Venice’s Giornate Degli Autori Unveils 20th Edition Line-Up; Featuring Surprise Short From Céline Sciamma & Jean-Marc Vallée Tribute

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor The European Film Academy has fired the starting gun in the race for the European Film Awards. It has recommended 19 films to its members who will then select the nominees from this list.

Christina Applegate continues to use her platform for those affected by Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Marc Malkin Senior Film Awards, Events & Lifestyle Editor The Jonas Brothers were first asked to play Yankee Stadium in 2008. It was just a couple of years into their pop star fame. “At that point it was like this meteoric rise for us over a two-year period,” Nick Jonas says.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Rome-based sales agency True Colours has added Edoardo de Angelis’ “Comandante,” which opens the Venice Film Festival, to its slate. The film, which plays in the main competition section, stars Pierfrancesco Favino (“World War Z,” “Angels & Demons”).

Osheaga Music and Arts Festival on Aug. 4-6 to join the masses for three days of non-stop music with over 50 artists performing over the long weekend.Here are just a few of our biggest takeaways from the multi-day extravaganza.Our favorite moment was easily Billie Eilish’s Saturday night headlining set that came with quite the surprise.Mid-show, the 21-year-old pop star paused to ask fans if they knew of a certain song…one that went something like, “Glock tucked, big t-shirt, Billie Eilish?”Enter Armani White.The rapper behind the mega single, “Billie Eilish,” joined Billie on stage to sing the iconic song together.Fans began screaming once White appeared out of seemingly thin air.

Jessica Biel is just like Us — except when she’s interrupted during an at-home workout by husband Justin Timberlake.

Film at Lincoln Center has set the 32 features from 18 countries making up the Main Slate of the New York Film Festival, from Cannes prize-winners Anatomy Of A Fall by Justine Triet (Palme d’Or) and Zone Of Interest by Jonathan Glazer (Grand Prix), to the latest by Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, Hong Sangsoo, Radu Jude, Yorgos Lanthimos and Alice Rohrwacher.

Marta Balaga FilmSharks has picked up world sales rights to Finnish children’s film “Snot & Splash: The Mystery of Disappearing Holes.” “It was a bidding war. They got offers from everybody,” said FilmSharks CEO Guido Rud. “Snot & Splash” (“Räkä ja Roiskis”) is produced by It’s Alive Films – founded by director Teemu Nikki and Jani Pösö – and set for distribution in its native Finland (Scanbox), Scandinavian sub distribution by Sweden (Folkets Bio) and Norway (Norsk Filmdistribusjon), and Italy in the spring (I Wonder Pictures).

John Bleasdale Guest Contributor Celebrated Malaysian-Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang sat down with Variety on the eve of receiving the Locarno Film Festival Career Award. The award is only the latest in a series of prizes from major European festivals the art-house maverick has received – from the 1994 Golden Lion from Venice for “Vive L’Amour” to the Silver Bear that “The River” won in Berlin in 1997. So how does he feel to have received this latest sign of esteem from the film community? “This is very special for me,” Tsai says.

James Charles is finally gearing up to drop his Painted makeup brand!

Earlier this week, the Venice Film Festival announced the line-up for its 80th edition, including new films from Michael Mann, Bradley Cooper, David Fincher, Woody Allen, and more. Now it’s time for Venice’s parallel section, Giornate Degli Autori (previously known as Venice Days), to promote the line-up of its 20th edition.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent French director Élise Girard’s “Sidonie in Japan” starring Isabelle Huppert as a French writer mourning her husband’s death while on a book tour of Japan, is among titles set to launch from the Venice Film Festival’s independently run Giornate Degli Autori. The section, also known as Venice Days, has unveiled its lineup comprising ten titles world premiering in competition – six of which first works – and films in other sections all displaying a wide range of genres and visual styles, but tied together by “A common discourse,” said the section’s artistic director Gaia Furrer.

Nick Vivarelli International Correspondent Matteo Garrone, who is a two-time Cannes jury prizewinner with “Gomorrah” in 2008 and “Reality” in 2012, is set to be in competition in Venice for the first time with his immigration-themed drama “Io Capitano.” Shot over 13 weeks in Senegal, Italy and Morocco with a cast of non-professional actors, the Italian auteur’s new film – the title for which translates to “I Captain” – narrates the Homeric journey of two young African men, Seydou and Moussa, who decide to leave Dakar to reach Europe. It depicts their plight through the pitfalls of the desert, the horrors of detention centers in Libya and the dangers of the sea.

With enough famous actors to populate an awards show all gathered on one stage, the labor union representing them in an “existential battle” against film and television studios held a star-studded strike rally in the middle of New York’s Times Square on Tuesday morning. 

20th Century Studios has unveiled a premiere date and first look photo for its sci-fi psychological thriller No One Will Save You starring Emmy and Golden Globe nominee Kaitlyn Dever (Dopesick), announcing that it will premiere exclusively on Hulu in the U.S., Star+ in Latin America and Disney+ in all other territories on September 22nd.

The red carpet may not have as many stars as in previous years, but the 2023 edition of the Venice Film Festival will feature a slew of highly anticipated films. And, likely, their directors taking center stage.

Trying to keep up with this week’s new music? Every Friday, we collect new albums available on streaming services on one page. This week, check out Babyface Ray's Summer's Mine, Blur's The Ballad of Darren, NewJeans' Get Up EP, and more.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Recently restored versions of William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist,” Terrence Malick’s “Days of Heaven” and Francis Ford Coppola’s “One From the Heart” feature in the Venice Classics section of the 80th Venice Film Festival. The lineup of recently restored films in Venice Classics, which is curated by the festival’s artistic director Alberto Barbera in collaboration with Federico Gironi, was unveiled on Friday. “The Exorcist” is screened, 50 years after it was produced by Warner Bros., alongside Disney’s “Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm,” starring Shirley Temple and directed by “the prolific and sometimes brilliant” Allan Dwan, to mark the Hollywood studios’ 100th anniversaries.

EXCLUSIVE: Anonymous Content has partnered with New Europe Film Sales to handle North American rights for animated feature The Peasants, directed by Oscar-nominated Loving Vincent filmmakers D.K. Welchman and Hugh Welchman. 

“A Haunting in Venice” trailer puts the mystery-solver in the middle of a ghost story.Based on Christie’s “Hallowe’en Party,” the post-World War II story finds Poirot tasked with determining the validity of a psychic played by Michelle Yeoh, who claims she can talk to the dead. But when someone living turns up dead at the séance, Poirot is now faced with an even bigger challenge: find out if the murderer was a ghost.Branagh stars in and directs the film just as he pulled double duty on 2017’s “Murder on the Orient Express” and 2022’s “Death on the Nile,” with another A-list ensemble cast that includes Tina Fey, Jamie Dornan Kelly Reilly, Kyle Allen, Camile Cottin, Jude Hill, Ali Khan, Emma Laird and Riccardo Scamarcio.Michael Green returns to write the screenplay, and the 20th Century Studios release was produced by Branagh, Judy Hofflund, Ridley Scott, and Simon Kinberg, with Louise Killin, James Prichard, and Mark Gordon serving as executive producers.Branagh reunites with cinematographer Haris Zambarloukos on the film, but works for the first time with Oscar-winning “Joker” composer Hildur Gudnadóttir.Watch the new “Haunting in Venice” trailer above.