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“These exceptional individuals will come together to offer a collaborative lens on our program,” said Sundance’s Director of Programming Kim Yutani in an official statement. “Their diverse personal perspectives can elevate work above the sum of its parts.” As previously announced, the jury for Alfred P. Sloan jury (comprised of Dr. Heather Berlin, Dr. Mandë Holford, PhD, Tenoch Huerta, Lydia Dean Pilcher, and Shawn Snyder) deliberated in advance of the festival and awarded the prize to “After Yang,” directed by Kogonada....

From Netflix and Apple to IFC Films and Sony Pictures Classics, each of the 19 acquisitions out of the festival revealed much about how distributors will chart their paths in an industry that’s never felt more upside down. Here’s a look at how some of the biggest deals out of Sundance illuminate the murky path in the future of entertainment. Apple looks for love with “Cha Cha Real Smooth” Apple has long fancied itself as the socially responsible, creative face of consumerism....

In “The Closer,” Chappelle — who has a history of targeting the trans community — declared himself “Team TERF (trans-exclusionary radical feminism)” as well as making invalidating comments about the legitimacy of trans women. “Gender is a fact,” Chappelle said. “Every human being in this room, every human being on earth, had to pass through the legs of a woman to be on earth. That is a fact. Now, I am not saying that to say trans women aren’t women, I am just saying that those pussies that they got… you know what I mean?...

Financially and psychologically, this was a bonanza for theaters. Half or more of the ticket revenue went to distributors; for exhibitors, it was all about the popcorn, the Red Vines, and their generous profit margins. For one day at least, money rolled in. The long-term impact is TBD: Prices have returned to their normal average of over $10 and the next few weeks are bleak. One side effect of the $3 ticket is it wreaks havoc on box-office estimates....

The idea, she said, came to her while working with stunt coordinator Rob Alonzo — who choreographed stunts on “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” and “Deadpool,” among many other films — on her physical training, “We watched cats and lions and how they fight,” Kravitz said, “and talked about what is actually possible when you’re my size, and Batman’s so much stronger than me. What is my skill? It’s being fast and tricky....

“We were on this island. These characters are trapped on this island. Everything is cyclical, and it energized in a different kind of way,” series star Cush Jumbo said on Thursday at AMC’s panel at the virtual CTAM Winter 2021 Press Tour. Aside from the various production challenges, “The Beast Must Die” also managed to update the Nicholas Blake novel of the same name, written over 80 years ago. In the series, Jumbo plays a grieving mother who slowly works her way into the life of the man (played by Jared Harris) she believes to be responsible for the death of her son....

Parts one, two, and three of IndieWire’s Ultimate Summer Movie Season can be found below: — Part I: May — Part II: June — Part III: July August 7, 2020 Welcome to August, which (shhh) is secretly the best month of the summer movie season. Written off as a Hollywood dumping ground before the superhero era inflated summer movie season into a year-long merry-go-round of spandex and CGI, August has traditionally been a wild time at the multiplex....

Landmark said it was unable to come to terms with the landlord on an extension of its lease. Located inside what used to be the Westwood Pavilion shopping mall, the retail that once thrived is gone. Adjacent space, now occupied by Google, is being renovated into a corporate campus. The Landmark space is expected to become an attractive target — if not for Google, then for retail, residential, or office space....

By the time Beth Harmon (Anya Taylor-Joy), the beguiling central figure of “The Queen’s Gambit,” has sex for the first time, she has already survived the death of her mother, a harrowing orphanage stint, developed multiple addictions, and wiped the floor with chess masters twice her age. She reaches coolly across the nightstand to light a cigarette, strawberry curls framing a placid expression, as if she’s performed this time-honored post-coital ritual a million times before....

Where to Watch ‘This Way Up’: Hulu One of the most savvy choices that “This Way Up” makes is right at the start. The show opens not with Aine (Aisling Bea) in the middle of her four-month stay at a rehab facility, but when she’s checking out. And there to help her through the process? Big sister Shona (Sharon Horgan), who also makes sure that Aine leaves with her concerns addressed....

