Latest in Festivals

UPDATED with Season 6 teaser shown in the room: Just hours after Deadline exclusively revealed that Marvel's Agent's of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be ending after its seventh season, the ABC series took the stage at Comic-Con's Hall H for the beginning of a long goodbye. "This has been an incredible journey," Agent Coulson…

"It's the most purely promotional thing that exists," Deadline's Genre Editor Geoff Boucher declares bluntly of the superhero- and science fiction-fueled extravaganza that is San Diego Comic-Con. "It's as personal as an auto-show," the Hero Nation kingpin adds of the 50th annual confab that kicks off today. In that…

The Band are coming to the Toronto Film Festival. Rock doc Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band about The Weight rockers is to open the festival as its Opening Night Gala Presentation on September 5. It will be the world premiere of the doc, which is directed by Ghosts of Our Forest director Daniel Roher…

The Venice Film Festival has set Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth (La Verite) as its opening night screening. This is the first film the Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters director has made abroad and boasts a powerhouse cast led by Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke. The Truth will screen in competition and…

The Venice Film Festival has set its pre-opening night event with the screening of Ecstasy, the Gustav Machaty-directed erotic romance drama that caused a scandal on the Lido when it was originally shown during the 1934 edition. The Czech-language film stars Hedy Lamarr (then Hedy Kiesler) and stirred controversy as…

EXCLUSIVE: Damien Navarro, a content development and digital media executive, has been selected as the new executive director of Outfest. The move comes after an eight-month search to replace Christopher Racster, who is exiting the role at the conclusion of the nonprofit organization’s flagship event, the Los…

The Napa Valley Film Festival has hired Tom Tardio, the former longtime chief executive of entertainment marketing and PR giant Rogers & Cowan, as its CEO. He starts in the post immediately and will oversee all aspects of the annual festival including managing staff, fundraising, and developing new and existing…

Emmy winner Lena Waithe and director Melina Matsoukas were on hand at the 25th annual Essence Festival to present the first 13-minutes of the forthcoming feature, Queen and Slim.  The Universal Pictures and Makeready film stars Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith as a couple whose first date goes awry after the two…

“One thing that people don't understand about the Me Too movement is that people think that people come forward to get money, people come forward to get fame. The deal is you only get paid for silence,” said Terry Crews, during a discussion at the 25th annual Essence Festival, Essence magazine’s 3-day confab that…

The story told in Brian Banks is unfortunately all too familiar. The eponymous biopic, directed by Tom Shadyac, chronicles the true story of the All-American football player who had committed to USC by his junior year, then had his life upended when he was falsely accused and convicted of rape, to being exonerated…

France's national film body, the CNC, has set changes to eligibility rules for the submission of a local title as the country's representative for the Foreign Language Oscar race (now known as the International Feature Film category). It is also overhauling the selection committee which convenes each year in September…

Yellow Veil Pictures has acquired world sales rights for Blood On Her Name, a Southern gothic thriller directed by newcomer Matt Pope and starring Bethany Anne Lind (Ozark), Will Patton (Remember The Titans), and Elisabeth Röhm (Joy). Blood on Her Name will make its world premiere on July 17 at Montreal’s venerable…