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Writer-director Tim Ellrich took on a particularly challenging and very personal subject for his narrative feature debut Im Haus Meiner Eltern (In My Parents’ House), which recently world premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR): schizophrenia.

Inspired by Ellrich’s own family experiences and shot on location at his childhood home, the film explores the toll that caregiving takes on families. Presented in black and white, it also captures the sense of claustrophobia that comes with it. The film convinced the Rotterdam experts, leading it to receive a Tiger Special Jury Award at IFFR, which wrapped up this weekend.

“Holle works as a spiritual healer, tending to clients with serious illnesses and chronic conditions. One of four siblings, she devotes much of her time to caring for her aging parents, a commitment that strains her relationship with her partner,” a synopsis on the Rotterdam website reads. “When her...

Water For Elephants, the Jessica Stone-directed musical adaptation of the bestselling Sara Gruen romantic novel, will play its final performance at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre on Sunday, December 8, having played 301 regular performances and 25 previews since February.

Though one of the better reviewed musicals of the spring 2024 season, the show didn’t quite attain the must-see status of some other spring arrivals like The Outsiders, Stereophonic, Hell’s Kitchen, The Great Gatsby or Cabaret. Still, the musical, which originally starred Grant Gustin, held its own, sometimes topping $1 million in weekly grosses, or coming close.

The figures have been slipping in recent weeks through, with Gustin ending his limited run to be replaced by Kyle Selig.

The most recent box office figures – for the week ending September 29 – were at the lower end of the Broadway roster, with just 62% of seats filled at the Imperial.

Hell’s Kitchen, Alicia Keyes bio-musical, and David Adjmi’s Stereophonic, the roman a clef with music that bears more than a striking resemblance to Fleetwood Mac and the recording of the classic Rumours album received more nominations than any other production of the 2023-24 Broadway season. Each of those shows took 13 nominations this morning.

Coming in third was The Outsiders (at 12 noms), and followed by Cabaret (9) and Appropriate (8).

See the complete breakdown by number of nominations below.

The first six batches of select Tony Award nominees were announced on CBS Mornings at 8:30 a.m./Et. The remainder were announced at 9 p.m. Et on the Tony’s YouTube channel.

The 77th Tony Awards will be held on June 16 at Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater in New York City, airing on CBS. Ariana DeBose will host for a third consecutive year.

Here is the complete list of...

German director Volker Schlöndorff, who won the Cannes’ Palme d’Or and an Oscar for his 1979 drama “The Tin Drum,” is set to direct a film about how Antonio Vivaldi — the 18th-century Italian composer of “The Four Seasons” — formed what is touted as the world’s first all-female orchestra.

Schlöndorff’s still-untitled depiction of this lesser-known aspect of Vivaldi’s career is based on a book by German writer Peter Schneider, which has been adapted for the big screen by Italian scribe Francesco Piccolo (“My Brilliant Friend”) along with the director.

The plan is for cameras to start rolling later this year on the film, which will mark the first foray into Italian-language cinema by Schlöndorff, who is a fluent speaker. It will be shot entirely in Italy. Casting is still being decided, and sales are likely to be launched at the Cannes market in May.

Schlöndorff’s new project...

If you’re a fan of animation, you know the name John Musker, whose four decades at Disney included writing and directing such classics as The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and Moana. Since retiring from the studio in 2018, he independently pursued an idea for a playful hand-drawn short, which he populated with caricatures of dozens of people from his life, among them fellow animators, CalArts classmates and Disney studios execs.

I’m Hip — shortlisted for an Academy Award — is a charming, music video-like film featuring a cat singing the catchy title song, Dave Frishberg’s 1970s recording of a tune he wrote with Bob Dorough. “[The song’s] very witty, and I always thought that would make for a fun short,” says Musker, 70.

“I have a penchant for teasing people,” he says, and his film “teases people who are so desperate to be on the cutting edge of things. Certainly Los Angeles is full of those people.

Grant Gustin, longtime star of the CW’s The Flash, will make his Broadway debut in the new musical Water for Elephants, producers announced today.

Gustin, who also appeared in the TV series Glee, will portray main character Jacob Jankowski in a cast that also includes Isabelle McCalla, Gregg Edelman (City of Angels), Paul Alexander Nolan (Slave Play), Stan Brown (Homicide: Life on the Street), Joe De Paul (Cirque du Soleil’s Dralion), Sara Gettelfinger (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels) and Wade McCollum (Wicked).

Watch Gustin and McCalla perform the song “Wild” from Water for Elephants in the newly released video above.

The musical, based on the Sara Gruen 2006 novel that was made into a 2011 film that starred Robert Pattinson in the Jacob role, begins previews on Saturday, February 24, at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre. Opening night is Thursday, March 21.

