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The 7th edition of the Joburg Film Festival came to a close Saturday night, bringing an end to a busy week that saw the festival and its parallel industry event, Jbx, make strides in establishing themselves as what festival founder Timothy Mangwedi is determined to transform into “the number one pop-culture, must-attend event in sub-Saharan Africa.”

Across the three-day Jbx, or Joburg Xchange, representatives of the South African and global screen industries explored ways to bolster cross-border collaboration, wrestled with thorny issues involving copyright law, AI and workers’ rights, and sought to ensure that African narratives remain in the hands of African storytellers. Meanwhile, a full-day program presented in collaboration with Sisters Working in Film and Television (Swift) showcased the advances made by women in the South African screen industries while highlighting how much remains to be done on the road to gender parity.

Here are six of Variety’s...

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Raoul Peck blasted the Trump administration at the Joburg Film Festival on Wednesday, insisting that the world is at the mercy of “crazy people” who have put the lives of millions at stake.

“We are in the hands of a bunch of crazy people who have an agenda that was totally written out in Project 2025, the same way that Hitler wrote ‘Mein Kampf,’” Peck said. “All of it was there to read, and everybody thought he was making a joke. No. They are applying what they said they were going to do.

“The question is…what are we going to do [in response]?” he added. “We can’t tweet our way out of this one.”

The Haitian filmmaker also lashed out at the administration’s dismantling of Usaid and its disruption of the trans-Atlantic alliance, saying Trump is “breaking up what it took decades to build” after such institutions were...

The third edition of Jbx, or Joburg Xchange, an industry confab running from March 12 – 14 parallel to the Joburg Film Festival, looks to spotlight Africa’s role in shaping the future of film, television and digital storytelling.

With a focus on stories “made in Joburg for Africa and the world,” this year’s event “reflects the growing demand for African stories, innovative business models and stronger industry infrastructure,” according to Joburg Film Festival executive director Timothy Mangwedi.

The highlight is the Jbx Talks program, which gathers industry professionals from across the continent and the globe for a series of talks, workshops, panel discussions and masterclasses curated with an eye toward “equip[ping] professionals with the tools needed to navigate a rapidly evolving media landscape,” says Mangwedi.

This year’s event centers on six key themes. Firstly, it will look at ways to expand African storytelling on global platforms by examining how creators...

Cole was a black South African photographer whose work illuminated the reality of life under apartheid, but Raoul Peck’s excellent documentary unearths a life of exile and homesickness

Haitian film-maker Raoul Peck won an Oscar nomination for his 2016 documentary I Am Not Your Negro about James Baldwin, whose writings were voiced by Samuel L Jackson; now he takes a comparable approach to a more elusive and in some ways more complex subject. This is the black South African photographer Ernest Cole whose fierce pictures of life under apartheid brought this political reality home to the US and the west, and played a real part in the pressure brought to bear on the South African government. But it was Cole’s terrible destiny to live as a stateless exile, mostly in the US, finally dying penniless in 1990 just as Nelson Mandela was being released.

Cole died of pancreatic cancer, but...

A niche streaming service made for indie film lovers who crave something different.

Back when I was at USC Film School, I got a crash course in indie cinema. While everyone else was obsessing over the latest blockbusters, I was sitting in screenings of microbudget dramas, foreign gems, and documentaries that stuck with me way longer than any superhero movie ever could. That appreciation for indie films never left (“Run Lola Run” anyone?), which is why Magnolia Selects is such a great find. This niche streaming service is all about independent filmmaking, curating a lineup of award-winning dramas, interesting (and entertaining) documentaries, and under-the-radar gems you won’t find on the big streamers. If you love cinema that takes risks, tells bold stories, and champions unique voices, Magnolia Selects is worth checking out. Here’s everything you need to know.

Everything you need to know about Magnolia Selects

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All titles below begin streaming for free on February 1 unless otherwise noted.

Originals

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Earthquake Underground (2/29)

When a massive earthquake submerges several subway cars underground, a group of misfit passengers band together to get to the surface or die trying.

Vice News Presents: Mass Shooting America (2/7)

An unflinching look at the true scope and scale of gun violence in America, as told by those who’ve experienced it first-hand.

Love You To Death: Mommy’S Missing (2/14)

The case of a missing mother reveals twisted family secrets that leave a trail of flames, arrests, and deaths in their wake.

TMZ No Bs: Miley Cyrus (2/24)

Harvey Levin and his team of TMZ experts discuss Miley Cyrus’ meteoric rise to fame and debate her biggest scandals and successes.

Love You To Death: For Love Or Money (2/28)

The shooting of a beloved Cleveland firefighter leads detectives to uncover a shocking plot for money gone very wrong.

