‘God Is a Woman’ Doc About Panama’s Matriarchal Kuna Tribe to Open Venice Critics’ Week

Strictly Come Dancing Shirley Ballas has opened up about her 'terrifying' week as fans hailed her 'brave' move in memory of her late brother. The BBC show's head judge was embraced by her partner, Daniel Taylor and appeared to wipe tears from her eyes.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Rome-based sales agency True Colours has added Edoardo de Angelis’ “Comandante,” which opens the Venice Film Festival, to its slate. The film, which plays in the main competition section, stars Pierfrancesco Favino (“World War Z,” “Angels & Demons”).

Poisoned, a new film on Netflix, is an investigative documentary looking into the unsavoury side of food manufacturing including how it manages foodborne pathogens such as E.Coli.The film, which is based on Jeff Benedict’s book Poisoned: The True Story Of The Deadly E. Coli Outbreak That Changed The Way Americans Eat, explores how pathogens have had fatal consequences for consumers.One viewer wrote online: “Just watched Poisoned on Netflix.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Celebrated Malaysian-Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang sat down with Variety on the eve of receiving the Locarno Film Festival Career Award. The award is only the latest in a series of prizes from major European festivals the art-house maverick has received – from the 1994 Golden Lion from Venice for “Vive L’Amour” to the Silver Bear that “The River” won in Berlin in 1997. So how does he feel to have received this latest sign of esteem from the film community? “This is very special for me,” Tsai says.

A police watchdog is to investigate a complaint made by a woman about the treatment she received in custody at a Greater Manchester station. The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) said it received two referrals from the force on July 26 regarding allegations made by the woman about her detention at Pendleton police station in Salford in February 2021.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Feature documentary “Golden Legends,” which focuses on the Hungarian men’s water polo team who were crowned Olympic champions three times running between 2000-2008, has broken the record for a theatrical release in Hungary of a local documentary. Tamas S. Zákonyi’s film was released nationwide in Hungarian cinemas by Fórum Hungary at the end of April, and was in the Top 10 for six weeks.

Netflix’s sports documentary series, “Untold”, is back with a third season, with “Vol. 3” kicking off with a look at one of the most controversial figures in the world of professional boxing, Jake Paul.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent French director Élise Girard’s “Sidonie in Japan” starring Isabelle Huppert as a French writer mourning her husband’s death while on a book tour of Japan, is among titles set to launch from the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori. The section, also known as Venice Days, has unveiled its lineup comprising ten titles world premiering in competition – six of which first works – and films in other sections all displaying a wide range of genres and visual styles, but tied together by “A common discourse,” said the section’s artistic director Gaia Furrer.

Addie Morfoot Contributor A documentary about women who accused Louis C.K. of sexual harassment and the consequences those accusations had on their careers is one of 22 documentaries from 12 countries heading to the 2023 Toronto Intl. Film Festival.

Earlier today, the full lineup of films selected for this year’s Venice Film Festival was announced. Some of the highlights include new films from David Fincher, Ava DuVernay, Wes Anderson, and Bradley Cooper.

, Da Brat and Queen Latifah as well as many others reflect on the history of hip-hop through a female lens. According to Netflix, the series «recontextualizes the irrepressible women of hip-hop and their role in the genre’s 50 years by reinserting them into the canon where they belong: at the center, from day one to present day.» In addition to iconic emcees, up-and-coming artists, and current chart-toppers — including everyone from Rah Digga to Chika — the episodes will also include interviews with record label execs, stylists and journalists as they all recount the wider social, racial and political landscape of the time.«We have come through a lot.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Apple TV+ documentary series “Wanted: The Escape of Carlos Ghosn” reconstructs the rise and fall of former Nissan and Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn, whose incarceration in Japan on financial misconduct charges was followed by an extraordinary escape. Inspired by the book “Boundless” by The Wall Street Journal reporters Nick Kostov and Sean McLain, the series is directed by Emmy-winning British filmmaker James Jones (“Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes”).

The red carpet may not have as many stars as in previous years, but the 2023 edition of the Venice Film Festival will feature a slew of highly anticipated films. And, likely, their directors taking center stage.

What has coal meant to America? Central Appalachia saw the energy source build communities and jobs, all the while creating destructive consequences. Director Elaine McMillion Sheldon explores the area’s difficulties as well as its connections to coal in “King Coal.” The documentary highlights complex subjects through the lives of two young dancers — their journey intensified by Sheldon’s unflinching attention to detail.

Errol Morris’s feature documentary “The Pigeon Tunnel” will make its global premiere on Apple TV+ on Oct. 20. “The Thin Blue Line” documentarian takes audiences into the life of former British spy David Cornwell, known to most as author John le Carré, over the course of six decades from the Cold War to the present day. “The Pigeon Tunnel” stitches together candid interviews, archival footage and excerpts from Cornwell’s own memoir of the same title to craft as full a view of the espionage author’s double life as possible.

What has coal meant to America? Central Appalachia saw the energy source build communities and jobs, all the while creating destructive consequences. Director Elaine McMillion Sheldon explores the area’s difficulties as well as its connections to coal in “King Coal.” The documentary highlights complex subjects through the lives of two young dancers — their journey intensified by Sheldon’s unflinching attention to detail.

Venice Critics’ Week has announced the line-up for its 38th edition, running August 30 to September 9 alongside the Venice Film Festival.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Spanish director J.A. Bayona’s “Society of the Snow,” a reconstruction of a 1972 plane crash in the Andes that forced survivors to take extreme measures, including cannibalism, has been set as the Venice Film Festival’s closing film. The deeply immersive Spanish-language saga is a Netflix original film shot in Andalusia’s Sierra Nevada, mainland Spain’s highest mountain range, using a 300-person crew. “Society of the Snow” will world premiere on the Lido out-of-competition on Sept. 9th. Its official screening will be held in the Palazzo del Cinema after the awards ceremony. In 1972 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, which had been chartered to bring Montevideo’s Old Christians Rugby Club team to Chile, crashed at an altitude of 11,712 feet in the Andes.  Of its 45 passengers – which consisted mostly of the rugby team, friends and family – 29 survived. Without food, the survivors, who belonged to Uruguay’s elite, were forced to eat the flesh of the deceased to stay alive. 19 survived an avalanche. 72 days after the crash, 16 finally made it out alive. 

Addie Morfoot Contributor Oakland natives Ryan Coogler and Peter Nicks met in 2012 when Cooglar was making “Fruitville Station” and needed help securing access to a location. Nicks, who was finishing his first feature documentary, “The Waiting Room, came to the rescue. Nine years later, Cooglar hired Nicks to run the nonfiction arm of his production company Proximity Media, which has a five-year overall exclusive television deal with The Walt Disney Co. The fruits of that partnership have been revealed this summer. Proximity’s first feature documentary, “Anthem,” which Nicks directed, was released in June on Hulu. On July 21, Nicks’ “Stephen Curry: Underrated” will debut on Apple TV +. The doc, which chronicles the NBA star’s life and career, made its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures has acquired U.S. rights to Invisible Beauty, the Sundance world premiere documentary about the career of pioneering African American model and fashion icon Bethann Hardison.