18+ hour, 14+ min ago   (841+ words) Given its premise — a post-stroke retiree derives sexual pleasure from his daughter-in-law — the perverse qualities of Jun’ichirō Tanizaki’s classic “Diary of a Mad Old Man” are plentiful. But by the standards of contemporary mores, the 1961 novel isn’t particularly explicit; in…...

1+ day, 1+ hour ago   (382+ words) Seven years after “Moving On,” Korean filmmaker Yoon Dan-bi returns with “The World Before,” a coming-of-age film about desire and first love. Speaking with Variety ahead of the film’s Toronto Film Festival Platform world premiere, Yoon discusses how capturing the…...

1+ day, 1+ hour ago   (686+ words) “Happily Ever After,” the follow-up feature from Taiwanese director Feng-i Fiona Roan, is bowing in the Toronto Film Festival’s Special Presentations lineup, arriving amid heightened attention following the success of her acclaimed debut, “American Girl.” “American Girl” premiered in the…...

1+ day, 2+ hour ago   (595+ words) ‘'Idda' is how people in Sicily refer to Mount Etna. It is almost a character in its own right, with a maternal, primordial and simultaneously unpredictable dimension,' says director Irene Dionisio Reaping upbeat initial reviews, Italian film “Idda” had its…...

1+ day, 16+ hour ago   (789+ words) Mia Wasikowska fills out the screen in Kuba Dorabialski’s “Agata the Writer.” Metaphorically and figuratively, as one especially arresting sequence shows her in close-up looking directly at the audience and recounting the rest of the story. “I was so curious…...

1+ day, 21+ hour ago   (634+ words) “Brace Your Heart” director Amanda Kernell is ready to talk about forgiveness. “What can be forgiven? And what if you live in a place where everything has to be, because it can be a matter of survival?,” she wonders. In…...

1+ day, 22+ hour ago   (653+ words) When it comes to “ Up Against It,” a TIFF title premiering Sept. 12, director Trudie Styler says, “I know this story like the back of my hand.”... Antonio Banderas, Trudie Styler and Eva Birthistle on the Sorrow and Joy of TIFF…...

1+ day, 23+ hour ago   (296+ words) “Kri8 Universe,” a five-world science-fiction IP ecosystem from production designer and filmmaker Uzair Merchant, will launch at TIFF: The Market, looking for global licensing, studio and strategic partnerships following 14 years of independent development. The universe consists of five interconnected worlds — Elixir…...

2+ day, 2+ hour ago   (422+ words) Mexican filmmaker Lila Avilés (“Totém”) has wrapped production on her next feature film, “Cábula,” and shared an exclusive first-look image with Variety. The director presented the film during the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which took place from Sept. 4 – 6. Written by Avilés…...

2+ day, 16+ hour ago   (1207+ words) Set almost a century after Magellan first landed on the Philippine Archipelago, and coming just a year after “Magellan,” director Lav Diaz’s last film, landed in Cannes, “Let Us Through, Dear Ancestors” is a description of bruised history rendered in…...