ACORN TV
Programming from several countries, including Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Ireland, New Zealand, and UK. AMC Networks chief Josh Sapan told The Hollywood Reporter that Acorn TV has "among the lowest churn" among major services owing to its focus as well as viewers' "dedication and affinity" for its content.

A thought-provoking film about the importance of architecture by three-time Oscar nominee Wim Wenders, is among the feature film projects to be pitched as part of the 8th edition of the Venice Gap-Financing Market, which runs Sept. 3-5 at the Venice Film Festival. Wenders’ documentary “The Secret of Places” investigates the role played by architecture in our everyday lives. It takes viewers on a tour of architect Peter Zumthor’s best-known buildings, and accompanies him during the construction of two recent creations – the new Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the extension of the Fondation Beyeler in Basel...

The U.K.’s Independent Cinema Office (Ico) has launched The Cinema of Ideas, a collaborative film platform aimed at independent cinemas. The Cinema of Ideas is a digital, revenue-sharing platform that will bring the Ico’s expertise, connections and public funding to allow independent cinemas to create culturally-relevant programs that tackle issues of race, disability, sex, sexuality and class with as wide an audience as possible...

The Directors Guild of America announced its new Women’s Steering Committee Squad Mentorship Program along with its first class of mentees. In the program, 10 mid-career directors are each paired with filmmakers that are well established in the field. The Wsc Squad will last for six months. Mentors will not only discuss craft and artistic opportunities with their mentees, but will also provide guidance on the unique challenges involved with navigating the film industry as women. A second round of the Wsc Squad will begin in Jan. 2022...

The towering 1942 romantic melodrama Now, Voyager, starring Bette Davis and Paul Henreid has been re-released, and its audiences will once again get swept away in the emotional tsunami created by Max Steiner’s orchestral score; the music’s almost outrageous grandiloquence matches the passion and absolute seriousness of the film, and underscores Steiner’s reputation as the Tchaikovsky of the Hollywood golden age. The film was a sensational success and its keynote scene where Henreid suavely lights two cigarettes at once – one for him, one for Davis – was much copied by saucer-eyed fans. Clive James confessed that he attempted it while trying to impress a girl on a date, only for her to say she didn’t smoke, leaving him looking like a walrus. (courtesy Peter Bradshaw)...

Tony Hawk, the skateboarding superstar whose name has become virtually synonymous with the now-Olympic sport, will be the subject of a major forthcoming feature documentary. The film is being produced by the Duplass brothers, with ICM Partners representing sales for the film, Variety has learned. “We’ve been quietly working on this one for a few years,” producer Mark Duplass told Variety. “We are floored with the unmitigated access Tony has allowed us to his life and his fascinating relationship to the sport.” The as-yet-untitled film will focus on the life and career of the 53-year-old ‘Birdman,’ and is being directed by filmmaker-photographer Sam Jones...

Facebook will host its first paid film premiere later this month: “The Outsider,” a documentary about the challenges and controversies involved in building the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in lower Manhattan, will screen exclusively on the platform on Aug. 19. The exclusive Facebook premiere of “The Outsider” will be available to screen globally, available at this link, starting Aug. 19 at 8 p.m. Et until Aug. 20 at 8 a.m. Et. Tickets are $3.99 and include access to a panel discussion that will follow the film’s premiere...