Variety

Edinburgh Industry Program Features Ewan McGregor, Kenneth Branagh and Bruce Dern and an Inaugural UK Film Conference

Ewan McGregor, Kenneth Branagh, Ken Burns, Christine Vachon and Bruce Dern have boarded the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s 2026 industry program, a talent-heavy five-day lineup anchored by the inaugural UK Film Conference, billed as a state-of-the-nation summit for British independent cinema. Unspooling Aug. 14-18 at EIFF’s Festival Hub at Central Hall, the program folds starry […]

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

Edinburgh Industry Program Features Ewan McGregor, Kenneth Branagh and Bruce Dern and an Inaugural U.K. Film Conference

Ewan McGregor, Kenneth Branagh, Ken Burns, Christine Vachon and Bruce Dern have boarded the Edinburgh Intl. Film Festival’s 2026 industry program, a talent-heavy five-day lineup anchored by the inaugural U.K. Film Conference, billed as a state-of-the-nation summit for British independent cinema. Unspooling Aug. 14-18 at EIFF’s Festival Hub at Central Hall, the program folds starry […]

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

Bedlam dreamscapes, digital-age aliens and a summer pastoral – the week in art

The terrifying visions of Richard Dadd, UFOs, aliens and Van Gogh’s troubled peasant woman – all in your weekly dispatchRichard Dadd: Beyond BedlamTerrifying creatures of the night and surreal dreamscapes galore – and those are just the “sane” canvases this Victorian artist painted before he was confined to Bedlam, where his visions became truly unsettling. • Royal Academy, London, 25 July to 25 October Continue reading...

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

Add to playlist: the ramshackle, soulful twang of Twisted Teens and the week’s best new tracks

The New Orleans country-punk duo are on a hot streak, about to release their third album in a year, and the crunchy, literate hooks keep comingFrom New OrleansRecommended if you like Parquet Courts, Sheer Mag, Royal HeadacheUp next Holy Cross Tigers out later this yearNot one but two of the year’s best albums so far are authored by a ragtag, deeply charismatic band from Louisiana named Twisted Teens, who bear Pynchonian names – Caspian Hollywell and RJ “Razor Ramone” Santos – a console steel gu

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

The World Is Full of Married Men review – Jackie Collins’ bonkbuster as a gloriously filthy puppet show

The Yard theatre, LondonBarbies, giant erections and exquisite craftsmanship combine in one of the year’s most outrageously funny and startingly original showsDid someone say Jackie Collins, that doyenne of literary raunch and observer of human sexual dynamics? Fantastic! And an adaptation of her first novel, which revealed her formative interest in, and talent for, capturing the drama of love and sex within the bounds of patriarchy, and set in the world of showbusiness (albeit not in the Hollyw

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

Fred Tsui Named Executive Director of Hong Kong International Film Festival Society

The Hong Kong International Film Festival Society has appointed Fred Tsui, founder and CEO of Moebius Entertainment, as its new executive director, the organization said Friday. Tsui succeeds Albert Lee and assumes the role Sept. 23, reporting to HKIFFS chair Dr. Wilfred Wong and the board. In the new post, Tsui will oversee the society’s […]

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

BBC Buys War Drama ‘Kabul,’ Featuring Eric Dane in One of His Last Roles

The BBC has acquired thriller series “Kabul,” starring the late Eric Dane and “Tehran’s” Shervin Alenabi, from Mediawan Rights. The six-part show, which is against the backdrop of U.S. troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan amid the Taliban’s return to Kabul, follows the chaotic evacuation of various characters including diplomats, soldiers and civilians. The synopsis reads: “Kabul, […]

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

Shechter II: In the Brain review – a thrilling release of rave and ritual

Queen Elizabeth Hall, LondonHofesh Shechter’s latest doesn’t break new ground, but its exceptional dancers throw themselves into a moody, pulse-quickening celebration of communal movementIt may be 38 years since the second summer of love, three decades since the dance music boom of the early 90s, but on the contemporary dance stage, rave is still peaking. In recent years, you’ve barely been able to move for dancers letting loose to repetitive beats, in tribal gatherings and transcendent ones. H

entertainment  5d ago

Hollywood Reporter

Casey Wasserman’s Exit Plan: New Owner of the Team May Be Same As the Last

The mogul is reportedly nearing a deal for a buyout by backer Providence Equity Partners, which would wind down the auction process.

