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When Mavis Staples thinks about her late friend Levon Helm, memories of her family flood into her mind. Decades ago, when Helm and Mavis’ sister Yvonne were regularly talking on the phone about a possible joint tour of Black colleges, Mavis would feel left out. “I’d butt in and say, ‘Give me that phone — I want to speak to him!’” the 82-year-old singer recalls.

When Helm would see the Staple Singers on the road, he’d greet Mavis’ father Pops Staples with the familiarity of a childhood friend. “Levon...

In the summer of 2011, Mavis Staples and her band arrived at Levon Helm’s barn and studio in Woodstock, New York, to perform at one of Helm’s trademark Midnight Ramble shows. The resulting show, dropping May 20 with the title Carry Me Home, was a moving reunion of two American musical legends who’d known each other for 35 years.

“It never crossed my mind that it might be the last time we’d see each other,” Staples said in a statement. “He was so full of life and so happy that week.

Lebanese director Mounia Akl’s long-gestating first feature, “Costa Brava, Lebanon,” which screens in Venice Horizons, is about her relationship with Beirut and Lebanon “and the complexity of this love/hate relationship that is becoming more and more complicated as our country is falling apart,” she says.

The country’s complications came literally crashing into the pic’s production when Beirut, on Aug. 4, 2020, was devastated by one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. It left hundreds dead and hundreds of thousands homeless. It also took place during a “Costa Brava” pre-production meeting.

“Our cinematographer [Joe Saade] almost lost his eye, the office was completely destroyed and we walked out knowing that our whole city was destroyed,” she recounts.

Two months later, the “Costa Brava” team decided to go ahead and shoot despite the blast, and also despite the pandemic and Lebanon’s economic collapse, which had depreciated the value of their funding.

Admittedly, when it becomes clear Libertad is about an upper-middle class family holidaying on the Costa Brava, rather than the titular Colombian girl working in their summer home, I feared it would be a bourgeois fantasy about servants’ hearts of gold. Thankfully it isn’t. A study of two teens’ fleeting friendship during one summer on the Spanish coast, Libertad is much more interesting – and self-aware – than that.

Spanish filmmaker Clara Roquet focuses mostly on the trials and tribulations of Nora (Maria Morera), a wealthy teen whose mum Teresa (Nora Navas) drags her on another endless summer trip to all the usual haunts. Nora is told to avoid the town, avoid going out at night, avoid Libertad (Nicolle García), the elusive daughter of housekeeper Rosana (Carol Hurtado). All Nora can do is stare at Manuel (Carlos Alcaide), the handsome first mate who works on the family boat.

That all changes...

Spain brings a robust crop of developing projects and completed titles to this year’s Cannes Film Market.

“Alcarrás” (Carla Simon)

Much anticipated after Simon’s “Summer 1993,” “Alcarrás” tracks the final harvest at a multi-generational family farm. Co-produced with Italy. Sales: MK2 Films

“Ama” (Julia de Paz Solvas)

A Malaga premiere from La Dalia Films about single motherhood and raising a child without a permanent home. Sales: Filmax

“Ane Is Missing”

(David Pérez Sañudo)

A 2021 best picture Goya nominee, Patricia López Arnáiz dominates the screen as a mother looking for her teenage daughter. Sales: Latido

“Beyond the Summit” (Ibon Cormenzana)

Javier Rey (“Fariña”) & Patricia Lopez Arnaiz (“Ane”) star in this mountain climbing metaphor for self-realization.

Sales: Filmax

“Canto Cósmico. Niño de Elche”

From Señor y Señora and Código Sur, the story of a former child prodigy flamenco singer who pushed the boundaries of the artform.

“Carpoolers” (Martín Cuervo)

A...

Last month, Catalan auteur Agustí Villaronga swept pretty much every prize out at Spain’s Malaga Film Festival with “The Belly of the Sea.”

The plaudits prized Villaronga’s large artistic ambition in re-creating arguably the most ghastly shipwreck in history — the 1816 sinking of French frigate Meduse off the coast of modern Mauritania — in a film shot in an abandoned wine cellar. It mixes historical re-creation, contemporary photo and doc footage and sea sculptures of the barnacled bodies of the drowned.

