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Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer The producer of Destry Allyn Spielberg‘s feature film debut said Thursday that the production has paid its debts to its vendors in New Mexico. The film, “Please Don’t Feed the Children,” wrapped production last fall, but still owed about $200,000 to various rental houses. The vendors were told several times over the last five months that they would be paid shortly, but those promises went unfulfilled.

Prime Video is making a UK feature version of Mercedes Ron’s novel Culpa Mía, a year after it was adapted in Spain.

The Splendour of Life” (“Une splendeur de vivre”) is set to start principal photography at locations across Canada and the Philippines, the producers revealed at the Cannes Film Festival. The ensemble cast includes Camille Rutherford (“Anatomy of a Fall”), Garance Marillier (“Raw”), Sue Prado (“Your Mother’s Son”), Kyrie Samodio (“Hito”) and Amaryllis Tremblay (“Genesis”). Set against a lush countryside backdrop, Marie (Rutherford) questions her relationship, while Noée (Marillier) grieves her father.

EXCLUSIVE: After seeing her debut feature Palimpsest win an HFPA Special Prize at the Venice Film Festival, Finnish writer-director Hanna Västinsalo has found her follow-up project in Will O’ the Wisp.

Ghost Cat Anzu is an intriguing conceptualization for an animated film, existing in a realm similar to Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away yet also standing as its antithesis.

It’s been eight years since 2016’s “Snowden,” the last time Oliver Stone directed a narrative feature. Of course, he’s been busy since, directing documentaries.

EXCLUSIVE: Dubai-based management and production company 75East has signed Palestinian director Mahdi Fleifel, whose narrative feature debut To A Land Unknown is playing in Directors’ Fortnight this year.

Holly Jones Brazilian auteur Carolina Markowicz will head to Bucharest to hone her third feature, “The Funeral.” In development, the film was selected for the 2024 Pop Up Residency, pairing Markowicz with multi-prized Romanian producer Ada Solomon for a three-week consultancy. “It’s truly a privilege to be able to dialogue with an industry professional like Ada, a producer who has made some films I truly admire. Daring, original and different.

Ben Croll Ariane Labed simply describes herself as European. Herein is the most concise and expansive way to encompass a career with many footholds, a professional path that kicked off in Greece — where Labed became the emblematic star of the early 2010’s Greek Weird Wave — before winding towards American indie fare from the likes of Richard Linklater, followed by lead roles on primetime French dramas.

EXCLUSIVE: Rachel Bay Jones (Young Sheldon) and Danny Burstein (Tokyo Vice) are joining newcomer Ana Sharp in the independent feature Rise and Shine, directed by Laura Somers (Rich Kids) from a screenplay by Michael Stagliano.

One of the voice characters on OpenAI‘s “Voice Mode” feature sounded JUST like Scarlett Johansson!

Callum McLennan Ari Aster and his producing partner Lars Knudsen have boarded Chile’s Cristóbal León and Joaquín Cociña’s new film “Hansel & Gretel” as executive producers through their company, Square Peg. The Chilean duo’s feature “The Hyperboreans” forms part of Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight.

Catherine Bray Some films prioritize a strident political cause, others set out to terrify or thrill. This touching and simple story from Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Okuyama, premiering in Un Certain Regard at Cannes, is a gentler affair, with modest ambitions that it realizes effectively. Set on a small Japanese island, the film’s slight but sweet narrative follows a quartet of characters — young hockey player Takuya (Keitatsu Koshiyama), proficient skater Sakura (Kiara Nakanishi), figure-skating tutor Arakawa (Sōsuke Ikematsu) and his boyfriend (Ryûya Wakaba) — as they navigate subtly shifting interpersonal dynamics while a cold but beautiful winter waxes and wanes around them.

Marta Balaga The “Mavka” franchise is just getting started. Ukraine’s FILM.UA Group is now developing a live-action film based on the character already spotlighted in “Mavka. The Forest Song,” Variety has found out.

Naman Ramachandran Bulgarian-American filmmaker Konstantin Bojanov‘s Cannes Film Festival Un Certain Regard selection “The Shameless” has taken 14 years to come to fruition. Bojanov previously directed the documentary “Invisible” (2005), followed by his Cannes-debuting fiction feature debut “Avé” (2011).

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor AGC Intl., the international sales arm of Stuart Ford’s AGC Studios, is launching sales in Cannes on director Matt Tyrnauer’s documentary feature “Nobu,” about world renowned chef and hotelier Nobu Matsuhisa. Nobu’s path to success was strewn with obstacles, adversity and tragedy.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Variety will present a Women in Cinema Panel at the Cannes Film Festival in tandem with the Red Sea International Film Festival featuring top talents from Egypt, India, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Senegal. The panel will take place at La Plage Des Palmes on Saturday, May 18, at 12pm CET.

