The iconic 'Scream' franchise returns with original star Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott, who must face off against a new Ghostface targeting her teenage daughter (Isabel May) in the quiet town she now calls home. The new trailer for 'Scream 7' promises a return to the series' roots, featuring intense cat-and-mouse sequences and the return of beloved characters, including Courteney Cox's Gale Weathers and Mason Gooding and Jasmin Savoy Brown as Chad and Mindy Meeks-Martin, while teasing what appears to be the return of original cast member Matthew Lillard.

Watch the 'Scream 7' Trailer

This is the first film in the series directed by Kevin Williamson, who wrote the original 'Scream' (1996), directed by horror legend Wes Craven ('A Nightmare on Elm Street'). Williamson's only other directorial credit is the 1999 dark comedy thriller 'Teaching Mrs. Tingle.'

'Scream 7' sees Campbell returning to the role that launched her career, following her absence from 'Scream VI,' while introducing rising star Isabel May ("1883") as Sidney's daughter. The ensemble cast includes returning player David Arquette as Dewey Riley, alongside newcomers Anna Camp ('Pitch Perfect'), Joel McHale ("Community"), and Mckenna Grace ('Ghostbusters: Afterlife'). Not appearing in the sequel are Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega, who led the previous two films in the franchise.

'Scream 7' slashes its way exclusively into theaters on February 27, 2026.

Taylor Sheridan and Peter Berg will co-write the script for Paramount and Activision’s live-action feature film adaptation of “Call of Duty.” Berg, whose credits include “Friday Night Lights” and “Deepwater Horizon,” will also direct.

The deal comes the week that news broke that Sheridan, one of the company’s biggest hitmakers, will move his overall pact to NBCUniversal in 2029. It appears that Paramount Skydance will keep him busy until then and the subject matter sounds right up Sheridan’s alley given his penchant for action-heavy thrillers and procedurals.Sheridan, Berg and 101 Studios’ David Glasser will produce the project.

Sheridan is the creator of “Yellowstone,” which has spawned the successful spinoffs, “1883” and “1923.” He also created “Lioness,” “Landman,” “Tulsa King” and “Mayor of Kingstown.” On the film front, Sheridan earned an Oscar nomination for writing “Hell or High Water” and also penned “Wind River,” “Sicario” and its sequel, “Sicario: Day of the Soldado.

Universal‘s highly anticipated Wicked: For Good is tracking to open to a victorious $115 million-plus at the Thanksgiving box office, according to pre-release tracking. That would set yet another new record for a musical adaptation of a Broadway musical.

The second title in Jon M. Chu‘s ambitious big-screen adaptation of the iconic Broadway musical about the witches of Oz opens in North America Nov. 21, the weekend before the big feast. It’s also opening day-and-date around the globe.

Leading market research firm Nrg has the female-fueled film debuting to $115 million domestically, but also provides a range suggesting it could come in closer to $120 million, according to sources with access to the data. Those insiders say it could even crack $120 million, based on the level of interest and awareness.

Sources say presales for the second installment is pacing well ahead of the first film, though Universal and the filmmakers are...

Warner Bros. has added another franchise animation film to its slate with “Hello Kitty,” a New Line/Warner Bros. Pictures Animation co-production based on the hit Sanrio toy franchise.

The film will be released July 21, 2028.

Created by Japanese designer Yuko Shimizu in 1974, Hello Kitty has grown from a merchandise character who first appeared on vinyl coin purses to a multimedia icon who has become one of Japan’s biggest global cultural contributions.

The character has become the star of dozens of video games, animated series and comics featuring other Sanrio characters. Warner Bros.’ “Hello Kitty” film has been years in the making, with New Line first coming onboard as co-producers...

“Deadpool vs Wolverine” writer Zeb Wells has been tapped to write the latest draft of swashbuckling sci-fi hero “Buck Rogers” for Legendary, TheWrap has exclusively learned.

The project is based on the “Armageddon 2419 A.D.” novella by Philip Francis Nowlan that introduced the Buck Rogers character in 1928. The story centers on a coal mine inspector who awakens from suspended animation after 500 years to find himself in the middle of a planetary war.

“Buck Rogers” has been adapted into various comic strips, a movie serial, radio and television shows. Developed by Chicago newspaperman John F. Dille in the 1930s, it immediately became one of the world’s most popular comic strips,...