Turkey’s Kanal D Internatioanal Adds To Sales Team

Turkish distributor Kanal D International has beefed up its international team with a new hire and a promotion. Duda Rodrigues joins to cover sales to the U.S. and Canada as well as Latin America and Portuguese-speaking territories. With Turkish drama continuing to sell well internationally, Kanal D has also upped one of its existing sales execs. Selahattin Tosun has been made Head of Drama, Digital Partnerships, and Africa for the Turkish outfit. The outfit sells the likes of Secret of Pearls, which was a Deadline Hot One at MIPCOM.

UK’s Film & TV Charity Names Ambassadors Inc David Morrisey

The UK’s Film & TV Charity (Tftvc) has launched an ambassadors program. Sherwood star David Morrissey, writer Kit de Waal, director Amma Asante and broadcaster Marverine Cole have been selected for the role. The four will help strengthen Tftv’s...

Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck, who was Oscar-nominated for “I Am Not Your Negro,” will be the Guest of Honor at the 56th edition of documentary festival Visions du Réel, which runs April 4-13.

During the festival, Peck will deliver a masterclass and present a retrospective of his work, as well as a screening of his latest feature film, “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.”

Emilie Bujès, the festival’s artistic director, said Peck’s work was of “exceptional political impact and cinematographic force.” She added, his films are “inextricably linked to an alternative and engaged way of thinking about the world and its history, embodied by key figures which he has invariably made part of inspiring, precisely articulated and highly literary forms.”

In a statement, the festival noted that his films “examine denials from official Western history, shining a light on aspects ignored by this account, often sketching a portrait of...

Oscar-nominated Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck is to be the guest of honour at the 56th edition of documentary festival Visions du Reel, taking place in Nyon, Switzerland from April 4-13.

Peck’s participation in the festival will include a masterclass and a retrospective of his non-fiction work, along with a screening of his latest film Ernest Cole: Lost and Found ahead of its release in Swiss cinemas.

Born in Haiti in 1953, and raised in Congo, New York, France and Germany, Peck’s filmography has long focused on key figures fighting for emancipation and criticising the cultural domination of history’s Eurocentric perspective.

It’s time to dive into thought-provoking docs and series curated by Magnolia Pictures.

It was the documentary “Super Size Me” that opened my eyes to the power of documentary filmmaking. Until then, the only docs I watched were the boring ones in school. But “Super Size Me” was different – it was entertaining, funny, and – most importantly – incredibly revealing about a topic I was really interested in while in high school… you guessed it, fast food. To this day, I love a great doc that is as entertaining as it is informative. If you’re the same, and looking for an affordable streaming service that will give you access to those kinds of documentaries, look no further than Dox — a streaming service dedicated to all things documentary.

7-Day Free Trial $2.99+ / month Dox via amazon.com Everything you need to know about Dox

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How much does Dox cost?

What can you watch on Dox?...

Gay Talese with Anne-Katrin Titze following the Doc NYC World Premiere of Dorenna Newton’s Watching Frank (with Gay on his Esquire article Frank Sinatra Has A Cold) Photo: Catherine Talese

The first time I met Gay Talese was in 2013, when we were invited along with the B-52s Fred Schneider and Killer Films' Christine Vachon to be on the inaugural First Time Fest jury by co-founders Johanna Bennett (Tony Bennett’s daughter) and her partner Mandy Ward. Over the years Gay and I have had conversations on Andrew Bolton and Wong Kar Wai’s China: Through The Looking Glass (at The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute); at Lotus Club with Morgan Neville (the Oscar-winning director of 20 Feet From Stardom) on The Music Of Strangers (featuring Yo-Yo Ma and The Silk Road Ensemble); an evening with Gay on Ava DuVernay's Selma; recollections of James Baldwin and Raoul Peck...

The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam has announced the 55 documentary projects selected for this year’s IDFA Forum, chosen from among 820 entries.

Among the prominent names heading to the forum, which runs November 17-20, is Emmy winner Eva Mulvad (The Cave), who will pitch her upcoming project House of the Holy Father, co-directed with Andreas Koefoed. “In an intriguing cinematic exercise that straddles fiction and documentary,” a release notes, “the film seeks to bare intricate workings of domination and manipulation, as ex-members of the notorious Christian sect Faderhuset direct scenes with well-known Danish actors, including Trine Dyrholm and David Dencik.”

Israeli filmmaker Tomer Heymann, who has won prizes at film festivals around the world, will participate in the Rough Cut Presentations section with Issa’s House, a film set in the West Bank. Another film shot in...

Election season is in the air and Turner Classic Movies is here to celebrate. Starting on September 6 and continuing every Friday up until this year’s general election, TCM will be running a nine-week limited series entitled “Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.” This cinematic showcase is inspired by The New Republic rankings released in June 2023 and includes selections such as “All the King’s Men,” “Germany, Year Zero,” and “High and Low.”

