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And then it was Saturday. SXSW 2025’s week-long music festivities closed out with another night of great shows from up-and-comers, established stars, and veteran acts writing new chapters. Join us for one more recap before we say goodbye ’til next year, won’t you? Here are the best things we saw at SXSW on March 15.

Charley Crockett Drifts Back Into Town

When Charley Crockett was just starting out, he used to stop by record shops in his home state of Texas and try to get them to sell his music.

Exclusive: Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer has added Marcus Henderson (Get Out), Gigi Zumbado (Heart Eyes) and Ktla Reporter Casey Montoya to its Season 4 cast.

The storyline was teed up at the end of the Season 3 finale of the hit legal drama when Mickey Haller (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) was pulled over and arrested when the body of a client was found in the trunk of his Lincoln. Next season will see Mickey defending himself as he goes on trial for murder. He will face off with the prosecutor on the case, Dana Berg (Constance Zimmer) who has ties to his first ex-wife Maggie (Neve Campbell).

Henderson will play ‘Yannick Bamba,’ a former gang member and the man in the cell next to Mickey’s. From West Africa by way of South Central, he’s been hired to be Mickey’s protection while he’s in jail. He gives Mickey pointers like...

This century, Catalonia has emerged as a region with a rich filmmaking tradition, supported by public investment in local artists and production companies. This commitment to nurturing talent and fostering growth has led to significant developments in the region’s industry, culminating in a contemporary state of affairs that sees Catalonia involved in every part of the 2025 Berlin Film Festival, where Spain is the honorary EFM Country in Focus.

Four Catalan productions have been selected for the festival’s official program, highlighting the region’s creative prowess. Eva Libertad’s debut feature, “Deaf,” based on the director’s Goya-nominated short of the same name, will premiere in the Panorama section, while Lucía G. Romero’s “Close to September” will screen in the Berlinale Shorts section. Two Catalan films play in Generation Kplus: Robin Petré’s “Only On Earth” and Karen Joaquín and Uliane Tatit’s “Juanita.”

Catalonia’s presence similarly...

Like water taking the shape of any container in which it’s kept, Catalan cinema tends to work its way into every corner of a festival or marketplace in which it is present. This year’s European Film Market is no exception. Here’s a look at 10 Catalan titles set to make an impression at this year’s festival and market.

The highest profile appearance will be Eva Libertad’s debut feature, “Deaf,” based on a short of the same name, which world premieres in the Panorama section. Sold by Latido Films and produced by Distinto Films, A Contracorriente Films and Nexus CreaFilms, it’s based on Libertad’s Goya-nominated short of the same name.

Lucía G. Romero’s “Close to September” will world premiere in Berlinale Shorts. Produced by Escándalo Films, Filmax, Escac Films and Escac Studio, it centers on an imbalanced youthful romance.

Generation Kplus showcases two Catalan productions this year,...

The ongoing conversation between theaters vs. streaming has many good arguments on each side. However, streaming services are also a way for films that haven't performed well in theaters to get a new chance for success.

Michael Douglas' 2006 political action film is one of them. The two-time Academy Award winner (for 1987's Wall Street and a shared award for 1975's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest) starred in Clark Johnson's The Sentinel, and the film was not a big hit with the critics or the audience. Almost two decades later, The Sentinel found success on Netflix, debuting at No. 2 on the global charts with 7.9 million views, the equivalent of 14.2 million hours viewed.

RelatedBen Affleck and Matt Damon Reunite in First Look at Netflix's Crime Thriller Rip

The longtime friends and collaborators Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have teamed up with Netflix for their new project.

The Sentinel entered the...

Sturgill Simpson has announced a new album and a supporting North American tour — albeit under a different name.

After promising to release only five studio albums under his own name, the country singer will unveil his latest project, titled Passage Du Desir, under his new stage name of Johnny Blue Skies. The eight-song album, which Simpson (err… Johnny Blue Skies) recorded at Clement House Recording Studio in Nashville, Tn and Abbey Road Studios in London, England with produced David Ferguson, is set for release on July 12th via his own label, High Top Mountain Records.

Get Sturgill Simpson Tickets Here

To support the release, Simpson his his band —Kevin Black (bass), Robbie Crowell (keys), Laur Joamets (guitar) and Miles Miller (drums) — will embark on the “Why Not? Tour.” Kicking off in mid-September, the 28-date outing marks their first full tour in over four years.

A ticket pre-sale is set for Wednesday,...