“Portlandia” co-creator Jonathan Krisel is making his feature debut with “Hey Bear,” a bold revenge comedy that will star Mia Goth (“Frankenstein”), Zach Galifianakis (“The Hangover trilogy”) and Dan Stevens (“I’m Your Man”).

Penned by Carrie Kemper, the Emmy-winning writer of “Beef,” “Hey Bear” is being pitched as a “coming of rage” story boasting offbeat comedy, about a woman who seeks revenge on the bear that ate her husband. Alix Madigan (“Winter’s Bone”) will produce.

“Hey Bear” will be introduced to buyers at AFM, with HanWay Films handling international sales and WME Independent & UTA Independent Film Group representing North America.

Goth stars as Claire, who “has always led a life solely based on other people’s expectations. Married to Gregory (Dan Stevens), she accommodates his desire to spend his life studying bears in Glacier National Park, even though it means months away from him at a time. During one of her visits,...

Ebon Moss-Bachrach and Caitriona Balfe have joined the cast of Andrew Haigh’s “A Long Winter,” which also stars Fred Hechinger, Kit Connor and D’Pharaoh Woon-a-Tai.

Further casting includes Manuel Garcia Rulfo (“Jurassic World: Rebirth”) and David Furr (“The Gilded Age”).

The film is produced by Tristan Goligher for The Bureau, Chad Oakes and Mike Frislev for Calgary-based Nomadic Pictures, and Michael Elliott.

The film was developed by Mubi and is co-financed by Mubi and Film4. Farhana Bhula, director of Film4, and Max Park, development and production executive, are overseeing the project for Film4.

Mubi retains rights in the U.S., U.K., Ireland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Benelux, Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Turkey and India. The Match Factory is handling worldwide sales.

Principal photography is underway in Alberta, Canada on the film, which is based on Haigh’s adaptation of Colm Tóibín’s short story of the same name.

Variety will host its annual Business Managers Breakfast, presented by City National Bank, in Los Angeles on Nov. 13. The breakfast will bring together those featured in Variety’s Business Managers Elite issue, celebrating the achievements of top entertainment business managers over the past year.

Peter Kujawski — chairman of Focus Features, the specialty division of Universal Film — will participate in a keynote conversation, moderated by Variety co-editor-in-chief Cynthia Littleton, about the studio’s creative and strategic vision for releasing breakthrough filmmaking for today’s audiences. Current films attracting attention include Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Bugonia,” Chloé Zhao’s “Hamnet” and Craig Brewer’s “Song Sung Blue.”

Under Kujawski’s leadership, Focus has released such acclaimed films as Edward Berger’s “Conclave,” Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu,” Alexander Payne’s “The Holdovers,” Todd Field’s “TÁR,” Emerald Fennell’s “Promising Young Woman,” Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman,” Kenneth Branagh’s “Belfast” and the hit “Downton Abbey” franchise.

“Shelby Oaks” is mid. Not good. Not bad. Just mid. That’s troubling news for studio Neon and even scarier for writer/director Chris Stuckmann, a YouTube film critic from Ohio who made the leap to feature filmmaking in Hollywood thanks to Mike Flanagan. Stuckmann’s directorial debut made history as Neon’s first-ever major release timed to Halloween (a historically lucrative box office window) and, whether the filmmaker likes it or not, “Shelby Oaks” is a critical test case for the internet-creator-to-feature-director pipeline.

Earning $2.35 million in its opening weekend, “Shelby Oaks” would already be a triumph if it had stayed the low-budget horror flick that debuted to critics at Fantasia Fest 2024. But when Neon bought the film just before its world premiere — and later injected roughly $1 million into reshoots that don’t improve the story much — Stuckmann’s scrappy underdog became a mainstream Frankenstein’s monster some horror fans earnestly wanted to watch fail.

The UK parliament’s cross-party culture, media and sport (Cms) committee has called on the chancellor to bring in a targeted 25% tax relief for the distribution and exhibition of UK independent films at the autumn budget (November 26).

In a letter to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, the committee has backed a 25% tax relief for the prints and advertising costs of films claiming the Independent Film Tax Credit (Iftc), as recommended in the commitee’s in-depth report on British film and high-end TV published in April.

“Looking specifically at the support for independent British filmmaking, the Iftc isalready showing signs of helping...

Harrison Ford delivered a blistering takedown of Donald Trump while speaking to The Guardian this week ahead of receiving a conservation leadership award at Chicago’s Field Museum. The “Star Wars” and “Indiana Jones” icon ripped the president for his ignorance towards climate change and his dismantling of the government’s climate policies.

