Wim Wenders Doc ‘Anselm’ Secures U.S. Distribution Via Sideshow & Janus Films

Naman Ramachandran U.K. media regulator Ofcom has launched broadcast standards investigations into TalkTV, owned by media mogul Rupert Murdoch, and GB News after receiving complaints. The issue of politicians who also serve as newsreaders being in potential breach of Ofcom’s impartiality rules has cropped up in recent months. In April, Ofcom launched an investigation into GB News over an interview given by chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt to Esther McVey and Philip Davies on March 11 on the “Saturday Morning with Esther and Philip” news program. All three politicians are members of parliament representing the ruling Conservative party. The investigation is ongoing.

Though on the periphery of the Cahiers du Cinema and French New Wave scenes, which spawned the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and Agnes Varda, Jean Eustache is a key figure in the history of French film. Unlike the directors listed above, Eustache came into his own at the end of the 60s, when the idealism and revolutionary fervor of the era was beginning to fizzle.

In three weekends, Greta Gerwig‘s “Barbie” squares off against Christopher Nolan‘s “Oppenheimer” for this summer’s big box-office battle. So which film will walk away victorious? Both movies boast stacked ensemble casts, but given its soundtrack, premise, and Margot Robbie as its lead, “Barbie” may be 2023’s movie to beat.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief Zhang Yimou, China’s most enduring filmmaker, is joining the worldwide shift by feature film directors into the streaming arena. Zhang, who directed “Full River Red,” the most successful film of 2023 in China, is to be involved with his first TV series. He will executive produce “The First Shot,” his representatives confirmed to Variety. The show is to be directed by Xing Lu and is backed by Tencent Video. It is currently in development, with a tentative air date in 2025. That’s because Zhang has a film directing project with an anticipated Chinese New Year release date, due to begin shooting this summer.

The headliners for this year's Adult Swim Festival on the Green have been announced. Top billing will be claimed by Eric André and Flying Lotus, alongside sets from SNL's Sarah Sherman, Ginger Root, DeathbyRomy, Hemlocke Springs, and DJ Akira Akira.

EXCLUSIVE: Vertical has picked up rights to the crime thriller Mother’s Milk, directed by Miles Joris-Peyrafitte (As You Are), with plans to distribute it in North America, the UK, Australia and New Zealand. The film in which two-time Academy Award winner Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) stars opposite Olivia Cooke (House of the Dragon) and Jack Reynor (Midsommar) will hit theaters across North America beginning September 1, debuting in the other territories shortly thereafter.

Doc Antle is facing up to 20 years in prison after he was convicted in his wildlife trafficking case.According to the Commonwealth of Virginia's Office of the Attorney General, a Frederick County jury convicted the embattled  star of two felony counts of wildlife trafficking and two felony counts of conspiring to wildlife trafficking. Antle is scheduled to be sentenced Sept.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer Vice Studios had a new hit on its hands with the late May launch of “Bama Rush,” which the studio’s co-founder and chief content officer Danny Gabai says was Max’s most-streamed doc feature debut. But with that large viewership also came a significant discourse surrounding the extent to which “Bama Rush” director Rachel Fleit is present in her own doc about college students “rushing” to get into the sororities at the University of Alabama. That choice didn’t sit well with people who avidly followed the #BamaRush phenomenon that first swept TikTok in the summer of 2021 and again last “season” and would have preferred more behind-the-scenes content about the rush process, rather than portions devoted to Fleit’s reaction to the situation.

The guest list for the White House State Dinner for Indian Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi includes a number of entertainment and media figures, including Netflix’s Bela Bajaria, Universal’s Donna Langley, director M. Night Shyamalan, Wasserman Media Group’s Casey Wasserman and James Murdoch.

wrote that it “takes us into the intimate, inner circle of family ties to tell a larger story of our time.” The picture concerns the story of Tunisia’s Olfa Hamrouni and her daughters, detailing a family history through interviews and reenactments to deconstruct how the two eldest kids were radicalized to the point of joining ISIS.  “We were immediately captivated by Kaouther Ben Hania’s powerful documentary Four Daughters, a riveting piece of filmmaking that takes an innovative and provocative approach to nonfiction storytelling,” said Kino Lorber SVP of Theatrical Distribution and Acquisitions Wendy Lidell.

