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The annual Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program has officially announced its 2024 grant recipients. The star-studded three-day workshop is a coveted experience for selected female filmmakers, and has served as a launchpad for filmmakers such as Nikyatu Jusu (“Nanny”), Kat Coiro (“She-Hulk”), and A.V. Rockwell (“A Thousand and One”).

The 2024 jurors included Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Olivia Wilde, Beanie Feldstein, Lucy Liu, and Joanna Calo. Filmmaking duo Sophia Youssef and Céline Bava-Helms was awarded the grand prize for their short film “Black Shore.”

“Black Shore” received full production funding; per an official statement, “the short tells the story about Evangelina, who, forced to look after her ailing mother back home in Santorini, must confront the reality that her mother’s lifelong obsession with mythological monsters and an ancient family curse might not be pure fantasy, but a terrifying warning that some fates are inherited.”

In addition to “Black Shore” receiving full funding,...

Through Her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women’s Filmmaker Program has announced this year’s jury members and mentors.

The jurors include Olivia Wilde, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Beanie Feldstein, Lucy Liu and writer, producer and director Joanna Calo. Mentors include Pamela Adlon, Jannicza Bravo, Chase Sui Wonders and Mara Brock Akil.

Founded in 2015 by Tribeca and Chanel, Through Her Lens provides industry support, artistic development and funding to emerging U.S.-based self-identifying women and non-binary filmmakers. The program includes a three-day immersive workshop with one-on-one mentorship and intimate conversations focused on script-to-screen development, music composition, costume design, producing and directing.

Five pairs of writer-directors and producers will participate in the program and pitch their short films to the jurors. One team will receive full financing to produce their film with support from Tribeca Studios. The four other teams will be awarded grant funds to support their films’ development.

This...

Danielle Deadwyler is set to receive the Mill Valley Film Festival (Mvff) award for acting at a special screening of her latest film, Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson,” during the 47th edition of the festival.

The California Film Institute (Cafilm) makes the presentation as part of the Mvff Spotlight program, which is dedicated to celebrating exceptional work by film artists in their current roles. With the award, Deadwyler joins the ranks of past honorees including Nikyatu Jusu, Regina King, Denis Villeneuve, Robert Pattinson, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Brie Larson and Steve McQueen.

In “The Piano Lesson,” adapted from August Wilson’s renowned play and directed by Malcolm Washington, Deadwyler stars as Berniece Charles, a woman battling with her brother (John David Washington) over their family heirloom piano. He plans to sell the instrument and build his fortune by buying the land their family toiled, while she is determined to preserve their family history.

Exclusive: Jaquel Spivey (Mean Girls), Katy O’Brian (Love Lies Bleeding), Margaret Cho (Fire Island), Brigette Lundy-Paine (I Saw The TV Glow) and Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story) are among those set to star in Queens of the Dead, a new horror comedy directed by Tina Romero, daughter of legendary director George A. Romero (Night of the Living Dead).

Co-written by Erin Judge & Tina Romero, the film pays tribute to the zombies from the elder Romero’s classic zombie films with a fresh, contemporary, and queer twist, promising to offer a genre-smashing, glam-gore thrill ride through the zombie apocalypse. The story follows an eclectic group of drag queens, club kids, and frenemies who must put aside their personal dramas and use their unique skills to combat the brain-thirsty undead when a zombie apocalypse breaks out during their drag show in Brooklyn.

Others featuring in the cast of the film from Vanishing...

The late-spring festival season rolls on with the 2024 edition of Tribeca Festival, bringing fresh films, new TV, cutting-edge tech and gaming, and starry talks to New York City. Now in its 23rd year, the festival founded by Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and Craig Hatkoff is a platform for emerging voices and promising works on the hunt for distribution, along with world and North American premieres of titles with more established bona fides that nonetheless share a special connection to New York.

Running June 5-16, Tribeca kicks off with the world premiere of Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy and Trish Dalton’s fashion documentary “Diane von Furstenberg: Woman in Charge,” about the life and career of the Belgian-born sartorial icon and mogul. The opening night film sets the tone for a festival teeming with nonfiction titles, from other celebrity portraits like “Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story” and “Elizabeth Taylor: The Lost Tapes,...

Short films generated by artificial intelligence are popping up at more and more film festivals, and the largest event yet is dedicating an entire section to AI-generated movies.

The 2024 Tribeca Festival announced Friday it will host Sora Shorts, a new program featuring five original short films all made using OpenAI’s text-to-video AI model Sora. It’s not the first time AI films have made their way to a major film festival, but it is the first time movies made with Sora have.

Sora still hasn’t been released to the public and is new even for the most seasoned AI filmmakers, but OpenAI gave the cohort of five directors early access to the program — so long as they each agreed to the filmmaking terms surrounding AI as negotiated last year with the DGA, WGA, and SAG-AFTRA guilds.

Nikyatu Jusu, the director of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner “Nanny,...

Exclusive: Westbrook Inc., Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s studio, has named Denise Bailey-Castro as CFO.

