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With Jaws turning 50 this year, there’s blood in the water for shark horror. That includes Hot Spring Shark Attack; the Japanese feature has been acquired for North American release by Utopia, per Deadline.

Because sharks are synonymous with summer horror fum, Utopia is planning a summer 2025 rollout. Though release dates have yet to be announced.

Hot Spring Shark Attack (aka Onsen Shâku) takes place in “a small hot spring town in Japan, a ferocious ancient shark reawakens and begins terrorizing the local hot spring facilities. As the threat escalates, the townspeople band together to protect their beloved town from the menacing predator, leading to a fierce and thrilling battle.”

The horror comedy marks the feature directorial debut of writer/director Morihito Inoue. The cast includes Takuya Fujimura (One Cut of the Dead), Daniel Aguilar (Shin Godzilla), Shôichirô Akaboshi, Masaki Naito, Koichi Makigami, Kiyobumi Kaneko, and Mio Takaki.

In Japan,...

Exclusive: It’s fifty years since Jaws was released and U.S. distributors are getting in the mood. Utopia, the domestic buyer of movies including Pet Shop Days, Shiva Baby, and Holy Spider, is plunging into new waters with the acquisition of Hot Spring Shark Attack (aka Onsen Shâku).

Utopia has acquired North American rights to the Japanese shark film and is planning a summer 2025 rollout. The deal was negotiated by Candace Tan, Director of Acquisitions, on behalf of Utopia and Akiko Uchida, Acquisitions and Sales, of King Record.

Hot Spring Shark Attack is set in a small, hot spring town in Japan, where a ferocious ancient shark reawakens and terrorizes the local hot spring facilities. As the threat escalates, the townspeople band together to protect their beloved town from the menacing predator.

The thriller-comedy marks the directorial debut of Morihito Inoue, two-time winner of the National Independent Kaiju Film Championship.

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired Middle East and North African rights for Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land, by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham.

The Mena deal was struck by Elie Touma at Front Row and Stephanie Fuchs at Austrian-based sales company Autlook Filmsales, which is overseeing international sales.

The announcement comes amid fresh pushback against the documentary in the U.S., where a Miami mayor has been accused of censorship after he threatened to shut down an arthouse cinema showing the work.

Shot between 2019 and 2023, No Other Land captures the struggle of people living in the West Bank Palestinian villages of Masafer Yatta in the face of attempts by Israeli authorities and settlers to erase their homes and history from the map. Israeli settlers have continued to attack the area since the film’s Oscar win on March 2.

The documentary follows the journey of Adra...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired distribution rights in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) to No Other Land, the Palestinian-Israeli feature that won best documentary at this year’s Oscars.

Front Row struck the deal with Austrian sales outfit Autlook Filmsales and said it plans to release the film “imminently” in select cinemas, followed by a premium VOD release across Mena.

Filmed from 2019 to 2023, the documentary follows activist Basel Adra as he documents the destruction of Palestinian houses and villages in the Masafer Yatta region of the West Bank by Israeli miliary bulldozers. Adra’s efforts to raise...

Front Row Filmed Entertainment has acquired the distribution rights for the Oscar-winning documentary No Other Land in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena).

The agreement was finalized through negotiations between Elie Touma of Front Row and Stephanie Fuchs from the Austria-based sales company Autlook Filmsales.

Directed by Palestinian activist Basel Adra and Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham, No Other Land chronicles Adra’s journey as he examines the devastation of his hometown, designated for military training. His efforts to raise awareness gain momentum with Abraham’s support.

The documentary made its debut at the 2023 Berlinale, winning the Panorama Audience Award as well as the prestigious Berlinale Documentary Award. Since its premiere, No Other Land has garnered a remarkable 68 awards at various film festivals and has been recognized by the Boston Society of Film Critics, European Film Awards and Gotham Awards, ultimately taking home the award for best documentary feature at the 2025 Oscars.

It appears as though “The Apprentice” director Ali Abbasi has survived his stint without representation, as the filmmaker has now signed with UTA, according to multiple media reports.

The news comes two weeks after it was reported that Abbasi parted ways with CAA and Management 360 after an alleged January groping incident with an unnamed A-List actor.

“I made an over-familiar gesture — a slap on the rear — which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever,” he told TheWrap last month. “I apologized to him on the spot, and the following day I made sure my apology was reiterated through my representatives.”

“The suggestion that I was dropped by my representation due to this interaction is false,” Abbasi added. “My decision to part ways was a long-term career decision that was not shaped by short term motivations.”

The director will continue to be represented by Lark in the U.

Ali Abbasi has signed with UTA for representation.

