Misery loves company, which may account for Portuguese director João Canijo’s decision to split his angst-ridden hotel-set project into two complementary films. Both were selected for the Berlinale, with the half centered on the hotel guests (“Living Bad”) landing in the Encounters section, and “Bad Living,” which revolves around the hotel staff, taking a main…

The box office can be an institution of simple pleasures. Hollywood releases the story of a rampaging bear drugged out of its mind and — what do you know? — the people roll out. “Cocaine Bear” drew a solid $8.6 million opening day gross from 3,534 theaters, a figure that includes $2 million in Thursday…

The official awards ceremony of this year’s Berlin Film Festival is under way, with Kristen Stewart’s jury set to announce their winners from the Competition selections. This post will be updated as they’re announced. COMPETITION Silver Bear for Best Director: “The Plough,” Philippe Garrel Silver Bear for Best Leading Performance: “20,000 Species of Bees,” Sofia…

Portuguese producers Pandora Cunha Telles and Pablo Iraola, of Ukbar Filmes, are bringing a delegation of six Portuguese women helmers to the Berlinale, to showcase their ambitious project “Told by Women,” – a slate of 10 TV movies by 10 first-time women filmmakers – coproduced with Portuguese public broadcaster, RTP. The producers have lined up…

Film and television producers are, at the core, accomplished problem-solvers on myriad levels. For Stephanie Allain and Donald De Line, who currently share the presidency of the Producers Guild of America, the prevailing problems for its membership are downright existential. “The biggest refrain is ‘How can we get health insurance?’” says Allain, whose producing projects…

The Elephant Whisperers Kartiki Gonsalves’ documentary debut, “The Elephant Whisperers,” released on Netflix, shines a spotlight on the ways in which climate change and human encroachment are rapidly destroying the habitats of Asian elephants. The film’s dire warning is subtly woven into a heartfelt narrative about forging family in unlikely places with elephant caretakers Bomman…

It’s been 10 years since a shirtless Sam Claflin first stole hearts as the charismatic District 4 victor Finnick Odair in 2013’s “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.” In a conversation with Variety about his upcoming Prime Video series, “Daisy Jones & the Six,” Claflin reflected on the films at length. “It still feels like yesterday…the…

Rihanna will perform the Oscar-nominated song “Lift Me Up” from “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” at the 95th Academy Awards ceremony, executive producers and showrunners Glenn Weiss and Ricky Kirshner have announced. Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, the Oscars will air live on ABC and broadcast outlets worldwide on Sunday, March 12. “Lift Me Up,” with music by…

R. Kelly was sentenced to 20 years in prison for child sex crimes in a Chicago federal courtroom on Thursday. The 55-year-old singer, whose full name is Robert Sylvester Kelly, was found guilty of six of the 13 charges brought against him, including three counts of coercing minors into sexual activity and three of producing sex tapes…

The Oscars’ animated feature category turns voting age this year, which means none of the genre’s masterpieces dating back to the 1930s ever competed for the coveted prize. And that means one of this year’s competitors for the prize, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio,” represents something of a fresh chance for a story that worked so…