News

Aaron Kaufman, the Emmy-nominated director behind Superpower, Sean Penn’s Paramount+ documentary about the Ukraine-Russia war, has died at the age of 51.

Deadline confirmed the news with Chad Verdi of Verdi Productions, who financed and executive produced some of Kaufman’s previous and upcoming projects, including Superpower. He died in Las Vegas of an apparent heart attack on Thursday.

Kaufman is perhaps best known for co-helming Superpower alongside Penn, and the effort translated into a News & Documentary Emmy nod in the Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary category. What began as an aim to track Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s rise from popular comedian-actor to a prominent political leader transitioned to a war doc in the aftermath of Russia’s campaign launched in 2022, when Kaufman was on the ground as a filmmaker.

Speaking to the one-year anniversary of the conflict’s beginning at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, Kaufman said, “It seems...

Aaron Kaufman, who directed the documentary Superpower about the war in Ukraine alongside Sean Penn and was a longtime producing partner of Robert Rodriguez, has died. He was 51.

Kaufman died Thursday in Las Vegas, Verdi Productions President Chad Verdi told The Hollywood Reporter on Sunday. Reports indicated that Kaufman died of an apparent heart attack.

“It’s a very sad time for everyone who loved Aaron,” Verdi wrote in an email to THR. “Aaron passed away Thursday night. He and I spoke by phone about 20 minutes prior to 911 being called. He was in great spirits and was headed to dinner. Life is short and family and friends are everything. I miss him a lot already.”

Kaufman may be best known for the Emmy-nominated documentary, but he also wrote, directed and produced several films, including Machete, Machete Kills, Urge and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. He also executive produced The Greatest,...

Aaron Kaufman, a writer, director and producer whose credits include “Superpower” and “Machete Kills,” died on Thursday evening in Las Vegas after suffering an apparent heart attack. He was 51.

Kaufman’s death was confirmed by Chad Verdi, the film financier behind “The Irishman” as well as several of Kaufman’s past and upcoming projects.

The Long Island native, who was Robert Rodriguez’s longtime producing partner, is best known for co-directing with Sean Penn the Emmy-nominated documentary “Superpower,” which traced the political rise of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy. While Penn became the face of the 2023 documentary, it was Kaufman who had been on the ground in Ukraine in February 2022 when the ongoing war with Russia broke out. Kaufman had been in Kyiv in the weeks leading up to Russia’s invasion and had been in the bunker with the Ukrainian leader during the perilous first days of the conflict. (Penn...

Blackie Onassis, drummer for the alt-rock act Urge Overkill during their ’90s heyday, has died. A spokesperson for the band reported his passing to the Los Angeles Times, but no cause of death was given.

Onassis (real name John Rowan) joined Urge Overkill in 1991, playing alongside founding members Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser. He appeared on their albums The Supersonic Storybook (1991), Saturation (1993), and Exit the Dragon (1995).

While the Chicago-based band impacted alternative-rock radio with such songs as “Sister Havana” and “Positive Bleeding,” they are perhaps best known for their cover of Neil Diamond’s “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” which famously appeared in the Quentin Tarantino film Pulp Fiction. They also got major exposure when they opened for Nirvana on the latter’s tour in support of Nevermind.

In an interview with Spin magazine in 1992, Onassis said of the band, “We are here to resurrect the era...

Aaron Kaufman, as Robert Rodriguez’s longtime producing partner, is used to dealing with Hollywood stars, major studios and pleasing global audiences with genre movies like Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Machete and Machete Kills. He even directed his own B-movie thriller, Urge, starring Pierce Brosnan and released by Lionsgate, and Kaufman and Rodriguez have a live-action adaptation of Frank Frazetta’s Fire and Ice in development at Sony Pictures.

But Kaufman tells The Hollywood Reporter he never talked much about being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, even after he eventually glided away from his faith and tried to never look back. That ...

Aaron Kaufman, as Robert Rodriguez’s longtime producing partner, is used to dealing with Hollywood stars, major studios and pleasing global audiences with genre movies like Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, Machete and Machete Kills. He even directed his own B-movie thriller, Urge, starring Pierce Bronson and released by Lionsgate, and Kaufman and Rodriguez have a live-action adaptation of Frank Frazetta’s Fire and Ice in development at Sony Pictures.

But Kaufman tells The Hollywood Reporter he never talked much about being raised at birth as a Jehovah’s Witness, believing to survive the approaching apocalypse as unbelievers would perish, even after he eventually ...

"He borrowed your Goya to do a bit of good in this world." Pathe UK has released the first official trailer for a kooky British crime comedy titled The Duke, the latest from filmmaker Roger Michell. This first premiered at last year's Venice Film Festival and is opening in cinemas in the UK this September (no US release date has been set yet). In 1961, Kempton Bunton, a 60 year old taxi driver, steals Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. This is the story of how, why, and who he was. It turns out he was just a bumbling British guy who didn't like paying for the BBC and wanted to come up with a scheme to make them change. Jim Broadbent stars as Kempton, with Helen Mirren, Matthew Goode, Charlotte Spencer, Fionn Whitehead, and John Heffernan. This ...

