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“Bridgerton” breakout Simon Ashley, Apple TV+’s “Surface” lead star Gugu Mbatha-Raw and the USC’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative founder Dr. Stacy L. Smith are set to lead the lineup at the upcoming Women in Film Conference, to be held at Oxford University.

The day-long event at the university’s Sheldonian Theater will, according to organizers, celebrate change and urge further progress.

Ashley, recently seen in Amazon Prime’s “Picture This,” will be interviewed on stage by Smith, whose Annenberg Inclusion Initiative is co-sponsoring the event alongside Oxford University’s Cultural Programme and the Ghetto Film School.

“Simone is a multi-hyphenate who is clearly the future of the entertainment industry,” said Smith. “As we celebrate women’s work across entertainment, Simone’s voice represents the newest and next generation of leaders. Giving her the stage to talk about her career, her ambitions, and her vision of success will undoubtedly inspire...

Tubi, Fox’s free streaming service, has announced its list of September titles. The Tubi September 2024 slate features new Tubi Originals and numerous action, art house, Black cinema, comedy, documentary, drama, horror, kids and family, romance, sci-fi and fantasy, thriller, and Western titles.

As a leading ad-supported video-on-demand service, the company engages diverse audiences through a personalized experience and the world’s largest content library: over 200,000 movies and TV episodes, a growing collection of Tubi Originals, and nearly 250 Fast channels.

You can watch the Tubi September 2024 lineup for free on Android and iOS mobile devices, Amazon Echo Show, Google Nest Hub Max, Comcast Xfinity X1, and Cox Contour.

You can also watch the service on connected television devices such as Amazon Fire TV, Vizio TVs, Sony TVs, Samsung TVs, Roku, Apple TV, Chromecast, Android TV, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and on the Tubi site.

Tubi Originals

Action

Hazard – 9/6

Noah really loves his girlfriend,...

Exclusive: The Equalizer‘s Lorraine Toussaint is set as a series regular opposite Jessica Biel and Elizabeth Banks in Prime Video‘s thriller series The Better Sister, based on the novel by Alafair Burke.

Hailing from Tomorrow Studios, which will co-produce with Amazon MGM Studios, The Better Sister meditates on the terrible things that drive sisters apart and ultimately bring them back together. Biel leads the cast as Chloe, who moves through the world with her handsome lawyer husband Adam and teenage son Ethan by her side while her estranged sister Nicky (Banks) struggles to stay clean and hustles to make ends meet. When Adam is brutally murdered, the prime suspect sends shockwaves through the family, laying bare long-buried secrets.

Toussaint will play Catherine Lancaster. Grand dame of publishing, New York City queen-maker, Chloe’s (Biel) mentor and boss, Catherine is always thinking about the long-game.

Corey Stoll, Bobby Naderi,...

Summer is heating up on Max.

Back in May, Max added programming from TLC, HGTV and Food Network. That means Discovery’s popular Shark Week will be available to stream when it kicks off on July 23, with programming to be announced soon.

For fans of unscripted series, Season 3 or “90 Day Fiancé: Love in Paradise: Pillow Talk” (July 4) and Season 5 of “90 Day Fiancé: The Other Way” (July 10) are both streaming, as well as the series premiere of “90 Day Fiancé: UK.”

Home renovation fans will want to catch Season 16 of “Barnwood Builders” (July 6) and the special “Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge” (July 16), hosted by Ashley Graham, just in time for the feature film.

Also Read:

Here’s What’s New on Amazon Prime Video in July 2023

“Project Greenlight” (July 13) returns, with executive producer Issa Rae along with Kumail Nanjiani and Gina Prince-Bythewood serve as mentors throughout the season.

Finally, the six-episode Max Original limited series “Full Circle,...

Max is following DC’s lead with its list of new releases for July 2023.

The two big ticket items this month are of the superhero variety. My Adventures with Superman arrives to Max on July 7 after making its Adult Swim premiere the night before. The end of the month sees Harley Quinn season 4 making its long-awaited debut on July 27. Other original TV titles of note are the Steven Soderbergh-directed Full Circle (July 13) and the third and final season of How To With John Wilson on July 28.

On the movie side of things, documentary Glitch: The Rise and Fall of HQ Trivia premieres on July 20. Before that on July 13 is both a fresh reboot of filmmaking competition Project Greenlight and the movie that came of it, Gray Matter. Library movies in July include Pulp Fiction, V for Vendetta, Lethal Weapon, and more on July 1.

Here is everything else coming to HBO and Max this month.