Back in 2021, Sturgill Simpson promised Rolling Stone that he was done making albums under his own name after the release of The Ballad of Dood and Juanita. “I always said there would be five, and I wondered if I’d go back on that. But it really has cemented every step of the way how much I don’t want to carry all that weight,” he told Rs’ Marissa R. Moss. “Not having to stand up there behind my name would allow me to be even more vulnerable, in a way.

Take a look at more footage from the Oscar-winning satirical comedy drama "American Fiction", written, directed by Cord Jefferson based on the 2001 novel "Erasure" by Percival Everett, starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, and Sterling K. Brown:

"...in a film about the consequences of turning one's art into a simple commodity, 'Monk Ellison', a professor of English literature, is in a rut with his own writing. His agent repeatedly explains to him that publishing houses don't believe his writing to be 'black enough', while another book from author 'Juanita Mae Jenkins', titled 'We's Lives In Da Ghetto' is a national best seller and critical darling..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Exclusive: Carl Anthony Payne II, Acoryé White, Psalms Salazar (P-Valley), and Guxci (Night Games) have signed on to star in the indie horror feature The Grove.

The script is co-written by White and Patrycja Kępa, who will also co-direct under their Anchored Lens Productions company. The project follows the pair’s previous collaboration on 2023’s Trinket Box.

The Grove follows a soldier’s homecoming, which takes a dark turn when he forgets to take an experimental medication, triggering a deadly descent into animalistic madness. What was supposed to be a relaxing lake house getaway with friends becomes a fight for survival, testing the limits of love and sanity.

Alestair Shu (Shelter), Graham Edmonds (S.W.A.T.), influencer Anushka Van Lent (When the Ringlights Dim), Jesus Venegas (Bosch Legacy), and Jolena Wu (Eiknuj) round out the supporting cast.

Trinket Box executive producers Tru’Kessa S.

Welcome to our weekly rundown of the best new music — featuring big singles, key tracks from our favorite albums, and more. This week, Latto delivers a playful rebuke o her haters, Kacey Musgraves returns with the introspective title track off her forthcoming Deeper Well, and a highlight from Usher’s brand new ninth LP. Plus, new tracks from Noah Kahan, Maggie Rogers and Faye Webster.

Latto, “Sunday Service” (YouTube)

Kacey Musgraves, “Deeper Well” (YouTube)

Usher, “Kissing Strangers” (YouTube)

Noah Kahan, “Forever” (YouTube)

Maggie Rogers, “Don’t Forget Me” (YouTube)

Faye Webster,...

Take a look at more footage from the satirical comedy drama "American Fiction", written, directed by Cord Jefferson based on the 2001 novel "Erasure" by Percival Everett, starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, and Sterling K. Brown, releasing December 22, 2023 in theaters:

"...in a film about the consequences of turning one's art into a simple commodity, 'Monk Ellison', a professor of English literature, is in a rut with his own writing. His agent repeatedly explains to him that publishing houses don't believe his writing to be 'black enough', while another book from author 'Juanita Mae Jenkins', titled 'We's Lives In Da Ghetto' is a national best seller and critical darling..."

Click the images to enlarge...

Of the thousands of members of Congress who have served throughout history, few will be remembered, with rare exceptions. Those who become presidents, or Speaker of the House, or have buildings named after them are less likely to be forgotten. Then there are those whose policy stands solidify their legacies. When California Representative Barbara Lee became the lone member of Congress to vote against the war in Iraq in 2001, she became a target of nonstop hate mail and death threats. Now, decades later, as she strives to become just the third Black woman in American history elected to the United States Senate, her willingness to take a stand in the face of such adversity years ago has emerged as a political asset, landing her high-profile endorsements from colleagues like Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). In the latest THR “Power Watch” column, Lee — who was the subject of the 2020 Starz documentary Barbara...

Sturgill Simpson, who plays militiaman Brother Marshall in The Righteous Gemstones, covered Larry Gatlin & the Gatlin Brothers Band’s “All the Gold in California” during Sunday night’s episode. Simpson’s studio version has also been released.

The a cappella tune with backing harmonizing choir appears under the moniker Brother Marshall and the Choir of Fire.

Sturgill’s character Brother Marshall was first introduced in the trailer for the HBO series’ third season. Brother Marshall serves as one of the foot soldiers in Steve Zahn’s militia, and his performance...

Max has dropped a new trailer for the third season of The Righteous Gemstones, set to arrive June 18. The clip reveals numerous new additions to the cast, including Steve Zahn, Kristen Johnston, Stephen Dorff, Iliza Shlesinger, and musician Sturgill Simpson.

A synopsis for the season teases, “When the spoiled Gemstone children finally get their wish to take control of the Church, they discover leadership is harder than they imagined and that their extravagant lifestyle comes with a heavy price.”