PatheUK has debuted a new trailer for the comedy ‘The Duke’ starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren.

The film follows a true story that celebrates a man who was determined to live a meaningful life. Set in 1961, it follows the story of Kempton Bunton, a 60-year old taxi driver, who stole Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first, and remains the only, theft in the Gallery’s history. Kempton proceeded to send ransom notes declaring that he would only return the painting on the condition that the government invest more in care for the elderly, specifically bringing attention to his long-running campaign for pensioners to receive free television.

Related: The Duke Review – Venice 2020

What happened next is the stuff of legends…only 50 years later did the full story emerge and it was revealed that Kempton had spun a web of lies.

The Sheffield DocFest has unveiled its line-up for its 2021 programme that includes the World Premiere of the first instalment of Academy Award winner Steve McQueen’s new series for the BBC, ‘Uprising’.

For the first time, Sheffield DocFest goes nationwide with five premiere screenings showing in up to 16 partner cinemas in cities around the UK, and online, followed by pre-recorded Q&As. It also includes the previously announced Retrospective: Films belong to those who need them – fragments from the history of Black British Cinema.

The celebration of Black British screen culture – curated by guest curators including David Olusoga. Films of all lengths will all be presented as part of the retrospective including titles such as ‘Burning An Illusion’ by Menelik Shabazz, ‘It Ain’t Half Racist’, ‘Mum’ by Stuart Hall, ‘Looking for Langston’ by Isaac Julien, ‘Second Coming’ by Debbie Tucker Green, ‘The Black Safari’ by Colin Luke, ‘Baby Mother...

The period drama, ‘Miss Scarlet and The Duke’ is set to return for a second series on UKTV’s dedicated crime drama channel Alibi.

Series two sees the return of Kate Phillips as the fearless female detective Eliza Scarlet, alongside Stuart Martin as her childhood friend and potential love interest, Inspector William ‘The Duke’ Wellington.

The first series was one of the top-rating shows on Alibi in 2020 and has reached over 1.57 million individuals since its launch.

Also in news – Millie Bobby Brown & Henry Cavill to return for ‘Enola Holmes’ sequel

Based on the novel by Daniel Cole, it followed the first-ever female detective in Victorian London. After the death of her father (played by Downton Abbey’s Kevin Doyle), Eliza Scarlet (Phillips) was left penniless and determined to become a private detective to support herself. Unfortunately, detectives have always been men, but a family friend at Scotland Yard called The Duke (Martin) offers to help.

“Bridgerton” producer Shonda Rhimes was “shocked” that you were all so shocked by Regé-Jean Page’s “Bridgerton” exit.

“I was really shocked, because usually that happens when I’ve killed off somebody that’s been around for a while. Like, we didn’t kill him, he’s still alive!” Rhimes told Vanity Fair. [Regé-Jean] is a powerful, amazing actor and that meant we did our job–every season, our job is finding the right people and putting together this incredible, world-shifting romance. I don’t know that I expected this much of an explosion, given that every book [in the ‘Bridgerton’ series] is a different romance. What would be the ever-after of this combo? I mean, really: What would Regé-Jean do, you know what I mean? We gave them their happily ever after! And now we have this next couple coming. And so yeah, I was like, whoa!”

The “Grey’s Anatomy” creator added...

Oscar-winner Helen Mirren (The Queen) will portray Israel’s iconic and only female Prime Minister, Golda Meir, in new feature biopic Golda.

Produced by BAFTA-winner Michael Kuhn (Florence Foster Jenkins), Golda will be directed by Oscar-winner Guy Nattiv (Skin). Embankment will represent international sales with CAA Media Finance and ICM jointly handling the domestic rights.

Production is eyeing an October start.

The screenplay by Nicholas Martin (Florence Foster Jenkins), who also produces, focuses on the dramatic and high-stakes decisions that Meir – also known as the “Iron Lady of Israel” – faced during the Yom Kippur War, which followed Egypt, Syria, and Jordan’s surprise attack on the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights in 1973.

The world’s fourth and Israel’s first and only woman to hold the office of Prime Minister, and the first of any country in the Middle East, Meir died of lymphoma in 1978, four years after resigning from office.

Helen Mirren, who won an Oscar for “The Queen,” will portray Israel’s legendary Prime Minister Golda Meir in “Golda.” The film will be directed by Academy Award winner Guy Nattiv, and produced by BAFTA winner Michael Kuhn.

Embankment will represent international sales, with CAA Media Finance and ICM jointly handling the North American rights. Production is eyeing an October start.

