Five film projects have been selected for this year’s Female Filmmakers Support Program, picked by the Uniqa See Future Foundation, in cooperation with the Sarajevo Film Festival and Slano Film Days.
Launched in 2024, the initiative “supports and empowers women filmmakers from the six Southeast European countries where Uniqa Insurance Group operates, namely Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Romania, and Bulgaria.” Its goal is to “strengthen the presence and visibility of women in the regional film industry, offering financial support, mentorship, and opportunities for professional development.”
The projects were selected for their “strong artistic vision, originality, and commitment to telling compelling stories,” organizers said. LThey will receive tailored financial and professional support, helping them move forward in production and post-production.”
Said Mirsad Purivatra, director of Slano Film Days: “By backing their creative journeys, we’re helping shape a more inclusive and dynamic future for cinema in our region.”
Jovan Marjanović, director of the Sarajevo Film Festival, added: “We are able to act strategically and address – and hopefully correct – some of the systemic imbalances in film funding. In particular, this initiative will provide dedicated support to films and projects predominantly created by women authors. Sarajevo Film Festival has always stood for gender equality in cinema, and we are proud to contribute to that goal through such a concrete and meaningful project.”
Here is a look at the five selected film projects.
The Possessed (feature) Director: Ena Sendijarević (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Production: SCCA/pro.ba (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Studio Ruba (the Netherlands)
Air in a Bottle (feature) Director: Aida Begić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Production: This and That Productions (Serbia)
Embryo (feature) Director: Maša Šarović (Montenegro) Production: KINO d.o.o. (Montenegro)
The Last Nomads (documentary) Director: Biljana Tutorov (Serbia) Production: WAKE UP FILMS (Serbia)
Confessions of a Female Gamer (documentary) Director: Dolya Gavanski Production: Agitprop (Bulgaria), Thea Films (Bulgaria)
Universal’s live-action How to Train Your Dragon will have no trouble staying No. 1 in its second weekend with an estimated $35.7 million despite the entry of the zombie sequel 28 Years Later and the animated Elio — which is headed for the lowest opening in the history of Pixar amid a crowded marketplace for family fare.
Danny Boyle’s zombie sequel, from Sony, topped Friday’s chart with $14 million, including $5.8 million in Thursday previews, but will be overtaken by How to Train Your Dragon, from the Universal-owned DreamWorks Animation, sometime on Saturday.
A few weeks ago, 28 Years Later was tracking to open to $35 million, with more bullish pundits thinking it could come in north of $40 million. Instead, it’s headed for a solid $30 million to $31 million domestic start. Similar to the family space, some are speculating that the horror marketplace may be over-saturated, led by the box office hit Final Destination: Bloodlines.
28 Years Later will still mark the biggest opening of Boyle’s career and reunites the filmmaker with writer Alex Garland 25 years after 28 Days hit the big screen and became a cult classic. Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O’Connell, Alfie Williams and Ralph Fiennes star in what’s the first installment in a planned trilogy.
Reviewers have widely embraced the R-rated title, but actual moviegoers are somewhat less enthusiastic; its current audience score on Rotten Tomatoes is 67 percent, compared to a 90 percent critics’ score. At the same time, it’s garnering decent exit scores from leading exit-polling service PostTrak. And it earned a B CinemaScore, which is like an A grade when it comes to horror fare.
Facing fierce competition from How to Train Your Dragon and fellow Disney release Lilo & Stitch, Elio took in $9 million on Friday for a projected third-place domestic opening in the $20 million to $22 million range. Elio — an original film about a young boy whose wish to travel to outer space and interact with aliens comes true — was expected to open to at least $30 million domestically.
But with interest stalling in recent days, Disney insiders lowered their projections to $20 million to $25 million as Pixar braced for the worst 3-day opening in its history behind Elemental ($29.6 million) in June 2023 and its very first film, 1995’s Toy Story ($29.1 million), not adjusted for inflation. Toy Story opened over Thanksgiving and amassed $39 million over the long five-day holiday weekend.
In 2023, Elemental‘s opening was called nothing short of a debacle, yet it turned into a sleeper hit on its way to earning nearly $500 million globally. Pixar and parent company Disney, are confident that Elio will have the same sort of staying power throughout the summer when kids are sprung from school. So far, Elio is graced with a better critics score on Rotten Tomatoes than Elemental, as well as glowing PostTrak exit results and an A CinemaScore, including an A+ from kids.
Pixar has been struggling to find its footing in a world where original animated stories don’t open to the heights they once did — think north of $70 million — in the post-pandemic world. And during the pandemic years, then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek decided to send three Pixar titles straight to Disney+ domestically, including Turning Red, Luca and the Oscar-winning Soul, a decision rivals said taught families to wait to watch a film at home. (All three were considered streaming hits.)
But Pixar and Disney reversed course and are once again committed to telling original theatrical stories, mixed in with known IP, such as last year’s blockbuster and record-shattering Inside Out 2, the top-grossing pic of 2024, the top ever title for Pixar and the top animated movie of all time with more than $1.69 billion in worldwide ticket sales, not adjusted for inflation. (As fate would have it, Inside Out 2 opened on the same June weekend a year ago.)