Next up for Villaronga, however, is what he describes as a tender comedy, “3,000 Obstacles,” about a former elite athlete now suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Director of resonant features that are elliptical (“Pau and His Brother”) or pointedly meandering (“August Days”), Marc Recha is now developing a quirky comedy thriller about a blind man helping a friend to find some religious relics hidden by two Slovenian monks.

Ibon Cormenzana...

Past winners of the first feature prize include Jim Jarmusch, Mira Nair, Naomi Kawase, Steve McQueen, Houda Benyamina and Lukas Dhont.

The Cannes Film Festival has named French actress Mélanie Thierry as jury president for the 2021 Caméra d’Or award reserved for all first features premiering across Official Selection and the parallel sections of Directors’ Fortnight and Critics’ Week.

”Nothing is as fragile or as miraculous as a first movie. This testifies to the courage and the faith of all the directors who, after such a long period of seclusion, succeeded in providing us with a window on the outside world,...

The Cannes Film Festival’s parallel Critics’ Week section is celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2021 with a lineup that is heavy on French talent and nonexistent when it comes to U.S. filmmakers. This year’s Critics’ Week selection includes 13 world premieres, seven of them in competition. As always, Critics’ Week is made of up first and-second time directorial efforts. The selection committee says it received 1,620 short films and watched 1,000 features in 2021. The lineup was selected by Critics’ Week artistic director Charles Tesson and his committee. Each section of the Critics’ Week lineup is made up of about 30 percent of films directed by women.

“The competition is very international and showcases films with many different styles and topics,” Tesson said in a statement (via Variety). “Many films tackle relationships, friendships, family bonds — especially mothers with their children, loved ones we lost, or fighting to get back into our lives.”

Critics...

It marks Tesson’s 10th edition at the helm of Critics’ Week.

The upcoming edition of Cannes Critics’ Week (July 7-15) will be a momentous one for its artistic director Charles Tesson on a number of levels.

As well as being the first physical edition since 2019, after last year’s hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the parallel section’s 60th edition, it will also be respected film critic and academic Tesson’s tenth edition at the helm. Screen talked to Tesson about the line-up, which was unveiled on Monday, and plans for the 60th edition.

According to the press release,...

With most of the main Cannes Film Festival lineup now confirmed, it’s now time for the sidebars to be unveiled. First up is the lineup for the Critics Week aka Semaine de la Critique. A spotlight on new filmmakers, in recent years they’ve featured works by Julia Ducournau (who now has a film in competition this year with Titane), Hlynur Pálmason, Oliver Laxe, Agnieszka Smoczyńska, Jonas Carpignano, Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy, Ritesh Batra, and more.

This year’s slate is full of a new class of emerging filmmakers, with the opening selection, Constance Meyer’s Robuste starring Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena, the Adèle Exarchopoulos-led Zero Fucks Given by Julie Lecoustre & Emmanuel Marre, and more. The jury this year is headed by Cristian Mungiu.

Check out the lineup below and see more about each film at the links here.

Opening Film

“Robuste,” Constance Meyer

Special Screenings

“Anaïs in Love,...

Critics’ Week, the Cannes Film Festival parallel strand dedicated to first and second films, follows the official selection’s lead in announcing an expanded lineup after taking a year off.

The 2021 program — which marks the sidebar’s 60th edition — will feature 13 world premieres, seven of them in competition, chosen from nearly 1,000 films by Charles Tesson, artistic director, and his committee. The lineup is heavy on French talent, with no American directors in the mix.

Constance Meyer’s “Robust” (previously titled “Misfit”), a drama-comedy starring Gérard Depardieu and Déborah Lukumuena (“Divines”), will open the 2021 edition of Critics’ Week. Set in contemporary Paris, “Robust” stars Depardieu as a lonely film star in decline, who forms an unexpected bond with Aïssa, a semi-pro wrestler earning a living as a security officer.

Leyla Bouzid’s “A Tale of Love and Desire” will close the edition and will also be part of the Special Screenings section,...

Parallel section will showcase 13 first and second features and 10 short films.

Cannes Critics’ Week 2021 has unveiled the line-up of its 60th edition, following last year’s hiatus due to the pandemic, running July 7 to 15 alongside the Cannes Film Festival.

It will showcase 13 features, seven of them in competition, as well as 10 short films.

