Asghar Farhadi and Producer Refute ‘A Hero’ Plagiarism Charge

Anna Marie de la Fuente Buoyed by the Oscar nomination for Maite Alberdi’s “The Mole Agent” last year, which was also shortlisted in the International Feature category, Chilean documentaries are attracting ever more attention worldwide. One of its leading lights, Patricio Guzman, will have the world premiere of his latest opus, “Mi País Imaginario” as a Cannes  Festival special screening.For the third time in a row, Chiledoc will be presenting a Chilean Docs in Progress showcase, scheduled for May 23 within the framework of Cannes Doc, which runs May 17 to 25.Spearheaded by Chiledoc director Paula Ossandón, the showcase comprises four films at editing stage.

Before the popularity of true crime exploded, the 2004 French docuseries “The Staircase” was one of the genre’s crown jewels. Jean-Xavier de Lastrade’s non-fiction chronicle of the mystery surrounding the 2001 death of Kathleen Peterson won a Peabody Award in 2005, anticipating the success of podcasts like “Serial” and docuseries like “The Jinx.” Now, the infamous story is coming to HBO Max in a new scripted adaptation from writer/director Antonio Campos (“The Devil All the Time”).

Lady Gaga's dog walker, Ryan Fischer, says he's "deeply concerned" that the man who allegedly shot him has been accidentally released from jail. Fischer took to Instagram on Friday to share his reaction to the suspect being on the loose.

dog walker and stealing her two French bulldogs was mistakenly released from jail and is being sought, authorities said Friday.James Howard Jackson, 19, was facing an attempted murder charge when he was released from Los Angeles County's jail on Wednesday “due to a clerical error," the county Sheriff's Department said in a statement.The sheriff's Major Crimes Bureau is Major Crimes Bureau is working on finding him, the statement said.Jackson is one of five people arrested in connection with the Feb. 24, 2021, attack in Hollywood.

Siwa told late-night host Jimmy Fallon. “Of course, not everybody in the world is going to accept it right now, but there are so many people who are going to accept it right now.

The big screen is back this spring - and with blockbuster film releases, original plots, and new and familiar characters, there has never been a better time to get lost in a great story on the big screen.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentGaumont, the powerhouse behind “Narcos,” “Lupin” and “Barbarians,” has boarded “Le Prince,” a period mystery thriller series written by Charles den Tex and Paul de Vrijer (“Hunter Street”). Currently in development, “Le Prince” will be produced by Gaumont, as well as Stories, a label launched by France TV Distribution, and Dutch producers Paradise Media.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorGillian Anderson, speaking at a masterclass at the Canneseries TV festival on France’s Côte d’Azur Saturday, teased that she is developing “something else” based on the life of a historical figure, following her roles as Margaret Thatcher in “The Crown” and Eleanor Roosevelt in upcoming series “The First Lady.” No further details were forthcoming from the actor, who recently signed a producing deal with Netflix.Speaking about receiving recognition for her career achievements, such as the Variety Icon Award she accepted Friday in Cannes, she said it felt “kind of surreal actually,” adding, “it kind of feels like it is happening to somebody else.”Asked by French journalist Nora Bouazzouni, who was the onstage interviewer, whether she had realized that her role as Dana Scully in “The X-Files” would change the face of female leads on television when she first read the script, Anderson responded: “Oh God, no.” She saw it just as a job, and “figured it might be a year’s worth of work.” Anderson concurred with Bouazzouni’s assertion that Scully was a “badass” – “confident” and “no push over” – and that had set the tone for her whole career. “I think that the badass-ness pre-existed in me […] and she brought that out in me.

The following article contains footage that some readers may find distressing. Oscars 2022 producer Will Packer has broken his silence over the altercation between Will Smith and Chris Rock during Sunday night's (March 27) Academy Awards presentation. During the live broadcast Smith walked onto the stage and slapped Rock in the face, after the comedian made a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett Smith while preparing to announce the winner of the Best Documentary Oscar.

Guy Lodge Film CriticThe words “War of the Roses” take on a lighter meaning in “The Rose Maker,” a sweet, gently scented French diversion that is likely to teach you far more than you already knew about hybridizing flowers, even if it doesn’t have a whole lot else to say. Following veteran rose farmer Eve Vernet as she attempts to keep her family business afloat in the face of soulless corporate competition — even if it entails a little botanical skulduggery — Pierre Pinaud’s short but unhurried film benefits immensely from the warmly flinty presence of Catherine Frot (“Marguerite”) in the lead, lending a sense of purpose and personality to a character without much color on the page.Outside her performance, “The Rose Maker” is short on texture and shading, except when it comes to the spectacular multi-hued roses bred by Eve, and caressed by DP Guillaume Deffontaines’ camera with dewy reverence.

Christopher Vourlias CAA Media Finance is representing worldwide distribution rights to a new documentary feature from the producers of “The Lost Leonardo,” Variety can reveal.The untitled project follows a Swiss art dealer and Russian oligarch caught in a web of secrets, lies and mad money, telling the inside story of an international, billion-dollar game where power is the ultimate currency. The film is produced by Elk Film (Denmark) and Pumpernickel Films (France) and directed by Andreas Dalsgaard, whose previous credits include “The Lost Leonardo” and “The War Show.”The pulled-from-the-headlines documentary follows the scandal that erupted in 2015 with the arrest of the Swiss businessman and free port magnate Yves Bouvier, “a very discreet guy who was suddenly arrested in Monaco, accused of swindling a billion dollars from the Russian oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev…[through] the purchase of 38 masterworks,” according to Dalsgaard.

Ben Croll Following only the U.S. and Japan (though operating, it should be noted, on an exponentially smaller scale) France has become the world’s third-biggest animated content supplier, producing an average of 300 hours of programming each year and banking $137.7 million in global sales in 2020.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorEver since “Ghosts” premiered in October, viewers of the CBS sitcom have been wanting to know why Trevor, played by Asher Grodman, doesn’t wear pants. Even costume designer Carmen Alie has been stumped.“I was wondering how he died,” Alie says.The episode airing March 31 will reveal how Trevor — a former Wall Street trader from the ’90s who’s one of the several ghosts haunting an old house in New York’s Hudson Valley — met his demise. But more important, it will explain his mysterious lack of trousers.The episode involved a flashback, and Alie turned to “The Wolf of Wall Street” for inspiration, knowing she would have to show Trevor and his Wall Street bros on the trading floor.

Kirill Serebrennikov, the prominent Russian director of film and theater, has had his widely-condemned fraud sentence commuted and has subsequently left the country.

K.J. Yossman It was a quirk of fate that first set Cécile Frot-Coutaz on the path to becoming CEO of Sky Studios, to which she was appointed last year.“I think we all have [those] moments that have quite an impact on your trajectory,” Frot-Coutaz tells Variety. “You may not really realize it when it happens, but when you look back later on, you can see the thread.”For Frot-Coutaz, who is receiving Variety’s Intl.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentBanijay has acquired Tooco, the production banner behind the non-scripted hit “Guess My Age,” to further bolster its French outpost. Under the pact, Tooco will be part of the Banijay France brand and will focus on originating concepts for the French and international markets.Tooco, spearheaded by Aurélien Lipiansky and Mikaël Moreau, has been delivering popular French formats, such as Le club des invincibles, produced with Banijay’s Air Production; and Guess My Age which has so far travelled to 22 countries, including Italy, Spain, and Germany.

The union publicists who worked on behalf of the publicity campaigns for Sony’s Spider-Man: No Way Home and Apple’s Ted Lasso took home top honors today at the 59th annual International Cinematographers Guild’s Publicists Awards. See the full winners list below.