Abbasi’s fourth feature, “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong and Maria Bakalova, premiered in Competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, marking his third Cannes selection. The film, which follows Donald Trump’s rise through the real estate industry in the ’80s with the guidance of lawyer Roy Cohn, earned a fair amount of attention this awards season despite its trouble finding mainstream distributors. It was subsequently nominated for two Academy Awards, two Golden Globes, three BAFTAs, and three Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Director.

Abbasi’s previous feature, “Holy Spider,” also premiered in Competition at Cannes, and Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won Best Actress for her performance. The film was also nominated for four European Film Awards.

His second feature, “Border,” won the Un Certain Regard Award at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival. It received an Oscar nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling...

Ali Abbasi is moving to UTA. The filmmaker behind the Oscar-nominated, young Donald Trump feature The Apprentice has signed with the agency, after departing CAA last month. His latest feature, which centers on the 1980s rise of Trump, earned a best actor nomination and a Golden Globe nom for Sebastian Stan’s work as young Trump, and Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Jeremy Strong’s performance as Trump mentor Roy Cohn.

The film earned strong reviews after debuting at Cannes last May, and the Iranian-born Abbasi landed an Independent Spirit Award nomination for his work on the project.

Abbasi’s agency move comes after he apologized last month for an incident at CAA’s Golden Globes party, but he said the incident had nothing to do with his departure from CAA. “I made an over-familiar gesture — a slap on the rear — which I intended as playful and not in any sexual way whatsoever,...

Exclusive: Ali Abbasi has signed with UTA. The filmmaker coming off The Apprentice will continue his career with the agency repping him in all areas in the U.S. and continues to be repped by Lark in the UK.

Abbasi last was repped by CAA. Deadline revealed that the filmmaker got caught up in a bad moment at a Golden Globes afterparty where, as he subsequently stated in an apology, what he considered a “playful slap on the rear” of an unnamed star he considered a friend made the actor very angry. Fallout ensued.

Abbasi’s apology rang sincere – the incident shows it is best to not overindulge at these Hollywood parties and that you can’t die of embarrassment. This has a good chance to become a teaching moment for Abbasi, and a footnote in what has so far otherwise been a stellar career for the Iran-born filmmaker. Despite...

Exclusive: Bankside has inked a slew of sales on Ido Fluk’s Köln 75 following its Special Gala premiere at the Berlinale this month.

The largely well-received film has sold to Bulgaria (Beta), Canada (Level Film), Czech/Slovak (Aqs), Eastern Europe excluding Poland (HBO), Former Yugoslavia (Discovery), France (Metopolitan), Hungary (Budapest Film), Israel (Naschon/Red Cape), Italy (Lucky Red), Middle East (Front Row), Scandinavia (Sf Studios), South Korea (The Coup) and Spain (Selecta Vision).

Alamode Film holds distribution rights for German-speaking Europe and will be releasing the film in March on more than 200 screens, September Film for Benelux and Madness for Poland. Discussions are ongoing for distribution in both UK and U.S.

The English and German-language pic tells the story behind one of the best-selling jazz records of all time, Keith Jarrett’s 1975 Köln Concert, how it almost didn’t happen, and how one formidable German teenager, Vera Brandes,...

Award-winning director Ali Abbasi has responded to reports that he was dropped by both the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and Management 360. The reports of separation from the two agencies come after allegations that the filmmaker, who directed The Apprentice, inappropriately touched an A-list actor at a Golden Globes after-party last month. Abbasi asserts that his separation from the management companies is unrelated to the groping incident.

In a statement to People, Abbasi shared:

"The suggestion that I was dropped by my representation due to this interaction is false. My decision to part ways was a long-term career decision that was not shaped by short-term motivations. I believe in taking accountability for my actions; I made a mistake, I apologized and have learned a valuable life lesson. I remain grateful for the incredible work of our cast, crew and supporters on 'The Apprentice,' and I hope the focus stays on their achievements.

Ali Abbasi, the director of the Donald Trump film The Apprentice who exited his US reps CAA and Entertainment 360 in the aftermath of an ugly incident that took place at a Golden Globes afterparty, has issued a statement explaining himself.

Deadline broke news of the shocking incident yesterday, and it got picked up everywhere. With voting closed Tuesday, it does not impact the Oscar chances of Sebastian Stan, who played Trump as a wannabe real estate mogul, or Jeremy Strong, who plays Trump’s mentor Roy Cohn. But it shook up the town yesterday, because Abbasi, an Iranian-born filmmaker, was rising in the ranks after the lauded movie The Apprentice and following up on earlier films like Holy Spider.

Deadline was told by multiple sources that an inebriated Abbasi groped an A-list actor and the fallout led to the parting of the ways with CAA and Entertainment 360 with a...

Filmmaker Ali Abbasi, who most recently directed the Oscar-nominated feature The Apprentice, is no longer represented by CAA, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.