“[Trump] doesn’t have any policies, he has whims. It scares the shit out of me,” Ford told the publication. “The ignorance, the hubris, the lies, the perfidy. [Trump] knows better, but he’s an instrument of the status quo and he’s making money, hand over fist, while the world goes to hell in a hand basket. It’s unbelievable. I don’t know of a greater criminal in history.”

Just last month, Trump told the United Nations that climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” adding: “If you don’t get away from this green scam,...

In contemporary Brussels, married social worker Kika (Manon Clavel) dedicates herself to helping others until an affair, followed by personal tragedy, shatters her life as she has known it. Finding herself alone and financially unstable, she must grapple with the fact that the same welfare system she once served offers her little in return now that she needs it. A chance conversation about making money by selling used underwear sets her on a path toward different forms of sex work. Alexe Poukine’s first fiction feature after several well-regarded documentaries, “Kika” observes with an empathetic eye as its title character navigates this new terrain, sketching a warm and often humorous portrait of the human need to reclaim agency from despair.

Kika is no victim, but a woman perpetually absorbing shocks, assessing those shocks, and recalibrating heroically. Clavel’s isn’t an especially showy performance, but one of impressive precision, suggesting...

Exclusive:Germany-based Sola Media has added Curly Burly, a hybrid live-action-animation family feature, to its sales slate ahead of next month’s American Film Market.

Rooted in Danish folklore, Curly Burly follows a mischievous small troll who proves that even the tiniest creatures can have the biggest adventures.

Curly Burly lives safely underground on Bornholm with his family and fellow trolls, in a world full of rules, cave parties, and flying bats. One rule must never be broken: never go to the surface. When mysterious rumblings shake the underground world, Curly Burly sneaks above ground with his little sister Borra, embarking...

Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia leads new releases in UK and Ireland cinemas this weekend, opening into 572 sites through Universal.

The dark comedy, which premiered in competition at Venice Film Festival, follows two conspiracy-obsessed men who kidnap a powerful CEO - played by Emma Stone - after they becomeconvinced she is an alien. Jesse Plemons and Aidan Delbis play the two men.

Bugonia marks the fourth collaboration between Lanthimos and actor-producer Emma Stone. Their first, 2018’s The Favourite,had the biggest opening with £2.2m while 2024’s Poor Things debuted on £1.6m. This was shortly followed by Kinds Of Kindness which opened...

Could Netflix become the future home of the DC Universe’s Superman and Batman superhero films, the Harry Potter and Barbie film franchises — and owner of a trove of classics like “Casablanca,” “Bonnie and Clyde,” “Goodfellas,” “Unforgiven” and “The Shining”?

The streaming powerhouse is “actively exploring” some type of acquisition bid for Warner Bros. Discovery and has retained investment bank Moelis & Co. to put together a prospective offer, according to a new report from Reuters, citing anonymous individuals. Moelis was the financial adviser to David Ellison’s Skydance Media in its takeover of Paramount Global to former Paramount Skydance.

Warner Bros. Discovery’s board last week announced that it had received in-bound M&a interest from “multiple parties” and has commenced a process to review such offers. Per the Reuters report, Wbd has granted Netflix access to its financials as part of assembling a prospective M&a offer. It’s not...

It's hard to go in spoiler-free to 1978's "Halloween" in 2025. Even as someone whose horror movies tendencies only really pick up in October, I was well aware of some big beats heading in. Michael Myers (Nick Castle) is a voiceless, murderous avatar of evil. Laurie Strode (Jamie Lee Curtis) survives. John Carpenter's theme song absolutely, categorically bumps. And yet, I was entirely unprepared for exactly what I would find when I finally watched "Halloween" for the first time.

For context, I love Carpenter's work — "The Thing" and "Escape from New York" in particular, but also "They Live," "Big Trouble in Little China," and his criminally underrated "Lost Themes" synthwave albums of the last decade.

It’s been 40 years since the theatrical release of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge,” which now has a brand-new 4K version, along with the other films in the series (sans the maligned 2010 reboot). It’s a film that has been probed, dissected, and analyzed so many times, what possibly is there left to say? Actually, there are some things!

Yes, by now, we all know and recognize the gay themes of the film. What was once an aspect that made this an entry in the series that some fans wanted to ignore, well, those are now the same reasons why it’s so celebrated.

For those who don’t know the plot of “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge”: a new family moves into the house once lived in by the hero of the first film, Nancy Thompson. Freddy Krueger, still lurking on Elm Street,...

