Artist International Group Signs ‘The Midnight Meat Train,’ ‘Lupin The Third’ Filmmaker Ryuhei Kitamura

On a sweltering summer's day in 2022, Jamie Lewin and four of his mates made their way to Appley Bridge.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large SPOILER ALERT: Do not read ahead if you have not watched Season 11, Episode 12 of “The Masked Singer,” “Semi-Finals: Then There Were Three,” which aired May 15 on Fox. “The Masked Singer” revealed the latest celebrity to be revealed on Wednesday night’s quarter finals, and it was Thelma Houston as Clock. Houston, of course, is best known for her classic hit “Don’t Leave Me This Way.” For Clock, Rita Ora got it right with Thelma Houston.

Paul Weller has shared he believes that The Beatles split at the “right time.”The Modfather and former frontman of The Jam – who is set to release ‘66′, his 17th solo album and 28th studio LP in total since launching his career back in 1977 – spoke to Mojo, and recalled the impact The Beatles had on him when growing up.“Mum and Dad had old rock ‘n’ roll records by Chuck Berry, Little Richard and Elvis, which I loved, but The Beatles… It isn’t an exaggeration to say they changed the world for many, many people, me included,” he said.He continued: “They made me see other possibilities. They made me think of other things in this life, that there wasn’t just this little town, there was a world beyond the city walls and I wanted to be a part of it, to see and feel and experience.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The Bureau Sales has teamed with French production banner Paprika and filmmaker Vincent Munier on “Whispering in the Woods,” a documentary that will be teased to buyers at the Cannes Film Market. “Whispering in the Woods” marks Munier’s follow-up to “The Velvet Queen” (co-directed by Marie Amiguet), a critically acclaimed documentary that competed for a Golden Eye Award at the Cannes Film Festival and won a Cesar prize in 2022. The doc is currently filming across different locations, from the Vosges mountains to Tibet, and is expected to be delivered by next spring.

EXCLUSIVE: Thriving U.S. indie producer-distributor Neon is no stranger to the Cannes Film Festival with the Tom Quinn-founded banner having acquired a historic four consecutive Palme d’Or wins (last year’s Anatomy of a Fall, 2022’s Triangle of Sadness, 2021’s Titane and 2019’s Parasite), thus earning them the nickname “the Palme d’Or whisperers”. This year, while the company has Sean Baker’s new rom-com Anora playing in Competition, it’s also descending upon the Croisette in a new capacity with its recently-launched international sales strand, led by seasoned sales exec and Sierra/Affinity veteran Kristen Figeroid.

There are a ton of new K-pop acts in 2024!

Jack Dunn Technologists Todd Terrazas, Max Einhorn, Mike Gioia and Ian Eck have posed a challenge to nine up-and-coming filmmakers: create short films using generative AI in only 48 hours. The Cinema Synthetica filmmaking competition is the first of its kind, founded in hopes of demonstrating the potential of AI tools to influence the future of filmmaking. The completion is part of the AI on the Lot conference, a one-day summit to be held next week in downtown Los Angeles where Hollywood creatives can collaborate with those at the forefront of artificial intelligence.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Expanding its lineup for Cannes this year, top Spanish indie studio Filmax has snagged international rights to feature “The Virgin of the Quarry Lake” by Laura Casabé, a notable figure in genre filmmaking who won the best director prize at Sitges in 2019 for “Los que vuelven” (aka “The Returned”). The film has just been announced as one of highest-profile of five titles at a Ventana Sur Goes to Cannes showcase at this year’s Marché du Film.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Dozens of top Hollywood creatives and activists have signed an open letter in response to the shuttering of production company Participant — imploring the industry to continue to effect change through film and television as the defunct company once did. George Clooney, Aflonso Cuarón, Ava DuVernay, Jane Fonda, Regina King, Viola Davis, #MeToo founder Tarana Burke, civil rights attorney Bryan Stevenson, Color of Change president Rashad Robinson and more are signators, in addition to groups like GLAAD and Human Rights Watch.

EXCLUSIVE: Independent Artist Group has signed Eduardo Cisneros, co-creator of Apple TV+’s Eugenio Derbez starrer Acapulco and co-writer of Focus Features’ comedy Half Brothers, for representation.

High cholesterol is a serious health issue that shouldn't be ignored and can manifest itself all over the body - including legs.

Don’t call it a comeback!!

Dennis Harvey Film Critic A distinctive, dynamic R&B vocalist who seemed on the verge of major stardom through the 1960s, Jackie Shane disappeared soon after — so completely that many fans and former associates assumed her dead. It was a riddle rendered all the more mysterious by her singular status within that field as a more-or-less “out” transperson, her persona an assertive exercise in gender-blur before that term existed.

You might have watched The Big Bang Theory more times than you can count, but you still don’t know everything about the show!

Lexi Carson The music and lyrics in Broadway’s “Water for Elephants” are expansive and a rich tapestry of American music ranging from folk, to swing, jazz and bluegrass. PigPen, a collective of seven musicians (Alex Falberg, Arya Shahi, Ben Ferguson, Curtis Gillen, Daniel Weschler, Matt Nuernberger and Ryan Melia) is also a theater company, and that uniqueness made them the perfect fit to bring the show’s music to life. The transition to bring the story to a stage first started in 2014 when PigPen Theatre Co., did a workshop with Rick Elice, “Water for Elephants” scriptwriter, for a different show.

FBI: International is having some major casting shakeups.

A small piece of contemporary cinema history was written last night in St Andrews, Scotland when Steven Soderbergh sat down with Joe and Anthony Russo on stage at the Sands International Film Festival to discuss their 2002 collaboration Welcome to Collinwood. 

EXCLUSIVE: Ryuhei Kitamura (The Midnight Meat Train) is set to direct roller coaster thriller Thrill Ride, which Film Bridge International is launching for sales ahead of next month’s Cannes market.

The family of Riley Strain desperately wants answers about what happened to him — especially now that a witness has retracted their statement!

EXCLUSIVE: The First Omen director and co-scribe Arkasha Stevenson and the pic’s screenwriter/EP Tim Smith have signed with WME for representation in all areas.