French director Constance Meyer’s debut feature Robust, co-starring Gérard Depardieu opposite Divines discovery Déborah Lukumuena will open the section on July 7. Depardieu plays an ageing actor star in decline who hires Lukumuena’s character, a semi-professional wrestler, as a bodyguard at short notice. The seemingly disparate...

Three icons from around the world, Indian popstar Armaan Malik, multi-faceted Korean American artist Eric Nam and platinum music producer Kshmr have come together for a collaboration of epic proportions in the form of ‘Echo’. While the audio is an eclectic concoction that’s one of a kind and the perfect blend of all three’s artistry, ‘Echo’ lyrically articulates the feeling of indecisiveness in a relationship that pushes partners off the edge. The accompanying music video captures the artists in their natural element powerfully bringing the emotions of the song to life.

Talking about how the track took shape, Armaan Malik said, “‘Echo’ was incepted when I met Kshmr in Los Angeles right before the onset of the global pandemic and the release of my first English single. He played some unreleased material including ‘Echo’, it just stuck, and I recorded my demo verse at his studio itself."

Armaan continues,...

In a novel experiment for Spain, Telefonica unit Movistar Plus will release its big new banner series, Enrique Urbizu’s historical adventure “Libertad,” day-and-date on March 26 on both its pay-svod platform and in Spanish theaters.

Theatrical distribution in Spain on “Libertad,” which is set in early 19th century Spain, in the wake of the French Revolution, will be handled by Adolfo Blanco’s A Contracorriente Films.

Beta Film has international distribution rights on the series, produced by Movistar Plus with Gonzalo Sálazar-Simpson’s Lazona, which also made Urbizu’s prior Movistar original series, “Gigantes.”

The theatrical release will not be nominal but “broad,” said Movistar Plus president Sergio Oslé. It will take advantage of Holy Week, which begins on March 26, and often sees a surge in box office in Spain, Blanco added.

The movie will run 135 minutes, the series bows as a five-part original of 50-minute episodes, which can be...

This year’s Oscars have set a new record for the largest number of entries ever in the Best Original Song category, but the 105 eligible songs do not include Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ “(If Only You Could) Save Me,” a 1930s-style big band song from “Mank” that was recently nominated for the second annual Society of Composers and Lyricists Awards.

The song is heard briefly coming from a radio in the background of one scene and plays for only about 40 seconds. Academy rules require “a clearly audible, intelligible, substantive rendition of both lyric and melody,” and the song was judged to not fulfill that requirement.

Other songs that didn’t make the list, although they were thought to be in the running, include “Uh Oh” from “Promising Young Woman” and “Boss Bitch” from “Birds of Prey.” Even without those, the list of eligible songs tops 100 for the first time...

After her decades of iconic work, Dolly Parton is an obvious choice for the Presidential Medal of Freedom, so why hasn't she gotten it yet? Barack Obama admitted overlooking the country singer's award is one of his greatest regrets but Dolly recently revealed she actually turned down the medal not once, but twice already.

"I got offered the Freedom award from the Trump Administration. I couldn't accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn't travel because of Covid," Dolly shared on NBC's Today. Combating the virus is clearly a priority for Dolly, who donated $1 million to help fund Moderna's vaccine back in April 2020.

The Biden Administration didn't hesitate to reach out to Dolly about the award either, but she's unsure if she'll ever accept. "Now I feel like if I take it I'll be doing politics, so I'm not sure,...

During an appearance on NBC’s Today on Monday, Dolly Parton said she was offered the Presidential Medal of Freedom two different times by former president Trump. The country music icon said she had to decline.

“I got offered the Freedom award from the Trump Administration. I couldn’t accept it because my husband was ill and then they asked me again about it and I wouldn’t travel because of the Covid,” she said, in reply to a question about how former president Obama, regretting that he never presented...

Americana duo Shovels & Rope have teamed up with singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten for a mesmerizing version of the Beach Boys’ “In My Room,” part of a new covers collection. Busted Jukebox Volume 3 will be released February 5th via Dualtone and marks married collaborators Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst’s third installment of reinterpreted songs.

In true Busted Jukebox fashion, Shovels & Rope’s take on “In My Room” is charmingly left-of-center, beginning with a strummed 12-string guitar and piling on layers of instrumentation, including snare drum and some low-end buzz,...

