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The character of Lina in The Conference, played by Katia Winter, is well-rounded, having a strong voice of her own. Her individuality makes her stand out from the rest of the people at her office. The actress is known for the significant roles she played in award-winning series like Dexter and Sleepy Hollow. Streaming on Netflix, the Swedish film has been directed by Patrik Eklund, and it is worth mentioning that even in a gore thriller, the director has been able to shape the character of the protagonist quite well. The Conference can be compared to other gore slasher films like Wrong Turn, Final Destination, The Babysitter, and others. Lina dares to question the injustice that her company has caused to a farmer and his family by uprooting from their land. This costs her some ugly stares from her colleagues. How she manages to find proof of the wrongdoing and...

Plenty of haunted, Halloween and holiday options will crop up on Netflix in the month of October. The harvest doesn’t seem too lean despite the almost five-month writers strike that viewers are sure to feel next year, but at least the WGA and AMPTP have reached a deal, and hopefully, SAG-AFTRA is not too far behind. Luckily, Halloween and fall have a classic canon of films and TV shows that stretches back decades, and some of those staple watches will be available through Netflix throughout the month.

Movies include “Casper,” “Scarface” and the first two “The Amazing Spider-Man” films. New arrivals worth the wait include Denis Villeneuve’s “Dune” starring Zendaya and Timotheé Chalamet among other heavy hitters, “Fair Play” with Phoebe Dynevor and Alden Ehrenreich and David Yates’ “Pain Hustlers” starring Emily Blunt and Chris Evans. Mike Flanagan’s “Fall of the House of Usher” is sure to...

There are a few standout new releases on Netflix in October, but it’s a rather quiet month on the world’s most popular streaming service otherwise!

Highlights this month include a brand-new series from Spook Master Mike Flanagan. The Fall of the House of Usher is a gothic tale loosely based on the short story of the same name by Edgar Allan Poe, and tells the story of two extremely unpleasant siblings whose family dynasty ends up going to hell in a handbasket. Before you ask: yes, Rahul Kohli is in it. That’s all that a lot of people need to know here (we’re people).

Elsewhere, Netflix is dropping a few interesting-looking docuseries, including one on football legend David Beckham. It promises to be an “intimate portrait” of Beckham, and the filmmakers were apparently granted unprecedented access to the sportsman and his family while making it.

Here...

Looking to up your Halloween horror game this October? Well, you’re in luck. Welcome to the October Streaming Guide 2023! We’ve scoured Netflix, Shudder, Max, Paramount+, Amazon Prime, Hulu and more to curate a bone-chilling collection of horror movies, series, and specials that are dropping this October. There’s enough paranormal TV to go into a couch coma, a Leprechaun marathon that’ll take you at least an entire Sunday to complete, an evil sloth movie set in a sorority house if you’re into that sort of thing, and tons more.

And if you’re hungry for even more Halloween entertainment, don’t forget to check out our essential Halloween TV Guide for 2023, where we’ve curated the spookiest TV marathons and chilling specials playing all through the month of October; like AMC’s Fearfest and Freeform’s 31 Nights of Halloween!

But if on-demand content is more your bag,...

"You can't run a conference facility without Wi-Fi." Netflix has revealed an official trailer for a Swedish slasher horror comedy called The Conference, made by Swedish filmmaker Patrik Eklund. It's debuting for streaming worldwide starting in October, which is the best time to launch a film like this, of course. What begins as team-building fun, descends into a nightmare as a mysterious masked killer begins stalking and picking off the participants one by one. A conference for municipal employees turns into a nightmare when accusations of corruption begin to circulate, and a strange figure starts murdering the attendees one-by-one. The Conference is a slasher comedy that is based on Mats Strandbergs book by the same name. Starring Eva Melander, Katia Winter, Adam Lundgren, Lola Zackow, and Christoffer Nordenrot. Looks like another fun spin on slashers, with most of the attendees being municipal schmucks it seems. Check this out. // Continue Reading...

Next month’s Friday the 13th continues its streak for being one of the year’s busiest days for horror. The latest to land the coveted spot for release is Netflix‘s The Conference, and the new trailer promises a killer great time.

