Film Independent Adds Dan Stern to Board of Directors; Chaz Ebert, Kasi Lemmons and Lulu Wang Join Advisory Board (EXCLUSIVE)

Jaden Thompson The seventh annual Women in Entertainment summit will take place on Feb. 28 at Los Angeles’ Skirball Cultural Center.

Taylor Swift is reportedly planning to direct her new film after her current ‘Eras Tour’ ends.Back in December, it was revealed that Swift would direct her first feature-length film for Searchlight Pictures. The singer-songwriter was reported to have written an original script for the movie, with details on the plot and characters currently unknown.Searchlight presidents, David Greenbaum and Matthew Greenfield, said at the time: “Taylor is a once in a generation artist and storyteller.

Hunter Ingram SPOILER ALERT: This post contains spoilers from the two-episode premiere of “Expats,” now streaming on Prime Video. Lulu Wang can’t escape Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” At first, the acclaimed writer-director of “The Farewell” thought she was just hyper aware of the 1978 classic after she’d handpicked it to score the single moment of genuine happiness in the premiere episode of “Expats,” her new Prime Video limited series. The scene in question finds series stars Nicole Kidman and Sarayu Blue letting loose and dancing to the song during a late-night meal in a Hong Kong restaurant.

Marta Balaga Finnish director Tiina Lymi decided to “go big” for “Stormskerry Maja,” set in the 19th century. Based on a series of books by Anni Blomqvist, it has been selected for International Film Festival Rotterdam and Goteborg. “It had to be done this way.

Director Lulu Wang’s sprawling “Expats” is long and lingering with evocative atmospherics. Complex and observant, mounted on an enormous canvas, the limited series is deeply ambitious and takes on a lot, arguably too much.

BreAnna Bell Felix Solis, Brooke Smith, Omar Maskati, Alana Hawley Purvis, Devika Bhise, James Purefoy, Do Hyun Shin, Young-Ah Kim, and Sanghee Lee have joined the cast of Netflix‘s “The Recruit” for Season 2, which is currently in production in Vancouver, Canada. The streamer also announced that filming will additionally take place in Seoul, South Korea. Solis (“Ozark”), who’s joined among the cast by his “The Rookie: Feds” castmate Bhise, plays Tom Wallace, a senior diplomat in the State Department tasked with bringing American hostages home, he will talk to anyone to get our people back – even the worst of America’s enemies.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Country superstars Morgan Wallen and Eric Church are part of a team that has acquired the Field & Stream brand, with plans to start a music festival and even publish a semiannual print edition, on top of maintaining the website and retail opportunities. Previously, Field & Stream assets had been split up as the venerable print magazine went digital-only, with Recurrent coming to own the brand’s ongoing media and Dick’s Sporting Goods having picked up the retail side. The group fronted by Wallen and Church has picked up both sets of assets and is putting everything back under one roof, reps announced Thursday.

IFC Films and Sapan Studio announced today that they have acquired the North American rights to Alex Thompson and Kelly O’Sullivan’s Ghostlight out of the Sundance premiere section.

Recently, it was announced that Amazon is joining the ranks of Netflix, Hulu, and other streaming services by offering a cheaper, ad-infused tier for its streaming service, Prime Video. This would allow folks to pay less monthly, but they have to deal with commercials during their streaming content.

There’s so many great films and shows dropping on TV and streaming platforms these days that it can be tricky to find which providers offer the top content with the best deals. That’s why we’ve scoured the January sales and spotted some awesome deals from Virgin Media that come with loads of blockbuster films and shows.

Love Me,” from filmmaker duo Sam and Andy Zuchero, received the juried feature film prize from Sundance Institute and Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s joint Science-in-Film initiative at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival. The prize is awarded to a film that focuses on science or technology as a theme or depicts a scientist, engineer or mathematician as a major character.

EXCLUSIVE: After making a splash at Sundance with his first narrative feature Kneecap, which Sony Pictures Classics swooped on ahead of its Thursday night premiere, filmmaker Rich Peppiatt has signed with Anonymous Content and WME.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media Reporter Jesse Eisenberg’s “A Real Pain,” one of the buzziest movies to premiere so far at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, has sold to Searchlight in a huge $10 million deal. Given the warm reception in Park City, the film sparked a bidding war among several distributions to land global rights. Eisenberg directed “A Real Pain” in addition to starring alongside Kieran Culkin.

EXCLUSIVE: The dealmaking has begun. Searchlight Pictures closed the first major deal on the ground at the Sundance Film Festival — $10 million for WW rights for A Real Pain, directed and written by Jesse Eisenberg. He stars with freshly minted Emmy winning Succession star Kieran Culkin as mismatched cousins David and Benji. They reunite for a tour of Poland to honor their grandmother, but older tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family’s history. The film will get a big theatrical release later this year.

Marta Balaga Finnish-British director Mikko Mäkelä isn’t shying away from sexual content in “Sebastian,” which has its world premiere on Sunday at Sundance Film Festival. “As was already the case with ‘A Moment in the Reeds,’ I wanted to provide a very frank and honest portrayal of queer sexuality,” he tells Variety, referencing his 2017 debut. “For so long, queer sexuality has been shied away from and censored.

Jeff Bridges will receive the 2024 Chaplin Award from Film at Lincoln Center — and, well, you know, that’s not just like, uh, our opinion, man.

2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the ridiculous comedy film, “White Chicks.” Seriously, has there been any film to age as bad as that? Well, one thing about that film that hasn’t aged badly is Marlon Wayans. Years after he made a name for himself as the star of a slew of comedies, it appears the comedian is ready to really embrace his more dramatic side.

Matt Donnelly Senior Film Writer Eugene Hernandez has reached the top of the mountain. The journalist turned nonprofit executive has spent decades rising through the ranks of the American independent film scene. This January he assumes his seat at its apex: as the director of the Sundance Film Festival.

Dancing on Ice 2024 will kick off on Sunday, 14 January with a fresh set of celebrities ready to take to the ice as they battle to be crowned the winner of the ITV show. 11 famous faces are set to take part, including Claire Sweeney, Amber Davies, Ricky Hatton, Miles Nazaire, Adele Roberts and Ricky Norwood, with Holly Willoughby and Stephen Mulhern taking on presenting duties. Two new professional skaters - Amani Fancy and Simon Senecal - have also joined the line-up, following the departure of Matt Evers.

BreAnna Bell Brittany Snow, Berto Colon, Louis Herthum, Arienne Mandi, and Teddy Sears have signed on to join the Season 2 cast of Netflix‘s “The Night Agent,” the streamer announced on Thursday. Season 2 begins filming in 2024. They join returning cast Gabriel Basso (Peter), who leads the series, and Luciane Buchanan (Rose), as well as previously announced Amanda Warren (Catherine).