To introduce the upcoming series, TCM host Ben Mankiewicz took to Washington D.C. for a trailer highlighting some of the films featured, as well as special guests like Stacey Abrams, Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, and John Turturro.

“I grew up here in Washington D.C.,” Mankiewicz said, the Capitol Building behind him. “My father’s life was politics — capital P politics. Though I went in a different direction, I understood at an early age,...

In the run-up to Election Day, TCM is going after the movie lovers’ popular vote by showing 50 films over nine successive Fridays under the banner Making Change: The Most Significant Political Films of All Time.

The series runs Sept. 6 to Nov. 1 — four days before America votes for its next president — and features TCM host Ben Mankiewicz in conversation with the likes of Steven Spielberg, Spike Lee, Lee Grant, Sally Field, Andy Garcia, Melissa Etheridge, John Turturro, Bill Maher, Alexander Payne, Diane Lane, Josh Mankiewicz, Barry Levinson, Maureen Dowd, Stacey Abrams and former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates.

Watch the trailer here.

Making Change showcases half of the movies unveiled by The New Republic in the rankings it released in June 2023. The films on TCM span the years 1915 to 2016 (from D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation to Raoul Peck’s I Am Not Your Negro); the whole thing kicks off with the No.

This year’s slate of 21 documentaries from 24 countries at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 5 – 15) is a melange of newsy subjects, rising directors, and potential Oscar contenders. Sixteen are sales titles, up from last year’s eight. Two high-profile celebrity docs are playing in the gala section of the fest, R. J. Cutler’s “Elton John: Never Too Late” and Thom Zimmy’s “Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band.”

The TIFF Documentary Selection will open with “Vice Is Broke,” in which “Huang’s World” journalist Eddie Huang investigates his former employer’s rise and fall into bankruptcy. “It’s an insider’s look at a media company that gave many people opportunities and did things in sloppy ways,” TIFF documentary programmer Thom Powers told IndieWire via Zoom. “It soared up to a value of $5.7 billion and won the attention of moguls like David Zaslav and Rupert Murdoch.

Eddie Huang, creator of ABC’s Fresh Off the Boat comedy, is set to open the Toronto Film Festival’s TIFF Docs sidebar with a world premiere for Vice is Broke, a documentary about the rise and fall of Vice Media.

Huang will chronicle events leading up to Shane Smith’s Vice Media, a scrappy media player once valued at $5.7 billion, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2023 to open the way for a sale of the company.

There’s also world bows in Toronto’s documentary strand for Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story, directed by Sinéad O’Shea, who did hours of interviews with the legendary Irish novelist in the last year of O’Brien’s life; Jen Gaiten and Screwball doc maker Billy Corben bringing Men of War, about a former U.S. Green Beret caught up in a failed 2020 coup to remove Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro; and...

“Thelma” (Magnolia), an unlikely action-comedy starring June Squibb as a nonagenarian grandmother who becomes a phone scam victim, has grossed about $7.3 million through its third week. Though not a blockbuster by summer standards, in the specialized world, and particularly outside awards season, “Thelma” is a blockbuster, headed for between $9-10 million domestic, theatrically. And at a time of challenge for this sector. How it got there suggests some lessons for distributors.

Something clicked here. “Thelma” debuted last January at Sundance with immediate acquisition interest, selling to Magnolia, which isn’t normally known for mid-wide-level releases.

By all indications, the plan has worked. “Thelma” is already Magnolia’s highest-grossing narrative feature in the company’s 23-year history. Adjusted, “Woman Thou Art Loosed” and “The World’s Fastest Indian” ended up slightly bigger, but both were around 20 years ago.

What happened was by design. Magnolia releases a lot of films, usually of a...

“Ezra,” the story of a stand-up comic embarking on a road trip with his autistic son, is the kind of movie that Hollywood doesn’t make much anymore. It’s not based on a toy or a comic book; instead it’s a warm-hearted, deeply human story without much in the way of special effects. But the movie, which opened last weekend in the height of summer popcorn season, is exactly what Closer Media, the new film and television company that backed the production, was founded to champion.

“We want to tell stories from all over the world that are meaningful and that can bring people closer together,” says Zhang Xin, noting that Closer’s mission statement is right there in its name. “When a project comes to us, we ask does it move our heart and does it open our eyes?”

It’s a new challenge for Zhang, a...

Raoul Peck’s Ernest Cole: Lost And Found and Nada Riyadh and Ayman El Amir’s The Brink Of Dreams have jointly won Cannes’ documentary award, the L’Œil d’or.