Look for The Conference exclusively on Netflix on October 13, 2023.

The slasher comedy is “about a teambuilding conference attended by municipal employees that spirals into a nightmare when accusations of corruption begin to circulate and plague the work environment. Simultaneously, a mysterious figure begins stalking and murdering the participants, one-by-one in this Swedish comedy slasher with warm, humoristic characters.”

It’s based on Mats Strandberg’s book of the same name.

The Conference is directed by Patrik Eklund and written by Thomas Moldestad. It stars Eva Melander, Katia Winter, and Adam Lundgren. Winter previously stared in Banshee Chapter, “Sleepy Hollow,” and “The Boys.”

Watch the brand new trailer...

German film and TV distribution and licensing company Telepool, which is owned by Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith’s Westbrook, is moving into lead producing movies and series, its CEO Yoko Higuchi-Zitzmann tells Variety exclusively in her first interview since joining the company in January.

Munich-based Telepool is celebrating its 60th anniversary on Wednesday, and although it has a barrel-load of experience in selling, distributing, licensing, financing and co-producing movies and series, this shift into initiating and lead producing represents a significant step for the company. It also forms part of Westbrook’s broader strategy for international expansion, which – in part – lay behind its acquisition of Telepool in December 2021.

Higuchi-Zitzmann seems ideally suited to the task as she has worked for several leading German film and TV companies, giving her experience in both distribution and production. Most recently, she served as the managing director of Pantaleon Films, whose founders include German star Matthias Schweighöfer,...

Netflix is re-teaming with Sf Studios on “The Conference,” a high-concept Swedish comedy slasher film based on a novel by Mats Strandberg, one of Scandinavia’s most successful horror writers.

Patrik Eklund (“We Got This”) directed the film with a cast led by Katia Winter (“Sleepy Hollow”), Adam Lundgren (“Hilma”) and Eva Melander (“Border”).

Penned by Thomas Moldestad, the movie revolves around a team-building conference attended by municipal employees which spirals into a nightmare when accusations of corruption begin to circulate and plague the work environment. Simultaneously, a mysterious figure begins stalking and murdering the participants one-by-one.

Sf Studios, which previously delivered “Snabba Cash,” “Red Dot,” “Loving Adults” and “Ehrengard” for Netflix, is producing the film which is slated to be released globally on the streamer later this year. The shoot recently wrapped.

Strandberg is also an executive producer of film. His books have been published in over 30 countries. His successful book “The Circle,...

German powerhouse Constantin Film and Frank Spotnitz’s Big Light Productions have teamed to make a high-end drama series about the events surrounding the Nuremberg Trials.

The drama, currently unnamed, follows the prosecution of Nazi officials after World War II, the first time in history that people were held accountable for war crimes, exploring characters from all sides of the trials.

The series will be executive produced by Oliver Berben and Robert Kulzer for Constantin Film, Spotnitz and Emily Feller for Big Light, and Ron Maxwell (Gettysburg) along with Jeff Berg of Northside Services.

“This series is a real powerhouse,” said Spotnitz. “It’s an investigative mystery, a suspense thriller set both in a courtroom and on the global stage, and one of the most searing moral dramas imaginable. The characters and the issues all seem startlingly relevant and contemporary.”

“On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany unconditionally surrendered to the Allies,...

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Constantin Film, the German powerhouse behind the Resident Evil franchise, is partnering with U.K.-based Big Light Productions, founded by Frank Spotnitz (The Man in the High Castle, The X-Files, Medici, Leonardo), to develop a high-end drama series about the world-changing Nuremberg Trials.

The project will dive into the events surrounding the prosecution of Nazi officials following WWII, the first time in history that people were held accountable for war crimes, exploring characters from all sides of the trials, showing how not only justice was at stake but the global balance of power.

“This series is a real powerhouse,” said Spotnitz. “It’s an investigative mystery, a suspense thriller set both in a courtroom and on the global stage, and one of the most searing moral dramas imaginable. The characters and the issues all seem startlingly relevant and contemporary.”

“We are delighted...