The Righteous Gemstones was created by Danny McBride, who is a longtime pal of Simpson.

Exclusive: Veteran producer Stephanie Allain has joined David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist, as executive producer. In addition, the first film in the trilogy from Blumhouse and Morgan Creek for Universal and Peacock has recently wrapped principal photography. The pic hits theaters on Oct. 13.

“I’ve known Stephanie for years — she’s the coolest and steadiest producer around, and I’m thrilled we’re finally able to work together,” said producer Jason Blum.

“I’m so delighted to join Blumhouse, Dgg, Leslie Odom, Jr., and this remarkable cast and crew on a frightening new iteration of one of my favorite films,” said Allain.

Allain and her Homegrown Pictures have produced such movies as Hustle & Flow, Something New, Black Snake Moan, Beyond the Lights, Dear White People, French Dirty, Burning Sands, Juanita and Really Love. She executive produced four seasons of Dear White People. From 2011-2016, she served as Director of the LA Film Festival,...

The Producers Guild of America (PGA) announced today the election of new presidents Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line during the Guild’s annual membership meeting. Allain and De Line ran unopposed and assume the roles from Gail Berman and Lucy Fisher, who had served as presidents since 2018.

“As proud members of the PGA for over twenty years, it’s a great privilege to serve as Presidents,” Allain and De Line said. “Gail and Lucy’s excellent leadership has grown and strengthened the Guild, and we will build on their progress. Along with Susan Sprung and her team, we will continue to educate the industry on the role of the producer, support producers’ efforts for fair and commensurate compensation and benefits, welcome and encourage a more diverse membership, and endeavor to attain broader healthcare coverage while educating members on the current benefits and opportunities available to them.”

“Stephanie and Donald are legendary industry leaders,...

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been a completest, where I’ve done the first episode of a series and the finale,” reveals editor Cindy Mollo about her work on the Netflix series “Ozark.” “I didn’t anticipate how cool that would feel. And the audience has been so excited to have these last seven drop. I think it was fun for them because they just watched the first seven of season four and then just two months later they get this wrap up. It seems like the audience has been really satisfied, so that’s gratifying. We talked to Mollo as part of our “Meet the Experts” TV editors panel. Watch our exclusive video interview above.

See over 300 interviews with 2022 Emmy contenders

“Ozark” stars Jason Bateman and Laura Linney and has earned 32 Emmy nominations with three wins to date. Two of those bids were for Mollo’s...

Five top TV editors will reveal secrets behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with 2022 Emmy Awards contenders. They will participate in two video discussions to premiere on Thursday, May 26, at 4:00 p.m. Pt; 6:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Denton Davidson and a roundtable chat with all of the group together.

RSVP today to our entire ongoing Emmy contenders panel series by clicking here to book your free reservation. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2022 contenders:

Lucy and Desi (Amazon Prime)

Synopsis: Explores the rise of comedian icon Lucille Ball, her relationship with Desi Arnaz, and how their groundbreaking sitcom “I Love Lucy” forever changed Hollywood.

Bio: Robert Martinez was an Emmy and American Cinema...

Exclusive: HBO is developing Sula, a limited series based on the novel by Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison’s novel. The project comes from writer Shannon M. Houston (Station Eleven), who has an overall deal at HBO, and Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures, under the company’s first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television Group and HBO.

Created and written by Houston based on the novel, Sula tracks the lives of two Black heroines from their close-knit childhood in a small Ohio neighborhood called The Bottom, through their sharply divergent paths of womanhood. Nel Wright has chosen to marry, raise a family and become a pillar of the Black community. Sula Peace has rejected the life Nel has embraced, escaping from The Bottom, submerging herself in city life, and coming into her own as a woman more intellectually and sexually free than anyone around her. Eventually, Sula and...

“Tacoma Fd” is a workplace shenanigan-style comedy that has garnered polarized reviews from its audience – the jokes will either land with you or they won’t. However, an 8.1 out of 10 rating on IMDb shows the audience has mostly liked it.

Kevin Heffernan and Steve Lemme wrote this show. They are also the show’s executive producers, alongside David Miner, Greg Walter, Brandon Hendrix, and Kyle Clark.

The last episode of the third season aired on December 9, 2021. Fans are impatiently waiting for the next season’s release.

Read on to learn more about “Tacoma Fd’s” premise, cast, and the latest news regarding season four.

What Is “Tacoma Fd” About?