Luca Guadagnino’s cannibal love story costarring Timothée Chalamet opened at five theaters with about $120,000 (per theater, $23,985), drawing an overwhelmingly under-35 audience as anticipated. This tricky-sell story got the start UA expected. This is a tough title for comparisons, but it does have some overlap with A24 genre titles. Most recently, it opened “Bodies Bodies Bodies” to $226,000 in six theaters last August ($38,000 per) with a more conventional horror audience appeal....

It’s official! Tina Turner will be a 2021 inductee into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Wednesday’s announcement adds another well-deserved accolade to her legendary career. “I am absolutely thrilled to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame amongst such amazing artists,” the icon said a statement. “Thank you for all your continued love and support over the years! Love, Tina.” Earlier this year, the superstar gave an intimate look into her life in the self-titled HBO documentary, which you can stream on HBO Max....

In a new appearance on the “Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard” podcast, Hanks recalled his time on set with Newman while filming Sam Mendes’ “Road to Perdition.” When asked if he ever had imposter syndrome while working with the “Cool Hand Luke” star, Hanks answered bluntly: “Absolutely.” “I made one movie with Mr. Paul Newman,” Hanks said. “It took a bit for me to make peace with that fact: I’m in a movie with Paul Newman....

“This is new for him, to get credit,” Marcel said, “but it’s not new for him to be this involved. He’s absolutely 100 percent committed to everything that he does. He’s married to Venom. He loves this character. He’s very involved in what he thinks should happen.” As reported by Empire: “While Marcel gets the full screenplay credit, her script sprang from lengthy conversations with Hardy where they hashed out how exactly Venom and chaotic red symbiote Carnage (which attaches itself to Woody Harrelson’s serial killer Cletus Kasady) will collide on screen....

“It’s a fiercely independent company,” Zuckerman said in an interview with IndieWire. That’s because owner First Look Media (Oscar-winning “Spotlight”) created a two-sided entity: the not-for-profit and the studio. “Our mission is to be profitable, and fund the not-for-profit side. But our content is entertainment first. And we have this opportunity to do film and TV and podcasts and documentaries. I wanted it to feel unpredictable and exciting and be driven by filmmakers’ voices, and by telling unexpected, surprising stories that we hadn’t heard before, but not any particular genre....

In this riveting film, a five-year-old girl and her mother live among a community that has made long-abandoned subway tunnels their homes. When the pair is forced to head above ground into a cold winter night, Little (Zhaila Farmer) and her mother Nikki (played by co-director Held) are plunged into a challenging world that makes their uncertain underground life seem idyllic by comparison. IndieWire’s Eric Kohn reviewed the film warmly out of Venice, and named it one of 2020’s best undistributed features....

Each selection will vie for the Tribeca Games Award, which honors an unreleased game for its excellence in art and storytelling through design, artistic mastery, and highly immersive worlds. The games program features the world premieres of “Immortality,” an interactive trilogy in which players can explore the legend of Marissa Marcel, a film star who disappeared, through her work; “OXENFREE II: Lost Signals,” the mind-bending follow up to the critically acclaimed narrative adventure “OXENFREE,” from Night School Studio; and “Cuphead – The Delicious Last Course,” another helping of classic “Cuphead” action with new weapons, magical charms, and more....

A tender and unexpectedly suspenseful lesbian romance that ages the furtiveness of so many queer love stories until it’s subsumed into the frailty of “Amour,” Filippo Meneghetti’s “Two of Us” is at heart a film about how those choices can get harder over time, petrify around people as the years wear on, and — Meneghetti quite literally suggests — even paralyze them into running out the clock. It is often a good one, worthy of being selected as France’s official Academy Awards submission from a field that was light on major contenders, and especially so before its most pivotal character loses her ability to make any choices at all....

And yes, there is dancing — oh, is there ever. While describing the AMC+ series’ plot may prove as futile as launching a standalone streaming service for a network whose biggest hits are available elsewhere, I, too, will give it a go. “Ultra City Smiths” is set in Ultra City, a Manhattan stand-in filled with sports arenas like Addison Square Garden, newspapers like “The Ultra City Times” spelled out in a familiar Old English font, and prison ferries shipping in from Rucker’s Island....