Deadline, which broke the news, reported about an alleged groping incident involving at Abbasi at CAA’s Golden Globes party last month, but the agency had no comment on the issue. He is also no longer represented by Entertainment 360 but remains a client of Lark Management in the U.K., which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In a statement shared with Deadline, Abbasi cited a new direction in his career path in noting that he is no longer working with CAA and Entertainment 360.

Abbasi helmed the feature The Apprentice, which was released theatrically by Briarcliff Entertainment in October after a splashy premiere at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. Sebastian Stan earned an Oscar nomination for best actor for his role as a young Donald Trump,...

As Germany shifts to the right, will its movies and TV series become less diverse?

After making major strides to promote diversity in film and TV productions in recent years, the German film industry could now be facing a setback in this effort. The country, which is home to the Berlin Film Festival and European conglomerates such as Rtl Group, recently passed a film funding law that removed a clause requiring all local productions to meet specific diversity, gender equality and inclusion criteria.

The German parliament — before being dissolved in December — ushered in a watered-down version of the country’s planned new film law that will create a more centralized funding system for production, distribution and exhibition. In the rush to get this crucial piece of legislation passed, German Culture Minister Claudia Roth “had to make some compromises in order to get the majority in parliament to vote for it,...

2025 is shaping up to be a significant year in the life of Berlin-based production company One Two Films, run by Sol Bondy and Fred Burle.

The pair produced Ido Fluk’s well-received jazz tale Köln 75, which world premiered over the weekend as a Berlinale Special.

Burle also co-produced Ira Sach’s Peter Hujar’s Day, starring Ben Whishaw and Rebecca Hall, which had its international premiere at the Berlinale following its debut at Sundance last month.

They followArmandfrom Norwegian filmmaker Halfdan Ullmann Tøndel, which premiered in Cannes Un Certain Regard last May winning the Camera d’Or for best debut feature,...

Directors Alexandre Singh and Natalie Musteata have paired with Paris-based Misia Films for a feature adaptation of their award-winning short “Two People Exchanging Saliva.”

Narrated by Vicky Krieps, and starring Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”) and Luana Bajrami (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”), the absurdist tragicomedy explores a dystopian world where kissing is punishable by death and transactions are made through slaps to the face. When a compulsive shopper makes eyes with a naïve salesgirl, the duo must kindle their spark in secret, especially once their bond begins to raise suspicions.

The short was selected by Barry Jenkins for a world premiere out of Telluride before winning the grand jury prize at AFI Fest, where the jury commended the film for “illustrat[ing] how desire and yearning can clash in a capitalistic society while showcasing queerness as commonplace.”

Directors Singh and Musteata most recently took home both the audience award...

The Göteborg Film Festival’s Nordic Film Market announced its production award winners during a ceremony this evening and Holy Spider actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi was among the top honorees.

Ebrahimi won the Tint Post-Production Award, valued at 400,000 Sek, for her solo directorial debut Honor of Persia. The film is produced by Mohammad Farokhmanesh, Ebrahimi, Jacob Jarek, brave new work, Alambic Production and Profile Pictures. The film’s synopsis reads: An old explicit tape is leaked, and Ava Rad, a beloved star of Iranian TV and cinema adored by the religious Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and Iran’s cultural elite, begins a descent into hell. A story of betrayal, a tragicomic portrait of a truly schizophrenic country, between religious totalitarianism and the extravagance of a youth under pressure.

Other top winners were Finnish filmmaker Miia Tervo, who won the Film Finances Scandinavia Award for You Crazy Thing. The...

Eagerly-awaited as one of the star projects of the new Nordic Gateway strand of the Göteborg Film Festival, a new section connecting international features to Nordic partners, “Honor of Persia,” the solo directing debut of French-Iranian actor Zar Amir Ebrahimi, was handed Jan. 30 the inaugural Tint Post-Production Award worth Sek 400,000.

Inspired by the Cannes-winning actor of “Holy Spider”’s personal experience, the story co-written by Ebrahimi with Mahmoud Chokrollahi, turns on Ava Rad, a beloved star of Iranian TV and cinema adored by the religious Guardians of the Islamic Revolution and Iran’s cultural elite. “When an old explicit tape of her is leaked, the woman starts a descent into hell,” reads the logline.

During her moving pitch to a crowd of industry delegates at Göteborg’s Nordic Film Market, Ebrahimi opened up about the genesis of the project and the urgency for her to bring it to the screens.

Award season is in full swing once again, but one of the year's most talked-about dramas is noticeably absent from the seasonal conversations about Oscar odds. "The Apprentice," Ali Abassi's take on Donald Trump's rise to fame (or infamy) in the '70s and '80s, still feels like a movie that hasn't been released yet. Even though it has earned a few awards nominations (from the Indie Spirit Awards and the always-controversial Golden Globes), "The Apprentice" barely made a blip on the box office radar when it premiered in October.

