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“Shadow and Bone” star Archie Renaux and “Lockwood & Co’s” Ruby Stokes are set to join Jenna Coleman in upcoming BBC thriller “The Jetty.”

In the four-part series, from writer Cat Jones and producers Firebird Pictures (a BBC Studios label), Coleman plays Ember Manning, a rookie detective who finds herself at the center of an unusual case when a vacation home in a peaceful lake-side town in Lancashire goes up in flames. At the same time, there’s a journalist investigating a cold missing person case for a podcast while a man in his twenties is carrying out an illicit relationship between not just one but two underage girls.

As Manning investigates the fire, she finds the threads are connected but the truth has the power to destroy her life, “forcing her to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about her past, present and the town she’s always called home,...

The last time Fred Hechinger was in Toronto, he came to see a film that left his acting on the cutting room floor. Six years later, in one of several full-circle moments, the breakout star of HBO’s “The White Lotus” and Sony/Marvel’s upcoming Spider-Man Universe entry “Kraven the Hunter” returns with the Sept. 9 Gala premiere of “Butcher’s Crossing,” his first lead role in a feature.

“It was my first time going to a festival to see something that I was a part of,” the actor recalls. “I was working behind the scenes on [the romantic drama] ‘Tramps,’ they put me in one scene and I got cut, but it was technically the first thing I’ve ever acted in.” Yet that trip ignited a bizarre series of events that helped launch his career. “To connect a lot of crazy dots, the next morning I saw the first [TIFF] screening of ‘Moonlight...

Each week we highlight the noteworthy titles that have recently hit streaming platforms in the United States. Check out this week’s selections below and past round-ups here.

Eyimofe (This Is My Desire) (Arie and Chuko Esiri)

Home is profoundly where the heartache is in Eyimofe (This Is My Desire), a finely wrought, wistful but mildly unsatisfying debut feature by Nigerian-raised, New York-educated twins Arie and Chuko Esiri. Tracking two resilient Lagos residents, in sequential order, united by one goal––to illegally migrate in search of a better life––the film occasionally feels akin to an immaculately put-together class assignment, over-mindful of the reaction of an end user or assessor, rather than a risky, personality-infused piece of art. – David K. (full review)

Where to Stream: The Criterion Channel

The Innocents (Eskil Vogt)

The Innocents, the assured sophomore feature from Eskil Vogt, is a prickly film about childhood morality designed to...

There are diverse streaming releases slates and then there is Hulu’s list of new releases for May 2022. There are no big franchises here, no big themes – just a whole bunch of original and library titles for everyone to enjoy.

Hulu’s major original releases in May come in the middle of the month. Candy premieres on May 9 and stars Jessica Biel as your friendly neighborhood axe murderer. If that sounds a bit outlandish, bear in mind that this limited series is based on the real life story of Candy Montgomery and her victim, the tragically named Betty Gore. On May 15, Hulu will play host to Conversations with Friends. This is the latest adaptation of the works of Sally Rooney. After the breakaway success of Normal People, Hulu is undoubtedly hoping for more lightning in a bottle.

On the movie side of things, May will welcome The Valet on May...

Alex Camilleri, Lizzie Shapiro and Jessica Beshir have received Film Independent’s $25,000 Spirit Awards cash grants for emerging filmmakers. The announcements were made by Ekwa Msangi (“Farewell Amor”), Gerry Kim (“I’m No Longer Here”) and Elegance Bratton (“Pier Kids”), who received the grants last year.

Camilleri, director of “Luzzu,” received the Someone to Watch Award. The prize is in its 28th year and recognizes talented filmmakers of singular vision who have not yet received appropriate recognition. Finalists for the award were Michael Sarnoski, director of “Pig,” and Gillian Wallace Horvat, director of “I Blame Society.”

Shapiro, producer of “Shiva Baby,” received the Producers Award. The award honors emerging producers who, despite highly limited resources, demonstrate the creativity, tenacity and vision required to produce quality, independent films. The award is in its 25th year. Finalists included Brad Becker-Parton, who produced “Italian Studies,” and Pin-Chun Liu, who produced “Test Pattern.”

Beshir, director of “Faya Dayi,...

Welcome to this week’s “Just for Variety.”

