News

Exclusive: Ben Coren, former Film4 and Misfits executive, has joined UK production company Jeva Films as head of development.

Coren will oversee an expansion for the London-based company, known for films such as The Lesson, Nina Forever and 7 Keys, following a £90,000investment from the BFI’s UK Global Screen Fund in support of a new growth strategy.

This strategy will include collaborating with more Scandinavian and Indian diaspora talent and working towards co-productions with these territories.

Coren worked for 11 years at Film4, and was head of development from 2019, before becoming head of scripted at UK McQueen producer Misfits in 2024.

He...

Movie score aficionados rejoice! The Future Ruins Music & Arts Festival is assembling a line-up of film & TV composers to perform their most celebrated themes, as the credo of the festival is “The Music Tells the Story.” Musical acts like John Carpenter, Danny Elfman, Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross, Questlove and Goblin are among those included on the list of performances for the event. The Future Ruins Festival is scheduled to take place on November 8 and will be held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center. You can get tickets at their official website Here.

The official festival description reads,

“Future Ruins is a first-of-its-kind music festival: a day-long event where the world’s most influential film and television composers step out from behind the screen and onto the stage.

Set across three stages at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center, Future Ruins is designed to feel thoughtful and immersive, bringing this music to...

Nine Inch Nails have announced Future Ruins, a new one-day music festival taking place at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center on Saturday, November 8th, 2025.

Created and curated by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, Future Ruins is billed as “a first-of-its-kind of music festival: a day-long event where the world’s most influential film and television composers step out from behind the screen and onto the stage.”

Get Nine Inch Nails Tickets Here

“It’s about giving people who are, literally, the best in the world at taking audiences on an emotional ride via music the opportunity to tell new stories in an interesting live setting,” explained Reznor in a statement.

“There’s no headliner. There’s no hierarchy. This is a stacked lineup of visionaries doing something you might not see again,” added Reznor and Ross.

Alongside Reznor and Ross, the lineup features such composing luminaries as John Carpenter, Danny Elfman,...

Nine Inch Nails principals and veteran film composers Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross have announced “Future Ruins,” a festival featuring some of the top film and TV composers in the business, taking place on Saturday, November 8 in Los Angeles. John Carpenter, Questlove (performing the soundtrack work of Curtis Mayfield), Danny Elfman, Mark Mothersbaugh and Hildur Guðnadóttir are among the participants; the complete lineup and highlights of their careers appears below.

Presented by Live Nation, the event is “a first-of-its-kind of music festival: a day-long event where the world’s most influential film and television composers step out from behind the screen and onto the stage,” according to the announcement. Tickets are available starting Wednesday, May 21 at 12 p.m. Pt.

“It’s about giving people who are, literally, the best in the world at taking audiences on an emotional ride via music the opportunity to tell new stories in an interesting live setting,...

A factory floor becomes a hunting ground in The Mill Killers, a taut and stylish thriller arriving on digital platforms from 21 April. The Welsh-made film, which had its premiere at FrightFest, marks the feature debut of writer-director Aled Owen and promises a tense meditation on guilt, friendship and buried truths – all soaked in Giallo-inspired suspense.

Set against the bleak backdrop of a rural Welsh mill, the film introduces four young women whose bond was forged through a terrible mistake. Years earlier, they broke into a local factory in search of easy money. The night ended in tragedy, with a worker dead and their stolen cash stashed away. Now, years later, the group reunites to recover the hidden money. But the mill holds more than their secret – someone else is waiting for them.

What begins as a simple retrieval spirals into paranoia and psychological dread as the women are stalked by a hooded figure.

On Friday 7 February 2025, CBeebies broadcasts Big Lizard!

The Lesson Season 1 Episode 36 Episode Summary

The upcoming episode of “Big Lizard” is titled “The Lesson” and promises to be an exciting adventure. In this episode, Dad finds himself stuck in the desert, which adds a layer of challenge for Cosima and her friend, Big Lizard. With Dad unable to help, D.O.R.I.S. steps in to teach them about friction.

As D.O.R.I.S. tries to explain this important concept, things start to heat up, both literally and figuratively. Cosima and Big Lizard are eager to learn, but the desert setting brings unexpected surprises. Just when they think they are getting the hang of it, a creature appears and steals Cosima’s only way to locate Dad.

This episode is sure to be filled with fun and learning moments. Viewers can look forward to seeing how Cosima and...

