Locarno StepIn: 5 Takeaways on Envisaging a Healthier Workplace in the Film Industry

Molly Shannon knows how to turn on the waterworks at will.

Molly Shannon and Jimmy Fallon had a cry-off during the actress’s “Tonight Show” appearance Wednesday.

Recently, Sony explained how the movie studio is going to stay independent and doesn’t want to be sold to a bigger studio and/or a streaming service. And in staying an independent studio without the backing of a major streaming platform like Disney+, Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, HBO MAX, and Netflix, means Sony is definitely hoping to keep the theatrical business alive and well for its film releases.

EXCLUSIVE: Mateo Zoryna Francis-Deford, Keeley Karsten, Birdie Borria, Alina Brace, and Sophia Kopera join the cast of Steven Spielberg’s next film, based loosely on his childhood. Deford will play the young, aspiring filmmaker at the center of the story in his very early years, with the other actors portraying his siblings at various stages of their lives.

Feature documentary The Outsider from Abramorama will become Facebook’s first paid online movie premiere by a major distributor today when the social media giant releases it at 8 pm ET with a ticket price of $3.99.

Joe Otterson TV ReporterLongtime development executive Steven Prinz has signed an overall television deal and a first-look film deal with Amazon, Variety has learned.Prinz most recently served as global series executive for Amazon Studios, overseeing the development of projects from creators with first look and overall deals with the studio. Those included Plan B Entertainment, Michael B.

Michelle Williams and Seth Rogen are back to work!

The Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a federation of labor unions repping close to 4 million workers, Wednesday called on the Federal Trade Commission to reject Amazon’s proposed $8.45 billion acquisition of MGM as a newly vigilant FTC in in the process of scrutinizing the deal that was announced in May.

Will Thorne Staff WriterThere is a lot that Thai director Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke cannot say about his new project “A Useful Ghost.” But then again, when audiences in Thailand see the film, they will know exactly what it means.Set primarily in a family home, “A Useful Ghost” tells the story of a couple, March and Nat, and their young son Dot. March runs a vacuum cleaner factory, but ironically, one day Nat dies from a respiratory disease caused by air pollution in the area.

We are still more than a year away from the release of “Avatar 2” (December 2022), but it’s no secret that James Cameron isn’t stopping with just one sequel, as he has been in deep production/development on a total of four more films in the franchise. And apparently, one of the “Avatar” leads has read the script for the final “Avatar” film (the fifth total) and instantly became emotional.

Spain’s San Sebastian International Film Festival made the controversial decision to honour Johnny Depp with its Donostia Award.

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorStefan Ruzowitzky, who won an Oscar for “The Counterfeiters,” is at the Locarno Film Festival on Friday for the world premiere in the iconic Piazza Grande venue of his crime thriller “Hinterland.” He speaks to Variety about the film, which Beta Cinema is selling worldwide.“Hinterland” centers on a former Austrian prisoner of war, Peter Perg, who returns home to Vienna in 1920. Everything has changed.

EstoniaKafka Films, Karolina VeetammTallinn-based, focused on narrative and doc features, at Match Me with a slate led by a trio of socially-relevant titles: “Tell Me,” a “poetical documentary,” says producer Veetamm; women’s emancipation tale “Aurora,” from Andres Maimik and Rain Tolk; and “The Last Five,” a dark comedy about Tallinn homeless from Triin Ruumet director of 2016 dark comedy, “The Days That Confused,” a Karlovy Vary East of the West Special Jury Prize winner.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentNew Locarno Film Festival artistic director Giona A. Nazzaro, who is the former head of the Venice Film Festival’s Critics’ Week, is starting to put his stamp on the Swiss fest dedicated to indie cinema with a lineup comprising comedies and genre films alongside more straightforward auteur cinema, driven by a desire to make the selection “more audience friendly,” as he puts it.

A push to name an Edmonton park “Nathan Fillion Civilian Pavilion” just received a superstar boost.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefMyanmar director Maung Sun says he fears for the future of his writing and producing partner Ma Aeint who now faces charges brought by the military junta.Ma Aeint was arrested in early June in Yangon and was held for a month in judicial detention. She has since been transferred to the notorious Insein Prison, where she is being treated as a political prisoner.

Christopher Vourlias Vienna-based sales outfit Square Eyes has acquired Saeed Taji Farouky’s “A Thousand Fires,” which will open the Locarno Film Festival’s Critics’ Week section.Set in the Magway region of Myanmar, which is home to one of the oldest oil industries in the world, “A Thousand Fires” is a portrait of a family in flux and a story of intergenerational conflict and compromise.

Manori Ravindran International EditorA whole lotta love is heading to the Venice Film Festival, which has just added the forthcoming Led Zeppelin feature documentary to its lineup.Bernard MacMahon’s “Becoming Led Zeppelin,” which was recently completed, will screen out of competition.More to come.

Manori Ravindran International EditorThe Jerusalem Film Festival is gearing up for a late August start, with celebrated Cannes title “Where is Anne Frank?” set to open the 38th edition of the fest.Directed by Ari Folman, the animated film centres on Kitty, Anne Frank’s imaginary friend whom her diary was addressed to, who magically comes to life at the family home in Amsterdam and sets out on a quest to find her.“Where is Anne Frank?” will kick off the festival at the Sultans Pool Amphitheatre,