Ernest Cole: Lost And Found played in official selection as a Special Screening, while The Brink Of Dreams played in Critics’ Week.

Ernest Cole: Lost And Found is the latest film from Peck, whose body of work includes the Oscar-­nominated I Am Not Your Negro and Cannes Directors’ Fortnight title Lumumba. The documentary is an account of the life of Ernest Cole, one of the first Black photo...

In “I Am Not Your Negro” (2016), his profound and lacerating portrait of James Baldwin, the director Raoul Peck traced the haunted connection between two things: Baldwin’s staggering perception of what it was to be Black in America, and the depth of Baldwin’s struggle with melancholy, self-doubt, and his merciless ability to see truth. For Baldwin, the personal and political came together in uniquely despairing and revealing ways.

Peck’s new documentary, “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,” could be considered a companion piece to that earlier monumental film. No, it isn’t as powerful. But it, too, is the penetrating portrait of a Black artist — the photographer Ernest Cole, who was born in 1940 in Eersterust, South Africa, and who beginning in the late ’50s took his camera into the streets to chronicle the evils and everyday experience of life under apartheid. He escaped the regime and came to New...

Film festivals in North America have launched some of the greatest movies ever – whether nonfiction or fiction. Telluride premiered Free Solo, Slumdog Millionaire, and Argo; Sundance debuted sex, lies and videotape, Napoleon Dynamite, An Inconvenient Truth, and this year’s Oscar winning documentary 20 Days in Mariupol; the Toronto International Film Festival premiered I Am Not Your Negro and Ray.

The importance of festivals to the industry is beyond question, but many of the most celebrated ones on this continent are facing a moment of crisis. Post-pandemic financial struggles are plaguing Sundance, TIFF, and Hot Docs among others, and the situation with the latter festival is serious enough that it may have to fold.

Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast digs into the precarious state of film festivals in our latest episode, examining that vital question with guests steeped in the field: Ken Jacobson, executive director of the Hot Springs Documentary...

In his critically acclaimed documentary, I Am Not Your Negro, Raoul Peck surveyed James Baldwin’s legacy and its contemporary resonance through the writer’s own words. Working from one of Baldwin’s unfinished manuscripts, Peck wrote a screenplay that Samuel L. Jackson then read over archival images and videos. The Haitian filmmaker returns to this speculative mode in his most recent feature, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found, a propulsive and weighty documentary about the South African photographer who chronicled the inhumanity of apartheid for the world.

Premiering at Cannes as a special screening, Ernest Cole: Lost and Found is an introspective memoir punched up with the elements of a thriller. The discovery of a trove of Cole’s photo negatives in a Swedish bank safe inspired Peck to reappraise the photographer’s legacy. This project comes on the heels of a minor renaissance for Cole, whose 1967 book House of...

Kino Lorber has acquired US rights in the Cannes market to Sundance documentary Soundtrack To A Coup d’Etat, while Mediawan Rights has closed key territory sales.

Johan Grimonprez’s film unravels colonial power dynamics in Africa and re-examines the 1961 assassination of Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba, set against a soundtrack of American jazz greats.

The film includes eyewitness accounts, official government memos, testimonies from mercenaries and CIA operatives, and speeches from Lumumba himself.

Kino Lorber plans a theatrical release later this year followed by a home video, educational, and digital release on all major platforms. The distributor is partnering with public...

According to the European Audiovisual Observatory, Switzerland is ranked third in Europe for its yearly output of documentaries, with more than 70 titles in 2023. On May 19, it will unveil four of its most promising features at the Swiss Cannes Docs Showcase.

The event is jointly organized by the national promotional agency Swiss Films, Visions du Réel —the country’s sole non-fiction film festival—and Cannes Docs.

“It’s actually the very first Swiss Showcase of docs-in-progress ever at Cannes Docs!” said Pierre-Alexi Chevit, head of the sought-after doc industry event.

“We’ve been talking about it with Swiss Films for many years, and it’s now finally happening in the framework of Swiss Country of Honour at the Marché du Film this year,” he added.

“It is fabulous to have Visions du Réel as a key collaborator for this Showcase, as it is such a great festival, run by amazing people,...

Raoul Peck’s life is as fascinating as his films, filled with unexpected twists and turns. From his early stints as a cab driver and journalist, to a minister of culture post in his native Haiti, to teaching, to founding his Velvet Film production shingle to his breakthrough when he earned an Oscar nomination as producer/director with the James Baldwin doc, “I Am Not Your Negro,” the common denominator is Peck’s drive to make life better through his work. “I went into film because there were things I wanted to say, to express or deconstruct,” he explained. “And there is a fight to be had about the state of the world and wherever I’m living.”

