All posts tagged: film

Archer Film Festival to Host Filmmaking Trio for Power Discussion

Archer Film Festival to Host Filmmaking Trio for Power Discussion

Published by Daniella Wilson

The milestone 15th annual Archer Film Festival will feature a trio of entertainment industry insiders (including one of its founding members). Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences president Lynette Howell Taylor, Oscar-winning One Battle After Another producer Sara Murphy and filmmaker Nastasya Popov are booked to share the stage set inside in Pacific Design Center’s Silver Screen Theater in West Hollywood on April 17. Their panel discussion, “Women Behind the Camera: Shifting Power in Film,” is meant to examine “how power is evolving in the entertainment industry” with commentary on how they “are actively reshaping the stories we tell and the systems that bring them to life.” The Archer Film Fest is an entirely student-led and organized effort that seeks to empower female filmmakers and amplify underrepresented voices. In addition to the Q&A, the fest will screen a selection of finalist films. More than 300 student-produced film submissions were received from more than 50 countries. Event sponsors include Boardwalk Pictures, Warner Bros. Television, Mark Gordon Pictures, The Kennedy/Marshall Company, Paramount, Campfire Studios, Apache Digital, …

Luma launches AI-powered production studio with faith-focused Wonder Project

Luma launches AI-powered production studio with faith-focused Wonder Project

Published by skeptic

AI video generation startup Luma has launched Innovative Dreams, a production company built in partnership with Wonder Project, a streaming service that produces religious films and TV on Amazon Prime.  The tie-up’s first show will be called “The Old Stories: Moses,” starring British actor Ben Kingsley and set to launch this spring on Prime Video.  “Innovative Dreams is a production services company where seasoned filmmakers from Director Jon Erwin’s team and Luma’s creative technologists work with great studios and filmmakers to help them realize ambitious ideas,” Luma said Thursday in a social media post.  The company envisages creative teams collaborating in real time with Luma Agents to make changes to sets, props, and lighting, as well as bring in footage of human actors. Luma Agents are the company’s recently launched tools designed to handle end-to-end creative work across text, image, video, and audio. “This is a significant improvement over the current virtual production and performance capture processes where things come together only in post,” Luma’s post said. “This is the leverage of AI — not …

Pete Davidson is planning his exit from TV and film — thanks to a fast-growing sock brand

Pete Davidson is planning his exit from TV and film — thanks to a fast-growing sock brand

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Pete Davidson has one foot out the door when it comes to acting, thanks in part to the growing success of sock brand Doublesoul, which he joined as an investor and creative director in December 2024. The former Saturday Night Live star, 32, became a father the following December to daughter, Scottie Rose, with girlfriend Elsie Hewitt. He has since managed to step away from the spotlight. “I’ve done everything I possibly can on my end, which means not having social media, barely going out. I’m not at f***ing 1OAK, or whatever,” Davidson told Vanity Fair in a new interview. “I don’t even know what a cool place is because I’ve never been to any of them.” He added: “No one gives a f*** about movies or television or any of that s***. People just know I’m famous…they don’t know that …

Jackass 5 trailer revealed as co-creator Johnny Knoxville says team ‘went extra hard’ to make ‘final’ film ‘the best’

Jackass 5 trailer revealed as co-creator Johnny Knoxville says team ‘went extra hard’ to make ‘final’ film ‘the best’

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Jackass co-creator Johnny Knoxville has unveiled the first trailer for the hit slapstick comedy franchise’s final film, Jackass: Best And Last, during the last day of CinemaCon. Taking the stage Thursday at the Las Vegas movie convention, the professional prankster and stuntman, 55, introduced himself to the crowd. “My name is Johnny Knoxville, and I’m going to try to not get emotional,” he said, according to Variety. “This is the last Jackass film the world will ever see. Jackass means a hell of a lot for me,” Knoxville added. “We knew we were making the last one, so we went extra hard to make sure this was also our best Jackass film ever.” The trailer reportedly featured plenty of archival footage, mixed in with brand-new stunts, including Knoxville receiving a prostate exam by a robot named Larry and Sean “Poopies” McInerney …

Why the Cannes Film Festival Is the Perfect Setting for ‘The White Lotus’ Season 4

Why the Cannes Film Festival Is the Perfect Setting for ‘The White Lotus’ Season 4

