Featuristic Films has unveiled an exclusive first look at the feature documentary 'Afghanistan.' It follows filmmaker James Glancy, a former British Royal Marine Commando who was decorated in 2012 for his actions in combat, as he returns to Afghanistan with a small, handpicked team to help him answer the question that has haunted him over the past decade: Was it worth it? Dramatically, mid-way through the shoot, President Joe Biden announced that the U.S. would be pulling troops out by 9/11, starting a Taliban offensive that has led to the dramatic fall this week of the Afghan government, amidst chaotic evacuation scenes in Kabul as American forces withdraw.

https://variety.com/2021/film/global/afghanistan-james-glancy-featuristic-films-1235042807/

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A group of more than 100 Hollywood publicity firms say they are concerned about the Hollywood Foreign Press Associations recently released plans to overhaul the ogranization. We will continue to refrain from any HFPA sanctioned events, including press conferences, unless and until ...

https://variety.com/2021/awards/news/golden-globes-reform-plans-hfpa-hollywood-foreign-press-association-1234968927/

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Chance the Rapper has wrapped up a deal with AMC Theatres to have a new concert film, Magnificent Coloring World, premiere exclusively on the chains screens this summer. A teaser was issued Friday for the movie, which celebrates five years since the release of Chances ...

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/chance-the-rapper-amc-theatres-release-concert-film-1234968989/

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Michaela Coel is best known as a creator of great art, with I May Destroy You and Chewing Gum, but shes also a consumer. And her taste in movies, television, podcasts and books is as varied in tone as that of her work. Over the last year, Coel dove into heady podcasts and...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/eurovision-michaela-coel-i-may-destroy-you-1234968926/

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This week, Van Morrison put the crazy in Crazy Love. His new release, the double album Latest Record Project, Vol. 1, spans over two hours and consists of a series of bizarre rants and blues numbers that criticize millennial culture, Facebook, the mainstream media, psychiatrists, judges and, with no...

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/van-morrison-craziest-lyrics-album-latest-record-project-1234969093/

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Belgian composer Peter Baert had never worked on feature film scoring until a chance encounter with actor and filmmaker David Oyelowo changed that. The two first met when Oyelowo was in Brussels shooting Les Miserables and needed a studio to record a voiceover narration for Penguin ...

https://variety.com/2021/artisans/news/peter-baert-david-oyelowo-water-man-1234968742/

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Twenty years since the release of her first album, Miranda Lambert still happily confounds countrys hardcore traditionalists as to who she is, precisely, while maintaining Texas and Nashvilles interest and fandom. Precise just isnt her thing. Ruckus-raising revenge fantasias; housewife tomes ...

https://variety.com/2021/music/album-reviews/miranda-lambert-marfa-tapes-jon-randall-jack-ingram-1234969181/

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March marked the 65th anniversary of the wrap of the first season of the Mickey Mouse Club, and the recent death of one of the original Mouseketeers, Johnny Crawford, reminded fans of the enduring talent that the show, and especially its early 1990s iteration, brought to the entertainment industry. ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/spotlight/mouseketeers-1234969044/

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Miley Cyrus opened the May 8 episode of Saturday Night Live with a song dedicated to all the moms out there. Taking place the night before Mothers Day, this episode has historically been treated as a Mothers Day episode, with special songs and sketches ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/saturday-night-live-may-8-cold-open-1234969423/

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Wrath of Man, a heist thriller starring Jason Statham, is leading box office charts with its $8.1 million debut. Its hardly the start to summer movie season, which typically kicks off the first weekend in May, that many theater owners were hoping would ignite with Marvels...

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/box-office-wrath-of-man-opening-weekend-1234969499/

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Adriana Ugarte, star of hit Spanish TV drama The Time in Between and Pedro Almodvars Julieta, will play the lead role in Atresmedia original series Madre. A remake of successful Turkish TV drama Anne, in turn an adaptation of Japanese series Mother, Madre continues Spanish media conglomerate ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/adriana-ugarte-atresmedia-tv-buendia-estudios-madre-1234969619/

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In todays Global Bulletin, the deceasing average of ages in BAFTA TV actress nominees raises ageism concerns; Gary Barlow sets music show at the BBC; RED Productions hires Chloe Dunbar as head of development; the European Audiovisual Observatory and the U.K.s Department for Digital, ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/global/bafta-women-ageism-study-1234967715/

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Variety's Awards Circuit is home to the official predictions for the upcoming Emmys ceremonies from film awards editor Clayton Davis. Following history, buzz, news, reviews and sources, the Emmy predictions are updated regularly with the current year's list of contenders in all categories. Variety's...

https://variety.com/feature/2021-emmys-predictions-primetime-emmy-nominations-1234968276/

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In the new movie Here Today, Billy Crystal and Tiffany Haddish play an unlikely duo who form a May-December friendship. Off-screen, the comedy stars have grown just as close. In fact, when Haddish celebrated her bat mitzvah in late 2019 with a star-studded shindig, Crystal was in attendance ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/billy-crystal-tiffany-haddish-here-today-bat-mitzvah-1234966805/

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What is dead may never die, and thus, the world of Game of Thrones will live on at HBO with prequel series House of the Dragon. While its only been two years since we waved goodbye to Game of Thrones, it feels like an eternity since we last traveled ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/game-of-thrones-house-of-the-dragon-cast-plot-release-date-1234968178/

