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Actor Asif Ali has lately emerged as one the most powerful competitors to Fahad Faasil as the finest actor of Kerala. And why just Kerala? Asif can give our Ranbirs and Ranveers a run for their money.

In his new dark brooding film, Kishkindha Kaandam , a dramatic but reined-in look at an askew family shifting dynamics, Ali is exceptionally restrained in his portrait of a grieving widower , he is almost invisible. Asif plays Ajayan and his silences speak far more loudly than his words.

It can’t be any other way for Ajayan: his father Appu Pillai (Vijayaraghavan) dominates the family to the brink of bullying. He is at the cusp of what seems to be dementia. But he leaves Ajayan, and his newly married wife Aparna(the unfailingly spot-on Aparna Balamurali) with no option but to submit quietly to his dictatorial ways.

There are grave family secrets buried in...

If there's one thing haunting the "Frasier" revival series, beyond the general complaint that only Kelsey Grammer returned from the original cast, it's the more specific complaint that Niles isn't in the show. The titular psychiatrist's similarly pompous yet lovable brother was essentially the other main character in the original sitcom, and his absence from the reboot has been conspicuous to say the least.

Fans will know the story about why Niles actor David Hyde Pierce didn't return for the "Frasier" revival. To put it simply, the man didn't seem all that interested in the project, claiming he didn't "miss" the characters and was otherwise busy with other ventures. After the Paramount+ streaming series was renewed for a second season, however, the actor's comments started to sound a little less negative, with Hyde Pierce revealing his one condition for returning to the role of Niles. Meanwhile, Grammar seemed willing to...

This article is part of IndieWire’s 2000s Week celebration. Click here for a whole lot more.

Contrary to what conversion therapy might have you believe, it’s impossible to turn someone gay or bisexual. That is, unless you watched the first “Scooby-Doo” movie at a young, formative age. If that’s the case, then you’re almost definitely bisexual now, even if you don’t know it yet. Sorry you had to find out this way.

Despite giving us this great gift, critics at the time were still pretty harsh on cinema’s first-ever live-action portrayal of Scooby-Doo. “Get out your pooper-scoopers,” warned Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers. “It’s like an amalgam of ‘Ghostbusters,’ ‘Alien’ and the ‘Pokemon’ movies — minus all the good parts,” added Michael O’Sullivan at The Washington Post. I, on the other hand, couldn’t get enough of this film and the DVD I...

With the highly anticipated arrival of Bridgerton Season 3, the fandom is abuzz with excitement. After months of anticipation, fans are thrilled to see the spotlight on the show’s wallflower Penelope Featherington, portrayed by Nicola Coughlan, and her lifelong crush, the globe-trotting Colin Bridgerton, played by Luke Newton.

Bridgerton. Nicola Coughlan as Penelope Featherington in episode 301 of Bridgerton. Cr. Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2024

While viewers are yet to witness what turn this budding romance between friends will take in the forthcoming episodes, one element that has hooked their attention is the show’s unforgettable soundtrack. Though the show is set in the early 1800s, it depicts an orchestral version of popular contemporary songs.

If you are curious about which melodies grace the scenes this season and when they appear, this is your guide.

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 Soundtrack Guide – All The Songs Used In Episodes 1 to 4

Bridgerton Season 3 Part 1 was released on...

The damsel in distress narrative device is a foundational storytelling element for the majority of people. Fairytales tell of princesses in peril and video games hide princesses in another castle. These women are treated as prizes to be won, a congratulatory gift to the men who saved these supposedly weak and helpless ladies who would have certainly perished without a man's intervention. Damsel in distress tropes date back to the ancient Greeks but the misogynistic belief that women are fragile creatures who need men to protect them is unfortunately still an intrinsically held value system for a shocking number of people. It's the grandmother of tropes like "fridging" as seen in media and literature, or more insidiously, "missing white woman syndrome" in real-life situations of women in harm's way.

Fortunately, plenty of alternative damsel characters exist to switch up the narrative. Megara in Disney's "Hercules" flipped the typical animated princess...

2023 was a tumultuous year for television, but amid the turmoil was some standout horror programming that celebrates the genre’s versatility, from “The Fall of the House of Usher” to “Swarm.”

The television landscape grows increasingly proliferated as streaming services continue to spawn and transform like hordes of zombies. There have never been more places to consume content, which in itself can be both exciting and overwhelming for audiences. Horror has been warmly embraced by television and the prospect of a graphic genre program is no longer the gambit that it used to be. Programming from across the world collectively taps into the universal fears that get under the audience’s skin, many of which become even more intense through extended binge-watch sessions. There’s something for everyone when it comes to 2023’s eclectic horror series, whether it’s killer dolls in the White House, inspired reimaginings of Edgar Allan Poe,...

A new NYPD detective will be joining the force on the upcoming 23rd season of Law & Order. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and Veep alum Reid Scott has joined the upcoming season as a new series regular on the NBC police procedural, portraying an as-yet unamed NYPD detective.

