Sundance Unveils Mystery Film: ‘Navalny’ Doc About Russian Poisoning Scandal

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentOne of Scandinavia’s leading film distributors, Scanbox Entertainment is changing ownership with a new board including CEO Thor Sigurjonsson. The company was bought back from Scanbox Chairman Joni Sighvatsson. New owners include COO Kim William Beich, commercial director Torben Thorup Jorgensen, and producer Chris Briggs.

Selome Hailu CBS has given a pilot order to “East New York,” a drama series written by William Finkelstein and Mike Flynn.The series follows Regina Haywood, the newly promoted police captain of East New York, an impoverished, working class neighborhood at the eastern edge of Brooklyn. She leads a diverse group of officers and detectives, some of whom are reluctant to deploy her creative methods of serving and protecting during the midst of social upheaval and the early seeds of gentrification.Finkelstein is best known for his writing and producing work on a number of police and legal dramas.

Dune ends Ghostbusters: Afterlife’s reign at Number 1 as it climbs to the peak of the Official Film Chart.

“Joe Rogan watchdog” for the progressive nonprofit Media Matters — shared seven clips of the 54-year-old making off-color comments during podcast interviews with various guests. Paterson posted the “Joe Rogan Experience” clips to Twitter on Monday — just days after Rogan was forced to apologize for other, older footage that featured him using the N-word.

One of Joe Rogan’s biggest critics, India Arie, said that she doesn’t believe in cancel culture and isn't asking for the podcaster to be censored, despite taking her music off of Spotify’s platform. Rogan is one of the streaming service's biggest stars, with a contract that could earn him more than $100 million. However, Arie joined artists like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell in asking that their music be removed from the platform due to its inclusion of "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.

Jennifer Lopez, 52, wowed on Feb. 4 when she made an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in an eye-catching set of outfits. The singer performed her new song “Marry Me”, from the new film Marry Me, with Maluma, and wore a flattering white bikini top under a matching cropped blazer and a long skirt. Before she sang, she also wore a long bright red dress with spaghetti straps as she happily chatted with the show’s host, Jimmy Fallon.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentHigh profile Danish playwright Christian Lollike spoke to Variety about his feature film debut “The Cake Dynasty” at the Goteborg Festival’s Nordic Film Market. Lollike is presenting the movie in the market’s work-in-progress sidebar.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterMaybe you’ve been patiently waiting two years for director Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” sequel. It could be the team-up of Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans and Ana de Armas in “The Gray Man” that strikes your fancy.

Vivienne Chow Leading Hollywood screenwriters Bruce McKenna and John Fusco have been tapped by U.S-based Inspire Studios to write two Asian-themed war features. One will go into production this year, the other in 2023, Variety has learned.McKenna, who co-wrote and co-produced the Emmy-winning mini-series “The Pacific,” and wrote part of “Band of Brothers,” is attached to the company’s debut release, Filipino-Hollywood feature “Angel Warrior” as scriptwriter.

What do you have to say to the Russian people in the event of your death? Filmmaker Daniel Roher (“Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and the Band,”) asks his subject, political Russian dissident, Alexei Navalny, at the beginning of his engrossing new doc “Navalny.” “C’mon,” Navalny scoffs, dismissively, as if highly attuned to Roher’s “gotcha” question he could frame posthumously in the case of the political agitator’s untimely death.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week.MOVIES— If you missed Ridley Scott’s “House of Gucci” in theaters, you can bask in all the gaudy decadence from the comfort of your own home starting Tuesday, when it becomes available on VOD. Lady Gaga gives a committed performance as Patrizia Reggiani, a local beauty who married into the Gucci family and helped her husband, Maurizio Gucci (Adam Driver), wield power and influence in the family business.

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterIn another era, traditional movie studios would have exhaustively battled to buy a Sundance Film Festival crowd-pleaser like “Cha Cha Real Smooth” in the hopes of turning critical raves into the next theatrical hit.“Cha Cha Real Smooth,” writer-director Cooper Raiff’s charming story about a budding friendship between an aimless college grad and a young mother, seemed tailor-made to charm the snow boots off Sundance buyers — and it did. Apple TV Plus outbid competitors and bought the movie for $15 million, the biggest sale at this year’s festival.

“My Old School,” a documentary by Jono McLeod, opens with an enticing montage. Interviewees speak ominously about a mysterious character who’s done something strange — a man who may even be unhinged enough to have changed his identity through facial reconstruction.

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle EditorThandiwe Newton wants to know why the BFI London Film Festival did not accept “President,” the award-winning documentary she produced about the 2018 Zimbabwe presidential election.The Camilla Nielsson-directed film chronicles young presidential hopeful Nelson Chamisa’s unsuccessful bid to unseat Pres. Emmerson Mnangagwa, the country’s former vice president who staged a military coup that ousted decades-long dictator Robert Mugabe.

Members of the region’s Ukrainian community are “terrified” over the threat of a Russian invasion of their homeland.

Annika Pham Scandinavia’s leading sales outfit TrustNordisk has beefed up its Nordic film slate with the culinary doc “Nordic By Nature,” about the world’s most remote food destination – the two-star Michelin restaurant Koks in the Faroe Islands.The Danish film “Nordic By Nature” has already opened up festivals and audiences’ appetites, world premiering at San Sebastian and segueing to the Newport Beach Film Fest where the pic won an Audience Award for best culinary film.In his second doc in a Michelin Star series after “Michelin Stars – Tales from the Kitchen,” director Rasmus Dinesen captures the poetic mind of the young Faroese chef Poul Andrias Ziska, and his connection to the rugged local natural habitat and ancient traditions. “’We are excited to represent this fascinating film which gives us a unique and tasteful insight into the exquisite world of fine dining, and we look forward to bringing it to the global audience,” said TrustNordisk managing director Susan Wendt.TrustNordisk has a full slate of Nordic delights at the hybrid Göteborg Film Festival and parallel Nordic Film Market.On the heels of its Sundance world premiere, Christian Tafdrup’s psycho horror “Speak No Evil” will receive a market screening.

Tristan Thompson, 30, was caught getting cozy with a dark-haired female in a TikTok video captured by a fan named Tricia Caracoza. The footage, which was shared on Jan. 26, showed the Sacramento Kings player chatting with the mystery woman, who sat on Tristan’s lap and was dressed in all black. Tricia captioned her video, “Saw it with my own two eyes. Zero respect for this trash.” She also included Khloe Kardashian‘s name in her follow-up hashtags.

NEW YORK -- Within hours of Russian authorities officially adding Alexei Navalny to the country’s registry of terrorists and extremists, a new documentary about the imprisoned Russian opposition leader premiered at the Sundance Film Festival."Navalny” was dramatically added to the festival at the last minute, and announced just the day before it premiered virtually Tuesday evening at Sundance. Directed by Daniel Roher, the film was made with Navalny, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s fiercest critic, in late 2020 and early 2021 while he recuperated in Germany after an attempted assassination with nerve agent poisoning.Navalny has said the Kremlin was responsible, as have American intelligence officials and media reports that traced the agents who attacked Navalny to Russia's Federal Security Service.

poisoned Russian dissident Alexei Navalny premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on Tuesday. Called “Navalny,” it’s a no-holds-barred indictment of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin, and insists that Navalny’s close brush with death was the result of a secret state-run operation to assassinate him.“As I became more and more famous guy, I was totally sure that my life became safer and safer because I am kind of famous guy — and it will be problematic for them just to kill me,” Navalny, 45, says in the film. “I was very wrong.” The doc, heading to HBO Max, was added at the last minute to the Sundance slate just as Putin had stationed more than 100,000 troops along the Ukrainian border.