To Iranian-Danish director Abassi, the man behind films like "Border" and "Holy Spider," the rejection of his Trump biopic seems inexplicable. "I'm disappointed and shocked about the reception in the U.S. of 'The Apprentice,'" Abassi told The Playlist. "What I'm really shocked about is that the movie is being considered controversial." The Sebastian Stan...

“The Seed of the Sacred Fig” director Mohammad Rasoulof has shared new details of his upcoming animated feature, telling Variety that the project will span the life of absurdist Iranian playwright Abbas Nalbandian, beginning a decade before the Iranian Revolution and covering the country’s turn until the playwright’s death a decade later.

With this animated biopic, Rasoulof wants to focus on three pivotal decades in modern Iranian history – a period he feels he can only properly evoke with a more stylized filmmaking form.

“Just before the revolution, all Iranians saw the face of Ayatollah Khomeini in the moon,” Rasoulof says. “Everyone in the country looked up and shared in this kind of collective hallucination – and that’s something you can only show in animation.”

Of course, animation is also a method to get the filmmaker-in-exile back onto the streets of Tehran. Indeed, now based in Germany, and speaking...

“Honour of Persia,” the directorial debut of Cannes best actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi (“Holy Spider”), is one of five features at financing stage to be pitched at the Göteborg Film Festival’s first-ever Nordic Gateway curated program.

The five international titles – hailing from Germany, Macedonia, Canada and Kosovo – will vie for the Tint Post-Production Award worth Sek 400,000 to be handed out Jan. 30, 2025 during the Göteborg fest industry sidebar Nordic Film Market running Jan. 29-31.

“With Nordic Gateway, we’re introducing an exciting new layer to the Nordic Film Market, creating a space where international projects can connect with Nordic professionals. In today’s challenging financing climate, building meaningful connections and partnerships is more vital than ever to bring strong stories to the screen,” said Josef Kullengård, Head of Industry at the Göteborg Film Festival.

Each project was carefully picked in conjunction with a national organisation or fund, based on its unique artistic value,...

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It's an election year and, because of the way things shook out, there has been a lot of talk about former president Donald Trump, who is seeking a second term in office as the Republican nominee, running against Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee and current Vice President of the United States. So, on one hand, "The Apprentice," a recent biopic about Trump's rise to fame as a New York businessman, seemed like a timely concept. It hasn't exactly panned out as it wasn't only a lightning rod for controversy, but it flamed out at the box office as well. It turns out, a couple of A-list directors passed up the opportunity to step behind the camera for this one.

"The Apprentice" was directed by Ali Abbasi, with Sebastian Stan, known best as Bucky Barnes, aka The Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe,...

On Oct. 1, as Iran was firing a fusillade of missiles on his country, Israeli director Eran Riklis was in Tel Aviv “trying to cling on to the fact” that he would hopefully soon be premiering his new film “Reading Lolita in Tehran” — which he calls “an iconic Iranian story, featuring iconic Iranian actresses” — at the Rome Film Festival.

On Oct. 27, one day after Israel launched retaliatory missile strikes on Iran, Rikils beamed on stage as he accepted the Rome event’s audience award and special jury prize alongside most of the film’s ensemble female cast that includes Golshifteh Farahani, Zar Amir Ebrahimi, Mina Kavani, Lara Wolf, Isabella Nefar and Raha Rahbari.

At a time when tensions between Israel and Iran are soaring, “Reading Lolita in Tehran” – an adaptation of Azar Nafisi’s bestselling autobiographical novel about a fearless literature teacher in post-revolution Tehran – stands as a powerful symbol of...

Quick Links Statham Is Stranded in a Chaotic, Meaningless Mess in Revolver Jason Statham's Revolver Was Rejected by Critics and Audiences

It was a premise that offered so much promise: a dramatic action film starring pugilistic juggernaut Jason Statham fresh off his high-profile successes in the films The Italian Job and The Transporter. Add in the legendary Ray Liotta and the stylish direction of one Guy Ritchie for a criminal caper/philosophical thriller, and the resulting film is an utter disaster. Released in 2005, Revolver was a high-concept mess whose clumsy grasp of meaning failed to connect with audiences, leading to critical derision and a tanking at the international box office.

Revolver stars Jason Statham as Jake Green, an ex-convict and gambler newly released from prison and holding a vendetta against the man who put him there, casino boss Dorothy Macha (Liotta). His first act upon leaving prison, Jake confronts...

Across “Lemon Tree,” “The Syrian Bride” and “Shelter,” Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis has built a sturdy body of work, telling defiant stories of Middle Eastern women from different walks of life. With “Reading Lolita in Tehran” — a moving adaptation of Iranian-American author and professor Azar Nafisi’s memoir — he adds an understated, yet generally absorbing and similarly minded entry to his oeuvre, warmly transposing Nafisi’s experience in the post-revolution Iran onto the screen with sensitivity.