Ready to beat the heat with something sweet? Of course, beach resorts, swimming pools, ice cream cones, and freshly squeezed ice-cold lemonade are all delightful means of summer refreshment. But occasionally, nothing rejuvenates like a date with a movie. However, in a world where the selection is so plentiful, even the slightest bit of direction goes a long way.

Max, the newly branded platform combining three of the biggest companies in the biz HBO, Cinemax, and Discovery+, has much to offer its viewers this summer. With Max, no matter the summer mood, viewers can rest assured they will get their fix with some of the most impressive features of our times.

Beginning in July, viewers who tune in will find their choice of epics, heroic offerings, classics, chills, inspired content, and much more. For those wondering exactly what to look forward to. Here are some of the best movies coming to Max in July.

The original Max series “Full Circle” debuts on July 13. Directed by Steven Soderbergh, the new drama investigates a kidnapping gone wrong in New York, revealing the secrets and lies of multiple characters. Or as the trailer warns: “Everything is connected.” The six-episode limited series stars Zazie Beetz, Claire Danes, Jim Gaffigan, Jharrel Jerome, Timothy Olyphant, and Dennis Quaid.

Watch the “Full Circle” trailer:

The four-part documentary “Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York” is set in the early 1990s as the AIDS crisis worsens. The media’s distorted coverage of the gay victims, coupled with the homophobic biases of the criminal justice system, undermine the investigation. The docuseries — which premieres on Max on July 9 — illustrates how the LGBTQ+ community fought to solve the murders and demand attention for those murdered.

Preview “Last Call: When A Serial Killer Stalked Queer New York”:

Arriving on the platform on...

Timothy Olyphant, Claire Danes, and Dennis Quaid in ‘Full Circle’ (Photograph by Sarah Shatz)

Max’s July 2023 schedule includes the premiere of the drama Full Circle and the return of Shark Week. The hot summer month’s lineup also includes the final season of How To With John Wilson, the premiere of Project Greenlight, and the final episodes of the popular comedy The Righteous Gemstones.

The two-part documentary The Golden Boy about the life and career of Oscar De La Hoya joins the streaming service’s lineup on July 24th. Shaun White: The Last Run, a docuseries about the Olympian, is set to premiere on July 6th.

Series & Films Arriving On Max In July 2023:

July 1

300 (2006)

17 Again (2009)

20th Century Women (2016)

A Life Less Ordinary (1997)

A Walk in the Woods (2015)

American Sniper (2014)

Angels Sing (2013)

Ballet 422 (2014)

Barbershop (2002)

Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004)

Beauty Shop (2005)

Because of Winn-Dixie (2005)

Brandi Carlile: In the...

"These abilities - they're complicated, they're transformative, and they can be dangerous." (HBO) Max has revealed an official trailer for the film Gray Matter, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Meko Winbush. Some of you will remember a show called Project Greenlight on HBO, about first-time filmmakers who were pitching & developing projects. The show is back (new trailer below) and Gray Matter is the feature film project they greenlit - following it through the production and post- process. It's ready to debut in July. Aurora has known all her life from her mother that the superhuman abilities they have also make them dangerous. Now, Aurora will discover if her mother was speaking the truth on one fateful and fatal night. Gray Matter stars Mia Isaac as Aurora, with Jessica Frances Dukes, Garret Dillahunt, Andrew Liner, Isabella Ferreira, Kristian Flores, Ezri Walker, and Allison Ye. This reminds me of Fast Color,...

Exclusive: Julia Hart is set to direct an adaptation of the 2019 Samantha Downing novel My Lovely Wife at Netflix. Hart will also co-write the script with Jordan Horowitz, who is producing through his Original Headquarters banner along with Brian Kavanaugh Jones and Fred Berger for Automatic and Roy Lee and Miri Yoon for Vertigo. Downing, Sean Berard and Barbara Poelle are exec producing.

Netflix had no comment.

Described as Mr. and Mrs. Smith meets Dexter, the story follows ordinary suburban spouses who keep their relationship alive by committing serial murders and getting away with it.

Hart beat out a number of directors for the coveted job. She got her first big break after directing Miss Stevens starring Lily Rabe. Other recent credits include Stargirl and Fast Color.

Hart and Horowitz are repped by CAA and Lichter Grossman Nicholas Adler Feldman & Clark. Downing is repped by Grandview. The novel is repped...

Nicolas Cage, Guillermo del Toro, Alice Brooks, and Saniyya Sidney will be honored at the 5th Annual Hca Film Awards, taking place on on January 8, 2022 at Avalon Hollywood! The event will be simultaneously live-streamed on the official Hca YouTube channel and we have all the details on the recipients of their Acting Achievement, Filmmaking Achievement, Artisan on the Rise, and Star on the Rise Awards:

"Los Angeles, CA -- -- The Hollywood Critics Association announced today the recipients of their Acting Achievement, Filmmaking Achievement, Artisan on the Rise, and Star on the Rise Awards. These honorary awards will be presented live during the 5th Annual Hca Film Awards, which will be held on Saturday, January 8, 2022, at Avalon Hollywood in Los Angeles. The awards ceremony will be simultaneously live-streamed on the Hca’s official YouTube channel and will include a red carpet pre-show.