The screenplay – written by Nicholas Martin (“Florence Foster Jenkins”), who also produces – focuses on the intensely dramatic and high-stakes responsibilities and decisions that Meir, also known as the “Iron Lady of Israel,” faced during the Yom Kippur War.

On Oct. 6, 1973, under cover of darkness, on Israel’s holiest day and during the month of Ramadan, the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, and Jordan begin a surprise attack on the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights. Outnumbered and outgunned, Meir confronts the immediate, clear, and present danger of a ticking...

Evelyn Sakash, a veteran production designer and scenic artist who won a Daytime Emmy for PBS’ Between the Lions and worked on films, including Still Alice and Mrs. Winterbourne, was found dead Tuesday at her New York City home. She was 66.

The Associated Press reported that Sakash was a known hoarder and was found lying on her kitchen floor under a pile of garbage. The body was discovered by her sister, who told police she had hired a cleaning crew to clear the home in Queens and to look for Sakash. The medical examiner’s office will work to determine the cause of death.

A missing-persons report filed with the NYPD said Sakash hadn’t been seen since September 30.

Along with her Daytime Emmy win in 2003, she picked up another nom for the live-action/puppetry series Between the Lines the following year. Her other TV credits include all episodes of the 1994-97 Nick Jr.

Victorian London’s first-ever female detective will continue to crack cases after PBS Masterpiece renewed Miss Scarlet and The Duke for a second season.

However, A+E Networks International, which launched the series as its first global scripted co-production has exited the project.

The drama, which stars Kate Phillips in the titular role and Stuart Martin as her childhood friend and potential love interest Inspector William ‘The Duke’ Wellington, is coming back after 8M people tuned in to see the first season, which launched on the public broadcaster in January.

The series launched as part of Masterpiece’s 50th anniversary lineup with some 3.6M viewers streaming it digitally.

Created by Grantchester writer Rachael New, who also showruns, the six-episode series stars Phillips as Eliza Scarlet. When Eliza’s father dies, he leaves her penniless in a time where marriage is her only option for financial security. But the headstrong Eliza...

Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren are not just thespian royalty in the UK, they have both been crowned winners at previous Venice festivals: Mirren for her regal performance in Stephen Frears’ The Queen and Broadbent for his portrayal of W. S. Gilbert in Mike Leigh’s Topsy Turvy. Together, they appear in The Duke, Roger Michell’s highly entertaining spin on a remarkable true story from 1960s Britain.

The duke in question is the Duke of Wellington, specifically a portrait painted by Goya that was purchased for £140,000 by the British government in 1961 in order for it to remain in the country. The purchase is all over the news and throngs of visitors make their way to the National Gallery in London to view it.

But this tale does not take place in the soon to be swinging capital. The setting is Newcastle upon Tyne, home to the garrulous Kempton Bunton (Broadbent) and his long-suffering wife,...

You could dine on nothing but lard for twenty years and still not develop the hardness of heart necessary to avoid being won over by Roger Michell‘s “The Duke,” a ridiculously charming British comedy that dunks a gamely accented prestige cast into an appealingly milky true story like so many digestives into a warm, well-earned, early evening cuppa. With the shaggy-dog tale of the 1961 theft of Goya’s portrait of The Duke of Wellington from London’s National Gallery reworked into a zippy screenplay by playwrights Richard Bean and Clive Coleman, all Michell really needed to do was find the perfect actor to embody the lead character’s daffy, unsinkable spirit.

Continue reading Jim Broadbent Will Charm You Senseless In ‘The Duke’ An Irresistible Art-Heist Britcom Co-Starring Helen Mirren [Venice Review] at The Playlist.

If the improbably named Kempton Bunton hadn’t really lived, Ealing Studios would probably have written him into existence. A 60-year-old working-class Newcastle gent with a cheeky sense of humor and a cheerily rabble-rousing spirit, who just happened to be implicated in a headline-making London art heist, he was born to be the hero of a jaunty, crowd-pleasing British comedy caper. 44 years after his death, that has materialized in “The Duke,” and while the Ealing team might have made a more raucous farce out of it, Roger Michell’s film is a perfectly nimble, kind-hearted bit of teatime entertainment — ideally tailored to Jim Broadbent in one of his most appealing big-screen roles.

The pairing of Broadbent with Helen Mirren, warmly weary if a bit under-tested as Bunton’s salt-of-the-earth wife Dorothy, will make “The Duke” a major attraction to ill-served mature audiences when distributor Pathé opens the film in the U.

In 1961, a daring daylight robbery was committed in London, when Goya’s portrait of the Duke of Wellington (1812-14), recently auctioned for a massive £140,000, was stolen from its new home in the capital’s National Gallery.

