Romania Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The jury for the Docu Talents From the East Award, presented Sunday as part of CineLink Industry Days at the Sarajevo Film Festival, split the award between two projects: “A Picture to Remember” by Ukrainian director Olga Chernykh and producer Regina Maryanovska-Davidzon, and the Czech-Slovak co-production “Chronicle” by Martin Kollar. The award comes with a cash prize of $5,000. Eight documentaries from Central and Eastern Europe, planned for theatrical release during the next 12 months, were presented in the program, which is curated by the Ji.hlava Intl.

In the saturated cinematic world of bloodsuckers, it’s important to carve a niche to help the film stand out from its predecessors. The visual palette drenched in melancholic grays and blues are effective in creating atmosphere, the film falls prey to predictability. Its no secret that Universal is desperate to get their monster cinematic universe off the ground, but haven’t had much luck. After watching The Last Voyage of the Demeter, its clear the studio will have to continue its search for success.

according to Billboard. “We thought, ‘What if we make a campaign based on the idea that vampires from Transylvania usually suck blood — but in this case, they don’t suck blood, but [rather] donate it?’” co-founder Edy Chereji said of the festival, which takes place in the Transylvanian region’s city Cluj-Napoca at the Cluj Arena.UNTOLD Festival took the premise and flew with it, debuting the blood drive campaign — initially called Pay with Blood — with a whopping1,500 Romanians donating blood around the eastern European country that first year.

Ellise Shafer An investigative documentary on Andrew Tate, the former kickboxer who rose to fame on social media before facing rape and human trafficking charges, is underway at BBC Three. The doc, which has the working title “Andrew Tate: The Man Who Groomed the World?,” promises to take viewers inside the international network of Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who was ousted by the network this spring, took aim at colleagues of his former employer for not stepping up to defend the free-speech rights of Alex Jones. On the latest episode of his show on X (formerly Twitter), Carlson hosted Tristan Tate, who along with his brother Andrew Tate was arrested in March 2023 by Romanian authorities.

Jessica Kiang Nobody can be both the magnifying glass and the ant burning up under its glare. Nobody, that is, except shaggy Romanian shaman Radu Jude who, with his Locarno competition entry “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World,” follows up 2021’s Berlinale-winning “Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn” with a dizzying, dazzling feat of social critique, an all-fronts-at-once attack on the zeitgeist, and a mischievous, often hilarious work of art about the artifice of work.

It’s rare that European cinema impacts on Hollywood but it’s exciting when there’s a trickle-down effect, like the connection to be made between Denmark’s stripped-down Dogme movies, which launched in Cannes in the late ’90s, and Steven Spielberg’s decision to go back to basics (well, for him) with Catch Me If You Can a few years later. It’s a moot point how many will ever see Romanian director Radu Jude’s follow-up to his 2021 Berlinale winner Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn, but, like Bob Dylan going electric or the Sex Pistols making their ramshackle debut at a London art school, this wilfully uncommercial but bloody-minded film could be genuinely seminal in its anarchic and totally individualistic approach, slipping discordant, Godardian subversion into a darkly comic, Ruben Östlund-style human drama.

A woman whose mum and step-dad were killed by a Scottish based lorry driver who was trawling an 'adult' site at the wheel has launched a campaign to stop people using their phones while driving.

Naman Ramachandran Controversial influencer and former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate has been released from house arrest in Romania, pending trial. Tate and his brother Tristan were arrested in March and charged in June on rape and human trafficking offences, which they deny. On Friday, their house arrest was lifted and they are now allowed to move around the Romanian capital, Bucharest and in the Ilfov district where they live.

Christopher Vourlias Berlin Golden Bear winner Radu Jude, whose latest feature, “Do Not Expect Too Much From the End of the World,” premieres Aug. 4 in competition at the Locarno Film Festival, is in post-production on his next film, Variety can reveal.

Eastenders' Matthew Rose - who was played by Joe Absolom - was wrongfully sentenced to prison time for the murder of Saskia Duncan over 20 years ago.

After a blowout debut weekend, Barbenheimer showed strong continued momentum at the international box office on Monday. Warner Bros’ Barbie for its part had the best Monday ever for the studio overseas at $32M from 69 markets (it also scored the studio’s best Monday domestically). The running offshore total through yesterday is $226.3M, bringing the global Kenergy to $414.4M.