Nicolas Cage will be receiving this year’s Acting Achievement Award.

Photo: 'Fast Color'/Lionsgate 'Fast Color' might be the most introverted superhero film since 'Unbreakable'. Similar to Shyamalan's 2000 cult classic, the movie is more interested in exploring the psychology, faith, and morality of the characters who wield these powers, rather than the visual devastation or spectacle that those powers can create. But 'Fast Color' isn't completely devoid of the visual extravaganza that normally accompanies our typical superhero fare, it just takes its sweet time getting to that point. So by the time the film is able to revel in all of its superheroic beauty, it's as visually stunning as it is emotionally powerful. Related article: ‘In the Heights’ – Behind the Scenes and Full Commentary/Reactions from Cast & Crew Related article: A Tribute to Cannes Film Festival: A Celebration of Cinema, Glamour, and Humanity | Statement From The Hollywood Insider’s CEO Pritan Ambroase Similar to 'Unbreakable',...

Lorraine Toussaint has signed with Paradigm, Variety has learned exclusively. She continues to be represented by Frontline Management, Jill Fritzo PR, and Myman Greenspan.

Toussaint currently stars in the CBS reboot of “The Equalizer” opposite Queen Latifah. The show was renewed for a second season earlier this week. She will next be seen alongside Idris Elba in the Netflix film “Concrete Cowboy” on April 2. The film had its debut at the Toronto International Film Festival in September.

Toussaint’s other recent credits include the Showtime drama series “Your Honor” with Bryan Cranston as well as the feature “The Glorias” with Julianne Moore.

She received widespread critical acclaim for her starring role in Season 2 of the Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” as the villainous inmate Vee. She would go on to win a Critics Choice Award for her time on the series. Her other TV credits include shows such as “The Village,...

Over the course of four films, Julia Hart and Jordan Horowitz have carved out a unique niche: bending both genre and expectations to craft stories that break the mold of what a “female-centric” story can (and should) look like. From superheroes to high school students, the women that populate the couple’s films — which Hart directs from scripts the couple write together — find drama and emotion in unexpected, and often otherwise untapped places. All of that is by design.

“With all of our movies, it’s something that we think about a lot, making female characters feel like real women, as opposed to a female character that fits into a formula that everybody is comfortable with,” Hart said in a recent interview with IndieWire.

While other films and filmmakers might be hung up on building stories around easily digestible and readily recognizable formulas, Hart and Horowitz relish the chance to...

Whatever the future holds both for theatrical distribution and for at-home streaming, 2020 will no doubt mark the pivot point in which the destinies of both would forever change. But where and how one sees films will inevitably be less important than the films themselves, and even in this year of turmoil, there was always something to recommend, wherever it was available to be seen.

Notable Runners-Up: “The 40-Year-Old Version,” “Ammonite,” “Another Round,” “And Then We Danced,” “The August Virgin,” “Birds of Prey,” “Da 5 Bloods,” “Emma.,” “The Half of It,” “Happiest Season,” “House of Hummingbird,” “I’m No Longer Here,” “I’m Thinking of Ending Things,” “The Invisible Man,” “Kajillionaire,” “Let Them All Talk,” “Lingua Franca,” “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” “Madre,” “Miss Juneteenth,” “The Nest,” “Nomadland,” “One Night in Miami,” “The Photograph,” “The Secret Garden,” “She Dies Tomorrow,” “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” “Shirley,” “Sorry We Missed You,” “Tigertail,” “The Truth,...

Rachel Brosnahan stars as a young wife and mother who has almost no idea where she’s going next in Amazon’s “I’m Your Woman,” and director Julia Hart excitingly puts the audience in a similarly unpredictable position. It’s a road trip, it’s a story of a woman in trouble, and it’s about fleeing the scene of the crime, but the film refuses to follow the established path audiences might be expecting.

Many contemporary filmmakers shoot for that gritty yet personal sweet spot of 1970s “New Hollywood” honesty and intensity, but few have captured it with the finesse of Hart, who shares screenwriting credit with her husband Jordan Horowitz. A talented filmmaker who’s not being talked about nearly enough — her last two credits were the incisive and humane “Miss Stevens” and the arthouse superhero saga “Fast Color,” both acclaimed yet underseen — Hart has created a film...