The fall of communism in Bulgaria wasn’t a clean break, exactly: With the country’s Communist Party having relinquished its political monopoly in 1989 to make way for a parliamentary democracy, it still won the country’s first free elections the following year. The panic brought on by unfamiliar liberties spirals to chaotic effect in “Triumph,” a thoroughly singular political satire from Bulgarian directing duo Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov, in which old-school power structures and preposterous new-age thinking grind each other down to a vain stalemate. Original and outlandish if only fitfully funny, the film rests considerably on the deadpan comic stylings of Oscar-nominated star (and producer) Maria Bakalova, returning to her homeland for the first time since 2021’s “Women Do Cry.”

Inspired by real events — even if little about its frenzied, heightened tone suggests as much — “Triumph” is the concluding entry in Grozeva and Valchanov’s stated “newspaper clippings trilogy,...

Andrew Cumming’s Stone Age thriller Out Of Darkness leads the film nominations for the 2024 Bafta Scotland Awards, nominated in three categories including best feature film.

The film, which follows a gang of early humans who suspect a malevolent being is hunting them down, also received nominations for actor film for Kit Young, and actress film for Safia Oakley-Green.

Scroll down for the full list of nominees

Out Of Darkness premiered at the BFI London Film Festival in 2022, before a UK-Ireland release in February this year by Signature Entertainment under the title The Origin.

Cumming, writer Ruth Greenberg and Oakley-Green...

The UK Global Screen Fund [Ukgsf] has opened “massive” post-Brexit opportunities for the UK creative sector, according to Scotland-based animation producer Ken Anderson.

“The Ukgsf is about our outward-looking perspective on the business – this is not about the UK,” said Anderson, speaking on a panel at the Screen Summit ‘The Future of UK Film’ yesterday titled ‘How the UK Global Screen Fund can help facilitate international collaborations’.

“The opportunity is massive. That’s what we’re having to address as a nation post-Brexit – we have to think differently,” continued the producer, who co-founded Wild Child Animation. Anderson stepped down from the company earlier this month,...

International sales outfit LevelK has secured deals for “Mr. K,” Tallullah H. Schwab’s surreal drama which world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the competitive Platform section.

The film stars Crispin Glover as a traveling magician who finds himself trapped in a Kafka-esque nightmare and is unable to leave the hotel where he’s staying.

“Mr. K” has been picked up in several territories, including Germany, Austria (Neue Visionen), Poland (Hagi Film), Benelux (Paradiso) and Cis (Silver Box Ltd). LevelK is negotiating more deals.

The film has also just been selected to compete at the Busan International Film Festival in the Flash Forward section.

Glover, who has a large following on social media, has already garnered early buzz around the movie on Reddit and TikTok, among other platforms. Schwab is an Oslo-born Dutch filmmaker who previously directed the short “The First Cut,” the TV series “Pie” and feature film “Confetti Harvest.

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Entries for the 2025 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.

The 97th Academy Awards is set to take place on March 3, 2025 at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.

An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture (over 40 minutes) produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50%) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.

Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between November 1, 2023, and September 30, 2024. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 2.

A shortlist of 15 finalists is scheduled to...

Triumph, starring and produced by Maria Bakalova, a 2021 Oscar acting nominee for Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, will be Bulgaria‘s International Feature Film submission for the 2025 Academy Awards.

The darkly comedic movie by award-winning Bulgarian filmmakers Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov was selected after a unanimous vote by the country’s selection committee ahead of Triumph‘s world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival later this week.

Grozeva and Valchanov’s previous film, The Father, which featured a cameo by Bakalova, became Bulgaria’s 2021 International Oscar entry after winning the Grand Prix at the 2019 Karlovy Vary Film Festival.

Triumph is the last part of a movie trilogy by Grozeva and Valchanov that includes the 2014 The Lesson, also a TIFF selection, and 2016’s Glory. It marks Bakalova’s return to Bulgarian cinema and the first film she did in her native country following her breakout role in Borat 2, which launched her Hollywood career.

Screen International’s ‘The Future of UK Film’ summit will host a panel focused on how the UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf) can help support international collaborations.

The high-level conference will be held on September 24, 2024, at BFI Southbank, London.

Buy tickets here

The Ukgsf panel will feature recipients from the programme’s three funding strands – international co-production, international business development and international distribution – talking about how they have benefitted from Ukgsf funding.

The panelists are:

Ken Anderson, founder and executive producer at Wild Child Animation, Zoo Lane Productions, Tg Entertainment; and Red Kite Animation. With over 30 years of experience, Anderson...

Screen International’s ‘The Future of UK Film’ summit will host a panel focused on how the UK Global Screen Fund (Ukgsf) can help support international collaborations.