Scott will feel the void left by former series regular Jeffrey Donovan, who recently exited the show over creative differences. Donovan portrayed Det. Frank Cosgrove in seasons 21 and 22 of the mothership Law & Order drama from Dick Wolf’s Wolf Entertainment.

This marks the second detective change on the revival. Anthony Anderson, who reprised his role as Det. Kevin Bernard from the series’ original run, left after Season 21 and was succeeded by Mehcad Brooks, who joined the cast in Season 22 as Frank’s new partner Jalen Shaw.

The Law & Order cast also includes Sam Waterston as Da Jack McCoy, Hugh Dancy as senior prosecutorial assistant Nolan Price, and Camryn Manheim (The Practice) as Lt. Kate Dixon.

Law & Order, which premieres its 23rd season on January 18, 2024, is produced by Wolf Entertainment and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group.

Scott recently starred in the fifth and final season of Emmy-winning The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel after recurring in Season 4. He can currently be seen starring in the “Daphne” episode of FX anthology series American Horror Stories. He earlier starred on another Emmy-winning comedy, HBO’s Veep, for seven seasons. Scott just wrapped production on the Amazon film Idea of You, starring opposite Anne Hathaway and directed by Michael Showalter. Reid also stars in, and executive produced the pandemic comedy Who Invited Charlie? opposite Adam Palley and Jordana Brewster, as well as the comedy ensemble Wildflower. Scott is repped by Gersh, Impression Entertainment and Ggssc.

This article contains spoilers for the "Frasier" revival.

Paramount+'s "Frasier" revival is off to a start. Not a great one, not a particularly rocky one either, just ... a start. Here at /Film we've explored the good (the beautiful tribute to the series paid to the late John Mahoney), the bad (that painful "Dr. Crane" sequence from episode 3), and everything in between (who do You want to reprise their role in the revival?). In his review of the series, /Film's Josh Spiegel called it "neither disappointing nor remarkable," and presciently identified exactly where the revival has the opportunity to ultimately either bomb or soar: "The new characters," Spiegel wrote, "only serve as distant echoes of the ensemble from the original series."

Finely drawn characters and electric character dynamics are arguably the key to all successful sitcoms. But these elements were especially vital to the success of "Frasier" as, unlike most other smash hit sitcoms,...

Season three of ‘American Horror Stories’ isn’t afraid to push some uncomfortable buttons, delivering some of its creepiest stories ever.

It can be increasingly easy to write off American Horror Stories, especially when a middling season of American Horror Story proper is currently airing. American Horror Stories began with a rocky start that was too indebted to the franchise’s past. However, it’s gradually become an underrated destination for heightened, campy tales of terror that aren’t bogged down by the plotting and structural issues that so-often hurt American Horror Story’s seasonal narratives. Not only is American Horror Stories’ third season a consistent batch of terrifying tales, but it also contains some of its best work.

“Bestie” is one of American Horror Stories’ strongest episodes and exactly the type of tale that this series should be telling. It’s an incredibly uncomfortable experience, from start to finish,...

It’s the final full week of October 2023, which means the Halloween season is winding down. But don’t worry. The new horror releases aren’t stopping on the road to the big day.

Here’s all the new horror releasing October 24 – October 29, 2023!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

David Gordon Green’s The Exorcist: Believer has scared up over $100 million at the worldwide box office, and the film is now available at home beginning today.

From Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, you can now rent The Exorcist: Believer on Digital platforms for $19.99, or you can purchase the film for $29.99.

50 years after the most terrifying horror film shocked the world, The Exorcist: Believer is a brand-new chapter in the saga, directly following on the groundbreaking original 1973 film.

Since his wife’s death, Victor (Leslie Odom Jr.) has raised his daughter Angela (Lidya Jewett) alone.

FX released the official trailer for “American Horror Stories” Season 3, the spin-off of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk’s anthology series “American Horror Story.” The spin-off features a different horror story in each episode.

The trailer revealed that “Real Housewives” alum Lisa Rinna will star in the “Tapeworm” episode of Season 3, which premieres Oct. 26. The official logline for that installment reads, “An up-and-coming model will stop at nothing in her hunger for success.” The episode was written by Joe Baken and directed by Alexis Martin Woodall.

“Smize for the camera, sweetie,” Rinna’s character says in the trailer. She later responds to a young patient’s concern about a monster inside of her with the question, “But are you hungry?”

Alongside Rinna, the “Tapeworm” cast includes Laura Kariuki, Hazel Graye and Rob Yang.

From the trailer, it looks like Yang prescribes Kariuki’s model a tapeworm to help her lose weight for her modeling career.

Tricks, treats and a spectacled Lisa Rinna await in the Season 3 trailer for American Horror Stories.

FX on Monday released a sneak peek of the Hulu anthology’s return, which is being billed as a four-episode “Huluween” event and releasing all episodes on Thursday, Oct. 26. Additionally, the network has provided the following synopses and cast lists for each installment:

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The one-minute trailer for FX’s special American Horror Stories Huluween event provides a freaky first look at the four-episode event. The trailer’s release was accompanied by additional details on the four episodes – “Bestie,” “Daphne,” “Tapeworm,” and “Organ” – including cast info and brief synopses.