Unfolding in episodic segments and significant jumps in time that sometimes feel too abrupt, the screenplay by Marjorie David follows Nafisi (an expressive Golshifteh Farahani) across a 24-year period, after the young academic holding a fresh American degree settles in Tehran with her husband Bijan (Arash Marandi) in 1979, on the heels of the country’s Islamic Revolution. A title card at the start contextualizes the couple’s return to their homeland. Historically, it was...

Shooting has kicked off in Bordeaux for Gaya Jiji’s Pieces Of A Foreign Life (L’Etrangère), with Cannes best actress winner Zar Amir Ebrahimi starring as a Syrian woman seeking freedom and a new life in France.

France tv distribution has picked up international sales rights to the film and will kick off discussions with buyers at the upcoming American Film Market. It has also released this first-look image.

Ebrahimi, who won Cannes’ best actress prize in 2022 for Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, plays a woman who flees war-torn Syria, leaving her son and husband behind, and ends up seeking asylum in Bordeaux.

The Succession star chills as US lawyer Roy Cohn opposite Sebastian Stan as his grasping protege Donald Trump in Ali Abbasi’s intriguing drama

It’s not quite an ultra-villain origin story. But nor is Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi’s The Apprentice in any way a flattering depiction of its subject, the young(ish) Donald Trump (a horribly convincing Sebastian Stan). The film follows Trump’s early journey, starting as “Little Donnie”, the browbeaten second son of an overbearing father who scoffs that his boy “needs all the help he can get”. But, as the film tells it, the young Donald finds a second father figure in the well-connected and widely feared rightwing lawyer Roy Cohn. The lessons learned from his mentor – chicanery, bluster, vanity and the need to win at all costs – shaped the Trump we know today.

It would have been easy to make Trump into a monster...

The Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (known as PÖFF) has unveiled the full lineup of its flagship Official Selection, whose 18 features from 23 countries will compete for the coveted €20,000 Grand Prix.

They include 11 world premieres. The jury is helmed by acclaimed German director Christoph Hochhäusler.

Tiina Lokk, the founder and director of the festival, said “the Official Selection Competition has it all! There’s a psycho-thriller that approaches horror, a psychological family drama, and sci-fi genre is represented. The selection is broad, and so is the range of countries. We’re not trying to highlight a certain theme or a particular region, we are free in our choices,” she noted.

Emphasizing the various topics covered, Lokk cites old age, the end of life and euthanasia “perhaps due to the influence of Covid,” domestic violence and war, “not tackled in the traditional form” but rather via psychological dramas.

“Last year there were...

Stars: Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova, Martin Donovan, Catherine McNally, Charlie Carrick, Ben Sullivan | Written by Gabriel Sherman | Directed by Ali Abbasi

Directed by Ali Abbasi (who made Iranian serial killer drama Holy Spider) and written by political journalist Gabriel Sherman, The Apprentice is a chilling account of Donald Trump’s rise to power in New York in the ’70s and ’80s. It’s particularly fascinating because it traces the origins of key elements of Trump’s larger-than-life persona, though it arguably never gets below the surface.

The Apprentice begins in 1973, where 27-year-old Donald Trump (Sebastian Stan) is working as a rent collector for a real estate company owned by his father, Fred (Martin Donovan). With an upcoming lawsuit hanging over their heads, Trump starts hanging out at a swanky New York club, where he’s singled out by shark-like lawyer Roy Cohn (Succession’s Jeremy Strong), who revels...

What ought to become of society when a member or two, take it upon themselves to cleanse society of all they consider filth, for the sake of the greater good? For the sake of God and the lost lives of martyrs? What is most likely to happen when that member/members consider it their life’s purpose to not just feed their God Complex but also, to channel their inner messiahs, to save the holy land and the ‘believers’? When they start considering it beyond merely the purpose of their lives but strictly as their duty; what happens to the people that are forced to succumb to such depravity? ‘If not me then who’ plays on their minds over and over again.

When the need for sustenance becomes the very reason for the missed opportunity to allow oneself that one extra breath to life, what is one supposed to do?...

Donald Trump will always be a controversial figure, yet he managed to reach the highest position in one of the world’s most powerful nations. As a former – and possibly future – President of the United States of America, a film about the early career of the businessman, released just about a month before the elections, would naturally face intense scrutiny, legal challenges, and countless attempts to prevent its release due to the extremely negative portrayal of Trump’s life and personality in The Apprentice.

Against all odds, director Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider) and screenwriter Gabriel Sherman overcame obstacle after obstacle to bring the movie to theaters not only in its home country but also worldwide. The Apprentice stars Sebastian Stan (Captain America) as Donald Trump, following a young version of the protagonist determined to achieve success and fame under his own name. Coming from a wealthy family in 1970s New York,...