The live-action Lilo & Stitch remains a force to be reckoned with in its fifth weekend, and could earn as much as $9 million to $10 million domestically for a fourth-place finish. Also, now in its fifth weekend, Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning continues to show staying power and is expected to round out the top five with $7 million.
A24’s specialty romantic drama Materialists continues to do well, and is expected come in sixth domestically with an estimated $5.5 million to $6 million.
Impact Collaborative, the New York-based network of non-profits, has headed west and opened a Los Angeles office at the Preserve in Hollywood.
As part of its expansion, it is launching Social Impact Entertainment Studio, with the aim of telling socially impactful stories and perhaps provide revenue streams for non-profit groups. The ambition is to help partially fill the void left by Participant Media, which shuttered last year after 20 years of socially conscious programming. Among the projects it has in the pipeline is a doc feature from filmmaker Ben Levin and producer Multihouse focusing on the U.S. Paralympic Sled Hockey team as it prepares for a rematch with rival Canada in 2026 in Milan, Italy.
To help fullfill its ambitions, it is nearing completion on a physical soundstage in The Preserve LA, which will host a number of podcasts and is aiming for a fall ribbon cutting.
“L.A. is world-renowned for its creativity and the power of storytelling, but it is also a city that embodies resilience, diversity, and the spirit of community,” said Dr. Claire Wang, the organization’s inaugural executive director. “The Impact Collaborative is all about collaborative innovation by connecting nonprofit community-based organizations, business solutions, and storytelling. I can’t think of a better backdrop for charting a new frontier.”
Impact Collaborative has also added to the ranks of its advisory board by bringing in Brandy Curry, chief of staff of the Television Academy and producer for the Emmys.
“Brandy’s unique ability to craft narratives that inspire action is exactly what we need to bridge understanding and drive support for our initiatives. I’m thrilled to collaborate with someone who recognizes the power of authentic storytelling in advancing social impact,” said Traci Donnelly, founder and president of Impact Collaborative.
Jack Betts, the debonair character actor who starred in spaghetti Westerns, played Dracula for a fleeting moment on Broadway and appeared in such notable films as Spider-Man and Gods and Monsters, has died. He was 96.
Betts died Thursday in his sleep at home in Los Osos, California, his nephew, Dean Sullivan, told The Hollywood Reporter.
Betts was great friends with Everybody Loves Raymond actress Doris Roberts, with whom he shared a home and escorted her to events throughout Hollywood from the late 1980s until her death in April 2016.
A member of The Actors Studio, Betts portrayed Llanview Hospital doctor Ivan Kipling on ABC’s One Life to Live from 1979-85, and his soap opera résumé also included stints on General Hospital, The Edge of Night, The Doctors, Another World, All My Children, Search for Tomorrow, Guiding Light, Loving and Generations.
Betts bluffed his way into starring as the avenging title character in Franco Giraldi’s Sugar Colt (1966), where he was billed as Hunt Powers for the first time. The film kicked off a run of about 15 spaghetti Westerns for him through 1973 but left him without the fame enjoyed by another American star of similar Italian fare.
“In the hotel next to mine was Clint Eastwood,” he recalled in a 2021 interview. “He’d go up to his mountain and do his Western and I’d go up to my mountain and do my Western. But while his films had distribution all over the world, my films were distributed [everywhere] except Canada and America.”
In Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002), Betts’ character, Henry Balkan, tells Willem Dafoe’s Norman Osborn that he’s through at Oscorp Technologies — “You’re out, Norman” — but the Green Goblin will soon turn him and his fellow board members into skeletons during an attack on Times Square.
Jack Betts with Doris Roberts at the Hollywood Film Awards in Beverly Hills in 2015.
Mark Davis/Getty Images
Jack Fillmore Betts — he said he was related to the 13th U.S. president, Millard Fillmore — was born on April 11, 1929, in Jersey City, New Jersey. When he was 10, he moved with his family to Miami and was inspired to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in Wuthering Heights (1939).
After graduating from Miami Senior High School, he studied at the University of Miami, where he studied theater and acted in the Moss Hart play Light Up the Sky in Cuba. He then moved to New York and made it to Broadway in 1953 in Richard III, starring José Ferrer.
Betts had a job in a lamp factory when a friend asked him to do a scene with her for her audition for The Actors Studio, and that led to Lee Strasberg giving him a three-year scholarship to study there. He later earned a place at the famed studio, with Elia Kazan putting him in a production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.
He made his big-screen debut in The Bloody Brood (1959), starring Peter Falk, then joined Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot and Doug McClure in 1961 to play detective Chris Devlin on the second and last season of CBS’ Checkmate, created by Eric Ambler.
Betts appeared four times on CBS’ Perry Mason from 1961-66 before he met Giraldi about starring in Sugar Colt. He told the director that he could ride a horse and had just won a shooting contest — of course, he had never been on a horse or handled a gun — but he spent the next three weeks learning those skills at John Wayne’s ranch before reporting for duty at Cinecittà in Rome.
Betts also was working for actress-turned-publicist Helen Ferguson at the time, and she gave him the stage name Hunt Powers.