Image Source: W.K. Kellogg Foundation

Milck (née Connie Lim) doesn't like to be called an activist; instead, she prefers the term "social change artist" because she likes to "create art to help fuel" the actions of activists. In honor of W.K. Kellogg Foundation's National Day of Racial Healing (Jan. 19), I chatted with the 34-year-old musician about what the day means to her and how she's bringing about healing in both her music and personal life.

Like many of us, the pandemic has forced Milck to recalibrate and be open to surrendering to things she can't control. "It's been an up-and-down roller coaster as a lot of people are dealing with mental health highs and lows," she told me. "I've really been turning into my creativity. I'm showing up every day to the studio, and I don't know what is going to happen. Sometimes I write a pretty cool song.

Catalan auteur Carla Simón, a 2017 Berlinale Generation Kplus winner with “Summer 1993,” is preparing her third feature, “Romería,” which has been selected among 17 new feature projects to be offered at Rotterdam Film Festival’s CineMart co-production market, to be held Feb. 1-5.

“Romería” (the Spanish name for a popular pilgrimage) will be produced by María Zamora at Avalon, the producer of Simón’s “Summer 1993” and “Alcarràs.” Based in Madrid and founded by Stefan Schmitz, production-distribution outfit Avalon includes Zamora and Enrique Costa as partners.

Having previously participated at the TorinoFilmLab Next program, “Romería” follows Frida, a teenager whose parents died when she was only a child. Adopted by her maternal uncle, the girl loses contact with her father’s side of the family. Wanting to understand the reasons behind the absence of half her family, and more specifically in order to learn about her own past, Frida decides to...

Rolling Stone interview series Unknown Legends features long-form conversations between senior writer Andy Greene and veteran musicians who have toured and recorded alongside icons for years, if not decades. All are renowned in the business, but some are less well known to the general public. Here, these artists tell their complete stories, giving an up-close look at life on music’s A list. This edition features drummer Chad Cromwell.

A few months back, Chad Cromwell got a phone call from Neil Young totally out of the blue. “He said, ‘Man,...

Libertad

Another title we thought would appear in 2020 was the debut of screenwriter Clara Roquet, who co-wrote Carlos Marques-Marcet’s 10,000km (2014), Jaime Rosales’ Petra (a Cannes 2018 in Directors’ Fortnight selection) and upcoming films such as Antonio Méndez Esparza’s horror flick Que nadie duerma and Mounia Akl’s debut Costa Brava Lebanon. The highest ranked directorial debut on our list, Roquet’s film stars Nora Navas, Vicky Pena, Nicolle Garcia, Maria Rodriguez Soto and David Selvas. Libertad, was produced by Tono Folguera, Sergi Moreno, Stefan Schmitz and Maria Zamora through Barcelona’s Lastor Media, Madrid’s Avalon and Snowglobe. The film (which landed a prize at the San Sebastian’s 7th Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum) is lensed by Gris Jordana.…...

Over the weekend, President Donald Trump was denied a second term in office in a landmark victory for Democratic challenger Joe Biden. And with Biden winning the most votes of any candidate in U.S. history, citizens across the nation celebrated the news of Trump’s loss by taking to the streets, dancing, and celebrating the end of a tumultuous four years.

Some popular picks for songs to usher out the end of the Trump era included: protest anthems against the commander-in-chief, classic party jams, and even a few tunes...

Civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump has joined with Hideaway Entertainment and Inde Companies for Freedom Ride, a civil rights drama to shoot next year.

The movie's script will be based on first-person accounts by original Freedom Riders, including the late John Lewis, a longtime Congressman and civil rights icon. "This film is not only timely with the recent passing of Congressman John Lewis, it is timely because it will help to preserve the legacy of John Lewis for younger generations to come. This story will resonate with the world today because John Lewis was an original voice for Black ...

“Everything you said/Was half true at best,” Kathleen Edwards sings on “Fool’s Ride,” the latest song from her forthcoming album Total Freedom. A knowing reflection on a relationship that turned sour, the breezy, mid-tempo rocker is a telling moment on Total Freedom, which was written while Edwards was in the midst of a decaying relationship.

“Life’s imperfections,” is the way Edwards described the album to Rolling Stone earlier this year, “and how they all add up to a pretty perfect picture.”