The high-level conference will be held on September 24, 2024, at BFI Southbank, London.

Buy tickets here

The Ukgsf panel will feature recipients from the programme’s three funding strands – international co-production, international business development and international distribution – talking about how they have benefitted from Ukgsf funding.

The panelists are:

Ken Anderson, founder and executive producer at Wild Child Animation, Zoo Lane Productions, Tg Entertainment; and Red Kite Animation. With over 30 years of experience, Anderson...

The Toronto International Film Festival unveiled the 10 films that will comprise its Platform lineup, a section that is intended to highlight emerging filmmakers from around the globe.

The selection includes “Pedro Páramo,” the feature directing debut of acclaimed cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto; “Viktor,” a documentary about the Russian invasion of Ukraine told by war photographer Olivier Sarbil; and “The Wolves Always Come at Night,” Gabrielle Brady’s look at the impact of climate change on Mongolian herders. There’s also Tallulah H. Schwab’s Kafkaesque “Mr. K” featuring the mercurial Crispin Glover as a traveling magician, as well as Goya-winner Carlos Marqués-Marcet’s contemporary dance-musical and ensemble drama “They Will Be Dust.”

Nacho Vigalondo’s “Daniela Forever,” which stars Henry Golding and “The White Lotus” breakout Beatrice Grannò, will be the section’s opening film. The films represent 17 countries including Spain, Taiwan, Bulgaria, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Mexico and Ukraine.

This...

Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) competitive Platform section will open with Daniela Forever by Nacho Vigalondo, whose Colossal premiered at the festival in 2016.

The 10-title selection also includes Mexico-set Pedro Páramo from renowned cinematographer Rodrigo Prieto, 10,000Km filmmaker Carlos Marqués-Marcet’s They Will Be Dust, and Gabrielle Bradys’ hybrid documentary The Wolves Always Come At Night set in Mongolia.

The Platform jury will be led by Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan whose Seven Veils premiered at TIFF last year. His two fellow jurors are South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho who also played the festival last year with A Normal Family,...

The Platform lineup for the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has been unveiled, along with its jury.

The festival’s competitive program dedicated to strong, singular visions includes 10 films from 17 countries, with Canadian staple Atom Egoyan serving as the jury head. Hur Jin-ho, whose “A Normal Family” had its world premiere at TIFF 2023, is also on the jury along with “I Saw the TV Glow” writer/director Jane Schoenbrun.

The Platform program has awarded past prizes to films such as Barry Jenkins’ “Moonlight,” which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s “Sound of Metal,” which received multiple Oscar nominations and won Best Sound and Best Film Editing.

This year, “Colossal” director Nacho Vigalondo will open the program with his latest film, “Daniela Forever,” starring Henry Golding as a grieving man who reunites with his lost love. Highlights include Tallulah H. Schwab’s sophomore film “Mr. K...

TIFF has announced the competitive Platform lineup today with a jury that includes Oscar nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan as its Head, South Korean filmmaker Hur Jin-ho and award-winning American filmmaker and essayist Jane Schoenbrun. Jin-ho directed last year’s A Normal Family which made its world premiere at TIFF.

Named after Jia Zhang-Ke’s groundbreaking second feature, Platform, the nine-year old program showcases bold and distinct directorial voices and emerging international talent. This year there’s ten in the sidebar from 17 countries. Of those Platform films that continued on to bigger success are Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight, which won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and Darius Marder’s Sound of Metal, which received multiple Oscar nominations, winning Best Sound and Best Film Editing. The 10 films in the section are eligible for the Platform Prize, an award of $20,000 Cad given to the best film in the program.

Previous jury members include: Claire Denis,...

Actor Daryl McCormack has boarded the cast of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery. The film is the third chapter of Rian Johnson's Knives Out trilogy, which will bring back Daniel Craig's Benoit Blanc alongside an all-new ensemble cast.

Per Variety, McCormack is one of several cast members to be announced for the sequel, and while he's just the latest, many more names are expected to be revealed in the coming days. The actor is known to Peaky Blinders fans for his role in the series as Isaiah Jesus, and he's also had recurring roles in the TV shows Fair City, The Wheel of Time, Bad Sisters, and The Woman in the Wall. In film, the Irish actor has popped up in movies like Pixie and The Lesson, and he played the titular role in the film Good Luck to You, Leo Grande. He will also...

Variety Awards Circuit section is the home for all awards news and related content throughout the year, featuring the following: the official predictions for the upcoming Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tony Awards ceremonies, curated by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. The prediction pages reflect the current standings in the race and do not reflect personal preferences for any individual contender. As other formal (and informal) polls suggest, competitions are fluid and subject to change based on buzz and events. Predictions are updated every Thursday.