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The Paramount Plus streaming service will be launched in Australia and New Zealand in August. It joins an increasingly crowded marketplace, but claims local traction through ViacomCBSs ownership of Australian linear channel Channel Ten and a handful of local content commissions. The launch ...

https://variety.com/2021/streaming/asia/paramount-plus-australia-new-zealand-launch-1234968569/

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Lotus Entertainment and ROAR have boarded French Touch, a music-filled coming-of-age movie set in New York, starring French singer-songwriter David Hallyday and his real-life daughter Emma Smet. The film will be directed by Shirley Monsarrat, who most recently helmed season 7 of the ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/global/french-touch-david-halliday-lotus-entertainment-1234968713/

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YouTube, locked in a fight with Roku, is doing an end-around to let customers access the YouTube TV from its main app on connected TV platforms. YouTube is launching a new feature that lets users access to YouTube TV from within the YouTube app, starting with Roku. The move comes after Roku last ...

https://variety.com/2021/digital/news/roku-youtube-tv-access-youtube-app-1234968887/

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BTS has set the television performance debut of the groups forthcoming single, Butter, for the Billboard Music Awards May 23. The vocal group will perform remotely from Korea on the show, to be broadcast on NBC live across time zones in the U.S. at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Butter, ...

https://variety.com/2021/music/news/bts-butter-billboard-music-awards-performance-premiere-1234970665/

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Giorgio Dirittis biopic Hidden Away, about crazed primitivist painter Antonio Ligabue, was the big winner at Italys 66th David di Donatello Awards, the countrys top film prizes. The Davids were held with an in-person ceremony aired from two venues amid a strong spirit of restart as Italian movie ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/giorgio-dirittis-hidden-away-italys-david-awards-sophia-loren-1234970972/

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Chernobyl producer Sister is adapting the hit Audible original podcast West Cork for TV. Created by Sam Bungey and Jennifer Forde, West Cork is an investigation into the 1996 murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier. Du Plantier, a French film producer, was found...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/global/sister-sophie-du-plantier-west-cork-1234972102/

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James McAvoy (Split, His Dark Materials) and Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe, Military Wives) are set to front Dennis Kellys romantic drama Together. Directed by Emmy and BAFTA award-winning director Stephen Daldry (The Crown), the film is set in the U.K. from the first days of the COVID-19 lockdown in ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/global/james-mcavoy-sharon-horgan-together-1234972250/

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Gemma Arterton (Black Narcissus) and Shazad Latif (Star Trek: Discovery) will join James Norton (McMafia) in the thriller Chasing Agent Freegard. Chasing Agent Freegard is based on the story of British conman Robert Hendy-Freegard...

https://variety.com/2021/film/global/chasing-agent-freegard-shazad-latif-gemma-arterton-james-norton-1234972173/

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All eyes will be on the Canadian TV industry over the next month as major players such as public broadcaster CBC, Bell Media, Rogers and Corus unveil their 2021-22 upfront plans. But this year, in the wake of heavy hitters like Schitts Creek and Kims Convenience coming to an end, the pressure for ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/global/schitts-creek-kims-convenience-canada-tv-1234971786/

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Cherry Jones has joined the cast of the upcoming Apple drama series Five Days at Memorial,Variety has learned. The series is based on the Sheri Fink novel of the same name. It chronicles the first five days in a New Orleans, LA, hospital after Hurricane Katrina made landfall. When the ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/cherry-jones-apple-hurricane-katrina-series-five-days-at-memorial-1234972543/

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Before NBC Universals upfront presentation on Monday to advertisers, the company announced dozens of new shows for Bravo, E!, USA Network, Oxygen, and SYFY. In the press release, 33 new unscripted shows were announced along with 30 shows returning to the suite of channels. Among the ...

https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/below-deck-kandi-burruss-southern-charm-summer-house-nbcu-upfront-1234972584/

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Marvel Studios Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and 20th Centurys Free Guy will open in movie theaters exclusively, Disney CEO Bob Chapek announced during a Q2 earnings call on Thursday. But both films will only play in theaters for 45 days before ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/disney-shang-chi-free-guy-45-day-window-1234972782/

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Michael Jai White, whose work as an an actor, director and writer includes Arrow, The Dark Knight, Spawn and Mortal Kombat: Legacy, announced the launch of Jaigantic Studios, which will be Connecticuts first mini-major studio. White has ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/michael-jai-white-launch-jaigantic-studios-connecticut-1234972986/

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The Venice Film Festival is gearing up to take place as a full-fledged physical event in September with a back-to-normal atmosphere and what could be a high-profile selection of films. While the Toronto Film Festival, which runs Sept. 9-18, is sticking with a combination of digital and in-person ...

https://variety.com/2021/film/news/venice-film-festival-2021-dune-films-red-carpet-1234972195/

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Paramount Television Studios and Anonymous Content are getting ready to relocate the filming of ambitious Apple TV Plus series Shantaram to Thailand in July, Variety can reveal. The 10-part series is based on Gregory David Roberts tome about a man on the run from prison in Australia, who flees to ...

https://variety.com/2021/streaming/asia/shantaram-apple-thailand-charlie-hunnam-1234973197/

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