Bailey-Castro will oversee all of Westbrook Inc.’s financial operations across new business development, funding, acquisitions and major deals and be based in Westbrook’s LA headquarters.

Bailey-Castro joins Westbrook from Paramount Global’s BET Media Group, where she most recently served as Head of Finance. There, she structured and executed landmark, multi-year deals that grew Betmg’s portfolio of assets to include new ventures such as BET+ and BET Studios, with Tyler Perry and Kenya Barris, respectively. Betmg sustained year-over-year growth across all lines of business, from advertising to streaming, under Bailey-Castro’s financial leadership and discipline.

Prior to Betmg, she managed affiliate accounts and led negotiations with cable, satellite, and streaming partners on Legacy Viacom Media Networks’ Distribution & Business Development Team. Bailey-Castro has held other media roles at Paramount Pictures and HBO,...

The 2024 Tribeca Festival jury has been announced with a star-studded filmmaker lineup.

This year, David O. Russell, Selma Blair, Asghar Farhadi, Kim Cattrall, Francesca Scorsese, and more will select the winning projects in the film, games, and audio storytelling sections across the 17 competition categories. In addition to the awards in competition categories, the Nora Ephron Award, created to honor the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer, will be presented.

The festival, presented by Okx, will take place from June 5 through 16.

“We are thrilled to once again welcome a diverse group of remarkable filmmakers, creatives and industry players as jurors for the 2024 Tribeca Festival,” executive vice president at Tribeca Enterprises Nancy Lefkowitz said. “We look forward to their wide-ranging perspectives across storytelling genres and mediums coming together to honor the extraordinary group of submissions this year.”

The winning films, projects, filmmakers, storytellers, and actors in each category will...

The Tribeca Festival has revealed the 2024 jury members who will select winning projects in the film, games, and audio storytelling sections. The Festival has 17 different competition categories in which jurors will honor winning storytellers and creators with artistic awards.

This year’s festival jury include a diverse roster of filmmakers, award-winning actors, celebrated multi-hyphenate producers, and leaders from entertainment and culture, including David O. Russell, Selma Blair, Asghar Farhadi, Kim Cattrall, Chinonye Chukwu, Nisha Pahuja, Nikyatu Jusu, Sheila Nevins, Francesca Scorsese, Clara McGregor, W. Kamau Bell, Effie T. Brown and more. In addition to the awards in competition categories, the Nora Ephron Award, created to honor the spirit and vision of the legendary filmmaker and writer, will be presented.

“We are thrilled to once again welcome a diverse group of remarkable filmmakers, creatives and industry players as jurors for the 2024 Tribeca Festival,” said Executive Vice President at Tribeca Enterprises Nancy Lefkowitz.

The 2022 Sundance Film Festival arguably was among the best years for recent breakout filmmakers. Several new filmmakers jumped out as promising voices: Cooper Raiff with “Cha Cha Smooth,” Nikyatu Jusu with “Nanny,” and Julian Higgins with “God’s Country.” But arguably, the film that popped the most, perhaps because of its second life on Netflix and streaming services, was John Patton Ford’s “Emily The Criminal” starring Aubrey Plaza.

Continue reading Margaret Qualley, Glenn Powell & Ed Harris Join A24’s ‘Huntington’ From Director John Patton Ford at The Playlist.

Sundance Institute announced today the fellows selected for the 2024 Directors, Screenwriters, and Native Labs. The Native Lab in New Mexico will support four fellows and two artists in residence, and the Directors Lab in Colorado will support the development of eight projects with nine fellows, with an additional three fellows also joining for the online Screenwriters Lab held immediately after.

For over four decades, Sundance Institute’s signature labs have provided filmmakers a nurturing, immersive environment to develop their projects and refine their artistic voice under the guidance of accomplished creative advisors.

The 2024 Native Lab, taking place in person in Santa Fe, New Mexico, from April 29–May 4, is designed for participants of Native and Indigenous backgrounds and focuses on centering Indigeneity in their storytelling. Fellows will build community and refine their feature film and episodic scripts through one-on-one feedback sections and roundtable discussions with advisors. Four fellows were selected: three who are U.

The Rooftop Films 2024 Filmmaker Fund winners have officially been unveiled, with buzzy titles like Eliza Hittman’s fourth feature “Motherlove” and Debra Granik and Alex Mallis’ collaborative documentary among the top titles.

This year, twenty-three cash and service grants will be provided to independent filmmakers to support the production of their next short or feature film, including two Rooftop Films Water Tower Feature Film cash grants, generously supported by the Laurence W. Levine Foundation. In the past 24 years, Rooftop Films has awarded over $2,300,000 in cash and services to notable films and filmmakers including Alex Ross Perry, Carlos López Estrada, Nikyatu Jusu, and David Lowery.

Among the 2024 grantees are Eliza Hittman for her highly-anticipated fourth feature film, “Motherlove,” and Debra Granik and Alex Mallis for their untitled collaborative documentary investigating the past, present, and future of legalized marijuana in New York state.

Hittman’s acclaimed third feature “Never Rarely Sometimes Always...