In many ways, Ali Abbasi seemed like just about the ideal choice to helm the first major feature outing on one of our era’s most polarizing figures. Afterall, the breakout director’s lack of a personal connection to the longtime American personality allowed him to approach the origin story without any sense of personal vitriol. But then again, the world had to collectively live through the geopolitical calamity that Donald Trump emerged to be. How do you make a film about his persona and come across as non-polemic, that too less than a month before his second run for becoming arguably the most influential man in public office?

At the same time, the “Holy Spider” filmmaker has shown his flair in dealing with thematic depictions of disgust and exploitation through his work. That’s to say while his latest, “The Apprentice”, doesn’t feel like an all out Democrat-funded tactic,...

Gabriel Sherman has been at the forefront of reporting on the rise of the right-wing media. His coverage of the Murdoch family infighting makes “Succession” look like a documentary, and his chronicling of the rise of Fox News, coupled with reporting that brought the fall of its architect Roger Ailes, is the stuff of Greek tragedy.

In addition to being a well-sourced reporter, Sherman is a writer with a knack for narrative, with a keen eye for how human frailty mixed with greed and power have created such destructive forces on our society. Therefore, it’s not surprising that in recent years Sherman started to develop non-fiction scripted projects in Hollywood, most notably the Russell Crowe-led adaptation of his Roger Ailes biography into the Showtime limited series “The Loudest Voice.”

Sherman’s latest project to hit the big screen is “The Apprentice,” which opens in theaters October 11. The independently financed film,...

We’re about to enter another busy weekend with way too many new releases, but “Joker: Folie à Deux” isn’t likely to win a second week either way, as another clown bursts into theaters. Read on for Gold Derby’s box office preview.

Before we get to the new movies, we need to examine whether Todd Phillips‘ “Joker: Folie à Deux” can possibly stay atop the box office after such horrible reviews and a terrible opening weekend. On Sunday, Warner Bros. estimated a $40 million opening, but actually, it was lower with just $37.8 million. Its “D” CinemaScore makes it likely to drop 65% to 70% or even more in its second weekend, which would knock it down to $11.5 million or less. That sets up a scenario where DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot” can capitalize on its great word-of-mouth and general lack of family films to beat it by Sunday, even if...

Sweden’s Göteborg Festival Nordic Film Market, the biggest in TV-movie industry forum in Scandinavia, is launching at its 2025 edition the Film Finances Scandinavia Award. The Prize will offer €15,000 in development support to one outstanding Nordic feature film from the Discovery Co-Production Platform.

Buying time and resources for creators and producers to address the basis of near any film’s success, the award comes as Scandinavia’s film industry faces considerable financing challenges. One potential solution is to hike private sector finance where Film Finances is an established player, having issued completion bonds for film and television for over 70 years.

A jury of industry professionals will select the winning project which will be announced during an Award Ceremony on Jan. 30 at the Nordic Film Market, the Market announced Friday.

One of the Market’s centerpiece draws, the Platform showcases around 15 promising projects annually, highlighting emerging talent which ranges from the...

Jordan has selected Sareen Hairabedian’s documentary My Sweet Land to represent it in the Best International Feature Film category of the 97th Academy Awards.

The documentary follows 11-year-old Vrej, who dreams of becoming a dentist in his village in Artsakh in the region Nagorno-Karabakh, which has been at the heart of a violent dispute between Azerbaijan and Armenia since the 1980s.

When conflict erupts again, Vrej and his family flee, only to return to a devastated homeland after their people lost the war. As Vrej faces the new harsh realities and prepares for future battles, he wrestles with the weight of his hopes and trauma.

The film is New York-based Jordanian-Armenian director Hairabedian’s debut feature and follows her 40-minute doc We Are Not Done Yet for HBO documentary which won several awards.

The Sweet Land premiered at the Sheffield DocFest earlier this year ahead of playing a number...

Given what has happened over the last decade or so in American politics, a Donald Trump biopic felt inevitable — and now director Ali Abbasi's "The Apprentice" is upon us. The somewhat controversial film that had to dodge some legal action to make its way to theaters recently screened at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas as one of the secret screenings. Sebastian Stan, known best as Bucky Barnes in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was on hand and described the film as a "classic American horror story." An apt description, to be sure. And yet, as I watched the film, another story kept coming to mind: the "Star Wars" prequel trilogy.

More specifically, Anakin Skywalker's fall from grace to become Darth Vader. Perhaps it says more about me as a lover of a certain kind of cinema than it does about Abbasi's take on the early years of the...

The first trailer for the Donald Trump biopic “The Apprentice,” starring Sebastian Stan as the businessman and former U.S. president, has been released. The film follows Trump’s rise to fame and his time learning from influential right-wing lawyer and political fixer Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.