Visit the prediction pages for the respective ceremonies via the links below:

Oscars | Emmys | Grammys | Tonys

2024 Oscars Predictions:

Best Original Score Killers of the Flower Moon Leonardo DiCaprio and Lily Gladstone Credit: AppleTV+

Weekly Commentary: It’s Ludwig Göransson taking home another Oscar for “Oppenheimer,” following his first win for “Black Panther.”

Next.

Will Win: “Oppenheimer” (Ludwig Göransson)

Could Win: “Killers of the Flower Moon...

The winners for the 51st Saturn Award were unveiled last night, with Avatar: The Way of Water leading the winners with four awards. Barbie, Dial of Destiny and Oppenheimer took three. On the TV front, Star Trek: Picard led with four wins, while Outlander and Wednesday trailed with two apiece. In addition to these, Keanu Reeves received the inaugural Lance Reddick Legacy Award.

Check out the complete list of all Saturn Award winners across film, television and home media — which you know we love — below:

Best Science Fiction Film

Avatar: The Way of Water (Walt Disney/Lightstorm)

The Creator (20th Century Studios)

M3GAN (Universal Pictures/Blumhouse)

Prey (20th Century Studios/Hulu)

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Paramount/Hasbro)

Best Fantasy Film

Barbie (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Paramount Pictures/Hasbro)

Haunted Mansion (Walt Disney Studios)

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Lucasfilm/Paramount/Disney...

Our Pmc sister website Variety is reporting that the motion picture academy has named 149 movies as eligible for Best Original Score at the 2024 Oscars. See the complete list below of every score currently on the ballot for the music branch. A total of 15 will be announced this Thursday, December 21, on the Oscar short list. A final five will be revealed on January 23 as the the actual nominees.

SEEOscars 2024: Which 94 tunes are eligible for Best Original Song?

Gold Derby has been offering you the opportunity to predict the Best Original Score category for the past few weeks. Among some of the surprise omissions: “Asteroid City,” “Flora and Son,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Wonka.” Each film used too much non-original music to remain qualified.

According to our most current Gold Derby odds with over 6,800 people predicting, here are the scores ranked in the top 10:

1. “Oppenheimer” – 71/20 odds

2. “Killers of the Flower Moon...

A pretentious patriarch, a dead child, a mysterious novel, and a stranger in the house, Alice Troughton’s The Lesson is a (very) slow-burn psychological drama film; some may even say a thriller about a young and aspiring author. The film is fairly short and intrigues with its beautiful landscapes and alluring home decor, keeping one on the edge (if that’s your thing). Liam Sommers is invited as a live-in tutor to his favorite author’s home. Overjoyed, Liam takes on the job and finds himself in a gorgeous estate with a lake and a beautiful backyard, where he tutors Bertie, the high schooler that he’s meant to get into Oxford University. The film relies heavily on tropes and ends up being quite predictable by the end.

Spoilers Ahead

Liam And Bertie’s Relationship

A lot of The Lesson goes into building a trustworthy relationship between Liam, our desperate protagonist,...

“The Kitchen” co-director and co-writer Daniel Kaluuya and “Polite Society” writer-director Nida Manzoor are among the emerging talents recognized at the British Independent Film Awards’ (BIFA) New Talent categories.

Both have been longlisted twice, in the debut director and debut screenwriter categories. In all, 20 fiction and 15 documentary features have been longlisted in the four debut filmmaking categories. Nineteen first-time fiction feature directors, 17 first-time feature documentary directors, 17 first-time writers and 24 breakthrough producers have been recognized by BIFA voters this year.

BIFA Springboard, an annual program supporting second-time feature filmmakers will launch in early 2024. BIFA will reveal the Netflix-sponsored 2023 breakthrough performance longlist, which highlights British acting talent in their first significant role in a British feature film, on Oct. 24. The final five nominations in each category will be unveiled on Nov. 2. Winners will be revealed at the 26th BIFA ceremony on Dec. 3.

The Douglas Hickox Award (Best Debut Director) Sponsored By...

Exclusive: Bleecker Street has acquired the U.S. rights to TIFF standout One Life, the James Hawes-directed drama that stars Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin, Romola Garai, Alex Sharp, Marthe Keller, with Jonathan Pryce and Helena Bonham Carter. Scripted by Lucinda Coxon and Nick Drake, the film is a production of See-Saw Films, which developed it alongside BBC Film. Bleecker Street is planning a 2024 theatrical release.