The story was big news – so big, in fact, that the painting was referenced in 1963’s “Dr. No,” in a scene where Sean Connery’s James Bond spots it lying about in Dr. No’s lair, as if 007’s notorious adversary were the brains behind the theft. In real life, however, the mastermind behind this grand piece of larceny was Kempton Bunton, a retired bus driver who returned the painting in 1965, claiming to have stolen it in protest at the rising cost of the TV license for old age pensioners.

These days, surprisingly little is known of Bunton and his plot, which later took even more twists and turns in the 1970s. All that is likely to change,...

“The Duke” is a very British heist movie, a true-crime caper with no guns, no car chases, toad in the hole for dinner, and Gracie Fields warbling a song called “A Nice Cup of Tea” on the soundtrack. It’s so British, in fact, that its central character is named Kempton Bunton, but at least he has the good grace to joke about it. The film’s director is Roger Michell, best known for “Notting Hill”, and who recently made the luvvie love-in documentary, “Tea With The Dames”. The cast boasts two of the UK’s national treasures, Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren. If you suspect “The Duke” is on the cosy and nostalgic side of the cinematic spectrum, you might be right. But it’s . This is the kind of British film with international appeal: the venerable cast, genial tone, inspirational story, and mischievous English eccentricity are all present and correct.

Roger Michell, the British director behind Venice competition title “The Duke” and films such as “Notting Hill” and “Venus,” says he feels “great sympathy” for the BBC and its ongoing tensions with the U.K. government.

Speaking at a press conference for “The Duke” in Venice, alongside star Jim Broadbent (co-star Helen Mirren did not make the trip to Italy) and producer Nicky Bentham, Michell said the issue of who will foot the bill for TV license fees for people over 75 years old “feels like another attempt to curtail the power of BBC to make it less likely that its Charter will be renewed.”

The matter of the BBC’s license fee, a mandatory £157.50 ($207) annual payment that helps the public broadcaster fund its programs, is central to “The Duke,” which stars Broadbent as disabled pensioner Kempton Bunton, who stole a painting in 1961 in protest of an extravagant sum paid by...

A funny-moving story enjoyably retold with classic British understatement and just the right twist at the end, The Duke is the account of an incredible true event from 1961, when a man from the working-class north of England climbed through a bathroom window into London’s National Gallery one night and stole a valuable painting of the Duke of Wellington by Francisco Goya. His motive was charity.

The fact that the perp is a lovable old head-in-the-clouds social reformer played by Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren is his brooding, resentful wife gives the incident, directed by Roger Michell of Notting Hill and My ...

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is a real and very British phenomenon; a perplexing mix of activities to challenge, empower and mildly endanger teenagers which concludes by setting them loose in the countryside with a map, a compass and a pat on the back. Get Duked! wisely focuses on the weirdness of the expedition portion and exploits its eccentricities to delightful effect.

The dreadful behaviour of a trio of toilet-detonating mates – Duncan, Dean and DJ Beatroot – finds them ‘volunteered’ for the DofE scheme as a final chance to straighten up. Baffled by both the welcome video and the very concept of orienteering the boys reluctantly hit the Highlands-bound minibus armed with all their survival essentials: sick beats, jelly sweets and box-fresh trainers.

Making the journey alongside them, easily overlooked but better prepared, is homeschooled DofE enthusiast Ian (Samuel Bottomley) and his laminated checklists. New teacher Mr Carlyle (Jonathan Aris) provides maps,...

Shawn Slovo is adapting the screenplay.

South African-born, UK-based director Roger Michell is attached to direct the feature adaptation of Zelda la Grange’s bestselling book Good Morning, Mr. Mandela, which Working Title Films is understood to have come on board to produce alongside the US’ Maven Screen Media.

Good Morning, Mr. Mandela is a personal tribute by white Afrikaner La Grange to the late South African leader and freedom fighter, one of the dominant figures in global politics in the second half of the 20th century. After his presidency, Mandela picked La Grange to serve as his private secretary...

Three weeks after a spike in coronavirus cases forced the Telluride Film Festival team to cancel its 2020 event, organizers have announced the lineup that would have been.

“The Show,” as the festival refers to its annual feature program, planned to include “Ammonite,” a love story co-starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan; “The Rider” director Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland”; contemporary Western “Concrete Cowboy” with Idris Elba; and Roger Michell’s heist movie “The Duke,” with Helen Mirren and Jim Broadbent — all four of which will make their premieres at Venice or Toronto instead.

But many of the films in the documentary-heavy lineup were not selected for either of those festivals, which explains why Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger felt it was important to share their selections. The Telluride team typically keeps their selections secret until the day before the festival, which takes place over Labor Day weekend in the small Colorado community.

It was announced last month that the Telluride Film Festival made the decision to cancel their event this year due to the ongoing pandemic and the more intimate nature of their festival. As Cannes did earlier this summer, they’ve now gone ahead and revealed what would’ve screened at this year’s edition.