We’ve almost made it through an objectively terrible 2020 — and while you wait for this annus miserablis to finally end, there’s a lot of stuff to watch while you’re stuck at home, wishing you could be with loved ones and remembering better times. Need a holiday-centric special episode of a controversial show about teens run amuck? Boom. You want to see the new Wonder Woman movie? Well, Merry Christmas to you (assuming you have HBO Max). Also on deck: a slew of big-name Netflix movies and the first...

You’ll be halfway through “I’m Your Woman” before its premise is clear, but the mystery is as gripping as its payoff. Director Julia Hart’s fourth feature pairs an engrossing turn from Rachel Brosnahan with a tense ‘70s-set script constructed with jigsaw precision. The full picture may amount to a contrived gangster story, but Hart (who scripted with her partner Jordan Horowitz) approaches that formula from the inside out.

“I’m Your Woman” owes much to Brosnahan’s evolving performance as she goes from terrified housewife to trenchant survivalist over the course movie, and the movie consolidates the strengths of Hart’s previous work. Like her breakout Civil War script “The Keeping Room,” it finds women trapped in a man’s world, and forced to resort to violence as a means of escape. And like the lo-fi superhero drama “Fast Color,” its heroine goes on the lam before she truly understands what’s chasing her,...

Writer-director Julia Hart (“Fast Color”) has seen more crime films than she can count, and she has concluded that these movies have a bad habit of underutilizing their female characters — the girlfriends and wives who get shunted to the side when the going gets tough. It’s bad form for reviews to quote from press notes, but this insight from Hart warrants repeating: “The moment the door closes in Diane Keaton’s face in ‘The Godfather.’ The moment Tuesday Weld gets in the car in ‘Thief,’” she explains. “I just always found myself wanting to follow the woman. … And since I never got to see that in those movies, I just decided to make that movie myself.”

“I’m Your Woman” features Rachel Brosnahan in the other side of a story that has often, but not always, focused on men. Except, the best examples of the genre do make room for the wives and the girlfriends.

Like so many other festivals unspooling in recent months, this year’s AFI Fest has opted to roll out as a virtual event, all the better for film fans to catch the best the Los Angeles-based festival has to offer from just about anywhere. One of the last big festivals on the fall circuit, this year’s AFI Fest boasts a wide range of both films and events for everyone to enjoy.

The fest opens on Thursday night with the world premiere of Julia Hart’s “I’m Your Woman” and, over the course of the next week, will also play new films from filmmakers Errol Morris, Heidi Ewing, Mira Nair, Florian Zeller, Werner Herzog, and many more. This year’s complete AFI Fest program includes 124 titles of which 53 percent are directed by women, 39 percent are directed by Bipoc, and 17 percent are directed by Lbgtq+.

The virtual event is accessible...

"I just thought you should be prepared for what comes next." Amazon Prime Video has released an official trailer for a 1970s crime thriller titled I'm Your Woman, the latest from acclaimed filmmaker Julia Hart. In this 70s crime film, a woman is forced to go on the run after her husband betrays his partners, sending her and her baby on a dangerous journey. The film draws on signature '70s crime dramas to offer a compelling portrait of the women who are often left at home in those stories. "The primary inspiration for wanting to set in the '70s was to reclaim a bit of that period and that genre for a female protagonist," Hart tells EW. Rachel Brosnahan stars with Marsha Stephanie Blake, Arinzé Kene, James McMenamin, Marceline Hugot, Frankie Faison, & Bill Heck. It's premiering at AFI Fest this month before debuting on Amazon in December. This...

'I’m Your Woman' trailer has been released and it stars Rachel Brosnahan as a mom on the run.

Amazon Prime Video shares the first official trailer for the crime drama on Tuesday, featuring the Emmy-winning 'Marvelous Mrs. Maisel' actress as Jean, a wife and new mother whose husband, Eddie (Bill Heck), is a thief.

Set in the 1970s, 'I’m Your Woman' follows the story of Jean, who is forced to run away with her infant child after Eddie betrays his partners. She is helped by Cal (Arinze Kene) and Teri (Marsha Stephanie Blake), a man and woman who inspire her to fight back against her pursuers.

The adventure drama film is being directed by Julia Hart, who co-wrote the screenplay with Jordan Horowitz.

According to IndieWire, 'I’m Your Woman' will release at the upcoming AFI Fest, and Amazon has released the first trailer ahead...