Exclusive:Sinking its teeth into global genre films,Paris-based outfit Charadeswill launch sales at AFM for Kazuya Shiraishi’s Japanese shark thrillerCharonand Ilja Rautsi’s Finnish Christmas Eve-set genre filmRed Snow.

Charonis about a brutal clash between the Japanese yakuza and Korean mafia that breaks out on a ship before being interrupted by an even greater predator, namely the great white shark as the trapped, bloodied and hunted survivors fight to survive.

It is produced by Japan’s mur mur Studio and currently shooting between Taiwan, Kitakyushu and Okinawa. The film will undergo extensive VFX work and be ready for release...

When "Tron: Ares" flopped at the box office, it was hardly a shock. Hollywood's approach to this movie appeared to be nothing more than, "Here's something based on an existing IP, but if you haven't heard of it, maybe we can tempt you with Jared Leto?" It gets more stupefying the more you think about it. But we needn't do anything of the sort, because "Ares" has come and gone like so many productions in the modern age. That hasn't stopped star Jeff Bridges from engaging in some brief reflection, however, and evidently he feels the movie may one day be regarded as a misunderstood triumph.

The third installment in...

This article contains spoilers for "It: Welcome to Derry" season 1, episode 2, "The Thing in the Dark."

At the end of the day, it's no massive surprise that "The Shining" character Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk) is in town for "It: Welcome to Derry." Stephen King's "It" novel reveals that he spent some time there in his youth and was (very briefly and in a small capacity) involved in some key plot elements that I won't discuss here to avoid potentially spoiling "Welcome to Derry" season 1's endgame.

However, "Welcome to Derry" season 1, episode 2 ("The Thing in the Dark") suggests that its version of Hallorann isn't quite the same guy as...

"The Duel" is one of the standout episodes of "Star Wars: Visions." Its mix of Akira Kurosawa-style black-and-white film grain and pops of colored energy give it a unique look, while its computer-generated-meets-hand-drawn animation style has a kinetic energy that makes it irresistible. It also tells a metaphysical story that's as deep and complex as the "Star Wars" saga itself. In the span of 13 minutes, it introduces a Sith who's hunting other former Sith and appears to be fighting on the side of good. The Jedi, meanwhile, are aligned with the malevolent Crusaders, turning the "Star Wars" universe upside-down.

Emma Mieko Candon later doubled down on these ideas with...

Madrid’s regional government has officially approved a €1.5m grant to support Woody Allen’s next feature to shoot in the Spanish capital next year.

The funding will be paid in three instalments – €150,000 in 2025, €600,000 in 2026 and €750,000 in 2027 – and requires the film to shoot within the Madrid region. In addition to that, the final title must include the word ’Madrid’.

Plot details and casting have yet to be revealed. The film currently has the working title of Wasp 2026, which stands for Woody Allen’s Summer Project.

A document published online yesterday by the Madrid regional government reveals that the co-production contract...

After failed attempts in both Italy and Barcelona, Woody Allen is now planning to make his next movie in Madrid. The 89-year-old director has secured €1.5 million ($1.7 million) from the Madrid Regional Government, according to the Spanish outlet El Pais.

While €1.5 million is a significant chunk, it’s certainly not enough to finance an Allen movie, though the director likely has some backers in place. He’s producing the film through his banner Gravier Production and Spain’s Wanda Vision (“Petra”).

Under the agreement with the Madrid Regional Government, which was posted online and quoted by El Pais, Allen will need to include Madrid in the title of the film. The amount will be divided into three payments contingent on the movie’s international career as it stipulates that a portion of the financing will come after the film world premieres at a major festival like the Berlinale. The investment is...

In documentary “Writing Life – Annie Ernaux Through the Eyes of High School Students” Claire Simon takes on the work of the French Nobel Literature Prize winner – but not the writer herself.

“The point was to tell this story without Annie Ernaux, only using her books,” she explains to Variety after showing the film at Ji.hlava Intl. Documentary Film Festival. “I don’t like so-called portraits of artists. I find them very boring, because you never see the art. Here, you can really focus on her sentences.”

Ernaux, who often writes about her own life, is the author of “The Years” and “A Girl’s Story.” “Happening,” detailing her abortion, was adapted into a Venice-winning film directed by Audrey Diwan.

“I was sure young people would respond to her writing,” says Simon, calling it “very modern.” In “Writing Life,” she shows students reading and discussing Ernaux’s books, taken – or even shocked – by her honesty.

