Amid Abortion Law Protests, Women on the Rise in the Polish Film Industry

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorNine female filmmakers have been selected to participate in the inaugural Future Directors of Studio Features Initiative.Blackmagic Design announced the initiative, which is designed to elevate and polish undiscovered and underrepresented female-identifying storytellers who are poised to make the transition to feature directing.

Rebecca Davis editorChinese helmer Xu Lei will return to the subject of rural life in northern China for his second feature “The Peacemaker,” one of the 20 narrative film projects selected to participate in the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum this year.Xu’s suspenseful and darkly humorous first film “Summer Detective,” which he wrote and directed, was nominated for best feature and won the prize for best script at the 2019 FIRST International Film Festival, which focuses on emerging talent.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media WriterDirector Michael Polish has been sued for allegedly assaulting a member of the crew during a production in Montana last fall.Jack Renner, an art director based in Washington, D.C., was hired to work on a project entitled “Bring on the Dancing Horses.” Renner alleges that shortly after he arrived, he and Polish had a conversation about their dogs.

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has acquired worldwide rights, with some exclusions, for “The Personal History of David Copperfield” star Dev Patel’s directorial debut “Monkey Man.” The streamer is thought to have paid around $30 million for the film.The rights agreement excludes Spain, Latin America, Iceland, Former Yugoslavia, Poland, Russia and Baltic States, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Pan-Asian PTV and China, where there are pre-existing deals.In the India-set film, Patel plays an unlikely hero who

Antonio Ferme editorWhile there are many Muslims active in Hollywood from Mahershala Ali to Riz Ahmed, who is drawing awards buzz for his role in “Sound of Metal,” Serena Rasoul thought they were among the few. Rasoul has launched Muslim American Casting and is building a database of Muslim and Southwest Asian/North African talent.“We can make a bigger impact if we’re united,” Rasoul said.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentREinvent International Sales has closed a raft of deals across its slate of family movies, including “A Christmas Tale,” “Twigson and the Sea Monster” and “Nelly Rapp – Monster Agent.” “Nelly Rapp – Monster Agent,” directed by Amanda Adolfsson, has been sold to the U.S. and Canada (Janson Media), Russia and CIS (Volga Films), Poland (Vivarto), Japan (New Select) and Estonia (Estin Film).

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentREinvent International Sales has closed a raft of deals across its slate of family movies, including “A Christmas Tale,” “Twigson and the Sea Monster” and “Nelly Rapp – Monster Detective.” “Nelly Rapp – Monster Detective,” directed by Amanda Adolfsson, has been sold to the U.S. and Canada (Janson Media), Russia and CIS (Volga Films), Poland (Vivarto) and Estonia (Estin Film).

Christopher Vourlias The coronavirus pandemic couldn’t have arrived at a worse time for Leszek Bodzak, the producer behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi.” With just five days to spare before principal photography was set to begin on “Leave No Traces,” the latest feature from acclaimed director Jan P.

Christopher Vourlias Polish director Paweł Maślona (“Panic Attack”) is prepping a lavish period drama about the American Revolutionary War hero Tadeusz Kościuszko.Produced by Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Hickinbotham for Aurum Film, the production house behind Jan Komasa’s Oscar-nominated “Corpus Christi,” the historical epic — with the working title “Scarborn,” from a script by Michał A. Zielinski — received development funding from the Polish Film Institute.

History will be made at this year’s Golden Globes. For the first time in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s history, two siblings of color – Jackson Lee, 23, and Satchel Lee, 26 — will serve as ambassadors during the awards show ceremony.

The 2021 Golden Globes is featuring siblings as the 78th annual ceremony’s ambassadors, as director Spike Lee‘s son Jackson and daughter Satchel will getting to shine on the telecast. It won’t be the usual handing awards to the winners and showing them the direction to exit offstage, due to the COVID-19 pandemic causing a smaller ceremony with many of the nominees appearing remotely.

Andra Day is about to make a bigger name for herself, portraying legendary jazz singer Billie Holiday in Lee Daniels’ biopic,. This marks the first lead onscreen role for the 36-year-old performer, who opens up to ET’s Rachel Smith about the dramatic transformation she went through to embody the 1940s icon.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”Evan Ross appears in Lee Daniels’ “The United States vs. Billie Holiday” as a federal agent.