‘Passing’ Review: Rebecca Hall’s Subtle, Provocative Directorial Debut

A charity which provides lifeline shopping and befriending services for older people is expanding in Perth.

Perth City Swim Club’s Carol McPartland has been recognised - and praised - for her sterling dedication to the sport.

A major storm is currently forming out in the Atlantic and rapidly strengthening as it does so - and it poses a 'danger to life'.

A woman who watched a vile rapist kick her pregnant mum three times in the stomach says the abuse she witnessed as a child will stay with her forever.

Paul Hollywood's ex-wife posted a powerful Valentine's Day message about being single – taking a swipe at the Great British Bake Off judge in the process. Cookbook writer Alex Hollywood reflected on her current relationship status and her 20-year marriage to the TV star.

Jamie Lang Belgium’s Panenka, producers of recent VRT breakout hit “Two Summers” – which premiered last week to a jaw-dropping 51% market share in its prime-time slot and which will soon be released worldwide by Netflix – will virtually pitch one of their upcoming projects, “This is Not a Murder Mystery,” at Berlin Co-Pro Series.One of 10 such projects set for this event, Co-Pro Series marks the first public pitch for “TINAMM,” with the creative team looking to the right co-production and distribution partner to help realize their murder mystery series. Panenka producer Kristoffel Mertens hosts the virtual Co-Pro pitch with co-creators Paul Baeten and Christophe Dirickx.Baeten is a novelist, essayist and TV screenwriter, whose credits include two seasons of the acclaimed drama series “Over Water” and the aforementioned “Two Summers.” Dirickx has written and produced several feature films, including Cannes players “The Misfortunates” from director Felix van Groeningen and Frank Van Passel’s “Manneken Pis.” International Emmy-nominee Hans Herbots (“The Spiral”) and Matthias Lebeer, a winner of two Golden Lions at Cannes for his work on GT Academy Europe, will direct.

This Morning viewers were left feeling joy after it was revealed that the wonderful Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary would be stepping in to cover Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield's absence. The normal duo are currently on their half term break from the show, so our Friday hosts have taken over for the week.

Amy Hart revealed earlier this month she had her eggs frozen again. And when OK! caught up with the Love Island star at the launch of Anna Williamson's new book, Where Is The Love?, Amy revealed she's put plans to go through solo IVF on hold, since meeting boyfriend Sam Rason.

Since Ralf Rangnick took charge at Old Trafford, Manchester United have been tipped to sign a number of top Bundesliga players including Denis Zakaria and Amadou Haidara to name but two.

One lucky UK ticket-holder has won the £109.9 million EuroMillions jackpot which has been validated and paid out, according to Camelot.

Olly Murs has shared a poignant tribute to Caroline Flack on the second anniversary of her death.

A law graduate who used to budget on her food shop has now made her fortune selling second-hand clothes online.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentLoco Films, the Paris-based world sales and production company, has unveiled the trailer for Yulia Trofimova’s feature debut “The Land of Sasha” which is premiering today at the Berlinale, in the Generation 14plus strand.“The Land of Sahsa” tells the story of an indecisive 18-year-old struggling to pursue his desire to become a painter as his mother urges him to choose a safer career path. The sudden appearance of the boy’s estranged father complicates things further. But when Sasha has an unexpected encounter with an unusual girl called Zhenia, he realizes he has no choice but to finally grow up.“The Land of Sasha” was produced by Katerina Mikhaylova and Konstantin Fam for Moscow-based Vega Film.

Rod Stewart serenaded fans with a special love song for Valentine's Day, but the rock star divided fans in the comments.

Anna Marie de la Fuente ZDF Enterprises, to be rebranded ZDF Studios in April, has snagged worldwide distribution rights to the topical post-WWII dramatic series “Between Two Worlds” (“Ein Hauch Von Amerika”).Skein is set in a fictional German town in the ’50s where a robust U.S. military presence is impacting the lives of its people, in particular the two young friends Marie and Erika, whose relationships with their family, community and each other are put to the test by the presence of a U.S.

Jamie Lang Norwegian broadcaster NRK has boarded Hummelfilm’s coming-of-age crime drama series “Nowheresville,” one of 10 projects participating in this year’s Berlin Co-Pro Series where producer Marte Hansen and series creator-director Rebecca W. Kjellmann are virtually pitching the series to potential partners, financers and broadcasters.Development on the project is already well underway, with four finished scripts and outlines for the show’s other four episodes already banked.“We are currently continuing the writing process, while working on the financing and production set-up for the series,” the partners explained to Variety before pitching in Berlin.

Snoop Dogg and Kelly Clarkson have been announced as the hosts for the US' answer to Eurovision, the American Song Contest. 

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentZDF Enterprises and the U.K.-based Parsonage Productions are developing a new drama, “The Bronte Girls,” a fictional account of the last summer which the three Bronte sisters spent together.The drama is based on the stage play of the same name by New York-based playwright Caroline Franklin (“Last Night at the Carmine”). Franklin will adapt the drama for the small screen with the British writer-director Darcia Martin (“Riches,” “Shakespeare & Hathaway,”Call the Midwife”).The initial series, structured as a six-part drama, will be executive produced by Harvey Myman, Patty Lenahan Ishimoto and Patrick Irwin, who first worked together on A+E Networks’ U..K.