“Bestie” involves a young woman who seeks connection with a mysterious online friend following the loss of her mother. Max Winkler directed from a script by Joe Baken, and Emma Halleen, Seth Gabel, Jessica Barden, Jeff Hiller, and Amrou Al-Kadhi star.

“Daphne,” directed by Elegance Bratton, will feature an artificial intelligence smart device that grows attached to her user. Written by Brad Falchuk and Manny Coto, “Daphne” stars Reid Scott, Annie Hamilton, Allegra Heart, and Christopher Fitzgerald.

“Tapeworm” is about an up-and-coming model who will stop at nothing in her hunger for success. Joe Baken wrote the script, Alexis Martin Woodall directed, and Laura Kariuki,...

FX is bringing their spinoff series “American Horror Stories” back this month with a special four episode Halloween party, and the full official trailer has been unleashed today.

FX previews, “Dark, twisted tales are coming with a four-episode Huluween event from FX’s American Horror Stories. Premiering Thursday, October 26. Exclusively on Hulu.”

The episodes are titled “Daphne,” “Tapeworm,” “Organ” and “Bestie,” and you can preview all four brand new “freakish tales” by watching the official trailer down below.

“American Horror Stories” is created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk. The series premiered on July 15, 2021, and thus far 15 total episodes have aired across two seasons.

The spinoff anthology features hour-long contained episodes, and it’s exclusively available through FX on Hulu. The new series mostly tells original stories unconnected to the main “AHS” series, though Season 1 was book-ended by a “Murder House” continuation. The show delves into horror myths, legends and lore,...

FX is helping to celebrate the season of beasties and ghoulies with a special four-part American Horror Stories Huluween event. The network’s just released a short but creepy teaser for the upcoming event that’s set to premiere on October 26, 2023.

The teaser was accompanied by four posters – “Besties,” “Organ,” “Tapeworm,” and “Daphne” – for the Huluween event.

The Huluween event continues the American Horror Stories tradition of featuring a different horror story in each episode. Created by Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, American Horror Stories is a spinoff of Murphy and Falchuk’s American Horror Story anthology series. American Horror Stories premiered in July 2021, with an eight-episode season two following in July 2022.

Murphy, Falchuk, Alexis Martin Woodall, Max Winkler, Manny Coto, and Jon Robin Baitz serve as executive producers.

Season 12 of American Horror Story, AHS: Delicate, premiered on September 20, 2023. New episodes of season 12 part one air on Wednesdays at 10pm Et/Pt.

Ritu Arya is one of the most talented and charming up-and-coming actresses working in the film industry. The English actress made her debut in the British soap opera Doctors as Dr. Megan Sharma, for which she was nominated for a British Soap Award. She went on to star in multiple big projects like Netflix’s superhero series The Umbrella Academy and recently the global hit film Barbie. So, if you love Arya’s performances here are the 10 best movies and shows starring Ritu Arya that should be on your watchlist.

10. Sticks and Stones (Prime Video Add-On & BritBox) Credit – ITV

Synopsis: After fainting at a sales pitch, manager Thomas finds himself in a pot of mess that stirring will only make it worse. Have his colleagues deliberately planned all the malicious acts, or has he hallucinated the whole thing?

9. Last Christmas (Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Universal Pictures

Synopsis: From director...

Theo James was in a London park when he learned he was nominated for his first Emmy for his role as chaotic finance bro Cameron on HBO’s The White Lotus, and when the British actor got on the phone with THR, he hadn’t yet had a chance to talk to any of his co-stars — many of whom were also nominated. Overall, The White Lotus racked up 23 nominations during the July 12 announcement.

That was his plan after he hung up. “I’m going to try to get a hold of people, and then I think I’m going to have a drink,” he says. “An alcoholic drink. I haven’t chosen which one.” The next stop? Reading Julia Donaldson’s book Room on the Broom to his daughter. “That’s probably what I’ll be doing,” he adds. “A drink and then a children’s story.”

In this season...

Queen Charlotte balances the weight of societal pressure alongside her whirlwind romance with King George in the new “Bridgerton” prequel teaser released by Netflix on Tuesday.

“Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story,” which consists of six episodes following Queen Charlotte’s journey to becoming the most powerful figure in the Bridgerton-verse, will premiere May 4, 2023. Unlike “Bridgerton” which she only executive produces, Shonda Rhimes serves as the showrunner for “Queen Charlotte.”

The teaser picks up from the first look clip shared this fall in which young Queen Charlotte (India Amarteifio) unknowingly encounters the mysterious and elusive young King George (Corey Mylchreest) in a thorny meet-cute, introducing the queen to her soon-to-be husband.

What comes next is both a whirlwind romance and an exercise in high-stakes pressure as voices echo “your marriage is the business of this country; this cannot go wrong.”

