Film Independent Elects Brenda Robinson as Chair of Board of Directors

Sony Pictures Classics has pushed back the release for Roger Michell’s film The Duke, starring Academy Award winners Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, by a month—from March 25 to April 22, 2022. It will be released in theaters in New York and Los Angeles on the latter date before expanding to additional cities over the following weeks.

K.J. Yossman Left Bank Pictures’ CEO Andy Harries will take over as the new chair of the Film London Executive Task Force this month.Harries, whose company produces “The Crown” among other high-end dramas, succeeds the inaugural chair, Lord David Puttnam, who has been in the role since 2004.Harries established Left Bank Pictures in 2007; Sony Pictures Television acquired the company in 2012.The Film London Executive Task Force is comprised of stakeholders from both the screen industry, including Netflix, Channel 4 and The Production Guild, and the public sector, such as the Metropoliton Police.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMirsad Purivatra has stepped down as Sarajevo Film Festival director after a 27-year run, and has been replaced by Jovan Marjanović, who was previously in charge of the festival’s industry department and the festival co-director.Purivatra, the founder of the festival, will assume the role of president of the Obala Art Centar Association, the umbrella organization behind the festival.“I am proud of everything we have accomplished over the last 27 years. We started from nothing, when our city was under siege, and today we are a globally renowned institution attended by filmmakers and film industry professionals from the region and the whole world,” Purivatra said.“We have faced many challenges on this journey.

EXCLUSIVE: Larry Teng has been tapped as director and executive producer on CBS Studios’ CW pilot Walker: Independence, executive produced by Jared Padalecki. The project fall under Teng’s overall deal with the studio.

Film Independent has set Alex Camilleri (Luzzu), Lizzie Shapiro (Shiva Baby) and Jessica Beshir (Faya Dayi) as the winners of its Emerging Filmmaker Awards, with each now earning an unrestricted $25,000 Spirit Awards cash grant.

EXCLUSIVE: Screen Media has acquired North American rights to the horror film The Accursed, from director Kevin Lewis (Willy’s Wonderland), which stars Mena Suvari (American Beauty), Sarah Grey (Power Rangers), Meg Foster (They Live) and Alexis Knapp (Pitch Perfect). The Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company has slated the title, which is currently in post-production, for a theatrical day-and-date release this fall.

Selome Hailu Film Independent has named the winners of three unrestricted $25,000 Spirit Awards cash grants for emerging filmmakers: Alex Camilleri, Lizzie Shapiro and Jessica Beshir. The announcements were made by Ekwa Msangi (“Farewell Amor”), Gerry Kim (“I’m No Longer Here”) and Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”), who received the grants last year.Camilleri, director of “Luzzu,” received the Someone to Watch Award. The award is in its 28th year and recognizes talented filmmakers of singular vision who have not yet received appropriate recognition.

Wilson Chapman editorThe Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) has announced the full programming slate for its upcoming 2022 edition, consisting of 48 world premieres and 98 U.S. premieres.“It brings us an unbridled joy to share our slate for this edition of SBIFF,” the festival’s executive director Roger Durling said in a statement. “After two years of incertitude, it feels good to know we can continue to count on film and the festival to give us a sense of comfort and continuity.

Margot Robbie. Robbie will play Barbie and Gosling will play Ken, but it is not yet known which role Ferrera will play.Gerwig wrote the screenplay, along with her partner Noah Baumbach, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap. This will be Gerwig’s third feature film following her debut, “Lady Bird,” and her adaptation of “Little Women,” both of which scored Best Picture nominations at the Oscars.Executive producers are Josey McNamara for LuckyChap Entertainment.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaLionsgate will distribute a new Michael Jackson biopic that will be produced by “Bohemian Rhapsody’s” Graham King. The film is being made with the cooperation of the Michael Jackson estate, which may impact how it deals with the multiple allegations of child sexual abuse that were brought against the King of Pop over the course of his career and following his 2009 death.Entitled “Michael,” the film will be produced by King, who mined similar terrain with Freddie Mercury, and the co-executors of the Michael Jackson estate, John Branca and John McClain.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaIFC Midnight and Shudder have closed a multi-territory deal for “She Will,” a psychological horror directed by artist and filmmaker Charlotte Colbert.The film is a gothic fairy tale about Veronica Ghent who after a double mastectomy, goes to a healing retreat in rural Scotland with her young nurse Desi. There, she discovers that the process of such surgery opens up questions about her very existence, leading her to start to question and confront past traumas.

