Ukraine Showbiz Latest News and Updates

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The film armorer who loaded a live bullet into Alec Baldwin‘s gun on the set of “Rust,” leading to the death of a cinematographer, was sentenced Monday to the maximum term, 18 months in prison. Hannah Gutierrez Reed, 26, was convicted in March of involuntary manslaughter, after a jury found that her negligence caused the death of Halyna Hutchins. Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer said that Gutierrez Reed had not shown any remorse.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large “The Last of Us,” “Poker Face,” “Bluey,” “The Bear” and “Jury Duty” are among this year’s additional nominees as the Peabody Awards’ board of jurors revealed 27 nods for its arts, children’s/youth, entertainment, and interactive & immersive categories. They join the 41 nominees across its documentary, news, public service and radio/podcast categories announced by Peabody earlier this week.

TikTok.Yesterday (April 23), US Congress voted to pass the bill that will ban TikTok in the United States unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells the platform’s US stakes. The vote came three days after it cleared the House of Representatives.Today (April 24), Biden signed the bill hours after Congress dealt the video-sharing platform’s Chinese ownership a historic rebuke following years of failed attempts to tackle the app’s alleged national security risks (per The Washington Post).Biden had previously indicated that he would approve of the legislation once it had hit his desk.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor TikTok could be banned in the U.S. as soon as January 2025. Here’s what the new law means for users of the popular short-form video app.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024.According to Eurovision World, the favourites to win the competition have been revealed. Coming in first place is Switzerland’s NEMO, who currently has a 25 per cent chance at snagging the crown this year with their song ‘The Code’.Behind Switzerland in second place is Croatia, whose entry Baby Lasagna is predicted to have a 17 per cent chance of winning with his song ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to approve a bill that would ban TikTok nationwide unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells its stake in the popular app. The development will likely result in a court battle between the U.S.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Abramorama has acquired North American theatrical rights to Vanessa Hope‘s feature-length documentary “Invisible Nation.” The 85-minute doc investigates the election and tenure of Tsai Ing-wen, the first female president of Taiwan. The docu follows Tsai as she seeks full international recognition of Taiwan’s right to exist.

EXCLUSIVE: June Zero, the latest from writer-director Jake Paltrow (Young Ones, The Good Night, De Palma) and producers Oren Moverman (The Messenger, Bad Education), Miranda Bailey (Swiss Army Man, The Diary of a Teenage Girl) and David Silber (Incitement, Junction 48), is set for theatrical release in New York on June 28, Los Angeles July 5 and nationwide July 12 by Cohen Media Group.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor A bill that would ban TikTok — unless its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, divests its ownership stake — could soon become a U.S. law. TikTok is gearing up a legal fight against the measure if that happens, with plans to challenge it in court on First Amendment grounds.

The fate of TikTok in the United States is even more uncertain as the House today voted on a package that requires that parent ByteDance divest its popular social media platform or face a ban on app stores.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is shining a spotlight on one of the most revered filmmakers in cinema history.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor U.S. lawmakers have moved closer to enacting a countrywide ban on TikTok. Last month, the House of Representatives passed a bill by a wide margin that would ban distribution of TikTok in U.S.

Lise Pedersen Documentary “Fixing the War,” about news fixers in Ukraine, was one of 15 projects selected in this week’s edition of VdR-Pitching, Visions du Réel’s international co-production and financing platform. Variety accompanied the team as they pitched to potential partners. The film’s producers Gary Lennon of Plainsong Films and Olga Kravchenko of Moon Man were in Nyon to pitch the film, which is directed by Clare Stronge and Vadym Ikov.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent With France on its highest level of security alert amid geopolitical turmoil in Ukraine and the Middle East, organizers behind the Paris Olympics are still going ahead with ambitious plans to host the opening ceremony along the Seine river on July 26. Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, said on Monday in an interview with French outlets BFM TV and RMC that the opening ceremony could relocate to an indoor location “depending on our analysis of the context.” “We have fallback scenarios.