Coldplay have added more shows to their upcoming European tour, set to kick off in summer 2024.The British indie-rock veterans announced details of their new tour last week (July 20) — set to kick off in June, and feature their first-ever live dates in Greece, Romania and Finland.Featuring stops across Europe – including dates in Italy, France, Germany, Austria and more – Chris Martin and co. have now added seven additional dates to the 2024 ‘Music Of The Spheres’ tour.Extra dates in Bucharest, Lyon, Rome and Helsinki have been added as of today (July 25), as well as an additional show in Dublin’s Croke Park Stadium at the beginning of September, making for three back-to-back shows in the Ireland capital.The 2024 tour – which shares its name with the group’s latest album, 2021’s ‘Music Of The Spheres’ – arrives on the heels of their ongoing 2023 stadium shows, which kicked off in May.

John Hopewell Chief International Correspondent Frank Spotnitz, “The X-Files” exec producer and “Medici” creator, will figure alongside Israeli producer Eilon Ratzkovsky and broadcaster-producer Johnathan Young as facilitators and mentors at the third edition of the Full Moon Creative Lab, a program open to European screenwriters specializing in thriller, horror and fantasy TV series. Launched by the Romanian Film Promotion and Transilvania Intl. Film Festival, the Full Moon Creative Lab consists of creative residencies taking place in Romania’s Transylvania this October and in February and June 2024.

Follow OK! on Threads here: https://www.threads.net/@ok_mag Maths whiz Rachel Riley has opened up about details of her marriage and admitted that she and her husband, Pasha Kovalev, struggle to squeeze in alone time due to their busy work schedule. The duo share two children, two-year-old daughter Maven, and one-year-old Noa, and Rachel described their relationship as “ships that pass in the night”.

Sophia Scorziello editor Live Nation’s concert streaming platform Veeps has set its first-ever global film premiere with rock documentary “What the Hell Happened to Blood, Sweat & Tears?” The doc’s exclusive PVOD release on Veeps follows its March 2023 theatrical release, which was helmed by Abramorama. The exclusive Veeps screenings will take place on August 20 at 12 p.m. ET and 8 p.m. ET. Veeps is offering two tiers of tickets, the first going for $12.99 which gives access to the screening, and the second for $24.99, which includes screening access along with a CD copy of the documentary’s soundtrack. Both tickets provide audiences with a 3-day rewatch window. In addition, each of the two PVOD screenings will host a live Q&A with filmmaker John Scheinfeld and Blood, Swear and Tear’s band member Bobby Colomby.

The Sarajevo Film Festival has unveiled its official selection for this year’s edition, with Elene Naveriani’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry among the titles playing in Competition.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Forty-nine films will compete for the Heart of Sarajevo awards at the 29th Sarajevo Film Festival, which runs in Bosnia and Herzegovina from Aug. 11 to 18. The Feature Film Competition will present 11 titles, with two world premieres, one international and five regional premieres. World premieres include “Europa” from Austrian-Iranian filmmaker Sudabeh Mortezai, whose credits include 2018 Venice Days entry “Joy,” the Best Film winner at London Film Festival, and “Macondo,” which competed for the Golden Bear at Berlin Film Festival in 2014. The other world premiere is “Medium,” from Greek director Christina Ioakeimidi, whose debut feature was “Harisma” in 2010.

Coldplay have announced a series of European stadium tour dates, set to take place in summer 2024. Find ticket information and a list of dates below.The new run of tour dates arrive on the heels of the band’s current 2023 stadium shows, which kicked off in May.

The Golden Globe Awards, of which the HFPA serves as parent company, announced the news Saturday. They credited Solomon with overseeing the Globes’ growth and for innovating many of the awards ceremony’s best-known features.“We are incredibly saddened by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Judy Solomon.

J. Kim Murphy Judy Solomon, a journalist who served as president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for six terms and helped shape the Golden Globes as it’s known today, died Friday morning. She was 91 years old. Solomon’s death was announced by current Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Helen Hoehne on Saturday morning. “We are incredibly saddened by the loss of our dear friend and colleague, Judy Solomon. The loss is profound, but we take this opportunity to celebrate her incredible achievements in helping evolve the Golden Globes into the world-spanning award it is today,” Hoehne wrote. “We are grateful for her support and leadership during her 67 years of membership with the HFPA.”