George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, so a lot of people have made their own sequels and remakes to the film over the decades, put out their own releases of it, colorized it, animated it, etc. It’s a property that has never been dormant… but these days it seems like its undead ghouls are livelier than ever. The George A. Romero Foundation and the Cinedigm-backed Bloody Disgusting are making a podcast sequel called The Dead. Nikyatu Jusu is directing a film sequel that will be released by MGM. Greg Nicotero is planning to make a movie about the making of Night of the Living Dead. Last week, we shared the news that a Night of the Living Dead follow-up called Festival of the Dead – which is coming our way from twin directors Jen and Sylvia Soska – is set to be...

George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, so a lot of people have made their own sequels and remakes to the film over the decades, put out their own releases of it, colorized it, animated it, etc. It’s a property that has never been dormant… but these days it seems like its undead ghouls are livelier than ever. The George A. Romero Foundation and the Cinedigm-backed Bloody Disgusting are making a podcast sequel called The Dead. Nikyatu Jusu is directing a film sequel that will be released by MGM. Greg Nicotero is planning to make a movie about the making of Night of the Living Dead. About a year ago, it was announced that twin directors Jen and Sylvia Soska are taking the helm of their own Night of the Living Dead follow-up called Festival of the Dead, and now the...

The Motion Picture Association will honor filmmaker J.A. Bayona with its Creator Award at a ceremony in June in Madrid.

His latest film, Society of the Snow, is nominated for best international feature film as well as for makeup effects. His other credits include Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Impossible and A Monster Calls.

The award is presented “to an individual whose expert and brilliant display of their craft behind the camera has moved and shaped culture and helped audiences see the world in new and different ways,” according to the MPA. The trade association also will present an Industry Champion Award at the Madrid ceremony.

Charles Rivkin, chairman and CEO of the MPA, said in a statement that Bayona’s work “pushes the boundaries of storytelling and celebrates the resilience of the human spirit. This award recognizes Mr. Bayona for embodying the best of the global creative community.”

Past...

Exclusive: Brooklyn-based filmmaker Ged Dickersin (Coda) is launching True Indy, a production company intent on making films that can and should be made independently, with filmmakers telling acutely relevant stories for the world market.

True Indy sees the opportunity to attract financing for films that can be made in the $1 million-$5 million range, reducing the financial risk to investors and increasing the chances for a return on the investment. The company is introducing its slate of original U.S.-born indies at the upcoming European Film Market in Berlin, as well as looking to partner with filmmakers from around the world in international co-productions.

“Independent filmmaking has developed so much, with budgets that exceed what the new world market can return, making it difficult for private equity to support the independents,” Dickersin said. “Coming out of the pandemic and the strikes, the cost of making a film has inflated drastically,...

Following a turbulent year marked by dueling industry strikes and the violent contraction–if not yet full pop–of the streaming bubble, 2024 has thus far been pretty good to Hollywood. It certainly helps that we’re in the middle of awards season, which for cineastes amounts to a three-month holiday largely characterized by voluminous binge-watching. And not just binge-watching of the year’s top films. For the curious, the season also offers up a smuggler’s bounty full of talking special post-screening Q&As, roundtables, filmmaker panels, celebratory cocktail receptions and more.

Traditionally Film Independent’s Directors Close-Up series has been a little bit of all of the above, presenting behind-the-scenes insight into the year’s most important works of cinema, straight from the mouths and brains of filmmakers themselves. As the virtual portion of this year’s programming winds down (see below), we’re looking ahead now to our...

Anna Diop has signed on to star opposite Corey Hawkins and Willem Dafoe in “The Man in My Basement,” directed by Nadia Latif.

The film is an adaptation of Walter Mosley’s bestselling psychological thriller, and Diop’s casting sets an onscreen reunion with Hawkins, her co-star in the 2017 series “24: Legacy.”

Hawkins stars in the movie as Charles Blakey, a man living in the African American neighborhood of Sag Harbor, who is “out of work, out of luck and on the verge of foreclosure on his ancestral home.”

“A knock on the door from a mysterious white businessman, Anniston Bennet (Dafoe), brings a bizarre and lucrative proposition; rent his dusty stand-up basement out and receive enough money to clear his debts for good,” the official synopsis explains. “Once Charles accepts, he finds himself led down a terrifying path that confronts his family’s ghosts and locks the men in a terrifying puzzle,...

The Sundance Film Festival is regarded as one of the most prestigious independent film festivals, where filmmakers have been premiering their movies and documentaries since 1984.

The festival was founded in 1978 by Sterling Van Wagenen, the head of Robert Redford’s company Wildwood, and John Earle of the Utah Film Commission under the name Utah/US Film Festival to attract more filmmakers to Utah.

Redford founded the Sundance Institute in 1981 to foster independence, risk-taking, and new voices in American film. That year, 10 emerging filmmakers were invited to the Sundance Resort in the mountains of Utah, where they worked with leading writers, directors and actors to develop their original independent projects.

