‘The War Of The Rohirrim’: WB’s Upcoming ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Anime Prequel Film Hitting Theaters In 2024

EXCLUSIVE: BJ McDonnell, the director of the buzzed-about Foo Fighters horror-comedy Studio 666, set for release on February 25 via Open Road Films, has signed with UTA and 3 Arts Entertainment.

Selome Hailu To celebrate Black history month, Ava DuVernay’s indie distribution, arts and advocacy collective Array has produced “28 Days of ‘Sankofa,'” an event series where select cinemas, universities and festival locations throughout the U.S. are screening Ethiopian director Haile Gerima’s “Sankofa” for free, one screening for each day of February. In addition, Array created a free learning companion designed to help viewers process the weight of what they’re watching.Gerima is best known as one of the leading members of the L.A.

Todd Spangler NY Digital EditorApple tapped Park Chan-wook, among Korea’s most successful and critically acclaimed directors, to make a movie shot entirely on its latest iPhones.Park’s “Life Is But a Dream” is the first project in Apple’s “Shot on iPhone” marketing campaign to be produced, shot and edited entirely in Korea. (Watch Park’s film below or at this link.)The film blends martial arts with romance, dark comedy and pansori (판소리) — Korea’s traditional musical storytelling technique — to tell a surreal tale featuring both a wedding and a funeral.In the 21-minute movie, an undertaker digs up an abandoned grave to steal a coffin for the burial of “White Marten,” a warrior who had died saving a village.

Brent Lang Executive Editor of Film and MediaReese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine has forged a storytelling partnership with World of Women (WoW), the NFT collective that is cracking open the male-dominated world of crypto currency while celebrating inclusivity and equality. World of Women launched in July 2021 with some 10,000 artworks from women creators, quickly becoming one of the most popular and profitable purveyors of non-fungible tokens.As part of the partnership, Hello Sunshine will build out the World of Women character universe and franchise into entertainment properties including feature films, scripted and unscripted TV series.

Zack Sharf Francis Ford Coppola went viral in 2019 after he was quoted calling Marvel movies “despicable” while supporting Martin Scorsese’s critical beliefs about comic book films hurting the film industry. Coppola later clarified that he wasn’t talking about Marvel movies specifically, saying it’s “despicable” how the film industry now values commerce over art.

EXCLUSIVE: Writer-director Andrew Semans (Resurrection, Nancy, Please) has signed with WME for representation.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorThe Visual Effects Society will present Guillermo del Toro with VES Award for Creative Excellence on March 8.del Toro will be honored for his consummate artistry and expansive storytelling that blends iconic visual effects and unforgettable narrative. Harnessing his intuitive vision, del Toro has created a distinctive cinematic style mixing the world of monster movies, comic books and exuberant visuals straight from his imagination.“Guillermo is a fiercely inventive storyteller, who has pushed the boundaries of filmmaking,” said VES Board Chair Lisa Cooke.

Jessica Kiang Perhaps you know the feeling, the strange tingle of vertigo you get when you’re having an entirely normal conversation with an acquaintance, and you suddenly realize that for seemingly no reason — and often about the most inconsequential things — they are lying to you. Jöns Jönsson’s “Axiom,” a standout in this year’s Berlinale Encounters section, is physically set in a comfortably well-educated, middle-class Austrian environment. But its psychological terrain is discomfort.

Emiliano Granada Colombian-Canadian director Lina Rodríguez’s third feature, “My Two Voices”,  a 68 min documentary that through its short runtime  artfully orchestrates a polyphony of emotions, colors, textures and voices in its portrayal of three immigrant women.Produced by Canada’s Rayon Verde, the same production company behind her previous film “This Time Tomorrow,” Rodríguez’s meticulous approach interweaves the voices of Claudia Montoya, Marinela Piedrahita and Ana Garay Kostic as they share their experiences of immigrating to Canada. Energized by a rich soundscape, the film achieves a deep intimacy, while refusing to draw borders, between spaces, between voices, between there and here, who I was and who I am, between I and Us.

Lesley McKenzie Managing EditorInternational contemporary art fair Frieze Los Angeles descends upon the city with its third edition, bringing together more than 100 local and internationally renowned galleries for a series of events held around town and at the fair’s new Beverly Hills location at 9900 Wilshire Blvd.Here’s what to expect.Wednesday, Feb. 16Outland, Rhizome and Friends With Benefits Rooftop Party Newly launched digital art platform Outland teams up with Rhizome and Friends With Benefits for discussions and a rooftop party. NeueHouse Hollywood, 6121 Sunset Blvd., 7-11 p.m.Prada Mode Los Angeles Social Club Prada Mode Los Angeles brings its traveling members-only social club back to Los Angeles for the seventh year, including an immersive installation by artist Martine Syms.

