brightlight Archives

Nov262025 by cineverseNo Comments

Zootopia 2’ Review: Where Disney’s Critter-Driven Cartoon Favored Mammals, Its Reptile-Inclusive Sequel Tips the Scales

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By Peter Debruge According To The variety Nine years is a lifetime for foxes and hares. But it’s also the ideal space between installments in a thoughtful animated franchise (see “Inside Out 2”). Back in 2016, Disney’s wildly popular “Zootopia” showed vulnerable species trying to get along with those that might normally attempt to eat them. Now, the toon studio’s well-crafted follow-up focuses on a different kind of predator: greedy land grabbers. To say more might spoil the mystery, and that would be a shame, as it’s one of the things that makes “Zootopia 2” such a worthy successor. Both that film and its horizon-extending sequel plug anthropomorphic characters of all shapes, sizes and speeds (the sloth is back) into classic “Chinatown”-style detective stories, populating adult-cali...

Nov262025 by cineverseNo Comments

Lesley Manville-Starring Cold War Thriller ‘Winter of the Crow’ Sells to Cohen for U.S. as HanWay Closes Multiple Deals (EXCLUSIVE)

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By Alex Ritman According To The variety “Winter of the Crow,” Kasia Adamik’s English language feature starring Oscar and BAFTA nominee Lesley Maville (“Phantom Thread”) has sold to Cohen Media Group for the U.S. HanWay Films has also closed multiple territory sales including YouPlanet in Spain, Signature Entertainment in the UK & Ireland, Beta Film in Bulgaria, Cinemania Group in Former Yugoslavia, The Film Group in Greece, Forum in Israel, Frontrow Films in the Middle East, Outsider Films in Portugal, Ad Astra in Ukraine, CInetel in Hungary, Shaw Renters in Singapore and Cinesky Pictures for Airlines. The producers locked in an early distribution deal with Telewizja Polska for Polish rights “Winter of the Crow” sees Manville play Joan Andrews, an ordinary woman...

Nov252025 by cineverseNo Comments

Scarlett Johansson to Star in New ‘Exorcist’ Movie

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By Rebecca Rubin According To The variety Scarlett Johansson will star in the next “Exorcist” movie for Universal and Blumhouse-Atomic Monster. Mike Flanagan is writing, directing and producing the newest installment, which has been described as a “radical new take” on the property. The original “Exorcist,” directed by William Friedkin, follows a mother (Ellen Burstyn) who hires two Catholic priests to perform an exorcism on her demonically possessed 12-year-old (Linda Blair). Released in 1973, the film was a critical and commercial hit with $441 million globally in addition to 10 Oscar nominations “Scarlett is a brilliant actress whose captivating performances always feel grounded and real, from genre films to summer blockbusters, and I couldn’t be happier to have her j...

Nov252025 by cineverseNo Comments

My Father’s Shadow’ Director Akinola Davies Jr. Among 2025 BAFTA Breakthroughs

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By Alex Ritman According To The variety The British Academy has unveiled the 2025 cohort for BAFTA Breakthrough U.K., featuring 20 creatives-to-watch in the film, TV and games. Among the crop of names to make the list this year are Akinola Davies Jr., who turned heads in Cannes with his directorial debut “My Father’s Shadow.” The film went on to get a special mention from the Un Certain Regard jury, was selected to represent the U.K. at the Oscars and leads the pack of nominees going into this weekend’s British Independent Film Awards. Supported by Netflix since 2019, the year-round initiative provides hand-selected creatives from a vast range of disciplines, who are on the cusp or in the midst of a breakthrough moment, with a springboard to the nex...

Nov232025 by cineverseNo Comments

TikToker Tale ‘Deshlai’ From Director Q Secures Platoon One Distribution for 2026, Confirms Chorki Streaming Deal (EXCLUSIVE)

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By Naman Ramachandran According To The variety Platoon One Films has come aboard as distributor and sales agent for “Deshlai” (Zewel), a film from iconoclastic Indian filmmaker Q, with plans to release the project across multiple territories beginning February 2026. The deal follows the film’s world premiere as the closing night selection at Tasveer Film Festival 2025. “Deshlai” follows a young Bangladeshi TikToker named Zewel who aspires to become a hero on the platform as a matchstick master and firestarter. His rising follower count is disrupted when his elder brother is arrested for selling drugs, forcing Zewel to flee to India and leave behind everything, including TikTok. A larger tragedy awaits him across the border. The project, from Q’s Oddjoint, first emerged at ...

Nov232025 by cineverseNo Comments

Cannes Winner ‘A Useful Ghost’ Takes Top Honors at QCinema in Philippines

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By Naman Ramachandran According To The variety Thai debut feature “A Useful Ghost,” which won the grand prix at Cannes Critics’ Week earlier this year, continued its festival success at the 13th QCinema International Film Festival in the Philippines. Directed by Ratchapoom Boonbunchachoke, the film won the Asian Next Wave best picture and the artistic achievement award for production design. “A Useful Ghost,” which tells the story of a wife’s spirit reincarnated as a vacuum cleaner amid themes of environmental and family struggles, was also the festival’s closing film. The jury — comprising Filipino actor John Arcilla, Karlovy Vary programmer Martin Horyna, Epic Media’s Bianca Balbuena-Liew, and journalist Liz Shackleton — praised the film “for seamlessly weaving together a...

Nov232025 by cineverseNo Comments

‘Black Red Yellow’ Review: Kyrgyz Oscar Entry Weaves the Serene Rhythms of Traditional Rug-Making With an Unassuming Love Story

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By Tomris Laffly According To The variety Rooted in unassuming pastoral rhythms, veteran Kyrgyz writer-director Aktan Arym Kubat’s “Black Red Yellow” gently weaves a placid story of love and tradition around a proud Kyrgyz village that has seen better days. Co-written by Topchugul Shaidullayeva, the delicate drama channels a kind of unfussy and serene clarity that obliquely brings to mind the films of Edward Yang and Yasujiro Ozu. Often erring on the side of excessive stillness and silence, “Black Red Yellow” — this year’s Academy Awards submission from Kyrgyzstan — doesn’t quite find its emotional footing within its compact running time. Still, there is something worthwhile about the window Kubat opens into the community depicted and all the people who contribute to it in the best...