Annecy Backs Adult-Skewing Projects With Cannes Showcase

Ryan Gosling is bringing the “Kenergy” to Greta Gerwig’s Barbie movie — but not when his daughters ask him to play with their dolls.

Trying to keep up with this week’s new music? Every Friday, we collect new albums available on streaming services on one page.

Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music Puerto Rican superstar singer Ozuna has signed with Scooter Braun’s SB Projects, in partnership with his longtime manager Edgar Andino, CEO of Andino Marketing Group, the companies announced on Thursday. Ozuna, one of Latin music’s most popular artists, joins a roster that includes Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Demi Lovato, The Kid Laroi and others. Colombian singer J Balvin signed with the company in 2020 but left recently. “We’ve been following Ozuna’s career for years and we’re excited to be bringing him into the family to work with him and Edgar. Ozuna’s music is unmatched.  His ability to work across genres including reggaeton, Latin pop, and more, is phenomenal. With unique songs offering fresh perspective and beautiful sounds, We’re thrilled to amplify his artistry with this partnership,” offered Jennifer McDaniels, President of Management, SB Projects.

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix has signed a five-year deal with Japanese screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto, winner of the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s competition title Monster. 

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Roughly two years after his return to Naples for “The Hand of God,” Paolo Sorrentino is heading back to his hometown for a movie that plays on local mythology. The still untitled film is about a woman named Partenope “who bears the name of her city but is neither siren nor myth,” the Oscar-winning auteur has revealed to Variety. In Greek mythology, Parthenope, as she is known in English, is the name of a siren who having failed to entice Odysseus with her songs, cast herself into the sea and drowned. Her body washed up on a symbolic foundational rock where Naples lies. Neapolitans in Italy are also known as “Parthenopeans.”

When it comes to working with brands, those in the diet industry are off the table for Jameela Jamil.

It took months of investigation after their arrests, but controversial social media star Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate have finally been charged. As we’ve been reporting, the divisive

Disgraced social media personality Andrew Tate was charged with rape, human trafficking, and forming an organized crime group in Romania, prosecutors announced on Tuesday (June 20)

Michelle Keegan looked effortlessly stylish as she hung out with her husband, Mark Wright, during a romantic getaway.The 36 year old former Coronation Street actress wore a black cropped top with cream flowing drawstring trousers as she sat with TOWIE's Mark, also 36, on a lounge chair in Ibiza. Michelle looked sensational as she accessorised her relaxed look with black cat-eye sunglasses, a dainty gold necklace, and a cream summer hat.

France’s Annecy International Animation Film Festival has unveiled the prize winners of its biggest edition to date, running from June 11 to 17.

Ben Croll Chiara Malta and Sébastien Laudenbach’s hand-painted marvel “Chicken for Linda!” took home dual honors at the Annecy Animation Festival on Saturday, scooping up the festival’s top prize, the Cristal Award for best feature, as well as the Gan Foundation award for distribution. A bittersweet childhood tale that finds screwball humor in mourning and melancholy, the French-language film premiered to some acclaim out of Cannes’ ACID sidebar last month, and was picked up for North American distribution by Gkids while competing in Annecy. “We wanted something both funny and affecting,” said co-director Chiara Malta. “The two elements were never in conflict, because we made the film for children, putting ourselves in their perspectives while adopting their language.”

Michael Morpurgo’s 1999 children’s book comes vividly to life in Neil Boyle and Kirk Hendry’s joint feature debut, a castaway fantasy in which a young boy learns vital lessons about the natural order of things. Seasoned screenwriter Frank Cottrell Boyce is on board too, and yet this is likely one of his sparsest screenplays yet, leaning into the subtleties of the animation: traditional hand-drawn 2D with mixed-media elements for the background. Older kids will likely love it, but a beautifully stark encapsulation of the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945 may rule it out as something for the whole family.