“Tacoma Fd” is a sitcom with standalone episodes featuring six happy-go-lucky firefighters working at a fire station in Tacoma, Washington. In the show, Tacoma is shown to be one of America’s rainiest cities, and thus, there are not many fires around to extinguish.

Exclusive: Actor Adam Beach, who most recently starred opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Jesse Plemons in Netflix’s Academy Award-nominated film The Power of the Dog from director Jane Campion, has signed with Buchwald for representation.

Beach earned a Golden Globe nomination for his turn as Charles Eastman in HBO’s TV movie Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, securing a Critics’ Choice award nom for his performance in Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award-nominated Paramount film Flags of Our Fathers.

The actor also recently starred opposite Mahershala Ali and Naomi Harris in the sci-fi drama Swan Song, which is currently available for streaming on Apple TV+. Other roles he’s known for include Jesse in Netflix’s Juanita, opposite Alfre Woodard, and Danny Moonstar in 20th Century Studios’ The New Mutants, opposite Anya Taylor-Joy and Maisie Williams.

Beach has also appeared in such notable films as Percy Vs Goliath, Hostiles, Suicide Squad,...

Emmy-nominated producer Stephanie Allain has signed a new first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television Group and HBO. The new agreement continues Allain’s relationship with the Studio, where she and her Homegrown Pictures production company has been under a first-look pact since February 2020. Allain and her Homegrown Pictures team, including Director of Development Gabrielle Ebron, will develop original scripted programming to be produced by Warner Bros. Television for HBO and HBO Max, external streaming services, cable, and broadcast.

Financial terms were not disclosed, but both Wbtvg and HBO confirm it is a multi-year deal.

Allain produced the 2020 Academy Awards alongside Lynette Howell Taylor, making history as the first African American woman in the Academy’s 92-year history to do so. She received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Variety Special (Live) for her work on the Oscars.

Allain founded female-led Homegrown Pictures in 2003, a company which produces content by and about women and people of color.

Warner Bros. Television Group and HBO have sealed a new first-look deal with producer Stephanie Allain (“Dear White People”) and her Homegrown Pictures banner. Allain already held a first-look pact with the studio, which she sealed in February 2020; this extends that relationship and includes a partnership with HBO.

Under the multi-year deal, Allain and her Homegrown Pictures team (which includes director of development Gabrielle Ebron) will develop original scripted programming for HBO and HBO Max, as well as other streaming services, cable and broadcast outlets. Warner Bros. Television will produce those projects.

Allain’s credits include producing the 2020 Oscars, alongside Lynette Howell Taylor. Allain was nominated for an Emmy Award, in the outstanding variety special (live) category. She also made history as the first African American woman in history to produce the Academy Awards.

Homegrown Pictures was founded by Allain in 2003; its credits include “Hustle & Flow,” “Something New,” “Peeples,...

Sturgill Simpson may be signaling the end of his solo career with his most recent album, but he’s not finished playing live. On Friday night, the country musician brought his bluegrass band to the Outlaw Music Festival in Gilford, New Hampshire, and debuted new music including “Shamrock” from The Ballad of Dood & Juanita.

A fiddle-and-banjo-driven number in its original form, “Shamrock” needs no alterations for Simpson’s live performance as musicians Sierra Hull, Stuart Duncan, Tim O’Brien, and Mike Bub all show off some dazzling instrumental runs. The speedy...

Alfre Woodard has joined the cast of the upcoming remake of Stephen King novel ‘Salem’s Lot.’

Woodard will take on the role of the gender-flipped Dr. Cody. Cody provides assistance to Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman), Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh) and Matt Burke (Bill Camp) in fighting the spread of vampires. Spencer Treat Clark also stars as Mike Ryerson.

King’s 1975 horror was his second published novel and tells the story of a writer named Ben Mears who returns to the town of Jerusalem’s Lot (or ‘Salem’s Lot for short) in Maine, where he had lived from the age of five through nine, only to discover that the residents are becoming vampires.

In 1979, the story was adapted into a two-part miniseries which was directed by Tobe Hooper and starred David Soul as Ben Mears and James Mason as Richard Straker, the towns mysterious new arrival.

Also in news...

Exclusive: Oscar-nominated actress Alfre Woodard is joining New Line’s Salem’s Lot bunch in the big-screen take of the 1975 Stephen King vampire novel, we can tell you first.

She’ll play Dr. Cody, who in the novel is a guy, Dr. Jimmy Cody. Cody assists Ben Mears (Lewis Pullman in the film), Susan Norton (Makenzie Leigh) and Matt Burke (Bill Camp) in fighting the spread of vampires. Spencer Treat Clark also stars as Mike Ryerson, as Deadline first reported. In King’s first New York Times No. 1 bestseller, author Ben Mears returns to his childhood home of Jerusalem’s Lot in search of inspiration for his next book, only to discover his hometown is being preyed upon by a bloodthirsty vampire.