Based on the Barbara Winton book If It’s Not Impossible…: The Life of Sir Nicholas Winton, One Life tells the true story of Nicholas “Nicky” Winton (Flynn), a young London broker who visits Prague in December 1938. In a race against time, Winton convinces Trevor Chadwick (Sharp) and Doreen Warriner (Garai) of the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue as many children as possible before the Nazis close the borders. Fifty years later, Nicky (Hopkins) is haunted by the...

Here’s the latest episode of The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.

For those unfamiliar with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro-budget indie films to bigger-budget studio films and everything in between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dome Lenoir, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk about how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their filmmaking experiences from directors, writers, producers and screenwriters, to actors, cinematographers and distributors.

The Filmmaker’s Podcast #359: The Lesson – Director Alice Troughton on making...

Filmfest Hamburg has 17 films funded by Moin screening at the festival.

Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein’s regional film fund Moin will have a strong presence at this year’s Filmfest Hamburg.

17 films funded by Moin will screen at the festival, including international productions such as Nicolaj Arcel’s King’s Land and Alice Troughton’s The Lesson as well as Isabal Herguera’s animated feature Sultana’s Dream and Leiv Igor Devold’s Norwegian Dream.

Other Moin backed features include new works by German filmmakers ranging from Sven Halfar (Heaven Can Wait - Wir Leben Jetzt) through to Stephan Rick (The Roots...

In The Lesson author Jm Galbraith uses a version of the phrase "Good artists copy, great artists steal." That's an aphorism that's so often borrowed that attributions to Picasso and Eliot obscure that it was William Henry Davenport Adams writing about Tennyson. Art has antecedents, that's the notion, "that great poets imitate and improve, whereas small ones steal and spoil." Gareth Edwards and his team are definitely doing the former.

Detail abounds. Glorious detail, stuff that made me immediately mindful of art by Simon Stahlenhag and Ian McQue, of Syd Mead, of the innumerable artists who have drawn Judge Dredd's Mega-City One. There are planes and trains and autonomous mobiles, guns and gadgets and faces and forms. I was reminded inevitably of Star Wars. The posters say "from the director of Rogue One" but that's easier than saying "a notional science-fictional apparatus for adventure based upon an unceasing filmic...

Black Bear makes its biggest release with ‘Dumb Money’.

Expend4bles is looking to end the action franchise on a high note at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, opening in 577 cinemas through Lionsgate.

Billed as the final film entry in the series, Expend4bles sees the titular team of mercenaries tasked with preventing a Third World War. Jason Statham, Sylvester Stallone, Dolph Lundgren and Randy Couture all reprise their roles, with Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, Megan Fox, Tony Jaa, Iko Uwais, Jacob Scipio, Levy Tran and Andy Garcia all joining the cast.

Expend4bles resurrects the franchise after a nine-year hiatus since 2014’s The Expendables 3.

Good Luck to You, Leo Grande star Daryl McCormack shines in this handsomely executed mystery thriller from British director Alice Troughton, best known for her work on the legendary TV series Doctor Who. Written by Alex MacKeith, The Lesson also features exquisite performances from acclaimed French actor Julie Delpy and Oscar-nominated Richard E Grant. Although purely fictional, MacKeith is said to have based the story on real life events that arose after he was hired as a tutor by a writer he admired.

Aspiring young writer Liam (McCormack), accepts a tutoring position at the family home of his writing idol, the acclaimed author J.M. Sinclair (Grant). Liam is immediately seduced by his host’s seemingly perfect existence. But soon, the young man finds himself involved in his new employers’ complicated family life and the secrets they keep. Sinclair, his wife Hélène (Delpy), and their son Bertie (up and coming...

Disney’s Hercule Poirot film “A Haunting in Venice” debuted atop the U.K. and Ireland box office with £2.1 million ($2.7 million), according to numbers released by Comscore.

In its second weekend, in second place, Warner Bros.’ “The Nun II” collected £1.1 million for a total of £3.8 million.

In its third weekend, in third place, Sony’s “The Equalizer 3” took in £874,709 for a total of £6.2 million.

Shah Rukh Khan’s Bollywood blockbuster “Jawan,” distributed by Yash Raj Films, earned £480,243 in its second weekend for a total of £2.3 million.

Rounding off the top five was Warner Bros.’ “Barbie,” which grossed £456,329 in its ninth weekend for a mighty total of £94.5 million. The film is the highest grosser of the year and remains in seventh position on the territory’s all time chart, within nudging distance of “Spectre” (£95.2 million). “Barbie” is likely to surpass or at least come within martini-shaking distance of James Bond as for one week only,...

