Oscar Winner Phil Tippett & Former TIFF Programmer Colin Geddes Launch Canadian Film & TV Label

EXCLUSIVE: Tippett Studio and Ultra 8 Pictures today announced that Phil Tippett’s directing feature debut Mad God has sold to a host of key international territories following a theatrical run in the US.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Iran’s Asghar Farhadi, who directed the Oscar winners “A Separation” and “The Salesman,” U.S. producer Christine Vachon, whose credits includes Oscar winner “Boys Don’t Cry,” and Oscar nominees “Far from Heaven” and “Carol,” and Romania’s Alexander Nanau, the director of the Oscar nominated “Collective,” are among the jury members at the 18th edition of the Zurich Film Festival, which takes place from Sept. 22 to Oct. 2.  Farhadi will head the jury for the International Feature Film Competition. He is joined by the U.K.’s Clio Barnard, who directed the BAFTA nominated “The Arbor,” “The Selfish Giant” and “Ali & Ava”; L.A.-based Brazilian Daniel Dreifuss, a producer on the Oscar nominated “No” and “All Quiet on the Western Front,” Germany’s Oscar entry; Swiss/Italian screenwriter and director Petra Volpe, whose credits include Tribeca prizewinner “The Divine Order”; and  Sweden’s Peter “Piodor” Gustafsson, the producer of Ali Abbassi’s “Border,” which won the main award in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic Film-festival awards don’t usually have much lasting impact, but four years ago, when “Green Book” played at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Award, it had a seismic effect. It set the film on what would become its road to Oscar glory. Since that turned out to be a very bumpy road, with many critics dumping on the film for what they perceived to be its outdated liberal race consciousness (not me — I thought “Green Book” was terrific), the Toronto award kept coming back into the conversation. It was used to signify the nature of the movie’s appeal — namely, that maybe this wasn’t a film destined to be embraced by the most elite levels of the establishment, but it was one that “the people” went for. And that’s just what ended up happening. (The people, in this case, including a great many Oscar voters.)

Peter Debruge Chief Film Critic Can you imagine anything more delightful than Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin co-starring in a movie with Richard Roundtree and Malcolm McDowell … in 1972? That was the year Fonda won an Oscar for “Klute” and daffy “Laugh-In” star Tomlin released her first comedy album. The two men were riding high with “Shaft” and “A Clockwork Orange,” respectively. Just think what an ensemble film that played to each of their strengths might have yielded 50 years ago. That’s wishful thinking, of course. You can’t go back, and you can’t do things over, but it’s never too late to move on. At least, that’s the message writer-director Paul Weitz is peddling in “Moving On,” a sassy feature-length sitcom with a #MeToo twist in which two estranged friends reunite to settle a decades-old score.

Watching Peter Farrelly’s new film, The Greatest Beer Run Ever, and knowing little about it going in, I kept thinking this would be a totally absurd, beyond belief story if it isn’t one that really happened. By the end I saw it is indeed 100% true, proving life can sometimes be stranger than fiction.  As such it turns out to be one of the more memorable, and certainly heartfelt movies this year, as well as a Vietnam War movie that couldn’t be further from The Deer Hunter, Platoon, and Apocalypse Now,  but a character-driven drama that defies logic but makes you believe once again in the power of the human spirit. This is the rare Vietnam film seen from the POV of a civilian, a key reason it works as well as it does.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Laura Poitras sharply criticized the Toronto and Venice film festivals today for programming documentaries connected with former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, suggesting the decision bordered on a “whitewashing” of history.

Glenn Close will no longer be at the helm of the jury at the San Sebastian Film Festival after canceling her highly anticipated appearance due to a family emergency.In a statement provided to ET, the festival says Argentinian producer Matías Mosteirín will be the president of the jury. The last-minute change in the lineup comes a week after the and  star posted a video on social media expressing enthusiasm about presiding over the jury.