Naman Ramachandran Amazon Prime Video and Germany’s Leonine Studios are expanding their existing partnership with a multi-year license agreement.Under the deal, Prime Video gets exclusive second window SVOD-rights for a six-month period to upcoming theatrical feature films and home entertainment titles from Leonine’s slate and also includes non-exclusive SVOD rights to titles from Leonine’s content library.Titles include Keanu Reeves’ “John Wick 4” and its spin-off “Ballerina,” starring Ana de Armas; Channing Tatum’s directorial debut “Dog”; Roland Emmerich’s “Moonfall,” starring Halle Berry; Nicolas Cage action-comedy “The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent”; Guillaume Canet’s “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” with Gilles Lellouche, Marion Cotillard, Vincent Cassel and soccer star Zlatan Imbrahimović; Jennifer Lopez starrer “Shotgun Wedding”; and Leonine Studios co-production “The School of Magical Animals 2,” the sequel to Germany’s most successful theatrical release of 2021. Leonine Studios CEO Fred Kogel said: “It’s fantastic that we can expand our long-standing partnership with Prime Video by this agreement and achieve another important milestone for our licensing business with premium content.

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentNetflix has dropped the trailer for “Standing-Up,” the new show by Fanny Herrero, the creator of French hit series “Call My Agent!”“Standing-Up” follows Aïssatou, Nezir, Bling and Apolline, four artists from different backgrounds who are trying to break into the world of stand-up comedy. They meet every day at the Drôle, a Parisian comedy club, where they come to practice their art: making people laugh.

As she explained to us in an interview of the Deep Focus podcast, Rebecca Hall has been working a long time bringing her directorial debut, “Passing,” to life. Even though the debut was delayed due to the pandemic, the period drama finally premiered as part of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Netflix has acquired the worldwide rights to splashy Sundance title Passing, the directorial debut ofRebecca Hall that stars Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga. Sources peg the deal as being north of $15 million.

Big news for Rebecca Hall!

Irene (Tessa Thompson) rarely passes for white. She fears for her safety too much to do so.

Angelique Jackson Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut already made a big splash with its Sundance Film Festival premiere — and its set to make even bigger noise as Netflix is nearing a $16 million deal for worldwide distribution rights on the film, an individual with knowledge of the deal tells Variety.Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga star in the project — written and directed by Hall and based on the 1929 novella by Nella Larsen –about racial passing in 1920s New York.More to come…

EXCLUSIVE: Netflix is nearing a deal to acquire worldwide rights to Passing, the Rebecca Hall-directed and scripted drama that stars Tessa Thompson, Ruth Negga, Andre Holland, and Alexander Skarsgard. Sources said the deal will land just north of $15 million.

This week on the New Hollywood Podcast, we have not one, not two but 16 guests in four separate segments. The Sundance Film Festival was virtual this year as was Deadline’s Sundance Studio. For this special episode, we share our studio interviews in podcast form.

is, in a way, and it scared me, truly — the idea of playing her really terrified me. So I thought, that’s probably a good thing to do then.”“Passing” follows two women — Irene and Claire, played by Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga.

Passing to the big screen, Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut is a visceral drama centering on race relations, colorism, jealously, anguish, and desire. Set in Harlem amid the renaissance of the 1920’s, Passing follows Irene (Tessa Thompson) and Clare (Rutha Negga), childhood friends who meet again by happenstance one blazing hot summer day in the posh tearoom of New York City’s Drayton Hotel. It should have been a warm reunion, filled with talks of girlhood and current undertakings.

Exquisite performances from Tessa Thompson and Ruth Negga provide the pulsing, emotionally heightened center to Passing, Rebecca Hall's assured move behind the camera, adapted with great sensitivity from the 1929 novel by Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larsen. "We're all of us passing for something or other, aren't we?" muses Thompson's melancholy character Irene Redfield.

Irene (Tessa Thompson) rarely passes for white. She fears for her safety too much to do so.

The presumed dead-and-buried practice of racial passing by light-skinned blacks in the United States decades ago is returned to center-stage in Passing, a delicate, sensitive, intentionally claustrophobic and not entirely limber directorial debut from the protean British stage performer Rebecca Hall. Based on the recently resurrected 1929 novel by Nella Larsen, which was a modest success in its time, the film is indisputably intriguing for its look at a very particular convention about which younger generations know very little.

See Photos: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing'As conflicted Irene, Thompson delivers her finest work to date, reminiscent of her turn in the recent period piece “Sylvie’s Love” but with greater substance. (This is Thompson’s second Sundance in a row to shine in a film set decades in the past.) Her character, a woman descending into blinding suspiciousness, demands studied calibration; Irene must always uphold an image of serenity even when she’s breaking down on the inside.

Also Read: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing' (Photos)The story is specific to one group of women at one particular time, but five decades later, it’s certainly applicable to current questions about the role of religion in society, about the place of tradition and rigor in the Church and about how social justice movements intersect with biblical teachings.

Also Read: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing' (Photos)Liza’s premonition of doom, it turns out, isn’t just a bad feeling or a suicidal tendency; she’s not like Kate Lyn Sheil in the recent indie “She Dies Tomorrow,” with a seriously contagious sense of impending doom. No, in fact Liza is going to die tomorrow, and so is everybody else, because a meteor is going to destroy the planet in the wee hours.

Also Read: 14 Buzziest Sundance Movies for Sale in 2021, From Questlove's 'Summer of Soul' to Rebecca Hall's 'Passing' (Photos)The film was one of the opening-night presentations at the virtual Sundance Film Festival on Thursday, occupying the same position as previous music-focused docs like “Twenty Feet From Stardom,” “Searching for Sugar Man,” “What Happened, Miss Simone?” and last year’s “Miss Americana.” No doubt it left some viewers wishing that it had been the Eccles Theatre moving to the sounds of Stevie Wonder and B.B. King rather than living rooms or mobile screens.But this is the COVID-era Sundance, which means that the opening-night music doc slot has become a largely virtual one.