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South Korean cinema loves the thriller genre and like a number of her contemporaries, director Chun Sun-young too chose to make her feature debut with a thriller, “A Girl with Closed Eyes”. After debuting her previous short film “Good Night” at Cannes Critics’ Week, her feature debut too takes the festival route, having its premiere at the Busan International Film Festival in its Korean Cinema Today section.

A Girl with Closed Eyes is released by Finecut and screened at Busan International Film Festival

Up-and-coming author Jeong Sang-woo, whose new book is all the rage, is murdered in cold blood, shot three times in close quarters with a shotgun. Found standing over his body, smoking gun in hand, is Lee Min-ju, who is taken into custody but refuses to talk to anyone until Seoul detective Park Min-ju is called in. When Min-ju arrives in her hometown of Hongcheon, she realizes that...

Rising star Minha Kim unveils her first lead performance since breaking out in AppleTV+’s prestige drama series Pachinko, playing a young woman accused of murdering a best-selling author in Chun Sun-young’s feature debut A Girl with Closed Eyes. Premiering at the Busan International Film Festival, the yarn unspools as a polished crime thriller bolstered by a raft of strong performances, not least from Kim and Choi Hee-seo, but ultimately let down by some wildly implausible plotting.

Set in South Korea’s provincial mountain region of Hongcheon, A Girl with Closed Eyes opens as a young woman calling herself Min-ju (Kim) is caught, smoking gun literally in hand, standing over the bloodied corpse of celebrated writer Jeong Sang-woo (Lee Ki-woo). Taken in for questioning, she claims that Jeong was responsible for an unsolved kidnapping case from 20 years earlier that serves as the inspiration for his hit novel. She also...

In the movie Hook, Steven Spielberg’s 1991 Peter Pan sequel starring Robin Williams and Dustin Hoffman, Williams’ Peter visits the London home of his wife’s family, where he reconnects with her grandmother, a very grown up Wendy Darling played by Dame Maggie Smith. She first appears as a ghostly silhouette at the top of a staircase before descending and creeping into the light. Smith was only in her 50s when she shot the movie but had been aged up to look impossibly frail and elderly — her hair a bushy nest,...

Dame Maggie Smith was many things. Hilarious and tragic. Elegant and aloof. Enchanting and deadly serious. Most will attribute their appreciation of her multiple-generation spanning career to roles in the “Harry Potter” or “Sister Act” franchises or perhaps “Downton Abbey,” which elevated her fame to a level she often spoke disdainfully of. For Smith was not an actress who was in it for the red carpets or accolades — though she received many, including two Oscars, five Baftas, four Emmys, and a Tony — but rather treated acting as a sturdy profession, one that required of her the utmost presence while on set or stage.

Beginning her career in the early 1950s, she played Viola in William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” at The Oxford Playhouse, followed later by roles in “As You Like It” and “The Merry Wives of Windsor” at London’s famed Old Vic theater. She rose to prominence on...

Dame Maggie Smith, the legendary British actor known for roles in A Room With A View, Downton Abbey, the Harry Potter franchise and more, has died. Her sons Toby Stephens and Chris Larkin confirmed the news to the BBC. She was 89 years old.

"It is with great sadness we have...

Green Border.Agnieszka Holland begs to differ with Claude Lanzmann. The director of Shoah (1985) had attacked the idea of depicting the Holocaust in a fiction film, claiming that its unfathomable horrors would inevitably be trivialized. In a 2013 National Gallery of Art lecture, “Viewing History through the Filmmaker’s Lens,” Holland made two counter-arguments: that feature films are a tool to educate as many people as possible about the Holocaust, and that “taking on issues that are impossible to explain or grasp rationally is one of the most important challenges of an artist.” Holland had made a number of provocative Holocaust dramas, including Angry Harvest (1985), Europa Europa (1990), and In Darkness (2011), all of which involve the plight of Jews who have improbably escaped capture and death. With these films, Holland looked back at events from decades in the past. In her latest film, she is dramatizing history while it is unfolding.Urgent without sacrificing artistry,...

Agnieszka Holland’s filmography will be celebrated this June thanks to the Museum of the Moving Image and the Polish Cultural Institute New York.

MoMI will host a retrospective featuring nine of Holland’s most beloved films leading up to the release of her latest “Green Border.” The nine features include highlights “Europa Europa” on and “The Secret Garden,” which both will screen in 35mm with Holland in attendance on June 20 and 21.

The retrospective will take place from June 7 through 21 and serve as a toast to Holland’s “undimmed ability to depict historical trauma and human struggle with sensitivity and compassion” across her 60 years in filmmaking, per the official press statement.

The retrospective will feature her initial work made in Poland, including “Provincial Actors,” “Fever,” and “A Woman Alone,” along with Holland’s 1990s art house features “Europa Europa” and “The Secret Garden,” and depictions of present-day political resistance like “Spoor” and “In Darkness.