Water For Elephants features a book by Rick Elice and a score by PigPen Theatre Company (The Tale of Despereaux). Jessica Stone (Kimberly Akimbo) directs.

Alliance Theatre production of ‘Water for Elephants’

The casting was announced today by producers Peter Schneider, Jennifer Costello, Grove Entertainment, Frank Marshall, Isaac Robert Hurwitz, and Seth A. Goldstein. Additional casting to be announced soon.

The synopsis: “After losing what matters most, a young man jumps a moving train unsure of where the road will take him and finds a new home with the remarkable crew of a traveling circus, and a life – and love – beyond his wildest dreams. Seen through the eyes of his older self, his adventure becomes a poignant reminder that if you choose the ride, life can begin again at any age.”

Gustin’s stage credits include a touring production of West Side Story. He joined the cast of Glee in the musical series’ third season, portraying Sebastian Smythe, the lead of Dalton Academy’s singing group the Warblers. Film credits include Krystal and Affluenza. He’s played The Flash‘s Barry Allen since the series debut in 2014 and continued through its final episode in May of this year. He also made several crossover appearances on Arrow, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl.

McCalla is currently starring as Maizy in Shucked on Broadway, and she originated the role of Alyssa Greene in The Prom and played Princess Jasmine in Aladdin both on Broadway and the North American Tour. She originated the role of Marlena in the world premiere of Water for Elephants at the Alliance Theatre this past summer.

Thomas Schumacher, longtime president and producer of Disney Theatrical Group, is stepping down from his role overseeing business operations and will instead focus on the creative elements as chief creative officer.

Schumacher, who helped shape Disney Theatrical into a powerhouse on Broadway and develop productions such as The Lion King, has been at Disney Theatrical since its inception and has been president since 1999. His two deputies, Andrew Flatt and Anne Quart, will take over his duties, acting as joint executive vice presidents.

With the new role, Schumacher will retain the same title as Jennifer Lee at Walt Disney Animation Studios and Pete Docter at Pixar.

The Disney executive started as executive vice president of Disney Theatrical, working alongside Peter Schneider, as Disney made its first big foray into Broadway with Beauty and the Beast in 1994. Schumacher, who was also working as president of Walt Disney Feature Animation at the time,...

A musical adaptation of Water for Elephants is slated to come to Broadway this spring.

The musical, based on the novel by Sara Gruen, is scheduled to play the Imperial Theatre starting Feb. 24, with an opening night set for March 21. Rick Elice, who wrote the book to Jersey Boys as well as Peter and the Starcatcher, penned the book for the musical, which features a score by the band PigPen Theatre Co.

Jessica Stone, who was nominated for the 2023 Tony Award for best direction of a musical for her work on Kimberly Akimbo, directs the musical.

The story follows an old man reminiscing on his younger adventures, when he jumped onto a moving train and then became part of a traveling circus, where he worked as a veterinarian and fell in love with the married star performer. The novel was also adapted into a film in 2011, starring Robert Patinson and Reese Witherspoon.

“Elemental” is the quintessential Pixar movie.

The company’s latest animated wonder takes place in a cleverly imagined city populated exclusively by anthropomorphic elements in which two characters made of fire and water meet and fall in love. That whimsical logline is enough to recall “Inside Out” and “Monsters, Inc.,” beloved Pixar classics from an earlier era that some see as the company’s heyday. The technology that brought “Elemental” to life is also deeply indebted to the culture and history of the studio, pushing its capabilities to the very limits of possibility. “Elemental” director Peter Sohn told TheWrap that at one point Pixar servers were strained so hard they started smoking.

But “Elemental” isn’t pushing box-office boundaries like those earlier Pixar triumphs.

Over its opening weekend, “Elemental” made $29.6 million, which is enough to carry the distinction of being the worst three-day Pixar opening ever, taking inflation into account.

Hollywood’s sound community is pitching in to deliver encrypted walkie-talkies and satellite phones to Ukrainians in disaster zones cut off from communication. Organizers say that 100 walkie-talkies were recently delivered to Kyiv and that more are on the way.

Safe&Sound Ukraine, a grassroots fundraising effort led by Xenia Vinogradova, a Kyiv-based sound mixer, is seeking to raise 200,000 to source and acquire digital communication devices for aid, rescue and evacuation personnel inside the war-torn nation. To date, it has raised nearly 85,000 in donations that go to United Help Ukraine, a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Donations can be made here.

The Cinema Audio Society has donated and become an official partner and supporter of Safe&Sound Ukraine. Others joining the effort include the Association of Motion Picture Sound, Gotham Sound, LA Sound Mixers and Motion Picture Sound Editors.

