‘It’s an Optimistic Story, It’s Just Not ‘Pollyanna’’: Eco Thriller ‘Tipping Point’ Looks for Hope Amid Climate Crisis

“Top Gun: Maverick” — nominated for six Academy Awards, including best picture — has a dark secret. The blockbuster, which celebrates the scrappy nature of US fighter pilots flying dangerous missions to keep the world safe, is being targeted for being funded in part by a Russian oligarch named Dmitry Rybolovlev, who is close to the Kremlin and sanctioned by Ukraine. In an open letter to the Academy, the Ukrainian World Congress, which represents Ukrainian expats around the world, expressed its “serious concerns over Russia’s influence on the Hollywood film industry.”The letter circulated last week during the final days of voting for the Oscars. Rybolovlev, 56, is no stranger to controversy.He maintained his innocence while spending a year in a Russian jail in the 1990sfor a murder he was later acquitted of.In 2008, during the economic recession, Rybolovlev, via a trust, paid $95 million for Donald Trump’s Palm Beach mansion.

Called out! Amid filming for Selling Sunset season 6, star Chrishell Stause has publicly called out the production team’s tricks.

EXCLUSIVE: BET+ has greenlit the biopic The First Lady of BMF: The Tonesa Welch Story inspired by the true life of Detroit native Tonesa Welch, which was first chronicled in American Gangster: Trap Queens, also from the streamer.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Italian sales company True Colours has closed a raft of sales following Berlin’s European Film Market. Italy’s box office hit “La Stranezza” (“Strangeness”) got picked up for a dozen territories and queer romantic drama “Norwegian Dream” also sold widely, including to North America. Directed by Roberto Andò, “Strangeness” (pictured) toplines Toni Servillo (“The Great Beauty”) as Nobel-prize-winning playwright Luigi Pirandello. This tragicomic period piece about how Pirandello found inspiration to write his masterpiece “Six Characters in Search of an Author” has been a sleeper hit at the Italian box office, coming from nowhere to pull more than €5.5 million ($5.8 million) and becoming the local 2022 box office champ.

Amanda Holden dazzled in a green blazer dress as she made her way to Heart Radio in London. Amanda, 52, completed her look with an off-white duster jacket rested on her shoulders, Anna Wintour-worthy sunglasses and a pair of stunning gold Louboutin shoes. Flashing a smile to the cameras, Amanda looked happier than most while on their way to work as she didn’t let London’s grey weather affect her mood.

Victoria Beckham is thanking her family for the support they've shown her and, yes, that includes Nicola Peltz.The fashion icon took to Instagram on Friday and shared a family photo that included husband David Beckham, son Brooklyn Beckham, 23, and his wife, Nicola, 28. It's the first photo of them together since last month's court filings revealed behind-the-scenes drama that included Nicola's billionaire father threatening to call off the lavish $3 million ceremony in Palm Beach, Florida, back in April 2022.Victoria, who on Friday kicks off a fashion show in Paris for her autumn/winter line, wrote in her caption, «I couldn't do it without you, I love you all so much x.»The former Spice Girls star then tagged the former pro soccer star, their sons, Cruz and Brooklyn, and Nicola.

K.J. Yossman Taliah Webster, who starred in the Safdie Brothers’ film “Good Time,” and Sam Dillon (“Boyhood,” “Skin”) are set to lead the cast of crime thriller “On Point.” The feature, written and directed by Christian Schifano (“Bratus”), is set in urban New York. A one-take film, “On Point” will follow Natalie (Webster) and her roommate Amy (Alaina Surgener) as they head to a party downtown. While waiting for an Uber, Amy stops to buy a vape when she’s confronted by an armed man with an agenda. “On Point” will be shot as both a short and a feature.

Keshet International (KI) is set to hit the London TV Screenings with a raft of new shows, including “Trust No One,” a new Israeli thriller by Ron Leshem (“Euphoria”), Amit Cohen (“False Flag”) and Daniel Amsel (“MICE”). Other titles on Keshet’s roster include season 2 of “Line in the Sand,” as well as “A Body That Works.” These will be presented at a live event hosted for drama buyers on Wednesday as part of the London TV Screenings. “Trust No One,” which is set to roll out on Keshet 12 later this year, is directed by Ofir Lobel (“A Wonderful Country”)  and is headlined by Yehuda Levi (“A Body That Works,” “Fire Dance”). Levi stars as Itamar, the youngest ever director of the most powerful intelligence agency in Israel who has forged a career by recruiting and handling well-connected informants.  He is now faced with the worst crisis of his life: Itamar is being framed as the source of a cyber security leak. Totally isolated and no longer able to trust anyone, Itamar is forced to use the kind of morally questionable espionage tools he has always opposed to clear his name and save his agents’ lives – exposing a world where any smartphone, CCTV camera and digital device can be hacked.

is in full swing, and the stars showed up and showed out on the red carpet for the on February 26.The winners of the industry-focused usually offer a glimpse into who might get snubbed and who could pull out an upset win at the Oscars, but right now, we're mostly here for the fashion. In the category of best dressed, we saw standout looks from many of the usual suspects, including Zendaya in baby pink floral Valentino, Jessica Chastain rocking stunning Gucci jewels, and Amanda Seyfried wearing a distinctly '60s-inspired Prada minidress and on-theme bouffant hair.Bold colors and metallics were definitely the dominant trends of the evening.