On May 20, Peck will have his third Cannes premiere with the Special Screenings doc “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.” It chronicles the life of a South African photographer — another of Peck’s...

The setup reads like a thriller: 60,000 photo negatives were discovered in a safe in a Swedish bank, no one knows how they got there, and no one knows who paid to keep them there. But Raoul Peck’s Cannes-bound documentary Ernest Cole: Lost and Found aims to uncover the forgotten years of a photographer whose legacy and work could have easily been buried.

Peck, who was born in Haiti but fled the Duvalier dictatorship with his family, eventually landing in Berlin, felt a particular kinship with Ernest Cole, the South African photographer who captured the Apartheid state and published the 1967 book House of Bondage at only 27 years old. This led to the regime stripping him of his passport. Banished from his home country, Cole headed to New York City, where grants and assignments allowed him to continue photographing, but his past plagued him until his death.

Peck’s Ernest Cole: Lost and Found,...

Hulu’s list of new releases for May 2024 is missing a certain amount of original series firepower. In the place of a blockbuster like The Handmaid’s Tale or Shōgun, however, is some content diversity.

The first of the month sees the premiere of four-episode British series Shardlake. This mystery drama takes place during the reign of Henry VIII and features none other than Thomas Cromwell (Sean Bean) investigating a murder. Other series of note this month include the Korean drama Uncle Samsik on May 15.

Movies are bit more interesting on Hulu in May. Teen comedy Prom Dates premieres on May 3. That will be followed by the 2023 Adam Drive film Ferrari on May 24. Before all that though is the real heavy hitter. You can watch Austin Butler’s acclaimed performance as The King in Elvis as early as May 1. But get to it quick before the Baz Luhrmann film departs on...

Talent-driven doc sales outfit Rise & Shine has boarded “Fire Fire Fire” (“Feu Feu Feu”), the feature debut of Swiss rising voice Pauline Jeanbourquin (“Dusk”), due to world premiere in the national competition strand of Nyon’s Visions du Réel docu festival. Variety has had exclusively access to the international trailer.

The poetic and captivating coming-of-age story of a young girl with healing talents, is produced by high-profile Geneva-based Close Up Films, credited for the 2023 Swiss Oscar entry “Thunder” and as co-producer of the Oscar-nominated “I Am Not Your Negro.”

“I enjoy working on first features, meeting a new voice, exploring and questioning what it means to direct, figuring things out together. It’s a responsibility I find deeply fulfilling,” producer and Close Up Films’ co-owner Flavia Zanon says.

“Pauline reached out to me in 2019, and I was instantly drawn to the types of stories she wanted to tell and...

Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck and Canadian cinematographer Iris Ng will be honoured at the 25th edition of Canada’s documentary festival Hot Docs (April 30 – May 1).

Peck, best known for the Oscar-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro, will be presented with the outstanding achievement award. His other credits include Lumumba, HBO miniseries Exterminate All The Brutes and most recently Silver Dollar Road.

A selection of Peck’s work will be shown at the festival where the director will participate in several post-screening Q&a’s.

Previous recipients of the outstanding achievement award include Werner Herzog, Patricio Guzmán and Tony Palmer.

Raoul Peck, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind 2016’s I Am Not Your Negro, is in production on his latest documentary, an investigation into the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise.

Tentatively titled The Hands That Held the Knives, Peck is not only directing but producing the film under his Velvet Films banner alongside Jigsaw Productions, with Imagine Documentaries, Anonymous Content, and Double Agent, who are also financing the project.

Peck’s take is being described as a “documentary thriller, in the tradition of Graham Greene or John Le Carré.” Per Monday’s announcement, Peck is going deep into the politics of Haiti, its relationship with the United States, and the corrupt business empires and criminal organizations that have now rendered the country a hellscape for its citizens.

The film will take audiences right up to the present moment, per the producers, “as ruthless gangs backed by oligarchs with well-paid lobbyists in Washington,...

Filmmaker Raoul Peck’s next documentary will delve into the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise. The film, tentatively titled “The Hands That Held the Knives,” has been in production for over two years.

The documentary will be a thriller “in the tradition of Graham Greene or John Le Carré,” according to a press release. It will offer access to people involved in the murder of Moise, who was shot inside his home in July 2021. It will also feature secret footage from Haiti’s prisons and an encounter with a fugitive who witnessed the killing.

“The Hands That Held the Knives” will attempt to unpack Haiti’s politics, its relationship with the United States, as well as corrupt business empires and criminal organizations that deal drugs and contraband throughout the Caribbean. Per the official announcement, “the film will take us right up to the present moment, as ruthless gangs backed...

Director Raoul Peck, who helmed the 2016 documentary “I Am Not Your Negro,” has announced his new documentary project. “The Hands That Held the Knives” will detail the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse in 2021.