After three Emmy-winning seasons of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” Amazon has figured out nobody can work a period costume like Rachel Brosnahan. While “Mrs. Maisel” made Brosnahan a household face, she has yet to break out on the film side in the same way. While she’s appeared in films by Craig Gillespie and Joachim Trier, Brosnahan is leading the crime thriller “I’m Your Woman,” which positions her as a mob wife who becomes unwittingly embroiled in her husband’s affairs. “I’m Your Woman” is the opening night film of the upcoming AFI Fest, and Amazon has released a first trailer in anticipation of the film’s festival debut.

Per AFI Fest’s official synopsis: “Suburban housewife Jean (Brosnahan) lives a seemingly easy life, supported by husband Eddie’s (Bill Heck) career as a thief. But when Eddie betrays his partners, Jean and her baby are forced to go on the run,...

Director Julia Hart has wowed us with her work in Miss Stevens, Fast Color, and, most recently, this year's Stargirl. Now, we've been gifted with not one but two 2020 releases from Hart, the second being I'm Your Woman starring The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's Rachel Brosnahan. Amazon Prime Video released the official trailer for I'm Your Woman this week. Over the course of the trailer, we're teased with a story about a young woman and 1970s housewife whose life is upended when her thief husband disappears and she's forced to go on the …...

“I’m Your Woman,” a crime drama starring Rachel Brosnahan and directed by Julia Hart, will make its world premiere as the opening night film of the 2020 AFI Fest, the festival announced Monday.

The 34th edition of the film festival will be virtual this year and will take place online between October 15-22. The full AFI Fest lineup will be unveiled in October.

Hart directs “I’m Your Woman” from a script she co-wrote with Jordan Horowitz that’s set in the 1970s and follows Brosnahan as a woman forced to go on the run after her husband betrays his partners, sending her and her baby on a dangerous journey. Here’s the full synopsis:

Suburban housewife Jean (Rachel Brosnahan) lives a seemingly easy life, supported by husband Eddie’s (Bill Heck) career as a thief. But when Eddie betrays his partners, Jean and her baby are forced to go on the run,...

For screenplay Oscars, auteurs have the advantage. Academy voters give creators extra points for controlling their visions. That’s why “The French Dispatch” (Searchlight) — written by three-time screenplay nominee Wes Anderson and collaborators Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman — is a strong contender in this race.

Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.

After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...

For screenplay Oscars, auteurs have the advantage. Academy voters give creators extra points for controlling their visions. That’s why “The French Dispatch” (Searchlight) — written by three-time screenplay nominee Wes Anderson and collaborators Roman Coppola, Hugo Guinness, and Jason Schwartzman — is a strong contender in this race.

Anderson’s latest European ensemble threads three storylines about the French outpost of a Kansas newspaper. The comedy stars Anderson regulars Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, and Adrien Brody, plus newcomers Benicio del Toro, Jeffrey Wright, Elisabeth Moss, Léa Seydoux, and Timothée Chalamet. In 2015, Anderson’s “The Grand Budapest Hotel” scored nine Oscar nominations and won four tech Oscars after playing Berlin, a likely February launch pad for this movie with global appeal.

After winning Adapted Screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman,” Spike Lee was supposed to head the jury at Cannes 2020 and premiere his intense Vietnam drama “Da 5 Bloods” out of competition. Instead the movie,...

Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions is staying in business with Amazon Studios. The company has expanded its exclusive first-look deal to include television, in addition to extending its film deal. As part of the new pact, JuVee will continue to develop and produce features as well as television series to premiere exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Amazon Studios, bringing our TV division along with Film,” said Davis and Tennon. “Our mission and the importance of being given an opportunity to be seen and occupy space is our legacy. JuVee’s collaboration with Amazon is one of shared vision and shared courage.”

JuVee’s previous TV home was at ABC Studios, producer of the Davis-starring How To Get Away With Murder, which wrapped its sixth and final season in May.

JuVee currently has...

JuVee Productions, the production company of Viola Davis and Julius Tennon, has set an expanded first-look deal with Amazon. The deal will now include television in addition to extending their film deal.

JuVee previously had a TV overall deal at ABC Studios.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Amazon Studios, bringing our TV division along with Film,” Davis and Tennon said. “Our mission and the importance of being given an opportunity to be seen and occupy space is our legacy. JuVee’s collaboration with Amazon is one of shared vision and shared courage.”

JuVee currently has two television projects and three films in development with Amazon Studios. Those include an adaptation of Octavia Butler’s “Wild Seed” book and a series adaptation of the film “Fast Color.” The company also has projects in the works across a number of broadcast, cable, and streaming platforms.

“Amazon has established itself...

Viola Davis and Julius Tennon have expanded their first-look deal with Amazon Studios to include television.

The new deal, which covers both film and TV, will see the husband-wife duo continue to develop and produce features as well as new television series for Amazon Prime Video through their JuVee Productions banner.