Featuring tributes to Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins, and Chloé Zhao, their new films were set to screen––Ammonite, The Father, and Nomadland, respectively––as well as new work by Werner Herzog, Liz Garbus, Gia Coppola, Gianfranco Rosi, and more. There was also a new documentary featuring interviews by Tarkovsky titled Andrey Tarkovsky. A Cinema Prayer.

“I know other festivals can do this and will pull it off great, and it’s very beneficial to their individual communities,” executive director Julie Huntsinger told THR. “But what we do is so about human intimacy. For us, it’s that alchemy.

Following in the footsteps of Cannes, which was forced to cancel its famous film festival in May but still went on to reveal what its schedule would have been anyway, the Telluride Film Festival on Monday released its own lineup. The films would have been presented over Labor Day weekend September 3-7, but the fest was canceled last month after trying to hang on for some version of its former self in light of the pandemic.

Similar to what other fests have programmed such as Kate Winslet-starrer Ammonite, Idris Elba in Concrete Cowboys and director Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland starring Frances McDormand, the list is similar to the eclectic, film-centric nature of Telluride minus some of the starrier Oscar campaign-driven films that have put the fest on the must-stop list for Academy Award hopefuls for much of this century.

Telluride will have a branded event on September 11, when it...

“We still want to… bring attention to these brilliant films.”

The Telluride Film Festival, which was supposed to run September 3-7 but was cancelled due to Covid-19, has revealed the films that would’ve been selected this year.

“Though we aren’t able to present our program in-person as planned, we still want to announce the lineup to bring attention to these brilliant films,” said Telluride executive director Julie Huntsinger. “We’ve listed everything we know about screening opportunities so that audiences may watch as many of these films as possible. The festival will continue to do everything in its...

Though the festival has been canceled, the Telluride Film Festival has announced its lineup for what would have been its 47th edition.

Among the films that would’ve premiered include Francis Lee’s “Ammonite,” Roger Michell’s “The Duke” and Chloe Zhao’s “Nomadland.”

The festival was originally scheduled to run between September 3-7, but the festival has been working in partnership with the other fall fests, including Toronto, Venice and New York, and encourages audiences to support these films at those events.

Also Read: 2020 Telluride Film Festival Canceled

“Though we aren’t able to present our program in-person as planned, we still want to announce the lineup to bring attention to these brilliant films,” Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger said in a statement. “We’ve listed everything we know about screening opportunities so that audiences may watch as many of these films as possible. The Festival will...

There will be no Telluride Film Festival this Labor Day in Colorado, but the programmers have unveiled what this year’s selections would have been. Much like the Cannes Film Festival’s 2020 lineup, this year’s Telluride films can at least carry the imprimatur of the festival as we head into the fall circuit. The 47th edition of the Telluride Film Festival was scheduled for September 3-7. See the full lineup, as revealed on Monday, below.

The idea in presenting the Telluride selections is to recommend the best in film this year in hopes that audiences will seek out these movies at other fall festivals (or what remains of them) down the line. With the 2021 Academy Awards pushed way out to April 25, there’s at once less pressure on these films to perform for awards but also a crush of movies backlogged since quarantine hit, making for a competitive season.

Wife of a SpyThe programme for the 2020 edition of the Venice Film Festival has been unveiled, and includes new films from Gia Coppola, Lav Diaz, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Alice Rohrwacher, Gianfranco Rosi, Frederick Wiseman, Chloé Zhao, and more.COMPETITIONIn Between Dying (Hilal Baydarov)Le sorelle Macluso (Emma Dante)The World to Come (Mona Fastvold)Nuevo Orden (Michel Franco)Lovers (Nicole Garcia)Laila in Haifa (Amos Gitai)Dear Comrades (Andrei Konchalovsky)Wife of a Spy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)Sun Children (Majid Majidi)Pieces of a Woman (Kornél Mundruczó)Miss Marx (Susanna Nicchiarelli)Padrenostro (Claudio Noce)Notturno (Gianfranco Rosi)Never Gonna Snow AgainThe Disciple (Chaitanya Tamhane)And Tomorrow The Entire World (Julia Von Heinz)Quo Vadis, Aida? (Jasmila Zbanic)Nomadland (Chloé Zhao)Out Of COMPETITIONFeaturesThe Ties (Daniele Luchetti)Lasciami Andare (Stefano Mordini)Mandibules (Quentin Dupieux)Love After Love (Ann Hui)Assandria (Salvatore Mereu)The Duke (Roger Michell)Night in Paradise (Park Hoon-jung)Mosquito...

Hot on the heels of the 2020 New York Film Festival releasing its first selection in Nomadland (taking the Centerpiece slot at the fest), Venice is chiming in as well. Not only are they also going to be showing Chloe Zhao’s movie, but the festival has in fact unveiled its entire lineup for this year. It’s a crop of titles that’s low on flashy name recognition, at least for now, but it’s an international group that should hopefully be cause for some celebration in the cinematic world. These days, that’s hard to come by, to say the least. Read on for the entire list… If there’s something else of note besides Chloe Zhao’s Nomadland at Venice right now, it’s either The Duke from Roger Michell, starring Jim Broadbent and Helen Mirren, or The World to Come. The former is a crime comedy, while...