Woodard recently starred in the critically acclaimed feature Clemency, for which she received a BAFTA Award nomination and a Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead. On the small screen,...

Olivia Rodrigo’s Sour takes Number One on the Rolling Stone Top 200 Albums Chart for a sixth week, with over 154,000 project units from August 20th through August 26th. Sour is only the third album in Rs 200 history to top the chart for six weeks, after Taylor Swift’s Folklore and Morgan Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album.

Sour pulled in nearly twice as many units as any other album last week. Trippie Redd’s Trip at Knight came the closest, bowing at Number Two with over 80,000 units. Trip at Knight...

Give it up to Sturgill Simpson: In a music world that doesn’t always value artistic left turns, he’s been making them relentlessly for nearly a decade. When his 2013 hard-country debut High Top Mountain arrived, who would have predicted that it would be followed by forays into soul, headbangers, and straight-up bluegrass? With few exceptions — Taylor Swift comes to mind — it’s hard to summon up too many others who willfully change directions with almost each new album.

The creative success of each of these projects is another...

Following the synth-rock adventure of 2019’s Sound & Fury and a pair of back-to-basics bluegrass albums last year, Sturgill Simpson will release a country music concept album this summer. Titled The Ballad of Dood & Juanita, Simpson’s latest LP arrives August 20th and features a guest turn by Willie Nelson on the track “Juanita.”

In a statement, Simpson says the project was born from his desire to create a complete body of work. “I just wanted to write a story — not a collection of songs that tell a story, but an actual story,...

Exclusive: Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard is set as a series regular in BET+/CBC’s The Porter, an original drama series about a group of 1920s railway workers who unite to form the world’s first Black union. Woodard also will serve as an executive producer on the series, from Inferno Pictures and Sienna Films, a Sphere Media company. Shooting is currently underway in Winnipeg, Canada.

Created by Arnold Pinnock and Bruce Ramsay with Annmarie Morais, Marsha Greene and Aubrey Nealon, The Porter tells the story of the people who fought to ignite the civil rights movement in North America.

Set in the early 1920s, The Porter offers a dramatic and compelling look at the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal — known, at the time, as the “Harlem of the North...

Four-time Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Alfre Woodard is the latest to join the cast of Blair Underwood’s upcoming psychological thriller “Viral.”

Production on the project — directed, produced by and starring Underwood — is currently underway in New York, after filming was delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The casting news also marks a reunion for Woodward and Underwood, who previously teamed up for the Netflix drama “Juanita,” Showtime’s “The Wishing Tree” and the stage show “Love Letters.” The pair of entertainers have had an equally long history offscreen. In 1989, Woodard and Underwood co-founded Artists for a New South Africa (Ansa), an organization to support the mission to end apartheid, alongside fellow actors like Danny Glover, Mary Steenburgen and Cch Pounder.

Woodard is set to play Dr. Johnetta, a psychiatrist specializing in deep trauma, in the thriller, which follows Underwood’s character Andrew as he falls into paranoia after his wife Jules goes missing.

Rmvistar, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, has secured worldwide rights to mystery-laced film “Jupía” from producer and co-writer Leticia Tonos.

The film stars Julietta Rodriguez, who appeared in “La Hija Natural” and “El Hombre que cuida,” alongside David Maler, whose credits include “La Familia Reyna” and “Reinbou.” Rodriguez is also a co-producer on the film.

The investigation into the murder of the wife and the disappearance of the daughter of police investigator Tomas Garcia (Maler) has led him to a dilapidated nursing home on the outskirts of the city, where he is confronted with Atabey (Rodríguez), an enigmatic nurse with mysterious powers.

The film is inspired by the Taino legends of the Caribbean region, and shows how “these myths influence our present in unexpected ways.” Tonos and Rodriguez said they are confident that “the lovers of this genre will have the opportunity to enjoy a fresh and...

Sarah Silverman is set to star opposite Blair Underwood in the upcoming psychological thriller “Viral” from York Films.

The independent film, written by Joe McClean, centers on Andrew (Underwood), a man dealing with the disappearance of his wife. As Andrew falls deeper into paranoia, he finds that the only way out of the self-destructive cycle seems to be through his new girlfriend Emilia (Silverman), a victims advocate and self-help blogger he meets in group therapy, who is dealing with her own demons from her past. The drama will explore if they are strong enough to get past their own nightmares and mental illnesses to find true happiness together.