Studiocanal is collaborating with Sixteen Films’ Rebecca O’Brien and Morena Film’s Juan Gordon to develop a series created by longtime Ken Loach scribe Paul Laverty and to be directed by Spain’s Iciar Bollaín.

The drama series will be the first for both Laverty and Bollaín after writing and directing respectively 19 and nine feature films, including collaborations on Bollaín’s multi-prized “Yuli,” “The Olive Tree” and “Even the Rain,” movies that established her as one of Spain’s top film directors.

Over the last few years, Cannes’ MipTV trade fair, once a strict TV silo, is now ever more MipFilm. Signs of an ever-building crossover between the two sectors look indeed to make up one of the hallmarks of this year’s event.

In multiple different moves, iconic film talent is plunging ever more into series.

Conceived for TV, content can sell to film distributors, such as has been...

Petition also calls on Fiapf to downgrade status of April’s Moscow Film Festival.

The Ukrainian Film Academy has called on the international film community to boycott Russian cinema in a petition launched on Saturday (February 26).

Among the suggested measures are the exclusion of the Russian Federation from both the European Convention on Cinematographic Co-Production and the Council of Europe’s Eurimages fund as well as the termination of co-production agreements with Russia.

Russia has been a member state of the Strasbourg-based co-production fund since March 1, 2011.

Last year saw Eurimages production support go to two Russian majority co-productions; Forest Film...

Global Screen has closed a raft of sales for “The Conference,” a historically accurate drama about the Wannsee Conference in Berlin, a meeting that had only one item on the agenda: the organization of the systematic mass murder of 11 million European Jews.

The film has been acquired by Menemsha Films (North America), Pivot Pictures (Australia), The Klockworx (Japan), Swallow Wings (Taiwan), Rai (Italy), Flins & Piniculas (Spain), Films 4 You (Portugal), Arti Film (Benelux), Edge Entertainment, Iti Neovision (Poland), Rtv (Slovenia), Italian-speaking Switzerland (Rsi) and Red Cape (Israel).

At the invitation of Reinhard Heydrich, head of the Reich Main Security Office, which included SiPo, the Gestapo and the Security Service, a meeting is held at midday on Jan. 20, 1942 in the villa at no. 58 Großen Wannsee. It lasts approximately 90 minutes and is attended by representatives of the SS, the Nazi party and several government ministries. There is one item on the agenda:...

Nadezda Motina’s new outfit grows slate with an upcoming war drama starring Omar Sy.

Nadezda Motina’s Moscow-based distributor Arna Media has made a raft of appointments ahead of the EFM, and acquired an upcoming war drama starring Omar Sy and pagan horror from director William Brent Bell.

The firm, which was launched by Russian media executive Motina in October, has named Olga Tarasova as head of theatrical distribution and Irina Antonova as head of marketing.

Tarasova was formerly head of sales at Volga Films and worked on the release of titles including The Gentlemen, Wrath Of Man and The Queen’s Corgi among others.

The title is the follow-up to Stolevski’s debut, Sundance hit ‘You Won’t Be Alone’.

London-based Bankside Films has acquired Australian filmmaker Goran Stolevski’s Of An Age for worldwide sales, his second feature following buzzy Sundance premiere You Won’t Be Alone, and released a first-look image.

Of An Age is written and directed by Stolevski, and set in Melbourne, Australia in 1999. A 17-year-old Serbian immigrant named Kol is preparing for the finals of an Australian dance contest when he receives a distressed call from his dance partner Ebony, who has woken up on a beach in an unfamiliar town after a big night out.

Historical feature picked up for North America, Asian and European territories.

Munich-based sales outfit Global Screen has closed deals in key territories for Matti Geschonneck’s historical drama The Conference, ahead of the EFM.

The feature chronicles the 1942 Berlin meeting in which Nazi leaders formally drew up plans for the systematic murder of millions of Jews, known as the Final Solution.

The Conference has been sold to North America (Menemsha Films), Australia (Pivot Pictures), Japan (The Klockworx), Taiwan (Swallow Wings), Italy (Rai), Spain, Benelux (Arti Film), Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland and Baltics (Edge Entertainment), Poland (Iti Neovision), Slovenia (Rtv...