Bonus Reason: Did my flippancy regarding a very serious fantasy series that you take very, very seriously irk you? Are you looking for a reason to get hyped for Season 2, having already invested countless hours into memorizing all the bizarre names and laws that set “The Witcher” apart from lesser epics like “The Wheel of Time” and the Bible? Well, fine then. As you undoubtedly already know, Season 2 sees Geralt take Cirilla to his hometown (Kaer Morhen), in an attempt to protect the princess from dangers lurking outside and her own burgeoning powers inside....

By looking at trends and the latest developments, Streaming Wars Report: Indie Edition offers a snapshot of what’s happening overall and day-to-day in streaming for the indie set. Check out the latest Streaming Wars Report for updates to the bigger players in the industry. The pleasures of 2020 have been limited, a theme that will likely carry over to a muted holiday season not nearly as resplendent with the usual festive bounty....

Kendi and Mara Brock Akil, the creator of “Girlfriends,” will be executive producers on the project with Roger Ross Williams, the Oscar-winning director behind “Life Animated” and “Music By Prudence” set to direct the first in the series. “Stamped From the Beginning” is described as a hybrid of documentary and scripted feature. Kendi himself will also get behind the camera to helm a companion documentary aimed at children. Plans for “Antiracist Baby,” an illustrated book teaching about equity and inclusion via rhyming, will be an animated musical series focused on preschoolers with Chris Nee, the creator of the Disney Channel animated show “Doc McStuffins,” producing....

This year’s edition will mark the second time the festival has offered a virtual arm: the festival’s original March 2020 dates were postponed when pandemic shutdowns took hold, with the series eventually opting to go virtual for its 49th edition, rolling out last December. For its 50th anniversary, ND/NF will screen both virtually (April 28 – May 8) and in-person at Film at Lincoln Center (April 28 – May 13)....

That’s about to change this summer, with the premiere of two mainstream gay comedies: Joel Kim Booster and Andrew Ahn’s indie “Pride and Prejudice” riff “Fire Island” and Billy Eichner’s Judd Apatow-produced big-budget rom-com “Bros.” While only one will get a shot at the box office (catch “Fire Island” streaming on Hulu June 3), both movies are a chance to show the industry the power of queer audiences. Never underestimate the appeal of a good kiki....

The three broadcast networks and three cable news networks each have their own polling partners, who are often leading newspapers and magazines. The biggest problem, as a result, is how central the polls have become to most political news coverage as the election season unfolds. In 2016, the national popular vote polls actually ended up fine. The consensus lead on election day for Hillary Clinton was about 3 percent, and she ended up leading by 2 percent....

Yet the acclaimed showrunner quickly corrected labeling “A Friend of the Family” as part of the trendy true crime genre. “I don’t think the stories that I like to do are true crime,” Antosca exclusively told IndieWire. “I think of them in terms of human stories and psychological horror stories, so I don’t see it as ‘What’s the next true crime story that we can tell?’” “A Friend of the Family” centers on the Broberg clan, led by husband and wife Bob (Colin Hanks) and Mary Ann (Anna Paquin) Broberg....

Well, “Nomadland” cinematographer Joshua James Richards has an answer for that. He helped his partner and collaborator, director Chloé Zhao, shoot that once-secret road movie (now a major Academy Awards contender) on a low budget and primarily with a cast of nonprofessional actors. In a recent interview with The New Yorker, he called out Tarantino for slamming digital cinema, and argued that it actually enables low-budget filmmakers like Zhao to get their movies made....

The series also includes films “Mangrove” and “Red, White and Blue” — both of which will also play at NYFF as part of its main slate — along with “Alex Wheatle” and “Education.” Earlier this year, both “Lovers Rock” and “Mangrove” were included as part of Cannes 2020 official selection. The opening night pick “tells a fictional story of young love and music at a blues party in the early 1980s....

Here’s the official synopsis: “On one incredible night in 1964, four icons of sports, music, and activism gathered to celebrate one of the biggest upsets in boxing history. When underdog Cassius Clay, soon to be called Muhammad Ali, (Eli Goree), defeats heavy weight champion Sonny Liston at the Miami Convention Hall, Clay memorialized the event with three of his friends: Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.) and Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge)....