Also Read:

‘Bridgerton’ Queen Charlotte Prequel First Look Reveals Thorny Meet-Cute...

Melbourne, Jan 29 (Ians) The newly-crowned champion Aryna Sabalenka took the Australian Open women’s singles trophy also known as ‘Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup’, on a gondola tour through Melbourne’s botanical gardens on Sunday.

She stepped out on the town as a Grand Slam winner for the first time and took her trophy for a spin in front of one of the city’s most scenic backdrop.

The newly-crowned major winner took the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup on a tour of the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria, complete with a gondola ride.

Sabalenka posed for the cameras with both the trophy and a bottle of champagne and said that she was still living the dream less than 24 hours after coming from behind to defeat Elena Rybakina in a classic, three-set championship match inside Rod Laver Arena.

She received the championship trophy from Billie Jean King, whom she thanked for everything she...

Melbourne, Jan 28 (Ians) Former World No.1 Ashleigh Barty on Saturday made a surprise appearance at Melbourne Park to deliver the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Trophy to Rod Laver Arena ahead of the Australian Open 2023 women’s final.

The 26-year-old Queenslander, who announced her sudden retirement last April, received a rousing ovation from the crowd as she strolled on to the court with the trophy she captured in inspired fashion 12 months ago.

Last year, Barty claimed her third and final major title by defeating Danielle Collins 6-3, 7-6 in the final to become Australia’s first homegrown champion in 44 years.

With seven of the members of the Original 9 and her friend and mentor Evonne Goolagong Cawley watching from the stands, Barty flashed a wide grin and trademark wave to the crowd before making way for the night’s combatants, No.5 Aryna Sabalenka and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina.

–Ians

ak/bsk...

The franchise title has topped the £1m mark from its opening day.

Universal’s Fast & Furious 9 leads the new titles at the UK-Ireland box office this weekend, having recorded the highest takings for a weekday since before the Covid-19 pandemic on its Thursday 24 opening.

The film has brought in £1.2m already, and is playing in 597 locations from today.

As of last weekend, the highest-grossing title since cinemas were allowed to reopen in the UK on May 17 was Peter Rabbit 2: The Runaway with £15.3m. While an opening weekend of that amount would be an extraordinary result with 50% audience caps still in place,...

It’s a tough time to be a journalist.

Digital upstarts are faltering and newspapers are running on fumes. The freelance market for glossy magazines has dried up along with their ad sales. That’s left many top reporters looking for a way to support their work.

Enter the Vespucci Group. Founded by producers Daniel Turcan and Johnny Galvin, the three-year-old production company and incubator is helping to fill that gap by getting in on buzzy stories and penetrating investigative reports from their inception. In return for supporting journalists’ projects, the company gets the rights to develop their finished work as podcasts, television shows, streaming series or feature films.

“It’s a harmonious relationship,” says Galvin. “It’s no secret that journalism is under threat and reporters are underfunded. The core of our company is the relationships we have established with about 150 working journalists around the world.”

Since it was...

Exclusive: Cruella and Little Joe actress Emily Beecham is set to star in Netflix’s anticipated European series 1899, we can reveal.

Fast-rising Beecham becomes the first name aboard for the big-canvas period horror, which comes from in-demand German writer-director-producers Baran Bo Odar and Jantje Friese, creators of Netflix’s hit supernatural series Dark.

Set to shoot from spring next year, the drama will revolve around a migrant steamship heading from London to New York. When the passengers discover another migrant boat adrift, their journey descends into horrifying nightmare.

The eight-episode show will be multi-lingual but primarily in English.

In recent weeks, director Baran Bo Odar has posted multiple camera and costume tests for the series on his Instagram account. Earlier this year, he posted a script cover for episode 1, titled The Ship.

He and Friese, who were the first European creatives to strike an overall series deal with Netflix...

Actress Emily Beecham ("Into The Badlands") poses for a digital edition of "The Fall", wearing fine jewellery from Adler Joailliers, photographed by Fenton Bailey:

Beecham is noted for her role in the Coen Brothers film "Hail, Caesar!", playing 'The Widow' in the AMC TV series "Into the Badlands" and for the title role in the 2017 film "Daphne". In 2019, she starred in Austrian director Jessica Hausner's film "Little Joe", earning a 'Best Actress' award at the Cannes Film Festival.

Beecham has also appeared in numerous UK TV series, including Agatha Christie's "Marple", "Tess of The D'Urbervilles" and "The Street".

"In order to press further with who you want to become", said Beecham, "you have to take risks, put yourself out there... That's the only way to discover you're actually capable...."

"The girlfriend roles that we are usually offered are nearly always just kind and supportive. So it is...

Netflix Film has kicked off the new year by previewing the 21 original feature films confirmed for 2020 releases as of January 3. This list will surely grow as Netflix acquires content out of film festivals such as Sundance later this month, but for now Netflix has a 2020 slate chock full of auteur-driven original dramas. Netflix is coming off of its most lucrative year in cinema yet thanks to Martin Scorsese’s “The Irishman” and Noah Baumbach’s “Marriage Story,” among other titles, and it looks like the streaming giant will continue to soar in 2020 with works from David Fincher, Spike Lee, Dee Rees, Ben Wheatley, Charlie Kaufman, Gina Prince-Bythewood, and more.

