The kitch-est night in music is finally here. The grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest is set to broadcast from Liverpool, U.K. at 8pm local time with an array of brilliant and bonkers acts from across Europe and beyond (Israel and Australia also take part: don’t ask, it’s complicated).…
Rai
“The Eight Mountains,” Belgian directors Felix Van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch’s Italian-language drama about friendship, mountains and growing up, scored the top prize at Italy’s 68th David di Donatello Awards. Besides winning best picture, the film also scooped statuettes for best non-original screenplay, photography and sound. Given that the directors…
When last we saw the title character of Mani Ratnam’s epic “Ponniyin Selvan” saga, the real-life prince who would expand the Chola empire from South India all the way to the Ganges in the north was drowning as he crossed from Lanka to India. Instead of picking up at that…
Variety has been given exclusive access to the trailer for Marco Bellocchio’s “Kidnapped” (Rapito), which has its world premiere in Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. The film starts in 1858 in the Jewish quarter of Bologna, when the Pope’s soldiers burst into the home of the Mortara family. By…
Beta at MipTV has unveiled a visually dazzling first trailer for period drama “La Storia” that will be Italian pubcaster RAI’s biggest event show this year. The sweeping eight-episode saga is based on a globally bestselling novel by the late great Elsa Morante – whom “My Brilliant Friend” author Elena Ferrante…
Eco-thriller “The Swarm,” which premiered at the Berlin Film Festival, has been acquired in the U.K. by pay-TV operator Sky. Negotiations with a U.S. partner are in the final stages. The show, produced by multiple Primetime Emmy award winner and “Game of Thrones” executive producer Frank Doelger and NDF IP’s…
LILLE, France — “Unspoken,” a war drama series wrapping in a thriller format one of ordinary people’s most relatable nightmares and the urgent relevance of a real-life game-changing conflict, walked off Tuesday night with the Series Mania Forum Best Project Award, the highest-profile industry prize at the biggest TV festival in…
Saurav Rai’s 2019 film ”Invitation” featured a child protagonist and once again the filmmaker centers a film on a young person. Rai’s “Guras,” a Nepali and Hindi-language film, is a work-in-progress selection at the Hong Kong — Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF). It follows 9-year-old Guras, who lives in a…
Italian sales company True Colours has closed a raft of sales following Berlin’s European Film Market. Italy’s box office hit “La Stranezza” (“Strangeness”) got picked up for a dozen territories and queer romantic drama “Norwegian Dream” also sold widely, including to North America. Directed by Roberto Andò, “Strangeness” (pictured) toplines…

Actor Kartik Aaryan, producer Bhushan Kumar and director Anees Bazmee have reunited for “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3,” the next instalment of the successful horror-comedy Bollywood franchise. Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan starred in Priyadarshan’s “Bhool Bhulaiyaa” (2007) that means labyrinth, a remake of Fazil’s Malayalam-language film “Manichitrathazhu” (1993), starring Mohanlal and…

Lenny Henry’s “Three Little Birds,” Steven Knight’s “This Town” and a first look at “The Summit,” billed as a blockbuster adventure reality series, look like just three highlights of Banijay Rights extensive and wide-ranging lineup at what promises to be one of the biggest presentations at this week’s London TV…

“Autobio Pamphlet” (“Aatmapamphlet”), debuting in the Berlin Film Festival’s youth-focused Generation 14plus strand competition, takes on the twin tasks of telling the coming of age story of both its young protagonist and of India. The Marathi-language film marks the directorial debut of Ashish Bende, who previously assisted on several films…