“We are excited to continue our partnership with Amazon Studios, bringing our TV division along with Film,” Davis and Tennon said in a joint statement. “Our mission and the importance of being given an opportunity to be seen and occupy space is our legacy. JuVee’s collaboration with Amazon is one of shared vision and shared courage.”

Also Read: Priyanka Chopra Jonas Signs First Look TV Deal With Amazon Studios

JuVee previously signed a film-only deal with Amazon Studios in 2018. The company currently has two television projects and three films in development at the studio, including an adaptation of...

It’s been a year of change for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has responded not only to the pandemic, pushing back the global ABC Oscars telecast from February 28 to April 25, 2021 — setting a new award season calendar as other award shows have followed suit — but the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.

In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...

It’s been a year of change for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which has responded not only to the pandemic, pushing back the global ABC Oscars telecast from February 28 to April 25, 2021 — setting a new award season calendar as other award shows have followed suit — but the urgency of the Black Lives Matter movement.

In its continuing push to swell the Academy membership ranks, 819 artists and executives from 68 countries have been invited to join this year. The branches have increasingly actively sought eligible people to become Academy members, but the Board of Governors makes the final call. People from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities (36 percent) and women (45 percent) are among the many invites, as the Academy continues to address its long-term white-male dominance. As always, actors make up the largest branch of the Academy, but many new members (49 percent) also come from overseas.

In 2019, the Academy invited 842 new members,...

Actor Gugu Mbatha-Raw has long been drawn to stories that combined both art and activism. From her breakthrough role as Dido Elizabeth Belle, a gentlewoman of color in the film “Belle,” to her recent work in films like “Misbehaviour” and “Fast Color” and the Apple TV program “The Morning Show,” Mbatha-Raw is often at the center of stories that mix entertainment with social awareness. Now, she is finding another art form – painting portraits – as another way to combine the two, having painted portraits of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor that will be up for auction via the organization Still We Rise.

The auction, taking place June 20-29, will benefit several organizations including Equal Justice Initiative, M4BL, The Bail Project and Black Lives Matter and more information can be found online at www.stillwerisecommunity.com or on their Instagram page at www.instagram.com/_stillwerise. You can also check out...

Who were you before the world beat you down? That so-called inner child that therapists and astrologers are always on about, how have you let them down? We’ve all let the pressures of popularity, society, and conformity mold and shape us into more palatable versions of ourselves. After all, that’s what becoming an adult is. At least, that’s what the perils of high school socialization led us to believe. How might your life have been different if someone who was so utterly and wholly themselves swooped in to remind you of your precious inner magic?

That’s the question at the heart of “Stargirl,” a tender and offbeat coming-of-age indie premiering this week on Disney+. The film is based on the 2000 novel by Jerry Spinelli, a unique young adult novelist who specializes in crafting grounded, reality-adjacent universes with a comedic flare and just a hint of otherworldliness.

Since its late 2019 launch, fledgling streaming service Disney+ has only released a handful of original films, from projects initially bound for theatrical releases (like the Willem Dafoe-starring dogsledding adventure “Togo”) to those expressly made for the service (like the live-action remake of “Lady and the Tramp”). When filmmaker Julia Hart and her husband and co-writer Jordan Horowitz signed on to make “Stargirl,” the streaming service was still almost two years away from its public debut.

It was something of a leap of faith for the “Fast Color” and “Miss Stevens” team. They had no idea what Disney+ was going to look like, but they knew it would be big (Disney big!) and that it offered them a chance to scale up their production in a way that independent filmmaking might not be able to provide.

More from IndieWireAnimatronic Baby Yoda Will Bring Balance to the Force and Children's Hospitals'The...

After playing a sort of superhero in last year’s “Fast Color,” it appears that Gugu Mbatha-Raw is going full-on capes and tights next year in Marvel Studios’ upcoming streaming series, “Loki.”

According to Deadline, the actress is the latest person to join the growing cast of the streaming series starring Tom Hiddleston, who plays the titular God of Mischief.

Continue reading Gugu Mbatha-Raw Joins Marvel Studios’ ‘Loki’ Streaming Series at The Playlist.

Showtime has given a straight-to-series order to one-hour drama First Ladies, whose first season stars Viola Davis as former first lady Michelle Obama. Davis also executive produces the series, which was put on fast-track development at the premium cabler last August with a three-script commitment.

It hails from writer Aaron Cooley, Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Productions, Cathy Schulman’s Welle Entertainment (Otherhood), Jeff Gaspin’s Gaspin Media (LA’s Finest) and Brad Kaplan (The Intruder). Showtime and Lionsgate TV co-produce.