“Fool’s Ride” is one of those moments,...

(Updated with more messages on the death of Rep. John Lewis) Presidents, Oscar nominees, potential Vice-Presidential nominees, the daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and other admirers tonight mourned the death of Rep. John Lewis. They also celebrated the tireless fight for justice that the civil rights icon who was later in life called the “conscience of Congress” waged until the very end.

“I first met John when I was in law school, and I told him then that he was one of my heroes,” Barack Obama poignantly wrote tonight after Rep. Lewis’ death on Friday evening was made public.

“Years later, when I was elected a U.S. Senator, I told him that I stood on his shoulders,” the 44th Potus added. “When I was elected President of the United States, I hugged him on the inauguration stand before I was sworn in and told him I was...

Neil Young has again voiced his disapproval of his music featuring at Donald Trump rallies after the rocker’s “Like a Hurricane” and “Rockin’ in the Free World” were played during the president’s Mount Rushmore event Friday night.

“This is Not ok with me…,” Young tweeted after video of his music being played at the rally surfaced on social media.

“I stand in solidarity with the Lakota Sioux & this is Not ok with me.” The Black Hills, where Mount Rushmore was carved, are sacred to the Lakota Sioux, and...

Ben Mendelsohn in ‘Babyteeth’, cast by Kirsty McGregor.

Actor Ben Mendelsohn, casting director Kirsty McGregor, Australian Cinematographers Society (Acs) national president Ron Johanson and the ABC’s Sally Riley are among the Aussies recently invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science (AMPAS).

Other invitees include Dop Nicola Daley, UTA partner Bec Smith and documentary filmmaker Violeta Ayala.

In total, the Oscars body invited 819 people to join its ranks this year, 45 per cent of which were women, 36 per cent from underrepresented ethnic/racial communities, and 49 per cent from outside the Us.

The Academy has been on quest to widen its membership base since 2016. In 2015, only 1446 or 25 per cent of its membership base were women, with the figure now at 3179, or 33 per cent. In 2015, only 10 per cent of, or 554, members were people of colour; that now stands at 1787, or 19 per cent.

The organisation has also tripled the number...

Music has long been intertwined with the spirit of Pride and pro-lgbtq+ movements, from obvious selections like Diana Ross’ disco banger “I’m Coming Out” to the confrontational queercore of groups like Pansy Division. During Pride month, the music is usually a mix of party and protest, combining the sensual pleasures of classic disco and dance music with potent messages of individuality, resilience, and hope. Even though Pride festivals aren’t happening as planned this year, there’s nothing to stop us from connecting ourselves to that history. In this...

Barry Jenkins and Leonardo DiCaprio are teaming up to adapt one of the most acclaimed documentaries in recent history into a feature film for Netflix.

The duo is joining forces to adapt “Virunga,” the 2014 documentary about the battle to save the Congo’s mountain gorilla population. Jenkins will write the film, while DiCaprio will produce through his Appian Way production company. Phillip Watson also will produce via Appian Way, while Joanna Natasegara will produce for Violet Films. Jennifer Davisson will also serve as a producer and Orlando von Einsiedel, who directed the original documentary, will executive produce.

Other details about the upcoming film, including a prospective release date, are under wraps. That’s unlikely to blunt the excitement for the project, given Jenkins, DiCaprio, and Einsiedel’s pedigrees and the quality of the 2014 documentary. “Virunga” immediately turned heads when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014 and went on to win several awards,...

Barry Jenkins and Leonardo DiCaprio are teaming up to adapt one of the most acclaimed documentaries in recent history into a feature film for Netflix.

The duo is joining forces to adapt “Virunga,” the 2014 documentary about the battle to save the Congo’s mountain gorilla population. Jenkins will write the film, while DiCaprio will produce through his Appian Way production company. Phillip Watson also will produce via Appian Way, while Joanna Natasegara will produce for Violet Films. Jennifer Davisson will also serve as a producer and Orlando von Einsiedel, who directed the original documentary, will executive produce.

Other details about the upcoming film, including a prospective release date, are under wraps. That’s unlikely to blunt the excitement for the project, given Jenkins, DiCaprio, and Einsiedel’s pedigrees and the quality of the 2014 documentary. “Virunga” immediately turned heads when it premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2014 and went on to win several awards,...

