Uzo Aduba To Deliver Commencement Address At Chapman University’s Film School

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Brazilian social impact entertainment company Maria Farinha Films has taken a minority stake in Joanna Natasegara’s London-based production company Violet Films, which is known for high-profile docs such as “White Helmets,” “Virunga,” “The Edge of Democracy” and Prince Harry’s Netflix series “Invictus.” Leonardo DiCaprio and Barry Jenkins are involved as producer and writer, respectively, in Violet Films’ upcoming feature film adaptation of “Virugna” for Netflix. São Paulo-based Maria Farinha Films is a leading studio in Latin America, known for its hit Globoplay Original “Aruanas” — created by the company’s co-founders Estela Renner and Marcos Nisti — about four women in a São Paulo environmental NGO battling devastation wrought by a mining corporation.

When Adi (Ciprian Chiujdea) is beaten up outside the one dance club in the village where he grew up, his father takes up the cudgels, chivvying the local police chief into finding out who did it. It would be obvious enough to anyone but dad Dragoi (Bogdan Dumitrache) that this is a straight-up case of gay-bashing, which would seem to signal that Emanuel Parvu’s Cannes Competition title Three Kilometers to the End of the World, a slice of Romanian life, will be a worthy but familiar story of a boy’s coming out to a hostile world. Indeed, bloodied Adi with his black eyes and traumatic lesions is soon being punished, locked in his room by his parents as his desperate mother prays to the icons on the wall for guidance. We have undoubtedly been down this donkey-track before. 

Rithy Panh has dedicated the lion’s share of his career to interrogating the genocidal Khmer Rouge era in his native Cambodia, and it is no trivial obsession. Panh fled Phnom Penh when he was just 11, and after his family was devastated in the Killing Fields, he escaped to a Thai refugee camp at 15. Now 60, Panh has been committed to keeping the memory of the impact of Pol Pot’s tyrannical regime alive in documentary, narrative and animated film.

“Mommie Dearest” actress walked the red carpet at the premiere of the action film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy. She was joined by Laurent Bouzereau, 62, who is the director of her new documentary that is premiering at Cannes, and her son Liam Dunaway O’Neill, 43, who appears in the HBO doc.The Hollywood icon wore a black blazer over a white shirt with black pants.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent France’s Les Films du Losange, the iconic distribution company owned by producer Charles Gillibert (“Annette”), has acquired Palmeraie et Desert,” the production company founded by celebrated filmmaker Raymond Depardon. Les Films du Losange, which was bought by Gillibert from longtime manager Margaret Menegoz in 2021, has been dedicated to preserving and promoting cinematic heritage since its inception.

Jamie Lang Catalan titles will be in no short supply at this year’s Cannes Festival and Marché du Film. Below, a near dozen titles that hope to impress at this year’s event. “Blue Sun Palace,” (Constance Tsang) Tsang’s debut feature, shot in New York, world premieres at this year’s Critics’ Week.

Ben Croll Shortly before last year’s Cannes Film Festival, director Sophie Fillières attended a cast and crew screening of “Anatomy of a Fall.” The filmmaker had a supporting role in the film, playing the deceased’s sister, and she soon celebrated her work’s Palme d’Or win from afar, hanging back in Paris, where she was preparing to shoot her seventh feature, “This Life of Mine.” The five-week production kicked off in late June, running smoothly and wrapping on the last day of July. The next day, Fillières checked into the hospital; in less than a month, she was gone.

Annika Pham Tagged as the new co-production showcase “like all those European markets but hotter,” ECAM Forum, launched by Madrid Film School ECAM, has unveiled the first 10 projects in development and eight in post-production, to be pitched to international decision-makers between June 10-13, in the Spanish capital. Famed for its standout talent development program ECAM Incubator, the Madrid Film School has set a high bar for its inaugural Forum, which aims to broaden the reach of Spanish productions and co-productions (shorts, features, series) and build bridges between Spain and the global industry.First case in point: the heavyweight industry names in the selection committees, which reflect the ambitions of coordinator Alberto Valverde and his team, to frame ECAM Forum as a must-attend industry event.

Despite many walking out on Jerry Seinfeld‘s Duke Commencement Address, the stand-up comedian still delivered his speech and apologized for the “sexual undertones” in Bee Movie.