EXCLUSIVE: Following the release of her critically acclaimed documentary Wild Beauty: Mustang Spirit of the West, filmmaker Ashley Avis has taken on new management over at Sugar23.

Naman Ramachandran A video on the possible successor to 92-year-old media baron Rupert Murdoch is the latest effort from U.K.-based political campaign group Led By Donkeys. Titled “The Murdoch Succession,” the video, which is under 10 minutes and projected on a New York highrise, is narrated by “Succession” star J. Smith-Cameron, who plays Gerri Kellman in the smash hit series. Via his company News Corp, the billionaire Murdoch is the owner of hundreds of local, national, and international publishing and television outlets around the world, including The Sun and The Times in the U.K., The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post in the U.S. and Fox News, through the Fox Corporation.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans Editor Pete Docter, Pixar’s creative chief officer, is hoping the animation studio’s 27th release, “Elemental,” will draw families to movie theaters this weekend. Peter Sohn‘s film is a story about immigration, families, duty and love. Not only does Docter say the visuals are “a spectacle,” but believes it should be experienced with an audience. Docter, who has been with the studio since the beginning and was upped to CCO in 2018, has come under criticism recently that Pixar has lost its magic touch. Here, Docter sits down with Variety over Zoom to discuss Pixar’s approach to programming, Cannes, “Elemental,” and what’s next for the studio.

Murtada Elfadl Taking on an expansive topic, the contribution of Black astronauts to the American space program, Lisa Cortés and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza’s “The Space Race” derives its strength from the specific and detailed stories of its subjects. Spanning almost 60 years of historical narrative and concentrating on a handful of scientists who broke barriers, the National Geographic doc is the type that makes the audience question how they have never heard of these people before. Cortés and de Mendoza interweave archival footage with the testimony of the astronauts in a fast-paced and informative way. Rapidly unraveling the fascinating story, they demand the audience’s attention and reward it. Blink or look away for a second and an interesting factoid might be missed. But their greatest asset proves to be the astronauts themselves. Their recollections are emotional and humorous, going a long way to paint such a captivating narrative. The astronauts talk of the weight of being an example and the challenges of having to navigate both white and Black spaces in order to succeed. Yet most movingly, they talk of the camaraderie born of being together in these hallowed and mostly white spaces.

Olivia Wilde is showing some love to her ex Harry Styles and his family.

EXCLUSIVE: The Gotham Film & Media Institute has today named the student filmmakers selected to participate this summer in the fifth cycle of its Gotham EDU Film and Media Career Development Program, a six-week initiative helping to launch students into the media workforce.

The prospect of retirement is something anyone may find themselves facing down at some point, regardless of your chosen career or pastime. Within the world of professional sports, it’s an inevitable end that reaches every athlete oftentimes sooner than one might desire, with factors chief among them being age and the subsequent deterioration of skills that may result.  As a player reaches a time anywhere from their late-20s to early-40s, the moment of realization where that door starts to close can be met with either gradual acceptance or stubborn defiance, but make no mistake, it comes for everyone, and it’s up to the person at the center to decide what happens next.

EXCLUSIVE: The BBC is making a film about a young British aid worker killed in the line of fire in Ukraine.

Sometimes, you think you know all there is to know about classic cinema, and then someone like the cinephiles at Janus Films reminds you there are still so many hidden gems to rediscover. While not as well-known as the French New Wave icons like Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda, etc., French filmmaker Jean Eustache is still a key figure in the history of the Nouvelle Vague.

Sometimes, you think you know all there is to know about classic cinema, and then someone like the cinephiles at Janus Films reminds you there are still so many hidden gems to rediscover. While not as well-known as the French New Wave icons like Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Éric Rohmer, Alain Resnais, Agnès Varda, etc., French filmmaker Jean Eustache is still a key figure in the history of the Nouvelle Vague.