Nurys Mateo had what many fans of The Challenge might call a breakout performance in the recent Battle For a New Champion season.

While Nurys didn’t enter the game as a rookie, she was entering her second season, and this time, she had to fight against tougher odds.

Nurys won multiple eliminations to earn her spot in the Season 39 final, something no other finalists could say they did.

While she finished second, fans praised Nurys for rising to the occasion throughout the season, including standing up to and calling out her opponents.

She also found love during the filming of the season, as she and showmance Horacio Gutierrez have continued dating beyond MTV’s show.

Thanks to the above, Nurys established herself as a new fan-favorite competitor on MTV’s show. She also recently won multiple awards for Season 39, setting a new record.

Nurys achieves a record number of...

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Prepare to surprise and delight your loved ones with 38 ‘unique’ gifts that possess that rare ability to leave them in awe. These unexpected gems will prove that your gift-giving game has reached new heights.

The Outdoor Lights That Create The Most Beautiful Illumination

These stunning solar lights will be such a beautiful addition to any outdoor space. Designed to look like a lotus flower, reviewers say the warming...

Oscar nominee Agnieszka Holland needed bodyguards following the “Green Border” backlash in her native Poland.

“I planned to be there during the election, so the Polish Filmmakers Association arranged bodyguards for me. I was traveling with two, both wonderful and very kind. But it’s quite costly, so I just rearranged my schedule,” she said at Ji.hlava Documentary Film Festival, answering Variety’s question during her masterclass.

“I think I can be safe now, going back, but of course you never know if some crazy man won’t attack you on the street, believing you are the enemy of the nation.”

Criticized by rightwing politicians for her Venice-winning film about the refugee crisis on the Polish-Belarusian border, the acclaimed director decided to “limit her presence” in the country.

“It wasn’t just the Minister of Justice [who compared her film to ‘Nazi propaganda’]. It was the president, [Deputy Prime Minister] Mr. Kaczyński and others. It created a hysteria and...

Exclusive: xXPonyBoyDerekXx, described as “a boundary-breaking digital play fusing theater, film, and mixed digital media into an epic multi-week online event,” will play out across the internet on X (formerly Twitter) and OnlyFans starting today, executive producer John Cameron Mitchell announced.

The project, from Mitchell and producer Arterial Projects, is written by playwright Gage Tarlton and co-directed by Tarlton and Carlos Cardona, and follows the character of an 18-year-old OnlyFans creator in real-time as he navigates “a fraught path of autonomy, capitalism, sexuality, and survival amid the demands of physical commodification in a virtual world.”

The story, utilizing a hybrid approach to drama, will be told entirely through OnlyFans and X posts, with producers describing the story as “an incendiary coming-of-age story detailing how the internet distorts reality and leaves a mark on the young and on-line body.”

Viewers will need to subscribe at OnlyFans.com/xXPonyBoyDerekXx. The xXPonyBoyDerekXx videos are all pre-recorded.

NYC Weekend Watch is our weekly round-up of repertory offerings.

Museum of the Moving Image

Reverse Shot celebrates its 20th anniversary with a months-long programming run, starting this weekend with Demonlover, Femme Fatale, Summer Hours, and Junebug all on 35mm; Cukor’s Sylvia Scarlett plays on 35mm.

Paris Theater

The Paris has reopened with 35mm screenings of The Conversation, There Will Be Blood, and The Tree of Life, as well as Lawrence of Arabia on 70mm.

Roxy Cinema

Ahead of The Zone of Interest, Jonathan Glazer’s feature debut Sexy Beast plays on 35mm; Dog Day Afternoon, The Graduate, and Fantastic Planet also show on prints.

Film Forum

A new 4K restoration of Farewell, My Concubine begins; Michael Roemer’s great The Plot Against Harry screens on 35mm; Contempt continues in a 4K restoration; The Secret Garden plays on Sunday

IFC Center

The new restoration of Shinji Somai’s Typhoon...

It’s good to know that Ben Platt and Molly Gordon’s failed childhood romance didn’t keep them from remaining life-long friends. The actors star in “Theater Camp,” a mockumentary about a performing arts summer camp co-directed by Gordon and Nick Lieberman. Said romance bloomed when Platt and Gordon were just 7 years old.

“I gave her this charm bracelet as I-guess-we’re-going-to-date-now,” Platt remembers during an appearance on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast. “She freaked out and told her mom, ‘I’m not ready,’ so I gave it to a different girl. Instead, I gave Molly a picture frame with a picture of me and Molly in it because I was like, ‘Here’s a friendship thing.’ Then she was devastated.”

Joining Platt on the podcast was his “Theater Camp” co-star and husband-to-be Noah Galvin. “Theater Camp,” based on a 2020 short of the same name, was written...

