‘Pure Hearts’ Director Roberto De Paolis Steps Up Production of His Young Films Shingle (EXCLUSIVE)

Madonna and Canadian producer Sickick have added Nigerian singer Fireboy DML to a second version of their ‘Frozen’ remix.Madonna and Sickick first released a remix of the 1998 classic – taken from the queen of pop’s ‘Ray Of Light’ album – last December, which came after it went viral on TikTok.Today (March 3), the pair have shared another reworking, but this time they’ve brought onboard Fireboy DML, who recently earned acclaim for his ‘Peru’ collaboration with Ed Sheeran.Madonna announced the remix earlier in the week when she took to Instagram to share a photo of herself and DML on the set of the song’s video, which she said is due soon after the release of the track.You can check out the new remix of ‘Frozen’ below:Earlier this week, Madonna weighed in on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, voicing her support for the latter.It comes after Ukraine severed diplomatic ties with Russia and declared martial law after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an attack on the neighbouring nation last Thursday (February 24). “Russia’s Pointless and Greed Driven Invasion Of the Ukraine MUST be stopped!!” Madonna captioned an Instagram post that contained a fanmade video set to a remix of her 2005 song ‘Sorry’.“Please Send in Humanitarian Aid to help millions of citizens of the Ukraine who’s lives are being affected by this CRISIS at this very moment !!”She continued: “Putin has Violated Every Human Rights Accord in Existence. Putin has no right to try to erase the existence of the Ukraine.

, which returns for season 19 on Bravo, Padma Lakshimi has seen – and tasted – it all. “There have been a couple of doozies,” she tells ET’s Rachel Smith, explaining that “any chef, as great as he or she may be, can have an off day because you want to push the envelope.” And for every failed dish, there have been that many more savory successes that have led to 18 previous winners. And with the reality cooking competition set in Houston, Texas, this season, there’s bound to be many highs and lows as 15 new cheftestants are immersed in the diversity that represents the city’s culinary identity.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentFremantle has acquired a 70% stake in Italy’s Lux Vide, the prominent TV production company that has been steadily raising its standing in the international arena, most recently with the high-end TV series “Medici,” “Devils” and “Leonardo.”The long-gestating Lux Vide deal, which closed on Thursday, marks the latest acquisition by the expanding RTL-owned production and distribution giant. Fremantle, which has been on a buying spree, now owns or controls a panoply of independently operated production shingles across Europe, as well as in Israel, Australia and the U.S.Their stated goal is to invest and grow in the global scripted arena where, by their count, Fremantle delivered 81 scripted shows in 2021, including BBC One hit “The Responder,” HBO Max series “Lust,” from Sweden’s Miso Film, and Italian dystopian drama “Anna.” Previous Fremantle investments include acquiring the 12 former Nent Studios production labels in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark (now rebranded This is Nice Group); Australian-American television production company Eureka Productions; U.K.-based Naked Entertainment; French label Kwai; and Israel’s Abot Hameiri, among others.The Lux purchase also marks Fremantle’s third acquisition of a production company in Italy, where the company already owns Wildside and The Apartment, the outfit behind Paolo Sorrentino’s Oscar-nominated “The Hand of God.” Fremantle also recently inked a pact with Italy’s Cinecittà involving the long-term rental of six sound stages at the iconic Rome studios.Founded in 1992 by Ettore Bernabei, who was a long-time former chief of Italian pubcaster RAI, Lux Vide has since been headed by his progeny, Matilde and Luca Bernabei.

Burna Boy has been honoured at the BandLab NME Awards 2022 with the title of Best Solo Act In The World.The Nigerian star beat Arlo Parks, Billie Eilish, Dave, Little Simz, Pyra, Rina Sawayama, Sam Fender, Tkay Maidza and The Weeknd to pick up the accolade.Aitch and Big Zuu presented the award to Burna Boy, who accepted the trophy virtually. “Thank you guys very much for this.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAs Italy marks the centennial of Pier Paolo Pasolini‘s birth with a series of special events, the Academy Museum is honoring the influential film director, poet, writer and intellectual, whose 1975 murder remains a mystery, with a complete retrospective.Titled “Carnal Knowledge: The Films of Pier Paolo Pasolini,” the Los Angeles tribute in the Academy’s Renzo Piano designed temple of cinema opened Feb. 17 with Oscar-winning production designer Dante Ferretti on hand.Ferretti, in a moving tribute, said he owed his career to Pasolini, having worked on nine of his films, starting with Pasolini’s first work “The Gospel According to Matthew” and ending with his incendiary condemnation of the Italian upper classes “Salò – or the 120 Days of Sodom,” released in Italy just a few weeks after Pasolini’s murder on Nov.