Hilary Duff‘s much-anticipated revival of “Lizzie McGuire” may have fallen apart a little more than a year ago, but all hope isn’t lost. “I don’t think it’s dead, and I don’t think it’s alive,” Duff tells me on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “I think it’s just kind of sitting there.” Duff says the “Lizzie” conversations had been going on for about a decade. “I was like, ‘No, thank you,’” she recalls of first being approached. “And then one day, I was like, ‘Yup.’ There’s much love there.”

But alas, the project was nixed after Disney rejected Duff’s idea to make Lizzie’s comeback more adult than tween.

“There’s always struggle with something that’s so loved and important to so many people,” Duff now says. “I just keep my heart and my mind open.

Fathom Events presents Betty White: A Celebration in 1,529 locations nationwide, a one-day-only special event on Monday honoring the actress who died Dec. 31 just a few weeks shy of her 100th birthday. The star-studded reflection on White’s life and career, which had already been set by filmmakers Steven Boettcher and Mike Trinklein to celebrate her centennial Jan. 17, will run three showtimes at 1 pm, 4 pm and 7 pm.

As for weekend openings, a pair of solid documentaries and two dramas — about memory loss and global apocalypse by pink gas — debut in a frame where there isn’t much new. Distributors are carefully weighing expansion for award hopefuls already out amid the ongoing surge in Omicron and ahead of Oscar nods Feb. 8.

Newcomers include Magnolia Pictures’ drama Italian Studies in seven theaters including New York and LA, and on demand. Directed by Adam Leon it stars Vanessa Kirby, Simon Brickner,...

In “Italian Studies,” Vanessa Kirby gets lost in New York. This shimmering wisp of a drama — in theaters and on VOD this Friday — offers a breezy pre-pandemic portrait of the city, following an author who wanders its crowded sidewalks and falls in with its young minds after inexplicably losing her memory. As hazily directed and ever so slightly written by Adam Leon, “Italian Studies” is less about solving the mystery of Alina’s sudden amnesia than asking how her surroundings might fill the wiped-clean slate of her identity in with vivid details (read our review here).

Continue reading Vanessa Kirby On ‘Italian Studies,’ Memory Plays & Ridley Scott [Interview] at The Playlist.

While the end of the year coverage has mostly finished up, there’s still plenty of films that most of the average viewers have yet to see, making January a greater month for catch-up than anything else. This is especially true as critically acclaimed films such as “Parallel Mothers” continue their rollout. Other films such as “The Tragedy of Macbeth,” which already had their limited release run, will be making their debut on streaming services this month while others, such as “A Hero,” leap to Amazon.

Continue reading 11 Films To See In January: ‘Italian Studies,’ ‘The 355’ & More at The Playlist.

We don’t want to overwhelm you, but while you’re catching up with our top 50 films of 2021, more cinematic greatness awaits in 2022. Ahead of our 100 most-anticipated films (all of which have yet to premiere), we’re highlighting 30 titles we’ve enjoyed on the festival circuit this last year (and beyond) that either have confirmed 2022 release dates or await a debut date from its distributor. There’s also a handful of films seeking distribution that we hope will arrive in the next 12 months, as can be seen here.

As an additional note, a number of 2021 films that had one-week qualifying runs will also get expanded releases in 2022, including A Hero (Jan. 7), Cyrano (Jan. 28), The Worst Person in the World (Feb. 4), Mothering Sunday (Feb. 25), Petite Maman, and A Chiara.

The Shepherdess and the Seven Songs (Pushpendra Singh; Jan. 12)

Northwest India’s Jammu and Kashmir region resides at the center of a...

Vanessa Kirby is in talks to star in Ridley Scott’s Napoleon epic “Kitbag,” replacing Jodie Comer in the role, who had to exit due to scheduling conflicts, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.

The “Pieces of a Woman” actress Kirby will star as Josephine to Joaquin Phoenix’s Napoleon Bonaparte in a film that focuses on Napoleon’s origins, his rise to becoming emperor and his volatile relationship with Josephine. Ridley Scott is directing, and David Scarpa wrote the screenplay. The film is set at Apple and is meant to begin filming in Europe later this month.

Comer broke the news of her exit on THR’s “Awards Chatter” podcast, explaining that she had a “rubbish” scheduling conflict because of schedules moved around due to Covid and didn’t feel she “can make ‘Kitbag’ work right now.” Comer is also set to begin rehearsals for a West End stage...