Written by Cooley, First Ladies is set in the East Wing of the White House, where many of history’s most impactful and world-changing decisions have been hidden from view, made by America’s charismatic, complex and dynamic first ladies. The series will peel back the curtain on the personal and political lives of our most enigmatic heroes,...

Exclusive: Viola Davis and Julius Tennon’s JuVee Production is teaming with HBO to develop the comedy House of Chow from Ken Cheng, who wrote the pilot and will serve as executive producer alongside Head of TV Development at JuVee Andrew Wang and pilot director Jude Weng. Davis and Tennon also will serve as EPs.

Based on Cheng’s experiences growing up in a restaurant kitchen, House of Chow is a comedy about the reluctant partnership that forms between estranged, thirtysomething siblings Vicky and Charlie Chow. Both realize that the best way to salvage their disappointing and dysfunctional lives is to revive their family’s old Chinese restaurant and turn it into something it’s never been: a success. To do that, all they’ll need to do is exploit the gullible foodies of L.A. into believing they’re something they’ve never been: happy to be there.

Hulu is out with its monthly list of everything coming and going. This December, new additions include Season 6 of “Younger,” two new episodes of “Into the Dark,” and Season 3 of “Marvel’s Runaways.”

According to Hulu’s description, here’s what’s going on in the the new season of “Younger”: “After Liza lands her dream job by posing as a millennial, she realizes that the truth is much better than fiction.” That’s out Dec. 3.

Season 3 of “Marvel’s Runaways,” in which the Runaways search for their captured friends, is out Dec. 13.

Also Read: FX Moves 4 Shows to Hulu, Will Produce Original Series for Streaming Service

On Dec. 6, “Into The Dark: A Nasty Piece of Work” finds a mid-level employee at a big company faced with a challenge: in order to climb the corporate ladder, he must beat his co-worker in a violent competition.

On Dec. 27 comes “Into The Dark: Midnight Kiss,...

Mike Flanagan’s Doctor Sleep is an ambitious sequel that rests on now hallmark auteur signatures, if to a fault. The “Hill House” architect proves himself one of the era’s most compassionate horror storytellers in the way his characters deal with empathy, addiction, and trauma – but Flanagan’s overall vision is hampered by Stanley Kubrick comparisons and Stephen King’s source novelization. Where Kubrick took King’s words and charted his own nightmare experience (much to King’s dismay), Flanagan seems slavishly dedicated to the source. The result? A swollen running time that scores some nostalgic wins, feels otherwise recycled, and loses grip of the larger original narrative while tossing in “Kingiverse” Easter Eggs until your basket runneth over.

Dan Torrance (Ewan McGregor), to no shock, harbors deep psychological wounds after his experience at the Overlook Hotel. Now an adult, he numbs his “Shining” with hopelessness and liquor. The thing is,...

The Rachel Brosnahan-led indie “I’m Your Woman” has rounded out its cast and filming has commenced in Pittsburgh, Pa.

The actress, who is the streamer’s most decorated star thanks to her Emmy and Golden Globe-winning work on “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” welcomes a slew of actors on the drama about a woman and her child on the run from the sins of her husband.

Marsha Stephanie Blake, British actor Arinzé Kene and Bill Heck (“The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”) have all joined the project in key roles. Frankie Faison, Marceline Hugot (“Julie & Julia”), and James McMenamin (“Orange is the New Black”) have signed on for supporting roles.

The film is directed by Julia Hart, and co-written by Hart and husband Jordan Horowitz. Hart was writer-director on the 2016 SXSW player “Miss Stevens,” starring Lily Rabe and then-undiscovered talents Timothee Chalamet and Lili Reinhart. She also helmed this...

Curzon distributed theatrically in UK in June.

Myriad Pictures has launched talks with Tiff buyers to migrant crisis drama The Flood starring Games Of Thrones leads Lena Headey and Iain Glen.

Kirk D’Amico and his team have acquired all rights excluding the UK to the political drama that includes Ivanno Jeremiah from Humans and the upcoming Game Of Thrones prequel.

Anthony Woodley directed from a screenplay by Helen Kingston about a tough immigration officer (Headey) assigned to assess a young man (Jeremiah) seeking entry to the UK who may harbor sinister intentions.

Luke Healy produced The Flood, which premiered...

Curzon distributed theatrically in UK in June.

Myriad Pictures has launched talks with Tiff buyers to migrant crisis drama The Flood starring Games Of Thrones leads Lena Headey and Iain Glen.

Kirk D’Amico and his team have acquired all rights excluding the UK to the political drama that includes Ivanno Jeremiah from Humans and the upcoming Game Of Thrones prequel.

Anthony Woodley directed from a screenplay by Helen Kingston about a tough immigration officer (Headey) assigned to assess a young man (Jeremiah) seeking entry to the UK who may harbor sinister intentions.