Published by Jenni Sidey

In my experience, the Cannes Film Festival is a place of jarring contradictions. In the same humid evening, you can ascend the ginormous red carpet of the Palais des Festivals into the premiere of a devastating drama about wealth inequality, tearfully applaud for 15 minutes in your strictly-enforced tux, and later find yourself at a bafflingly expensive afterparty where the tables are stacked with 67 shades of macaroons, Veuve flowing on an infinite tap. The beleaguered local waiting staff look like they resent the very fiber of your being, and if you’ve even a glimmer of self-awareness, it’s hard not to agree with them. Film journalists and student enthusiasts who have maxed out their credit cards to stay in ludicrously overpriced AirBnBs, crammed seven-a-room like corpses in a morgue, rub shoulders with ultra-wealthy oligarchs whose dick-measuring mega yachts loom larger than a row of IMAX screens. It’s intoxicating. It’s fun. You’ll never feel more broke. There aren’t many places that stand as such a profound symbol of the chasm between rich and poor as the …

Taika Waititi and Kit Connor among cast for new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film

Taika Waititi and Kit Connor among cast for new Charlie and the Chocolate Factory film

Published by Daniella Wilson

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture email Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Taika Waititi and Kit Connor are poised to star in a new animated Netflix adaptation of Roald Dahl’s beloved classic, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. The upcoming production, titled Charlie Vs The Chocolate Factory, draws inspiration from Dahl’s iconic 1964 novel, which famously follows Charlie Bucket’s golden ticket win to tour Willy Wonka’s eccentric confectionery empire. This contemporary reimagining transports the story to modern-day London, delving into the aftermath of the golden ticket competition. In a significant twist, the film reveals Wonka has served a prison sentence for the unusual crime of transforming a child into a blueberry. Award-winning director and actor Waititi will voice Wonka himself, while Connor is cast as Charlie Paley, a new character leading a group of young people determined to infiltrate Wonka’s factory and pilfer one of his coveted chocolate bars. New Zealander Waititi, who will …

James Bond casting reveal teased by Amazon as film boss promises new movie “truly worthy of the Bond legacy”

James Bond casting reveal teased by Amazon as film boss promises new movie “truly worthy of the Bond legacy”

Published by Daniella Wilson

It feels like we’ve been waiting just about forever for concrete news on who might be the next actor to play James Bond in the iconic spy franchise – but Amazon MGM Studios head of film Courtenay Valenti has called for patience from fans ahead of the eventual reveal. Valenti made the comments during her presentation at CinemaCon in Las Vegas last night (Wednesday 15 April), immediately admitting to the audience: “I know you’re all wondering when we’re going to announce who’s playing James Bond.” Per Deadline, she explained that she and her team were “taking the time to do this with care and deep respect”, adding that bringing fans the next chapter of 007 was “the dream of a lifetime” and “a responsibility we don’t take lightly”. But while she had no further news to share on that all-important casting front, she added: “What I can tell you is this: when you pair one of the most beloved franchises in history with a world-class filmmaking team, including the brilliant director Denis Villeneuve, extraordinary producers …

Zendaya and On Debut Shoe and Clothing Collection in Spike Jonze Film

Zendaya and On Debut Shoe and Clothing Collection in Spike Jonze Film

Published by Daniella Wilson

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, The Hollywood Reporter may receive an affiliate commission. While Zendaya and Swiss sportswear brand On are no stranger to collaboration, their latest release marks a significant milestone in the duo’s multi-year partnership. Available to shop online starting April 16, the SS26 Zendaya x On drop is their first-ever co-created footwear and apparel collection. To accompany the collection, the team tapped Academy Award winner Spike Jonze to direct a campaign short film, Shape of Dreams. Starring Zendaya, the film is set inside her imagined design world, “The Dream Lab.” Here, the team is able to convey the complexity of the creative process through an imaginative and playful lens. Since its debut six days ago, the video has accumulated nearly 10 million views on YouTube alone. Designed alongside Zendaya’s longtime collaborator and “Image Architect” Law Roach, the full collection builds upon the Cloudzone Moon, On and Zendaya’s first co-created sneaker, launched back in August 2025. Now, the head-to-toe capsule spans tops, jackets, …

’The Price of the Sun’ Doc Film Interview: Visions du Réel 2026

’The Price of the Sun’ Doc Film Interview: Visions du Réel 2026

Published by Daniella Wilson

It’s complicated! The world’s largest solar power plant is being built in Morocco, with the aim of turning arid land into a “green energy source.” So far, so good, you say? But wait, there’s a catch! After all, barriers go up, and access to water becomes difficult. And members of the local Berber tribe, the indigenous Nomad population, are given no choice but to work for the power plant. In The Price of the Sun (Du soleil et du plomb), Belgian director Jérôme le Maire (Burning Out, Tea or Electricity) zooms in on the ambiguities and hidden costs of progress and “the resilience and adaptability of a community forced to reinvent itself in the shadow of the renewable energy revolution.” The film world premieres on Saturday, April 18 in the international feature film competition program of the 57th edition of the Visions du Réel documentary festival in Nyon, Switzerland. With cinematography from Olivier Boonjing and le Maire and editing by Matyas Veress, The Price of the Sun shows us how the nomads’ traditions exist in quiet …