As we wrap up the year in film, it’s time to set sights on 2022. While we’ll share a few looks at what’s in store over the next 12 months, first we have an overview of January’s most notable films. Unsurprisingly, the top offerings solely consist of 2021 festival premieres (and one from 2020) that are finally arriving.

10. Sundown (Michel Franco; Jan. 28 in theaters)

After last year’s wildly divisive New Order, Michel Franco returns this month with a drama of a much different stripe. As Jared Mobarak said in his review, “Writer-director Michel Franco throws the first curveball early during his latest film Sundown. We’ve already spent a bit of time with his quartet of European characters vacationing in Acapulco to make a few assumptions before workaholic Alice (Charlotte Gainsbourg) leans over to the quietly satisfied Neil (Tim Roth) and thanks him for coming along. Why wouldn’t he have?...

While the moviegoing world might be nowhere near “pre-pandemic normalcy,” here’s something to get excited about: a whittled-down annual list of the best movies we’ve already seen from the year to come. Last year’s list was one of our most stacked ever, thanks to a number of hotly anticipated titles (including a wide variety of festive standouts from 2020 and early 2021) getting pushed way back to later, more optimistic release dates. Now, as films make their way to audiences through theatrical releases, streaming options, and more, we’re not waiting quite so long to see some of our favorites.

But that doesn’t mean 2022 doesn’t already have a bevy of fantastic new offerings we’ve been lucky enough to see, review, and champion. These films include a number of our favorite festival picks (from 2020 and 2021) gearing up for theatrical and VOD release in the coming months.

IndieWire...

"All of my memories... begin with me walking among these people." Magnolia has unveiled the official US trailer for an indie film titled Italian Studies, the latest creation by filmmaker Adam Leon. This film initially premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival earlier this year, and is finally opening in January for anyone curious to watch it. Another film that showcases the remarkable talents of actress Vanessa Kirby, following last year's Pieces of a Woman. In this film, Kirby plays a writer who loses her memory in New York City. Attempting to find her way home, she connects with a teenager and other strangers in conversations, real & imagined. "As the night progresses, she approaches something intangible on the journey back to herself." The cast includes David Ajala, Annika Wahlsten, and Lars Wahlsten. It's hard to tell where this film is going and what it's trying to comment on, but it certainly looks appealing.

American indie director Adam Leon makes street-wise, visceral films that feel of the moment, electric, alive, and often pounding the pavement in pursuit of some goal. His latest film, “Italian Studies,” starring Academy Award nominee Vanessa Kirby (“Pieces Of A Woman”), is of the same ilk but slightly different. Set on the streets of New York again, “Italian Studies” centers on an author who temporarily and inexplicably loses her memory.

Continue reading ‘Italian Studies’ Trailer: Vanessa Kirby Wanders New York In A Hazy Lapse Of Memory at The Playlist.

Ping-ponging between major blockbusters like the Mission: Impossible and Fast & Furious franchises and indie dramas such as Pieces of a Woman and The World to Come, Vanessa Kirby has had quite a last few years. She’s now returning in Adam Leon’s third feature, Italian Studies, which follows Kirby as Alina Reynolds, a woman who at times doesn’t know her own name, over the course of 24 hours in NYC. Scored by Nicholas Britell, the film was picked up by Magnolia following a Tribeca premiere and now the first trailer has arrived.

Michael Frank said in his review, “Italian Studies could easily be described as no plot, all vibes. And those vibes largely become weirder as the 81-minute film wears on, Reynolds starting to interact with a group of high school students and learning she’s a published author with a book of short stories. But even that...

First Look Media has tapped Maria Zuckerman to serve as president of Topic Studios, a major promotion for the executive who joined the company in May 2019.

“I’m thrilled to recognize Maria’s role in growing Topic Studios with her promotion to president,” said Michael Bloom, First Look Media’s CEO. ”Maria and her team have built the studio into a major creative force, giving new and established voices the opportunity to collaborate and produce truly extraordinary work. I know the studio will continue to thrive under her leadership, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.”

Over the last two years as executive vice president and head of Topic Studios, Zuckerman has worked to raise the company’s profile with movies like “The Mauritanian”; Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin’s “The Climb” (distributed by Sony Pictures Classics); and seven projects at the Sundance Film Festival, including...

Exclusive: News of the World and Fear Street actor Fred Hechinger has joined the cast of the Hulu limited series Pam & Tommy in a recurring role.

