Movies

A column chronicling events and conversations on the awards circuit. If you need a clue that the movie awards season is gearing up to return to normal, look no further than last night’s gathering of the Telluride Film Festival faithful on the London Hotel Rooftop overlooking the Sunset Strip. The fest always throws a west

EXCLUSIVE: 9-1-1: Lone Star and Westworld actress Gina Torres has boarded the Gabrielle Union and Keith Powers Netflix romantic comedy feature The Perfect Find.  I hear she’ll be stepping in for Niecy Nash who has departed the project due to a scheduling conflict. The Leigh Davenport and Numa Perrier scripted movie, based on the Tia Williams novel,

“A toxic place for working journalists,” is how two members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association described the group as they announced Thursday that they were leaving the group. They claim the majority of the Golden Globes organization’s members are resistant to efforts to improve diversity and ethical standards. Upheaval over the organization’s historical lack

EXCLUSIVE: Topic is partnering with Statement Films to support, develop and finance projects from African and diaspora female creators. First Look Media’s streaming service and Areej Noor’s women-led startup will be accepting pitches for thriller, sci-fi, suspense, mystery and crime stories from African and diaspora women, now through August 16. The organizations will be considering

The House of Representatives voted 415-14 late Wednesday to establish June 19 as a federal holiday in the U.S. Called Juneteenth National Independence Day, the 156-year-old celebration commemorates the end of slavery in Texas on June 19, 1865. Celebrated in 47 states and the District of Columbia, Juneteenth has long been seen as a marker

EXCLUSIVE: Samuel Goldwyn Films and Roadside Attractions have acquired North American rights to writer/director Evan Jackson Leong’s Snakehead. The crime thriller center on Sister Tse (Shuya Chang), who travels from China to New York via a human smuggler known as a snakehead. In the process, she gains favor with the matriarch of a crime family, risking

On Tuesday’s episode of The Late Show, Rita Moreno spoke out against criticism of Lin-Manuel Miranda that she said “really upsets” her. “It’s like you can never do right, it seems,” said the screen legend. Moreno worked with Miranda on her new documentary Rita Moreno: Just a Girl Who Decided to Go for It, which charts her

EXCLUSIVE: In a highly competitive acquisition situation ahead of the documentary’s Tribeca Festival premiere, MSNBC Films has picked up Paper & Glue from Imagine Documentaries, Impact Partners, TIME Studios, and Shark Island. The feature is a project by acclaimed French artist JR, whose known for giving a global voice to everyday people through a genre-blending

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is out of town this week on what his office on Monday called a “personal trip.” The mayor’s trip comes just as local and state officials are set to lift the vast majority of Covid-19 restrictions tomorrow. The reopening process has not been a smooth one and many are confused

The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, the organization behind the annual Webby Awards, will celebrate for and not-for-profit organizations’ social impact work with with the Anthem Awards. Spanning various industries and social impact categories, Anthem Awards seeks to recognize businesses’ work in a number of causes including Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Sustainability, Climate

Actor Ned Beatty passed away in his sleep on Sunday. The Oscar nominee, known for turns in Network, Deliverance and much more, was 83. TMZ was the first to break the news of Beatty’s passing. While a family member told them he died at his home, while surrounded by family, no other details about his death were

For Lauren Hadaway “write what you know” was the best advice for her first screenplay and the former college rower did just that. “The Novice” is about obsession set in a very specific, watery world. “Of course it’s drama, but everything you see — the injuries, the breakdown, all of these things, they happened to

Directors Amber Sealey and Joe Berlinger got caught up in a feud, ahead of the Tribeca premiere of Sealey’s Ted Bundy pic No Man of God. The quarrel began with an email Berlinger sent to his fellow director, after seeing interviews in which she compared her film favorably to others made about the infamous serial killer, including

Writer and director Geeta Malik began work on Indian Sweets & Spices a decade ago and saw the script evolve, shaped by time and the birth of two children from a classic coming of age story to a moving exploration of a mother-daughter relationship with a feminist slant and a surprising reveal. Much of the

12 Mighty Orphans, a Spotlight Narrative entry at Tribeca Fest, is a film that looks and feels like it might have been made in the 1930s Depression era in which it is set. You half expect Spencer Tracy and Mickey Rooney to show up any minute, like in Boys Town. In the cynical exploitative social

EXCLUSIVE: Freya Allan, a breakout in the Netflix series The Witcher, is set to star in Baghead for Studiocanal and The Picture Company. Production will begin in the fall in Berlin. Allan stars in the upcoming Studiocanal/The Picture Company action thriller Gunpowder Milkshake for Netflix. The film will be directed by Alberto Corredor, who directed

EXCLUSIVE: Aaron Eckhart has boarded the pugilist thriller Rumble Through the Dark based on the Michael Farris Smith novel The Fighter.  Smith adapted his own novel and Graham Phillips & Parker Phillips (The Bygone) will direct. Foresight Unlimited is introducing the movie for foreign buyers at the Virtual Cannes Market. Elevated’s Cassian Elwes is producing and will

EXCLUSIVE: The Conjuring creators Chad and Carey Hayes and producers Faster Horse Pictures (The Tax Collector) have set Saw franchise director Darren Lynn Bousman to helm their new horror franchise The LaLaurie Mansion. Bousman, who has directed four of the Saw movies including this year’s Spiral with Chris Rock and Samuel L Jackson, will direct

The repeated comic references in Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard to the 1987 Goldie Hawn/Kurt Russell comedy Overboard provide an unintended comparison to this eager-to-please sequel that essentially throws all credibility overboard in just hoping to make some attempts at humor stick. Four times I actually laughed out loud in this summer movie confection, so be thankful for small

Two decades in, the mission of the Tribeca Film Festival has come full circle. Launched just months after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the festival will kick off its 20th edition Wednesday with New York City and the film world navigating extreme existential challenges. Normally held in late-April, this year’s fest was postponed until June