With all of the talk going down about the prosthetic nose that Bradley Cooper wore while playing legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein in the forthcoming “Maestro” and Helen Mirren’s star turn as Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir in “Golda” (which opened Friday), it got me to thinking about what other films centered on famous Jews might be out there. I figured it had to be pretty minimal. Jews, after all, are estimated to comprise a population of a mere 18 million of the 8 billion people in the world, or a scant 0.2 percent. Of the U.S. population, only 2.4 percent identify as Jewish. So I mean, how many Jewish-themed projects could there be?

It turns out the answer is a lot more than I thought.

How do I know this? Because while surfing around, I discovered ChaiFlicks, which in August celebrated its third anniversary as a niche streaming service bringing viewers a...

Prime Video has debuted the trailer for the Sundance Official Selection feature ‘Cassandro.’

Saúl Armendáriz, a gay amateur wrestler from El Paso, rises to international stardom after he creates the character ‘Cassandro,’ the “Liberace of Lucha Libre.” In the process, he upends not just the macho wrestling world, but also his own life.

Based on a true story the film is directed by Roger Ross Williams and stars Gael García Bernal, Roberta Colindrez, Perla De La Rosa, Joaquín Cosío, and Raúl Castillo with special appearances from El Hijo del Santo and Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio.

Also in trailers – “I will be writing in spite of it…” Trailer lands for ‘The Lesson’

The feature hits select cinemas on September 15th before hitting the streamer globally on September 22nd.

The post “I want to flip it…” Trailer fights its way in for ‘Cassandro’ appeared first on HeyUGuys.

Universal Pictures has launched a new trailer for the upcoming thriller ‘The Lesson.’

Liam (Daryl McCormack), an aspiring and ambitious young writer, eagerly accepts a tutoring position at the family estate of his idol, renowned author J.M. Sinclair (Academy Award nominee Richard E. Grant). But soon, Liam realizes that he is ensnared in a web of family secrets, resentment, and retribution. Sinclair, his wife Hélène (Academy Award nominee Julie Delpy), and their son Bertie (Stephen McMillan) all guard a dark past, one that threatens Liam’s future as well as their own. As the lines between master and protégé blur, class, ambition, and betrayal become a dangerous combination in this taut noir thriller.

Directed by Alice Troughton, the film stars Richard E. Grant, Julie Delpy, Daryl McCormack, Stephen McMillan, and Crispin Letts.

Also in trailers – Bradley Cooper & Carey Mulligan star in teaser trailer for ‘Maestro’

The movie hits cinemas on September 22nd.

Distributor plans nationwide theatrical release.

Bleecker Street has acquired US rights to Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s Tribeca sci-fi thriller I.S.S. starring West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose.

Ld Entertainment produced the story about an American and Russian team aboard the International Space Station whose astronauts are ordered to take control of the craft at any cost after geopolitical tensions erupt on Earth.

Bleecker plans a nationwide theatrical release on an unspecified date.

Nick Shafir wrote the screenplay and the cast includes Chris Messina, Pilou Asbæk, John Gallagher Jr, Costa Ronin, and Masha Mashkova.

Ld Entertainment’s Mickey Liddell...

After world premiering to critical acclaim at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival, Ld Entertainment’s sci-fi thriller I.S.S. starring West Side Story Oscar winner Ariana DeBose has been picked up for U.S. release by Bleecker Street. The film directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite from Nick Shafir’s script will hit theaters nationwide at a date that has not been disclosed.

I.S.S. marks Bleecker’s second collaboration with Cowperthwaite following 2017’s Megan Leavey, and its fourth with Ld, which in addition to that true-life military drama, produced their films Anthropoid and Teen Spirit from Sean Ellis and Max Minghella, respectively. The film follows two crews of scientists — one group American, the other Russian — aboard the International Space Station, as they conduct research towards the betterment of humanity. Soon, however, international tensions on Earth escalate in unpredictable ways and the teams are commanded to take control...

Robert Swan, “The Untouchables” actor and founder of Harbor Country Opera, has died of liver cancer. He was 78.

His death was confirmed by a family friend, who said his dream was to turn his award-winning screenplay about Samuel Johnson, the man first credited with creating the modern dictionary, into a movie.

Swan was known for his work in several feature films, including his role as a Mountie captain in Brian De Palma’s “The Untouchables” (1987), which starred Kevin Costner and landed Sean Connery an Oscar. He appeared in Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 “Natural Born Killers” as Deputy Napalatoni.