It’s a new month, and Hulu subscribers are getting a slew of new movies and TV shows to enjoy.

June 1 is jam-packed with more than 30 titles that have landed on the streamer, including the seventh and final season of Ava DuVernay’s “Queen Sugar,” the Jack Nicholson-led film “Hoffa,” Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” and the entire “Twilight” franchise.

Mixing in a little of the old with new come goodies from 2023, like “Flamin’ Hot,” which tells the story of Mexican migrant Richard Montanez who came up with the idea for Flamin’ Hot Cheetos while working as a janitor at Frito Lay. The film lands on Hulu June 9.

Ending June with a bang will the be second season of “The Bear,” (June 22), Season 20 of “The Bachelorette” (June 27) and the sixth and final season of “Grown-ish.”

Here’s everything you can expect to hit Hulu this June.

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It’s summer time on Hulu and that can only mean one thing. With its list of new releases for June 2023, Hulu is bringing back last summer’s unexpected hit.

FX’s The Bear season 2 premieres all episodes on June 22. If you’re not already captivated by this intense culinary story about the little Italian beef shop that could, definitely catch up now. This time around, Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) and friends will attempt a major foodie rebrand. The only other Hulu series of note this month is the docuseries The Age of Influence. Premiering on June 5, this doc will examine the dark side of influencer culture.

Just like its corporate partner Disney+, Hulu will premiere Eva Longoria’s directorial debut, Flamin’ Hot, in June 9. The movie tells the true story of Frito-Lay janitor Richard Montañez (Jesse Garcia) who created an iconic snack that forever changed the food industry. Also...

Season 2 of last summer’s hit breakout series “The Bear” is set to premiere on Hulu on Thursday, June 22. After a tumultuous return to his family’s hole-in-the-wall Chicago restaurant, chef Carmen “Carmy” Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his staff transform the greasy sandwich joint into a first-class dining experience after he discovers the slush fund his brother left behind. Despite having the extra money to make his dreams a reality, the future proves to be both a personal and professional challenge for Carmy and the crew.

Watch the trailer for Season 2 of “The Bear”:

Beginning on June 14, the new series continuation of the beloved film “The Full Monty” arrives on Hulu. It’s 25 years later and the men and women of Sheffield, England, are in reboot mode, navigating life and family. The original 1997 movie focused on a group of down-on-their-luck, blue-collar men who put on a strip show to make ends meet.

The top Dox:Award at Cph:dox, the Copenhagen documentary festival, has gone to “Motherland” by Ukrainian-Belarussian director Alexander Mihalkovich (“My Granny From Mars”) and Ukrainian director Hanna Badziaka.

Described by Variety as “an ominous portrait of the oppressive culture of cruelty in post-Soviet Belarus,” the film follows Svetlana, whose son died during his military service as the result of violent abuse, in her quest to expose and prosecute those responsible for his death.

Dedicating the award to “all the Ukrainians fighting Russian aggression and to Belarussian political prisoners,” the directing duo thanked all those who helped them make the film, in particular the protagonists, “who were brave to stand in front of the camera and patient with us as it was a long journey of four years.”

Handing out the prize, the jury said: “This was such a cinematic and meaningful film that took its time unfolding the complexity of living...

Further winners include ‘Seven Winters in Tehran’, ‘Mrs. Hansen & The Bad Companions’.

Alexander Mihalkovich and Hanna Badziaka’s Motherland, about the brutal military culture in Belarus, has won the main Dox:Award prize at Cph:dox 2023.

The Sweden-Ukraine-Norway co-production follows two storylines: a woman trying to shed light on the culture of violence and abuse in the Belarusian military after her son was found dead while in the army; and a group of young friends from the techno underground who face being drafted soon.

Scroll down for the full list of winners

The awards were handed out at a ceremony this evening...

This year’s Tonys will be held on June 11, so the American Theatre Wing will likely be announcing their lifetime achievement award recipient in the near future. Who do you think should be taking home this prestigious trophy? Scroll down to let us know in our poll which behind-the-scenes creative deserves the honor this year.

The Tony for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre honors an individual’s body of work, and in some years we’ve gotten multiple recipients. Last year legendary five-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury received this honor about four months before her death on October 11 at the age of 96. The following living creatives have already received this award so they’re not eligible to be chosen again: Paul Gemignani, Alan Ayckbourn, Athol Fugard, Jane Greenwood, Sheldon Harnick, Marshall W. Mason, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Harold Wheeler, and Graciela Daniele.

Here are 10 possibilities, all of them creatives over the...

Guests will include Wim Wenders, Joan Baez, Nathan Fielder.

The 20th anniversary edition of Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival (Cph:Dox) includes more than 200 films, of which over 100 are world premieres – the most ever at a single edition of the festival.