Swiss Films Previews, the only spread of national movies at Switzerland’s Visions du Réel, the country’s leading doc festival. Presented via excerpts at a two-hour showcase on Wednesday, three further titles – “Kalari – the Martial Art of Female Power,” “The Boy from the River Drina” and “Spheres” – underscored the strength in depth of documentary filmmaking in Switzerland and at least in this year’s Previews, a leitmotif.

Jon Cunliffe's line of work has taken him worlds away from his birthplace of Bury.

Rust has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.On October 21, 2021 in Santa Fe, New Mexico, cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot and director Joel Souza was injured on the set of the film, when a live round was discharged from a revolver being used as a prop by Alec Baldwin.Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, 26, who had served as an armourer on the film, had been on trial charged with involuntary manslaughter, to which she pled not guilty. However, in March, the jury convicted her, but found her not guilty of tampering with evidence.

Addie Morfoot Contributor Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat’s documentary “Sugarcane” garnered the top nonfiction honor at the 26th annual Sarasota Film Festival. About the abuse and death of Indigenous children at a Canadian-based Indian Residential School, the docu premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival (SFF), where it picked up the U.S. documentary directing kudo.

Naman Ramachandran Circle Women Doc Accelerator, an international training program dedicated to women and non-binary filmmakers, has unveiled the four projects that will take part in its showcase as part of the Cannes Docs program of the upcoming Cannes Film Market. For the fifth consecutive year, four alumnae of the program will present their works-in-progress during the market. “Dreamers” by Imam Hasanov, produced by Maria Ibrahimova for Cinex production (Azerbaijan), is set in rural Azerbaijan, where former football player Mamed coaches an all-girls football team.

Murtada Elfadl A sense of foreboding permeates “Intercepted” from its first few frames, cueing audiences that they are about to witness something sinister. Documentarian Oksana Karpovych shows peaceful images of children playing outside and birds chirping in the distance. Also heard on the soundtrack are ominous recordings, not exactly music but faint siren-like sounds that announce the film’s subject.

Lise Pedersen In her first media interview published ahead of the world premiere of her debut feature “Fragments of Ice” at Swiss documentary film festival Visions du Réel, Ukrainian director Maria Stoianova tells Variety how her film’s intention shifted after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Based entirely on archival footage shot on a camcorder by her father, a figure skater in former Soviet Ukraine, the film is voiced by the director, who was born in 1986 and takes the viewer back to the mid 80s and early 90s through her family’s story, as they experience the dissolution of the Soviet Union and of their dreams of a Western paradise.

Dragons' Den star Sara Davies has confessed that it's been a 'tough couple of years' as her £37million arts and crafts company grapples with the cost of living crisis and Brexit aftermath. The entrepreneur, who regularly offers financial aid and guidance to struggling businesses on the show, revealed that her online firm Crafter's Companion was £1million in debt last October and is expected to report further losses this month.

The Seret International Film Festival, an Israeli film event hosted in cities across the globe, has criticized its longtime UK partners Picturehouse and Curzon Cinemas for backing out of this year’s event over what organizers described as “safety concerns.”

Michaela Zee On the “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart decided it was time for a “wellness check” on Gaza after the Israel-Hamas war reached the six-month mark Sunday. “As the war has grinded on, justice is beginning to seem more like cruelty,” “The Daily Show” host said on Monday night.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Talpa Studios, the company founded by “The Voice” and “Big Brother” creator John de Mol, has closed further territory sales for quiz-show format “The Floor.” Variety can also reveal that the show has been named by research organization K7 Media as the “Format to Watch” in its “Tracking the Giants” format sales report, which was released Saturday at MipFormats. The recognition is based on the show’s territory sales. K7 said: “’The Floor’ is the best-selling format in 2023 and early 2024 among all the unscripted formats that were newly created in 2023.

