‘Steppenwolf,’ Produced by Oscar Nominee Alexander Rodnyansky, Boarded by Blue Finch Ahead of Rotterdam Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Cher is leaning on her much-younger boyfriend amid all her legal drama with her son… Literally!

Cher has shared that her son, Elijah Blue Allman, is missing. In court documents filed last week, Cher also alleged that her son was incable of handling his finances due to “severe mental health and substance abuse issues.”Cher says she has ‘no beef’ with Madonna after old video resurfacesCher opens up about Alexander Edwards relationship; ‘ I love being with him’The documents were obtained by Page Six. Last week, Cher filed documents for her son’s conservatorship, arguing that the money he’s receiving from his late father’s trust fund would be “immediately spent on drugs,” leaving him with nothing to care for his wellbeing.

Addie Morfoot Contributor This year’s Oscar feature documentary shortlist is made up of a group of 15 films that, by and large, big streamers aren’t interested in sharing with subscribers. Six films that made it to the shortlist — Lea Glob’s “Apolonia, Apolonia,” Nancy Buirski’s “Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy,” Kaouther Ben Hania’s “Four Daughters,” Maciek Hamela’s “In the Rearview,” Luke Lorentzen’s “A Still Small Voice” and Sam Green’s “32 Sounds” — have theatrical distribution, but were not picked up by a major streaming company such as Netflix, Amazon or Apple TV+.

South African Paralympian Oscar Pistorius, who went to jail for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013, has been released on parole.

Oscar Pistorius is no longer in prison.

Caroline Brew editor Nick Viall, host of the award-winning “The Viall Files” podcast, has announced the launch of Envy Media, an audio-first lifestyle company focused on pop culture and relationship-themed shows. The media company will produce a podcast titled “Disrespectfully,” hosted by “Vanderpump Rules” stars Katie Maloney and Dayna Kathan, set to launch on Jan.

Nottingham Forest manager Nuno Espirito Santo has described Bruno Fernandes as a “big player” and has shared his admiration for the Manchester United captain.

Manchester City will resume their Premier League title defence as they travel to Goodison Park to face Everton on Wednesday night. The Citizens' pursuit of a fourth consecutive top-flight crown was momentarily put on hold due to their participation in the Club World Cup.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video India‘s streaming service has had a record 2023 with 22 series and three feature films commissioned, the most since it launched in 2016, and a high level of consumer engagement. India continues to top the charts when it comes to Prime member engagement with Prime Video, the service informs Variety. No other Prime territory has a higher percentage of Prime members watching Prime Video each month than India and Indian content trended in the top 10 on Prime Video worldwide for 47 of the last 52 weeks, securing 15% of the total top 10 slots.

Clayton Davis Senior Awards Editor Oscar voters tend to be big-screen enthusiasts. But the reality is that not every awards contender will be seen in the cinema — and that’s especially true during the holiday season, when all the family commitments, shopping and big meals can turn even a movie theater evangelist like Christopher Nolan into a couch potato. The allure of a theater’s dim, cool ambience and sharing the experience with strangers is what many filmmakers envision for their creations.

American Symphony, the Obamas-executive produced documentary about Grammy-winning musician Jon Batiste, scored a remarkable hat trick today as the Oscar shortlists were revealed, but a couple of documentary icons were left on the bench.

Jon Burlingame Oscar’s music branch has had its say, naming 15 original scores and 15 songs to its shortlist for possible nomination at the 96th Academy Awards, with few surprises. As expected, all three “Barbie” songs that were entered — Billie Eilish’s “What Was I Made For,” Dua Lipa’s “Dance the Night” and Ryan Gosling’s “I’m Just Ken” — made the 15-song list.

Josh Kramer, who produced Roman Polanski’s Death and the Maiden and Sidney Lumet’s Night Falls on Manhattan and later led sales for Capitol Films before becoming Head of Motion Picture Business Operations at Amazon Studios, has died. He was 67.

J. Kim Murphy Filmmaker Michael Goorjian set out to create a different kind of film about Armenian nationality when developing “Amerikatsi,” the country’s submission in the international feature category for this year’s Academy Awards. Along with directing, Goorjian also stars as Charlie, an American who repatriates to Armenia after World War II — but ends up in a Soviet prison for simply wearing a tie.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor When writer-director Mohamed Kordofani first conceived of the film “Goodbye Julia,” he realized that he didn’t have a single friend from South Sudan — “and there are millions who live in Khartoum.” Now he has hundreds, he tells Variety. The first Sudanese film to premiere in the Un Certain Regard sidebar in Cannes, his debut feature won the Prix de la Liberté and is now the official Sudanese entry for the Academy Awards, with Lupita Nyong’o on board as an executive producer. The film had its Middle East and North Africa premiere this week at El Gouna Film Festival, where Kordofani was awarded the Variety MENA Region Talent Award.

Naman Ramachandran Musician and BAFTA nominated actor Olly Alexander will represent the U.K. at the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. Alexander revealed the news on Saturday during the finale of BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing.” As a musician, Alexander fronted English band Years & Years, which in recent years has evolved into a solo project.

The official German Oscar entry for Best International Feature is an insular, pulse-pounding thriller set within the confines of a school that, for cinematic purposes, doubles as a microcosm of society in general circa 2023 where facts don’t matter, misinformation is rampant, suspicions run hot, divisions run deep, racism still rears its ugly head, and no one can be quite sure where, and even if they want to, fit in.

Naman Ramachandran A brace of films exploring important subjects are in contention from India in the best live action short film category at the 96th Academy Awards. Reema Maya’s “Nocturnal Burger,” an investigation of child abuse at a dysfunctional police station in Mumbai, had its world premiere at Sundance. It has since traveled to more than 50 film festivals globally and won 34 awards including the Oscar-qualifying Golden Chair for best international short at KortfilmFestivalen, Norway.

In a clip from the documentary, Little Richard: I Am Everything, we hear the young entertainer singing an early version of what would become his signature tune, “Tutti Frutti.” But surprise! The original lyrics were different than the ones we know today: “Tutti frutti, good booty/Tutti frutti, good booty!”

Omen is the official submission from Belgium for the International Feature Oscar category and comes from multi-hyphenate interdisciplinary artist Baloji, who makes his feature directing debut. The film had its world premiere in Cannes’ Un Certain Regard section this year where it won the New Voice Prize, before going on to play myriad festivals. Utopia is the North American distributor.