The festival will screen 61 titles across five international competition sections: New:Vision, F:Act, Nordic:Dox, Next:Wave and the previously announced Dox:Award titles.

Scroll down for the full list of competition titles

46 of the 61 competition titles are world premieres, with 10 international premieres and five European debuts.

Films directed by women make up 47% of the lineup, with men represented on 38%. Ten percent...

Last year, we heard that Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) would be starring in The Platform director Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia’s virus thriller Rich Flu, and would be joined in the cast by Daniel Brühl (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) and Macaulay Culkin (American Horror Story). Pike, Brühl, and Culkin have since all had to depart the project due to scheduling issues – but Deadline reports that Rich Flu is now filming, with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) taking over the role that once belonged to Pike.

In the cast with Winstead are Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).

Spencer and Jackie director Pablo Larraín is producing Rich Flu with Juan de Dios Larraín, through their Fabula banner. Gaztelu-Urrutia is also producing the film,...

Exclusive: The cast of thriller Rich Flu has been set with Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Star Wars: Ahsoka), Rafe Spall (The Big Short), Lorraine Bracco (The Sopranos), Dixie Egerickx (The Secret Garden), Timothy Spall (Mr. Turner), Jonah Hauer-King (The Little Mermaid), Cesar Domboy (Outlander), Dayana Esebe (LA Star), and Richard Sammel (3 Days To Kill).

Filming has been taking place in Barcelona, Fuerteventura, and Senegal on the movie, which heralds from Pablo Larraín and Juan de Dios Larraín’s Fabula banner, producers of Spencer, Jackie and No.

Sierra/Affinity is handling international sales and has the project available to buyers at this week’s EFM in Berlin. CAA Media Finance and XYZ Films are co-repping domestic.

Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia (The Platform) is directing from a script written by Pedro Rivero, Galder Gaztelu-Urrutia, David Desola and Sam Steiner.

Also producing are Adrián Guerra and Núria Valls via their Nostromo Pictures banner; Carlos Juárez...

Tom Luddy, who co-founded and served as artistic director for the Telluride Film Festival and produced films including “The Secret Garden” and “Barfly,” died Feb. 13 in Berkeley, Calif., after battling a long illness. He was 79.

Luddy co-founded Telluride in 1974 along with Bill Pence, Stella Pence and James Card. Luddy served as co-director, then as artistic director and adviser through 2022. Beginning in a small opera house, the festival evolved into one of the largest and most respected globally over the past five decades.

“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” said Telluride Film Festival executive director Julie Huntsinger in a statement. “I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a sphinx-like quality that took a little time to get around, for some. But once you knew him, you were...

Tom Luddy, the film producer who co-founded Telluride Film Festival, died Monday in Berkeley, California, after a long illness, the festival confirmed. He was 79.

The producer behind films like “The Secret Garden” (1993) and “Barfly” (1987) co-founded the festival in 1974 with Bill and Stella Pence and James Card. He served as co-director, then artistic director and adviser through 2022.

“Tom was a force in the film industry for nearly six decades,” Telluride wrote in a release. “He had a life-long love and passion for film, and a tireless dedication to film restoration, distribution, and exhibition. His presence will be profoundly missed by the many people whose lives were touched by his kindness, artistry, and his innate ability to bring people together to make something beautiful.”

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“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,...

Tom Luddy, co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival and producer of numerous films for Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, died February 13 at a nursing home in Berkeley, CA, where he had been under care for dementia. He was 79.

The festival announced Luddy’s death this morning. The news comes two months after the death of another Telluride co-founder, Bill Pence.

Related Story Hollywood & Media Deaths In 2023: Photo Gallery & Obituaries Related Story Bill Pence Dies: Telluride Film Festival Co-Founder Was 82 Related Story Telluride Review: Werner Herzog's 'Theater Of Thought'

“The world has lost a rare ingredient that we’ll all be searching for, for some time,” said Julie Huntsinger, executive director of the Telluride Film Festival. “I would sometimes find myself feeling sad for those who didn’t get to know Tom Luddy properly. He had a Sphinxlike quality that took a little time to get around, for some.

Every role I’ve done seems to be something where my dad has to die,” says Amir Wilson, wincing a little. His characters have certainly been through a lot. As plucky would-be knight Tiuri, he didn’t have much to laugh about in Netflix’s fantasy series The Letter for the King, in which his adoptive father dies trying to protect him. Or when he played Simba, scion of a famously soon-to-be-trampled-upon Mufasa, in the West End production of The Lion King. And if his character’s father isn’t dying, he’s absent, as in Sky’s whimsical adaptation of The Secret Garden, in which he played Dickon opposite Colin Firth and Julie Walters.

Then there’s his breakthrough role as Will Parry in His Dark Materials, which we’re here to talk about today. That morbid theme continues in the BBC’s complex take on Philip Pullman’s...

