Russia: Last News

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large No lie, “Poker Face” will enter the Emmy awards race as a comedy. The show is an hour-long whodunit but also contains plenty of comedic elements, which is why Peacock has decided to enter it in that lane. News comes as awards consultants across town make the final decision on where to place their programs, as the Television Academy officially opens this year’s Emmy submissions starting Feb. 21. For example, on Friday, Variety exclusively reported that HBO’s “The White Lotus” would submit in the drama space, after the TV Academy ruled that it no longer qualified as a limited series (due to the return of star Jennifer Coolidge) In the case of “Poker Face,” the decision to enter in comedy comes as the show continues earn strong reviews from critics. “Poker Face” is currently “99% certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite its whodunit nature, insiders note that Lyonne is widely seen as a comedic actor — her previous series, Netflix’s “Russian Doll,” also mixed comedy and drama but was entered in comedy categories (receiving nominations in 2019 for best comedy and lead comedy actress, for Lyonne, as well as for two different episodes in comedy writing).

Christopher Vourlias First-time writer-director Malika Musaeva is set to make history at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, where her female-centered coming-of-age drama “The Cage Is Looking for a Bird” is the first Chechen-language film ever selected by the venerable German fest. Musaeva’s debut, which world premieres Feb. 22 in the festival’s competitive Encounters section and is being repped internationally by Totem Films, focuses on a group of Chechen women living in a remote rural village, where they must defend their freedom and the right to live their own lives. At the film’s heart is a friendship between two teenage girls, played by first-time actors Khadizha Bataeva and Madina Akkieva. On the precipice of adulthood, the duo seeks refuge in each other as they navigate difficult decisions about their futures.

King Charles is showing his admiration for fighters in Ukraine.

King Charles has met with Ukrainian military recruits at a Wiltshire training camp to mark one year since the outbreak of war with Russia. At an undisclosed location in Wiltshire, the King looked on intently as the men – many civilians who have no experience of the military – stormed a trench a few hundred metres away as the mock gun battle raged.The royal was all smiles as he greeted the men, who will return to fight in Ukraine once their training complete.

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Christopher Vourlias Croatian-Ukrainian crime drama “The Silence,” whose first season sold wide last year for Munich-based Beta Film, is heading to Kyiv for Season 2, Variety can reveal. The series is based on the critically acclaimed fact-based books by investigative journalist Drago Hedl that examine human and weapons trafficking throughout Eastern Europe. The first season spent 25 days shooting in the Ukrainian capital. Season 2 will return for three days and be directed remotely, due to the security risk, but will shoot several scenes featuring key Ukrainian cast, including star Kseniya Mishina, as well as some establishing shots. Production in Kyiv is due to wrap Feb. 25.

On 24 February 2022, the world watched in horror as Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Missiles were soon raining down on major urban conurbations, including the capital Kuiv, destroying homes, and communities and forcing millions to flee in search of safety. Within weeks, the UK Government launched the Homes for Ukraine programme, encouraging Brits to welcome refugees into their homes.

Young Belarusian Aleksei (Franz Rogowski) is impatient for a better life in Europe. Coming from a country under dictatorship and with very strong Russian ties, the political isolation of which has made it suffocating for the younger generations, he is seduced by the idea of a borderless, communal whole where everybody counts for something.

Sydney Sweeney heats up the red carpet in a red hot dress for the premiere of her movie, Reality.

Brittney Griner is heading back to the basketball court.

Brittney Griner, the WNBA star who was imprisoned in Russia before being swapped for an arms dealer in a controversial prisoner exchange, has signed a new deal to play basketball.

As the 73rd Berlin Film Festival rolls into its first weekend, one of the buzziest titles on the ground is the taut political thriller Reality, starring Euphoria and White Lotus breakout Sydney Sweeney.

You may be wondering why numerous stars are wearing blue ribbons on the red carpet at the 2023 EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday (February 19) at Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

Cate Blanchett is looking as gorgeous as ever on the red carpet at the 2023 EE British Academy Film Awards on Sunday (February 19) at Royal Albert Hall in London, England.

.On February 18, the 25-year-old star arrived at the photocall for her latest film, Reality, wearing an suit that was more cutout than fabric. For the occasion, stylist Molly Dickson paired black flared trousers with a single-breasted, crystal-embroidered blazer with massive cutouts that wrap around from the front panels to just below her shoulders, leaving waist and most of her back exposed.In keeping with the tailored aesthetic, Sweeney wore her hair in a slicked-back ballerina bun and contrasted her minimalistic makeup with a single statement ear cuff.

A senior journalist’s suspension at a leading French TV news channel has brought to light a system of ‘news for hire’ corruption in international media. 

Christopher Vourlias The war in Ukraine has taken center stage this week at the Berlin Film Festival, which is taking place for the first time since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year. At Thursday’s opening ceremony, Ukrainian president Volodomyr Zelenskyy appeared via satellite to encourage festival-goers “not to remain silent” over Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression. Sean Penn, who this week premiered his docu-portrait of the Ukrainian leader, “Superpower,” lashed out at Russian strongman Vladimir Putin, who he described as a “war criminal” and a “creepy little bully.” Moral outrage has not been in short supply since the start of the war, as the global film community — in a show of near unanimous condemnation of the Kremlin’s criminal attack — has rallied behind the Ukrainian war effort. But many U.S. and foreign companies quietly continue to do business with Putin’s pariah state or have resumed the deal-making that was put on pause once the war began.

Strictly Come Dancing's Motsi Mabuse was the picture of elegance in a stunning bridal jumpsuit as she and Evgenij Voznyuk renewed their wedding vows in the Maldives. Motsi has taken to Instagram to share several snaps from the intimate celebration in paradise.The Strictly judge wore a stunning strapless white jumpsuit with flowy legs as she went barefoot to the vow renewal on the beach. Her hair was styled into small braids and pulled back into a chic bun at the back of her head as she carried a bouquet of white roses.

Jessica Kiang In the widely covered story of the U.S. intelligence operative harshly sentenced in 2018 for leaking a confidential report on Russian election interference to The Intercept, the accidental (in)appropriateness of the operative’s name was always an eyecatching detail. Could one of recent reality’s most highly public losers actually be called Reality Winner? Playwright Tina Satter’s enormously compelling film-directing debut adds another layer of cosmic irony to that nominative determinism. In using the title “Reality,” and being scripted verbatim from exchanges recorded by the FBI during Winner’s 2017 surprise interrogation, Satter not only vividly revisits the story, she also makes us question the very relationship between a narrative film and the truth it claims to expose. Reality can be stranger than fiction, but “Reality” fuses the two to become stranger, and more riveting, still. 

Making eat-the-rich comedy Triangle of Sadness, with a gross-out scene that rivals Farrelly Brothers movies, was simple for Swedish director Ruben Östlund.

Sydney Sweeney passed through the Berlin Film Festival Saturday evening alongside playwright and director Tina Satter to debut their new feature Reality.