The documentary, which took over two years to make, is said to be in the same vein as the works of Graham Greene and John Le Carré. Peck was given access to the people involved in Moïse’s killing, and even secretly filmed in Haiti’s prison system. The documentary will lay out Haitian politics, its relationship to the U.S. and the corruption and criminality the country deals with, including drugs and weapons trafficking.

“I am eager to tell my country’s real story beyond the usual exotic clichés and preposterous clickbait,” Peck said in a prepared statement. “I want to reveal for once, without holding back, the core stories and real reasons for Haiti’s tragic situation.

Raoul Peck is in production on his latest documentary The Hands That Held The Knives which explores the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise.

Haitian-born Peck is producing through his Velvet Films alongside Jigsaw Productions, with Imagine Documentaries, Anonymous Content, and Double Agent, who are also financing the project.

Editing is underway and shooting continues in Haiti, the US, Canada, France, and North Africa.

More than two years in the making, the documentary thriller is described as being in the vein of Graham Greene or John Le Carré and explores the politics of Haiti and its relationship with the United...

Raoul Peck, the filmmaker behind Academy Award-nominated documentary I Am Not Your Negro, is in production on his next feature doc — an investigation into the 2021 assassination of Haitian president Jovenel Moise, tentatively titled, The Hands That Held the Knives.

Over two years in the making, with unprecedented access to many of those involved, and including secret filming in Haiti’s prisons and an unexpected encounter with a fugitive who was an eyewitness to the murder, Peck’s film taking him back to his home country will be a documentary thriller, in the tradition of Graham Greene or John Le Carré.

His investigation takes him deep into the politics of Haiti, its relationship with the United States, and the corrupt business empires and criminal organizations — dealing drugs and contraband throughout the Caribbean, using weapons trafficked from the U.S. — which have now rendered the country a hellscape for its citizens. The...

Supernatural horror Deliver US is out now on digital platforms including Google, Apple TV, Sky and Amazon in the UK & Ireland.

Maria Vera Ratti (Inspector Ricciardi) stars as a nun who claims to have conceived twins through immaculate conception – that the Vatican fear will fulfil an ancient prophecy that one is the Messiah, and the other the Antichrist. Deliver US also stars co-director Lee Roy Kunz, as well as Thomas Kretschmann (Infinity Pool), and Peaky Blinders star Alexander Siddig.

Co-directed by Cru Ennis, Deliver US us a slick, striking and seriously scary slice of religious horror that will appeal to horror fans who enjoyed The Pope’s Exorcist, The Omen and The Nun movies.

Synopsis: When a nun in a remote convent claims immaculate conception, the Vatican sends a team of priests to investigate, concerned about an ancient prophecy that a woman will give birth to twin boys: one the Messiah,...

A-listers Alice Eve and Antonio Banderas (The Mask of Zorro) star in Cult Killer which is out now on Digital Platforms in the UK and Ireland. Also out on DVD on the 12th February 2024.

Eve (Star Trek Into Darkness) is a fearless private eye (with Banderas as her mentor) who uncovers brutal secrets in a sleepy Irish town that puts her life in danger. The film also stars Shelley Henig (Unfriended), Olwen Fouéré (The Northman) and Nick Dunning (The Tudors).

Stylishly directed by John Keeyes (Codename Banshee), Cult Killer recalls the nerve-shredding thrills of Silence of the Lambs and 7even, and is unmissable for fans of intelligent, dark crime thrillers.

Synopsis: When a renowned private investigator is murdered, his protege takes on the case. As her investigation unfolds, she is forced into a dangerous alliance with his killer to uncover the town’s grisly secrets and bring justice to its victims.

Lakeith Stanfield, the Oscar-nominated star of “Judas and the Black Messiah” and “Atlanta,” has joined Raoul Peck’s “Ernest Cole: Lost and Found.” The upcoming documentary chronicles the life and work of Ernest Cole, one of the first Black freelance photographers in South Africa, whose early pictures showed Black life under apartheid. They were images that shocked the world.

Stanfield will be the voice of Cole, helping to bring his words to life on screen. Magnolia acquired North American rights from Mk2 Films and is planning a theatrical release for later this year. Peck is an acclaimed filmmaker. His credits include “I Am Not Your Negro,” an Oscar-nominated look at writer and activist James Baldwin, and the HBO documentary miniseries, “Exterminate All the Brutes,” which received a Peabody Award. Magnolia released “I Am Not Your Negro.” Stanfield’s other credits include “Get Out,” “Knives Out” and “Haunted Mansion.”

Cole fled...

Photo: gorodenkoff (iStock by Getty Images)

Sure, there are plenty of great free movies on YouTube—but while YouTube is awesome, it’s not the only game in town. So we decided to put together a list of other sites that also offer free movies, break down the pros and cons of each one,...