CGI movie technology, it is getting harder and harder to deliver that true spine-chilling internal fear that makes horror films so great.Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids may arrogantly scoff at retro scary movies, but it hasn’t always been this way.There was once a time when picture-goers were so viscerally terrified by what they were seeing on the big screen that it would trigger powerful physical reactions right there in the theater.During Jaws (1975) people fainted and vomited in the cinema during some of the gruesome scenes, while others stopped going swimming in the ocean altogether out of pure fear.Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Psycho (1960) sparked mania during the infamous shower stabbing scene, with reports of people hyperventilating and passing out in their cinema chairs.However, one of the most horrifying movies to ever hit the big screen, causing widespread panic, fear and repulsion, is William Friedkin’s The Exorcist (1973).Based on William Peter Blatty’s 1971 novel, the film follows the demonic possession of a young girl and her mother’s attempt to rescue her through an exorcism by two Catholic priests.With some wildly disturbing scenes, including some bizarre 360 degree head spinning, eerie spider-walking on the stairs and some disgusting projective lime-green vomit, it shocked those 1970s audiences to their core.One particular vulgar scene involving a crucifix — that is too crude to describe here — shocked and upset many, especially considering the percentage of people who were religious back then.The flick was so scary that even renowned Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert was at a loss for words about how it made him feel.“I am not sure exactly what reasons people will have for seeing this movie; surely

An iconic sci-fi star is joining a legendary science-fiction fantasy series. Sigourney Weaver, known for her turn as Ellen Ripley in the “Alien” series, has been cast in the upcoming “Star Wars” film, “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” according to THR.

If cinema is somehow retracting, contracting, or diminishing, don’t tell the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival and all its many sidebars. Thank god for them because when you look at the Cannes 2024 line-up, cinema seems to be in great health and shape.

Robert De Niro.The off-shoot, appropriately titled De Niro Con promises to be a fitting tribute to the Oscar winner. “I can’t think of a better way to celebrate 80 years of Robert De Niro, my dear friend and co-conspirator for the past 35 years, than by throwing a big bash for his fellow New Yorkers,” Tribeca co-founder and CEO Jane Rosenthal said in a statement.The extravaganza, which takes place from June 14-16, is a De Niro delight.And many famous co-stars and directors will be joining in.Film screenings include “A Bronx Tale” with an introduction by co-star Chazz Palminteri.“Jackie Brown” will be followed by a conversation between Quentin Tarantino and De Niro.Billy Crystal will be chatting with De Niro after a screening of “Analyze This.”“Silver Linings Playbook” will include a convo with director David O.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The Playmaker has signed with Neopol Film to handle international sales for their upcoming creature horror thriller, “Paws.” Featuring polar bear creature animatronics from the renowned studio behind “Star Wars” and “Jurassic World,” the film tells the story of a climate researcher stranded in the Arctic who must forge an unlikely alliance with a polar bear in order to survive. The project will feature a stellar international cast, yet to be announced.

EXCLUSIVE: Two-time Emmy and Golden Globe award-winning producer Michael Bostick is joining Jon M. Chu’s multi-media production company, Electric Somewhere as their new Head of Film.

but actress Faye Dunaway could barely bring herself to film the scene.Dunaway, now 83, famously portrayed silver-screen icon Joan Crawford in the 1981 cult classic “Mommie Dearest.” Directed by Frank Perry, “Mommie Dearest” is based on the tell-all memoir of the same name written by Crawford’s adopted daughter Christina, played in the film by child actor Mara Hobel. The book exposed — and the movie brought to vivid life — the alleged childhood abuse Christina suffered at the hands of her controlling, alcoholic mother. A new book by Hollywood historian A.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent One day after the “Sous les écrans la dèche” collective, made up of freelance festival workers, issued a call for a strike during the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, organizers have issued a joint statement where they encouraged all parties to “come together around the bargaining table.” The statement, signed by the Cannes Film Festival as well as parallel sections Directors’ Fortnight, Critics’ Week and ACID, said they acknowledge the “difficulties faced by some of their staff” due to a reform of the “French unemployment insurance scheme,” and that they “hope that solutions will be found.” The organization is protesting against a looming labor reform that will see their unemployment indemnities slashed by more than half. The org brings together hundreds of workers at festivals, from projectionists to drivers and caterers, who are threatening to strike during Cannes which could potentially cause major disruptions.

Adrien Brody is showing off his new hair!

It’s May 4th, and you know what that means. In honor of the annual “Star Wars” fan holiday (“May The Force”), Lucasfilm has revealed the new trailer for “The Acolyte,” and if you were maybe a bit underwhelmed by the secretive nature of the first teaser, well, this trailer rips off the mask, unveils secrets and looks pretty damn great.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Meryl Streep will receive the honorary Palme d’Or on the opening night of the 77th edition of Cannes Film Festival, Variety has learned. Luring the Oscar winner is yet another feat for this Cannes edition, which will bring together a flurry Hollywood legends. Notably, George Lucas will receive the honorary Palme d’Or during the closing ceremony; Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis” and Paul Schrader’s “Oh, Canada” are playing in competition; and George Miller‘s “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and Kevin Costner’s Western epic “Horizon, an American Saga” are playing out of competition.