Exclusive: A five-part video and podcast series celebrating the life and career of Broadway composer Lucy Simon – one of the final projects the sister of Carly Simon worked on prior to her death last week – launches today on YouTube and the Broadway Podcast Network.

Celebrating Lucy Simon was announced and released today by Broadway Podcast Network Co-Founders Dori Berinstein and Alan Seales. The series will feature never-before-heard stories from The Secret Garden composer Simon herself, as well as from such collaborators as Judy Collins, Marshall Brickman, Marsha Norman, Victoria Clark, and others.

The series will also include new performances by Broadway stars Sierra Boggess, Funny Girl‘s Ramin Karimloo, The Secret Garden original stars Daisy Eagan and John Cameron Mitchell, and others. Eagan, Boggess and Karimloo performed in two New York concert versions of The Secret Garden in 2016. Songs to be performed on the new series will include the musical’s “Wick,...

Carly Simon’s family was struck with tragedy last week when both of her sisters tragically passed away.

Carly’s sister Joanna, an opera singer, died from breast cancer at the age of 85 last Wednesday.

Lucy Simon, a Broadway composer, died from thyroid cancer at 82 the next day.

In Memoriam 2022: 100 Great Celebrities Who Died This Year!

The hit pop star also made a statement confirming their passing and remembering her talented family.

“Their loss will be long and haunting,” Simon said. “We were three sisters who not only took turns blazing trails and marking courses for one another, we were each-other’s secret shares. The co-keeper’s of each other’s memories.”

Joanna Simon was born on October 20, 1936 in The Bronx. She was huge figure in the New York Opera scene from her debut as Cherubino in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro in 1962, and was also known for...

Singer Carly Simon has paid tribute to her elder sisters, Lucy and Joanna, after they both passed away from cancer one day apart.

Simon’s oldest sister, Joanna, died of thyroid cancer on Wednesday (19 October), at the age of 85. Lucy died the following day of metastatic breast cancer, aged 82.

In a statement to People, Simon said the loss of her “incredible” siblings will be “long and haunting”.

“I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon. Their loss will be long and haunting,” Simon said.

“As sad as this day is, it’s impossible to mourn them without celebrating their incredible lives that they lived.

“We were three sisters who not only took turns blazing trails and marking courses for one another, we were each other’s secret shares. The co-keepers of each other’s memories.”

The sisters used to perform together in a...

Pop superstar Carly Simon paid tribute to her sisters – opera singer Joanna Simon and Broadway composer Lucy Simon – who each died of cancer last week within one day of the other.

In a statement obtained by Deadline, Carly says:

I am filled with sorrow to speak about the passing of Joanna and Lucy Simon. Their loss will be long and haunting. As sad as this day is, it’s impossible to mourn them without celebrating their incredible lives that they lived.

We were three sisters who not only took turns blazing trails and marking courses for one another, we were each others secret shares. The co-keepers of each other’s memories. I have no words to explain the feeling of suddenly being the only remaining direct offspring of Richard and Andrea Simon.

They touched everyone they knew and those of us they’ve left behind will be lucky and honored to carry their memories forward.

Carly Simon is in mourning after both of her sisters — the Broadway composer, Lucy Simon, and former opera singer, Joanna Simon — died this week just one day apart of each other.

According to multiple reports, the “You’re So Vain” singer’s two sisters — whose father, Richard Simon, was the publishing magnate and co-founder of publishing giant Simon & Schuster — died from cancer. Joanna died Wednesday from thyroid cancer and Lucy on Thursday following a long battle with breast cancer. Joanna was 85 and Lucy 82, respectively. It’s been reported that Joanna died in a Manhattan hospital while Lucy died at her home in Piedmont, New York.

Lucy and Carly got their start in music as the folk singing duo The Simon Sisters. They would go on to release the song “Wynken, Blynken & Nod,” which charted at No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964. Carly’s career would eventually take off, and she...

In a very sad development, Carly Simon lost both of her sisters this week, with Broadway composer Lucy Simon dying of breast cancer Thursday and former opera singer Joanna Simon passing from thyroid cancer on Wednesday.

Both deaths were confirmed by a source close to pop superstar Carly. Lucy Simon was 82, Joanna Simon was 84.

Born into wealth and a rarified atmosphere of celebrity and literati to Simon & Schuster publisher Richard Simon and wife Andrea, the Simon sisters – their brother Peter was the youngest sibling – would all find their ways to success in professional music careers.

Lucy entered show business in the early 1960s when she and Carly formed the folk singing duo The Simon Sisters, performing in Provincetown, Massachusetts, and New York City’s Greenwich Village. In 1964, the sisters recorded and released the song “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” to moderate success.

Within 10 years Carly Simon would become one of pop music...