$1 billion worldwide and earned 12 Oscar nominations, with Phoenix winning his first Oscar for his performance as struggling comedian Arthur Fleck, aka The Joker.“Folie a Deux” roughly translates to “shared madness,” which may be a comment on how the Joker tapped into the boiling rage of Gotham City over its growing inequality, leading to the original film’s dramatic climax in which Batman’s future arch nemesis dances on top of a police car as a rioting crowd cheers him on.While specific plot details haven’t been unveiled, much of the film is expected to take place within Arkham Asylum after Phoenix’s Arthur Fleck has been sent there following the events of the prior film, and it is even expected to have musical elements throughout.Lofland first broke out opposite Matthew McConaughey and Tye Sheridan in the 2013’s “Mud.” Lofland also played Aris in the “Maze Runner” franchise.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Franco-Swiss director and New Wave linchpin Jean-Luc Godard, who revolutionized world cinema with his ground-breaking debut, “Breathless,” and never stopped pushing the envelope of his creativity, has died. He was 91. The news was first reported in Liberation.

The upcoming movie Amsterdam has a star-studded cast and 20th Century Studios has shared 15 character posters featuring all of the big names!

EXCLUSIVE: Oscar-winning Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar will not be making his first English-language feature directorial debut with A Manual for Cleaning Women, which has Cate Blanchett set to star and produce under her Dirty Films, Deadline has learned.

Brendan Fraser is learning a lot from the cancellation of “Batgirl”.

Clayton Davis The love for Brendan Fraser continues to grow following his acclaimed turn in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale,” generating tons of Oscar buzz. “It’s the right actor, for the right part, at the right time,” Darren Aronofsky says in the Variety Studio presented by King’s Hawaiian at TIFF. While at the Toronto International Film Festival for the movie, Fraser, along with writer Samuel D. Hunter and his fellow cast members Sadie Sink and Ty Simpkins, spoke with Variety about taking on the difficult role of a 600-pound man, which required up to four hours of prosthetics and makeup. “It was designed specifically to obey laws of gravity and physics,” Fraser says. “It wasn’t built for just a silhouette or a one-note joke.”

Manori Ravindran International Editor Neon, Double Agent and the U.K.’s Film4 are partnering on the documentary “2073,” from “Amy” director Asif Kapadia. A vague description of the film indicates that it will “tackle some of the biggest challenges imperiling our future.” The synopsis continues: “Kapadia’s decision to create a genre-bending thriller set in a dystopian future was inspired by Chris Marker’s iconic 1962 featurette ‘La Jetée’ about a time traveler who risks his life to change the course of history and save the future of humanity.” The companies will co-finance and executive produce the project with Kapadia and George Chignell producing. Davis Guggenheim, Nicole Stott, and Jonathan Silberberg will act as executive producers for Concordia Studio alongside Riz Ahmed’s Left Handed Films.

Neon, Double Agent and Film4 are partnering to co-finance and exec produce 2073, a new documentary from Academy Award and BAFTA-winning director Asif Kapadia (Amy).

Natalie Portman and her husband Benjamin Millepied were dressed to the nines on Sunday when they represented his film Carmen for its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The 41-year-old Oscar winner had all eyes on her thanks to her glowing gold-and-silver ensemble, while her husband, 45, looked dapper in a suit as they led the other stars at the premiere. Carmen, which is based on both the musical and the opera of the same name, marks the French dancer and choreographer's directorial debut.

Clayton Davis It’s more than prosthetics. More than the comeback. Brendan Fraser’s work as Charlie in Darren Aronofsky’s “The Whale” is a profound performance for the ages. The A-list star that brought us “The Mummy” and “Encino Man” goes above and beyond the calling of an actor, showcasing the vulnerability of a broken, 600-pound man. Like Aronofsky’s resurrection of Mickey Rourke in “The Wrestler” (2008), Frase delivers one of the best performances of the year. “The Whale” will surely land him an Oscar nomination for best actor. The drama is a stark, dour examination of regret and addiction, wrapped into the script written by Samuel D. Hunter, who adapts his play of the same name. Distributed by A24, “The Whale” tells the story of Charlie, am obese gay man who reconnects with his estranged 17-year-old daughter Ellie (played by Sadie Sink) after leaving her and her mother for his younger male lover.