Roberto Bentivegna, co-writer for the Ridley Scott-directed “House of Gucci,” developed most of the script over Zoom when he was stuck in Colombia during the onset of the pandemic. And yet, for a virtual screenwriting experience, it went off without a hitch.“The process was very smooth,” Bentivegna told TheWrap about the process of writing the script. “I read the script in February of 2019, and we spent a couple of months casting the movie,” he said.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThis year’s 79th Annual Golden Globes awards ceremony wasn’t televised or livestreamed, and has never been seen by anyone other than those in attendance for the show on Jan. 9 at the Beverly Hilton. Until now.

Bella Thorne continues to break ground. The actress, director and writer was a guest at The Cambridge Union, speaking to 300 students from the University of Cambridge to shed light on her successful career.Bella Thorne hilariously reacts to making it to the ‘Forbes 30 Under 30’ listBella Thorne makes her Latin Grammy Awards debut in a vibran red Versace [PICTURES]Thorne discussed her prolific career, sharing details from all of her work, which ranges from Disney, where she had to act and sing and star opposite Zendaya, and also her latest projects as a writer and director, something she’s been working on over the years.Bella also discussed wrapping her film ‘Time’s Up 2,’ which she recently did in Rome.

Angelique Jackson Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios and David Oyelowo’s Yoruba Saxon have partnered with Netflix to produce the film adaptation of “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun.”Based on the upcoming book by British-Nigerian author, journalist and hair care educator Tọlá Okogwu, “Onyeka and the Academy of the Sun” tells the tale of a teenager who learns she has powers and travels to Nigeria to learn more about her origins, where she discovers a threat to her newfound magical community.Described as “Black Panther” meets “X-Men” or “Percy Jackson,” the book is the first in an action-packed series for middle-grade children and will be published by Simon & Schuster in the U.S. and U.K.

Naman Ramachandran Acclaimed Nepalese filmmaker Deepak Rauniyar has cast Indian actor Tannishtha Chatterjee as one of the leads in his upcoming feature “The Sky Is Mine.”Chatterjee’s credits include “Brick Lane” (2007), for which she scored a best actress nomination at the British Independent Film Awards, “Parched” (2015) and “Lion” (2016). She won the Asia Star Award for best Asian filmmaker at Busan for her directorial debut, “Roam Rome Mein” (2019).Rauniyar’s latest work, short film “Four Nights,” is playing at Berlinale Shorts. The filmmaker’s first feature, “Highway,” premiered at the 2012 Berlinale and played Locarno, while his sophomore feature “White Sun” (2016) won awards at the Venice, Palm Springs, Fribourg and Singapore festivals.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItaly’s robust 2022 Berlinale representation of a half-dozen titles runs the gamut from the latest works by venerable veterans Paolo Taviani and Dario Argento to pics by fresh new Cinema Italiano voices including Chiara Bellosi, whose first film, “Ordinary Justice,” launched from Berlin in 2020.Taviani, who is 91, is returning to Berlin but alone this time — his filmmaker brother, Vittorio, with whom he won a Golden Bear in 2012 for “Caesar Must Die,” passed away in 2018 — in competition with surreal drama “Leonora Addio,” inspired by a short story by Italian playwright and author Luigi Pirandello. Argento, who set his 1977 chiller “Suspiria” in Germany, will be at the Berlinale for the first time as a director with Rome-set suspenser “Dark Glasses,” though he was on the fest’s main jury panel in 2001.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentRAI Com is launching sales at the online EFM on Giuseppe Piccioni’s Fascist-era drama ‘L’Ombra del giorno,” starring Italian A-lister Riccardo Scamarcio (“Three Floors”) and Benedetta Porcaroli (“Baby,” “The Catholic School”).Pic, which Scamarcio produced, is a love story with a thriller twist set in 1938, two years before Italy entered World War II. It unfolds entirely in the central Italian town of Ascoli Piceno, a hidden gem with gorgeous medieval monuments, churches and piazzas.The film’s title translates as “The Shadow of the Day,” a reference to the darkness of Fascism.Luciano (Scamarcio), a wounded World War I veteran and a sympathizer of Fascism like most Italians at the time, runs a classy restaurant overlooking the town’s ancient square.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentItalian director Matteo Garrone, who was at the 2020 Berlinale with Roberto Benigni-starrer “Pinocchio,” is set to return to the director’s chair in March with coming-of-age adventure drama “Io Capitano,” on which France’s Pathé will be handling international distribution.Garrone’s new pic, whose title translates as “I, Captain,” will be shot in Italy, Morocco and Senegal, marking the first time, Garrone –– a two-time Cannes jury prize-winner, with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012 –– sets a feature film outside of Italy.As is customary with Garrone, story details of “Io Capitano” are being kept under wraps, besides the fact that he wrote the screenplay with regular collaborators Massimo Gaudioso and Andrea Tagliaferri and actor Massimo Ceccherini (“Pinocchio”), who also contributed to the “Pinocchio” screenplay.