This year’s pandemic-altered Venice Film Festival will include a record number of competition films directed by women, festival organizers announced on Tuesday. And two of those are also the only Hollywood studio films to make the competition lineup — Mona Fastvold’s “The World to Come” and Chloé Zhao’s “Nomadland.”

In all, eight of the 18 competition features have a female director — an improvement from last year, when just two made the cut.

“Nomadland,” a drama starring Frances McDormand released by Searchlight Pictures, will simultaneously premiere through the Toronto Film Festival as well as through the New York Film Festival and the now-canceled Telluride fest (at a special drive-in screening in Southern California). Sony’s “The World to Come” stars Casey Affleck, Vanessa Kirby and Katherine Waterston.

Also Read: Frances McDormand's 'Nomadland' to Get Joint World Premiere From Venice and Toronto Film Festivals

Other top titles screening out...

With Telluride Film Festival forced to cancel their yearly event, what is now the first of the major fall festivals, Venice, has announced their complete lineup. Along with Chloé Zhao’s Nomadland, which was revealed yesterday, the lineup includes more of our most-anticipated films of the year, including Frederick Wiseman’s City Hall, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Wife of a Spy, Gia Coppola’s Mainstream, Abel Ferrara’s Sportin’ Life, Lav Diaz’s Genus Pan, Mona Fastvold’s The World to Come, Kornél Mundruczó’s Pieces of a Woman, Gianfranco Rosi’s Notturno, and more.

There were also a few surprises in the lineup. Luca Guadagnino has directed a new documentary titled Salvatore: Shoemaker of Dreams, while Alice Rohrwacher and Jr have teamed for the new short film, Omelia Contadina. Quentin Dupieux’s Mandibules will also premiere out of competition.

In perhaps the best surprise of all, a new, recently uncovered film by Orson Welles,...

The Venice Film Festival on Tuesday unveiled a rich roster of films by prominent auteurs spanning the globe, such as Mexico’s Michel Franco, France’s Nicole Garcia, Japan’s Kurosawa Kiyoshi, and from the U.S., Oscar-winning veteran Fredrick Wiseman, all set to grace the lineup of the Lido’s watershed 77th edition.

The fest is on track with plans to hold a physical event in September, the first major international fest to do so after the coronavirus crisis.

The much smaller — and way more indie — American presence this year will also include the world premiere of a buzzy new film by Brooklyn-based Mona Fastvold (“The Sleepwalker”) who will launch her second feature, “The World To Come,” a period drama with two women at its center and a starry cast comprising Katherine Waterston Vanessa Kirby (“The Crown”) and Casey Affleck, who is also one of the pic’s main producers.

The Venice Film Festival is unveiling the lineup of its 77th edition, which, barring complications, will be the first major international film event to hold a physical edition following the coronavirus crisis.

Previously announced titles include Chloé Zhao’s road drama “Nomadland,” starring Frances McDormand, which will screen at Venice and Toronto simultaneously on Sept. 11, in both cases preceded by virtual introductions.

The out-of-competition opener will be Italian director Daniele Luchetti’s anatomy of a marriage drama “Lacci” (“The Ties”) (pictured) starring Alba Rohrwacher (“Happy as Lazzaro”) and Luigi Lo Cascio (“The Traitor”) as the couple at the film’s center.

The virtual press conference is scheduled to begin at 11am Cet. This post will be updated live as films are revealed.

Venice Film Festival Lineup

In Competition

“In Between Dying,” Hilal Baydarov

“Le Sorelle Macaluso,” Emma Dante (Italy)

“The World to Come,” Mona Fastvold (U.S.)

“Nuevo Orden,” Michel Franco

“Lovers,...

Update, with more detail: As expected, the Venice Film Festival’s 2020 competition lineup is light on studio titles with only Searchligh’s Nomadland and Sony’s The World To Come figuring. Both of those are directed by women in what is a much stronger year for female filmmakers than in the past. Last year, Venice faced criticism for having just two women in competition while this year, there are women behind eight of the 18 features. Venice chief Alberto Barbera noted they were “selected exclusively on the basis of their quality and not as a result of gender protocols.”

Acknowledging the effects of Covid on Hollywood, Barbera also said in an introductory note, “A few spectacular movies will be missing, blocked by the lockdown which still affects the programming of the most-awaited Hollywood releases.” Venice has had great success as a launchpad in recent years,...

Competition line-up includes films by Chloe Zhao, Susanna Nicchiarelli, Kornel Mandruczo and Andrei Konchalovsky.

