Global Screen Scores Fresh Deals On 3D Animation ‘My Fairy Troublemaker’

EXCLUSIVE: Ready Or Not and Scream 6 actress Samara Weaving is attached to star in action-horror movie Azrael, which is being eyed by producers as a franchise.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Documentary festival IDFA will host the international premieres of Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s music film “Personality Crisis: One Night Only” and Barbara Kopple’s “Gumbo Coalition” as part of its Masters program, as well as the world premiere of Coco Schrijber’s “Look What You Made Me Do.” The selection includes the work of several renowned directors who have reinvented their cinematic language. Patricio Guzmán breaks from his poetic approach to adopt a more direct, political form of filmmaking with “My Imaginary Country,” centering on the October 2019 protests in Santiago. Gianfranco Rosi directs his first archive-based film “In viaggio,” which sees Pope Francis’ journeys as a map of the human condition. Jørgen Leth and Andreas Koefoed co-direct a film together for the first time with “Music for Black Pigeons,” a reflection on aging through jazz music, and Ruth Beckermann’s “Mutzenbacher” takes a look at a controversial erotic novel through an elaborate casting call.

Strictly Come Dancing 2022 is set to begin on Friday 23 September, with the first live show taking place the following evening (24 September). A fresh batch of celebrities are preparing to compete for the iconic Glitterball trophy, with the likes of Will Mellor, Kym Marsh, Matt Goss and Helen Skelton all getting ready to take to the dance floor.

With Strictly Come Dancing back on our screens, a whole new host of celebrities are getting to put their dance moves to the test in a bid to get their hands on the famous Glitterball Trophy. While viewers at home may be being introduced to a brand new Strictly cohort, which is full of celebs from the world of acting and sport, it’s not just the contestants who will be saying hello to the BBC ballroom. In fact, this year the show has the biggest professional line-up in its history, with 20 pros taking to our screens.

After a year of waiting, Strictly Come Dancing is finally back on our screens and a whole new host of celebrities are dancing it out to get their hands on the infamous glitterball trophy. But while the likes of Kaye Adams, Kym Marsh and Helen Skelton may be new to the Strictly ballroom, it’s not just the celebrities who will be stepping onto the BBC dancefloor for the first time. In fact, in what is the biggest Strictly professional line-up to date, four new pros will be heading to our screens for the first time ever, including newbie Carlos Gu.

After 13 months of extensive consultations with the UK film industry, government, and public, the British Film Institute has unveiled a new three-year funding plan alongside a ten-year strategy that will shape the organization’s future investments and priorities.

In a candid interview on "Good Morning America," Kanye ‘Ye’ West did something he rarely does: apologize. Speaking about how he uses social media, the ‘Donda’ creator showed remorse for putting his soon-to-be ex-wife, Kim Kardashian, at the forefront of many controversies.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The 17th annual Rome Film Festival will fete James Ivory with a career honor, a mini retrospective and the Italian launch of the Oscar-winning filmmaker’s personal new documentary “A Cooler Climate.” Ivory is expected in Rome to receive the award and present the doc about his life as a traveler that takes its cue from boxes of film the director shot during a life-changing trip to Afghanistan in 1960. The film premieres beforehand at the New York Film Festival. Rome’s Ivory mini-retrospective will comprise his films “Maurice”; “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge,” starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward; “The Remains of the Day”; and “A Room With a View.”

BFI London Film Festival Adds Trio Of Titles 

Stephen Graham To Star In ITV Neo-Nazi Drama ‘The Walk-In’

Filmfest Hamburg will no longer present Austrian filmmaker Ulrich Seidl with its prestigious Douglas Sirk Award following a report in German magazine Der Spiegel that raised concerns about the treatment of younger cast members during the production of his latest film Sparta.

