RLJE Films Buys ‘The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster’ Ahead of SXSW Debut (EXCLUSIVE)

Marta Balaga As proven by a slew of new shows in development, series creators from Finland keep on experimenting. “People are exploring some bold, risky topics. Ones that make you go: ‘Wow, they are really making a show about that?’,” says Laura Kuulasmaa, executive director from the producers’ association APFI. Aamu Film Company’s “Monster,” about a teenage Nicke, realizing he is in love with his girlfriend’s 11-year-old sister, is bound to ignite discussions.  “I wanted to do this show because I believe that raising awareness of minor-attracted persons can save children from abuse,” creator Eva-Maria Koskinen tells Variety.  

The new movie Champions hits theaters this weekend and we caught up with actor Kevin Iannucci to learn more about him!

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming Paramount+ series “Lioness” has cast Bassem Youssef in a guest starring role, Variety has learned exclusively. Youssef will now appear in a cast that includes Zoe Saldaña, Laysla De Oliveira, Dave Annable, Jill Wagner, LaMonica Garrett, James Jordan, Austin Hébert, Jonah Wharton, Stephanie Nur, Hannah Love Lanier, Michael Kelly, Morgan Freeman, and Nicole Kidman. The official logline states that the show “is based on a real-life CIA program and follows Cruz Manuelos (De Oliveira), a rough-around-the-edges but passionate young Marine recruited to join the CIA’s Lioness Engagement Team to help bring down a terrorist organization from within.”

‘Riceboy Sleeps’ Scoops Top Canadian Film AwardAnthony Shim’s Riceboy Sleeps has won Canada’s biggest film award, the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award. The prize, decided by the Toronto Film Critics Association (TFCA), comes with a CAN$100,000 ($72,000) cash prize. Riceboy Sleeps beat nominees Clement Virgo’s Brother and David Cronenberg’s Crimes of the Future. The semi-autobiographical film explores the challenges of living between two cultures through the tale of a Korean immigrant single mother raising her son in Canada. Shot in the Greater Vancouver area and Korea, the feature world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2022, winning its Platform Prize, and then played in Busan and a raft of other festivals. The win comes as Toronto-based distributor Game Theory Films gears up for the title’s Canadian release on March 17. The feature will also be released in Korea, Singapore and the US in the coming months.  “The Toronto film community has been so good to us since TIFF where this crazy journey first began and I hope to make more films in the future that will warrant the same type of support,” commented Shim.

David Harbour is sharing an update on season five of Stranger Things – Just Jared Jr Gigi Hadid weighs in on the “nepo baby” debate – DListed Delilah Belle Hamlin is dropping her debut single next week – Egotastic Find out who holds the record for the most Kids’ Choice Awards wins – Just Jared Jr

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Sideshow and Janus Films have bought North American rights for “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Paul B. Preciado’s film which won four awards at the Berlinale. In “Orlando, My Political Biography,” Preciado sheds light on Virginia Woolf’s “Orlando,” the first novel in which the main character changes sex in the middle of the story.  A century later, Preciado, who is a trans writer and activist, decides to send a film letter to Woolf, telling her that Orlando has come out of her fiction and is living a life she could have never imagined. Preciado organizes a casting and gathers 26 contemporary trans and non-binary people, from 8 to 70 years old, who embody Orlando.

Naman Ramachandran Documentary “The First Code,” which explores how Ukrainian techies are an integral pillar of the global IT industry, will debut in the spring. The film, from EASE (the European Association of Software Engineering), chronicles the birth and formation of Ukrainian IT, from the creation of the first computer by Ukrainian engineers in the 1950s to the present day, where it has become a powerful industry and an important front in the war with Russia. The film was made based on interviews with representatives of leading Ukrainian IT companies, including EPAM Ukraine, 3DLOOK, ELEKS, Looksery, Techiia holding, Sigma Software Group, SoftServe, Uklon, Infopulse Ukraine and Preply. The V. M. Glushkov Institute of Cybernetics of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, Mykhailo Fedorov, have also participated in the film.

Tom Sizemore, who starred in Saving Private Ryan, Black Hawk Down and in hundreds of other film and TV roles over three-plus decades, died Friday at a hospital in Burbank. He was 61 and had been in a coma since suffering a stroke February 18 that resulted in brain aneurysm.