“Cas is proud to join others in the sound community to support the...

There are few who don't remember the first time they saw the death of Mufasa, the villainy of Scar or that final scene that put so much more context into the "circle of life" concept than any other movie, and as The Lion King hit its 27th anniversary, fans celebrated what they consider the Goat of animated feature films. With a stellar voice cast, instantly classic songs and some of the most technically advanced and stunning animation put out by Disney, or anyone else, at that time, The Lion King may not have seemed like a sure-fire hit before its release, but that soon changed and the rest was history.

The history of The Lion King goes back six years prior to its arrival in cinemas, to a meeting between Jeffrey Katzenberg, Roy Disney and Peter Schneider while they were on the promotion tour of Europe for Oliver and Co.

One of the more interesting elements to emerge from Vulture’s oral history of the Disney animated comedy “The Emperor’s New Groove” is the reminder of a nearly 20-year-old Disney documentary that’s never been released and will most likely never break out of the Disney vault. “The Sweatbox” was directed by John-Paul Davidson and Trudie Styler, wife of musician Sting.

As documented in the oral history, “The Emperor’s New Groove” got its start at Walt Disney as a much different film titled “The Kingdom of the Sun,” which was to feature original songs by Sting. Davidson and Styler documented the making of that movie, but Disney ultimately shelved the project after “doubt-filled meetings and catastrophic screenings and arguments.” Pieces of “The Kingdom of the Sun” found their way into 2000’s beloved “The Emperor’s New Groove,” including two Sting songs and the voice of Eartha Kitt, but the documentary capturing...

From TorontoFilm.Net here is the Toronto Film Production Update for March 2020, including "Fatman", "Flint Strong", "Nightmare Alley" and a whole lot more:

Blood And Water Season 4

Episodic Series – TV

4Breakthrough Entertainment Inc.

Prod.: Paula J. Smith

Dir.: Felipe Rodriguez

Mar 2 - Mar 31/20

Fatman

Feature Films – Theatrical

Fatman Prods. Services Inc.

Prod.: Robert Menzies, Michelle Lang, Lisa Wolofsky, Brandon James

Dir.: Ian Nelms, Eshom Nelms

Jan 29 - Mar 12/20

Flint Strong

Feature Films – Theatrical

NBC Universal

Prod. Michael DeLuca, Elishia Holmes, Barry Jenkins

Dir.: Rachel Morrison

Mar 16 - May 6/20

I Was Lorena Bobbitt

Movies for Television

Cineflix Media Inc.

Prod.: Peter Schneider, Sherri Rufh

Dir.: Danishka Esterhazy

Feb 24 - Mar 16/20

Nightmare Alley

Feature – Theatrical

Prod.: Miles Dale

Dir.: Guillermo del Toro

Jan 13 - May 5/20

Nurses Season 2

Episodic Series – TV

Nurses Season Two Inc.

Prod.: Ilana Frank, Linda Pope, Brian Gibson

Dir.

"What's the idea?" The German Film Awards were held this weekend, and top prize for Best Picture went to a film titled Gundermann. Never heard of it? This is not uncommon with whatever the "equivalent of the Oscars" film prize is in each country, usually local films that don't play outside of their country, but a few big ones can break through. Gundermann tells the true story of an East German singer & writer named Gerhard Gundermann, played by Alexander Scheer, and his struggles with music, life as a coal miner, and the secret police (Stasi) of the Gdr. It just won Best Picture, Director, Screenplay, Lead Actor, Scenery, and Costumes at the Deutscher Filmpreis. This also stars Anna Unterberger, Milan Peschel, and Peter Schneider. If you're curious to see what it's all about, watch below (with translation). Here's ...

The house lights dim, the sun rises on its first performance, and a powerful voice belts out: “Nants ingonyama bagithi Baba,” the first lyrics of “Circle of Life.” Lindiwe Dlamini, a member of the ensemble dressed in a white dress, holding African bird puppets in either hand with another on her head, nervously waits in the wings as she readies to take the stage in the opening number of Disney’s Broadway adaptation of The Lion King, the 1994 animated hit film about a lion cub who overcomes adversity and accepts responsibility for his pride and land to become king of the jungle.

“You didn’t know how the audience was going to receive it, [but] the energy was beyond belief,” Dlamini recalls to Et. The actress was 29 years old when she was cast in The Lion King, which opened on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre on Nov. 13, 1997. The show later transferred to the Minskoff Theatre in 2006, where...

Exclusive: The European Commission (EC) is planning changes to its Creative Europe programme from 2016.

