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Socially-conservative Japan seems to be in no rush to follow its neighbors in East Asia and roll out the pink carpet to the LGBTQ community or recognize same-sex marriages. But where the Japanese entertainment industry is slowly heading, courts and municipal authorities are following. The untroubled July arrival of the country’s first same-sex dating reality […]

“Hey Joe,” a drama in which James Franco plays a U. S. Navy sailor stationed in post-World War II Naples, will world premiere at the Rome Film Festival next month. The gritty film, directed by Claudio Giovannesi (“Gomorrah” TV series, “Piranhas”), is produced by Italy’s Palomar in tandem with RAI Cinema and Vision Distribution, which will […]

Johnny Depp will be honored with a career award at the Rome Film Festival, where “Modi – Three Days on the Wing of Madness” – his film about the final days of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani — will launch in Italy following its bow at San Sebastian. “Modi,” which stars Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio as the […]

Filmmaker and editorial cartoonist Aurel will follow up his César-winner “Josep” with “Desert,” an animated Western set in France’s Cevennes mountain range.  Pitched between a more traditional oater and an “Indiana Jones” style adventure and set in the late 19th century, “Desert” will follow a Mexico-born gunslinger exploring south-central France with a mysterious mission.

Channing Dungey, Warner Bros. TV Group chairman and CEO, will deliver a keynote address at Mipcom in Cannes next month. The executive will participate in a fireside chat on Oct. 21 in the Grand Auditorium of the Palais des Festivals as part of the “C-Suite Conversations” series in partnership with Variety.

Everyone’s favorite reindeer is set to return for the third time in the hit CGI animated film “Niko – Beyond the Northern Lights,” with a clip (below) debuting exclusively with Variety. He’ll learn some important life lessons in the film. “I guess we like to make things difficult for Niko,” jokes director Kari Juusonen.