EXCLUSIVE: Tom Welling (Smallville, Lucifer) has signed on to star in Deep Six, an action-thriller from writer-director Scott Windhauser (Death in Texas).

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAt 81, Italian horror maestro Dario Argento is busier than ever.The director of a string of cult chiller classics starting in the 1970s, including “The Bird With the Crystal Plumage,” “Suspiria” and “Deep Red,” was at Cannes last July with his acting debut in Gaspar Noe’s “Vortex,” about a pair of old lovers. Argento was also celebrated last year with a new book by Italian critic Steve Della Casa and a retro at New York’s Lincoln Center.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAward winning film director and historian Mark Cousins (“The Story of Film: A New Generation”) is at Rome’s Cinecittà Studios making a doc titled “March on Rome” that will explore the roots of fascism by analyzing films, photographs, and other documents found in Italian archives.The high-profile documentary — pegged to the centennial of the infamous late October 1922 insurrection by which Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy — will take its cue from the Fascist propaganda film “A Noi” by director Umberto Paradisi, produced in 1923 as an official Fascist party document celebrating the March on Rome.Italian writer and director Tony Saccucci (“The Duce’s Boxer”), who originated the project and did meticulous research for it, serves as a co-writer with Cousins. Saccuci cross-checked Paradisi’s film with other sources of the time to reveal details of the pic that provide a completely new take on the history of those dramatic days, according to the synopsis.

Jamie Lang Entertainment Master Class (EMC), established in 2005 as a new platform for peer-to-peer TV industry education, has launched the Showrunner Society, a hybrid online/in-person community for showrunners and media executives. The first face-to-face masterclass is planned for this summer, hosted in Germany with supported from film funding agency Film- und Medienstiftung NRW.Described by EMD as “a new way for experienced writers and writing producers to learn the craft of Showrunning,” the platform was designed as a transmedia experience offering users the opportunity to meet and interact with established showrunners from their own regions and from around the world.In addition to a wide-reaching range of online offerings, the jewel in the Showrunner Society’s crown will be its annual four-day, in-person Showrunning Masterclass where a small group of experienced writers, directors, producers and executives will be joined by showrunners from around the world for a series of mentoring sessions and potential shadowing opportunities.

2022 Winter Olympics are underway! The opening ceremony was held on Friday, at Beijing's National Stadium, which is also known as the «Bird's Nest,» and signaled the official start of the Games.The Parade of Nations, the part of the ceremony that highlights each competing nation in the Games, featured many standout moments including a shirtless skeleton competitor, a long-awaited moment for Jamaica, and a Ralph Lauren-clad Team USA.While the U.S. counted its second-largest Olympic delegation in history, other countries had just one athlete set to compete on their behalf. It all came to a close with an epic torch lighting that differed from years past.Keep reading for the five biggest moments from the opening ceremony.With Tonga's Pita Taufatofua sitting out the Olympics for the first time since 2014, fans worried that the cross-country skier's absence would mean they'd be deprived of a shirtless, oiled-up athlete during the Parade of Nations.