Federation Stories U.K. Creative Director Arielle Gottlieb Exits Following Internal Restructure (EXCLUSIVE)

Emma Roberts is opening up about working with Kim Kardashian.

Brent Lang Executive Editor Black Bear‘s management arm has signed Mikko Mäkelä, the Finnish-British writer and director of “Sebastian.” Mäkelä is a rising force in international queer cinema having made movies that explore sexuality and identity. Mäkelä’s directorial debut “A Moment in the Reeds” premiered at the BFI London Film Festival and screened at nearly a hundred festivals worldwide, including Göteborg Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival and Frameline in San Francisco.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Another “Frasier” alum is about to return to the series’ new revival: Harriet Sansom Harris, who originally played Frasier Crane’s agent, Bebe Glazer, is back for a guest role in Season 2. Joining her will be “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” star Rachel Bloom, who will play Bebe’s daughter, Phoebe Glazer.

and currently the , are getting into the movie game. The team just announced that it will partner with The Hallmark Channel to make a football-themed Christmas movie. Also, Hallmark was founded in Kansas City.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian crime/action genre specialist Stefano Sollima – who is known for milestone TV series “Gomorrah” and Hollywood movies such as “Sicario: Day of the Soldado” and “Without Remorse” – is officially launching a film and TV production shingle named AlterEgo in tandem with ace U.S. showrunner Gina Gardini and longtime collaborator, writer/director Ludovico Purgatori.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “Bridgerton” star Florence Hunt, Jim Sturgess and Australia’s Teresa Palmer (“The Clearing,” “The Fall Guy”) have joined the cast of “Mix Tape,” a music-themed drama series. The Australian-Irish co-production shot in Sydney in May and is now underway in Dublin. The series is adapted by Irish writer Jo Spain (“Taken Down,” “Sanditon”) from the popular and critically-acclaimed novel of the same title by Jane Sanderson.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor The Palm Springs International ShortFest has announced the juried and audience award winners for its 2024 edition, which took place June 18-24. Over $25,000 in cash prizes and five Academy Award-qualifying honors were presented to the winning films, which included Esteban Pedraza’s “Bogotá Story” and Jadwiga Kowalska’s animated film “The Car That Came Back from the Sea.” See a full list of winners below.

Ashton Kutcher attended Taylor Swift’s Eras tour in London on Saturday — and made it a family affair. The longtime couple brought along their children, Wyatt, 9, and Dimitri, 7, to the show at Wembley Stadium.In one video recorded by a fan during Swift’s performance of “Love Story,” Kunis, 40, appears to crouch down as if getting down on one knee for Kutcher, 46.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent A raft of high-concept unscripted formats from the likes of Yes Yes Media, Keshet International and Fulwell 73 were informally presented this week at the first edition of the International Creative Alliance Days hosted by Satisfaction Group, the Paris-based outfit founded by entrepreneur and famed TV host Arthur Essebag. The two-day event brought together creatives and industry players who are either part of Satisfaction or doing business with the company, notably acquisition executives from M6, France Televisions and Amazon Prime Video, among others.

Katcy Stephan TV and film actor Brian Tee has signed with Verve for representation. Tee recently starred alongside Nicole Kidman in the limited series “Expats,” directed by Lulu Wang for Prime Video. Up next, he will appear in Season 3 of Prime Video’s action series “Reacher” alongside star Alan Ritchson.

Brian Steinberg Senior TV Editor Stacia Deshishku is the latest senior ABC News executive to leave the journalism operation in the wake of a recent restructuring by parent company Walt Disney Co. Deshishku was the executive editor of ABC News, and part of a team of senior executives put together by former ABC News President Kim Godwin.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent New Berlin Film Festival director Tricia Tuttle has appointed two in-house programmers as co-directors of film programming as she puts a new executive team in place. Jacqueline Lyanga, a former U.S.

Andrew Barker Senior Features Writer In his classic 1994 essay “How Tracy Austin Broke My Heart,” David Foster Wallace pondered why so many athlete memoirs — and tennis player memoirs in particular — fail to provide sports fans with what they really want to know. What does it feel like to fail in front of millions of people? How does a human being handle such intense pressure? What actually goes through one’s mind in those do-or-die moments where the difference between eternal glory and lifelong disappointment is one tiny miscalculation or half-second’s hesitation? Maybe, Wallace eventually concludes, the answer to that last question is “nothing much at all,” and “the real secret behind top athletes’ genius may be as esoteric and obvious and dull and profound as silence itself.” In his two previous sports documentaries, “Senna” and “Diego Maradona,” filmmaker Asif Kapadia has gone a great distance toward disproving Wallace’s thesis, using ingeniously edited archival footage to probe the psyches of Formula One champion Ayrton Senna and soccer god Maradona in all their noisy complexity.

Michael Ouweleen, president of Cartoon Network, Boomerang and Adult Swim, a major force behind the rise of adult animation, has signalled at Annecy the company’s intention to ramp up its presence in Europe and international markets at large. “We very much want to see Adult Swim originals coming from anywhere in the world,” Ouweleen told Variety at the French festival. The stars are aligning for the overseas drive.

Selome Hailu In 2015, Netflix acquired the indie horror film “Circle,” which saw 50 strangers trapped in a room and forced to decide who would be the one survivor through a series of votes and debates about the worth of each human life. Nearly a decade later, with the “12 Angry Men”-inspired project having become something of a cult hit, two producers of the film have reunited to create a sequel, “Circles.” Per the official logline, “17 years after being pawns in a cruel game of psychological warfare, the survivors of an invasion face a new threat.” Michael Nardelli, who starred in “Circle” as lone survivor Eric, and Brent Stiefel are re-teaming to produce the sequel.

Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer share one of the most memorable rivalries in sports history. The two athletes players were fierce competitors over the course of their careers, making for some of the most entertaining matches in tennis history. Making it all better is the fact that both men deeply respect one another and have developed a special friendship.Rafael Nadal’s incredible career: Titles and records he’s wonRafael Nadal is celebrating his birthday! Best reactionsNadal recently attended the graduation ceremony of various students at the Rafa Nadal Tennis Academy located in his hometown of Manacort.

In men’s tennis, as in other sports, there is constant debate over which player qualifies as the Greatest of All Time. Djokovic with his unprecedented 24 Grand Slam wins? Nadal with his astonishing 14 French Open victories? Federer, the first man to win 20 Grand Slams? Or perhaps a player from an earlier era – Rod Laver – who swept all four Grand Slam titles in a calendar year, not once but twice?

Carolyn Giardina Two-time Oscar-nominated animation producer Bonnie Arnold was recognized with the Annecy Animation Festival‘s Golden Ticket on Thursday during a festival reception for members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Arnold first attended the international animation festival in 2013, as producer of “How To Train Your Dragon 2,” then as a jury member.

Selena Kuznikov The first footage for “Maxine’s Baby: The Tyler Perry Story” was filmed over a decade ago by co-directors Gelila Bekele and Armani Ortiz, who have followed Perry throughout his career over the past 10 years. Ortiz said that had he known Bekele was planning on working on the project for that long, he might have been a bit more hesitant to join. “But in all honesty, if we didn’t have that time, would you have been able to be as vulnerable as you were if we just did it in two years?” Ortiz asked Perry.

Pnina Blayer, the honorary president and former artistic director of the Haifa International Film Festival (HIFF) has died. She was 77.