By 1984, the festival had established itself and was officially renamed the Sundance Film Festival after Redford’s character in his 1969 film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. That year, the Grand Jury Prize in Dramatics was awarded to Old Enough, an...

Director Ryan Coogler’s next project – said to be a period vampire film – is set to star Michael B Jordan and has sparked something of a bidding war. More details here:

Little is known about Ryan Coogler’s next project, but negotiations with studios in the past week mean that a couple of juicy details have emerged regarding the secretive film that Coogler and Michael B Jordan are looking to get underway this year.

We learned last week that the project would be a genre movie – and it’s now being described as a period vampire film, which Coogler and Jordan are looking to shoot this summer. Naturally, the project has garnered lots of interest, but it sounds like Netflix isn’t being invited to the party as Coogler is insistent that the film gets a ‘full worldwide theatrical release’.

Warner Bros, Sony and Universal are said to be the...

Jordan Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions is producing the psychological horror Goat, with Marlon Wayans in the lead.

This isn’t an unveiling of Jordan Peele’s next directorial outing for Universal, but here’s a story about an intriguing new project that will be produced under the filmmaker’s Monkeypaw banner.

Goat is set to star Marlon Wayans (who you can see pictured in the TV show Marlon) while Justin Tipping will direct. Tipping co-wrote and directed Kicks, another film (like last year’s Air) focused on the mythical status attached to basketball shoes.

In their upcoming project, the focus will be on a mythical athlete rather than their shoes, as ‘the film centres on an up-and-coming young athlete who is invited to train with a team’s retiring star, who will be played by Wayans.’

It hasn’t been announced yet who will play the rookie, but according to Deadline,...

Exclusive: Topic Studios, the award-winning production company behind titles like Theater Camp and 100 Foot Wave, has laid off over 20 employees, multiple sources tell Deadline. Employees were notified on Tuesday, and we hear that almost all divisions are affected, with all of those working on the TV side being cut.

A company spokesperson emphasizes that despite changes being made when it comes to the small-screen arena, “Topic Studios continues to produce television programs. This week’s staff changes have not impacted the multiple scripted and non-scripted television projects in production and development. While our scripted television strategy will be evolving, we plan to increase investment in this area.”

The layoffs come at a time of general turbulence in entertainment, which is still reeling from last summer’s double strikes and the pandemic that preceded it. Other media companies hit with mass layoffs just recently include Amazon, Hallmark Media, Great American Media,...

Exclusive: Management and production company 2Am is bolstering its finance and sales division with the hire of former Sundance Catalyst executive Julia Nelson.

Nelson will report to former WME & Endeavor Content exec Christine D’Souza Gelb who oversees the sales arm of 2Am.

2Am will be launching sales on two titles at the upcoming Sundance Film Festival: Sam and Andy Zuchero’s Love Me starring Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun, and produced by 2Am, ShivHans, and AgX; and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s Tendaberry, produced by Dweck and Flies Collective. 2Am is co-repping worldwide rights on both projects with WME, where the filmmakers are also represented.

The company, which is a producer on Celine Song’s Golden Globe nominee Past Lives, has previously repped Sing J. Lee’s Accidental Getaway Driver, Andrew Semans’ Resurrection, and Christopher Makoto Yogi’s I Was A Simple Man.

Nelson joins the company after six years at...

Updated: This story was originally published on November 1, 2023, and has now been updated to include new honorees.

The 2024 Sundance Film Festival will honor actress and filmmaker Kristen Stewart; filmmakers Christopher Nolan, Maite Alberdi, and Celine Song; and journalist and producer Pat Mitchell with awards at its annual opening night gala and fundraiser.

The fundraiser will take place January 18, 2024 on the opening night of next year’s Sundance, this year celebrating 40 years of the film festival.

Stewart, who will appear in two films at this year’s Sundance, including U.S. Dramatic Competition title “Love Me” and Midnight movie “Love Lies Bleeding,” will receive the Visionary Award “in recognition of her work as an uncompromising artist and contributions to the field of independent film.”

“Oppenheimer” director Nolan will receive a new prize from Sundance called the Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award. Nolan’s “Memento” from 2001 played at Sundance that year. Meanwhile, Song...

Updated: Former Sundance Institute Board Chair and trustee Pat Mitchell, the first woman president of CNN Productions and PBS, has joined the list of honorees for the Sundance Gala that includes Christopher Nolan, Celine Song and Maite Alberdi. Mitchell will receive the Vanguard Award for Philanthropy for her commitment to the Institute’s support and to philanthropy for social impact.

The upcoming Opening Night Gala: Celebrating 40 Years Presented by Chase Sapphire will be held on Jan. 18 at the DeJoria Center in Kamas, Utah.

“Beyond being a stalwart champion of the role of media and storytelling as an agent for social change, Pat is a fierce advocate for gender and racial equality, and in all her diverse roles and responsibilities — as a journalist, documentary producer, and media executive — has supported the stories and ideas that move us forward toward a more equitable future. Pat’s career and commitments of her time...

