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Kathryn Hays, who played Kim Hughes on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns,” from 1972 to 2010, died on March 25 in Fairfield, Connecticut at the age of 87, TVLine reported.

No cause of death was shared. Her reps did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In a statement, actor Don Hastings, who played her character’s husband, Bob Hughes, on the long-running soap said, “Our relationship as Bob and Kim was as close as Kathryn and my relationship, except we were not married. We were more like brother and sister and we were great friends. Our biggest squabble was that she always wanted to rehearse and I wanted to take a nap. This is a huge loss to all who knew her.”

Besides her iconic role on “As the World Turns,” Hays had a memorable turn in the 1968 “Star Trek” episode “The Empath” as Gem, a mute alien who must...

Matt Hausfater, Teddy Riley, and Aaron Buchsbaum, creators and executive producers of the upcoming Amazon Original adult animated comedy series Fairfax, have signed first-look deals with Amazon Studios. Under the pacts, they will create and produce projects via their The Adorable Trio production banner to premiere exclusively on Prime Video in more than 240 countries and territories worldwide.

Fairfax offers a satirical play on the young, new wave of the sneakerhead/streetwear community, while also capturing the very essence of hype culture — inclusive of the fashion, music, and pop culture that intertwines it all together. The hilarious series pokes fun at hype culture in silly and absurd ways that ultimately showcases the impact among younger generations. Fairfax plays on Gen Z hot topics including cancel culture, social media etiquette, social media activists, clout chasing, and sneaker obsessions.

Skyler Gisondo, Kiersey Clemons, Peter S. Kim and Jaboukie Young-White star.

Fairfax is co-produced...

Jorge Gutiérrez’s long-awaited animated Netflix limited series, “Maya and the Three,” about a rebellious Mesoamerican teenage princess battling the gods of the underworld, celebrates the culture on an epic scale. Told in nine parts, it boasts a dazzling array of visual styles evoking hand-drawn 2D, stop-motion, and CG animation.

Indeed, “Maya and the Three” is proof that the Mexican animation auteur is at the top of his game. Then again, Gutiérrez is just getting started with what his wife and longtime collaborator Sandra Equihua calls the “Jorgeverse.”

“We’ve been in the industry for 21 years just trying to make stuff,” Gutiérrez said. “I finally feel like we’re being trusted to make [what we want] in a way that reflects who we are. […] We’re the same people from 20 years ago. It’s not like we’re different in any way. It’s just that now we’re given more opportunities.”

Fresh from CalArts,...

An in-person Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg), which has moved its traditional spring dates to the fall, runs Oct. 1-9 this year. It opens with Dennis Villeneuve’s “Dune,” following its splash in Venice, and closes with the North American premiere of the first two episodes of Netflix’s animated series “Maya and the Three” from Mexico’s Jorge Gutiérrez.

Given the ongoing pandemic that is still hampering some travel, the festival expects fewer participants. Speaking to Variety in mid-September, festival director Estrella Araiza said that at that moment the Festival had about 300 confirmed participants while it normally had as many as 1,500.

Cinemas will be at 50% capacity at the festival even though Mexico has seen most cinemas opening at 100% capacity. “We want to adhere to the strictest protocols to keep our guests safe,” Araiza noted.

Some activities, such as the Masterclasses, will be available online. A novelty this year, the live...

The Guadalajara Film Festival (Ficg) will close this October’s rescheduled in-person festival with the first two episodes of Netflix’s animated event series “Maya and the Three” from daytime Emmy-winning director Jorge Gutierrez.

“Having ‘Maya’ premier at my beloved Ficg, in the capital of Mexican animation, is a dream come true!” Gutierrez told Variety after the announcement was made.

Ficg released details outlining the full program for this year’s 36th edition, which also includes a special screening of Dennis Villeneuve’s “Dune” at the festival’s opening ceremony. Other major takeaways include the awarding of this year’s El Mayahuel de Plata to Mexican Cinema, the highest award given out by the festival, to the illustrious Mexican actor Elsa Aguirre, a figurehead of the country’s golden age of cinema.

Other announced honors include the Golden Mayahuel for contribution Ibero-American cinema to Spanish director Julio Medem, who will...

Chile’s Chilemonos International Animation Festival, the country’s largest event dedicated to celebrating its rapidly expanding animation scene, kicked off its second entirely online edition last week, and will run through July 25.

2021 is a milestone year for the festival, marking a decade since its inaugural edition. Since then, the festival has grown exponentially and become the only Academy Award qualifying event for animated shorts in Latin America. Once again this year, organizers are predicting record numbers of attendees on the event’s digital platform and are eagerly looking forward to an in-person event in 2022.

Uniquely, and excitingly for animation fans across Central and South America, Chilemonos’ entire competition and events lineup will be accessible across Latin America free of charge, supported by an alliance with the OndaMedia platform – which hosts the online version of the fest – and the Department of Culture at Chile’s Ministry of Culture, Arts and Heritage.

Emmy-winning creator and director of “The Book of Life” and “El Tigre” Jorge Gutierrez and his longtime partner, in life and in work, Sandra Equihua hosted one of this year’s most highly anticipated Work in Progress sessions at this year’s Annecy Animation Festival on Wednesday. In the hour-long panel and subsequent Q&a, the pair served up an all you can eat smorgasbord of details which had until now been scant on their upcoming Netflix limited series “Maya and the Three.”

Gutierrez started off by describing a Netflix dinner with many of the people who would go on to form Netflix Animation, where he was asked by Melissa Cobb to, “Pitch us something you don’t think you can get made anywhere.”

“Immediately the tombs of my ancestors all over Mexico began shaking and they said, ‘This is the time, the time to pitch Maya!’” he remembered fondly.