The line between historical recreation and genre reimagining has seldom been as effectively blurred as in Mariana Rondón and Marité Ugás’ “It Would Be Night in Caracas.” A pacy thriller, based on Karina Sainz Borgo’s novel, the film mines pulpy pleasures from an apocalyptic vision of Venezuela’s 2017 riots. Those unfamiliar with the nation’s recent (and ongoing) unrest can simply enjoy an expertly tooled dystopian rollercoaster ride. But planted deep within the taut setpieces and propulsive plotting, there’s grief of a subtler, agonizingly relatable kind: for a country turning so hostile against its citizenry that fleeing becomes the only option. Home is sometimes where the heartbreak is.

Adelaida (an excellent Natalia Reyes), her heart already cracked, her expression dazed and numb, is picked out by Juan Pablo Ramírez’ impressively dynamic yet controlled camera through a chanting throng of protesters waving flags and fists in the air. She...

The challenges of a Japan-Finland co-production were laid bare at a Tiffcom seminar, which highlighted lengthy script development, differing working hours and sourcing suitable crew.

Tomomi Takashima of Japanese broadcaster Wowow and producer Daniel Toivonen of Nippon-backed streamer Ax-on revealed both the challenges and successes of making detective drama series Blood And Sweat with Finland’s Ics Nordic.

Starring Finland’s Jasper Pääkkönen and Japan’s Anne Watanabe, the series began from a collaborative, multi-lingual approach. This meant that one of the biggest challenges was the extended script development process, said Toivonen.

The script was first written in English before being translated word-for-word into Japanese.

Sales agency Sola Media has closed the first distribution deals on CGI animated feature “Monster Mia,” which has a production budget of €9 million ($10.4 million), as it prepares for next month’s American Film Market in Los Angeles.

The film has already attracted buyers in several territories, including Poland (New Horizons), Greece (Tanweer), Bulgaria (Pro Films), Mongolia (Filmbridge) and the former Yugoslavia (Karantanija Cinemas).

In Germany, Plaion Pictures is planning a theatrical release for the Halloween season in October 2026.

Set in the seemingly perfect town of Primrose, “Monster Mia” follows the story of Mia and her scruffy pet rat Quentin. After being expelled from school, Mia is sent to the mysterious Rotwood Academy — a place that immediately gives her the creeps as she’s the only human among a class full of monsters.

With the principal Van Vlad hosting a deep dislike for humans, Mia must join forces with her monstrous...

Barunson E&a, the South Korean studio best known for producing Parasite, has an upcoming feature in the pipeline with Japan.

Speaking on a panel at Tiffcom, CEO Yoonhee Choi revealed she is currently “producing a co-production with Japan”. No further details were revealed but Choi said: “Japan and Korea are neighbouring countries that know each other well, so we can create a story that is suitable for both countries and spread it globally.”

She also praised the Japanese production industry for its globally competitive and “very high level” of filmmakers and crew.

“In Korea, it has become very difficult to gather funds domestically,...

This article contains spoilers for "It: Welcome to Derry" season 1, episode 2, "The Thing in the Dark."

Based on its first two episodes, "It: Welcome to Derry" seems intent on filling a self-imposed quota of at least two soul-scarringly innovative scare sequences per episode. However, the show has more to it than just horror. Since "Welcome to Derry" is an "It" prequel series that's based on the loose timeline of awful events in Derry's history and aims to tell Pennywise the clown's (Bill Skarsgård) real origin story straight from Stephen King, it dumps plenty of deep-cut lore on the viewer. The presence of young Dick Hallorann (Chris Chalk), for instance, links...

Exclusive: Reinvent Yellow has boarded international sales on animation Handbook For Superheroes - Red Mask.

The film is currently in post-production; Sf Studios will release it in cinemas in Sweden this Christmas.

Handbook For Superheroes - Red Maskis directed by Patrik Forsberg, and written by Anoo Bhagavan. Adapted from the books by Agnes Vahlund and Elias Vahlund, it follows Lisa, a 10-year-old girl who is being bullied in her decaying town, who finds a book that teaches her to become a superhero named Red Mask.

The film is produced by Forsberg and Caroline Forsberg for Sweden’s Stiller Studios, and by Qvisten Animation,...

Exclusive: Reinvent Yellow has boarded international sales on animation Red Mask – Handbook For Super Heroes.

The film is currently in post-production; Sf Studios will release it in cinemas in Sweden this Christmas.

