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Director Mark Cousins shines a light on the remarkable artistic journey of 20th-century Scottish painter Wilhelmina Barns-Graham in his poetic new documentary A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things. Known to friends as Willie, Barns-Graham immersed herself in the St Ives artistic community in Cornwall yet routinely faced dismissal from critics during her career. Cousins steps back from a traditional biographical approach, instead exploring Willie’s life and work through her own eyes. We learn of her upbringing, time with the St. Ives group, and how nature’s rhythms inspired a breakthrough during a 1949 hike in Switzerland’s Grindelwald Glacier. With Tilda Swinton’s narration of Willie’s writings and striking visuals of her paintings, Cousins draws us intimately into Willie’s world. Through this rose-tinted lens, her overlooked genius is brought vibrantly to light. Premiering at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival, where it took the top prize, A Sudden Glimpse...

It’s been nearly nine months since Future Islands released their seventh studio album, People Who Aren’t There Anymore. Now, the band is back with a new standalone single titled “Glimpse.”

Recorded during the sessions for People Who Aren’t There Anymore, “Glimpse” captures Future Islands’ dreamy electronic sound, with a driving, dancey beat, a retro synth counter-melody, and vocalist Sam Herring’s signature growl. Lyrically, it deals with a sense of communal loss and memory, describing the burning of a family home and coming to the poignant climax, “Let the green grass over me … Who is left to grieve?”

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“Glimpse” arrives alongside a visualizer by Jayla Smith, building on the visual themes of People Who Aren’t There Anymore, with cover artwork by Beedallo and art direction and design by Nolen Strals. Stream the single and watch the visualizer below.

When it was released in January,...

A Coenesque caper-gone-wrong and an interactive mother-daughter saga told in bite-size form, Xr titles “Kidnapped in Vostok” (pictured) and “Rock, Paper, Scissors” are among the 17 projects leading distributor Astrea picked up in a recent bout of acquisitions.

Both titles are playing in competition at this year’s NewImages Festival, while other recent Astrea pickups include the Stanislaw Lem inspired short “Cosmogonic,” the award winning interactive film “Glimpse” from Oscar winner Benjamin Cleary and VR designer Michael O’Connor, and all five episodes of the “Missing Pictures” series, in which filmmakers Abel Ferrara, Tsai Ming-Liang, Catherine Hardwicke, Lee Myung-Se and Naomi Kawase reflect on the dream projects they could never get made.

Rounding out the list of recent pickups are “Child of Empire,” “Evolver,” “Gondwana,” “The Mutek Collection,” “Norn Vol. 1: The Nine Daughters of Ran” and “On the Morning You Wake.”

The recent round of acquisitions caps a period of breakneck growth for the young distributor.

Robert Springs from the 90 Day Fiancé franchise has been working on his fitness, and his social media posts prove that he has transformed his body completely. The Florida man debuted in season 7, during which he married Anny Francisco. Since then, the reality star has become famous on the Internet for his 90 Day Fiancé: Pillow Talk commentary, and the fitness journey that he has shared with his social media followers.

Despite the tragic loss of their second child, Robert and Anny have found ways to move forward, including putting in work to turn their new house into their dream home. They purchased their first residence together in Deltona, Florida in May 2022. It has four bedrooms, a couple of bathrooms, and a two-car garage. In January 2023, Robert posted a video of himself lifting weights, stating that he had gone from lifting 35 pounds to 75 pounds. He also remains active by swimming in...

Exclusive: WME has inked Oscar winner Benjamin Cleary, whose short film Stutterer won the Oscar in 2016.

The Irish writer, director and producer from Dublin most recently wrote and directed the Apple thriller Swan Song, based on his own original idea.

Anonymous Content, Know Wonder, and Concordia produced the film, which starred Mahershala Ali, Glenn Close, Awkwafina and Naomi Harris.

In 2017, Cleary and his creative partner Michael O’Connor co-founded a development and production studio called Mr. Kite. They were recently awarded Best VR Interactive Experience at Cannes Xr 2022 for their first project, a virtual reality animation experience called Glimpse starring Taron Egerton and Lucy Boynton.

Mr. Kite is currently developing a world-building blockchain video game called Today, teaming up with top game developers and collaborators in the worlds of design, architecture, film, fashion, music and art.

Cleary continues to be represented by The Agency (London), Iconoclast, Anonymous Content and Assembly Productions.

“Alex Honnold: The Soloist” and “Glimpse” were awarded at Cannes Xr x VeeR Future Awards on May 22, named best VR story and best VR interactive experience respectively. The winners were announced by jurors Zhang Ziyi and Bad Robot’s Hannah Minghella, who judged 18 shortlisted VR works alongside Michel Reilhac, Vicki Dobbs Beck, Kari Skogland and Doug Chiang.

The event, marking the third year of the partnership, took place online on a shared metaverse called “Alexandria,” created by Cannes Xr and NewImages Festival.

Directed by Jonathan Griffith, two-part series “Alex Honnold: The Soloist” follows the famous rock climber and the star of “Free Solo,” using the latest VR panoramic shooting technology.

“That’s how I fell in love with VR straight away: it’s the best way to bring people into our alien world of climbing,” Griffith tells Variety about “the absolute passion project” of his career.

Also behind “Everest VR:...

Glimpse, an interactive animated film from Swan Song writer-director Benjamin Cleary and Michael O’Connor and featuring the voices of Taron Egerton and Lucy Boynton, and a VR project following Alex Hannold, the subject of the Oscar-winning climbing documentary Free Solo, have won the prizes of the Cannes Xr program that is part of Cannes’ Marché du Film.

Glimpse, which won the VeeR Future Award – Best VR Interactive Experience, follows a heartbroken panda named Herbie (Egerton) who examines the memories of his relationship after recently breaking up with his deer girlfriend Rice (Boynton). The original score is by Julianna Barwick. The project is a co-production of Cleary and O’Connor’s Mr. Kite and Albyon, the studio branch of the Atlas V group. It is Albyon’s first co-production. Lee Harris produced for Electric Skies.

Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR won the VeeR Future Award – Best VR Story prize. Directed by Jonathan Griffith,...