An anguished update of, and response to, Ousmane Sembène’s 1965 anti-colonialist classic Black Girl, writer-director Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny grapples with the psychic pain of cultural alienation and familial disconnection. Though it contains elements of supernatural horror—including trickster spiders and murderous mermaids—it’s at heart a deeply felt immigration story, one that finds hope not in the empty promises of the American dream but in the strength and resilience of oppressed peoples.

The film opens on Aisha’s (Anna Diop) first day of work at the luxe Manhattan apartment of a businesswoman, Amy (Michelle Monaghan), who’s hired her to care for her young daughter, Rose (Rose Decker). Aisha, a teacher in her native Senegal, has no trouble caring for the girl, helping her with her French lessons and making food that she’ll actually eat, but she does have issues with Amy, whose festering anxieties make her...

Christopher Nolan, Celine Song and Maite Alberdi will be feted at a gala fundraiser on the opening night of the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, the nonprofit Sundance Institute said Wednesday.

The Jan. 18 gathering, which will take place at the DeJoria Center, will “raise critical funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, grants and public programming that nurture artists globally.”

Nolan, who started in indie film before becoming the director of large-scale studio blockbusters like this year’s Oppenheimer, will be honored with the first-ever Sundance Institute Trailblazer Award. Song, the writer and director of this year’s Past Lives, and Alberdi, who helmed this year’s documentary The Eternal Memory, will each receive the Vanguard Award, Song for fiction and Alberdi for nonfiction.

Meanwhile, former Sundance Institute Board Chair and trustee Pat Mitchell will receive the Vanguard Award for Philanthropy.

“As we step into the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival,...

The Sundance Institute will honor Christopher Nolan with the first-ever Sundance Trailblazer Award. The Opening Night Gala: Celebrating 40 Years Presented Chase Sapphire, on January 18, 2024 at the DeJoria Center in Utah, will also present the annual Vanguard Award to “Past Lives” writer/director Celine Song and “The Eternal Memory” writer/director Maite Alberdi. Their 40th annual film festival will take place from January 18 through January 28, 2024, as well as online from January 25 to January 28.

“As we step into the 40th edition of the Sundance Film Festival, it is a distinct honor to recognize Christopher Nolan, a prodigious artist whose singular talent and remarkable body of work have made him one of the most respected filmmakers of our time. We are looking forward to spotlighting the unique voices of both Celine and Maite, storytellers we have been supporting and deeply believe in. All three of these storytellers represent Sundance’s values,” said Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente.

$35,000 prize for US and international winners.

The Academy has selected Erica Eng and July Jung as its 2023 Academy Gold Fellowship For Women recipients.

The fellowship is part of the Academy Gold global talent development and inclusion initiative and offers a one-year programme offering direct support, mentorship and access to top-level networking opportunities for emerging women filmmakers to further their careers.

Two fellowships are awards each year with a $35,000 prize for each category.

Eng and Jung will Fellows also get career advancement support through the Gold Alumni Program providing provides continued access, opportunity, professional development and education for alumni of Academy Gold programmes including Gold Rising,...

Exclusive: The Austin Film Festival has set producer Lauren Shuler Donner, writer-producer James V. Hart and filmmaker So Young Shelly Yo as honorees of its 30th edition, taking place from October 26 – November 2.

Donner will receive the Polly Platt Award for Producing, with Hart claiming the the Heart of Film Award and Shelly accepting the New Voice Award.

Introduced in 2019 as a means of honoring producers with a keen sense of story and a history of fostering new talent, the Producing prize has previously been bestowed upon Dede Garner, Stephanie Allain and Sarah Green.

Coming in recognition of Hart’s contributions to film and television, as well as his service to the screenwriting community, the Heart of Film Award has also since 2013 been bestowed on the likes of Enchanted producer Barry Josephson and Beverly Hills Cop scribe Daniel Petrie Jr.

Also established in 2019 was the New Voice Award, recognizing unique and captivating new voices in film,...

Late “Night of the Living Dead” creator George A. Romero has one final film in the works.

Romero, who died in 2017 at age 77 after battling lung cancer, wrote a treatment for film “Twilight of the Dead” before passing away. Per Romero’s estate, the film is the “seventh and final installment” in the “Living Dead” franchise. The project was first revealed in 2021, but Deadline reported that newly relaunched Roundtable Entertainment is now moving forward with production and applying for a SAG-AFTRA waiver amid the strike for a slated late 2023 start date. The waiver would allow production to happen in spite of SAG-AFTRA work stoppage orders.

Romero’s widow Suzanne Romero, who will produce the film, said in a statement, “I’m delighted to be joining forces with Roundtable to bring the eerie evolution of Romero’s universe to the screen. Roundtable impressed me with their long-term and deep love of George’s work.

Exclusive: George A. Romero’s “final zombie movie” Twilight Of The Dead has got fresh impetus with producer-financier Roundtable Entertainment and a planned late 2023 start date in Puerto Rico.

The George A. Romero estate is teaming up with LA-based financier-producer Roundtable on the “seventh and final installment” of the seminal Living Dead franchise.