The series is based on the true story behind the release of the first ever viral video — the sex tape of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Written by Robert Siegel and Dv DeVincentis, Annapurna-produced Pam & Tommy stars Lily James and Sebastian Stan as the famous celebrity couple.

Hechinger will play Seth Warshavsky, a classic Silicon Valley wonderkind, but with the moral capacity of a used car salesman.

Siegel and DeVincentis executive produce and DeVincentis also serves as showrunner. Craig Gillespie directs and also executive produces with Seth Rogen, Evan Goldberg, James Weaver and Alex McAtee via Point Grey;Dave Franco, Megan Ellison, Sue Naegle and Ali Krug via Anapurna; along with Chip Vucelich, Dylan Sellers and Sarah Gubbins.

Hechinger’s recent credits include Let Them All Talk,...

Chicago – That’s a wrap! The 2021 Tribeca Film Festival – a hybrid mix of New York City in-person events and online access – has its last day on Sunday, June 20th. It’s also the last day for Tribeca At Home, click Tribeca2021.

The 2021 Tribeca Festival was presented by AT&T, bringing artists and diverse audiences together to celebrate storytelling in all its forms, including film, TV, VR, gaming, music, and online work. With strong roots in independent film, Tribeca is a platform for creative expression and immersive entertainment. This year’s celebration of storytelling can be enjoyed virtually through the “Tribeca At Home” program. Many of the most anticipated features and short films will be made available only as part of our Tribeca Online Premieres lineup … a diverse range of dramas, comedies and documentaries.

Bernstein’s Wall

Photo credit: TribecaFilm.com

Four Films Of Tribeca Fest: Capsule Reviews

Click the title for...

Adam Leon’s third feature, Italian Studies, follows Vanessa Kirby as Alina Reynolds, a woman who at times doesn’t know her own name. Call it amnesia or memory loss or even a blackout, but Kirby’s leading performance is built on a calm confusion. Leon’s story gives little context or background to how this woman came to have these spells, instead accompanying her over the course of a 24-hour period in New York City.

Italian Studies could easily be described as no plot, all vibes. And those vibes largely become weirder as the 81-minute film wears on, Reynolds starting to interact with a group of high school students and learning she’s a published author with a book of short stories. But even that “fact” never seems to be confirmed. She stumbles around NYC like a child, doe-eyed and without a single piece of property besides the clothes she happens to be wearing.

by Jason Adams

About a year after I first moved to New York a friend pulled me aside at a party to tell me two secrets about a mutual acquaintance of ours. The first secret was that this mutual was secretly fabulously wealthy, which one never would have guessed from the way she presented herself -- after twenty years of living in NYC I've come across this type often enough that it doesn't seem novel anymore, but it surprised me then. But it was the second secret that has really stuck with me all these years -- this friend would occasionally take a week off from her life, check into a high-scale hotel uptown, and pretend to be a different person. She told stories of romances and adventures in disguise -- a dalliance outside of one's daily existence; a vacation from one's literal self.

The second secret obviously couldn't exist...

shot piecemeal between July 2018 and April of the following year, Adam Leon’s “Italian Studies” may be set along (and expertly stolen from) the crowded sidewalks of London and New York, but it’s unmistakably suffused with the woozy dislocation and “we have to make something” life-force of a Covid film. No one is wearing masks or social distancing in the heat of lower Manhattan on a summer afternoon, yet Leon’s heroine — a successful author played by Vanessa Kirby at a time just before people on the street would recognize her as one of the gutsiest actresses of her generation, or as anyone at all — is lost in a fugue state that vividly reflects the isolation and uncertainty of the last 18 months.

Alina Reynolds (Kirby) can’t tell if she’s in crisis, or if she’s just confused. She can’t tell if she remembers the world around...

Vanessa Kirby is fascinating to watch and follow in writer/director Adam Leon’s “Italian Studies,” a purposefully hazy but compelling survey of New York City and its young minds. The Academy Award nominee of “Pieces of a Woman” uses her celebrity presence among regular New Yorkers for something of a low-key “Under the Skin” as she wades through this crowded society with a blank slate perspective forcing us to see it all with the same new lens.

Continue reading ‘Italian Studies’: Vanessa Kirby Is Fascinating To Watch In Adam Leon’s Dreamy & Compelling Mood Piece [Tribeca Review] at The Playlist.

