Sofia Alaoui Signs With WME (EXCLUSIVE)

The 2023 series of Strictly Come Dancing is just around the corner, with the new season scheduled to launch of BBC One on Saturday 16 September. A new set of celebrities are set to take to the iconic dance floor on the hit BBC One show, including Bobby Brazier, Les Dennis, Ellie Leach and Angela Scanlon. This year's pairings are yet to be revealed, with Strictly bosses being careful to keep them under wraps until the launch show.

Amazon is giving all customers a free £5 voucher to spend to mark its 25th anniversary. The voucher can be claimed from 9am on Friday, September 15, but savvy shoppers will have to act quickly to take advantage, as it only lasts until midnight.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent The political backlash surrounding Agnieszka Holland’s Venice Special Jury Prize-winning refugee drama “Green Border” hasn’t kept the movie from being a hot seller. The film explores the injustice and terror perpetrated at the Polish-Belarusian border from the perspective of refugees, Polish activists and border guards.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief That the Toronto world premiere of “The Movie Emperor” is sponsored by high-end home appliance manufacturer Dyson is deliciously and understatedly ironic. In the movie, innocuous-seeming domestic equipment — from the humble suitcase to floor sweeping robots — run quietly amok.

Players chosen to represent their country at Africa Cup of Nations 2024 could miss up to nine Manchester United games.

Two Scottish firefighters and a search and rescue dog have joined international rescue efforts to help those affected by the Morocco earthquake.

EXCLUSIVE: Persephonica, the producer behind hit daily news podcast The News Agents, has signed with WME in a bid to win more work across the pond.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief “No More Bets,” the smash hit Chinese crime thriller that has earned more than half a billion dollars in its home market, is hurriedly adding new territories to release. It will release in the U.K. and Ireland from Friday through distributor Trinity Cine Asia.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Adriano Valerio’s documentary “Casablanca,” which will world premiere on Thursday at Venice Days, has been acquired by Salaud Morisset for world sales. Variety has been given an exclusive clip from the film.

Armando Christian Pérez, Pitbull, has re-joined WME for representation in all areas worldwide.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Chinese director Bi Gan, whose 2018 film “Long Day’s Journey into Night” played at Cannes, will next direct “Resurrection.” The ambitious sci-fi detective movie is to be headlined by Chinese superstar Jackson Yee (“Better Days”) and Taiwanese actor Shu Qi (“The Assassin”) who sits on this year’s Venice jury. Boasting Bi’s edgy aesthetic and narrative style, the film tells the story of a woman whose consciousness falls into the “eternal time zone” during a surgical procedure.

EXCLUSIVE: Golden Globe-winning and Oscar-nominated screenwriter, playwright, producer and director Kemp Powers has signed with WME.

Maisie Smith and Max George have jetted off on yet another lavish holiday as they spend the hot September in Morocco. Both the EastEnders star, 22, and the former boy bander, 34, have shared some snaps of their sunny getaway, with Maisie showing off her impressive abs in one photo. Posting to her Instagram Story, Maisie shared a mirror selfie in which she sported a black and white crop top, flashing her abs to the camera as she paired this with a low-waisted brown maxi skirt.

Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, October 4-13) has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year. 

Though Labor Day is upon us domestically — and its somewhat equivalents in many overseas markets to mark the end of summer — the hits keep coming as holds this session were strong on the season’s leaders while a new entry surprised. To wit, and starting with the latter: Sony/Escape Artists’ The Equalizer 3 blazed to a $60.6M global start this weekend, to clock the franchise’s best opening ever. Of that, the $26.1M debut in 49 international box office markets was also a new record bow for the Denzel Washington-led series.

Former Chelsea star Frank Leboeuf has rated Sofyan Amrabat’s loan to Manchester United as a better deal than Moises Caicedo mega-money switch to Stamford Bridge.

Sergio Reguilon has already trained with his new Manchester United teammates and could make his debut against Arsenal on Sunday.

Korea’s Busan International Film Festival has announced the ten films in this year’s New Currents competition line-up, along with ten films selected for its Jiseok Section. Both competition sections feature titles from Bangladesh’s vibrant young industry as well as from Japan. 

Venice parallel section Giornate degli Autori (GdA), running alongside the main festival from August 30 to September 9, celebrates its 20th edition this year.

The Eternal Memory,” from Fabula, scooped Sundance’s World Cinema Grand Prize; Andrés Wood’s “News of a Kidnapping” walked off with best series at the Platino Awards, the Spanish-speaking world’s nearest kudos fest to the Oscars. In all, according to a CinemaChile study released during Sanfic, one of South America’s most significant festival-industry events, Chilean films or filmmakers swept 103 prizes over the first six months of the year. That’s 128% up on same period 2022 when Chile’s was still gearing up from one of the longest COVID-19 confinement periods in the world, only lifted in February 2021.