Horror icon Romero had written a treatment for the movie before he passed in 2017 and regarded Twilight Of The Dead as the conclusion to his epic saga, which comprised six movies and various spinoffs and remakes. The project was first revealed in 2021 but things have been quiet since then.

The script is now finished, having been taken on by Joe Knetter, Robert Lucas, and Paolo Zelati, who also worked on the treatment with Romero.

Set on a tropical island, we’re told Twilight Of The Dead will “delve into the dark nature of humanity from the perspective...

The Criterion Collection is celebrating Halloween with a brand new lineup of horror releases this October, and we’ve got the full scoop straight from Criterion’s website.

Coming this October, “three Pre-code chillers from a master of the morbid; a gothic supernatural tale; & a haunting modern-day fable of cultural dislocation in NYC.”

Those films are Freaks, The Unknown and The Mystic, packaged together in Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers; The Others (2001); and Nanny (2022). Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers will first be added to the Criterion Collection on October 17, followed by Alejandro Amenábar’s The Others on October 24 and Nikyatu Jusu’s Nanny on October 31.

Tod Browning’s Sideshow Shockers:

“The world is a carnival of criminality, corruption, and psychosexual strangeness in the twisted pre-Code shockers of Tod Browning. Early Hollywood’s edgiest auteur, Browning drew on his experiences as a circus performer to create subversive pulp entertainments set amid the world of traveling sideshows,...

Nowadays a spooktacular Shocktober means 4K restorations––just look at the work from Arrow or Shout Factory (naming only the two most obvious) to elevate that most disreputable genre into incredible resolution and detail. Never one to miss an opportunity, Criterion will upgrade two of the greatest horror films ever made: David Cronenberg’s Videodrome and Nicolas Roeg’s Don’t Look Now, for those who want explosive tumors and Donald Sutherland’s penis (respectively and respectfully) in the finest possible quality home video affords.

While the Nicole Kidman-led Blockbuster Video classic The Others rounds out 4K selections, the Blu-only Tod Browning set boasts Freaks, The Unknown, and The Mystic. Lastly, Nikyatu Jusu’s 2022 Sundance winner Nanny is now among the newer titles in Criterion’s canon.

Find artwork below and more at Criterion.

The post The Criterion Collection’s October Slate Includes 4K Cronenberg, a Tod Browning Set & More...

“Cinnamon” and “A Song From the Dark” were two of the big winners at the Best of the ABFF Awards presented Saturday during the American Black Film Festival.

Following its world premiere at the Tribeca Festival, “Cinnamon” continued its festival run at ABFF in Miami Beach, Fla., where it was awarded the prize for best narrative feature and best director for writer-director Bryian Keith Montgomery Jr.

The Tubi original film stars Hailey Kilgore, Damon Wayans, Pam Grier, David Iacono and Jeremie Harris. Kilgore plays Jodi, a struggling small-town gas station attendant with “killer pipes and big dreams,” who falls hopelessly in love with a hustler (Iacono) and falls foul of a local crime lord (Grier) and her murderous family. The noir thriller serves as the inaugural project filmed under Village Roadshow Pictures’ Black Noir Cinema banner, with Fox Entertainment Studios, co-founded by NBA all-star Kevin Garnett. Veteran producer Oz Scott oversees the content slate,...

Director-writer Gina Prince-Bythewood, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-ny) and Mexico City Governor Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo will be the recipients of the Motion Picture Association’s MPA Awards.

The event, to take place in June at the MPA headquarters in Washington, was started last year to honor those who “have made notable contributions to the film, TV and streaming industry,” according to the trade organization.

Prince-Bythewood, receiving the MPA Creator Award, most recently directed The Woman King for Sony’s TriStar Pictures. She has written and directed feature films such as Love & Basketball, The Secret Life of Bees and Beyond The Lights. She and her husband Reggie Rock Bythewood serve as executive producers of the upcoming Disney+ and National Geographic series Genius: MLK/X via their production company Undisputed Cinema.

Jeffries, receiving the Industry Champion Award, is being recognized for ensuring “that the American creative community continues to drive economic...

If you were wondering what’s poppin’ with best-selling rap star Jack Harlow this month, well, he’s officially in the industry, baby. The film industry to be precise.

The same artist who recently claimed he was “the hardest white boy since the one who rapped about vomit and sweaters” makes his acting debut with a remake of the 1992 sports comedy classic “White Men Can’t Jump.”

But there’s nothing hard about this new movie, even with its R-rated language. It’s a near total Disneyfication of the original in which all the incredible dialogue, daredevil sports moves, charismatic acting and unpredictable plotting have been replaced with vaguely good-natured banter and shaggy underdog clichés.

“White Men Can’t Jump” stars Sinqua Walls — so excellent in Nikyatu Jusu’s “Nanny” — as Kamal, a former high school basketball legend who fell on hard times and now barely scrapes by as a delivery driver.