According to the logline, the film is “a dive into the underbelly of the American empire.” Director Ali Abbasi’s feature, written by Gabe Sherman, also stars Maria Bakalova as Ivana Trump and Martin Donovan as Fred Trump Sr. The film premiered in May at the Cannes Film Festival.

Set in 1970s America, the film centers around Trump’s relationship with Cohn, who served as Senator Joseph McCarthy’s chief counsel during the Army-McCarthy hearings. Cohn was thrust into the limelight as a prosecutor for the U.S. Department of Justice at the espionage trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, leading...

Though Donald Trump was the one who hosted “The Apprentice,” Ali Abbasi’s new film turns him into the apprentice.

After Trump hosted the reality series of the same name, director Abbasi is putting his own twist on the title for a buzzy festival feature biopic starring Sebastian Stan as the controversial businessman turned infamous U.S. president.

In the first trailer for the film, we see Trump taking a “Faustian deal” with right-wing lawyer Roy Cohn (Jeremy Strong) starting in the late ’70s and early ’80s, grooming him into the politician he would become today. According to the synopsis, “Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé — someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.” Trump’s marriage to Ivana Trump (Maria Bakalova) and relationship with his family including Fred Trump Sr. (Martin Donovan) are also fictionalized onscreen.

The film...

Toronto – It’s approaching midnight in Toronto and “The Apprentice” director Ali Abbasi is sitting with his intrepid distributor, Briarcliff Entertainment’s Tom Ortenberg, and producer James Shani, in the bar of the Ritz Carlton.

“We are getting toothless,” Abbasi says, referring to Hollywood. “The studio bosses told me themselves they’re not taking enough risk.”

None of them would take a risk on his feature film about Donald Trump, starring Sebastian Stan as a much-younger Trump and Jeremy Strong as his mentor Roy Cohn, which just had a sneak screening for press at TIFF. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May and, despite strong reviews, was snubbed by one US distributor after another.

Ortenberg’s Briarcliff Entertainment and Shani’s Rich Spirit closed a deal just last week to acquire distribution rights. They will release the film in 2,000 theaters on Oct. 11, ahead of the November election.

Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi has tackled Neanderthalic customs officers in Border, serial killers in Holy Spider, and the fearsome Clickers in post-apocalyptic horror series The Last Of Us. But with upcoming biopic The Apprentice, Abbasi is set to tackle a different beast altogether: the 45th President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. An origin story for the former Potus set across the 70s and 80, Abbasi's hotly anticipated movie is set to see Sebastian Stan take on the role of a young Trump as he rises to New York real estate fame. And after getting our first image of the Captain America: Winter Soldier star as Djt back in April, a new clip from the film — also featuring Jeremy Strong as Trump's mentor Roy Cohn — has been released. Check it out below:

It may be only a minute long, but is it too early to start popping Sebastian Stan and...

The political situation in the Middle East has been tense for many years, as up to this day, some countries still refuse to recognize the state of Israel, established in 1948. This attitude results, among others, in boycotts of Israel in sports. During international tournaments, some Arab and Muslim athletes deliberately avoid competing against Israelis, as it’s prohibited by the Islamic clergy and mosque leaders. Certain countries, most notably Iran, even go so far as to mandate that their athletes do not compete against Israelis or in Israel. In this context, it’s important to mention that “Tatami” is the first feature movie co-directed by an Iranian and an Israeli filmmaker – Zar Amir Ebrahimi and Guy Nattiv. It premiered at the 80th Venice International Film Festival where it was nominated for the Venice Horizons Award, and won the Brian Award. It was also awarded the Special Jury Prize, and the...

You may or may not have been paying attention to the drama surrounding the film, “The Apprentice.” Debuting earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival, the film is the touted “Donald Trump origin story” drama. Directed by Dutch/Iranian filmmaker Ali Abbas, the drama stars Sebastian Stan as the future president and Jeremy Strong as his consigliere and mentor Roy Cohn. Cohn is known as one of the worst bad-faith operators in the conservative moment.

Continue reading ‘The Apprentice’ Young Trump Movie Starring Sebastian Stan Will Open Before The Election In October at The Playlist.

Dennis Quaid’s biopic on the controversial president of the United States, Reagan, just got released. Audiences were skeptical about the content of the movie, with most claiming it to be a propaganda film to sway the upcoming elections. Another movie has now joined the list of presidential biopics of 2024.

Sebastian Stan is soon coming to the theatre, this time portraying a young Donald Trump. In his upcoming biopic titled, The Apprentice, The Martian actor will be essaying the role of the former President. With elections just around the corner, the maker’s decision to release the film in October was well-received by fans. People online have applauded the timing of the movie, noticing the impact elections and awards might have on it.

Timing is everything: Sebastian Stan’s film release date Sebastian Stan in Captain America: The Winter Soldier | Credits: Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

One of the United State’s most controversial figures,...

