The Chinese New Year holidays have brought back scenes not seen in mainland China cinemas for a year – a slew of new release titles and crowds to match. Few records will be broken. But after several months of desertification, the flood of returning cinema-goers may be a relief to the wider industry. The holiday…

FESTIVALS Leslie Shampaine and Pip Gilmour‘s feature documentary “Call Me Dancer” will have its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, in competition for best documentary, on Feb. 9, followed by its New York premiere at the Dance on Camera Film Festival at the Lincoln Center on Feb. 10. The film follows Manish…

Louis Garrel’s “The Innocent” and Dominik Moll’s thriller “The Night of the 12th” are leading the race at France’s 48th Cesar Awards, France’s equivalent to the Oscars. Nominated for 11 Cesar nominations, “The Innocent” is a heist romantic comedy starring Garrel and Noemie Merlant, the actor who previously starred in “Portrait of a Lady on Fire”…

ITV Studios-backed Poison Pen Studios, founded by former Left Bank Pictures exec Ben Stephenson, has expanded its London team with a raft of new hires. Luke Woellhaf joins as director of development, Fern McCauley joins as head of IP acquisitions and Oluchi Ezeh has been appointed development director. In September, Stephenson tapped Preethi Mavahalli as…

“Flora and Son” is small of scale, unabashed in its pop sincerity, and irresistible.

A24 is in final talks to acquire the North American rights to “Talk to Me” after the feature’s debut at the Sundance Film Festival, Variety has learned. The film fetched a figure in the high seven-figure range, according to sources. The Australian horror feature enjoyed a buzzy premiere in the festival’s genre-slanted Midnight Selections lineup,…

Sony Pictures Classics has nabbed worldwide rights to “A Little Prayer” following its premiere at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The exact sales price isn’t clear, but sources state the film fetched a figure in the low seven-figure range. The deal reunites Sony Pictures Classics with Angus MacLachlan, who wrote the screenplay for “Junebug,” which…

Julian Sands, best known for his starring roles in “A Room With a View” and “Warlock,” remains missing as the search for the English actor stretches to 11 days. On Tuesday, authorities provided an update on the effort to locate Sands, who had been hiking in the Baldy Bowl hiking area, located roughly 50 miles…

David Crosby died Jan. 18 at age 81, while in the midst of planning a new album and tour. Two of the many younger musicians he sang with and championed toward the end of his life were Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, who are both leading lights in Americana music as well as husband and…

Spain’s Grupo iZen and Argentina-based Non Stop have launched Cacao & Cia, a new shingle aimed at producing content for the global Spanish-speaking market. With offices in Madrid and Mexico, the joint venture will be headed by Non Stop’s Pedro Dávila, who will lead a creative team in close collaboration with Juliana Barrera from iZen…