One day after José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen confirmed that seven of its team providing food in Gaza were killed in an Israel Defense Forces strike, President Biden called Andrés personally to tell the celebrity chef he was “heartbroken” by the news.

Jon Stewart started off The Daily Show by calling out news networks for their reaction to the video Donald Trump shared that showed an A.I. image of Joe Biden tied up.

Michaela Zee Celebrity chef and humanitarian José Andrés has announced that several members of his World Central Kitchen nonprofit organization were killed in Gaza on Monday. “I am heartbroken and grieving for their families and friends and our whole WCK family,” Andrés wrote on X/Twitter. “There are people…angels…I served alongside in Ukraine, Gaza, Turkey, Morocco, Bahamas, Indonesia.

A North Ayrshire Council initiative is helping parents to find work while expanding the talent pool for local employers.

A council boss has been urged to sever ties with a repairs firm after it was found to have fudged its figures to make its performance look better.

Despite a huge £238 fall in the energy price cap at the start of April, millions of households will remain in debt or abject fuel poverty, according to Ofgem data. Poverty charity National Energy Action has said the ongoing energy crisis 'cannot be the new normal'.

were catnip for the Russian disinformation campaign known as Doppelgänger.According to British security experts, this “Russia-based influence operation network” attempted to sow discord about the Princess of Wales' “” ahead of her on March 22. Based on a new report, researchers at the Security, Crime, and Intelligence Innovation Institute at Cardiff University claim at least 45 accounts posting about Middleton on X.com contained Dopplegänger “hallmarks,” including pro-Russia and anti-Ukraine content on their feeds.Still, institute director Martin Innes says it's unlikely that Russian interlopers sparked the speculation about Middleton's health and whereabouts.

A suspect wanted in connection with the murder of a Manchester man in Ukraine has been named. Daniel Burke had gone to suport the resistance against Russia when he was fatally shot from behind, an inquest hearing was told. But Daniel did not die in a theatre of war.

Paul McCartney for being “too unflattering” is now headed to auction.The artwork in question is a wooden sculpture created by Wilfrid Wood, which was originally set to be released as part of the 2024 ‘Secret 7’ vinyl project – in a bid to raise money for War Child.The project runs alongside the host of gigs that War Child puts on to raise money for the charity, and consists of various artists releasing a limited edition 7” record for a specific track, which are later auctioned off.Between 2012 and 2020, it has raised over £500,000 for good causes. Previous sleeve designers include the likes of Ai Weiwei, Sir Peter Blake, Yoko Ono, David Shrigley, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Martin Parr and more.This year, musicians including Celeste, Hozier, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Specials, The Chemical Brothers and Paul McCartney were all involved in the campaign, and all records were exhibited and free to view at the NOW Gallery between March 2 to 17.However, for the latter, the single was withdrawn after the Beatles bassist took issue with how he was depicted in the artwork.The wooden sculpture was banned from the exhibition after the rock veteran deemed it “too unflattering”, according to the artist.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “Dahomey,” the Berlinale Golden Bear-winning film helmed by French-Senegalese director Mati Diop, has been sold to a raft of international territories by Les Films du Losange. Along with being acquired by Mubi in key markets, “Dahomey” has been acquired in Australia & New Zealand (Rialto), China (Hugoeast), Spain (Filmin), Portugal (Nitrato Filmes), Greece (One From the Heart), Scandinavia (NonStop Entertainement), Benelux (Cinéart), Bulgaria (Beta Films), Ex-Yugoslavia (Discovery), Hungary (Mozinet), Czech Republic (Film Europe), Romania (Voodoo), Baltic Countries (Taip Toliau), Poland (New Horizons), Ukraine (Kyivmusicfilm), Taiwan (Joint Entertainment), Indonesia (PT Falcon) and Sudu Connexion in Africa.

A young farmer who vanished after a serious car crash tragically ended his own life "in a panic".