Underwood will direct and produce the indie feature, which was originally supposed to shoot in 2020, but was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Production will begin in New York this summer.

“A true artist thrives in all genres. Most people know of...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSAbove: Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn. Radu Jude's Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn has won the Golden Bear at the 71st Berlinale. See the list of this year's award winners here. Recommended VIEWINGFeminist film journal Another Gaze has announced the upcoming launch of its free streaming platform, Another Screen, which will be available worldwide from March 12. Programming will begin with a retrospective dedicated to the late Italian filmmaker Cecilia Mangini. The official trailer for Roy Andersson's About Endlessness, which won Best Director at the Biennale in 2019. Read Leonardo Goi's Venice review of the film here.Janus Films has released its trailer for the restoration of Eric Rohmer's Tale of Four Seasons, an elegant cycle of moral parables. Until March 23, viewers have the opportunity to watch Tsai Ming-Liang's Madam...

“Glocal” is the key word for the Miami Dade College’s Miami Film Festival as the annual event provides a platform for both local and global projects. Of the 93 international submissions to the Oscars, the Florida fest has picked seven films “that moved us and that would speak powerfully to our Miami audience,” says festival executive director Jaie Laplante, who leads a selection committee alongside programming co-director, Lauren Cohen.

“We’ve always thought it important to look out for films by female directors but it wasn’t at all difficult this year,” says Cohen about the festival’s lineup, which includes nearly 100 shorts and features from some 40 countries.

This year’s 38th edition, which takes place March 5-14, and for the first time in its history, runs before the Oscars, includes international film shortlisted contenders “La Llorona,” “Sun Children,” “Quo Vadis, Aida?,” “Charlatan,” “The Mole Agent” and “Night of the Kings.

Prolific producer Stephanie Allain has inked a first-look film producing deal with Endeavor Content.

One of Hollywood’s most prolific African American producers, Allain’s filmography includes producing “Dear White People” (the film and series for Netflix), “Hustle & Flow,” Robert Rodriguez’s “El Mariachi & Desperado” and John Singleton’s “Poetic Justice,” “Higher Learning” and the late filmmaker’s directorial debut “Boyz ‘N the Hood.”

“Stephanie’s fierce advocacy for diverse filmmakers is matched only by her exceptional eye and discerning taste, and we are honored to be working with her to produce content that best reflects the world we live in,” Graham Taylor and Chris Rice, co-presidents, Endeavor Content, said in a statement.

“I am beyond excited to work with Graham, Chris, and everyone at Endeavor Content to produce movies that entertain and impact audiences around the world,” Allain added.

An Independent Spirit Awards, NAACP and Image Awards winner,...

Stephanie Allain, the veteran producer who championed John Singleton’s “Boyz N the Hood” and produced “Hustle & Flow,” has signed a first look producing deal with Endeavor Content.

Allain produced last year’s Oscars ceremony and recently served as an executive producer on the TV adaptation of “Dear White People.” She’s won multiple Independent Spirit Awards and NAACP and Image Awards, and is also Emmy-nominated for her work on the Oscars.

“I am beyond excited to work with Graham, Chris and everyone at Endeavor Content to produce movies that entertain and impact audiences around the world,” Allain said in a statement.

“Stephanie’s fierce advocacy for diverse filmmakers is matched only by her exceptional eye and discerning taste, and we are honored to be working with her to produce content that best reflects the world we live in,” said Graham Taylor and Chris Rice, co-presidents of Endeavor Content.

Exclusive: Endeavor Content has set a first-look producing deal with Stephanie Allain for feature films.

Allain is the producer who has won Independent Spirit Awards, NAACP and Image Awards, and who became the first woman of color to produce the Academy Awards when she teamed with Lynette Howell Taylor. They were Emmy nominated for their work producing last year’s 92nd Academy Awards. Her TV deal remains at Warner Bros.

“I am beyond excited to work with Graham, Chris and everyone at Endeavor Content to produce movies that entertain and impact audiences around the world,” Allain said.

“Stephanie’s fierce advocacy for diverse filmmakers is matched only by her exceptional eye and discerning taste, and we are honored to be working with her to produce content that best reflects the world we live in,” said Graham Taylor and Chris Rice, Co-Presidents of Endeavor Content.

The movie deal that started Allain...

Anthony Mackie will produce and star in Netflix’s upcoming action-adventure “The Ogun” from producer Jason Michael Berman.

