Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Names Razan Ghalayini VP of Non-Fiction Development (EXCLUSIVE)

Addie Morfoot Contributor Netflix and Chicken & Egg Pictures have teamed up on a new $450,000 documentary fund to support seasoned women and non-binary filmmakers working on their next feature-length project. Up to 30 filmmaking teams will receive either a $10,000 research grant or a $20,000 development grant to use towards a docu project. Recipients of the Chicken & Egg Pictures research and development grant will also have access to peer support, mentorship, and relationship-building within the documentary filmmaking community. Applications are currently being accepted for the new grant. The deadline for submission is April 24 and recipients will be announced this summer. To be eligible for the new grant, projects must be a feature-length film that is either in the research or the development stage. Additionally, the project must be directed or co-directed by an experienced woman or non-binary filmmaker who has directed at least two feature-length documentary films. Docus covering all types of topics and artistic approaches are welcome to apply. Projects will be evaluated according to their feasibility and the director’s body of work and connection to the story.

Naman Ramachandran Writer, producer and script editor Cassandra Johnson-Bekoe has joined U.K. independent production company DARE Pictures in the newly created position of head of scripted development. Johnson-Bekoe was previously senior development executive at Daniel Kaluuya’s production outfit 59%, overseeing the company’s slate and generating new IP across international and regional markets. Prior to this she worked in scripted development and her credits include “Ted Lasso” season 2 (WarnerBros/Apple+), “Riches” (Greenacre Films for ITV), “Secret Invasion” (Marvel Studios) and “The Chemistry of Death” (Cuba Pictures Ltd, for Paramount+). Reporting into DARE CEO Derren Lawford, Johnson-Bekoe will focus on developing the company’s scripted slate, as well bringing with her an original slate of IP and working on new drama and film projects with a view to taking them from pitch to commission with a particular emphasis on the U.S. and African markets. She will identify and develop relationships with emerging and established storytelling talent.

Ed Meza @edmezavar Santiago Requejo has not only turned his hit short, “All in Favor,” into a theatrical play set to premiere in Buenos Aires in April, he’s also working on a feature film version. The award-winning work, which was shortlisted for this year’s live-action short film Oscar, sets the scene with a friendly meeting of apartment owners discussing a new elevator that becomes increasingly tense when they find out one of the neighbors has rented his flat to a work colleague with mental health issues. The stage adaptation, which Requejo co-wrote with Javier Lorenzo and Raul Barranco, begins with the story depicted in the short film and expands its. The play (titled “Votemos” in Argentina rather than “Votamos” as in Spain) premieres April 6 at the Teatro Metropolitan in Buenos Aires.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service has acquired Makbul Mubarak’s award-winning debut feature, “Autobiography,” for the Southeast Asian region. The film, which is being sold by Alpha Violet, follows young Rakib (Kevin Ardilova), whose father is in prison and whose brother works abroad. He works as the housekeeper in a mansion in a rural Indonesian town belonging to retired general Purna (Arswendy Bening Swara). Purna returns to the town to start his mayoral election campaign and Rakib, whose clan has worked for the general’s family for centuries, serves as his assistant. An act of vandalism during the campaign triggers an escalating chain of violence.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor After launching less than three years ago, production company Sandbox films celebrated Oscars weekend this year with a nominated documentary, “Fire of Love.” The company will also premiere two new documentary films, “Confessions of a Good Samaritan” from Penny Lane and “The Arc of Oblivion” from Ian Cheney. Founding director Greg Boustead tells Variety that the boutique company seeks to share stories that pack an emotional punch, as he felt that element was often missing when it came to the science non-fiction genre. “One of the motivations for founding a company is to find those stories of where science and technology intersect with society in interesting and unexpected ways,” Boustead says.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Festival has announced a dozen projects from young filmmakers from Saudi, and the wider Arab and African region, selected for its development program, the Red Sea Lodge, in collaboration with TorinoFilmLab and sponsored by the Film AlUla film commission. The Lodge is a 10-month mentorship program that has now opened up to African works along with Saudi and Arab projects. Winners will take home a portion of the total $200,000 pot in prizes that will be awarded during the fest’s 2023 edition in December.  The selected projects from Saudi Arabia are:

Love Island star Jack Keating has said he's "looking forward to co-parenting" with the woman who is the mother of his newborn daughter. In a new interview, the 23 year old reality TV star, who is the son of Boyzone icon Ronan Keating, opened up on his surprise news and his plans going forward. Jack also confirmed that he and the baby's mum, thought to be artist Keely Iqbal, are not together now, but he's excited for the future.The new dad gushed over his little girl and said he is already "besotted" with the tot.

Alaska Reid's 2020 EP Big Bunny was an introduction to an artist whose deadpan melancholy sat atop hazy guitars and an '80s Americana interested in highlighting the sleazy side of Los Angeles. The fuzzy production, with which Reid worked alongside PC Music's A.G. Cook, gave a spotlight to Reid - who had previously spent time making country music and playing in various bands - who duly beckoned listeners to come closer and hear the stories she had gathered along the way.