Lucy Simon, a Tony-nominated Broadway composer best known for “The Secret Garden” and the older sister of pop singer Carly Simon, died Thursday following a long battle with breast cancer. She was 82.

Her family said she died at her home in Piedmont, New York.

Simon was only the third female composer to have a production on Broadway with “The Secret Garden,” a musical based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. She composed the music with the book and lyrics by Marsha Norman.

In 1991 “The Secret Garden” was nominated for six Tony Awards, including nominations for Best Original Score for Simon and Norman, winning two. The musical ran for 709 performances on Broadway.

Simon also composed the music for the 2011 musical “Doctor Zhivago.”

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Born in 1940 in New York City, Simon began performing as a folk duo with her younger sister,...

Click here to read the full article.

Lucy Simon, the composer and sister of pop superstar Carly Simon who received a Tony nomination in 1991 for her work on the long-running Broadway musical The Secret Garden, has died. She was 82.

Simon died Thursday at her home in Piedmont, New York, after a long battle with breast cancer, a family spokesperson announced.

She and Carly began their careers in Provincetown, Massachusetts, as The Simon Sisters, and their folk act opened for the likes of The Tarriers in Greenwich Village nightclubs. Their recording of “Wynken, Blynken & Nod” reached No. 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964.

Lucy Simon became the rare female composer to have a show on Broadway when The Secret Garden debuted in April 1991. Starring Rebecca Luker, Mandy Patinkin, Alison Fraser and Daisy Eagan and based on Frances Hodgson Burnett’s beloved children’s novel, the musical ran for 709 performances on Broadway, won...

Click here to read the full article.

New York designers learned several lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic, not only in how to sustain a luxury-focused fashion business amid a global lockdown, but also the importance of making choices wholly rooted in personal fulfillment versus a paramount concern about the bottom line. And if a contented designer equals a commercially successful collection, perhaps that’s no accident.

That’s how both Brandon Maxwell and Carolina Herrera creative director Wes Gordon approached the Spring/Summer 2023 collections they debuted this week. Gordon’s presentation at The Plaza exuded an unabashed joy in each of its elements, from its iconic New York location to its spotlight on bright floral prints — a theme inspired by the 1911 Frances Hodgson Burnett novel The Secret Garden — and especially the show’s soundtrack, a mix of Barbra Streisand’s most exuberant Broadway and cinema hits.

“I didn’t want hipster Edm music,...

(Welcome to The Daily Stream, an ongoing series in which the /Film team shares what they've been watching, why it's worth checking out, and where you can stream it.)

The Movie: "The Secret Garden" (1993)

Where You Can Stream It: HBO Max

The Pitch: Young Mary Lennox (Kate Maberly) is an orphan. She was born in British-occupied India, where she was raised by her exceptionally wealthy and thoroughly ineffectual parents who were killed during an earthquake. Mary was always doted on by servants, never wanting for anything ... except basic affection from her mom and dad. In the aftermath of their death, she's sent to live with her estranged uncle, Lord Archibald Craven (John Lynch), in his enormous mansion in the English countryside. The Yorkshire estate, Misselthwaite Manor, is dark and brooding, teeming with her family's long-held secrets of sorrow and loss.

After arriving, Mary is warned by the manor's stern housekeeper,...

Maxime Saada, the chairman and CEO of Canal+ Group and chair of its film and TV subsidiary Studiocanal, has joined the management board of Vivendi.

The arrival of Saada within Vivendi’s management board is part of the company’s recent strategic moves and underscores its ambition to continue growing its international scope and focus on content, media and communications. The management board, which remains chaired by Arnaud de Puyfontaine (who is also CEO), welcomed several other new members alongside Saada.

Last month, Vivendi, whose supervisory board is chaired by Yannick Bolloré, launched a takeover bid for Lagardère, the French publishing and travel retail conglomerate, following the distribution of 60 of the share capital of Universal Music Group and its listing on the Amsterdam stock exchange.

“I am truly honoured to join Vivendi’s management board under the leadership of Yannick Bolloré and Arnaud de Puyfontaine. I am eager to accelerate the transformation,...

Exclusive: Shout! Studios has acquired North American rights to screen adaptation The Magic Flute, which is executive-produced by Roland Emmerich.

Directed by Florian Sigl, the movie is a modern reimagining of Mozart’s opera classic. Cast comprises Jack Wolfe (The Witcher), Oscar winner F. Murray Abraham (Amadeus), Iwan Rheon (Game of Thrones), Stéfi Celma (Call My Agent), Asha Banks (Royal Shakespeare Company), Stefan Konarske (Das Boot), Niamh McCormack (The Witcher), Amir Wilson (The Secret Garden), and Tedros Teclebrhan (System Crasher).

French soprano Sabine Devieilhe (Opéra National de Paris), Mexican-French tenor Rolando Villazón, and U.S. bass Morris Robinson are among the ensemble cast.

