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Exclusive: This year’s Manchester Film Festival is set to run from March 14 – 23 and will open with a screening of The Penguin Lessons, directed by British filmmaker Peter Cattaneo and starring Steve Coogan.

Based on the best-selling memoir, the film tells the story of an Englishman’s personal and political awakening during a cataclysmic period in Argentine history, brought about by his unlikely adoption of a penguin.

Manchester will screen 37 features, including 15 UK premieres and 4 world premieres. All films will be screening in Manchester for the first time. This includes the Manchester premiere of the UK’s Oscar selection Santosh from Sandhya Suri, Sundance, and Cannes hit Good One directed by India Donaldson, and South by Southwest Audience Award Winner My Dead Friend Zoe from Kyle Hausmann-Stokes.

Other highlights include the UK premieres of Y2K, A24’s latest horror comedy starring Fred Durst and directed by Kyle Mooney, the...

The Austin Film Festival (Aff) is set to showcase a remarkable lineup of films at this year’s event, Variety is happy to exclusively announce the first selection of films, including the world premiere of “Ravens,” a magical realist biopic featuring recent Emmy-nominee Tadanobu Asano (“Shogun”).

Also among the highly anticipated premieres is the Texas-made thriller by Chris Beier and Daniel Wolfman centered around a washed-up Youtube star titled “The Ego Death of Queen Cecilia,” “Silent Notes,” a romantic neo-noir starring Daniel Durant (“Coda”) and the film adaptation of the Broadway play “The Piano Lesson” from Netflix starring Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington, which just recently released a trailer. These films are part of Aff’s first wave of screenings, highlighting some of the year’s best in independent filmmaking.

Additional programming includes “Black Dog,” which received the Un Certain Regard award at Cannes this year as well as Ecuadorian horror film “Shaman.

Stars: Gabe Fazio, Bradford West, Stuart Rudin, Noah McCarty-Slaughter, Sophie Auster, Suzanne Didonna, Kadah Binkley | Written by Toni Comas, Charlie Williams | Directed by Toni Comas

Deep inside the heart of middle America lie many different beliefs; beliefs in God, in country, in justice, and in America itself. Some of those beliefs extend beyond what are considered the norm – the paranormal, the unexplained, the unnatural. This is where the Spirit Doctors come in, two paranormal investigators who help those who feel their houses, and their very lives, are in upheaval due to supernatural forces. Michael (Gabe Fazio) actually has the gift of second sight and the ability to communicate with the dead, while Josh (Bradford West) deeply wishes he does and has convinced himself he can. And on one fateful summer’s day, they find themselves dealing with events that make them question the nature of what they do, and uncover...

Bag Boy Lover Boy

Written by Toni Comas and Andres Torres

Directed by Andres Torres

USA, 2014

Made in the tradition of the New York underground, Bag Boy Lover Boy is a portrait of contemporary frustration. Albert is a pitiful hot dog vendor who soon finds himself intertwined in the bizarre world of fetish photography. Albert’s aspirations are centered on his desire to win the affections of a frequent customer at his stall, and her apparent love for art. Raw, funny and twisted, the film rips through the perceived comfort of modern living by putting focus on one of society’s outcasts. Albert is not just a sad sack, he’s more than a little slow and more than a little different.

Albert’s trajectory over the course of the film is what really sells it. Brought to life by Swedish amateur actor Jon Wachter, there is an uncomfortable naturalism...