EXCLUSIVE: New York’s Museum of the Moving Image announced the full lineup today for the 11th edition of First Look, its annual festival showcasing adventurous cinema from around the world.

K.J. Yossman “Breaking Point,” a feature about breakdancing from the directors of hit film “StreetDance 3D” will get its sales launch at EFM.Directed by Dania Pasquini and Max Guia, who helmed both “StreetDance 3D” and “StreetDance 2,” “Breaking Point” is described as “an adrenaline fuelled, high energy deep dive into the world of breakdancing.” HanWay Films are handling worldwide sales for the film, which goes into production in April.“StreetDance 2” alum Niek Traa will reunite with Pasquini and Guia for the new feature, choreographing the dance scenes.

Alan Elliott Alexander Hamilton, who died Jan. 30 at age 77, was a conductor and arranger who was able to add “movie star” to his credits in the last years of his life. His work on Aretha Franklin’s 1972 “Amazing Grace” album — certified as the bestselling album of her career — was heard by millions over a period of almost five decades before Franklin fans actually got to see as well as hear Hamilton’s handiwork as the arranger and conductor of that music.

Jennifer Lopez, 52, wowed on Feb. 4 when she made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in an eye-catching set of outfits. The singer performed her new song “Marry Me”, from the new film Marry Me, with Maluma, and wore a flattering white bikini top under a matching cropped blazer and a long skirt. Before she sang, she also wore a long bright red dress with spaghetti straps as she happily chatted with the show’s host, Jimmy Fallon.

Chris Willman Music WriterSheryl Crow, Nick Cave, King Crimson, Dio, XXXTentacion, Tanya Tucker, Chumbawamba, Courtney Barnett, Cesária Évora and Mojo Nixon — together again for the first time: These are some of the highly diverse subjects of a slate of music documentaries (or, in the case of Tierra Whack, a fictional film) set to unspool at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin March 11-20.The 16 movies represented in the “24 Beats Per Second” lineup are nearly all world premieres, in a film festival that skews toward SXSW’s original roots as a pure music festival by always carving out a special category for features that chronicle musicians or music scenes.The music doc coming into the festival with probably the highest level of fan anticipation is , which promises to have director Sabaah Folayan offering “a sensitive portrayal” of a precocious, highly controversial, Soundcloud-based rapper “whose acts of violence, raw musical talent and open struggles with mental health left an indelible mark on his generation before his death at the age of 20.” While many of the festival entries are looking for a sale from their exposure at SXSW, “Look at Me!” is already set to stream on Hulu this summer. Joining the artist profiles in the film lineup are documentaries about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story,” by co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, and rubber bridge guitars, in “Really Good Rejects,” a film that will have producer Aaron Dessner talking about using them on Taylor Swift’s recent folkier albums.Some of the films promise to be complete life and career chronicles, like those devoted to Crow, Barnett and Dio.

Cher, 75, joins the list of many celebrities to honor the great late Betty White and she did it in her own unique way. The iconic singer gave her rendition of “Thank You For Being A Friend” from Golden Girls, the show which Betty starred as Rose in for seven years. To make the tribute even more special, the “In His Kiss” singer performed the number on the Golden Girls sound stage.

George Clooney and Brad Pitt triggered an intense bidding war that was ultimately won out by Apple Studios. But before the stars agreed to sign on, they volunteered to take a lower salary under one condition.Clooney opened up about the caveat in an interview with, telling the outlet that it was intriguing to watch how much interest was generated by the untitled film that will be written and directed by filmmaker Jon Watts.«Yeah.

Marta Balaga Romanian animator Anca Damian’s psychedelic, musical take on the Robinson Crusoe’s story, “The Island,” will be accompanied by an AR exhibition inviting the audience to further explore its colorful universe, Variety has learned. A board-game based on her seventh feature has also been developed, mirroring its protagonists’ search for paradise in the film.Set to bow at Rotterdam Film Festival, “The Island” was produced by Aparte Film, with Best Friend Forever handling international sales.Despite referencing his most famous creation, Damian doesn’t care for Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel, she says.