‘The American Society of Magical Negroes’ Filmmaker Kobi Libii Isn’t Surprised About Sparking Internet Controversy: ‘I Understand Being Deeply Suspicious’

Plans for the regeneration of Whitefield include aspirations for a new ‘heart’ for the town – including a new health centre. Residents and businesses are being asked for their views on the latest plans to improve the town.

There are just a few hours to go until the all-important final of The Traitors after an entertaining second series. Tonight (January 26) viewers will find out if the remaining Traitors, Harry and Andrew, will be victorious and steal the money, or if the final Faithfuls, Evie, Jaz and Mollie, will suss them out in time to win the prize pot.

Annika Pham Banijay Benelux’s Belgian banner Jonnydepony has set rising star Willem De Schryver from Netflix’s YA hit show” High Tides” (“Knokke Off”) for the title role of “I Was a Cop in the 80s,” ordered by Amazon Prime Netherlands and Flemish streamer Streamz. The period crime drama in development will be pitched by seasoned showrunner Philippe De Schepper (“Arcadia,” “Missing Persons Unit”), co-writer Bas Adriaensen and producer Helen Perquy (“Tabula Rasa”) as part of a Focus on Flanders at Göteborg’s forthcoming TV Drama Vision (Jan. 30-31).

Diego Ramos Bechara editor Apple announced plans to provide grants to the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, as a part of the company’s Empowering Creatives program. The grants aim to “continue Apple’s work to support and partner with Indigenous communities” by “supporting organizations that help people in underinvested communities unlock their creative potential.” Per Apple, both grant recipients are “dedicated” to amplifying the voices and experiences of Native and Indigenous peoples.

After seeing its Martin Scorsese pic Killers of the Flower Moon, depicting the “Reign of Terror” in Osage territory, score 10 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Apple has announced new grants to the Sundance Institute Indigenous Program and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, in support of Indigenous storytelling and the preservation of Native American history.

The Armed have announced a 2024 UK and European tour which is set to begin this summer.The band will kick off their tour with a performance at Barcelona’s Primavera Sound Festival on May 30. From there, Tony Wolski and co.

EXCLUSIVE: The Ford Foundation is coming through for documentary filmmakers in a big way.  

, folks! On January 23, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex surfaced publicly in Kingston, Jamaica, where they attended the premiere of Bob Marley: One Love, a biopic about the iconic artist.Harry, like the handsome errant prince that he is, dressed down his navy suit. The prince skipped the tie and wore his white shirt unbuttoned at the top, leaving his leather necklace visible beneath the collar. For her part, Meghan looked like, well, a princess, in her black ballgown skirt and spaghetti-strap top.

Siddhant Adlakha Modeled on a late-’80s/early-’90s American family sitcom — which soon transitions to a midnight splatterfest — the tongue-in-cheek Dutch production “Krazy House” has all the transgressive stylings of a 15 year-old’s Reddit post on an atheism forum in 2010. Directors Steffen Haars and Flip van der Kuil offer ideas of subversion that feel both long-outdated in concept and completely dull in execution, to the point that merely describing the film feels irresponsible, lest its premise accidentally lure curious viewers to the cinema.

This is the first photograph of Gumma, the American XL bully dog who mauled two pensioners, leaving one needing surgery.

Kobi Libii’s work on the sadly short-lived Comedy Central show “The Opposition with Jordan Klepper” always tended toward the confrontational. By donning the guise of right-wing media provocateurs, he highlighted the absurd internal contradictions of ideological hardliners.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic For some of us, “American Fiction” has a satirical audacity that’s funny right out of the gate, gathers speed and force on the runway — and then, somehow, just when the comedy should be taking off, it turns muted and moralistic instead. I think the hitch is that after Jeffrey Wright’s Monk sells his fake memoir of Black street life, there’s a strong urge to see him — and the film — take a certain vengeful joy in how the book’s popularity skewers the racism of clueless white people. Instead, Monk is made so miserable by what happens that the movie never allows itself to discover that joy.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director One of the boldest movies premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival is “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” directed by Kobi Libii. The film takes aim at the Magical Negro stereotype and centers on a young man (Justice Smith) who is recruited into a society in which African American members are tasked with ensuring that white people’s lives remain easy. Libii, Smith and co-star David Alan Grier visited the Variety Studio presented by Audible and spoke about the reactions to their button-pushing satire.

Sundance has a long history of screening films that tackle issues of race in the U.S. from every possible angle. Some are angry (Birth of a Nation, 2016), some satirical (Dear White People, 2014), and some quite gonzo (Sorry to Bother You, 2018).

Whether she's surrounded by glitter in the ballroom or the roundtable in a Scottish castle, Claudia Winkleman is always winning praise from viewers over the latest TV escapades. And when she's not on our TV screens, she can be heard entertaining listeners on BBC Radio 2.

Emily Longeretta SPOILER ALERT: This story contains spoilers from the first four episodes of “The Traitors,” now streaming on Peacock. Ever since both the BBC and Peacock adapted the Dutch series “De Verraders” into “The Traitors,” it’s been a hit. Both produced by Studio Lambert, the U.K. version premiered on the BBC in November 2022, with the U.S.

Zack Sharf Digital News Director SPOILER ALERT: This story hints at a major cameo in the Sundance Film Festival premiere “Freaky Tales,” which debuted on opening night. Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden’s electrified the opening night of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival with “Freaky Tales,” a genre-driven anthology movie that tells four interconnected stories in 1987 Oakland, California. The movie is a return to indie filmmaking for Fleck and Boden, who made a name for themselves as the directors of indie hits like “Half Nelson” before they jumped into the Marvel Cinematic Universe with “Captain Marvel.” “It was great to come back to the indie film world in a lot of ways,” Boden said at the Variety Studio presented by Audible.

Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba will be coming to the big screen, along with a sneak peek at the new season.Described as an extra-sized blockbuster experience, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- will allow fans to revisit the finale of the Swordsmith Village Arc while also getting a glimpse at the highly anticipated Hashira Training Arc (season four).The upcoming event marks the first time the finale of the Swordsmith Village Arc has ever been shown in cinemas, and also the first-ever showing of the Hashira Training Arc‘s beginning.Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba -To the Hashira Training- will screen in UK cinemas from February 23.

EXCLUSIVE: A new single-camera comedy series is in the works at Fox from Denis Leary, Jack Leary and Joel Church-Cooper.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor September Film has acquired all rights for Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg for “In the Land of Brothers,” which has its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition section. The film is written and directed by Iranian filmmakers Raha Amirfazli and Alireza Ghasemi. Alpha Violet is handling world sales.