The adaptation is set in present-day Europe and tells the story of 17-year-old Tim Walker, who is sent from London to the Austrian alps to start his singing scholarship at the legendary Mozart boarding school. There, he discovers a century old forgotten passageway...

Bridgerton season one arrived on December the 25th 2020 like a highly decorated Christmas gift. Unwrapped, it was a perfect confection of untaxing indulgence, romance and escapism. It told the story of Daphne and Simon, a debutante beauty and an emotionally repressed Duke who teamed up to get everybody off their backs, and who ended up getting on their own backs, and fronts, and sides, and – if I remember this correctly – halfway up the stairs and possibly at one point, a ladder? It was all a marvellous distraction from the real world, with excellent casting that threw open the fusty, cobwebbed door of racially homogeneous period drama to revitalise an over-familiar world.

Now it’s back for season two, with a new romantic plot-line and a bunch of new characters. Here’s who we’ll be meeting across the eight episodes, plus the major returning cast being welcomed back.

Simone Ashley...

HBO and HBO Max will be home to new original films, highly anticipated streaming debuts of new releases, and the finales of three popular series throughout February. Below, we’ve assembled a complete list of everything new on HBO and HBO Max in February 2022, and it includes a new thriller from director Steven Soderbergh and starring Zoe Kravitz called “Kimi.” The original feature takes place in a Covid-19 pandemic Seattle and follows an agoraphobic tech worker who discovers violent crimes have occurred in a data stream. The Max Original film premieres on Feb. 10.

Also coming in February is the “Raised by Wolves” Season 2 premiere on Feb. 3, with new episodes released weekly, as well as the season premiere of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” on Feb. 20. And coming to a close in February are the original series “Euphoria,” “And Just Like That…” and “Peacemaker,” which all air finales this month.

For its list of new releases of February 2022, HBO Max is bringing back one of its biggest original series.

The Ridley Scott-directed sci-fi epic Raised by Wolves helped launch HBO Max back in 2020 and now it’s finally back for another season. Raised by Wolves season 2 premieres with three episodes on Feb. 3. This season will continue the conflict between future atheists and theists on a remote planet, while two androids raise some kids.

February 2022 also sees the end of another, more recent HBO Max hit. Peacemaker airs its finale on Feb. 17. Thankfully that same day sees the premiere of another exciting original. Dream Raider is a Mandarin-language sci-fi thriller that carries some big Inception vibes.

There aren’t many original movies of note this month, but there are a lot of recent hits coming to HBO Max as library titles. Nightmare Alley arrives on Feb. 1, followed by The Many Saints of Newark on Feb.

Jack Viertel, whose 34 years with Broadway’s Jujamcyn Theaters included stints as both the Creative Director and, more recently, Senior Vice President, announced his retirement today, effective as of the end of 2021.

In a statement, Viertel said, in part, “as the song says, the days grow short when you reach September, although I feel like I’m really only in mid-August. Still, it was time to move along, with gratitude for everything Jujamcyn has given me.” Viertel said he is working on a new book and will continue to serve as a freelance creative consultant on other projects.

See his full statement below.

Viertel joined Jujamcyn in 1987, launching his career there that would include involvement in numerous award-winning and acclaimed productions, including such era-defining stagings as Into The Woods, M. Butterfly, Angels in America, Jelly’s Last Jam and The Secret Garden. He’d also play an instrumental role in...

When the Harry Potter series cast came together for HBO Max's reunion special, Harry Potter: Return to Hogwarts, there were a few notable absences. One of the most noticeable was Julie Walters, who played Molly Weasley throughout the entire film series. As it turns out, her absence in the special is most likely part of her semiretirement from acting.

Walters, already a British acting icon, became the beloved "mom" of a generation as the matriarch of the Weasley family, but that's far from her only claim to fame. She's starred in dozens of movies and TV shows and earned multiple awards (including two Oscar nominations). Her most recent roles include Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again, Mary Poppins Returns, and The Secret Garden.

In late 2020, however, Walters told The Times that she had retired from acting after receiving a diagnosis of stage three bowel cancer. She has since undergone...

Chicago – In my one encounter with Dean Stockwell back in 2013, he was properly off-kilter and amazing, as you expect from Frank in “Blue Velvet.” But Stockwell was so much more, starting as a child actor in Hollywood’s Golden Age, morphing to the hippie era and getting a major comeback with David Lynch and TV’s Quantum Leap.” He died in New York City on November 7th, 2021, at age 85.

Robert Dean Stockwell was born in North Los Angeles, and because he was a child actor he worked in the Golden Age of the 1940s Hollywood studio system. His first major role came when he was 11 years old, playing opposite Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra in “Anchors Aweigh” (1945). He became the go-to child star in classics such as “The Boy with the Green Hair’ (1946), “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), “Song of the Thin Man” (1947) and “The Secret Garden” (1949), often with another child co-star (and...