Barry Jenkins, who won an Oscar for co-writing his Best Picture winner Moonlight, hasn’t made a movie since he wrote and directed the beautiful, heartbreaking adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk in 2018. He’s still hard at work adapting Colson Whitehead’s The Underground Railroad into a TV series for Amazon, and now he’s […]

The post Barry Jenkins Writing, Leonardo DiCaprio Producing Film Version of ‘Virunga’ Documentary for Netflix appeared first on /Film.

The still-untitled new M. Night Shyamalan just locked down the rest of its cast, and a release date, too. As previously reported, Shyamalan’s latest will star Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects, Little Women), Thomasin McKenzie (Leave No Trace, Jojo Rabbit), Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), and Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad). Now, three more cast members have signed on, and the film is set to open next […]

The post The New M. Night Shyamalan Movie Will Film This Year and Open Next July appeared first on /Film.

“Moonlight” director Barry Jenkins is set to write a feature film adaptation of the 2014 documentary “Virunga” for Netflix that Leonardo DiCaprio will produce through his Appian Way banner, an individual with knowledge of the project told TheWrap.

DiCaprio executive produced the Oscar-nominated film “Virunga” that followed the fight to protect endangered mountain gorillas in the Congo. The film launched on Netflix in 2014 and is currently available globally, and it told the true story of rangers risking their lives in Africa’s most precious national park.

Jennifer Davisson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Phillip Watson are producing for Appian Way, as is Joanna Natasegara for Violet Films. And Orlando von Einsiedel, who directed the original documentary, will executive produce.

Also Read: Apple, Paramount Teaming Up for Martin Scorsese's 'Killers of the Flower Moon'

Jenkins wrote and directed the upcoming Amazon series “The Underground Railroad,” he wrote the screenplay for “Flint Strong,...

Exclusive: Netflix and Leonardo DiCaprio are reteaming for a feature adaptation to the documentary Virunga, which will be written by Oscar-winning Moonlight helmer Barry Jenkins. The Oscar-nominated docu, written and directed by Orlando von Einsiedel, was released on the streamer in 2014 and picked up an Oscar nomination.

DiCaprio, who served as an executive producer on the docu, is producing the project with his Appian Way partners Jennifer Davisson and Phillip Watson as well as Oscar-winner Joanna Natasegara for London-based Violet Films. von Einsiedel will serve as exec producer.

The true story follows rangers risking their lives to save Africa’s most precious national park and its endangered gorillas.

Jenkins, who was also lauded for his adaptation of James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk, is attached to direct Fox Searchlight’s biopic about Alvin Ailey, one of the most influential choreographers of the 20th Century. He also penned the...

The roots-music duo Shovels & Rope will release a deluxe edition of their latest album By Blood in August, fleshed out with new acoustic recordings of five songs from the LP.

On Wednesday, the band consisting of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent previewed the stripped-down recordings with the premiere of “Carry Me Home.” The album version is a sweeping, lush reading. Here, they let their voices and the lyrics themselves provide the emotional wallop.

“It’s more of a big, cinematic-sounding record,” Trent said of By Blood in 2019. “We weren...

Throughout world history, music has served as a balm for those living under oppression, as much it’s served as a tool of empowerment. The latest installment in Rolling Stone‘s new weekly playlist series, “Music at Home,” features 12 tracks honoring the legacy of global Black resistance in song. Feel free to blast these songs as you pre-game for the next protest against anti-Black violence and police brutality — or alternatively, as you direct money towards jail support and mutual aid funds from the safety of your own home.

(Find this playlist on Spotify here.

Pan Pacific Park is located in a family-friendly area of Los Angeles, filled with local shops and across the street from Park La Brea known for being home to Angeleno newbies. Right next door to the park is The Grove, an outdoor mall that is adjacent the iconic Original Farmers Market, an L.A. institution that attracts locals and tourists alike. The area is fairly lively on a regular basis, but on May 30, 2020, the park served as a location that was part of a bigger movement for the protection of Black lives.

As the nation and the world reeled from the death of George Floyd as well as Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and countless others due to police brutality and racism, thousands gathered in the park that Saturday to peacefully mourn their deaths and fight against racism. I was one of them. It was a call for change to systemic...

