Swiss Film Industry Mulls Changes to Law That Could Bring $20 Million in Additional Investment

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent The Venice Film Festival will host a Ukrainian Day on Sept. 6 with a series of panels and meetings to support war-torn Ukraine and its film industry.

Denise Boutté gets cozy with Colin Lawrence in this promo pic for their new Mahogany movie, Napa Ever After.

Naman Ramachandran The European premiere of Kristoffer Borgli‘s satire “Dream Scenario,” starring Nicolas Cage, will open the 19th Zurich Film Festival (Sept. 28-Oct. 8).

Plans for new neighbourhoods with thousands of homes, a school and a health centre in North Manchester are set to be approved next week. The major development is part of a £4bn project to rejuvenate this part of the city.

EXCLUSIVE: Troy Kotsur, the Oscar-winning star of CODA, will open the inaugural edition of the Little Venice Film Festival.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large KABC-TV chief meteorologist Dallas Raines has been at ABC’s flagship Los Angeles station since 1984, so you’d think he’s seen everything he could ever see when it comes to Southern California weather. But Hurricane Hilary is a first, even for him, and he’s ready for it. “It’s really a crazy situation,” he tells Variety.

Angelique Jackson Chilean filmmaker Felipe Gálvez, whose debut feature “The Settlers” premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, has signed with CAA for representation. Set in 1901, “The Settlers” centers on Segundo, a mixed-race Chilean, who rides south on an expedition led by a former Boer War English captain and an American mercenary to fence off land granted to Spanish landowner José Menéndez. Their mission soon turns into a “civilizing” raid.

Estonia has selected the Sundance prize-winning doc Smoke Sauna Sisterhood as its entry for the Best International Feature Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

Eagle eyed Coronation Street fans are convinced they may have spotted a ‘hidden clue’ this week that could hold the key to Stephen Reid’s downfall after getting away with three murders so far. As regular viewers will know, Stephen has so far murdered three residents of Weatherfield without being caught by police, with Leo Thompkins, the latter's father Teddy and Rufus Donahue all among his victims.

Nile Rodgers has called on a far-right Switzerland political party to “cease and desist” using ‘We Are Family’ in a campaign video.The singer-songwriter took to social media to condemn the Swiss People’s Party (SVP) for allegedly using a “sound-alike” version of the Sister Sledge single for a political video. Rodgers originally wrote and produced the track.He wrote: “I wrote ‘We Are Family’ to be the ultimate song about inclusion and diversity at all levels, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion or sexual orientation.“I condemn its use by the SVP (Swiss People’s Party) or anyone else not keeping with the values of the song and all decent people.

It’s often seen as a lazy habit.

Marta Balaga The hype is real: Ali Ahmadzadeh’s “Critical Zone” (“Mantagheye bohrani”) has picked up the top Golden Leopard at Locarno. It has been a bumpy ride for the film, set in Tehran over the course of one lonely night and described by the fest as “a hymn to freedom and resistance.” As reported by Variety, Iranian authorities have been pressuring Ahmadzadeh to pull it from the Swiss festival – arguing it was shot without permission – and with the director himself banned from leaving the country. “Instead of actors, I worked with real people.

Arthouse Crunch Over the last decade, theatrical arthouse markets have imploded soufflé-like. “We used to make 5,000 admissions per title, now the target audience is 500,” Peter Bognar, at Hungary’s CinefilCo, told Variety at Locarno. So, to close the gap and move hopefully into a little upside, having tapped subsidies and local TV pre-buys, producers are looking ever more to overseas public-sector coin, channelled via international co-producer partners.

Marta Balaga You can approach old classics just like new films, argued participants during Locarno’s Heritage Monday panel. “I talked to an exhibitor in Paris and they don’t consider repertory cinema to be different from contemporary cinema. They are collapsing both models into one and it’s very interesting,” said K.J.

Robbie Williams and Ayda Field look to be just as in love as ever as they shared an adorable clip celebrating 13 years of marriage.The couple danced to Harry Connick Jr’s song It Had To Be You while they enjoyed a hike in the mountains. Lush green hills can be seen behind the pair as they swayed along to the music.

Climate change activists briefly halted the Locarno Film Festival’s honorary awards ceremony for environmentalist and documentarian Luc Jacquet on Monday evening.Jacquet, who won the Best Documentary Oscar in 2006 for The March Of The Penguins, was being feted with the Locarno Kids Award, followed by a screening of his new film Magnetic Continent in front of a 7,000-strong crowd on the festival’s landmark Piazza Grande.

Switzerland has selected Camille Jaquier’s coming-of-age period drama Thunder (Foudre) as its entry for the Best International Film category at the 2024 Oscars.

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Swiss Films previewed four films to industry guests at a special event hosted by Locarno Pro, the industry section of Locarno Film Festival, showcasing generational range and genre diversity. The selection included the new film by Carmen Jaquier, the director of “Thunder,” which was announced this week as the Swiss entry in the international feature film category of the Academy Awards.

A doctor has warned that a 'silent' pandemic in the UK could end up being worse than the Coronavirus.

Jeremy Clarkson has told fans about a 'worrying' health update he received from his GP that's down to one of his daily habits.