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

Sony Pictures Sets Viral X-Inspired Short-Form Thriller ‘Los Hilos del Miedo’ at Prime Video Spain (EXCLUSIVE)

Sony Pictures International Productions’ Spanish operation is moving into short-form fiction with “Los Hilos del Miedo,” an eight-part psychological suspense series set to launch on Prime Video in Spain. Running approximately five minutes per episode, the production marks the division’s first short-form series and draws on stories by Spanish writer Salvador Gutiérrez Solís that went […]

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

Luxbox Acquires Documentary ‘Life of Jorge Luis Borges’ Ahead of Venice Premiere (EXCLUSIVE)

Luxbox Films has acquired the world sales rights to Mariano Llinás’ epic five-and-a-half -hour documentary “Life of Jorge Luis Borges,” which will world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the Open – Non-Fiction section. The film forms a biography of Argentine writer and poet Jorge Luis Borges, working from an exhaustive review of the […]

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

Jon Bon Jovi Ends Madison Square Garden Show Early Due to Sinus Infection: ‘We’ll Figure Out How to Reschedule’

Bon Jovi’s penultimate show of their Madison Square Garden residency came to an early end on Thursday night after frontman Jon Bon Jovi revealed he was suffering from a sinus infection. About 90 minutes into the set, Bon Jovi told the crowd that he would have to stop the show as he wasn’t feeling his […]

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

The Strokes: Reality Awaits review – a perfect marriage of mayhem and melody on their best album in years

(RCA/Cult)Allying the crackpot strangeness of Julian Casablancas’ side projects with his band’s gift for pop minimalism, the New Yorkers are on playful, joyous formHere’s a sentence no old-head Strokes fan wants to hear: to understand Reality Awaits, the stalwart NYC group’s seventh album and first in six years, you first have to understand the Voidz. Julian Casablancas’s other band has been taking up more and more of his time in recent years, much to the chagrin of fans who may have dipped into

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

Lucy Caldwell: ‘Even your text messages fizz after reading James Joyce’

The author on the power of folktales, being inspired by Ulysses – and the book that every woman should readMy earliest reading memory The summer my middle sister was born, my mum and I would walk to the shops at Cherryvalley, in east Belfast, to do her messages, and she’d buy me the latest issue of Storyteller, illustrated tales from around the world. It came with a cassette tape of actors reading the stories, a ding to tell you when to turn the page. My favourite was a

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

The Zarabanda Variations review – free jazz project is a thrillingly original dive into colonial history

(Carrier)US composer Keir GoGwilt’s collaborative album uses poetry and atonal music to trace the roots of Spain’s sarabande dance: a fascinating listen, though not easyClassical music aficionados will be familiar with the stately form of the sarabande – a Spanish dance adopted into a languorous and tender musical style favoured by baroque composers such as Bach and Handel. For American composer Keir GoGwilt, however, the sarabande contains something far more radical. On his collaborative projec

entertainment  5d ago

Variety

‘Jumbo’ Sequel, ‘Queen of Malacca’ Franchise Plans on the Cards as Indonesia’s Visinema Eyes Expansion (EXCLUSIVE)

Indonesian filmmaker and Visinema founder Angga Dwimas Sasongko is targeting the first quarter of 2027 for the release of “Queen of Malacca,” as the Southeast Asian fantasy epic moves through post-production and attracts interest from potential distribution partners in China, Thailand and other international markets. The project has drawn growing industry attention since Blue Finch […]

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

‘It was the moment I lost innocence’: how a childhood stop-and-search led to the British debut movie of the year

When Imran Perretta was young, he was abruptly pulled by police into a van for questioning. That experience, as well as the death of his mother, inspired him to make Ish, a coming-of-age tale set amongst the British Muslim community. He talks about trauma, designing toilets and making Luton look magnificentImran Perretta always knew that the title of his debut feature film would be “Ish” – short for Ishmail, the name of the 12-year-old boy from Luton at the heart of his story. Only later did peo

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

John McCabe: Symphonies 2 & 3 and Cello Concerto album review – writing of enormous scope and colour

BBCSSO/Woods/WallfischSignumThe late pianist and composer deserves a wider audience for the edgy, lucid soundworld of his compositionsJohn McCabe, who died in 2015, made some important recordings of other people’s music – he championed Carl Nielsen, and his survey of the complete Haydn piano sonatas has held its place in the Decca catalogue for half a century – but when it comes to his own works there are still gaps to be filled. Alongside the Symphony No 2, completed in 1971, the BBC Scottish S

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

Seven-year-old explains the creative process behind viral song Eastern Rosellas – video

Miles Phillips and his dad are the duo behind the viral song Eastern Rosellas. When Guardian Australia's Rafqa Touma spoke to Miles, he said the inspiration for the catchy hit came from a holiday at Raymond Island. 'I was feeding the birds seed,' Miles said. 'There was pigeons, there was lorikeets ... but the main bird that stood out to me was the eastern rosella.'How a boy’s own song about eastern rosellas went viral and was covered by Ben Lee Continue reading...

entertainment  5d ago

The Guardian Culture

Unsayable by Michael Cunningham review – The Hours author on the insecurities that powered his creative life

The American novelist and screenwriter’s memoir covers sex work, Virginia Woolf and Hollywood successAs an eight-year-old in comfortable, solid, suburban California, Michael Cunningham felt compelled to make art before he quite understood what it was, or could do: a painting of souls ascending to heaven, for example, in which paradise resembled the Griffith Park Observatory and the dead were all depicted in profile because their creator felt unequal to the challenge of full faces. There was also

entertainment  5d ago