Brooklyn Beckham has another new tattoo dedicated to the love of his life.

Naman Ramachandran India’s Zee Studios and Emmay Entertainment have released the first trailer for “Mrs. Chatterjee Vs Norway,” starring Rani Mukerji. The film, directed by Ashima Chibber and written by Rahul Handa, Sameer Satija and Chibber, is based on the true story of an Indian couple whose children were taken away from them by Norwegian welfare services in 2011. Mukerji plays the titular Mrs. Chatterjee who battles with the Norwegian government to reunite with her children. The film is produced by Zee Studios and Monisha Advani, Madhu Bhojwani and Nikkhil Advani’s Emmay Entertainment (“Bellbottom”). It is part of Zee Studios’ extensive 2023 slate. The company has a film, “Aatmapamphlet,” and series “Brown” at the ongoing Berlin Film Festival and Berlin Series Market respectively.

Nicola Peltz Beckham is shrugging off any headlines about her private life.

It's well known that weddings can be difficult to organise, but the preparations for Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham's big day were on a whole new level. Nicola, 28, married Brooklyn, 23, in a three-day $3.5 million (£2.9 million) star-studded extravaganza in April 2022, which took place at her billionaire father Nelson's £79m Palm Beach estate.

Pat Saperstein Deputy Editor How can trees be racist? That’s the question explored in a new documentary, “Racist Trees,” about a historically Black neighborhood called the Crossley tract in Palm Springs, Calif., whose residents suspected a dense row of tall tamarisk trees might have been planted decades ago to segregate them from the adjacent golf course. While putting a close-up on the residents’ campaign to have the messy, view-blocking trees removed, the film deftly explores wider issues, like the troubled racial history of the idyllic resort town, gentrification and generational wealth – all with a light touch that includes plenty of colorful historic footage of swimming pools and movie stars.

Berlinale Series Market’s annual project pitching event, “Tipping Point” walked off Tuesday morning with the Series Mania Award. The prize is an invitation to the production’s team to present again at the industry centrepiece at next month’s Lille-based get-together, the Series Mania Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. “Tipping Point” joins 15 other projects as a sixteenth project presented out of competition in partnership with the Berlinale Co-Production Market.  Set in the extraordinary Svalbard – an archipelago half way between the northern coast of Norway and the North Pole, it  turns on a feisty young eco-activist at constant odds with her father, an oil exec, until he is murdered. Teaming with some of his friends to investigate his death, she discovers another man from the one she knew, as she chases a stolen software which could solve climate crisis or destroy the world.

“Most people hosting a travel show want to do it. They have a sense of adventure.

Emiliano De Pablos Spanish TV production house Mediacrest is joining forces with Helsinki-based outfit ReelMedia and Finnish public broadcaster YLE to develop climate change thriller series project “17kHz.” The co-production model resulting from the “17kHz” development deal will be one focus at the showcase “Spanish Fiction Contents: New Releases & Financial Opportunities,” which takes place Feb. 20 at Berlin’s European Film Market. Organized by ICEX Spain Trade & Investment, the meeting’s panelists will include Mediacrest‘s executives Gustavo Ferrada and Winnie Baert.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor When Frank Doelger, a six-time Emmy award-winning showrunner, whose credits include “Game of Thrones,” “John Adams” and “Rome,” was preparing to adapt Frank Schätzing’s 900-page novel “The Swarm” into an eight-part eco-thriller, he resolved to place it in a different genre. Whereas the novel read like a “disaster movie,” Doelger wanted the series to be a “monster movie” — but with a twist, the monster was us. In the first few episodes of the show, which premieres at the Berlin Film Festival on Sunday, seemingly random, unconnected events occur in different parts of the world in which marine creatures start behaving in abnormal ways that threaten the lives of those who come in contact with them. After each event, scientists are given the task of finding the cause of the change in behavior, and they slowly start to wonder whether the events are connected, and ask what is triggering them.

Shayeza Walid Acclaimed New York-based theater director Tina Satter has worked on productions on and off Broadway for more than a decade. Now, in her first ever venture into film, Satter makes her directorial debut with “Reality,” starring Sydney Sweeney, based on Satter’s play “Is This a Room.” The film premiered Saturday at the Berlin Film Festival with Variety critic Jessica Kiang calling it a “clever, gripping docudrama.” For Satter, who co-wrote the screenplay with James Paul Dallas, making this movie was always in the books. The film, based on the real-life FBI interrogation transcript of whistleblower Reality Winner, is one Satter could envision the first time she came across the documents of the conversation between Winner and the Federal Bureau.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent LevelK has unveiled the trailer for “Dancing Queen,” Aurora Gossé’s coming-of-age film world premiering in the Generation section at the Berlin Film Festival. Penned by Silje Holtet, the dance-filled movie is produced by Thomas Robsahm, whose credits include the Oscar-nominated Norwegian romantic comedy “The Worst Person in the World.” Newcomer Liv Elvira Kippersund Larsson stars as Mina, a slightly overweight underdog who falls head over heels in love and sets off to become at hip hop dancer to win his heart. The movie also stars Anders Baasmo (“In Order of Disappearance”) and Andrea Bræin Hovig (“An Affair), among others.