“The Ogun” centers on Mackie’s character Xavier Rhodes, who takes his teenage daughter to Nigeria to find a cure for the rare genetic condition that he passed on to her. When his daughter is kidnapped, Rhodes goes on a rampage through the criminal underworld to find her before it’s too late.

No director is yet attached to “The Ogun,” written by stuntman-turned-screenwriter Madison Turner. Turner previously set up his Blacklist script “The Liberators” at Warner Bros. with Michael B. Jordan’s Outlier Society and Safehouse Pictures attached. He is currently rewriting an adaptation of Ed Brubaker’s “Kill or Be Killed” for Thunder Road.

Berman is producing “The Ogun” for Mandalay Pictures. He and Mackie collaborated on the sci-fi drama “Io,” which starred Margaret Qualley, Mackie and Danny Huston, and...

Alfre Woodard will star as civil rights and voting rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer in a forthcoming limited series for ABC Studios, Variety has learned exclusively.

Woodard is executive producing along with Carl Beverly, Sarah Timbermann, Roderick Spencer and Harry Belafonte, while Gina Belafonte serves as a producer.

Hamer rose from sharecropping in the Mississippi Delta to become a driving force in the voting rights movement, a prominent voice for civil rights and women’s rights and a leader in the push for economic opportunity for African Americans. She was the co-founder and vice-chair of the Freedom Democratic Party and organized Mississippi’s Freedom Summer in 1964 along with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She continued her civil rights work until she died in 1977, and she was posthumously inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame in 1993.

Woodard and Spencer teamed up in 2019 to produce the Netflix film “Juanita,” written by Spencer and starring Woodard.

Bookmark this page for all the latest international feature submissions.

Submissions for the best international feature film award at the 2021 Academy Awards have started to come in, and Screen is keeping a running list of each film below.

Scroll down for the full list

The 93rd Academy Awards is set to take place on April 25, 2021. It was originally set to be held on February 28, before both the ceremony and eligibility period were postponed for two months due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Submitted films must have been released in their respective countries between the expanded dates of October 1, 2019, and December 31, 2020. (Last year it was October-September.

IMDb TV, Amazon’s premium free streaming service, has put in development Hialeah: Dade F*ckin County, a half-hour family comedy from writers Monique Alvarez and Jessica Lee Williamson and Amazon Studios.

Co-created and written by Alvarez and Williamson, Hialeah: Dade F*ckin County follows first generation Cuban-American, ChiChi Rodriguez, who makes a run from her failed marriage and lands back with her disapproving family in the Cuban mecca of Hialeah: a hard left from Miami, a world away from the lavish version of South Florida, and the last place on earth ChiChi ever wanted to be. She’s determined to reinvent herself in this singular neighborhood brimming with cafecito counters, Santería altars, and bench ads for ass implants. But first she must learn that, hay que resolver: you gotta work with what you’ve got.

Alvarez and Williamson executive produce alongside Danielle Claman Gelber, Teri Weinberg (Gentefied) and Clark Johnson (The Shield), who directs.

The CW has put in development Modern Austen, a contemporary reimagining of Jane Austen’s novels, from writer Eleanor Burgess (Perry Mason), Stephanie Allain’s Homegrown Pictures and Warner Bros TV, where Allain is under a deal.

Written by Burgess, Modern Austen is a one-hour anthology series that reimagines Austen’s beloved novels as six modern stories, offering a kaleidoscopic look at love and family in our time of inequality and disconnection. Each season is a different novel, beginning with Pride and Prejudice, set in contemporary San Francisco.

Burgess executive produces with Homegrown Pictures’ Allain. Gabrielle Ebron, creative executive at Homegrown, serves as a producer. Warner Bros TV is the studio.

Burgess is a writer on HBO’s Perry Mason reboot, which has been renewed for a second season. She is eith Management 360 and attorney Rob Szymanski.

Allain produced the 2020 Academy Awards alongside Lynette Howell Taylor and made history...

“It’s so easy to fall back on generalisations when projects don’t work.”

Steaming platforms can dismantle pre-existing industry biases against under-represented groups, a virtual TIFF panel of three top Hollywood producers heard on Thursday (September 10).

Speaking on a session entitled ‘Killer Instincts: Powerhouse producers propelling commercial success’ where inclusion dominated the talking points, Dear White People producer Stephanie Allain said working with Netflix helped disprove an oft-repeated mantra in the US film business.

“What’s so fantastic is this this untrue adage that black films don’t travel is just completely out of the window with streaming,” said Allain.

“It’s so easy to fall back on generalisations when projects don’t work.”

Steaming platforms can dismantle pre-existing industry biases against under-represented groups, a virtual TIFF panel of three top female Hollywood producers heard on Thursday (September 10).