The line-up of the 77th Venice Film Festival (September 2-12) has been announced.

Scroll down for the full line-up

The big talking points from this year’s selection include an improved gender split, with eight women selected for the competition section (compared to two last year), and a lack of major US projects. Venice will be one of the first major film festivals to take place as a physical event following the Covid-19 outbreak.

Among the big-name auteurs selected are Chloe Zhao (Nomadland), Michel Franco (Nuevo...

Over the past couple of seasons, The Walking Dead has developed a particular love of time jumps. First of all, season 9 skipped ahead 18 months from the end of season 8. Then, when Rick Grimes went missing, presumed dead in episode 5 of that season, things hopped forward a whole six years later, finding our survivors in a very different place. The timeline has remained steady since then, but as we head into season 11, we may be due for another major time jump.

Sources close to Wgtc – the same ones who previously told us that a Scream reboot was in the works and Ryan Reynolds had a secret cameo in Hobbs & Shaw – have informed us that fans should prepare for a significant time jump in Twd season 11. We’re hearing that, at some time during the next run of the show, another leap into the future will occur and though we weren’t...

If you grew up in the 70s and 80s, you all but certainly knew about The Dukes of Hazzard. The immensely popular show ran from January of 1979 until February of 1985 and consistently ranked among the top-rated series of its time, largely in part to its memorable lead characters, Georgian boys Bo and Luke Duke. The mischievous duo spend their time evading law enforcement and their perpetual nemeses Boss Hogg and Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane, a couple of corrupt law enforcement officers intent on bringing the cousins down. However, what was perhaps the most iconic aspect of the show never even had a speaking role.

The Duke boys drove a 1969 Dodge Charger known as The General Lee, and it quickly became The Dukes of Hazzard‘s most recognizable feature with its bright orange aesthetic and Confederate battle flag painted along the top. Many of the cousins’ daring escapes and exciting moments...

Emma Mackey, Joe Alwyn, Fionn Whitehead and Emily Beecham have boarded Emily Brontë’s origin story “Emily,” helmed and scripted by Frances O’Connor. Embankment has launched worldwide sales on the film.

In her script, O’Connor has imagined the transformative journey to womanhood of Brontë – a rebel and a misfit, and author of “Wuthering Heights.”

O’Connor, known for her extensive acting career including “Mansfield Park,” “Bedazzled,” “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” and “The Missing,” makes her directorial debut.

O’Connor said: “Emily Brontë’s work and words are full of passion, feeling, violence, and fierce intelligence. In creating an imagined life for Emily, she will live again for our audience. Her story is about a young woman daring to form herself, to embrace her true nature, despite the consequences. Emily is, in fact, a love letter to women today, especially young women, a calling to them to challenge themselves to connect...

Two “Game of Thrones” alums may be reuniting. Jason Momoa and Peter Dinklage are in negotiations to produce and star in the vampire movie “Good Bad & Undead” at Legendary.

Dinklage will portray Van Helsing, the last in a line of vampire hunters. He has an uneasy partnership with Momoa’s vampire character, who has taken a vow never to kill again. Together they run a scam from town to town, where Van Helsing pretends to vanquish the vampire for money. But they wind up on the run after a massive bounty is put on the vampire.

The studio has closed a deal for Max Barbakow to direct the upcoming film, based on an original idea by Mark Swift & Damian Shannon. Legendary unveiled the project on Wednesday, touting it as “‘Midnight Run’ in a Bram Stoker world.”

Barbakow most recently directed Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti’s “Palm Springs,” which broke...

Exclusive: Legendary has closed a deal for Max Barbakow to direct Good Bad & Undead, with Peter Dinklage and Jason Momoa making deals to star and produce the action adventure. The film is based on an original idea by Mark Swift & Damian Shannon.

Dinklage and Momoa starred on Game of Thrones, bookending as major male influences for Mother of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen. Barbakow is coming off the Andy Samberg-Cristin Milioti film Palm Springs, which set the Sundance Film Festival acquisition record in a $22 million deal by Neon and Hulu in January.

In Good Bad & Undead, Dinklage will play Van Helsing, last in a long line of vampire hunters. He develops an uneasy partnership with a vampire (Momoa) who has taken a vow never to kill again. Together they run a scam from town to town, where Van Helsing pretends to vanquish the vampire for money. But when a massive...

Photo by Parisa Taghizadeh / Screen Media

Screen Media, a Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment company, today announced the acquisition of all North American rights, as well as select international territories, of Roger Michell’s latest feature film, Blackbird.

Starring Susan Sarandon, Kate Winslet, Mia Wasikowska, Sam Neill, Rainn Wilson and Bex Taylor-Klaus, Blackbird premiered at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival. Screen Media plans to release the film, acquired from Millennium Media, in September.

