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Though the Venice Film Festival will serve as a launching pad for several blockbusters, festival artistic director Alberto Barbera this year is introducing a section called Horizons Extra, dedicated to more offbeat works of all genres with no length constraints although they must be more than an hour long. These pics will be judged by festgoers.

The Horizons Extra section is an extension of Horizons, the Venice section focusing on new trends in world cinema that, under Barbera, became a competition instrumental in promoting emerging auteurs.

It’s a small but significant new component of the fest’s programming structure that, along with the competitive Venice VR Expanded section dedicated to virtual reality works of any length and format, gives the festival a spot to host innovative programming.

With Horizons Extra, Barbera is boosting his effort “to give value to a certain kind of cinema that is auteur-driven, ambitious and demanding,...

Exclusive: HBO Publicity veteran Tonya Owens is leaving the WarnerMedia network after 25 years to join Disney Television Studios as VP Talent Relations. Additionally, the Disney TV studio group has promoted longtime awards strategist Kottie Kreischer to VP Awards and Events.

Owens takes over the role previously held by Jen Weinberg, who exited in February to join WarnerMedia as Head of Talent Relations and Events for HBO, HBO Max, TBS, TNT and truTV.

Owens will oversee relationships with talent across series produced by 20th Television, ABC Signature and 20th Television Animation and organizing internal and external events. She’ll also work closely with the studio’s awards team, led by Kreischer, who develops and implements awards strategy in addition to managing submissions, trade advertising, media and FYC events.

At HBO, Owens most recently served as VP Media Relations. During her tenure, she oversaw publicity and awards campaigns for more than 75 HBO...

Four top film directors will reveal details behind their projects when they join Gold Derby’s special “Meet the Experts” Q&a event with key 2021 guild and Oscar contenders this month. Each person will participate in two video discussions to be published on Thursday, January 28, at 5:00 p.m. Pt; 8:00 p.m. Et. We’ll have a one-on-one with our senior editor Rob Licuria and a group chat with Rob and all of the group together.

RSVP today to this specific event by clicking here to book your reservation. Or click here to RSVP for our entire ongoing panel series. We’ll send you a reminder a few minutes before the start of the show.

This “Meet the Experts” panel welcomes the following 2021 guild and Oscar contenders:

“Cherry” (Apple TV+): Joe and Anthony Russo

The Russo brothers are Emmy winners for “Arrested Development.” Other projects have included “Avengers: Endgame,...

Cicely Tyson, whose more than seven decades of work across stage, screen and TV includes iconic small-screen roles as Jane Pittman, Coretta Scott King and the mother of Rosa Parks, was unveiled Monday as the recipient of the Peabody Awards’ Career Achievement Award. The honor is bestowed on individuals whose work and commitment to broadcasting and digital media have left an indelible mark on the field and in American culture.

Tyson has been nominated for 13 Emmys in all and won two for 1974’s The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, the start of a run that included such iconic TV series as Roots (1977), King (1978), The Women of Brewster Place (1989), Always Outnumbered (1998), A Lesson Before Dying (1999), Jewel (2002) and The Rosa Parks Story (2002).

Her TV career began in 1951 and also included credits from Naked City, I Spy and Mission: Impossible to Gunsmoke and East Side/West Side. Most recently she has appeared in...

John Wesley, the actor best-known for playing Dr. Hoover on “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air,” has died. He was 72.

Wesley died from complications due to a long battle with multiple myeloma, his family confirmed to Variety.

Gerry Pass, Wesley’s manager and producer, said in a statement, “John Wesley was a gift to the world, for his kindness and grace are immortalized in his works of theatre, TV and film. I am heartbroken to have lost a dear friend today.”

Born on Aug. 3, 1947 in Lake Charles, La., John Wesley Houston went on to hold degrees from the University of California, San Diego and the University of San Diego. Before he began acting, Wesley served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. Over his expansive career, Wesley worked with talent including Denzel Washington, Albert Finney, Barbra Streisand, Tim Burton and Morgan Freeman.

Wesley holds more than 100 film and television credits,...

Cinematographer John Bailey will receive a lifetime achievement award at the 27th Camerimage cinematography festival, which runs Nov. 9-16 in Torun, Poland.

Bailey, who recently completed his term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has an extensive list of credits that includes Boulevard Nights, directed by Michael Pressman; American Gigolo for Paul Schrader; Ordinary People helmed by Robert Redford; and Honky Tonk Freeway for John Schlesinger.

For Lawrence Kasdan, he lensed The Big Chill, Silverado and The Accidental Tourist. For Michael Apted, Bailey shot Continental Divide, Extreme Measures and Always Outnumbered. His credits also include The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Big ...

Cinematographer John Bailey will receive a lifetime achievement award at the 27th Camerimage cinematography festival, which runs Nov. 9-16 in Torun, Poland.

Bailey, who recently completed his term as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has an extensive list of credits that includes Boulevard Nights, directed by Michael Pressman; American Gigolo for Paul Schrader; Ordinary People helmed by Robert Redford; and Honky Tonk Freeway for John Schlesinger.

For Lawrence Kasdan, he lensed The Big Chill, Silverado and The Accidental Tourist. For Michael Apted, Bailey shot Continental Divide, Extreme Measures and Always Outnumbered. His credits also include The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Big ...

Keith Flint, the late lead singer of the British electronic group Prodigy, had unspecified amounts of cocaine, alcohol and codeine in his system when he died in March

Though the new report confirms Flint died by hanging — as reported in an earlier inquest released one week after his death — the Senior Coroner for Essex, Caroline Beasley-Murray, officially recorded an open conclusion, saying that there was not enough evidence to rule that Flint killed himself, the BBC reports.