For many distributors and sales agents, the Tribeca Festival — which kicks off Wednesday — marks a major milestone: The first American festival in over a year offering an in-person venue to make deals for finished films. But the dealmaking will mirror the festival itself, which will offer in-person programming across the New York City’s five boroughs as well as a robust online component for out-of-towners.

The decentralized festival means that this year, Tribeca won’t be defined by making the daily trek to Manhattan to watch films and take meetings. New York-based agents and buyers say they’re looking forward to meeting in person and leveraging the long-awaited return of word-of-mouth buzz. But many in Los Angeles are still relying on Zoom and the festival’s online platform to do their work.

Maria Zuckerman, head of Topic Studios, has three films at the festival, all for sale: the Vanessa Kirby-starring “Italian Studies,...

Taking place across outdoor venues in all five boroughs of New York City, the Tribeca Film Festival will celebrate its 20th anniversary June 9-20, screening a bevy of features, shorts, TV series, podcasts and games in what is being billed as the first major in-person film festival to take place in North America since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Managing all the logistics to mount a proper in-person festival despite such circumstances would be a tall enough order, but the task of assembling a credible festival lineup across multiple disciplines, despite a near-total shutdown of film production for months, could have been quite a challenge on its own. It was something that Tribeca’s festival director Cara Cusumano was apprehensive about as the festival prepared to open for submissions last summer, but it turned out she needn’t have worried.

“We didn’t know what to expect, submissions-wise,” she says.

One of our most anticipated films of the year? “Italian Studies,” the collaboration between Academy Award-nominated actress Vanessa Kirby “Pieces of A Woman“) and Adam Leon, the indie filmmaker behind the American indie writer/director behind acclaimed films like “Gimmie The Loot” and “Tramps.” And we’re fortunate enough to unveil the exclusive first-look image from the film.

Continue reading First Look: Vanessa Kirby Stars In Adam Leon’s ‘Italian Studies, Premiering At The Tribeca Film Festival [Exclusive] at The Playlist.

The longest awards season in modern times will be remembered for featuring one of the best lineups of acting nominees in Oscars history. This year’s Best Actor and Best Actress races came down to the wire with Anthony Hopkins and Frances McDormand pulling off unexpected wins on Sunday night over favored nominees such as Chadwick Boseman in Best Actor and Viola Davis and Carey Mulligan in Best Actress. In the supporting categories, the results ended up being a little more obvious, but the crop of talent was incredible.

What do the 20 acting nominees at the 2021 Oscars have coming up next? Read on to find out.

Best Actor

Riz Ahmed has a number of projects in the works, including a long-discussed adaptation of William Shakespeare’s “Hamlet.” He will also serve as executive producer and voice actor in “Flee,” an animated documentary that debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

The Tribeca Film Festival for 2021 has unveiled its full lineup of features on Tuesday, and among them are two documentaries in the Spotlight section on musician Rick James and TV personality Anthony Bourdain.

Those two films are just some of the highlights on a lineup that includes 66 films from 81 filmmakers from 23 different countries and 56 world premieres. It also features a lineup that’s 60% female, Bipoc and LGBTQ+ filmmakers.

This year’s Tribeca Festival is the 20th anniversary edition after last year’s event could not be in-person. And this year’s festival will return to live, in-person events at outdoor venues across all New York City boroughs. And many of the films will also be available for U.S. audiences to view online the day after they premiere in person through the Tribeca at Home virtual hub. The festival runs June 9-20.

The documentary about James is “Bitchin': The Sound and Fury of Rick James,...

“Ready or Not” star Samara Weaving has been cast in “Liz,” a biopic about one of America’s forgotten founding mothers Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte.

Described as a U.S.-set “Bridgerton” or “The Great,” “Liz” tells the story of the country’s first modern celebrity. Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte gained prominence as the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte’s youngest brother, Jerome, and revolutionized America’s social scene in the time of Jefferson’s presidency. Elizabeth, who has been called one of America’s first international celebrities, was known for her fashion, wit and independence.

Adam Leon is directing the film, which is based on a script by Gabriel Neustadt. 3311 Productions is producing “Liz.”

Weaving previously starred in the Showtime comedy “Smilf” and appeared in films such as “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Mayhem” and “The Babysitter.” Her film “Ready or Not,” a well-reviewed dark comedy, became a commercial success...