Perhaps Netflix’s most anticipated 2020 feature film is “Mank,” the first feature directorial effort from David Fincher since the 2014 release of “Gone Girl.” The movie is expected to launch in the fall as one of the streamer’s top Oscar contenders.

In “Rialto,” the sensitive if constrained sophomore feature from Peter Mackie Burns (“Daphne”), diffident Dubliner Colm (Tom Vaughn-Lawlor) apologizes a lot. When he bumps into someone. When someone bumps into him. When he answers the phone or forgets a household task or mishears his wife. All those little excuses are partly the accurate observation of an authentically Irish verbal tic, as detailed in Mark O’Halloran’s cleverly colloquial screenplay, based on his own stage play. But there is also the sense that Colm’s frequent exhalations of apology are flak cannon fire, sent up into the ether to disguise and distract from an enormous, deeply repressed guilt that there’s no “sorry” large enough to cover. “Rialto” pivots claustrophobically around a crisis moment that drives Colm to act on the very desires he has perhaps been apologizing for all along.

It is a comfortably-off family man, working in a...

Exclusive: Cannes Best Actress 2019 winner Emily Beecham (Little Joe) has joined Disney’s live-action prequel Cruella.

About a young Cruella de Vil, the ‘baddie’ from Disney classic 101 Dalmations, the family pic is currently shooting in the UK at Shepperton Studios. Previously announced are Emma Stone as de Vil, Emma Thompson, Paul Walter Hauser and Joel Fry.

Story line and character details are being kept largely under wraps. Craig Gillespie is directing and U.S. release date is set for May 28, 2021, Memorial Day weekend. Disney released a fun first look at the movie at D23 this summer.

Rising UK actress Beecham most recently starred with Ben Whishaw and Kerry Fox in drama-sci-fi Little Joe, which played in competition in Cannes and was picked up by Magnolia for U.S distribution. Beecham won the festival’s Best Actress prize for the film which rolls out this autumn and winter.

She...

“Snowfall” star Damson Idris is set to star alongside Anthony Mackie in Netflix’s futuristic sci-fi thriller “Outside the Wire” as the second lead, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

Emily Beecham (“Little Joe” and “Daphne”) is also joining the cast. She most recently earned the Best Actress Award at the 72nd Cannes Film Festival for her role in “Little Joe.”

Mikael Håfström, who directed “Escape Plan” and “1408,” will direct the film that 42 and Automatik are producing. Brian Kavanaugh-Jones is producing for Automatik, while Ben Pugh and Erica Steinberg are producing for 42, Jason Spire is producing for Inspire Entertainment. Mackie will also serve as a producer, and Rob Yescombe and Rowan Athale wrote the script.

Also Read: Anthony Mackie to Star in Futuristic Action Thriller 'Outside the Wire' at Netflix

“Outside the Wire” is set in the future and follows a drone pilot who...

Emily Beecham had already returned to Britain from the Cannes Film Festival when she was suddenly summoned back to the Cote D’Azur – where she promptly picked up the fest’s best actress prize for her turn in Jessica Hausner’s competition title, “Little Joe.” Beecham, who starred in “Daphne” and “Into the Badlands,” plays Alice, a scientist and mother who begins to suspect that the plant she has genetically modified may have adverse side effects.

Variety hailed the film as an “artfully unnerving horror movie” and an “‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’ for the age of antidepressants,” but it divided critics at the festival. Beecham talks to Variety about the reaction to the film, working with Hausner, and her character’s paranoia.

Congratulations on the best actress award. It seems from your travel plans you weren’t expecting to win?

I was woken up that morning and told to...

Emily Beecham has taken a leading role in one of the segments in “Berlin, I Love You,” the anthology feature that will consist of 10 romance-themed stories set in the German capital. She joins a stellar cast in the picture, including Helen Mirren, Keira Knightley and Jim Sturgess.

Beecham is known for playing the Widow in AMC’s hit martial-arts action series “Into the Badlands” and for her starring role in “Daphne.” She landed best actress awards at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and Turin Film Festival for that part, as well as Bifa and Empire Award nominations. She was also in the Coen brothers’ movie “Hail, Caesar!”

In “Berlin, I Love You,” Beecham appears in a segment called “Me Three,” directed by Stephanie Martin (“Wild Horses”) and Claus Clausen. She plays Hannah, a woman in an abusive relationship, who by chance meets another woman in a colorful Berlin launderette and strikes up a friendship.

Sneak Peek footage, plus images from the "Scoobie-Do" live-action horror-comedy spin-off "Daphne & Velma", directed by Suzi Yoonessi, starring Sarah Jeffery, Sarah Gilman and Vanessa Marano:

"...before their eventual team-up with 'Scooby' and the gang, bright and optimistic 'Daphne' and whip-smart and analytical 'Velma' are both mystery-solving teens who are best friends but have only met online - until now.