Docuseries

Amazon Prime Video and Rtg Features have dropped the trailer for “Pau Gasol: It’s About the Journey,” announced by Variety in April of this year, a four-part docuseries covering the twilight of the former NBA star’s career which will premiere on Prime Video in more than 200 countries on Nov. 12.

A Lakers legend, Gasol’s last NBA game was in March of 2019 when, shortly after signing with the Milwaukee Bucks, a team that looked perhaps one star short of their first NBA title in nearly half a century, Gasol’s season and NBA career were ended prematurely by a stress fracture. A year later, he signed for Fc Barcelona’s men’s basketball team, where he began his professional career more than 20 years ago, to prepare for his final appearance with the Spanish Men’s National Team at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

“In this documentary, I tell the...

British acting duo Emma Thompson and Jim Broadbent have signed up to star in the 3-part Agatha Christie adaptation ‘Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?.’

Thompson and Broadbent, who will play British aristocrats Lord and Lady Marcham, will join Lucy Boynton who takes on the role of their daughter Lady Frankie, Will Poulter as Bobby Jones and Hugh Laurie and as creepy sanitorium director Dr. James Nicholson.

Based on Christie’s 1934 mystery, the story centres on the local Vicar’s son, Bobby Jones (Poulter), and his whip-smart friend, socialite Lady Frances ‘Frankie’ Derwent (Boynton) on their crime-solving adventure after they discover the crumpled body of a dying man who, with his last breath, gasps the cryptic question of the title.

Also in news – Brendan Fraser joins cast of Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’

Armed only with a photograph of a beautiful young woman found in the dead man’s pocket,...

“Killing Eve” writer Isis Davis is on board the first project out of “Tehran” executive producer Julien Leroux’s new company, Paper Entertainment.

Drama “Your Eyes” is in development at Paper, with Davis set to serve as writer. The series is centred on family, race and identity and told from the experience of an “unconventionally diverse modern family,” according to promotional materials.

Davis, an up-and-coming talent, is also an actor and recently starred in “The Secret Garden” with Colin Firth and Julie Walters. As an actor, she has also appeared in “Silent Witness” (BBC One), “Electric Dreams” (Channel 4) and the films “Bruno” and “Lie Low.” She won the Best Script Award at the 2017 British Urban Film Festival for her screenplay “Draw” and joined the writing team for BBC America’s “Killing Eve” and upcoming BBC One series “Champion.”

“Your Eyes” is based on the feature film and series “Il a déjà tes yeux,...

Hamilton, who became Studiocanal UK CEO last year, talks libraries, windows and a new Apple channel.

It has been a turbulent year for UK distribution veteran Alex Hamilton, who became CEO of Studiocanal UK in April 2020, early on in the Covid-19 pandemic.

With cinemas closed and production suspended, it was a challenging period to take up the reins. However, Hamilton’s strategy is now beginning to come into focus.

The Railway Children Return, the first UK production made by the company since he arrived, has just finished shooting and post-production is now steaming ahead. The film, directed by Morgan Matthews...

Exclusive: The King’s Man and Quantum Of Solace star Gemma Arterton is set to play Jackie Kennedy in new feature 37 Heavens, we can reveal.

The movie will chart the much-speculated-about relationship between Kennedy and British diplomat Lord David Harlech, who will be played by Mare Of Easttown and The Hurt Locker star Guy Pearce.

Metro International is launching international sales on the hot package ahead of the Cannes virtual market with CAA Media Finance repping North America.

The Third Day and The Secret Garden director Marc Munden will direct from a script by Steve Austin. Production is scheduled for early 2022.

The film will chart the highly-publicized 1967 visit Kennedy made to Cambodia with Harlech, the war veteran and former British Ambassador to the Kennedy White House. Arriving in Cambodia as the personal guest of Prince Sihanouk, who is desperate to restore diplomatic ties with the United States, the former First...

The Revenant star Will Poulter and Bohemian Rhapsody’s Lucy Boynton are to lead the cast of Hugh Laurie’s three-part adaptation of Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?.

Deadline revealed that The Night Manager and House star was behind the adaptation in April and the series is starting production this week.

Based on the 1934 Agatha Christie novel, Why Didn’t They Ask Evans? follows the local Vicar’s son, Bobby Jones (Poulter), and his whip-smart friend, socialite Lady Frances “Frankie” Derwent (Boynton) on their crime-solving adventure after they discover the crumpled body of a dying man who, with his last breath, gasps the cryptic question of the title. Armed only with a photograph of a beautiful young woman found in the dead man’s pocket, these amateur detectives pursue, and are pursued by, the answer to the mystery.

The series is commissioned by BritBox North...