Anna Marie de la Fuente Mexico’s most bankable stars, Gael García Bernal and Diego Luna, have teamed up with L.A. and Miami-based Exile Content to produce Travis Gutiérrez Senger’s documentary on the groundbreaking art group, “ASCO: Without Permission.”The documentary chronicles the Los Angeles based avant-garde art group ASCO during the 1970s and ‘80s.

Balkan Insight, Depp was award the honour for his “outstanding merits in public and cultural activities, especially in the field of film art and the promotion of the Republic of Serbia in the world”.Receiving the award, The Daily Mail reports that Depp said: “I truly, sincerely thank you, President Vucic, and this medal of merit, if I am given the honour to walk away with this, I thank you for being kind enough to bestow it upon me.”The publication went on to say that Depp explained he was “right now on the verge of a new life”, adding: “I like a re-beginning, and I would love for that beginning to start here.”The actor had labelled himself a victim of “cancel culture” last year after being dropped from a number of projects in light of losing his bid to overturn a libel case that concluded he assaulted his ex-wife Amber Heard.Meanwhile, a documentary series focusing on the relationship between Johnny Depp and Heard is currently in development at Discovery+.The two-part series, called Johnny Vs. Amber, will break down the couple’s marriage, divorce and consequent legal action against each other, from multiple viewpoints.“Through the tapes, home videos and text messages shown in court, these films give viewers a rare and important insight into a marriage that went tragically wrong, and to better understand the hugely important issue of domestic violence,” explained producer Nick Hornby, via Deadline.

Guy Lodge Film CriticHaving long been mired in a writer’s block that she fears might be terminal, celebrated novelist Junhee decides the solution is to try another medium altogether, and sets out make a film. She has an actor, and a cinematographer, but no clear idea of what her film should be about — and that’s okay, she decides, since it will all emerge in time.

Variety on a chilly January afternoon, is terrifying. After all, Burns knows of what he speaks.

Channel 4 Pre-Buys ‘Hitler: A Life In Pictures’

The Art Directors Guild has opened an exhibition of its members’ work at Los Angeles City College. Titled “Bringing Imagination into View,” the exhibit is open to the public through Feb. 24. An opening reception will be held on Thursday at the school’s Da Vinci Hall from 4-7 p.m.

Angelique Jackson As the Met Gala sets its return to the first Monday in May, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced plans for the 2022 spring exhibition themed “In America: An Anthology of Fashion.”The Met curators, led by Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu curator in charge of the Costume Institute, have enlisted eight film directors —- Janicza Bravo, Sofia Coppola, Julie Dash, Tom Ford, Regina King, Martin Scorsese, Autumn de Wilde and Chloé Zhao — to help bring the exhibition to life.“Anthology” is the second of a two-part presentation saluting designers and dressmakers who worked in the United States from the 19th to the mid-late 20th century. It follows Part One, titled “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,” which opened in September 2021.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticIt’s no spoiler to say that Luigi Pirandello dies nine minutes into “Leonora addio.” This alternately playful and lugubrious work of reflection isn’t really about the controversial Italian writer’s life at all, but rather his legacy, and in a less literal yet ineluctable sense, that of film directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani.Over the course of half a century, the two cinematic siblings made movies together — including 1985’s “Kaos,” an omnibus-style collection of five Pirandello stories — bookending their career together by winning top prizes at the Cannes and Berlin film festivals (for “Padre Padrone” and “Caesar Must Die,” in respectively). And then, in 2018, Vittorio died.

British writer and director Nida Manzoor, whose credits include creating the Channel 4 series We Are Lady Parts, has wrapped production in London on her debut feature Polite Society.

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning production designer William A. Horning and Oscar-nominated production designer, costume designer and producer Polly Platt will be inducted into the Art Directors Guild’s Hall of Fame this year for their “extraordinary contributions to the art of visual storytelling.”

Jamie Lang Belgium’s Panenka, producers of recent VRT breakout hit “Two Summers” – which premiered last week to a jaw-dropping 51% market share in its prime-time slot and which will soon be released worldwide by Netflix – will virtually pitch one of their upcoming projects, “This is Not a Murder Mystery,” at Berlin Co-Pro Series.One of 10 such projects set for this event, Co-Pro Series marks the first public pitch for “TINAMM,” with the creative team looking to the right co-production and distribution partner to help realize their murder mystery series. Panenka producer Kristoffel Mertens hosts the virtual Co-Pro pitch with co-creators Paul Baeten and Christophe Dirickx.Baeten is a novelist, essayist and TV screenwriter, whose credits include two seasons of the acclaimed drama series “Over Water” and the aforementioned “Two Summers.” Dirickx has written and produced several feature films, including Cannes players “The Misfortunates” from director Felix van Groeningen and Frank Van Passel’s “Manneken Pis.” International Emmy-nominee Hans Herbots (“The Spiral”) and Matthias Lebeer, a winner of two Golden Lions at Cannes for his work on GT Academy Europe, will direct.