"Daphne has just transferred to Velma's school, 'Ridge Valley High', an incredible tech-savvy institute with all the latest gadgets provided by the school's benefactor, billionaire 'Tobias Bloom'.

"And while competition is fierce among the students for a coveted internship at 'Bloom Innovative', Daphne and Velma dig beyond all the gadgets and tech to investigate what is causing some of the brightest students in school to disappear - only to emerge again in a 'zombie' state..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Daphne & Velma...

This portrait of a hedonistic young London woman on the rampage is artfully drawn but difficult to look at

Daphne is a Londoner in her early 30s who lives her life like an act of war. Intensely inhabited by Emily Beecham, it’s a performance full of jangling discord and serrated edges, capturing a woman at the exact moment when circumstances magnify her already forcefully nihilistic personality.

Even before Daphne, a junior chef in a busy kitchen, witnesses a violent stabbing in a convenience store, she drinks hard, takes drugs and sleeps with whoever she wants. She rebuffs the attempts of anyone to get close to her – she deliberately and repeatedly gets the name of one hapless conquest wrong, before brushing his hand away like dandruff and stomping off into the night. She recoils from her well-meaning mother’s mindfulness DVD as if she has just been handed a bag of cold vomit.

Movies like Daphne depict casual sex among women as a sign of low self-esteem, wholly divorced from desire

Sex, I was informed by the book my mother bought for me when I was 10, meant “that mommy and daddy love each other very much”. But like all the fairytales I read as a child, I’ve since learned that this book presented a somewhat sanitised view of reality. I am now of an age where I know sex can mean many things: validation, forgiveness, boredom. But currently it means only one thing in popular culture when it comes to women: misery.

Yesterday a new film, Daphne, was released in the UK, which tells the story of a young woman, played with extraordinary depth by Emily Beecham, and it is, to use one of Daphne’s own lines, “lovely, in a traumatic sort of way”. But in one regard it feels all too familiar.

A big-city thirtysomething, numbed by her endless pursuit of pleasure, finds her life turned around when she witnesses a violent crime

Fortunately or otherwise, this resembles something from TV, the award-winning 2016 comedy Fleabag written by and starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge, all about the unhappy, sexually adventurous and self-destructive woman in London: young, posh, white. In this film – written by Nico Mensinga and directed by Peter Mackie Burns, feature first-timers – it is Daphne, played with a potent and blank kind of restraint by Emily Beecham, who is on her own in the city; she has a demanding job as a chef in a busy restaurant, but Daphne is uninterested in that, her tiresome mother, or her clingy friends from uni. She’s more interested in sex with strangers, coke, alcohol and the pure delicious pleasure of not caring any more about other people or herself. It could be a pleasure that people...

The promiscuous heroine of the indie film Daphne upends on-screen conventions about women and sex. From Bond to Bridesmaids and beyond, are the movies finally coming to terms with female desire?

It is a radical act, which every film generation thinks they are the first to discover: to create characters who are not good people. When you drill into it, this always means creating men who are not good men, since the grey areas around women on screen – do they have any lines that aren’t variations on “help”? Do they have motivation independent of the hero’s? – mean that, even in a putatively intelligent film, it is often quite hard to ascribe a moral arc to them, as it would be to a horse, or a robot. So let’s leave aside “good” – it is vanishingly rare, and pretty bracing, to see a woman on screen who isn’t the villain,...

There’s a real thirst for complex and less saccharine female roles, star says of the film poised to be an autumn hit

Any film fan who spots Emily Beecham out and about this autumn might well be wary. After watching the actress star in Daphne, the eagerly awaited British film out in cinemas later this month, it would take a steady nerve to approach her for an autograph.

“I’ve had strong reactions to the part. Some people have said to me, ‘Why is she someone who deserves to have her story told?’” Beecham told the Observer.

Continue reading...

Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri; Justin Chon's Korean American drama Gook and Pororoca, the latest from Romanian auteur Constantin Popescu (Tales from the Golden Age) are among the titles selected for competition at this year's Zurich International Film Festival.

The Zurich line-up, announced Wednesday, is a compelling mix of U.S. and international arthouse titles, with highlights including Peter Mackie Burns' Daphne starring Emily Beecham; Venice Film Festival entry Under The Tree from Icelandic helmer Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurdsson and Weightless, the feature debut of music video director Jaron Albertin, which stars Marc Menchaca, Julianna Nicholson and Johnny Knoxville.

In...

Daphne, Glory also scoop prizes.

Francis Lee’s God’s Own Country has won the top prize at this year’s Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The well-received drama, which premiered in Sundance and had its UK premiere in Edinburgh, took the Michael Powell Award for best British feature film.

The prize was awarded by a jury consisting of composer David Arnold, International Film Festival Rotterdam artistic director Bero Beyer, and Bafta-nominated film and television writer Andrea Gibb.