Judy Solomon, the former six-term president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, died Friday morning at 91 years old. No cause of death or location was given by the HFPA, which confirmed the death.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Elon Musk’s Twitter has been accused of failing to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in severance to laid-off workers. Now, under a new ad-revenue sharing program, the company just doled out millions to high-profile Twitter users, including controversial right-wing figure Andrew Tate and left-leaning twin brothers Ed and Brian Krassenstein. Twitter announced the ad-revenue sharing program for creators, initially on an invitation-only basis, on Thursday. The company said eligible creators will be paid a share of ad revenue starting in the replies to their posts. “This is part of our effort to help people earn a living directly on Twitter,” the company said in a blog post about the program.

The San Sebastián Film Festival has revealed the Official Selection for its latest edition, which is due to unfold from September 22 — 30.

A tax dodging pimp who posed as a plumber to con HMRC into paying him nearly £10,000 while he was running a string of Romanian prostitutes across Dundee has been warned he is facing jail.

Marta Balaga Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, Europe’s biggest mid-Summer movie event, has announced its lineup, welcoming recognizable names to its main competition, from Filipino auteur Lav Diaz (“Essential Truths of the Lake”) to Romanian powerhouse Radu Jude, who will show “Do Not Expect Too Much of the End of the World.” As already announced, Cate Blanchett and Zar Amir Ebrahimi are set to attend the Locarno Film Festival’s closing night to promote the European launch of Iranian-Australian director Noora Niasari’s debut film “Shayda.” Among the titles selected for Locarno’s more broad-audience-friendly Piazza Grande lineup, Justine Triet will attend with her Cannes Palme’ d’Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall,” along with Ken Loach and his “The Old Oak.”

After a 21-month run that saw him perform for more than 700,000 fans, the promise of Tom Segura’s “I’m Coming Everywhere” world tour has finally been fulfilled.

New Feature projects by Palestinian director Annemarie Jacir, Ireland’s Aisling Walsh and Jim Sheridan as well as Romanian filmmaker Anca Damian have been selected for the upcoming edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market.

Naman Ramachandran Keshet International (KI) has racked up several deals for scripted formats and finished tape in the Central and Eastern Europe region. KI has sold the format rights for Duo Productions’ 8 x 60’ relationship thriller “Too Much Love” (“L’homme qui aimait trop”) to Slovakian free-to-air broadcaster TV JOJ. Originally created by Canadian writing duo Michel d’Astous and Anne Boyer (“Taboo”) for Bell Media’s Quebecois streamer Noovo, the Slovakian adaptation will be produced by Piknik Pictures (“Traffic Light”). Currently in pre-production, with casting in progress, shooting will commence later this year ahead of a 2024 premiere on TV JOJ.

Elon Musk challenged Mark Zuckerberg to a cage match duel — and the Facebook founder seems to be up for the match.

wrote that it “takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time.” The picture concerns the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters, detailing a family history through interviews and reenactments to deconstruct how the two eldest kids were radicalized to the point of joining ISIS.  “We were immediately captivated by Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful documentary Four Daughters, a riveting piece of filmmaking that takes an innovative and provocative approach to nonfiction storytelling,” said Kino Lorber SVP of Theatrical Distribution and Acquisitions Wendy Lidell.

EXCLUSIVE: Paris-based Goodfellas has unveiled a raft of deals on French genre title Vincent Must Die by Stéphan Castang following its buzzy world premiere in Cannes Critics’ Week in May.

to Variety, Stone revealed that he recently watched Keanu Reeves’ film “John Wick 4” on a flight — and he wasn’t a fan.“Talk about volume,” he said. “I think the film is disgusting beyond belief. Disgusting.”“I don’t know what people are thinking,” he said of film producers and directors.“Maybe I was watching G.I.

It took months of investigation after their arrests, but controversial social media star Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate have finally been charged. As we’ve been reporting, the divisive

Disgraced social media personality Andrew Tate was charged with rape, human trafficking, and forming an organized crime group in Romania, prosecutors announced on Tuesday (June 20)

arrested in December, and has been detained there since. Tate was charged Tuesday with “forming an organized crime group to sexually exploit women,” the BBC and Guardian reported, citing an indictment that names Tate and three others.The indictment says Tate and three others, including his brother Tristan, engaged in human trafficking in Romania, the U.S.