Betts returned to Broadway for Kazan in a 1959-60 production of Tennessee Williams’ Sweet Bird of Youth before landing on the 1977-80 revival of Dracula. He portrayed Dr. Seward, and as Raul Julia’s standby, he got to step in as the count — but only once — a highlight of his career.
Keeping with that theme, he played Boris Karloff in Bill Condon’s Gods and Monsters (1998), starring Ian McKellen.
Betts also showed up in such films as The Assassination of Trotsky (1972), Falling Down (1993), Batman Forever (1995), Batman & Robin (1997), 8MM (1999) and Office Space (1999) and on TV series including Gunsmoke, The F.B.I., It Takes a Thief, Kojak, Remington Steele, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, Friends, My Name Is Earl, The Mentalist and Monk.
Betts first met Roberts at The Actors Studio in 1954, and he accepted her offer to move from New York into a downstairs apartment in her Hollywood Hills home in 1988. “We were best friends to the very end, we had wonderful times together,” he said.
Roberts also directed a play Betts wrote, Screen Test: Take One, about a soap opera that originated on a film set.
In addition to his nephew, survivors include his nieces, Lynne and Gail, and his sister, Joan, who turns 100 in November.
Jon Bernthal has appeared in several Marvel television series as the stone-cold vigilante known as the Punisher, even headlining his own series.
Now he’s taking his guns to the big screen.
Bernthal has joined Tom Holland in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, the latest Spider-Man movie from Sony and Marvel. Destin Daniel Cretton is directing the feature, which will shoot in England this summer and has a July 31, 2026, release date.
Much of the movie remains shrouded in mystery. Movie rumor websites have listed upwards of a dozen possible villains, from crime bosses to alien symbiotes, who could appear in the feature, as well as a couple of different versions of the Hulk.
The only thing clear at this stage is that Zendaya and Jacob Batalon are reprising their roles as MJ and best friend Ned, although how substantial those roles will be remains unclear. And Stranger Things star Sadie Sink is the big new addition so far. The story takes place after the events of the previous movie, Spider-Man: No Way Home, in which the entire world knew Peter Parker was Spider-Man and then had that knowledge erased.
Having Bernthal as the Punisher seems to point to a slightly more grounded angle on the story as the character hails from the gritty street corner of Marvel’s universe and, in the comics at least, uses fists, knives and guns to tussle with bad guys, rather than spells or fancy tech. But hey, having him square off against a rampaging Hulk could be fun, too.
Bernthal first showed up as vigilante Frank Castle, aka the Punisher, in Marvel’s Daredevil Netflix series, then starred in his own series that ran for two seasons. He recently returned for a few episodes in Daredevil: Born Again on Disney+.
Marvel is betting on more Punisher and Bernthal in the months and years to come. The character is set to return for season two of Born Again and Marvel is bringing Bernthal back for a Punisher stand-alone feature for Disney+. Bernthal is co-writing the latter. Curiously, one nonnegotiable he had for his return to Daredevil was maintaining the character’s violent, R-rated feel. It will be interesting to see how that translates into the more kid-friendly tone of the Spider-Man movies.
Bernthal and Holland have a charmed history together when it comes to Marvel. The duo were working on the 2017 feature Pilgrimage when prepping to audition for their Marvel roles. The actors helped each other with their audition tapes.
This year, Bernthal’s big-screen output has included starring opposite Ben Affleck in The Accountant 2 for Amazon and appearing in the Rami Malek thriller The Amateur for 20th Century Fox.
Booboo Stewart, Abigail Breslin and Aaron Kuban are set to star in a movie about an interview gone awry.
The performers have been cast to lead director Robert Rippberger’s drama-comedy feature A Good Fight, The Hollywood Reporter has learned exclusively. The indie film has a script from Pierce Gardner (Dan in Real Life), and producers include Justin Shaner and Fernando H. Rojas for Sobe Brooke Studios.
A Good Fight centers on a thriving small-town businessman whose interview with a college journalist ends up impacting both of their lives. The movie’s tone is compared to that of It’s a Wonderful Life as the lead character figures out how to navigate his best path.
Production is set to begin later this month. The project will shoot in part at Rippberger’s White Lightning Studios in North Carolina, with some scenes set to film at Meredith College in Raleigh, North Carolina.
“Abigail and Booboo bring such heart, depth and authenticity to everything they do,” says Shaner. “This story walks a fine line between humor and emotional honesty, and we couldn’t ask for a better cast to bring that balance to life.”
Adds Rippberger, “We’re honored to partner with Meredith College. This collaboration reflects our commitment to build meaningful ties with the local creative community, while creating real-world learning opportunities for the next generation of storytellers.”
Stewart was recently cast in the chess thriller feature Contra alongside Kal Penn. He has appeared in the X-Men and Twilight film franchises.
Breslin landed an Oscar nomination for her role in 2006’s Little Miss Sunshine. She has since appeared in the movies Zombieland, August: Osage County and Stillwater and such series as Scream Queens and Accused.
Stewart is represented by Sovereign Talent Group and TSC Entertainment. Breslin is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency and Untitled Entertainment. Kuban is repped by Taylor Talent Services.
