Daring, non-English language cinema challenges even the bravest distributors. That was certainly the situation at Cannes last July, when more than one buyer told me they were having a hard time parsing the marketplace potential for several of the festival’s critical darlings. One of these was “Drive My Car,” which took 30 minutes to roll its opening credits and used a quiet, enigmatic approach to craft the world of a widowed theater director rediscovering his creative passion through a multilingual version of “Uncle Vanya....

That was a shock to the developers of the virtual reality headset, which Taiwanese smartphone company HTC and video game developer Valve released one year earlier, but it opened a whole new potential to the technology that has only just started to take root — a cost-effective approach to motion-capture technology that could revolutionize the way stories are told. Over the past year, as virtual productions have increased during the pandemic, that potential has become more prominent than ever....

Directors Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert had been fans of Son Lux and sought them out precisely because of their ability to reconcile different musical elements and ideas into a cohesive whole — a microcosm of the movie. “Both of them had observations throughout this process, both in a big picture sense and also in terms of small details, that ended up being pretty foundational to the score,” Bhatia told IndieWire....

Why the ACMs? It’s not as random as you might think. The ACMs are not the only canary in the coal mine of awards shows leaving linear television. Tonight, the 57th ACM Awards will live-stream globally in all but two territories, India and Singapore; last week, the 28th annual Screen Actors Guild Awards began streaming on HBO Max. (The SAG Awards aired live on the Turner cable channels one day ahead of migrating to Max....

“When I was getting into this business, the playbook for being a movie star was being mysterious,” the 53-year-old actor said in a recent interview with IndieWire. “Don’t let anybody in. Leave them wanting more. Don’t reveal things. Project a certain image.” Recent shifts to the culture landscape have led him to reverse course. “Now I think there’s a responsibility for someone like me to discuss the fear of talking about vulnerability,” he said....

BAFTA award winner Ackie stars as the late icon for musical biopic “I Wanna Dance with Somebody,” in theaters December 21. The film, written by Oscar-nominated “Bohemian Rhapsody” screenwriter Anthony McCarten and directed by Kasi Lemmons (“Eve’s Bayou,” “Harriet”), charts Houston’s life and legacy, starting with her groundbreaking record deal with Clive Davis, played by Stanley Tucci. “My dream: Sing what I want to sing, be who I want to be,” Ackie as Houston says in the trailer....

Season 5 of “Inside Amy Schumer” officially premieres October 20 on Paramount+, six years after the series went off Comedy Central. “I wanted to bring back ‘Inside Amy Schumer’ to burn any remaining bridges,” Schumer said. “‘Inside Amy Schumer’ is returning for another season, and it’s better than ever. Well, not as good as Season 3, but close. We will be airing on the hottest piece of ass, Paramount+. So, sit down and open your pants (so you’re comfortable, not in a sexual way) because we’re not holding anything back....