What’s new on Amazon’s Prime Video in February 2024?

In light of Valentine’s Day, Prime Video nailed it. This February, the platform is bringing a variety of new shows and movies for you and yours. There is something for everyone — from the latest releases to classic romantic comedies to thrillers and more.

Rom-com “Upgraded,” starring Camila Mendes and Archie Renaux, hits the streamer on Friday, while a series adaptation of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s steamy spy thriller “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” is already taking the world by storm since its Feb. 2 debut with stars Donald Glover and Maya Erskine.

The platform will also debut 2015’s “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” with Tom Cruise and Rebecca Ferguson, last year’s animated “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem” and the well-liked 2014 indie “St.Vincent” with Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy, Naomi Watts and Chris O’Dowd.

And don’t forget about...

All caught up on this year’s Oscar-nominated movies? Catch one of the winter’s biggest not-nominated movies. It’s one the whole family can enjoy.

The contender to watch this week: “Wonka“

Come with me and you’ll be in a world of Paul King‘s imagination. The “Paddington” director’s Willy Wonka prequel dominated the holiday box office en route to $553 million worldwide and counting. Now it’s also available to rent or purchase on VOD. Timothée Chalamet earned a Golden Globe nomination for the title role, but that was the extent of the movie’s awards favor aside from one BAFTA nod. In a rare rebuff for a big-budget original musical, none of its numbers made the Oscars’ Best Original Song shortlist. Oh well. “Wonka” is a pleasing movie, sugary but nowhere near as phoned-in as its early trailers suggested.

Other contenders:

“Orion and the Dark”:...

Prime Video’s big February drop is Mr. & Mrs. Smith! No, not the 2005 Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie action movie, but a new TV series kinda based on it starring Donald Glover and Maya Erskine. The set up for the show version? Glover and Erskine are two strangers who both get jobs at a shady spy agency and are asked to get married so that they can pretend to be a couple undercover, but things get more complicated when they start falling in love for real. Uh oh!

If you’re in the mood for a movie or two this month, you can also check out the Prime debuts of Strays, Bottoms, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem. In the meantime, here’s everything coming to Amazon Prime Video and Freevee this month. Amazon Originals are accompanied by an asterisk!

New on Amazon Prime Video – February 2024

February 1

12 Angry Men...

Love is in the air this February at Prime Video! From the long-awaited espionage comedy series “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” to Jennifer Lopez’s new album companion film “This Is Me…Now: A Love Story,” the streamer is days away from adding dozens of classic and fresh titles to its seemingly endless catalog, including the premieres of many more Amazon Originals like “The Second Best Hospital in The Galaxy,” “Five Blind Dates,” and “The Silent Service.”

Check out The Streamable’s top picks for February on Prime Video, and find out everything coming to the platform this coming month!

30-Day Free Trial $8.99+ / month amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Coming to Prime Video in February 2024? “Mr. & Mrs. Smith” | Friday, Feb. 2

Donald Glover and Maya Erskine star in the long-awaited spy comedy series about two lonely strangers who land a job working for a mysterious spy agency...

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

IFC Center

Francis Ford Coppola’s latest recut, One from the Heart: Reprise, begins a run; Ken Russell’s Whore, Saw III, Die Hard with a Vengeance, Donnie Darko, and Spongebob Squarepants have late showings.

Roxy Cinema

A Ryan O’Neal retrospective brings Barry Lyndon and Tough Guys Don’t Dance on 35mm, while Peter Bogdanovich’s cut of Nickelodeon also screens.

Museum of Modern Art

One of the year’s great series, “To Save and Project,” continues.

Film Forum

I Heard It Through the Grapevine and Artie Shaw: Time Is All You Got begin runs, the former bringing with it a three-film program and I Am Not Your Negro; The Third Man continues a 75th-anniversary 35mm engagement; Sounder plays on Sunday.

Anthology Film Archives

Films by Skip Norman play through the weekend; Eisenstein’s Old and New plays on Saturday.

Editor’S Note: The following blog originally ran in June of 2020. We’re re-posting it here in honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day on January 15. The updated piece includes minor edits and, more importantly, updated info re: streaming availability.

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In the wake of international protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd by Derek Chauvin of the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25, 2020, practically every big-name streaming service quickly assembled, from their selection of available titles, their own specially curated collection of Black cinema. These collections have provided an invaluable resource for film fans of all racial demographics eager to learn more about the troubled history of American racial inequality.

Thankfully, there’s a lot of truly amazing stuff being spotlighted within these curated lists. We’ve plucked out a few (but definitely not all) of our favorite titles below. Whether based on a true story or totally invented, narrative or nonfiction,...

