Barbera holds 'DAU' as Ukraine protests
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- Alberto Barbera defended Venice's 'DAU' against a joint Ukrainian protest that called the film 'a deeply worrying signal' over actor Teodor Currentzis's Putin-granted citizenship and sanctioned funder Sergei Adoniev.link ›
- A24 paid $17 million for Jordan Firstman's 'Club Kid' after a Cannes bidding war that included Netflix, Searchlight, Focus Features, and Mubi, slotting the November 6 release into its fall awards push.link ›
- Felicia Day's 'The Guild: Ren Faire'd' Kickstarter hit $5.2 million, trailing only 'Veronica Mars' ($5.7M) among narrative film campaigns, with three days left.link ›
- Scary Movie 6 earned $230 million worldwide on a $30M base budget — the first R-rated comedy to clear $100M since Girls Trip (2017) — and lands on Paramount+ September 3.link ›
- Steven Yeun leads Netflix's straight-to-series 'Pagans' from 'Say Nothing' creator Joshua Zetumer after a 15-18 bidder war, his first TV role since Emmy-winning 'Beef.'link ›
- Catherine Zeta-Jones stars as a smuggler-turned-art-dealer in 'Kill Jackie,' premiering Oct. 2 day-and-date on Prime Video across 11 territories and AMC+ in the U.S.link ›
Alberto Barbera turned Venice into this week's defining culture fight by defending Ilya Khrzhanovsky's 'DAU' against a joint protest from Ukraine's Foreign and Culture ministries and Rome embassy, who called the Golden Lion contender 'a deeply worrying signal.' Barbera hit Instagram calling the criticism 'petty and unacceptable' and cast Khrzhanovsky as a blacklisted 'Russian dissident' — leaning on an awkward fact for Kyiv: 'DAU' was principally shot in Kharkiv from 2008 to 2011, with early development partly funded by the Ukrainian State Film Agency. The festival's claim to programming autonomy is now being tested in public, and Barbera's stand is the line.
The stories behind this week
Netflix Hires Katie Martin Kelley as Film Comms VPNetflix continues rebuilding its communications bench under Dani Dudeck, who joined in late 2025 and now has team leads across corporate, EMEA, LATAM, and APAC — with a series/TV VP still unfilled. The hire lands a 20-year veteran from Warner Bros. just as Netflix commits to two major global theatrical releases in 2027.
Barbera Defends Venice 'DAU' Selection as 'Not Pro-Putin'The standoff tests Venice's claim to programming autonomy against direct diplomatic pressure from a country at war, with the festival defending artistic freedom while Kyiv argues prestigious platforms carry political weight. Barbera's case leans heavily on a fact that complicates Ukraine's framing: principal filming happened in Kharkiv and drew Ukrainian state funding a decade before the invasion — though that doesn't resolve Ukraine's concerns about current Russian-state-linked collaborators on the project.
Zeta-Jones' 'Kill Jackie' Sets Oct. 2 PremiereThe Oct. 2 day-and-date launch gives the eight-episode series a simultaneous footprint across 11 territories on launch day, and Zeta-Jones pairing with the creative leads behind "Killing Eve" and "John Wick" positions the Fremantle/Steel Springs Pictures production as a prestige genre play for Amazon's international Prime Video slate.
Steven Yeun to Lead Netflix's 'Pagans' From ZetumerNetflix locked 'Pagans' with a straight-to-series order after a 15-18 bidder bidding war, a level of pre-buy commitment that signals a flagship-level priority. Re-teaming with Yeun and Zetumer — both attached to prior streamer prestige hits ('Beef' and 'Say Nothing') — extends Netflix's pattern of building tentpole series around proven awards-caliber talent rather than untested concepts.
Felicia Day's 'The Guild' Movie Nears Kickstarter RecordDay's nearly-record haul — more than five times the budget of her original web-series episode — demonstrates that web-native IP with a decade-plus fanbase can still command direct-to-fan financing at film scale, even as Day argues Hollywood executives have grown contemptuous of creator-owned work in favor of cheaper user-generated content.
‘Scary Movie’ Sets Paramount+ Release DateThe 91-day theatrical-to-streaming window reflects a strategic balance for Paramount, preserving box office upside while capitalizing on subscriber growth; the $230M gross on a $30M base budget underscores the franchise’s continued profitability and audience reach decades after launch.
‘Club Kid’ Trailer: Jordan Firstman Is a Party Promoter With a Surprise Son in His A24 Cannes SensationThe $17 million acquisition price — won against four other major buyers — signals A24 is betting heavily on "Club Kid" as awards-season fare, and the November 6 release slots it squarely into fall prestige campaigning. Firstman's contractual insistence on properly funding his queer supporting cast's promotional rollout marks a notable concession extracted at the deal stage, not after.
Lena Dunham & Jepsen's '10 Things' Musical Hits BroadwayThe pairing of a chart-topping pop songwriter (Jepsen) making her Broadway debut with a writer-director long associated with sharp millennial coming-of-age storytelling (Dunham) signals a deliberate play for younger Broadway audiences, while a creative team led by Wheeldon and Kitt gives the 1999 cult film the kind of pedigree that has converted screen-to-stage nostalgia into Tony contention before.
Why it matters: If Barbera holds the line, the precedent lets festivals keep programming Russian-linked work without diplomatic pre-clearance from opposing governments; if he pulls the film, every future politically charged selection gets pre-vetted by foreign ministries.
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