‘Flee’ Director Talks Pairing Animation With Trauma for Impactful Doc: ‘You Start to Listen In’

This is heartbreaking.

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

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentRussian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov — the director of Cannes competition titles “Leto” and “Petrov’s Flu” — has left the country following the end of a three-year travel ban, and has arrived in Paris.A picture of the iconoclastic Russian helmer popped up on social media on Wednesday. In the pic, Serebrennikov wears a T-shirt that reads “I turn the TV off,” which alludes to the propaganda flooding Russian TV since the invasion of Ukraine on Feb.

Christopher Vourlias More than four weeks into Russia’s disastrous war in Ukraine, and just one week after a court sentenced Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny to nine years in a high-security prison, “Navalny” director Daniel Roher made a passionate plea on behalf of the jailed politician in Copenhagen, lashing out at the “murderous” regime of President Vladimir Putin and arguing that filmmakers must “pick a side” in an increasingly fractured and polarized world.“There’s a right side of politics. And yes, filmmakers pick a side.

EXCLUSIVE: An influx of U.S. studios and streamers heading to next week’s Mip TV should mitigate the loss of some of the bigger European distributors, according to Lucy Smith, who runs the annual market.

Anna Tingley If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Variety may receive an affiliate commission.Kristen Stewart is not one to shy away from a bold eye look. Strategically smudged under eyeliner and metallic-hued shadows are a staple of the actor’s edgy glam — and her look at the Oscars on Sunday night was no exception.Stewart, who received her first-ever Oscar nomination this year for her starring role in “Spencer,” stepped out on the carpet in a stunning makeup look that offered a polished update to the effortless rocker-chic look she’s known for.

Sian Heder brought the Oscar audience to its feet winning her first Academy Award for adapting CODA (Child Of Deaf Adult), from the 2014 French film  La famille Bélie written by Victoria Bedos. This is the first Oscar and nomination for Heder.  

Stars, they’re just like Us! At the 94th annual Academy Awards on Sunday, March 27, Kristen Stewart pulled the most relatable stunt of all time, involving a pair of uncomfortable shoes.

Sir Rod Stewart has rescued 16 Ukrainian refugees after he was left heartbroken by their plight amid the Russian onslaught.

“When I really love someone, I don’t notice others,” utters Anais (Anais Demoustier) to her affair partner while laying in bed together. It’s ominous wording for what’s to come for the protagonist in writer/director Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet’s new romantic comedy Anais In Love. It is similar to Jochum Trier’s The Worst Person in the World, but while that film feels grounded, Anais has its head in the clouds. However, that isn’t a massive ding on the movie as the over-optimism is used to its advantage as the character breaks numerous boundaries and hearts in her quest to find the one person who will become her everything. 

WarnerMedia EMEA & Asia President Priya Dogra has talked up the U.S. media giant’s plan to “ramp up investment in local creative communities across Europe,” with 40 shows in the pipeline for 2023.

Paramount International boss Raffaele Annecchino has talked up the streamer for “launching quicker than others” in key European markets, as he unveiled a tied-up with global Lupin and Narcos production house Gaumont and set titles from France, Argentina and Germany.

Manori Ravindran International EditorUniversal International Studios has struck a first-look deal with “Call My Agent!” and “Parallèles” writer Quoc Dang Tran as it continues a charm offensive directed at international creators.UIS has inked a first-look deal with the French-Vietnamese writer and showrunner who will develop and produce English and French-language television projects with the studio for the global market. French-language series will be co-produced with the “Marianne” writer’s recently formed label, Daïmôn Films.“He really leads from themes that speak to his heart versus responding to the industry, so we’re excited to do business with a creator who listens to their gut instead of just what the network is mandating,” Beatrice Springborn, president of Universal International Studios, tells Variety ahead of a keynote at French TV festival Series Mania.

EXCLUSIVE: Call My Agent! and Marianne writer Quoc Dang Tran has struck a first-look deal with Universal International Studios, becoming the first French writer to sign such a deal with a major studio.

Ed Meza @edmezavarIn his latest work, which was being singled out for praise on the first day of Malaga’s Spanish Screenings, Imanol Uribe recounts the fateful story of Lucia Cerna, the only witness to the 1989 massacre in El Salvador of six Jesuit priests and two other people by a U.S.-trained death squad at a university residence in San Salvador.“What Lucia Saw” (“Llegaron de Noche”) focuses on the story of Lucia and her husband Jorge, who, with the help of church officials and Spanish and French diplomats, are spirited out of the country to Miami, where they hope to find safe haven. Once in the U.S., however, they fall into the clutches of the FBI and a Salvadoran colonel, who interrogate the couple in an effort to discredit Lucia’s testimony.

Lise Pedersen In documentary film “The Fall,” Danish director Andreas Koefoed tells the story of Estrid, who fell out of a fifth floor window when sleepwalking at the age of 11. Koefoed, whose “The Lost Leonardo” was released last year by Sony Pictures Classics, speaks to Variety about his latest film, which has its world premiere Thursday at the Copenhagen Intl. Documentary Film Festival (CPH:DOX) in Dox:Award, the main international competition category.Estrid survived the accident but suffered 17 fractures.

Marta Balaga Israeli director Rama Burshtein-Shai focuses on an unlikely attraction in her eight-episode series “Fire Dance,” now debuting at TV festival Series Mania in Lille, France. Faigie (Mia Ivryn) is just 18 when she starts paying closer attention to Nathan, thirtysomething married son of their ultra-Orthodox community’s leader. Produced by Yes TV, Firma Productions and Kuma Studios, it has Yes Studios handling international sales.“I don’t think it’s a story about impossible love.

In an ITV schedule shake up, Ant and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway will be off air tonight.The hit variety show, which normally goes on at 7pm, won't air on Saturday 19 March as usual as a sporting event takes its place. So, why isn't it on? Well it's all eyes on the Six Nations currently with not one but two rugby matches taking place on Saturday 19. Ireland will be playing Scotland at 4pm in the first match of the day, before England play France at 7:15pm.

EXCLUSIVE: The streaming revolution has finally gifted European creatives the opportunity to write sci-fi and other genres, according to Quoc Dang Tran, the creator of Disney+’s first French-language drama Parallèles.