Luke Healy produced The Flood, which premiered...

Sales slate includes completed elevated sci-fi thriller Only starring Freida Pinto.

Santa Monica-based Myriad Pictures has kicked off talks with international buyers on the completed crime thriller Hammer starring Will Patton and Mark O’Brien from recent release Ready Or Not.

Christian Sparkes (Cast No Shadow) wrote and directed the feature about Chris (O’Brien), an ex-con who plots to rob his drug-dealing friend, Adams (Ben Cotton). When the plan goes wrong, Chris turns to his father (Patton) for help.

Jonathan Bronfman, Alison White, William Woods and Chris Agoston serve as producers, and Fraser Ash, Niv Fichman, and Kevin Krikst are the executive producers.

Takashi Doscher wrote, directed tale of disease that threatens female population.

Santa Monica-based Myriad Pictures will launch sales in Toronto on the completed elevated sci-fi thriller Only starring Freida Pinto and Leslie Odom Jr.

Takashi Doscher wrote and directed the story about a couple on the run from police and bounty hunters after a disease threatens to wipe out the female population. Pinto plays the person who may be the last female on earth.

New York City-based Gideon Tadmor developed, financed and served as executive producer on the film, and Eyal Rimmon and Gabrielle Pickle (Still) produced. Jim Kaufman is also an executive producer.

Having a superpowered child can’t be easy. We’ve seen this sort of premise used in recent films like “Freaks” and “Fast Color,” where we realize that having any sort of supernatural abilities ultimately leads to persecution and government intervention instead of the brightly-colored, superhero-loving world that you see in Marvel films. And Michael B. Jordan is looking to explore this story even further with his upcoming Netflix series “Raising Dion.”

As seen in the first look photos and from what you can surmise from the title, alone, “Raising Dion” is focused on the young child that begins to develop superpowers and his mother, who must protect him from those that want to apprehend him and exploit him.

Continue reading Michael B. Jordan Has A Superpowered Kid In ‘Raising Dion’ First Look Images From Netflix at The Playlist.

In spring 2019, “Fast Color” had rave reviews, Oscar-nominated “La La Land” producer Jordan Horowitz — and it seemed to be doomed. It took a while for the film to find distribution; Lionsgate’s Codeblack Films acquired the film six months after its 2018 SXSW premiere, and that came after writer-director Julia Hart and writer-producer Jordan Horowitz were rejected “by any number of marketing executives or heads of studios,” Horowitz said. “I was told in very direct language that they didn’t know who the movie was for.” In April, when the film about three generations of black women with supernatural talents reached theaters, it made just $77,000 at the box office.

And then, a few months later, Amazon announced that it would develop a “Fast Color” series, with Viola Davis producing. It’s a fairy-tale ending for the film, but the real story is considerably more complex.

The truth is, Amazon wanted “Fast Color” from the start.

Amazon Studios has set its next series, an adaptation of the sci-fi indie drama Fast Color. Directed by Julia Hart and starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Fast Color debuted in 2018 to warm reviews praising its grounded exploration of three generations of women living their lives as they deal with the fact that they have superpowers. Deadline first reported on Amazon Studios' intention to adapt this promising film into a new TV series for its streaming service. Their report also notes that JuVee Productions, run by Viola Davis and her husband, Julius Tennon, will take over as producer on the …...

Fast Color, the grounded superhero indie movie that starred Gugu Mbatha-Raw and hit theaters earlier this year, is getting its own TV series. Jordan Horowitz (the producer who revealed on stage that Moonlight actually beat La La Land at the Oscars) co-wrote the movie with director Julia Hart, and they’re both on board to return in […]

The post Superhero Indie Film ‘Fast Color’ is Getting a TV Adaptation at Amazon appeared first on /Film.

Here is a wrap-up of all the news you need to know from July 30, 2019.

Netflix released the official teaser for Mindhunter Season 2.

Starring Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany, the series follows two FBI agents in the late 70s who interview a series of serial killers with the hope they can help solve open cases.

The teaser suggests there is one who got away, and Holden Ford and Bill Trench continue their visits with Ed Kemper (Cameron Britton) in their quest for answers.

Kemper isn't optimistic they'll catch their man.

The full description for Season 2 follows:

FBI agents Holden Ford (Groff) and Bill Tench (Holt McCallany) probe further into the psyches of those who have done the unthinkable. With help from psychologist Wendy Carr (Anna Torv), they apply their groundbreaking behavioral analysis to hunting notorious serial killers.

The straight to series Joss Whedon fronted The Nevers added a whopping 12 cast members to the HBO sci-fi drama.