Garcelle Beauvais is booked, busy and unbothered! The actress, producer and TV personality seemingly always has a lot on her plate, and she doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. ET's Rachel Smith sat down with the mother of two to discuss her latest project, the Lifetime film Not only does Beauvais star in the film, but she also executive produced it as part of Lifetime's Stop Violence Against Women campaign.Inspired by actual stories of missing women of color,  centers on a mother named Cheryl (Beauvais) whose daughter Lauren (Iyana Halley) is nowhere to be found.

Sideshow and Janus Films have picked up the North American rights to “Afire,” which won the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize at Berlinale 2023. A theatrical release is planned for Summer 2023.From writer-director Christian Petzold, the film follows four young people who convene at a holiday house by the Baltic Sea.

Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights for German director Christian Petzold’s new film Afire, following its award-winning world premiere in competition at the Berlin Film Festival.

The Hollywood Reporter.“He had a fabulous career in the film industry, providing wonderful entertainment for past and future generations,” she said. Browning was born Feb. 16, 1930 in Fort Pierce, Florida, and attended Florida State University. As a teenager, he worked for Newt Perry, a stand-in for Johnny Weissmuller on “Tarzan” films, in underwater newsreels and as a water show performer at Florida tourist attraction Weeki Wachee Springs.

Michael B. Jordan's directorial debut has been a long time in the making! The 36-year-old pulled double duty as director and star for the highly anticipated third installment of the spinoff franchise, , and according to critics, he did the thing.«It feels good, it feels like people are getting the work, you know? They understand what we're trying to say, what we are doing and it feels good to be understood a little bit,» the star tells ET's Nischelle Turner.

Sideshow & Janus Films have snapped up North American rights for Mexican director Lila Avilés’s family drama Tótem following its world premiere in competition at the Berlinale last week.

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Sideshow and Janus Films have acquired North American rights to the Berlin-premiering family drama “Tótem,” written and directed by “The Chambermaid” helmer Lila Avilés. Winner of the festival’s Ecumenical Jury Prize, the film follows seven-year-old Sol, who spends the day at her grandfather’s home, helping her aunts Nuri and Alejandra with the preparations for a surprise party they’re throwing for her father, Tonatiuh, who is terminally ill. However, as night descends, a strange and chaotic atmosphere takes over, shattering the bonds that hold the family together, and Sol will come to understand that her world will change dramatically.

Jenna Ortega is feeling some nerves when it comes to her upcoming gig as host on. On Sunday, the 20-year-old star shared just how nervous she is to head to Studio 8H.«One hundred percent,» Ortega told ET's Denny Directo on Sunday at the 2023 SAG Awards about having jitters for the upcoming moment. «It's so funny because everyone is prepping me for it and they're like, 'yeah, any of our clients who have worked for has said that it's the most stressful week of their life,' have called crying, 'Oh my God I don't know what to do, I don't know if I’m funny enough, I don't know if I’m this enough.' So, I feel like I’ve only heard scary things.

Kate Hudson is gearing up to release her debut album in 2023. However, it could have come a lot earlier if not for “daddy issues.”

Brent Lang Executive Editor Jennifer Nettles has joined the cast of “The Exorcist,” the first film in the new horror trilogy. Details of her part haven’t been revealed, but it’s described as a “primary role.” She joins a cast that includes Leslie Odom Jr., Ann Dowd, Lidya Jewett and Ellen Burstyn, who is reprising her role as Chris MacNeil from the 1973 original. The new take on the possession story is being produced by Blumhouse and Morgan Creek for Universal and Peacock. The first film in the trilogy will be released theatrically on Oct. 13, 2023. Nettles is known for both her acting and her music. She most recently played Jenna Hunterson in the Broadway musical “Waitress.” Nettles also appears on HBO’s “The Righteous Gemstones” and had a supporting role in the Oscar-nominated Harriet Tubman biopic, “Harriet.” She is a judge on TBS’ competition series “Go-Big Show” and will host Fox’s “The Farmer Wants a Wife.”

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-nominated producer David Hoberman (Shotgun Wedding) has today announced the launch of Hobie Films, a new production company whose development and acquisitions will be overseen by VP Julie Meschko.

Cruz Beckham flashed his new £32,000 Rolex watch while drinking his first legal pint with his dad David Beckham and his older brother Romeo after turning 18. “Feels good to be 18,” the aspiring singer said in an Instagram post, which showed the three of them sitting around a table at a London pub sinking a cold one yesterday. On his wrist was his new birthday present, the Rolex Submariner Date which retails at £32,900.