Clayton Davis Three movies into his film career, Harry Styles’ ability as an actor continues to improve with each of his outings. Beginning as a young soldier in Christopher Nolan’s “Dunkirk” (2017), he returns to the silver screen with two films this year. In the first, he’s the charming husband to Florence Pugh in “Don’t Worry Darling,” with the press tour that keeps on giving. In the second, he portrays a closeted gay police officer in Michael Grandage’s drama “My Policeman” from Amazon Studios, featuring his strongest turn yet as an actor. But is an Oscar nomination in his future? Singers-turned-actors have had an inconsistent road to the Academy Awards. While there are successes such as Cher (“Moonstruck”) and Jennifer Hudson (“Dreamgirls”), Academy voters sometimes make actors prove themselves for a while to show they’re the real deal. Known as a “pretty boy,” Styles’ celebrity status does present an obstacle to overcome with awards voters. As Tom, the internalized conflict that Styles conveys is executed effectively, and if he decides to campaign and make a play for his first Oscar nomination, it will have to begin with Amazon choosing to submit him for supporting actor attention – which is not category fraud.

Clayton Davis Almost 30 years after “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993), Henry Selick returns with “Wendell & Wild,” another stop-motion animated sensation that’s sure to generate acclaim throughout the industry. Co-written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Jordan Peele, the Netflix feature film debuted at the Toronto Film Festival and may have asserted itself as the new frontrunner for best animated feature. Based on Selick and Clay McLeod Chapman’s unpublished book of the same name, the film tells the story of two scheming demon brothers, Wendell (Keegan-Michael Key) and Wild (Peele), who enlist the aid of a 13-year-old Kat (Lyric Ross) to summon them to the Land of the Living. It also features the voice talents of Angela Bassett, James Hong and Ving Rhames.

Manori Ravindran International Editor Steven Spielberg has said that mining his family history to make “The Fabelmans” was a “very daunting experience” that was at times “very, very hard to get through.” The iconic filmmaker’s latest project world premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on Saturday night to raves from critics and largely favorable reviews. The semi-autobiographical movie, which is already being tipped as an Oscar contender, tells the story of Sam Fabelman, a young boy who falls in love with cinema, but finds himself fighting family turmoil to keep his dream alive. In a so-called press conference on Sunday, that was effectively a Q&A with TIFF CEO Cameron Bailey (the festival did not take any questions in the room from the gathered journalists, who had to submit questions almost 24 hours in advance), the “Jaws” director said he thought making the movie “would be a lot easier than it turned out to be because I know the material and I’ve known the characters for my entire life.”

Film Academy chief executive Bill Kramer dropped a reminder in Toronto on Saturday, that his group’s movie museum will in February devote space to the late director John Singleton’s Boyz N The Hood.

Clayton Davis Steven Spielberg brought his semi-autobiographical film, “The Fabelmans,” to the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 10, his first feature ever to debut at TIFF. To say that Spielberg is performing at the top of his game is no hyperbole. This dramatic opus, which pulls at the heartstrings, could bring Spielberg his third directing statuette (after “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan”), and maybe his second for best picture (after “Schindler’s List”). “The Fabelmans” is the story of Sam Fabelman, a young boy who falls in love with cinema, but finds himself fighting family turmoil to keep his dream alive. Spielberg’s direction is the glue that holds “The Fabelmans” together, and the film touches on many of his landmark styles, nodding to “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Saving Private Ryan” and more.

Owen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic It’s in the nature of cinema that when a hugely popular and beloved movie is grand enough, the sequel to it almost has to try to top it in a go-big-or-go-home way. For a long time, each new James Bond adventure was more lavishly scaled, baroque, and stunt-tastic than the last. “The Godfather Part II” was darker and longer than “The Godfather,” “The Empire Strikes Back” enlarged the awesomeness of “Star Wars,” and “Terminator 2: Judgement Day” made the first “Terminator” look like a minimalist trinket. So how does that apply to “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery”? Three years ago, Rian Johnson’s “Knives Out” was a seamlessly debonair retro whodunit, set in the mansion of a murdered mystery novelist, that not only evoked the edge-of-your-brain storytelling panache of Agatha Christie but expanded the Christie genre into something delectable in its meta cleverness. At a time when comic-book films, action films, and other forms of kinetic fantasy appeared to be in the final stages of killing off everything else, “Knives Out” was a cathartic reminder that a movie mode we associate with vintage Hollywood — dialogue of airy density and wit, characters who pop with all-too-human flaws and foibles, a plot that zigs and zags until you’ll follow it anywhere — could still make a righteous stand at the megaplex. Holding it all together was Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc, the film’s Southern-gentleman re-imagining of a Hercule Poirot/Sherlock Holmes sleuth, whose wryly deceptive genius made him, for some of us, more super than any superhero.