“We will never quite know what was going on in his mind on that date,...

The death of Prodigy singer Keith Flint has been ruled a suicide as a result of hanging, the BBC reports.

A coroner revealed the cause of death to an inquest in Essex, England Monday. A toxicology report is still in the works and a full hearing is scheduled to take place July 23rd. The coroner also confirmed an earlier police statement that Flint’s death is not being considered suspicious.

Flint died March 4th at his home in Essex, England at the age of 49. While a cause of death was not immediately revealed,...

Cinema Gypsy Prods and Fox Television Studios are developing "The Right Mistake," a drama series for HBO based on the series of novels by Walter Mosley.

Laurence Fishburne is attached to star as Mosley's famed Socrates Fortlow character, an ex-convict battling his own inner demons after serving 27 years in prison.

Mosley and Patrick Charles are co-writing the series adaptation. Fishburne actually played the role before for the network, starring as Fortlow in the Michael Apted-directed 1998 HBO telemovie "Always Outnumbered".

Mosley, Helen Sugland, Tom Russo and Diane Houslin are set to produce.

Source: Variety...

Finally, one of a handful of new Walter Mosley novel adaptations we've been following in recent years is finally heading to the screen - the small screen. Although an "in development" announcement doesn't guarantee that a project will make it through production. Laurence Fishburne will revive Socrates Fortlow for HBO, as a TV series centered around the Mosley character, featured in the 1998 feature film adaption of his novel, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, which also aired on HBO. To be titled The Right Mistake, the drama series will star Fishburne, who will also produce, and will continue to follow the travels of Fortlow (who Fishburne also played in the 1998 film), an...

Laurence Fishburne and novelist Walter Mosley are teaming up for a drama series project at HBO based on Mosley's character Socrates Fortlow.

The series, "The Right Mistake," takes its title from Mosley's last collection of Fortlow stories but will also draw on the other two books featuring the character, "Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned" and "Walkin' the Dog." Fishburne will star and executive produce through his company, Cinema Gypsy, Deadline reports.

Fishburne, Mosley and HBO have worked together once before on a movie adaptation of "Always Outnumbered" that debuted in 1998. Mosley wrote the script for that and will co-write the pilot for "The Right Mistake" with Patrick Charles.

Socrates Fortlow is an ex-convict who moves to Los Angeles after serving 27 years in prison. He tries to stay on the right side of the law while working to fix problems and help people in his South L.A. neighborhood.

Fishburne also plays Jack Crawford on NBC's "Hannibal,...

A Spartacus star is relocating to Starling City.

Arrow has cast Katrina Law as Ra’s al Ghul’s daughter Nyssa al Ghul, TVGuide.com reports.

Related | Arrow Meets The Flash: Burning Questions Answered

Nyssa is described as a powerful member of the League of Assassins who is seeking out Caity Lotz’s Canary.

Law, whose other TV credits include CSI: Miami and Legend of the Seeker, makes her debut in Season 2′s 13th episode.

Ready for more of today’s TV dish? Well…

• HBO is developing The Right Mistake, a new drama based on the series of novels by Walter Mosley,...

Exclusive: Fifteen years after Laurence Fishburne starred as Walter Mosley‘s Socrates Fortlow in the HBO movie Always Outnumbered written by Mosley and directed by Michael Apted, the actor-producer is revisiting the character for HBO, this time on the series side. The pay cable network is developing The Right Mistake, a drama series from Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy Prods and Fox Television Studios. It is based on the series of novels by Mosley featuring Fortlow: an ex-convict who seeks redemption — while battling inner demons and external forces — after serving 27 years in prison. The books include Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned, Walkin’ The Dog and The Right Mistake. Mosley and Patrick Charles are co-writing the series adaptation, with Fishburne attached to star. He is executive producing with Cinema Gypsy’s Helen Sugland and Tom Russo as well as Mosley and his partner, Diane Houslin. Charles is co-executive producing. The Right Mistake stems...

Late last week, after I saw For Colored Girls, I got into a conversation with Ms Cynthia (who works behind-the-scenes here at Shadow And Act) about the kinds of books written by black authors, that tell stories primarily about black people, that have been optioned and made (or will soon be made) into films.

We all know by now that Hollywood loves to adapt novels (amongst other kinds of original sources), and during our conversation I realized that there might indeed be a pattern or two worth noting, when one looks at the “black novels” that have been given big screen treatment.

One common complaint I’ve heard about the For Colored Girls adaptation is that the material is a yet another woman-centered black pathology tale, and a lot of you aren’t interested in that kind of narrative anymore, and understandably so. I think a lot of us feel the same way.

Veteran dance act The Prodigy have notched up their fifth number one album. Invaders Must Die, the group's first studio set since 2004, sold nearly 100,000 copies last week to debut atop the UK albums chart. The rave trio - Keith Flint, Liam Howlett and Maxim Reality - also reached the top with 1994's Music for the Jilted Generation, 1997's The Fat of the Land, 2004's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned and 2005's Their Law: The Singles 1990-2005. Last week's number one album, Only By The Night by Kings of Leon, slips to two, while Lily Allen falls to three with It's Not Me, It's You. Meanwhile, Take That's The Circus album returns (more)...

The Prodigy have announced the release date for their fifth studio album Invaders Must Die. The follow-up to 2004's Always Outnumbered, Never Outgunned will be released on March 2 through their own label Take Me To The Hospital. The band have described their new LP as "40 minutes of having your head battered by future nostalgia, serotonin levels twisted by feel-good horrorcore and your synapses snapped by whiplash attitude". They added: "It's the sound of The Prodigy mixing (more)...