Netflix scored a nomination with Sophia Nahli Allison’s powerful “A Love Song for Latasha,” a lyrical ode to Latasha Harlins, a 15-year-old girl from South Central Los Angeles whose 1991 shooting death became a flashpoint in the LA uprisings. The 19-minute film, which screened as part of Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY 360 programming, is bursting with sun-kissed sidewalks and faded basketball courts, clean line animation and radiant Black girls posed gracefully, like young queens....

Editor Alan Baumgarten had the most ambitious editorial task: balancing three story threads in “Rashomon”-like fashion with multiple perspectives and jumping back and forth in time, from the overheated courtroom drama to the violent, vérité-like riots during the ’68 Democratic Convention to the bitter political rivalry between Tom Hayden (Eddie Redmayne) and Abbie Hoffman (Sacha Baron Cohen). Plus, Baumgarten oversaw a sprawling six-minute prologue that was like lighting a fuse with historical context and character introductions....

The decision immediately prompted outrage from cinephiles and Hollywood insiders who see it as a snub of the artisans who make movies possible. Packer, the prolific producer behind blockbusters including “Girls Trip” and “Ride Along,” has a different view. In a new interview with Variety, he says decisions that prioritize viewership will be good for the Academy’s long-term health. “One of the things I wanted to do early on was to make a decision to treat this as an entertainment property,” Packer said....

In the rural Kerala wetlands of Wayanad, Johnny (Basil Paulose) and Anna (Vinitha Koshy) are all set to get married in secret, but their plan is thrown into disarray when Johnny’s uncle, Kocheppu (Jose Kizhakkan), is released from prison after a decade away. The history between Johnny and Anna’s family runs deep, and it runs red. Kocheppu is a key part of that history, and his return means it can no longer stay dormant....

Streaming platforms are now looking to bundle with other companies’ services to immediately gain subscribers and reduce churn and, we suppose, to create value for consumers. Unfortunately, Peacock isn’t feeling like the (pea)cock of the walk right now. According to a CNBC report, NBCUniversal executives have pitched multiple other streamers, including HBO Max and Paramount+, on forming an alliance. IndieWire separately confirmed the outreach to HBO Max, Paramount+, Starz, and AMC+....

Starting November 2, Peacock will host a dedicated hub for Hallmark Media movies and TV shows. The hub will give subscribers the ability to watch live simulcasts of Hallmark Media’s three major channels: Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries and Hallmark Drama. New premiere shows and movies — including the long-running “When Calls the Heart” and 2023 primetime premieres “Ride” and “The Way Home” — will be available to stream on demand the day after their linear premiere....

Yesterday was an exhausting day, especially in the evening. One of the secret reasons I have for being in Los Angeles (as well as going hand in hand with Penélope to the Dolby Theatre and experiencing in situ if her nomination still has a road to travel or if the prize was the nomination) is to meet with some actors as I think about the cast for my next film, which is starring Cate Blanchett and based on five stories by Lucia Berlin from her book “A Manual for Cleaning Women....

“It was interesting going back and revisiting these films, because I realized how inconsistent they were, and that’s really due to the way in which ‘The Lord of the Rings’ trilogy was shot first, about 20 years ago,” Jackson says in a new video interview (watch the full discussion below). “‘The Lord of the Rings’ was shot on 35mm. The color timing was done in an old-fashioned photo mechanical way for the first ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie, then we switched to digital color timing for the 35mm for the next two....

Born in Long Island, New York, on September 16, 1939, Dowling was abandoned by his birth mother and spent three years in a series of foster homes before finding adoptive parents. Dowling grew up with the skills of a natural salesman, he wrote in his 2019 memoir “My Life…and Then Some,” partly due to his ability to empathize with those on the other side of the deal. After entering magazine publishing in his 20s, Dowling became editor and publisher of a series of publications: American Druggist, High-Tech Marketing, Menswear and Sports Marketing News....

Two-time Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky (“Leviathan,” “Loveless”) told Variety that he felt “unbearably ashamed” after learning of the attacks. “I still couldn’t believe that missiles are exploding in Kyiv,” Rodnyansky said. “I couldn’t imagine that Kyiv, my native town, where my relatives, friends and colleagues live, where my parents and grandparents are buried, will be struck by missiles of the country where I have been living and working for the last 20 years, together with my family and friends....