Alex Gibney, the Emmy- and Academy Award-nominated documentary filmmaker behind “Taxi to the Dark Side,” “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” and “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley,” will next set his sights on Elon Musk with “Musk,” described in the official announcement as “a definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.”“I have been working on this film, off and on, for some time and am hugely excited about it,” said Gibney in an official statement. “I am delighted by this extraordinary group who are working with me.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Elon Musk will be the center of a new documentary from the unflinching Alex Gibney, the Oscar-winning director of “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief.” Already months into production, Gibney announced the project on Monday saying he was “hugely excited” about tackling Musk on film. It is described as a “definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX and Twitter.” Tech mogul Musk reached peak saturation in late 2022 when he completed a $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, promising to upend the platform’s user experience as well as restore “balance” to its user body (including the elimination of bot accounts, which Musk has previously said ran rampant on the site).

Oscar-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney has his next doc as he is currently months into the making of Musk, a definitive and unvarnished examination of multi-billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and Twitter. 

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Global streaming operation Netflix is forecast to spend $1.9 billion on local content in the Asia-Pacific region this year as group revenue from the region accelerates to 12%, according to a new report. The content investment spending figure represents a 15% hike. Netflix will grow revenues this year by 12% year-on-year to exceed $4 billion compared with 9% growth in 2022, says a new report published on Monday by Media Partners Asia.

On January 15 2023, the Sunday Mail and Daily Record carried a story about the Secretary of State for Scotland, Alister Jack MP being a major shareholder of Rebel One Ltd, a company that received £2m from the UK’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme.

Tamar Herman Last year, j-hope of BTS released the LP “Jack in the Box”and headlined Lollapalooza. It was the first drop from a member of the history-making group as BTS publicly announced that it would be transitioning temporarily from band releases to focusing on individual projects. With “Jack in the Box,” j-hope kicked off such a period of solo development with a dark, gritty exploration of his self and career. Now he’s back with a new single that further relays new facets of the much beloved K-pop star and his artistry, “on the street (with J. Cole).” A lo-fi hip-hop tune guided by a mesmerizing whistle melody performed by j-hope himself, “On the street (with J. Cole)” is a reflection of j-hope’s career and life thus far, looking towards the future while recalling the path he walked to get there, emphasizing his history as a street dancer prior to becoming a members of BTS. It arrives on the verge of j-hope taking a step out of the spotlight temporarily, soon enlisting in South Korea’s military, fulfilling the country’s mandatory draft service.   

Bilbao BBK has announced more acts for its 2023 line-up.The festival has confirmed Pavement will be headlining the Spanish festival’s second day, while Roisin Murphy, Arca, Ry X, Young Fathers and Perfume Genius and many more have also joined the line-up.They join previously announced acts Phoenix, IDLES, Jamie xx, Fever Ray, Röyksopp, Avalon Emerson, Anz, HAAi, SHERELLE, M83 and DUKI. Also set to play this year are Arctic Monkeys, Florence + the Machine, The Chemical Brothers, 070 Shake, Dry Cleaning and The Murder Capital.The 2023 edition of Bilbao BBK will take place from July 6-8 in the Basque region of Spain.

Tensions are rising in the new “Fatal Attraction”.

In this new teaser for Paramount+’s Fatal Attraction series, Lizzy Caplan’s Alex Forrest shares an elevator with Joshua Jackson’s Dan Gallagher and asks “Do you ever push that red button?” We can be pretty sure she’s not merely talking about an emergency stop.

Gary Neville has lauded Erik ten Hag's ability to influence games with his substitutions and tactical changes as he paid tribute to the Dutchman's first trophy as Manchester United manager.

, with Joshua Jackson, Lizzy Caplan and Amanda Peet taking over the roles first originated by Michael Douglas, Glenn Close and Anne Archer, respectively. In the extended teaser for the series, Alex Forrest (Caplan) seduces Dan Gallagher (Jackson) before the two are seen engaging in a passionate affair. The only catch is, Dan is married — and at the end of the clip, we see Alex introducing herself to his wife, Beth (Peet), who is seemingly unaware of what's going on between the two of them. Adapted by creator Alexandra Cunningham, who also serves as the showrunner, the series will reimagine the cultural touchstones of what made the psychosexual thriller an instant classic while exploring timeless themes of marriage and infidelity and issues related to views of strong women, personality disorders and coercive control through a modern lens. «Culturally, we've come a long way since 1987.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor CNN hopes it’s finally hit upon a way to solve a long-vexing puzzle: What should it be airing at 9 p.m.? The solution requires the network to fit together many pieces. Starting this week, the Warner Bros. Discovery-backed news outlet will fill the hour with a range of different special reports, all under the rubric of “CNN Primetime.” Future 9 p.m. hours could include one-on-one interviews with newsmakers; town halls that put government officials in direct contact with the people affected by policy decisions; and other programs that feature surprising “gets” and scoops. The programming gambit backs away from the tried-and-true practice of relying on a single anchor or opinion host in the time slot, home to Sean Hannity, Alex Wagner and Rachel Maddow, and banks instead on creative ways of analyzing the news cycle.