The Donald Trump biopic "The Apprentice" is going to open in theaters this fall, just in time for an awards season run. This, despite the fact that the film has caused a fair amount of controversy following its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year. The film stars Sebastian Stan as the former president of the United States. Controversy or no controversy, it appears Stan is going to be in the Oscar race after all.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Briarcliff Entertainment has acquired the rights to "The Apprentice," which will hit theaters in the U.S. on October 11, 2024. That's rather important is it means it will arrive before the presidential election takes place, with Trump seeking a second term as the nominee for the Republican party. He is running against current Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee. Harris' ascension to the top of the Democratic Party...

Exclusive: Utopia will be teaming with Lionsgate on the stateside theatrical release of Francis Ford Coppola’s dystopian epic, Megalopolis when it hits theatres on Sept. 27.

Utopia will create and implement specialty marketing, word-of-mouth, and non-traditional theatrical distribution initiatives targeting moviegoers.

Utopia as behind such movies as the critically acclaimed Shiva Baby and the Oscar shortlisted Holy Spider.

Said Coppola: “I am confident we are in great hands with Lionsgate, and Robert and his team at Utopia will be a tremendous addition. They have proven that there is success in an artist-first approach while also making bold moves, especially at a time when our film business often shies away from daring endeavors. I know Utopia will help Megalopolis discover untapped audiences and opportunities for its theatrical launch alongside Lionsgate.”

Added co-founder Robert Schwartzman: “The visionary, inventive, and cinematic epic that is Megalopolis is exactly the kind of film that excites us at Utopia.

Vértigo Films traerá la película a las salas de cine tras su paso por Cannes. © Vanity Fair

A pesar de los recientes acontecimientos, el biopic de Donald Trump, “The Apprentice”, dirigido por Ali Abbasi (“Holy Spider”) y con guion de Gabriel Sherman, sigue adelante con su lanzamiento en España y ya tiene fecha de estreno fijada.

“The Apprentice”, que tuvo su estreno mundial en el Festival de Cannes, examina la carrera de Trump como empresario inmobiliario en Nueva York en las décadas de 1970 y 1980. Se centra principalmente en la relación de Trump (Stan) y Roy Cohn (Strong), un fiscal de Nueva York conocido por trabajar con el senador Joseph McCarthy durante el Segundo Temor Rojo.

El reparto está encabezado por Sebastian Stan (“Capitán América: El Primer Vengador”) como Donald Trump acompañado por Jeremy Strong (“Succession”) como Roy Cohn, Maria Bakalova como Ivana Trump y Martin Donovan (“Tenet”) como Fred Trump.

Principal photography has commenced on the Arab underworld thriller “Boomah” (“The Owl”), written and directed by Zaid Abu Hamdan and marking the Jordanian filmmaker’s second feature following his critically acclaimed “Daughters of Abdul Rahman.”

Previously announced in December, Rakeen Saad is set to play the titular role of the female thug Boomah. Saad rose to acclaim for her central roles in hit shows “The Giza Killer” and the Netflix original “Al Rawabi School for Girls,” and will next be seen as the lead in a new Netflix series production “Echoes of the Past” and “The Way of the Wind,” the biblical drama by Terrence Malick.

“Boomah” — now shooting in Jordan — reunites Saad with Rawabi co-star Joanna Arida who will play the role of her best friend and confidant Anoud. Arida will next appear in “Laura H,” a Dutch TV series based on the bestseller by journalist Thomas Rueb. Rounding...

The cast of upcoming Arab crime thriller Boomah has been revealed as director Zaid Abu Hamdan begins filming in Jordan.

As previously reported, the title role is to be played by Rakeen Saad, star of Netflix hit AlRawabi School For Girls and who will next be seen in Netflix series Echoes Of The Past and Terrence Malick’s biblical drama The Way Of The Wind.

Boomah will see Saad reunite with Rawabi co-star Joanna Arida, who will play the role of her best friend and confidant Anoud. Arida will next be seen in Dutch TV series Laura H.

Rounding out the cast are Majd Eid,...

International praise and high ratings for Sebastian Stan's portrayal of Donald Trump in The Apprentice at Cannes Film Festival. The movie faces distribution issues in the U.S. due to potential legal action from Trump and his supporters. The Apprentice could prompt legal battles with a disgruntled financier over its unflattering portrayal of Trump.

Sebastian Stan's new movie The Apprentice faces opposition to being released in the United States. After premiering on May 20, 2024, at the Cannes Film Festival, The Apprentice received mostly positive reviews from critics and earned a score of 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Apprentice sees Stan, best known for his role as Bucky Barnes / Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, portraying the real-life Donald Trump. The former United States President was recently convicted on 34 counts of falsification of business records in the first degree, which is a felony in the state of New York.

Jeremy Strong...