Christopher Vourlias With their Athens offices shuttered by the pandemic in the weeks leading up to this year’s Thessaloniki Intl.
16.10.2020 - 18:41 / variety.com
Kaleem Aftab The Lumiere Film Festival paid homage to Greek actress, singer and politician Melina Mercouri this week with a mini-retrospective on what would have been the centenary of her birth.The centerpiece event was a screening Thursday of “Never on Sunday,” the 1960 musical drama directed by and co-starring her regular collaborator, husband Jules Dassin, who was put on the Hollywood Blacklist for being a member of the Communist Party, and moved to Europe.Mercouri and Dassin met at the
.Christopher Vourlias With their Athens offices shuttered by the pandemic in the weeks leading up to this year’s Thessaloniki Intl.
Christopher Vourlias With days to spare before the opening night of this year’s Thessaloniki Intl.
Christopher Vourlias Christos Nikou’s “Apples” will represent Greece in the best international feature film race at the 2021 Oscars, Variety has learned.Nikou’s directorial debut, which opened the Horizons section of the Venice Film Festival and was also a selection in Telluride and Toronto, is the story of a man struggling to recover his memory in the midst of a pandemic that causes widespread amnesia.
Among Sean Connery’s handful of decidedly un-James Bond performances, playing ancient Greek King Agamemnon in Terry Gilliam’s hit 1981 fantasy comedy Time Bandits has to be up there. But the actor — who’d long since completed his first run of five 007 films and had moved onto serious roles with the likes of The Man Who Would Be King, Robin and Marian and A Bridge Too Far — was only ever written into the script as a joke.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPatriotic and gritty war film “The Sacrifice” topped the mainland Chinese box office for the second week. It earned $28.6 million over the weekend, lifting its ten-day cumulative score to $106 million, according to data from Artisan Gateway.Of that weekend score, some $1.6 million was earned from 670 Imax screens.
LONDON -- British police say they have recovered a 15th-century Chinese vase valued at 2.5 million pounds ($3.3 million) that was stolen in Switzerland last year.The Metropolitan Police force said Friday that they have arrested two men over the theft of the Ming dynasty vase.
statement, Chu said: ‘Growing up in the 80s, Willow has had a profound effect on me.‘The story of the bravest heroes in the least likely places allowed me, an Asian-American kid growing up in a Chinese restaurant looking to go to Hollywood, to believe in the power of our own will, determination and of course, inner magic.‘So the fact that I get to work with my heroes from Kathleen Kennedy to Ron Howard is bigger than a dream come-true.
Tom Grater International Film ReporterProminent Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke has announced he is departing the Pingyao International Film Festival, which he co-founded four years ago.The fest has not yet made an official statement but the director made the surprise announcement yesterday during the closing day of the fourth edition, telling local media he was looking for the event to “get rid of Ji Zhangke’s shadow and let it gain independent vitality” and that he was opting to “leave when it
Vivienne Chow Chinese director Jia Zhangke has quit the Pingyao International Film Festival that he co-founded four years ago. The festival will be handed over to the Pingyao city government, sparking speculation and concerns over how the reputable young festival will next develop.The internationally-renown auteur dropped the bombshell at Sunday’s press conference that concluded the fourth edition of the festival.
Rebecca Davis editorThe competition section of China’s Pingyao Intl. Film Festival on Friday awarded top prizes to Russia’s Philipp Yuryev, Serbia’s Ivan Ilkic, and Chinese directors Li Dongmei and Wang Jing.
Rebecca Davis editorDisney’s live-action “Mulan” was supposed to be a huge win for under-represented groups in Hollywood. The $200 million-budgeted film is among the most expensive ever directed by a woman, and it features an all-Asian cast — a first for productions of such scale. Despite well-intentioned ambitions, however, the film has exposed the difficulties of representation in a world of complex geopolitics.
Denise Petski Senior Managing EditorCBS All Access has set the voice cast for The Harper House, its upcoming adult animated comedy series from China, IL creator Brad Neely, Katie Krentz (Star Trek: Lower Decks), CBS Television Studios and 219 Productions.Rhea Seehorn (Better Call Saul), Jason Lee (My Name Is Earl), Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black) and newcomer Ryan Flynn (Stupidface) will star as the Harper family, with VyVy Nguyen (Young Sheldon), Lance Krall (Fameless), Roberta Colindrez (Vida),
Jake Kanter International TV EditorEXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated 12 Years A Slave actor Chiwetel Ejiofor is to narrate a film about the world’s water shortage crisis, which is funded by an executive from Chinese tech giant Tencent and co-directed by Emmy-winner Kevin Sim.Housed at Keo Films and OoS Pictures, Day Zero is the brainchild of Tencent’s chief exploration officer David Wallerstein, who personally financed the production after becoming fascinated by the status of Earth’s water
Back on Sept. 30, 2019, the Houston Rockets played the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association in a preseason game that was the first official action of the 2019-20 NBA season. Over a year later, that long, strange journey came to an end when the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Miami Heat in Game 6 of the 2020 Finals to win their 17th title in franchise history.
coronavirus pandemic, featuring musicians from the outbreak's initial epicenter in an attempt to aid in the psychological and emotional healing process.Zou Ye, a composer from Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the virus was first detected late last year, said that Saturday night’s concert is part of an effort to work through frustration and helplessness on the way toward love and tolerance and, hopefully, some meaning to what he calls “nature’s tremendous revenge.”Musicians from the Wuhan
Also Read: Inside the 'Mulan' Flameout in China and Why Hollywood Can't Seem to Bridge the Culture GapIn total, Bailey says the footage from those location shoots “comprised 78 seconds” of the final cut of the film.“The decision to film in each of these locations was made by the film’s producers in the interest of authenticity, and was in no way dictated or influenced by state or local Chinese officials,” Bailey stated.As for the Turpan Bureau’s involvement, Bailey said that foreign film
The live-action remake of “Mulan” has not been the wide success anyone expected, especially Disney. Not only did the film get a lukewarm critical reception, but the film was met with political controversy nearly as soon as “Mulan” debuted on Disney+ last month, when viewers noticed the end credits included “special thanks” to several government entities in the Xinjiang region in China, which has been the site of several human rights abuses.
Rebecca Davis editorDisney’s president of film production Sean Bailey defended the controversial credits for the new live-action “Mulan” film, which thanked Chinese government entities directly involved in perpetuating human rights abuses in Xinjiang, as being part of “standard practice across the film industry worldwide,” according to a letter addressed to and posted online by prominent British politician Iain Duncan Smith.The reply from @DisneyStudios regarding the filming of #Mulan in
Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticYou may not have noticed it, what with so much content coming out on Netflix each week, but the company has been ramping up big time on original animation over the past two years. From last year’s Oscar nominee “I Lost My Body” to internal productions “The Willoughbys” and “Klaus,” Netflix’s cartoon offerings have already reached a point to rival Pixar and DreamWorks.