Additionally, he was featured in the 1984 Emmy-nominated Jane Fonda-led TV movie “The Dollmaker” and as a coach in the 1986 David Anspaugh-helmed feature “Hoosiers.” His further credits include “Backdraft,” “Somewhere in Time,” “Heart of Steel,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Stingray,” “Who’s That Girl,” “All My Children,” “Missing Persons” and “The Owner.

Jewish streaming platform ChaiFlicks is launching an all-new slate of TV programs and films set to begin rolling out in August. Programming includes “Wartime Girls,” the Israeli series “The New Black (Shababnakim)” and drama series “Normal” from Lior Dayan and Dori Media.

The new program additions follow “The Lesson,” which debuted earlier this summer. Starting in August, documentary series “The Hebrews” (August 2) and drama film “Those Who Remained” (August 8) will debut on ChaiFlicks, followed by “The Elected” on September 7.

“Normal,” the semi-autographical story from Dayan (the son of Israeli actor/writer Assi Dayan and grandson of Israeli military leader Moshe Dayan), will join ChaiFlicks on October 4, and “Wartime Girls” Season 4 will hit the streamer in December.

On December 20, ChaiFlicks will premiere the fourth season of “Wartime Girls,” which centers on three young Polish women as they fight Nazi occupation during World War II.

ChaiFlicks is also hosting the inaugural Free Summer Film Festival,...

Life is full of hard lessons, and learning them could cost you your very life. That’s what young Liam Sommers finds out in “The Lesson,” which hit theaters in the United States on Friday, July 7.

Sommers gets an opportunity he thinks is once-in-a-lifetime; the opportunity to move in with his idol, the writer J.M. Sinclair at his family’s estate while Liam works at a tutoring position. But Liam soon discovers he’s stumbled into a dark web of family secrets, resentment and revenge. The Sinclair family all hides a horrifying secret, one that threatens to envelop Liam as well.

The movie currently sits at 82% on Rotten Tomatoes, good enough to earn it a “Certified Fresh” rating. Critics say the tense drama and top-notch performances from the actors will give you chills, no matter how hot the weather outside might be.

Watch a Trailer for ‘The Lesson’:...

Richard E. Grant is a towering figure in film, and not just because he's a great actor of considerable height. He also has a tendency to play larger-than-life characters, people with sizable egos and so much self-inflation they often float. He's mastered this in great films like Withnail & I and Can You Ever Forgive Me?, and has played with that character type to hilarious degrees in projects like How to Get Ahead in Advertising, Girls, and Loki. He injects varying degrees of melancholy or menace into these characters as well, so that none of them are quite the same. He's a master of the craft.

His latest conjuring act is J.M. Sinclair, one of the four main characters of the tense but witty chamber drama The Lesson, which is part film noir, part dark comedy, and part literary thriller. Sinclair is a famous novelist who hasn't published a book in several years,...

An aspiring writer recently graduated from Oxford descends upon the gloomy countryside estate of revered author J.M. Sinclair for a summer gig tutoring his son. Naturally, the young man, Liam, arrives bearing an unfinished manuscript with which he plans to impress his hero, but if there’s anything to be taken away from this “exquisitely made chamber piece”, it’s that meeting your idols isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Though the house overflows with contemporary art curated by Sinclair’s wife, Hélène, and light that pours in through floor-to-ceiling windows, sorrow echoes between its hallways and behind its locked doors. Two years earlier, we learn, the Sinclairs’ eldest drowned himself on the property, a trauma that sent J.M. into professional hiatus. Albeit for very different reasons, Liam’s arrival is just what the family has been waiting for, and he soon finds himself tangled...

Indiana Jones’ reign atop the box office was short-lived. In its second weekend in theatres, the Disney release was usurped by another franchise fifth – “Insidious: The Red Door.” The horror film starring and directed by Patrick Wilson scared up $32.7 million in ticket sales from 3,188 theatres, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

It did better than the last installment, “Insidious: The Last Key,” from 2018 and is the most any PG-13 horror movie has earned in its debut in the past two years.

“Insidious 5” was not well reviewed — but modestly budgeted scary movies are often critic-proof when it comes to the box office. This Blumhouse-produced franchise starring Wilson and Rose Byrne began in 2011 under the direction of James Wan and has been responsible for over $570 million in global box office returns — and none of the films have cost more than $16 million to produce. Only the first movie received a “fresh” rating...