George A. Romero’s 1968 classic Night of the Living Dead is in the public domain, so a lot of people have made their own sequels and remakes to the film over the decades, put out their own releases of it, colorized it, animated it, etc. It’s a property that has never been dormant… but these days it seems like its undead ghouls are livelier than ever. The George A. Romero Foundation and the Cinedigm-backed Bloody Disgusting are making a podcast sequel called The Dead. Nikyatu Jusu is directing a film sequel that will be released by MGM. Greg Nicotero is planning to make a movie about the making of Night of the Living Dead. And now Deadline has revealed that twin directors Jen and Sylvia Soska are taking the helm of their own Night of the Living Dead follow-up called Festival of the Dead, and Ashley Moore (I Know What You Did Last Summer...

The Sundance Institute has announced the fellows for the 2023 Directors, Screenwriters, and Native labs. For the past 40 years, Sundance Institute labs have hosted global independent filmmakers for in-depth tutorship on the creative process. Afterward, they’re honored at the annual Sundance Producers Celebration keynote at the festival in January itself. The festival itself returned this year in rousing in-person fashion, but the individual creative labors occur throughout the rest of the year.

This year’s Directors and Screenwriters Labs will support 12 fellows, with five fellows selected for the Native Lab. Artists will develop original works under the guidance of accomplished creative advisors.

The Native Lab has been a significant part of supporting Indigenous filmmakers for nearly two decades. The 2023 Native Lab will be held online May 1 through 5 and continues from May 8 through 13 in person in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Three hail from the U.S.A., one from Canada selected with the Indigenous Screen Office,...

La Biennale di Venezia, Netflix and The Gotham (Filmmaker‘s publisher) have partnered on “Venice Film Festival Presents: Next Generation,” a screening series hosted at the Paris Theater in New York City. Comprised of six films from the past decade that are products of the Venice Biennale College Cinema program, which develops and produces bold features budgeted at €200,000 or less, the series will include moderated Q&As alongside one-time screenings of each title. “Next Generation” opens tonight with a 7pm screening of Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, featuring a Q&a moderated by Nanny writer-director Nikyatu Jusu. The series concludes on […]

The post Catch the Paris Theater Screening Series “Venice Film Festival Presents: Next Generation” in NYC This Week first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

La Biennale di Venezia, Netflix and The Gotham (Filmmaker‘s publisher) have partnered on “Venice Film Festival Presents: Next Generation,” a screening series hosted at the Paris Theater in New York City. Comprised of six films from the past decade that are products of the Venice Biennale College Cinema program, which develops and produces bold features budgeted at €200,000 or less, the series will include moderated Q&As alongside one-time screenings of each title. “Next Generation” opens tonight with a 7pm screening of Ellie Foumbi’s Our Father, the Devil, featuring a Q&a moderated by Nanny writer-director Nikyatu Jusu. The series concludes on […]

The post Catch the Paris Theater Screening Series “Venice Film Festival Presents: Next Generation” in NYC This Week first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Rooftop Films has announced the recipients of their 2023 Filmmakers Fund grants. A total of 21 cash and service grants will be awarded to a variety of independent filmmakers to support the production of their next short or feature film. Four Rooftop Films Water Tower Feature Film cash grants will be exclusively awarded with support from the Laurence W. Levine Foundation.

Rooftop Filmmakers Fund grants are made accessible to Rooftop Films alumni directors who have had their work screened during the annual Sumer Series in New York City. This years grantees include a demographic of over 60% women, 30% people of color and 10% people a part of the LGBTQ+ community.

“We’re unbelievably excited about the projects we’ve had the privilege of helping to fund this year! Every single one of these filmmakers approach their subjects in ways that are wholly unique to their style and vision, and we can’t wait to see the finished works,...

At Variety’s 10 Producers to Watch panel, held March 31 at the Sun Valley Film Festival, the first order of business was defining what it means to be a producer, a title — and a role — that encapsulates a number of responsibilities on a film.

“The way that I describe it is you’ve got to know a little bit about a lot of things in filmmaking,” said Rachael Fung, whose film “Fremont” later won best narrative film in the festival’s One in a Million category, recognizing features made for less than $1 million. “You’ve got to be able to understand and talk to every single person that touches the film at every single stage. And also it’s about finding those directors and filmmakers and understanding their vision and figuring out the best way to get that to screen.”

“There are practical things like getting money for the movie, casting,...

Ti West has locked in an all-star cast for his Mia Goth-led A24 horror pic MaXXXine, with Elizabeth Debicki (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3.), Moses Sumney (The Idol), Michelle Monaghan (Nanny), Bobby Cannavale (The Watcher), Lily Collins (Emily in Paris), Halsey (Americana), Giancarlo Esposito (Better Call Saul) and Kevin Bacon (City on a Hill) closing deals for roles.

MaXXXine is the third title in A24‘s first major horror franchise, on the heels of West’s films X and Pearl, both of which were released to much acclaim last year. The ’70s-set X had Goth pulling double duty as Maxine, who sees her pornography-shooting friends violently murdered in Texas, and one of their elderly assailants, Pearl. The latter film, set in 1918, meanwhile, served up an origin story for the latter villain character.

MaXXXine reverses the franchise’s trajectory through time to pick with Maxine after the violent events of X,...

