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The 28-year-old posted his first story of the pandemic in September. Three months later, his work was discovered by Ground Control Entertainment’s Scott Glassgold. In June, Netflix announced a screen-rights deal for his story “We Used to Live Here,” with Blake Lively attached to star and produce alongside Ground Control and Matt Reeves’ 6th & Idaho. “If it wasn’t for CERB (the unemployment program), I would be landscaping right now,” Kliewer told IndieWire....

Under the federal government’s American Rescue Plan to aid economic recovery from the pandemic, the National Endowment for the Arts received funding for grants to support operating costs at arts organizations. Nearly 600 festivals and film organizations applied for the competitive grants, offered in tiers of $50,000, $100,000, and $150,000. This week, the rejection letters started rolling in. I don’t expect Netflix to lose sleep over the skeleton crews that run beloved local festivals from Seattle to Philadelphia, where non-profits struggle to make rent and hold on to their staffs....

Mann was inspired to create Flawless after he saw a foreign-language dub of “Heist.” The director remembered how obsessive De Niro was in the creation of the character, going so far as to analyze what cufflinks would be best for his character to wear. But all the specific choices De Niro made to create the character went out the window with a bad dub. “The dubs effectively removed the way [De Niro] made character decisions, by changing dialogue to fit his facial movements, instead of adapting the script and staying true to his performance,” Mann said....

The project will bring “Oldboy” and “The Handmaiden” director Park Chan-wook back to television following his 2018 limited series “The Little Drummer Girl,” which starred Florence Pugh, Alexander Skarsgård, and Michael Shannon. “Adapting Mr. Nguyen’s important and masterful work requires a visionary team,” Downey Jr. told Deadline in a statement. “With Director Park at the helm, I expect this to be a creative producing adventure for Susan, me and Team Downey, and a stimulating process for myself in playing these complex supporting roles....

Consider how Netflix stock hits a new low each day in part to an overreliance on algorithms and too much content that not enough people watch. The overwhelming amount of global content production has forced even the biggest streamers to realize that curatorial decisions matter more than pure data, which means the skillsets of a programmer — and it is a skill — should be at their highest demand. This is particularly true for film festivals, which are defined by curation....

Before sharing my thoughts on the passing of the great Chadwick Boseman, I first offer my condolences to his family who meant so very much to him. To his wife, Simone, especially. I inherited Marvel and the Russo Brothers’ casting choice of T’Challa. It is something that I will forever be grateful for. The first time I saw Chad’s performance as T’Challa, it was in an unfinished cut of “Captain America: Civil War....

“The film is tackling a few heavy existential questions,” said Batiste. “Where does our soul come from? What is our purpose in life? And I had a lot of experience as a musician that I could bring to Joe, trying to get his big break. I wanted to find some jazz music that had an ethereal and very universal, accessible form with melodies and harmonies that had that same spirit. So there’s an optimism in them, and it’s also a bit melancholy at the same time, and there’s ways that you can modulate and change the key, and it just hits you [emotionally]....