‘The Good Boss,’ ‘Plaza Catedral’ Open and Close Miami Film Festival

Leo Barraclough International Features EditorMirsad Purivatra has stepped down as Sarajevo Film Festival director after a 27-year run, and has been replaced by Jovan Marjanović, who was previously in charge of the festival’s industry department and the festival co-director.Purivatra, the founder of the festival, will assume the role of president of the Obala Art Centar Association, the umbrella organization behind the festival.“I am proud of everything we have accomplished over the last 27 years. We started from nothing, when our city was under siege, and today we are a globally renowned institution attended by filmmakers and film industry professionals from the region and the whole world,” Purivatra said.“We have faced many challenges on this journey.

The Good Boss, Fernando León de Aranoa’s comedy-drama starring Javier Bardem, dominated Spain’s top film prizes this year, The Goyas, collecting six awards including Best Picture.

Academy Awards.

Javier Bardem at Saturday’s Goya prize ceremony. The prizes marked both Leon and Bardem’s seventh Goya wins. Produced by El Reposado and The Mediapro Studio, and a workplace dramedy skewering the abuse of power practised by a seemingly benign factory owner, “The Good Boss” also won best director and original screenplay for León, as well as best score and editing.Blanca Portillo beat out “Parallel Mothers’” Oscar-nominated Penélope Cruz, thanks to Portillo’s powerful performance as Maixabel Lasa, the real life widow of former Basque Country governor Juan Mari Jauregui who agreed in 2011 to meet one of his ETA killers. Her forgiveness, and Portillo’s portrait, has touched a large nerve in Spain.

EXCLUSIVE: Organizers of the Berlin Film Festival have told us that the world premiere screening of opening film Peter Von Kant was disrupted last night due to “a server problem”.

The Santa Barbara Film Festival on Thursday revealed the lineup for its 37th edition, which is set to run March 2-12 in-person in its customary spot in the heat of Oscar season.

Wilson Chapman editorThe Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) has announced the full programming slate for its upcoming 2022 edition, consisting of 48 world premieres and 98 U.S. premieres.“It brings us an unbridled joy to share our slate for this edition of SBIFF,” the festival’s executive director Roger Durling said in a statement. “After two years of incertitude, it feels good to know we can continue to count on film and the festival to give us a sense of comfort and continuity.

The 72nd Berlin Film Festival kicks off in physical form today with M. Night Shyamalan leading the main competition jury. Also notable among panelists is Oscar nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi whose Drive My Car this week became the first Japanese movie ever nominated for the Best Picture Academy Award. Hamaguchi was actually on a plane heading to Berlin when the nominations were announced, and only learned of the results upon landing.

Salma Hayek couldn't be prouder of her best friend, Penelope Cruz.MORE: Salma Hayek's swimsuit diet and fitness secrets revealedOn Tuesday, the Mexican star took to Instagram to celebrate the news that both Penelope and her husband, Javier Bardem, have been nominated for the 2022 Oscars.WATCH: Salma Hayek reveals beauty secret behind youthful appearancePenelope, 47, has received a Best Actress nod for her role in Parallel Mothers – the story of two mothers who give birth on the same day. Javier, meanwhile, has been lauded for his portrayal of Desi Arnaz in Being The Ricardos.READ: Salma Hayek shares rare glimpse into daughter Valentina's personal lifeMORE: Salma Hayek turns heads in wetsuit in gorgeous new photosDelighted Salma, 55, soon took to Instagram to celebrate their achievements.

Naman Ramachandran Zhang Lu’s “Yanagawa” (China), Hong Sung-eun’s “Aloners” (South Korea) and Fujimoto Akio’s “Along the Sea” (Japan/Vietnam) were among the top award winners at France’s Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas. “Yanagawa,” which opened the 2021 Pingyao Film Festival, won the Golden Cyclo, the festival’s top honor awarded by the international jury.

The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Tanya Bardsley has spoken out about having surgery on her eyebrows after they 'dropped' through years of botox and suffering from depression and anxiety.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentThe leadup to the 2022 Berlin Film Festival has been a veritable rollercoaster ride for co-directors Mariette Rissenbeek and Carlo Chatrian due to the global spread of the Omicron variant.But while other top fests such as Sundance and Rotterdam went online again, Berlin has stayed the course due to the two chiefs’ determination to not go virtual and also to keep their February slot, albeit in its current reduced Feb. 10-16 form.

Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back – The Rooftop Concert is heading back to IMAX after a one-day, single-show screening last Sunday — the 52nd anniversary of the band’s iconic 1969 concert. The show and live Q&A with Jackson beamed directly to theaters had its share of sellouts with audio and visuals about as close as possible to actually joining the band on the roof of their Apple Corps headquarters at 3 Savile Row. Disney and IMAX presenting it again Feb. 9 at 75 to 80 IMAX locations, then on 200 screens starting Feb. 11 through the weekend. (The concert is also included in its entirety in Jackson’s six-part doc series The Beatles: Get Back, which hit Disney+ last fall. Click video above to play exclusive clip.

