Hungary Selects Lili Horvat’s ‘Preparations to Be Together’ as Oscar Entry (EXCLUSIVE)

Naman Ramachandran “The Lunchbox” producer Guneet Monga has boarded “Jallikattu,” India’s entry in the Academy Awards’ international feature category, as executive producer, in time to shepherd its 2021 Oscars campaign.Monga was an executive producer on “Period. End of Sentence,” which won best documentary short subject at the 2019 Oscars.

Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg is back in the Oscar race with Another Round (Druk), a film whose star, Mads Mikkelsen, calls “an embracement of life.”

Peyton List, who appeared in the first three seasons, returns for the season opener.Set in the fictional titular town,follows 12-year-old Griffin Campbell (Preston Oliver), whose world has been upended by his father's decision to move the family from Chicago to take over an abandoned hotel property, The Tremont. The Campbells, which includes Griffin's mother and his younger twin siblings, move into The Tremont in hopes of restoring it to the vacation destination it once was.

Lali is staying true to her star sign.“It was a learning process for me, to find that balance between my pop music and the influences and sounds that, while I’ve been working on this record, have really taken hold -- urban pop, urban music, all that fusion that makes up the urban sound,” she tells ET. “ is an album where I found that balance I’m always seeking, like the good Libra I am.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentFilm Movement has taken U.S. rights to Naomi Kawase’s “True Mothers” which is Japan’s entry for the international feature film race at the Oscars.The affecting family drama was part of Cannes 2020’s Official Selection and went on to play at Toronto, San Sebastian and Chicago film festivals.

Dave McNary Film ReporterCleveland Berto has booked roles in the upcoming Sony drama “A Journal for Jordan” opposite Michael B. Jordan and as a series regular in the NBC drama “Chicago P.D.,” Variety has learned exclusively.Denzel Washington will direct and produce “A Journal for Jordan,” which is written by Academy Award nominee Virgil Williams and based on Dana Canedy’s New York Times best-selling memoir, which was published in 2008.

Wealthy, curtain-twitching suburbanites have formed the basis for many a TV show, but the Polish feature Never Gonna Snow Again proves the setting can be profoundly cinematic and esoteric, as well as darkly funny. Co-directing and writing with director of photography Michal Englert, Malgorzata Szumowska revels in blending genres in this acutely observed festival hit that is Poland’s submission for the 2021 International Oscar race.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Majid Majidi’s “Sun Children,” which competed at Venice and represents Iran in the international feature film race at the 2021 Academy Awards.Represented in international markets by Hengameh Panahi’s Celluloid Dreams, “Sun Children” has been critically acclaimed in the festival circuit, and its young leading actor Ruhollah Zamani won Venice’s Marcello Mastroianni Award for best young actor.

China has selected Peter Ho-Sun Chen’s volleyball drama Leap starring Gong Li as its international Oscar entry.

EXCLUSIVE: Spanish directing trio Aitor Arregi, Jon Garaño and Jose Mari Goenaga, whose The Endless Trench is representing Spain in this year’s Oscar race, have signed with The Gotham Group.

Christopher Vourlias Vadim Perelman’s “Persian Lessons” will represent Belarus in the best international feature film race at the 2021 Oscars, Variety has learned.The WWII drama, which world premiered in the Panorama strand of the Berlin Film Festival this year, stars Nahuel Perez Biscayart (“Beats Per Minute”) as a Belgian Jew who narrowly avoids execution by a Nazi firing squad when he claims to be Persian.

Beach Bunny fans have been kept good and fed throughout this year, first receiving the Chicago band's debut album Honeymoon back in February and Lili Trifilio's excellent solo single as tiger lili, "lightning," in September. Their next project, an EP titled Blame Game, is due out at the top of next year.

Leo Barraclough Senior International CorrespondentTopic, the fast-growing streaming service from First Look Media, has acquired North American streaming rights to Anabel Rodriguez Rios’ documentary feature debut, “Once Upon a Time in Venezuela.” The film, which explores the decline of the Venezuelan fishing village of Congo Mirador and, more broadly, the country’s complicated current political and social climate, made its world premiere at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly has selected Gianfranco Rosi’s observational documentary ‘Notturno’ as its candidate for the Oscar in the international feature film category.“Notturno,” which launched from the Venice Film Festival and has since played at a slew of other top international fests, including Toronto and New York, was selected out of a roster of 25 titles by a committee convened by the Italian motion picture association, ANICA.Other top contenders comprised Sophia

Clayton Davis This awards season could showcase possibly one of the most diverse group of contenders ever. A record-breaking number of women are directing and writing films; Tara Miele among them with her cerebral drama “Wander Darkly,” which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentKaouther Ben Hania’s “The Man Who Sold His Skin” will represent Tunisia in the Oscar race for best international feature film.The movie world premiered at Venice where it won the best actor award for Yahya Mahayni.

Dave McNary Film ReporterKino Lorber has acquired the North American rights to Małgorzata Szumowska and Michał Englert’s drama “Never Gonna Snow Again,” Poland’s Academy Awards entry.“Never Gonna Snow Again” follows a Russian masseur — played by Alec Utgoff of “Stranger Things” — who enriches the lives of the rich, unfulfilled residents living in a walled-off community.

Tom Grater International Film ReporterKino Lorber has picked up North American rights to Never Gonna Snow Again, Malgorzata Szumowska’s Polish drama which is representing the country in this year’s International Oscar race. The distributor is lining up a theatrical release in Spring, 2021.The film debuted in competition at Venice this year.

‘Chicago Fire’ Suspends Production After Positive COVID-19 Tests Chicago Fire EP, Kara Killmer: Brett & Casey 'Take Risk' With Romance 'Chicago Fire': Annie Ilonzeh Not Returning for Season 9 Amid Cast Shake-Up 'Chicago Fire' Boss Says There Will Be 'Cast Shake-Ups' in Season 9 (Exclusive)

season 2 premiere, following Lola's (Simone Missick) intense confrontation with a police officer at a Black Lives Matter protest that served as a fracture point between Lola and her once impenetrable friendship with her best friend, Deputy District Attorney Mark Callan (Wilson Bethel). It wasn't that one of them was wrong and the other was right, but the racially-fueled standoff brought to light Lola and Mark's distinct perspectives and experiences in regards to racial injustices as it relates