“Elemental,” Pixar unveiled an episode of “Win or Lose,” the first long-form streaming series from the legendary animation studio that’s set to debut on Disney+ this December. And the episode did much to ease fears that Pixar has somehow lost its touch; it is easily one of the most artful, exciting and emotionally incisive things the studio has done.

Ben Croll Disney animation chief creative officer Jennifer Lee capped an Annecy showcase by screening 20 minutes of unfinished footage of the upcoming animated musical “Wish,” which is slated for release this November. Split across two clips from the film’s opening act, the footage introduced feisty heroine Asha (Ariana DeBose) alongside antagonist King Magnifico (Chris Pine), and featured two all-new songs written by Julia Michaels. At first we meet the headstrong teenager as she interviews to serve as sorcerer’s apprentice for the regal Magnifico, a so-called benevolent mage who rules over his Kingdom of Rosas by guarding and granting the many wishes his subjects offer to him in tribute. Only the interview doesn’t quite go as planned after Asha pulls down the glowing crystal orb that holds the wish of her 100-year-old grandfather, begging the sovereign to grant it. No deal — Magnifico, it turns out, claims his regal powers by hoarding.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Karlovy Vary Intl. Film Festival’s Eastern Promises industry platform has unveiled 27 film projects that will be showcased during its Works in Progress, Works in Development – Feature Launch and First Cut+ Works in Progress presentations. The most promising projects, selected by international juries, will receive awards with a total value of 115,000 EUR.  The showcasing of projects to industry professionals will take place in Karlovy Vary, during this year’s KVIFF Industry Days on July 3 (Works in Progress and Works in Development – Feature Launch) and July 4 (First Cut+ Works in Progress). For Works in Progress, 11 fiction and documentary feature films in the late stage of production or post-production from the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Balkans, the former Soviet Union, the Middle East and North Africa have been selected.

Aardman founder Peter Lord and director Sam Fell took to the stage at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on Wednesday to present first footage for Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget.

Holly Jones Tender father-daughter tale “My Dad, The Truck,” raucous coming-of-age series “Esther” and poignant docu-series “The Impossible Future” are among the projects venturing to Annecy’s Mifa Market for pitch sessions Wednesday as part of the Ibero-American Animation League’s annual forum. Simultaneously, La Liga will also launch Ibermedia Next to foster the development of innovative animated co-productions between Iberoamerican countries and Italy, Portugal and Spain, organized in tandem with IBERMEDIA and Premios Quirino. “This edition of Annecy holds immense significance for Latin America, with Mexico at the forefront as the country of honor,” Animation! head Silvina Cornillon told Variety. “Our dedicated Focus program perfectly captures the essence of Ibero-American animation’s dynamic and multifaceted creative spirit, reflecting its vibrancy and diversity in full measure.”

There is a lot riding on Vicky Jenson’s upcoming musical animation Spellbound about a princess on a mission to reverse a spell that has transformed her beloved king and queen parents into rampaging monsters.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Inseparables,” Jérémie Degruson’s ambitious animated feature competing this week at Annecy festival, has been sold to a raft of territories by Octopolis and nWave. Based on an original idea by Joel Cohen and Alec Sokolow, the Oscar-nominated writers of “Toy Story,” “The Inseparables” follows the misadventures of Don, a runaway puppet with a boundless imagination and, DJ Doggy Dog, an abandoned stuffed animal toy in need of a friend. Don and DJ Doggy Dog cross paths in Central Park and pair up against all odds for an epic adventure of friendship in New York City. The film was penned by Bob Barlen and Cal Brunker. Budgeted at $25 million, “The Inseparables” was produced by nWave Studios in Belgium, Octopolis in France and A Contracorriente Films in Spain.

EXCLUSIVE: Veteran Actor Alfredo Castro (The Club, No, From Afar) is in the middle of what could be described as a mid-career boom, but he doesn’t think it’ll bring him many plaudits in his native country.