Honorable Mentions: Ultrainocencia (Dir: Manuel Arija)Documentary Feature Grand Jury Prize: Forget Me Not (Dir: Olivier Bernier)Honorable Mention: Fury (Dir: Krzysztof Kasior)Breakouts Feature Grand Jury Prize: Killing the Eunuch KHAN (Dir: Abed Abest)Honorable Mentions: Retrograde (Dir: Adrian Murray)Unstoppable Feature Grand Jury Prize: Straighten Up And Fly Right (Dir: Kristen Abate and StevenTanenbaum)Honorable Mentions: Selahy (My Weapon) (Dir: Alaa Zabara)Narrative Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Ratking (Dir: Eric Colonna)Honorable Mention: See You, Garbage! (Dir: Romain Dumont)Documentary Short Grand Jury Prize: The Ritual to Beauty (Dir: Shenny de Los Angeles and MariaMarrone)Honorable Mention: Walls Cannot Keep Us From Flying (Dir: Jonathan Haff Mehring)Experimental Shorts Grand Jury Prize: Chameleon (Dir: Ima Iduozee and Jaamil Olawale Kosoko)Honorable Mention: Compositions for Understanding Relationships (Dir: David De La Fuente)Animated Shorts Grand Jury Prize: I’m Here (Dir: Julia Orlik)Honorable Mention: Oldboy’s Apples (Dir: Brad Hock)The AGBO Fellowship, presented by Joe and Anthony Russo, Award Winner: Ethan Eng, director ofTherapy DogsSlamdance Acting Award: Hannah Lee Thompson of Hannah Ha HaHonorable Mention: Batel Moseri of BrachaGeorge Starks Spirit of Slamdance Award Winner: Sasha Levinson, director of Sylvie of the SunshineStateCreativeFuture Innovation Award: My Parent, Neal (Dir: Hannah Saidiner)Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature: The Civil Dead (Dir. Clay Tatum)Audience Award for Documentary Feature: Iron Family (Dir.

Chris Willman Music WriterSheryl Crow, Nick Cave, King Crimson, Dio, XXXTentacion, Tanya Tucker, Chumbawamba, Courtney Barnett, Cesária Évora and Mojo Nixon — together again for the first time: These are some of the highly diverse subjects of a slate of music documentaries (or, in the case of Tierra Whack, a fictional film) set to unspool at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin March 11-20.The 16 movies represented in the “24 Beats Per Second” lineup are nearly all world premieres, in a film festival that skews toward SXSW’s original roots as a pure music festival by always carving out a special category for features that chronicle musicians or music scenes.The music doc coming into the festival with probably the highest level of fan anticipation is , which promises to have director Sabaah Folayan offering “a sensitive portrayal” of a precocious, highly controversial, Soundcloud-based rapper “whose acts of violence, raw musical talent and open struggles with mental health left an indelible mark on his generation before his death at the age of 20.” While many of the festival entries are looking for a sale from their exposure at SXSW, “Look at Me!” is already set to stream on Hulu this summer. Joining the artist profiles in the film lineup are documentaries about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, “Jazz Fest: A New Orleans Story,” by co-directors Frank Marshall and Ryan Suffern, and rubber bridge guitars, in “Really Good Rejects,” a film that will have producer Aaron Dessner talking about using them on Taylor Swift’s recent folkier albums.Some of the films promise to be complete life and career chronicles, like those devoted to Crow, Barnett and Dio.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentHere, Variety talks with Fernando León de Aranoa, director of the Javier Bardem-starring “The Good Boss” (“El Buen Patron”), Spain’s Oscar entry, which is a big box office hit on home turf and has scored more Spanish Academy Goya nominations than any other film in history.What does it mean to you to be shortlisted for the best international feature Oscar?I feel a mix of joy and responsibility. It means following the steps of some of the greatest Spanish filmmakers who have done it before, being among a group of brilliant directors from all over the world and having the opportunity of showing “The Good Boss” to a wider audience.What’s been the most challenging aspect of your campaign thus far?To make our film visible amidst the strong contenders.

Missy Peregrym is heading back undercover.On Tuesday's episode of, «Under Pressure,» Maggie goes back undercover working at a bar to investigate an anti-government group that regularly meets there and has several members suspected in a series of bombings. The case opens old wounds for her when a single father on the periphery of the group begins to fear he’s in danger of becoming collateral damage.«It's a really big throwback,» Peregrym previewed with ET, which premieres an exclusive clip from the episode (watch above). «When I came back [to ] from maternity leave, the storyline was originally that I went undercover, I come back and I have lost my informant and I blame myself that she had died. Being back undercover really brought that up for me.

Shalini Dore Features News EditorThe Miami Film Festival returns this year with a hybrid event that includes nine premieres, with three films bowing in special red carpet presentations from March 4-13 in the Florida city. The festival had previously announced that “The Good Boss” would open the event while “Plaza Catedral” would be the closer.

Naman Ramachandran In a new series, Variety catches up with the directors of the films shortlisted for the International Feature Oscar to discuss their road to the awards, what they’ve learned so far, and what’s taken them off guard.Two of Abner Benaim’s films, documentaries “Invasion” (2014) and “Ruben Blades Is Not My Name” (2018), were Panamanian entries to the Oscars, but his “Plaza Catedral” is the first time a film from the country has been shortlisted. The film, which portrays a violent society with a gulf between the rich and poor, won major awards at the Guadalajara and Panama film festivals.

Panama makes its debut on the International Feature Oscar shortlist with the character-driven thriller Plaza Catedral. This contender from Abner Benaim (Ruben Blades Is Not My Name) is a taut two-hander between a grieving mother and a young street hustler, with a sobering message about corruption and violence. Samuel Goldwyn Films recently acquired the title.