, HBO and Sky to cancel local productions, and she noted “the streamers are not such reliable partners anymore.” She added: “So I think producers are having a really hard time at the moment.” On a happier note, the Berlin government raised Medienboard’s budget by Euros 6 million over the next two years, which will be targeted at the exhibition sector in the region, allowing for the upgrading of facilities at movie theaters.

EXCLUSIVE: Martin Scorsese is returning to the Berlin Film Festival tomorrow for the first time in a decade. The cinema legend, currently on the awards circuit with latest epic Killers Of The Flower Moon, will be feted with the Berlinale‘s highest honor, its lifetime achievement Golden Bear.

The first-ever edition of AfroBerlin put Africa in the spotlight at the Berlin Film Festival and in one key session asked how festivals, streamers, and the wider industry can — and should — support films and filmmakers from the continent.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Twin directors Damiano and Fabio D’Innocenzo, who are known to Berlin Film Festival audiences for stylishly gritty dramas “Boys Cry” and “Bad Tales,” are back with eclectic detective series “Dostoevskij,” premiering in the fest’s Berlinale Special section. Set in the stark Roman hinterland, the six-episode show — produced by Sky Studios with Rome’s Paco Cinematografica — stars Filippo Timi (“Vincere,” “The Eight Mountains”) as Enzo Vitello, a policeman whose mind is warped by an incident involving his daughter Ambra.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Georgian-Swedish director Levan Akin is again winning over audiences with his latest film, “Crossing,” which opened the Berlin Film Festival’s Panorama section. The touching drama is about retired teacher Lia (Mzia Arabuli), who sets off with a young companion, Achi (Lucas Kankava), on a journey from the Georgian city of Batumi to Turkey, where she hopes to find her long lost niece in Istanbul. Pic follows Akin’s acclaimed 2019 film “And Then We Danced.” It was while researching that film in Georgia that he heard a story about a grandfather who was very supportive of his trans grandchild.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Director General Tim Davie has acknowledged “antisemitic behavior by people who worked with us” in an all-staff note that attempts to rebuild relations with Jewish staffers.

“It’s about a whole bunch of things,” Mexican filmmaker Alonso Ruizpalacios says when quizzed on the subject of his latest feature, La Cocina, debuting this evening at the Berlin Film Festival. “In equal parts, it explores the topic of work, the American dream, the failure of the American dream, and abortion rights. That’s a really tough question as a director.” 

Berlinale. They followed a red carpet that mixed demonstrations and high style over a more than two-hour stretch. Festival co-chief Mariëtte Rissenbeek felt it necessary to address head on the festival’s recent controversy over invitations to five far-right (AfD) members of the German parliament.