Exclusive: Venice Film Festival, Netflix and The Gotham Film & Media Institute are teaming up on a program of movies at iconic New York venue, the Paris Theater. Scroll down for program lineup in full.

Titled Venice Film Festival Presents: Next Generation, the four day event (April 20-23) will showcase films from the first ten years of La Biennale di Venezia’s Biennale College Cinema.

Screenings will be accompanied by in-depth discussions pairing new filmmakers with established directors, producers, and writers. The opening night will feature a screening of mystery-thriller Our Father, The Devil with remarks from Venice Director Alberto Barbera and Head of Programme Savina Neirotti. Indie Spirit winner Nikyatu Jusu, whose Sundance film Nanny was picked up by Amazon and Blumhouse, will serve as moderator for the opening night discussion with director Ellie Foumbi.

Biennale College Cinema is an incubator program for low-budget films by emerging filmmakers. Among...

Jordan Peele is staying in business with Universal Pictures, as the studio has just set an untitled fourth film from the “Nope” writer/director for release on Dec. 25, 2024. Additionally, an untitled horror/thriller from Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions will open in theaters on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024.

Other movies dated for Christmas 2024 include James Cameron’s third “Avatar” movie and the third movie in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” film franchise. Recently, Broadway adaptation “Wicked, Part 1” scooted out of the Christmas timeframe to occupy a new Thanksgiving slot. “Wicked,” like the Peele project, will be released by Universal.

Peele’s feature directorial debut, “Get Out,” was released by Universal in 2017 and grossed over $255 million against a budget of just $4.5 million. On top of being an astounding commercial success, it netted Peele a Best Original Screenplay Oscar with additional nominations for Best Picture, Director and Actor. That Academy Award-winning screenplay, about a Black man...

This article first appeared as part of Jenelle Riley’s Acting Up newsletter – to subscribe for early content and weekly updates on all things acting, visit the Acting Up signup page.

The Academy Awards are this Sunday and it’s actually been a great year for film and particularly actors. So many of them have been recognized with nominations or wins, between the Oscars and the SAG Awards, not to mention BAFTA, Golden Globes, Critics Choice, Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards.

But with every great performance honored by a major group, there are so many more that are deserving, but seem to elude awards recognition. So going off the four existing acting categories, I wanted to suggest some other names from the year 2022 that deserve a look. And the best part is, they’re all currently available to stream so you can check them out yourself.

Supporting Actress – Mariana Treviño,...

Each year, IndieWire curates a list of the top female filmmakers to watch over the next 12 months, and the women ushering in the next generation of cinema makes for a truly exciting 2023.

This International Women’s Day, IndieWire invites audiences to celebrate the rising directors, especially coming off of a history-making 2023 Sundance where first-time filmmaker A.V. Rockwell was awarded the top prize for “A Thousand and One.” Rockwell is the third Black woman to win the Grand Jury Prize for the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the festival, following Nikyatu Jusu’s 2022 win for surreal thriller “Nanny.”

“I think of Black women filmmakers and there are still not many doing it at the highest level,” Rockwell told IndieWire’s Eric Kohn of breaking barriers, “but I think that going from making one or two if they’re lucky theatrical movies to now being able to consistently make movies into our seventies or eighties,...

Exclusive: M88 has signed Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia writer Mike Gauyo.

Gauyo also wrote for the critically acclaimed series, Insecure (HBO), Netflix’s Ginny and Georgia, and is the founder of the Black Boy Writes and Black Girl Writes Mentorship initiative, which is a yearlong program that provides pre-wga Black writers with access towards becoming established screenwriters in entertainment. Of the mentorship initiative Mike says,

“I launched the program in hopes of creating a space for Black writers to have access towards a career in writing that otherwise may have felt out of their reach. I’m happy to sign with M88, who isn’t just dedicated to being stewards of my career, but is equally as invested in the success of my mentorship initiative and its goal of amplifying marginalized voices.”

Most recently, Gauyo co-created Send Help for AMC Network’s Allblk streaming platform and served as its co-showrunner and Executive Producer.

Everything Everywhere All at Once won big at this year’s Independent Spirit Awards, taking home seven awards out of eight nominations. The only award it didn’t win was, interestingly enough, one it did win, as Ke Huy Quan beat Jamie Lee Curtis in the Best Supporting Performance category.

Here are the winners of winners of the 38th Independent Spirit Awards:

Movies:

Best Feature:

Bones and All

Everything Everywhere All At Once

Our Father, The Devil

Tár

Women Talking

Best Director:

Todd Field, Tár

Kogonada, After Yang

Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Sarah Polley, Women Talking

Halina Reijn, Bodies Bodies Bodies

Best First Feature:

Aftersun

Emily the Criminal

The Inspection

Murina

Palm Trees and Power Lines

Best Lead Performance:

Cate Blanchett, Tár

Dale Dickey, A Love Song

Mia Goth, Pearl

Regina Hall, Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul.

Paul Mescal, Aftersun

Aubrey Plaza, Emily the Criminal

Jeremy Pope,...