Chicago – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com appears on “The Morning Mess” with Scott Thompson on Wbgr-fm on July 5th, reviewing “The Lesson,” a modern film noir featuring Richard E. Grant and Julie Delpy. In theaters since July 7th.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

his is the story of Liam (Daryl McCormack), a writer and tutor who gets a plum assignment at the home of the Sinclairs, whose patriarch J.M.(Richard E. Grant) is LIam’s favorite author … although he’s become a recluse due to the death of his beloved son. Liam is tutoring his nervous younger son Bertie (Stephen McMillan), who is overseen by his mother Helene (Julie Delpy). At first J.M. ignores Liam, until it becomes apparent that the tutor can help get his latest novel to its completion. It’s the secrets revealed in the context of that situation that will change everything.

”The Lesson” is in theaters since July 7th.

In Alice Broughton’s tense literary drama “The Lesson,” Richard E. Grant plays one of Britain’s most noted authors, J.M. Sinclair, who hasn’t put out a book in years. He decides to mentor aspiring novelist Liam (Daryl McCormack) after he’s hired as a tutor for his college-bound son Bertie (Stephen McMillan), but the power dynamic between them soon shifts.

Ahead of the film’s limited theatrical release on Friday, TheWrap chatted about with the Oscar-nominated “Can You Ever Forgive Me” actor about his narcissistic character — who would never watch anything as “squalid” as Grant’s breakout indie “Withnail & I” — and how it’s a little like Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca.”

TheWrap: You play a famous writer who’s quite mercurial and manipulative. How would you describe him?

Richard E. Grant: Self-entitled old literary lion who is facing writer’s block.

Also Read:

‘Based on a True Story...

A sci-fi comedy by Mel Eslyn and a literary noir by Alice Troughton – who are, respectively, the longtime producer for the Duplass brothers and an award-winning UK television director — debut in limited release this weekend, alongside Adele Lim’s Joy Ride, a Lionsgate wide-release – marking first-time feature film debuts by three women.

(Noting that Chelsea Peretti’s recent Tribeca-premiering film First Time Female Director sort of re-coined that phrase.)

Troughton called it “really reassuring” to see female helmers opening films. In the UK “we are below 20% of the directing force and … directorial women’s roles are dropping, as are roles for people of color. So the diversity is sort of slacking off a bit after a really good push. So it felt really important as somebody who had the privilege to be in the position to go and make a film, to go and do it.

Daryl McCormack as Liam in The Lesson. Courtesy of Bleecker Street

They say never meet your heroes, and the literary thriller The Lesson offers a case in point, where a young would-be writer gets what he thinks is a dream assignment, tutoring the son of his literary idol for the boy’s Oxford entry exams. An Oxford grad himself, the tutor and aspiring author, Liam Sommers. Julie Delpy plays the famous writer’s wife Helene, an artist and art curator. The family lives on a large, isolated British estate, surrounded by unruly gardens and a rustic pond, with just a whiff of Shirley Jackson Gothic thriller in the air.

Director Alice Troughton does an excellent job of creating a tense, mysterious mood for The Lesson. Troughton and scriptwriter Alex MacKeith keep a lightly wry touch to the proceedings, as the changeable Sinclairs keep us always a bit off balance. Although on the surface,...

by Matt St Clair

In his BAFTA-nominated breakthrough performance from last year’s Good Luck to You, Leo Grande, Darryl McCormack dazzled viewers with his charm and dramatic depth. The fact that he held his own against Emma Thompson giving one of her finest performances made his work even more applaudable. The new slow-burn thriller The Lesson from director Alice Troughton and screenwriter Alex MacKeith, allows him to follow up that stunning turn by going toe-to-toe with another European acting goddess.

The acting goddess in question is Julie Delpy who plays Hélène, the wife of renowned author J.M. Sinclair (a sublime Richard E. Grant). Looking to provide their son Bertie (Stephen McMillan) with a tutor to prepare him for his entrance exams to Oxford, the Sinclair couple hires Liam (McCormack), an aspiring writer and avid fan of J.M. 's work...

July 2023 launched with a fairly disappointing weekend ahead of the 4th of July, and this weekend, three new movies – one a sequel, the other two original – take on the second weekend of Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

Even with three new films in wide release this weekend, it doesn’t feel like any of them have the strength to really make much of an impact against Indy, so we probably can expect “Indiana Jones” to win a second weekend with between $24 and 26 million.

As far as the new entries, we first have “Insidious: The Red Door,” the fifth movie in the horror franchise launched by James Wan and Leigh Whannell 13 years ago, starring Patrick Wilson, Rose Byrne and Ty Simpkins. All three are back for “The Red Door” with Wilson making his directorial debut for a...