N.W.A’s classic 1988 anti-police-brutality anthem “Fuck tha Police” is just one of several protest songs — like Childish Gambino’s “This Is America,” Yg’s “Fdt” and Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” — that have seen a resurgence in streams over the last week-plus as anti-police brutality protests continue to surge throughout the nation more than a week after George Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer.

As a mainstay at protests nationwide, “Fuck tha Police” saw a 272% percent increase in on-demand audio streams from May 27th through June 1st...

Amber Riley is one of the many Americans marching to protest racial injustice. In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the 34-year-old actress made her voice heard when she belted out a powerful rendition of Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar's "Freedom" at a protest in Los Angeles on Tuesday. "What an honor. #blacklivesmatter #defundthepolice #prosecutekillercops," Amber captioned a video of her performance on Instagram.

"You have free agency to use every amazing gift you have to fight for truth and justice."

On Twitter, Amber urged her fans to use their voices to demand change. "We all have voices. I don't care how many followers you have. All of our voices and how we utilize our platforms is important," she wrote. "If it's 10 followers, radicalize them, make them believers in themselves that they can change the world and themselves for the better!"

We all have voices. I don’t...

Sunday marks Bono’s 60th birthday, and to celebrate the U2 singer has unveiled his “60 Songs That Saved My Life” playlist.

“These are some of the songs that saved my life,’ Bono wrote of the playlist. “The ones I couldn’t have lived without… the ones that got me from there to here, zero to 60… through all the scrapes, all manner of nuisance, from the serious to the silly… and the joy, mostly joy.'”

Bono also penned a “fan letter” of gratitude to each of the artists included on his playlist,...

M. Night Shyamalan has lined-up quite the cast for his next movie. Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Alex Wolff (Hereditary), Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread), and Aaron Pierre (The Underground Railroad) are all onboard the top-secret project. It’s so secret we don’t even have a title. But, since it’s a Shyamalan film, it’s probably […]

The post M. Night Shyamalan’s New Movie Adds Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Alex Wolff, and Vicky Krieps to Cast appeared first on /Film.

Filmmaker M. Night Shyamalan has rounded up the cast for his upcoming, untitled movie at Universal, according to an individual with knowledge of the project. Shyamalan will write, produce and direct, and Universal will distribute.

Actors Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff and Vicky Krieps are currently in talks to join the top-secret project. Plot details for the project are being kept under wraps.

The release date for the project remains unknown at press time, as the studio is currently trying to figure out its release calendar amid the shutdown of theaters. It is also unknown when cameras will start rolling given stay-at-home measures, but a start by the end of the year is being looked at. Shyamalan will independently finance the project as he did on “Glass,” “Split” and “The Visit” with a combined production budget of $35 million. “Glass,” “Split” and “The Visit” grossed more than $600 million worldwide.

M. Night Shyamalan has rounded out the cast for his next movie. Eliza Scanlen, Thomasin McKenzie, Aaron Pierre, Alex Wolff and Vicky Krieps are in negotiations to star in the top-secret project.

Shyamalan will write, produce and direct the untitled film, which will be released by Universal Picture. Like most Shyamalan movies, plot details are shrouded in secrecy and can become interconnected to his other films.

Representatives for Universal and Shyamalan had no comment.

The film currently remains without release date as Universal continues to figure out its calendar as the coronavirus pandemic caused movie theaters to close. It’s also unclear when production will begin given stay-at-home measures, but the hope is to start rolling cameras by the end of the year.

Shyamalan independently financed “Glass,” “Split” and “The Visit” with a combined production budget of $35 million. Those films went on to cumulatively gross more than $600 million worldwide. He...

Public radio’s This American Life won the first Pulitzer Prize for audio reporting, for an episode they did in partnership with the category’s two other winners, the Los Angeles Times and Vice News.

The episode, The Out Crowd, was recognized for “revelatory, intimate journalism that illuminates the personal impact of the Trump Administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy.” The Pulitzers recognized Molly O’Toole, immigration and security reporter in the Times’ Washington bureau, and Emily Green, a journalist based in Mexico City.

In the drama category, the Pulitzer committee recognized A Strange Loop by Michael R. Jackson. The musical “tracks the creative process of an artist transforming issues of identity, race, and sexuality that once pushed him to the margins of the cultural mainstream into a meditation on universal human fears and insecurities,” the judges wrote.