Red Mask – Handbook For Super Heroes is directed by Patrik Forsberg, and written by Anoo Bhagavan. Adapted from the books by Agnes Vahlund and Elias Vahlund, it follows Lisa, a 10-year-old girl who is being bullied in her decaying town, who finds a book that teaches her to become a superhero named Red Mask.

The film is produced by Forsberg and Caroline Forsberg for Sweden’s Stiller Studios,...

Kamila Andini’s Four Seasons In Java scooped two prizes including the top Tokyo Project Award of $13,000 (¥2m) at the inaugural Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (Tgfm) awards today (October 31).

The project also won the Kongchak Award from Cambodia-based Kongchak Studio, which includes post-production sound services worth $25,000.

The film is an Indonesia-Netherlands-Norway-France-Germany-Singapore co-production from Indonesia’s Forka Films and was previously selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market, Venice Gap-Financing Market and Rotterdam’s CineMart.

Andini is an Indonesian filmmaker known for Before, Now & Then, which played in Competition at the Berlinale in 2022; Yuni, which won the Platform prize at Toronto in 2021; and...

New features from Lina Soualem, Lisa Brühlmann and Mar Coll are among the 18 European projects selected for the Coproduction Village of the Les Arcs Film Festival in France.

The 17th edition of the showcase that aims to connect projects in various stages of development with co-producers, sales agents, distributors and other co-financing partners will be held during Les Arcs Industry Village, running from December 13-16 alongside the festival.

Soualem follows her Venice and Toronto-playing Bye Bye Tiberias with her first fiction feature, set to star her sister Mouna Soualem as a Franco-Algerian photographer on an existential journey that brings her to Spain.

New features from Lina Soualem, Lisa Brühlmann and Mar Coll are among the 18 European projects selected for the Coproduction Village of the Les Arcs Film Festival in France.

The 17th edition of the showcase that aims to connect projects in various stages of development with co-producers, sales agents, distributors and other co-financing partners will be held during Les Arcs Industry Village running from December 13-16 alongside the festival.

Soualem follows her Venice and Toronto-playing Bye Bye Tiberias with her first fiction feature set to star her sister Mouna Soualem as a Franco-Algerian photographer on an existential journey that brings her to Spain.

Exclusive: Production has wrapped in the UK on Our Fault: London, the third title in Prime Video’s Fault trilogy.

The final film in the romantic drama series was directed by UK filmmaker Chanya Button, and sees Asha Banks and Matthew Broome return as Noah and Nick.

Our Fault: London follows My Fault: London, which released on Prime Video in February this year; and Your Fault: London, which completed filming this summer and is currently in post.

Dani Girdwood and Charlotte Fassler, joint directors of the first two titles, are executive producers on Our Fault: London, which is written by Catherine Steadman and Bella Heesom.

Documentarian Maximilien Dejoie confesses he was feeling the stress while following his subject for Ji.hlava doc fest main competition title “Everything Works Out (in the End).”

His road movie account of an American artist who moves quickly from a career as a stripper to would-be boxer to writer/musician while literally (in her view) fighting off demons, was challenging to capture, especially working solo with a handheld camera.

“It’s kind of liberating,” Dejoie says of making the doc this way, allowing him to follow Katelyn Louise Doty – or just Kate more usually – wherever she goes…even when she reverses course on a life direction, sending the film plot into question.

As audiences learned following Dejoie’s screening at the Czech Republic’s top doc event, he followed Doty from Chicago across the northeastern U.S. for months and was rarely given a second chance if he missed something.

Exclusive:Snd has boarded Alexandre Smia’s tense thriller Jupiter about the threat of a nuclear war and will launch sales at AFM.

The title refers to the underground bunker located under Paris’Élysée Palace where the French government convenes to deal with international crises. Denis Menochet plays the newly elected French president, who enters crisis discussions with his political and military advisors following an assassination attempt on Russia’s president as the threat of nuclear war looms.

Alongside Menochet, the starry French cast includes Andre Dussollier, Ella Rumpf, Reda Kateb, Dominique Blanc, Celine Sallette, Cedric Kahn and Jeremy Lopez.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s next directorial spectacle “Love & War” has officially locked its release date, bringing his grand cinematic vision back to the big screen on one of India’s most coveted national public holiday frames.

The film stars Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal.

Kapoor debuted as a leading man with Bhansali’s romance “Saawariya” (2007), a Fyodor Dostoevsky adaptation. Bhatt headlined Bhansali’s women empowerment saga “Gangubai Kathiawadi,” which bowed at the 2022 Berlinale. They starred together in Disney’s sci-fi mythological superhero film “Brahmastra Part One: Shiva” (2022).

