Author: Deadline

TITLE: Jimpa Section: Premieres Director: Sophie Hyde Logline: Hannah (Olivia Colman) takes her nonbinary teenager, Frances (Aud Mason-Hyde), to Amsterdam to visit their gay grandfather, Jim (John Lithgow) — lovingly known as Jimpa. But Frances’ desire to stay abroad with Jimpa for a year means Hannah is forced to reconsider her beliefs about parenting and finally confront old stories about the past. Sophie Hyde, winner of the World Cinema Directing Award Dramatic for 52 Tuesdays (2014 Sundance Film Festival), returns with an expansive family portrait centered on Jimpa (John Lithgow), an aging, hedonistic patriarch living loud and proud in Amsterdam’s vibrant gay…

EXCLUSIVE: Myha’la (HBO’s Industry), Cary Elwes (Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning), and John Robinson (Elephant) are joining Gus Van Sant’s hostage thriller Dead Man’s Wire, which is currently filming in Louisville, Kentucky. Based on a true story, the film follows a former real estate developer who takes the mortgage banker who did him wrong hostage, demanding $5M and a personal apology. Script is by Austin Kolodney. As we revealed this week, two-time Oscar nominee Colman Domingo has joined Nosferatu star Bill Skarsgard and Stranger Things‘ Dacre Montgomery in the movie. The official logline reads: “The morning of February 8, 1977, Anthony…

Emilia Pérez led the pack with 13 Oscar nominations Thursday, allowing Netflix to claim bragging rights as the year’s most-nominated distributor for a second year in a row. France’s Spanish-language International Feature entry became the most-nominated non-English-language film of all time, picking up noms for Best Picture and a historical one for Best Actress Karla Sofía Gascón, along with a Supporting Actress nom for Zoe Saldaña as well as the categories of cinematography, directing, editing, international feature film, makeup and hairstyling, original score and two original songs, sound and adapted screenplay. Netflix had 16 noms overall this year, two fewer…

EXCLUSIVE: VMI Worldwide has boarded worldwide sales on horror Popeye The Slayer Man which will have its world premiere screening in the market at next month’s EFM in Berlin. This film follows a group of friends who sneak into an abandoned spinach canning factory to film a documentary on the legend of the ‘Sailor Man,’ who is said to haunt the factory and local docks. A North American theatrical release is being lined up for spring 2025 via Vantage Media. Pic stars Sean Michael Conway, Elena Juliano, Mabel Thomas, Marie-Louise Boisnier, Jeff Thomas, and Steven McCormack, along with Angela Relucio…

EXCLUSIVE: Leah Fay Goldstein and Peter Dreimanis, the singers of Canadian alt-rock band July Talk, have been set to star in indie feature Middle Life from writer-director Pavan Moondi (Sundowners). Joining them are Luke Lalonde, lead singer of the band Born Ruffians and who also starred in Moondi’s movie Sundowners, Norah Sadava (Mouthpiece), and actor-comedian Colin Burgess (Dad and Step Dad). Middle Life follows a new mom who unexpectedly saves a stranger from a roadside accident. Over the next 18 months, the two form an unlikely friendship that shifts their perspectives and adds a spark of spontaneity to their everyday…

EXCLUSIVE: Magnolia Pictures is taking North American rights to Kevin Macdonald’s documentary One to One: John & Yoko, which after making its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival, and a play at Telluride, is making a pit stop in the Spotlight section at Sundance this week. One to One: John & Yoko is getting an April 11 release exclusively in Imax. Pic will air on HBO and stream on Max in late 2025. The docu is a revelatory look at the 18 months John Lennon and Yoko Ono spent living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970 with never-before-seen…

Prime Video Japan has a new Country Manager in the shape of Keisuke Oishi. Effective today, the former Sony Corp exec will take on the post after rising through the ranks over ten years at Amazon. Oishi will report to Gaurav Gandhi, Vice President of Prime Video for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. He replaces Takashi Kodama, who left Prime Video late last year to lead Amutus Corporation, the parent of Japanese digital manga publisher Mecha Comic, according to Kodama’s LinkedIn posts. We’ve reached out to Amazon for clarity. Media Partners Asia last year pegged Prime Video as Japan’s…

El 47 (“the 47”) triumphed at the Catalan Film Awards Saturday evening, taking eight prizes including one for Best Picture. The film previously won two Forqué Awards and has 14 nominations for the Goya Awards. It also took home Catalan Film Awards for Best Leading Actor (Eduard Fernandez) and Best Supporting Actress (Clara Segura) as well as the Audience Award. Other wins included Best Production Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Makeup and Hairstyling and Bests Special Effects. The 47 debuted in September 2024 and has become the highest-grossing Catalan language film in history, with a box office to date of…

UPDATED, 5:41 p.m.: This year’s AFI Awards luncheon will now take place on Thursday, February 6, AFI President and CEO Bob Gazzale announced on Friday evening. Like many award shows around town, they’d been delayed by the L.A. wildfires, which continue to approach containment. The luncheon had previously been dated for Friday, January 10. “With the encouragement of the community, we will gather our honorees at the AFI AWARDS luncheon on Thursday, February 6,” said Gazzale. “The spirit of this private event has always been one of camaraderie – not competition – and a moment to celebrate the power of…

EXCLUSIVE: Bunny Levine (Thelma), Dree Hemingway (Starlet), and Connie Shi (Law & Order) lead cast of Omi, a Jewish body possession comedy, which has wrapped filming in Los Angeles.  Making her feature directorial debut is Emily Lerer (Shameless), from a script by Adam Lebowitz-Lockard (The Shrink Next Door), who also stars as Matt, an impulsive millennial mensch who gets possessed by the spirit of his dead Yiddish grandma, Omi (Levine), after popping the question to his shiksa girlfriend, Christina (Hemingway). In order to pull off the Jewish exorcism of the century, Matt and Christina enlist the help of Rabbi Louise (Connie Shi) and friends (played…