In the music category, Anthony Davis won for The Central Park Five, which...

Barry Jenkins has kept busy in quarantine, as IndieWire learned during an Instagram live discussion with the Oscar-winning “Moonlight” filmmaker last month. He’s been sheltering with his partner, fellow filmmaker Lulu Wang, and continuing work on “The Underground Railroad” series as best he can remotely. He’s also busily devouring movies, just like the rest of us, and the filmmaker recently shared eight movies he recommends streaming during quarantine with The Atlantic’s David Sims.

Among his picks is Steven Soderbergh’s science-fiction film “Solaris,” adapted from the Stanislaw Lem novel, currently streaming on Starz. The misunderstood, 2002 romantic drama follows George Clooney as a psychologist who gets more than he bargained for when he’s sent to outer space.

“Though it’s a sci-fi movie, it’s about these very simple human emotions between Chris [Clooney] and his wife, Rheya [Natascha McElhone],” Jenkins said. “In one moment, I’m thinking...

The fruitful collaboration between poet Gil Scott-Heron and multi-instrumentalist Brian Jackson will be the focus of an upcoming reggae tribute album. The LP was revealed Wednesday on what would have been Scott-Heron’s 71st birthday.

Carry Me Home. A Reggae Tribute to Gil Scott-Heron & Brian Jackson, due out May 27th, is the brainchild of Washington D.C. reggae group the Archives along with Thievery Corporation’s Eric Hilton, who recruited artists like Raheem DeVaughn, dub poet Mutabaruka, Puma Ptah, Addis Pablo and Kenyatta Hill (the sons of reggae legends Augustus Pablo...

Madrid — Beta Film has acquired international distribution rights to “Libertad,” the newly-titled banner Movistar Plus series, which encapsulates many of the original series production ambitions of Telefonica’s pay TV/Svod service.

According to Fran Araujo, head of content for Movistar Plus, “Beta is there for all our series from the beginning, nowadays, we’ve got a really extensive deal with them.”

Producers Lazona Productions, Spanish director Enrique Urbizu and Movistar have finalized production on “Libertad” and will begin post-production. Urbizu has previously directed “Gigantes,” another original series for Movistar Plus produced by Lazona.

In high-profile series like “Hierro,” “La Unidad” and “Antidisturbios,” women hold center stage in Movistar Plus series, and “Libertad” is no different.

Set in the 19th century, the series tracks a mother and her son following their release after spending the first seventeen years of the boy’s life in prison together. Having been granted their freedom,...

Ahead of its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, Stephen Maxwell Johnson’s “High Ground” has found a U.S. home with Samuel Goldwyn. The film, headlined by Simon Baker, is represented in international markets by pan-European group Playtime and is having a gala screening at the festival.

Set in 1919, “High Ground” tells the story of former WWI sniper Travis, who is now a policeman in the vast and remote landscape of Northern Australia. He loses control of an operation, resulting in the massacre of an indigenous tribe.

While his superiors decide to bury the truth, the experience leaves a scar on Travis’ conscience, but he’s forced to return there 12 years later on a mission to track down an Aboriginal outlaw. Travis soon realizes the young man he’s chasing is the only known survivor of the massacre.

“High Ground” shot on location in the world heritage-listed Kakadu...

Au Crépuscule (Dusk)

Lithuania’s Sharunas Bartas will have his tenth feature ready for presentation in 2020. Au Crépuscule (Dusk) was financed by Film Center Serbia/Serbia’s Biberche Productions, Lithuania’s Studija Kinema and France’s KinoElektron. His Frost (2017) Dp Eitvydas Doskus, who also lensed Bartas’ yet-to-be-released documentary Watermarker (Acqua Alta) featuring Toni Servillo, is on hand for the project, which stars Alina Zaliukaite-Ramanauskiene, Marius Povilas Elijas Martynenko, Arvydas Dapsys and Vita Siauciunaite. Bartas picked up some awards out of the Berlin Forum with his 1991 debut Three Days and competed in Venice with his 2000 title Freedom. Cannes has featured Bartas the most to date, with his 1996 film Few of Us and 1997 film A Casa programmed in Un Certain Regard, while 2017’s Frost, featuring Vanessa Paradis, played Director’s Fortnight.…...