In Blackbird, Lily (Sarandon) has learned she is terminally ill with Als, so she and her husband Paul (Neill), gather the family and loved ones together to discuss her options. But once together, opinions vary, especially those of Lily’s daughters, Jennifer (Winslet) and Anna (Wasikowska) and what was intended as a loving family gathering quickly shifts into a panoply of family dynamics.

Directed by Roger Michell and written by Christian Torpe, Blackbird is produced by David Bernardi,...

The value of film production in the U.K. climbed 7% to £1.96 billion ($2.42 billion) last year, the second-highest level on record. The vast majority of that was generated by Hollywood movies, but although the British independent sector is overshadowed commercially, it is holding its own creatively.

Despite the pain and disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis, Adrian Wootton, CEO of the British Film Commission, is confident that the production boom that the U.K. was enjoying pre-lockdown will resume. Underpinning that is the 25% tax rebate for production, a strong and growing studio infrastructure, a thriving VFX sector, and a rich vein of talent behind and in front of the camera, Wootton says.

Apart from Covid-19, another cloud looming is Brexit, the full effect of which will only be felt at the end of the year. The VFX sector is particularly vulnerable, as a third of its workforce is from European Union countries.

Film and high-end TV production spend hit record £3.6bn in 12 months from April 2019 to March 2020.

The Covid-19 pandemic has not prevented the UK scoring a record spend on film and TV production, but the local production sector continues to suffer a major decline, according to figures released by the BFI.

Overall, film and high-end TV production spend in the UK hit a record £3.6bn in the 12 months from April 2019 to March 2020, £200m more than the previous 12 months.

Of this, inward investment and co-production spend on 161 titles including Universal Pictures’ Jurassic World: Dominion and Netflix fantasy series The Witcher represented £3.1bn,...

To celebrate the release of Alibi’s series Miss Scarlet & The Duke, we had the pleasure of sitting down with stars Kate Phillps and Stuart Martin, as well as creator Rachael New and Declan O’Dwyer, to chat about the new sleuth show.

Set in London during the 1800s, the show focuses on Eliza Scarlet (Phillips) who, after her father passes away, decides to keep his renowned detective agency going despite being the only female in the profession. But, she knows to best her enemies – and all those that believe she is out of her depth – she forms a partnership with a fellow sleuth, known as The Duke (Martin). Here, the cast and crew tell us about working together, breaking down sexist barriers, the mix of romance, thrills, and spills in the show and why 202 was the perfect time to tell this story.

Brand new to Alibi, the home of the very best crime television drama,...

Alan O'Neill has passed away at the age of 47, his rep confirms to E! News. The Los Angeles County Corner tells E! News that the actor (legal name Michael Alan O'Neill) was pronounced dead at a residence in Toluca Lake, Calif. on Wednesday, June 6 at 6 p.m. An autopsy is currently pending. Law enforcement sources told TMZ that his body was found by his girlfriend. The site also reports that O'Neill had a "history of heart problems and was a heavy smoker." From 2013 to 2014, O'Neill starred as Hugh on Sons of Anarchy. His last acting credit is listed on IMDb as Captain in the 2016 movie Urge starring Pierce Brosnan. Prior to his work on Sons of Anarchy, O'Neill starred in...

Alan O’Neill, who played Hugh on “Sons of Anarchy,” had died, his manager Greg Meyer confirmed to Variety. He was 47.

O’Neill’s body was discovered by his girlfriend in the hallway of their Los Angeles apartment on Wednesday night. According to TMZ, the Irish-born actor reportedly had a history of chronic heart problems and was a heavy smoker, in addition to struggling with a drinking problem.

No foul play is suspected in the actor’s death.

O’Neill’s agent Annette Walsh described him as brilliant and funny.

“I’ll personally miss knowing Alan isn’t sharing the planet with us any longer, despite the miles between L.A. and Dublin, Alan was only ever a phone call away,” she said.

O’Neill is widely known for his role in the sixth and seventh seasons of Kurt Sutter’s hit FX series, but the actor’s career dates back to the 90s.

Sculptor Media is fully financing and producing, with Circle of Confusion, the dark thriller “The Importance of Blood” with “Sweet Virgina” helmer Jamie M. Dagg directing.

The original screenplay by James Breen was highlighted in the Blood List dark genre and horror annual listing. Sculptor founders Warren Goz and Eric Gold made the announcement Tuesday.

The film is about a mysterious young woman named Rose who returns to her hometown years after disappearing to seek reconciliation with her estranged family. In doing so, she threatens her relationship with a caring but manipulative man who harbors dangerous secrets of his own.

Sculptor’s Goz and Gold are producing with Circle of Confusion’s Lawrence Mattis and Matt Smith. Chris Armogida will also produce. James Masciello, principal of the private equity firm Raven Capital which provides financing to Sculptor, will executive produce. Gerard Dinardi is the line producer.

Sculptor Media has financed “Imperium,...