Queen Elizabeth II died aged 96 last week (September 8) at her Balmoral estate in Scotland, and will be laid to rest next week, with the day becoming a bank holiday in the UK.In response to the occasion, a host of UK cinema chains including Odeon, Cineworld and Picturehouse, as well as the BFI Imax and BFI Southbank, will close for the entirety of Monday.Some other chains, however, are set to open their doors and offer free viewings of the Queen’s funeral, with Variety reporting that around 150 cinemas will offer this service, including branches of Vue and Curzon.UK Cinema Association CEO Phil Clapp told Variety: “Clearly all UK cinema operators are sensitive to the public mood and responding accordingly at what is a very sad time for many across the country.”Many public places are set to close on the bank holiday Monday to mark the Queen’s funeral, with some Premier League football games also postponed due to policing issues in London.Elsewhere in film, the first day of the BFI London Film Festival, scheduled for the day of the funeral, has also been cancelled.Since the news of her death was shared, tributes have been pouring in  for the late Queen from across the entertainment world.The late British monarch knighted many musicians and actors over the decades, including Mick Jagger, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Michael Palin and Anthony Hopkins.In his tribute, Elton John wrote: “Along with the rest of the nation, I am deeply saddened to hear the news of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth’s passing.

Many of the UK’s cinemas will close on the day of the Queen’s state funeral – while others will remain open to screen the event for free, they have said. Major chains including Cineworld, Odeon and Showcase will shut their sites on 19 September in a mark of respect.

Brent Lang Executive Editor “Allelujah,” Richard Eyre’s latest film, unfolds in a Yorkshire geriatric hospital, following a group of patients as they make peace with or rage against the indignities of old age. It’s a story that resonates with Eyre, a legendary stage and screen director. “I’m about to be 80,” he says. “So old age isn’t my consuming passion, but it’s a subject that has been forced on me and that has become difficult to ignore. I’m acutely aware of having outlived both my parents and many of my friends.” Perhaps unwittingly, “Allelujah,” which premieres this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, also serves as a showcase for a generation of English actors such as Judi Dench, David Bradley, and Derek Jacobi, who have all entered their ninth decades.

The San Sebastian Film Festival is pushing on with a competition screening of Austrian director Ulrich Seidl’s new film Sparta, following a report in German magazine Der Spiegel raising concerns about the treatment of its young cast, saying only a court order would result in it dropping the film.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Munich-based Beta Film, one of Europe’s biggest truly independent TV-film groups, has licensed to PPCW Media for Hong Kong and Macau International Emmy winner “Atlantic Crossing,” starring Kyle MacLachan and Sofia Helin. PPC Media has also acquired Alejandro Amenábar’s Movistar Plus+ original “La Fortuna,” with Stanley Tucci and Clarke Peters, a tale of piracy, court room battles and historical justice set between the U.S. and Spain. Reaching more remote places, Beta has also closed Mongolia with Hulegu Media, on “Sisi” a mix of sex, politics and period glam from RTL, Beta and Story House, a modern mindset take on a film icon.  

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic In the era where content is king, Sam Mendes still believes in moving pictures. “Empire of Light” is the proof. While the world was in lockdown these past couple years, Mendes let his imagination run to his happy place: a grand old English movie palace he dubbed the Empire Cinema. Thousands pass through its Art Deco doors seeking escapism, but Mendes is more interested in the employees — the projectionist, the ticket-takers, the box office attendant and so forth, who collectively form an ersatz family — whose stories, he senses, are every bit as interesting as the ones they show. And so he put them up on screen where they belong. But “Empire of Light” is more than just Mendes’ homage to an endangered art form — in fact, it spends a lot less time valorizing the medium than you might imagine. He has assembled a terrific cast, trusting that these performers can go deeper than their dialogue makes explicit, whether it’s Olivia Colman (who can do anything) as the romantically frustrated theater manager Hilary or relative newcomer (and “Blue Story” breakout) Micheal Ward as Stephen, Mr. Ellis’ latest hire (in an unusually sleazy cameo, Colin Firth plays the boss).

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent After taking a break from his filmmaking career to preside over the French film promotion org Unifrance, Jean-Paul Salomé has made a big comeback with a pair of films with Oscar-nominated French actor Isabelle Huppert. The latest one, “The Sitting Duck,” is world premiering at Venice in the Horizons section. Adapted from Caroline Michel-Aguirre’s book “La Syndicaliste,” “The Sitting Duck” tells the true story of Maureen Kearney, the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse who becomes a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. One day, Kearney is found in her home, tied to a chair, the letter “A” carved into her abdomen, and a knife handle inserted into her vagina. Traumatized, she has no memory of the assault. However, after an investigation, the police accused her of staging the attack herself.