The jury commented: “We present the Michael Powell Award to God’s Own Country, directed by Francis Lee, a film with a singularity of storytelling and consistency of vision. Assured direction with raw and endearing performances result in a film that has an authenticity that is both tender and brutal, a juxtaposition of landscape and emotion, which explores the question of what it means to be a man.”

On hearing the news, director Francis Lee said: “I am thrilled with this...

'Top of the Lake: China Girl' will make its Australian debut at Miff.

The Melbourne International Film Festival (Miff) has unveiled the first 30 films on its line-up ahead of the full program launch in July..

Among the highlights at this year.s festival, to be held August 3-20, is actually a television series: the Australian premiere of Jane Campion.s series Top of the Lake: China Girl, fresh from Cannes..

All six episodes of the show, starring Elisabeth Moss and Nicole Kidman, will play in three concurrent two-hour sessions, before the show goes on to air on Foxtel.s BBC First.

Another Aussie highlight will be documentary The Silent Eye, from director Amiel Courtin-Wilson (Hail, Ruin), which follows free jazz pioneer Cecil Taylor and modern dance artist Min Tanaka..

Many of the Aussie films that are screening at Sydney Film Festival will also head south for Miff, including a double bill froom Kriv Stenders,...

Highlights include the UK premiere of Cars 3 and 17 world premieres.Scroll Down For Competition Titles

The line-up for the 71st Edinburgh International Film Festival (Eiff) has been unveiled this morning by artistic director Mark Adams.

This year’s Eiff (June 21-2 July) will comprise a total 151 features from 46 countries including 17 world premieres, 12 international premieres, 9 European premieres and 69 UK premieres.

Highlights include the UK Premiere of Disney-Pixar’s animation Cars 3, appearances from Stanley Tucci, Oliver Stone and Kevin Bacon and the Opening and Closing Gala premieres of the previously announced God’s Own Country and England Is Mine.

There will also be a special screening of Raiders Of The Lost Ark accompanied by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra performing the score live.

Best of British

The Best of British strand includes Bryn Higgins’ Access All Areas featuring Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens; Simon Hunter’s Edie starring Sheila Hancock; the Donmar Warehouse’s all-female adaptation of [link...

Exclusive: Movies with a Scottish flavour include Daphne, The Last Photograph, The Marker, while Okja will also screen.

The Edinburgh International Film Festival has revealed a host of movies with Scottish connections set to play at its 70th anniversary edition.

Scottish director Peter Mackie Burns will bring his debut Daphne, which stars Emily Beecham (Hail Caesar) and Geraldine James (Sherlock Holmes), while Scottish actress Freya Mavor (Sunshine On Leith) stars in the world premiere of comedy-drama Modern Life Is Rubbish.

Filmmaker Justin Edgar also returns to the Eiff with The Marker, starring veteran Scottish actor John Hannah; while The Last Photograph, starring Danny Huston, revolves around the Lockerbie disaster.

Bong Joon Ho’s latest offering Okja, starring Eiff honorary patron Tilda Swinton, will also screen and there will also be showcases of local icons Sean Connery and Robbie Coltrane.

Titles filmed and set in Scotland will include Edie, starring Kevin Guthrie and psychological thriller The Dark Mile...

Exclusive: The Bureau Sales inks deal for comedy-drama.

The Bureau Sales has closed an all-rights deal for North American with Gravitas Ventures for its Emily Beecham-starring comedy-drama Daphne.

Produced by The Bureau, international rights are handled by The Bureau Sales, which has already closed deals with Altitude for the UK, Cinemien for Benelux, Mag for France, Bilibilli for China, and most recently Vista India Digital Media for India.

The film stars Beecham as a quick-witted, thirty-something Londoner whose life takes a downward spiral after she witnesses a violent attack.

It marks the directing debut of Peter Mackie Burns, who won a Golden Bear in 2005 for his short film Milk.

The cast also includes Geraldine James, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor and Nathaniel Martello-White.

The deal was negotiated by Josh Spector on behalf of Gravitas.

Spector commented: “Emily Beecham’s outstanding lead performance is undeniable and we are thrilled to be bringing Peter Mackie Burns’ powerful film to North American...

“Most Beautiful Island”

A short, stressful, and utterly spellbinding debut that transforms the immigrant experience into the stuff of an early Polanski psychodrama, “Most Beautiful Island” was a worthy winner of the SXSW Grand Jury Prize for best narrative feature, and might prove to be a breakthrough moment for a major new talent: Spanish actress Ana Asensio not only wrote, directed, and produced this fraught metropolitan thriller, she also appears in just about every frame.

It would be criminal to reveal too much about what happens to her character, a Manhattan immigrant who’s struggling to make a life for herself in the big city and in for the longest night of her life, but it’s thrilling to watch the anxiety of neo-realism as it slowly bleeds into something that resembles the suspense of the orgy sequence from “Eyes Wide Shut.” Creating a lucid sense of reality only so...