Jamie Lang Spanish sales, distribution, and production company Filmax has picked up international rights to the upcoming kids and family animated feature “The Light of Aisha” and is sharing the project with buyers at this year’s Marché du Film. The CG-animated film tells the story of Aisha, a young girl living in XI-century Al-Andalus in the south of modern-day Spain.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Morgana Studios, ReachStar and ReDefine Originals are partnering on the animated feature “Diamante,” set on the lush Caribbean Island of the Dominican Republic. The film will be directed by Mathieu Ratthé with the screenplay written by Ratthé and Leticia Tonos Paniagua from an original idea by Claudio Lluberes. Animation will be handled by ReDefine Originals, which is part of DNEG.

Guy Lodge Film Critic It is polite, we are told, not to speak ill of the dead, though it’s just as often prudent not to speak ill of the living. For victims with grievances against those older and more powerful than them, it’s hard to know when to speak up at all.

EXCLUSIVE: Michael Cera caught Tyler Taormina’s feature directing debut Ham on Rye after a friend suggested he check it out. He was so impressed that he signed himself up as a sort of producing “cheerleader” on the filmmaker’s latest picture Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point, which plays in Directors’ Fortnight on Thursday at the Cannes Film Festival.

Apple, Eye Tracking is enabled via the front-facing camera and is designed with users with physical disabilities in mind. It is powered by machine learning and all data gathered will be secured on the device, not shared with Apple.Fortunately, this technology won’t need any peripherals to work.

Guy Lodge Film Critic What is poignant about “This Life of Mine” — the final film by French writer-director Sophie Fillières — is all but impossible to extract from the beleaguered circumstances of its creation. Aged just 58, Fillières died last summer, shortly after completing the shoot of this wistful, somewhat autofictional study of midlife feminine crisis.

Gene Maddaus Senior Media Writer Independent filmmaking is no easy task — even if you’re Steven Spielberg’s daughter. Destry Allyn Spielberg is set to make her feature directorial debut with “Please Don’t Feed the Children,” a low-budget thriller, which was filmed last year in Santa Fe, N.M. But the film has endured significant financing problems, shutting down just before production was to begin.

CNN‘s Mark Thompson told advertisers additional details about the network’s strategy, with plans to expand franchises to digital platforms and to build new branded verticals around topics beyond politics.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Food Network has a new magical treat in store for viewers this holiday season: The Warner Bros. Discovery-owned cable channel has ordered a baking competition inspired by the beloved “Harry Potter” franchise.

EXCLUSIVE: Ted and Seinfeld actor Patrick Warburton is to co-host the pilot for a movie props docuseries from Tom Biolchini and Juana Pablo Reinoso.

Rafa Sales Ross Guest Contributor Spanish writer and director Claudia Costafreda is on a roll. “Cardo” and “Veneno” have both been selected as Variety’s best international TV shows in their respective years and went on to find great success domestically and internationally, the latter landing distribution deals with major streamers such as HBO Max.

For the first time ever, McDonald's has removed the smile from millions of its Happy Meal boxes in restaurants across the country. The move aims to communicate to children it is okay not to be happy all the time, helping spark family conversations about emotions during Mental Health Awareness Week (May 13 to 19).

Gracie Abrams has revealed the track list for her upcoming album, which confirms a feature from Taylor Swift.Last night (May 13), Abrams took to social media to reveal the track list for ‘The Secret Of Us’. The album will mark her sophomore effort, following 2023’s debut record ‘Good Riddance’.

EXCLUSIVE: Production has wrapped in Singapore and the United States on Charlotte Hong’s debut feature Tropical Rain, Death Scented Kiss.

EXCLUSIVE: Belgian distribution and production company Belga Films Group is reuniting with award-winning director Jaco Van Dormael to produce The Magician of Auschwitz, which will be his first English-language feature in 15 years after shooting mainly in French.

Image Nation Abu Dhabi and Roy Lee and Steven Schneider’s genre label Spooky Pictures have set the third feature under their multi-picture slate deal with sci-fi horror Menace. Directed by Randall Okita (See For Me), the film stars Isabel May (1883) who also serves as an executive producer via her banner Una Vaca Productions.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Principal photography has ended on Georgian writer-director Ana Urushadze’s second film, “Supporting Role.” The first images have been released. It follows on from the success of Urushadze’s 2017 debut “Scary Mother,” which premiered and won best first feature at Locarno Film Festival before going on to pick up the top prize in Sarajevo. It was nominated for the European Film Academy’s Discovery Award and was Georgia’s entry for the 90th Academy Awards.

It’s undeniable that Glen Powell’s star is on the rise in Hollywood, thanks to his standout performances in “Top Gun: Maverick” and Richard Linklater’s intriguing romantic crime pic “Hit Man.” Powell’s indisputable talent and innate charisma have not gone unnoticed, and director J.J. Abrams (known for his work on “Star Trek” and “Star Wars”) is reportedly considering him for his next feature film.

New Look fans are rushing in their hundreds to snap up a skirt with a 'hidden' feature that helps to disguise muffin tops, tummy rolls and lumps and bumps. The high street fashion retailer's £26 summer skirt is said to be as flattering as it is gorgeous to look at.