Bhatt was most recently seen in “Jigra,” which she also co-produced, following her performances in Karan Johar’s “Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani” and Netflix’s “Heart of Stone.” She is next set to headline Yash Raj Films’ upcoming spy universe thriller “Alpha.” Kaushal, meanwhile, delivered 2025’s biggest Bollywood hit with the historical epic “Chhaava,” following his turns in “Bad Newz,...

Ji.hlava fest audiences who packed the cinema at the Czech Republic’s doc showcase to see “Power Station” found themselves feeling unexpectedly upbeat, they said following the film about taking on climate change one street at a time.

The 29th edition of the fest is showing off its usual rich selection of progressive programming to be sure, but in terms of emotion, one viewer told co-directors Hilary Powell and Dan Edelstyn, films here are usually more about getting angry or perhaps somber.

But laughter and spectacle – along with impressive civic organizing – are the trademarks of this bickering, hustling married couple, as they’ve shown off in their past films.

The two managed to revive a Soviet-era distillery that had been seized by the state in Ukraine in their 2012 doc “How to Re-Establish a Vodka Empire,” before moving onto “Bank Job” in 2021, in which they bought up and forgave $1.5 million...

Screenis running this regularly updated page with the latest film festival and market dates from across the world.

To submit details of or alter your festival dates, pleasecontact us herewith the name, dates, country and website for the event.

Ongoing

Purbeck Film Festival, UK - October 17-November 2

Cambridge Film Festival, UK - October 23-November 2

Doc ‘n Roll Film Festival, UK-Ireland - October 23-November 9

Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival, Czechia - October 24-November 2

Seminci, Valladolid Internacional Film Festival, Spain - October 24-November 1

Budapest International Film Festival, Hungary - October 25-November 2

Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival, Ukraine - October 25-November 2

Scad Savannah Film Festival,...

For Halloween, Guardian writers pick their most terrifying films ever – from The Shining and The Descent to The Strangers

“Sometimes one can’t help … imagining things.” Truman Capote helped to adapt Henry James’s ghost story The Turn of the Screw into 1961’s The Innocents, directed by Jack Clayton, which remains one of the most disturbing of all scary movies. To recall the rush of stomach-twisting fear provoked by this film, I just need one glimpse of the sweating face or shaking hands of Deborah Kerr. She plays a governess to two traumatised children in a remote house where life is so fragile that the petals fall from the roses,...

Indonesian auteur Kamila Andini’s latest project “Four Seasons in Java” won two prizes at the inaugural Tokyo Gap-Financing Market Awards on Friday.

The Tgfm is part of Tiffcom, the Tokyo International Film Festival’s market arm. “Four Seasons in Java” won Tgfm’s top prize, the Tokyo Projects Award, carrying a JPY2 million cash prize, and the Kongchak Award from Cambodia-based Kongchak Studio, offering sound post-production services valued at $25,000.

The film is a magical realist drama that confronts the dark underbelly of progress and power in contemporary Indonesia, is in post-production and was previously at the Venice Gap-Financing Market. It follows Pertiwi, a woman who returns to her village after more than a decade in prison for killing a young man while defending herself from attempted rape. Her homecoming coincides with the arrival of electricity to the remote community, setting up what Andini describes as a collision between modernity...

He launched a thousand memes as the beleaguered Tory MP in The Thick of It, and starred in the original production of Les Misérables. Now the actor is making not-so-sweet music in the Alan Bennett-scripted film The Choral. But there are plenty of things he draws the line at …

A key plot point of The Choral revolves around Roger Allam singing badly. This is the man who originated the role of Javert in Les Misérables back in 1985, who was Olivier-nominated for his performance in Cy Coleman’s musical City of Angels and who once contemplated a career as an opera singer.

Talk me through that, I say: the bad singing.

"It: Welcome to Derry" is here in all its gory glory, and the second episode has revealed the prequel show's opening credits for the first time. These credits are pretty memorable (although I have to confess I have a fear they were created with the help of AI; I've reached out to a representative to confirm but so far have received no reply), resembling a series of ghoulish postcards advertising the cursed town of Derry, Maine. While the ominously cheerful song "A Smile and a Ribbon" plays, sung by 1950s sister act Patience & Prudence, the "Welcome to Derry" credits confirm what we already know: things ain't right in Derry.

The...