When Al Gore lost the 2000 presidential election, he found a new platform for his message in storytelling. One reason “An Inconvenient Truth” became a huge success for the environmental movement was Gore’s dramatic comeback made him a natural fit for the movies. He was a tireless advocate whose globe-spanning quest to save the planet excited audiences while bringing them closer to his cause. Now, it’s Joe Biden’s turn.

Judging by the powerful stories he told in a speech at the 2017 SXSW conference about his efforts to fight cancer, Biden would make a killer documentary subject. His appearance, part of SXSW’s Connect to End Cancer series, targeted the tech-savvy audience to play up his efforts to empower digital tools as a means to combat the disease. However, his speech had a distinctly cinematic arc that could easily transition to the big screen. Biden recently signed with CAA,...

A raw fiction debut that feels like a romantic comedy with all of the bullshit taken out, Peter Mackie Burns’ “Daphne” is a remarkably real and well-realized big screen version of an archetype that has given birth to some of the best new television on both sides of the pond: The self-destructive single girl. “I’ve sort of given up on people, haven’t I?” Daphne (Emily Beecham) rhetorically asks one of her few remaining friends as she stumbles through another night at the pub, slurping down a glass of whatever keeps the feelings away.

A brittle 31-year-old Londoner who wears some heavy emotional armor and has a major Moira Shearer thing going on, Daphne may enjoy the odd spot of coked up sex in the bathroom of her local bar, but she doesn’t need a man to complete her. On the contrary, she doesn’t need anyone to...

Exclusive: The Bureau Sales inks deal with fledgling French distributor Mag Distribution.

French outfit The Bureau Sales has closed deals on Daphne at this week’s European Film Market (Efm) in Berlin.

The film has sold for France to Mag Distribution, the newly-launched distribution company set up by Richard Magnien, Emmanuel Agneray and Yann Gilbert.

The acquisition is part of the company’s debut slate which also includes Radu Jude’s 2016 Locarno premiere Scarred Hearts and Miwa Nishikawa’s Long Excuses, which premiered at Tiff last year.

Daphne has also sold to China with Bilibili. Previous deals closed on the title include Altitude for the UK and Cinemien for Benelux.

The film stars Emily Beecham as a 30-something woman living in London whose life enters a downward spiral after she witnesses a violent attack.

It marks the feature debut of director Peter Mackie Burns, who won a Berlin Golden Bear in 2005 for his short film Milk. [link...

Looking for Mr. Goodbar meets Kenneth Lonergan's Margaret on the streets of 21st century London in Peter Mackie Burns' disarming debut Daphne, the intimate character study of a 31-year-old singleton who goes off the rails after witnessing a random act of violence. First and foremost, it's a cracking little showcase for rising British actress Emily Beecham, who's seldom offscreen for long as the tale's lively, complex, intriguing quasi-heroine.

A low-key but promising first feature from Mackie Burns, winner of the Berlinale Golden Bear in 2005 for his short Milk, it is essentially an expansion of his 11-minute Happy Birthday to Me (2013),...

Goligher, who will speak on Thursday at the Screen Film Summit, says that the Brexit vote is “going to have a big impact on our industry”.

In an interview with Screen ahead of this week’s Screen Film Summit, The Bureau’s Tristan Goligher has discussed some of the key challenges facing UK producers today.

With credits including 45 Years, Weekend and the forthcoming Lean On Pete and Daphne, Goligher is considered one of the UK industry’s rising stars, and will speak at Thursday’s Summit alongside fellow rising UK producers Julia Nottingham of Pulse Films and Uzma Hasan of Little House Productions.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Goligher highlighted that the biggest challenge facing The Bureau was “convincing people to get behind the types of films that we’re making”, often because they did not have similar market comparisons.

“That inevitably poses a challenge because everyone bases their decision making on trying to make an educated guess,” he...

Exclusive: Will Clarke's Altitude Film Distribution has picked up UK rights to Daphne, the directorial debut from Scottish filmmaker Peter Mackie Burns. The film stars up-and-coming actress Emily Beecham, who recently was seen in the Coen brothers' Hail, Caesar!, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, two-time Ifta best actor winner for his performance in hit crime drama Love/Hate. Vaughan-Lawlor also had roles in Brad Furman's The Infiltrator with Bryan Cranston and Jim Sheridan's The S…...

Twenty-two emerging producers to receive up to £2.2m; almost 500 applicants.Scroll Down For Recipients

The BFI has announced the recipients of its 2016-18 Vision Awards, comprising 22 investments in up-and-coming UK producers.

The awards, generally spread over two years, are designed to enable producers to build and develop their companies, slates and creative relationships.

The BFI had intended to give 20 awards but increased that allocation to 22 in response to the number of strong applications it received. Almost 500 companies applied for the awards, which are backed by a total commitment from the BFI of £2.2m of National Lottery funding.

Fifteen of the awards are to women producers or partnerships, while eight of the companies are based outside of London, located in Belfast, Cardiff, Glasgow, Hull, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and York.

In a bid to foster sustainability, the third iteration of the Vision Awards will include an allowance to cover a producer’s fees and overheads of up to half...