Speaking on a session entitled ‘Killer Instincts: Powerhouse producers propelling commercial success’ where inclusion dominated the talking points, Dear White People producer Stephanie Allain said working with Netflix helped disprove an oft-repeated mantra in the US film business.

“What’s so fantastic is this this untrue adage that black films don’t travel is just completely out of the window with streaming,...

Stephanie Allain, who most recently co-produced the 2020 Academy Awards, has closed a multi-year first-look deal at Warner Horizon Scripted Television, marking her first TV studio deal. Financial terms were not disclosed. Under the pact, Allain will develop new scripted programming for cable and on-demand/streaming services, as well as broadcast networks through the divisions of the Warner Bros. Television Group.

Allain produced the 2020 Academy Awards alongside Lynette Howell Taylor and made history as the first African American woman in the Academy’s 92-year history to do so.

Allain, a champion of diverse voices in cinema, founded female-led Homegrown Pictures in 2003, a company which produces content by and about women and people of color. She has since produced award-winning titles including Hustle & Flow, Something New, Peeples, Beyond The Lights, Dear White People, French Dirty, Burning Sands, Juanita and The Weekend. Collectively, Homegrown Pictures projects have been nominated for over 100 awards...

Stephanie Allain has inked a first-look deal with Warner Horizon Scripted Television, fresh off her recent gig producing the Oscars.

The multi-year agreement marks Allain’s first TV studio deal. Under the pact, Allain will develop new scripted programming for cable and broadcast networks, as well as streaming services, via the various divisions of the Warner Bros. Television Group.

Allain just made history as the first African American woman to produce the Academy Awards in the awards show’s history. She is credited with helping launch the careers of directors John Singleton, Robert Rodriguez, Craig Brewer, Sanaa Hamri and Justin Simien. In 2003, she founded her female-led production banner Homegrown Pictures, and has gone on to produce around a dozen features inclduing “Dear White People,” “Hustle & Flow,” “Peeples” “Beyond The Lights,” “Burning Sands” and most recently “Juanita.”

In 2019, Homegrown closed an overall deal with Adrienne Becker and Abigail Disney’s...

Ovation TV has announced the latest hosts and guests of the new season of “Inside the Actors Studio,” and the new network’s rotating host format is proving very exciting so far. Academy Award nominee Greta Gerwig will be interviewing Golden Globe and Emmy Award winner Laura Dern in an upcoming episode, as well as Tony Award nominee Latanya Richardson Jackson interviewing four-time Emmy Award winner Alfre Woodard. Both episodes have yet to be taped.

“Inside the Actors Studio” aired for 22 seasons on Bravo, where it was hosted by James Lipton. Famous for his penetrating index card questions and comically subdued delivery, Lipton has interviewed 74 Oscar winners and has been parodied by “The Simpsons.” Each episode ends with his famous ten questions, borrowed from French television personality Bernard Pivot and inspired by Marcel Proust.

Last year, it was announced that the series was moving to Ovation TV for its 23rd season,...

Country music’s old guard got a taste of the future Tuesday, as the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum held its annual “All for the Hall” gala at the Novo Theater in downtown Los Angeles.

Vince Gill, Emmylou Harris, and Sheryl Crow were joined by Luke Combs at the intimate, guitar-pull-style event, which benefits the Hall of Fame’s music education programs that now serve more than 130,000 students annually.

“This is the best you can get on a Tuesday,” quipped Gill, as he welcomed the small but captive crowd of 2,000 or so sponsors,...

Exclusive: Ashlie Atkinson (BlacKkKlansman) is set as a series regular opposite Rami Malek and Christian Slater on the upcoming fourth and final season of USA Network’s Mr. Robot, from creator Sam Esmail and Universal Content Prods.

Mr. Robot stars Oscar winner Malek as Elliot Alderson, a cyber-security engineer who becomes involved in the underground hacker group fsociety, after being recruited by its leader (Slater).

Atkinson will play Janice, a chatty taxidermist with a peculiar sense of humor.

The series co-stars Portia Doubleday, Carly Chaikin, Martin Wallström, Grace Gummer, Michael Cristofer and Bd Wong.

Aktinson last year starred in Spike Lee’s and Focus Features’ Oscar nominated film, BlacKkKlansman and also was recently seen in the Netflix film Juanita alongside Alfre Woodard. On the television side, Atkinson’s recent roles include Syfy’s Happy, FX’s Emmy-nominated series, Fosse/Verdon and CBS All Access’ One Dollar. Atkinson is repped by TalentWorks and Rosier Artist Management.