A trio of films have reset Taiwan’s box office with Hung Tzu-Hsuan’s 96 Minutes topping the local film chart in 2025 to date, while Shieh Meng-Ju’s local horror Mudborn now ranks third and Japanese anime Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba Infinity Castle continues to smash records.

96 Minutes, billed as Taiwan’s first high-speed rail disaster thriller, knocked out gangster film Gatao: Big Brothers last Thursday (October 23) to take the local box office crown for this year to date. Its cumulative box office reached $6.41m (Nt$197.21m) as of Wednesday (October 29).

By this weekend, it is expected to become...

Key figures from Japanese and South Korean film bodies targeted urgent challenges and underlined the growing need for co-production in a tough period for the industry.

Representatives from the Korea Film Council (Kofic), Japan Film Commission and Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Organisation (Vipo) spoke on a panel at Tiffcom, the market associated with Tokyo International Film Festival, this week.

Vipo deputy secretary general Toshifumi Makita acknowledged that the Japan location incentive (J-lox+), which runs four application windows per year, is challenging to use year-round. Japan’s hot summers make filming broadly difficult from June to August, and the winter...

“The Captive” offers the intriguing concept of “Don Quixote’s” author viewed through a lens more redolent of “Arabian Nights,” spinning tales to keep himself alive while a hostage of Moors in Algiers. But the known facts about this murky biographical chapter are vague, permitting writer-director Alejandro Amenabar much imaginative license, though he makes less of the storytelling-within-storytelling aspect than you initially expect. What emerges is a curious if entertaining bio-fiction with Miguel de Cervantes as protagonist in a convoluted costume intrigue, like a homoerotic spin on ye olde Western exoticizing of the Arab world– well-toned male bodies in the hammam substituting here for the traditional, scantily-clad Hollywood harem girls.

Those not expecting a more straightforward portrait of the man or his myths — Don Q. is little more than slyly referenced — should find enjoyment in this handsome, leisurely Spain-Italy coproduction. In the end, though, its offbeat approach doesn’t quite...

For its painstaking physicality alone, stop-motion is inherently impressive as an animation technique, no matter the scale or budgetary specifics of the project. But when artists, like those behind the ambitiously crafted phantasmagorical musical “I Am Frankelda,” throw caution to wind to build an imposing universe to animate frame by frame, one can’t help but feel in utter awe — warts and all.

Gothic sets with baroque architecture — that not only catch the eye but prompt one to wonder how they were conceived — serve as the backdrop to the similarly ornate puppets in the first stop-motion feature fully produced in Mexico (Guillermo del Toro’s Oscar-winning “Pinocchio” was only partially made in the director’s home country). Through their studio Cinema Fantasma, brothers Roy and Arturo Ambriz first introduced their morbid heroine in the series “Frankelda’s Book of Spooks” for HBO Max back in 2021. This feature-length film serves as a prequel to that show,...

The Japanese animation industry generated $25.3bn (¥3.84tn) in 2024, marking a 14.8% rise year-on-year and setting a new record, according to a report by the Association of Japanese Animations (Aja).

The figure represents a sizable boost on 2023, when the industry brought in $21.7bn (¥3.35tn). A decade ago, in 2014, the industry reported $10.6bn (¥1.64tn).

The Aja revealed its initial findings Tiffcom, the market affiliated with Tokyo International Film Festival, on Thursday (October 30) ahead of the publication of its full annual report in December.

For the second consecutive year, anime made more money outside Japan than locally: $14bn (¥2.17tn) versus $10.8bn (¥1.67tn) respectively. That...

The Tokyo International Film Festival’s TIFF Lounge series of talks and masterclasses featured a conversation between Yamada Yoji, director of the festival Centerpiece “Tokyo Taxi”, and Lee Sang-il, recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Akira Award for his film “Kokuho.”

The 94-year-old Yamada, whose, lengthy filmography includes the iconic 48-episode “Tora-san” series that ran from 1969 to 1995, and the 51-year-old Lee, whose “Kokuho” has become a record-setting hit since its release in June of this year, earning more than $100 million, expressed admiration for each other’s work. Lee called Yamada a “national treasure” (the English translation of “Kokuho”) while Yamada said that putting his modestly budgeted “Tokyo Taxi” next to Lee’s lavishly staged Kabuki drama “makes me feel embarrassed” and that he was there to “watch and learn.”

Noting that “Kokuho” is the “story of two men” who become performers of female roles or onnagata in Kabuki, Yamada said...