The great acting legend Sidney Poitier died in January at age 94. He did not live to see the thrilling new documentary on his life and career, Sidney, which had its World Premiere Saturday night at the Toronto International Film Festival. However it had its blessing, and that of his family, for the film which has been percolating and in development and then production for five years. And although Poitier himself didn’t get to see the finished work, everyone else will beginning on Friday September 23 when it begins streaming on Apple TV+ and playing in selected theatres.

Disney’s movie and television studios including Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, Walt Disney Studios, Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, 20th Century Studios and Disney Branded Television revealed plenty of news at the D23 Expo, which ran September 9-11 at the Disneyland-adjacent Anaheim Convention Center.

Disney has offered fans a first look at its live-action Snow White remake, starring Rachel Zegler (West Side Story) and Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman). The first images from the film directed by Marc Webb were unveiled as part of the studio’s D23 presentation, highlighting its upcoming slate of live-action and animated features, which also spotlighted the work of its subsidiary, Pixar.

Today at D23, Disney offered a first look at its live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, starring Halle Bailey and directed by Rob Marshall, which is slated to hit theaters May 26. Watch the teaser above.

Disney’s Pixar today confirmed its plans for a sequel to its critically acclaimed animated film Inside Out. The studio made the announcement during its D23 showcase, spotlighting projects across its live-action and animated slates, with both the original’s director Pete Docter and its voice actor Amy Poehler in attendance to tout the new project.

Wilson Chapman editor One of Pixar’s most acclaimed films is getting a sequel. “Inside Out 2” is in the works from director Kelsey Mann, it was announced at the D23 Expo on Friday. Meg LeFauve is writing the script and Mark Nielsen is producing the pic, which is very early in production and coming in summer 2024. Released in 2015, the original “Inside Out” imagined a world where people have five core personified emotions — Joy, Sadness, Fear, Anger and Disgust — guiding their thoughts and actions through everyday life. The film zeroed in on the emotions of Riley, a middle-schooler struggling to adapt to her family’s move from Minnesota to San Francisco, as her leading emotion Joy is expelled from the control center and forced to team up with her polar opposite Sadness in a quest through her mind. The film ended with the two coming to an understanding as Joy recognizes the need for Riley to experience an emotionally complex life, and she begins collaborating more with her fellow emotions to steer the girl through adolescence.

Director Justin Simien and Scream Queen Jamie Lee Curtis stopped by D23 today to tease their upcoming live-action Haunted Mansion film, sharing that it will feature cameos from Winona Ryder, Dan Levy, Hasan Minhaj and more.

EXCLUSIVE: Tunisia has submitted Erige Sehiri’s bucolic coming-of-age tale Under The Fig Trees, about a group of teenagers working as fig pickers over the summer, as its entry for the best international film Oscar.

is paved with aspirations, but the much-vaunted label could actually become a reality for one Ms. Taylor Swift (provided she gets cast in a Broadway show in order to nab that Tony, which, by the way, is something I'd be very interested in seeing).The singer screened her romantic drama—don't call it a music video!— this summer at the Tribeca Film Festival and today, September 9, at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).

Sky is shifting the TX date of its Boris Johnson TV series This England following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

No, the tabloid headlines about all the behind-the-scenes mishesgoss on Olivia Wilde’s Don’t Worry Darling isn’t hurting ticket sales.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Myriad Pictures has acquired the international rights to “Zátopek,” Czech Republic’s 94th Academy Award Best International Feature Film submission. Gravitas Ventures has North American rights to the feature. The deal was negotiated between John McGrath of UTA, on behalf of the producers, and Scott Bedno, senior vice president of sales and acquisitions at Myriad Pictures. “Zátopek” is about the greatest Czech athlete of all time, four-time Olympic champion Emil Zátopek. It is the seventh film by prolific Czech director David Ondříček. His film “In the Shadow” was the Czech Oscar submission in 2012.

thing for a woman to have, but in the cult classic film The Witches of Eastwick, award-winning actress Susan Sarandon dares to do it anyway—gossip be damned.Loosely based on John Updike’s novel of the same name, the 1987 film adaptation starring , Cher, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Jack Nicholson is basically Practical Magic, but kinky and subversive. Bored of their personal and professional lives, three single women—Jane, Alex, and Sukie respectively—accidentally summon their ideal man: a devilishly handsome stranger named Daryl.