In preparation for the forthcoming Creative Europe Programme Committee meeting in Brussels, the EC’s Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (Eacea) has drawn up revised and updated guidelines for the Culture and Media sub-programmes based on the experience of Creative Europe’s first year of operations from January 1, 2014.

Innovation and the use of the latest digital technologies will be given greater emphasis in the guidelines for training under the Media sub-programme, according to the Eacea’s proposals.

In future, eligible training activities will include those offering training in “new modes of distribution and exploitation using the latest digital technologies including social media” as well as training in “knowledge sharing and networking capabilities”, while the award criteria will now also take “the deployment of digital technologies” and “the technical and management experience of the [project] team” into account.

Level playing...

According to the Hollywood Reporter, producers Peter Schneider and Elisabetta di Mambro have acquired the rights to to create a stage version of Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants. Schneider told THR 'I have loved Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants since it was first published and was captivated by its theatricality. It is so dramatic - a woman who is trapped in a relationship for all the wrong reasons meets and falls in love with a man for all the right reasons. Throw in an elephant as a matchmaker and you have the potential for a show of great imagination and emotional depth.'...

Here are the films opening theatrically in the U.S. the week of Friday, January 9th. (Synopses provided by distributor unless listed otherwise.) Beloved Sisters Director: Dominik Graf Cast: Florian Stetter, Henriette Confurius, Hannah Herzsprung, Claudia Messner, Ronald Zehrfeld, Andreas Pietschmann, Maja Maranow, Peter Schneider, Michael Wittenborn, Anne Schäfer, Philipp Oehme, Thomas Kornack, Klaus Lehmann Synopsis: "The summer of 1788 in Rudolstadt. Rebellious poet Friedrich Schiller and two penniless sisters, members of the Thuringian aristocracy, experience an unforgettable period together which will eventually bind them forever. Unhappily married Caroline von Beulwitz and her shy sister Charlotte von Lengefeld take seriously their oath to share everything – even the author of ‘The Robbers’. Charlotte marries Schiller so they may pursue their ménage à trios under the guise of convention. Caroline, whose novel Schiller publishes anonymously,...

Tim here, to celebrate the silver anniversary of one of the most important films in the annals of American animation. 25 years ago today – some of you are going to have to brace yourselves, because you’re about to feel very old – Walt Disney Pictures released The Little Mermaid, in one fell swoop rewriting the landscape for family entertainment and animation alike.

As hard as it is to believe now, once upon a time, Disney was an embarrassing underdog, whose theme parks were solely responsible for keeping its saggy movie division propped up. 1989 was only four years removed from the disastrous release of the pricey The Black Cauldron, and the takeover of the company by executives Michael Eisner and Frank Wells, who managed to stabilize the live action filmmaking division, while putting the animation studio under the command of Peter Schneider.

It was Schneider who managed an ambitious and terrifyingly foolhardy plan,...

A re-conceived version of the Rodgers amp Hart 1940 classic Pal Joey is now running at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. After an enthusiastically received concert reading at Pasadena's prestigious Boston Court Theatre last year, Director Peter Schneider was encouraged by the esteemed Rodgers amp Hammerstein Organization to move forward with a fully realized production. Check out a first look at the production shots below...

The Celebration Theatre in association with Demand PRoductions and Peter Schneider has launched its celebratory 30th Anniversary Season with the world premiere musical Justin Love. On hand for the September 21st opening was Broadway World TV and Los Angeles correspondent Michael Sterling and Bww TVs Jerry Evans of Jle Media Group, Inc. With a book by Patricia Cotter and David Elzer, story by David Elzer and Bret Calder, music by Lori Scarlett and David Manning, lyrics by Lori Scarlett, directed by Michael Matthews, choreography by Janet Roston, orchestrations by John Ballinger and musical direction by Gregory Nabours, Justin LOVEwill be presented through Sunday, November 18 at Celebration Theatre, 7051B Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood.

★★★★☆ The latest in a line of strong German entries exploring mental illness at this year's 55th BFI London Film Festival, Hans Weingartner's Hut in the Woods (Hütte im Wald, 2011) focuses on the lives of to down-and-outs, former mathematician Martin Blunt (Peter Schneider) and recently orphaned Ukrainian youngster Viktor (Timur Massold), who both become homeless through circumstance. Together, they escape to the forest and build a hut within with to live out their lives.

Weingartner, perhaps best known in the UK for 2004's The Edukators, presents a side of German society rarely seen, sensitively depicting the type of existence that can befall the nation's homeless. Adversely, figures of authority are painted very unsympathetically by the director; Martin's former company refuses to re-employee him after a short stint in care despite promising the contrary; the bailiffs that arrive to evict Martin a few days later are unscrupulous in their work, denying...