Now a week into the new year, Max is, like many of us, cleaning house. The streamer is ushering in a new month of library additions and new originals, and, like usual, we have to give to get.

While the streamer has lost a few titles already this month, including 2018’s “The Nun,” nearly all of Max’s departures will make their exit during the final week of the month, including “Birdman,” “Barbarian,” and more!

Before January comes to an end, check out The Streamable’s top picks of what to watch before they’re gone, and see the full list of what’s leaving Max throughout the rest of the month!

7-Day Free Trial $9.99+ / month Max via amazon.com What are the 5 Best Shows and Movies Leaving Max in January 2024? “Barbarian” | Wednesday, Jan. 24

Georgina Campbell leads the horror-thriller as Tess, a young woman who books a rental home only to...

The family of Michael Latt, the social activist and founder of entertainment marketing firm Lead With Love who was fatally shot at his home in November, wants to continue his legacy.

Michelle Satter, Latt’s mother and founding senior director at the Sundance Institute, announced a newly established fund to further Latt’s work in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

“As many know, we lost our beloved son Michael Latt to an act of violence,” Satter wrote in her post. “The Michael Latt Legacy Fund will continue his work using art to foster love, hope & healing by leveraging storytelling for enduring social impact.”

Latt founded Lead With Love in 2019 to promote the work of underrepresented creatives in the entertainment industry. He had worked with filmmakers such as Ryan Coogler, Barry Jenkins, Ava DuVernay and Raoul Peck, actor-musician Common and with companies such as Netflix and the Emerson Collective.

“The...

Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project centers on the poet, with Giovanni herself on screen. Co-director Joe Brewster said he did not want to do a traditional documentary or biopic, and drew inspiration from documentaries on James Baldwin and Kurt Cobain.

“We actually pitched it as I Am Not Your Negro meets Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,” Brewster said at Deadline’s Contenders Film: Documentary.

Co-director Michèle Stephenson added that she wanted the film to center on Giovanni, rather than other talking heads reflecting on her impact.

“Some of our visual vision and story vision came out of a bit of frustration with watching certain biographical documentaries,” Stephenson said. “We wanted to center her and her work and see everything through her voice to get a sense of how the process, the artistic poetry-making process happened.”

Brewster and Stephenson also got creative when Giovanni’s memory was limited,...

Just in time to ruin Christmas, gruesome horror comedy The Mean One, is out now on DVD and Digital Platforms from Altitude Film Distribution.

David Howard Thornton, the award-winning actor who plays Art the Clown in the hugely popular Terrifier movies, stars as The Mean One, a gruesome grouch in a Santa suit who is intent on causing Christmas carnage. Directed by Steven Lamorte (Bury Me Twice), The Mean One also stars Krystle Martin as Cindy, who takes on the Christmas killer with a baseball bat wrapped in tree lights.

Like recent horror hit Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey, The Mean One is another buzzy slasher mixing mirth, murder and all-out action in equal measure, as the townsfolk decide to take on the green meanie with all the weapons they can lay their hands on. Already a viral sensation (over 5 million people have watched the trailer online) The Mean One...

A woman has been arrested for the fatal shooting of Michael Latt, the founder of entertainment marketing firm Lead With Love.

The 33-year-old was shot in his Miracle Mile home on Monday night and died after being transported to a hospital. Latt was the son of Michelle Satter, the founding senior director at the Sundance Institute, and film producer David Latt. His brother, Franklin, is an agent at CAA.

“Our beloved son Michael Latt fell victim to a tragic act of violence this week,” wrote Satter in a post on X (formerly Twitter). “Michael devoted his career to supporting artists, championing organizations that raised up artists of color and leveraged storytelling for enduring change. We celebrate his legacy, love and compassion.”

On Thursday, Jameelah Elena Michl was charged with the killing of Latt. She faces one count of murder and another count of first-degree residential burglary, with a maximum sentence of life in prison.

Michael Latt, a film marketing consultant who worked closely with Ryan Coogler and Common on a series of social justice campaigns, was shot and killed at his home on Monday night, the LAPD has confirmed.

Latt, 33, was the founder and CEO of Lead With Love, a social impact marketing agency. In addition to Coogler and Common, he worked with Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins, and studios like Warner Bros. and Netflix on events and political initiatives that married art and activism.

According to the LAPD, he was shot in the 900 block of Alandele Avenue around 6 p.m. on Monday. He was taken by paramedics to a nearby hospital, where he died.

Police arrested Jameelah Elena Michl, 36, who lived in her car. Prosecutors charged her with murder and burglary on Wednesday. She is being held on $3 million bail. Police have not disclosed a motive.

In a press release on Thursday, the Los...